A RELATION Of the Great and Wonderful INUNDATION OF WATERS IN North-holland, Waterland, etc.  
Whereby not only the City of Amsterdam hath Received many Millions of Damage in Merchandise, Housing, and Shipping, etc. but also many Hundreds of Men, Women, and Children have perished therein.  
Confirmed by the Letters and Reports of Several the Most Eminent Merchants and Persons of Credit now Living in those Parts.  
With Allowance.  
Printed for I. Berriff, 1675.   

A COPY OF A LETTER From an Eminent English Merchant Residing in Amsterdam, to a person of Quality in London, bearing Date the 6th. of November, 1675. Stilo Novo.  
SIR,  
I Have great reason to be hearty sorry, not only for myself and many others here, but also for the concern of several Gentlemen who have an interest and correspondence here, though they inhabit other places; That I must give you the sad relation of the unfortunatest accident, and of the greatest damage that ever happened in these parts by inundation of Waters. For it pleased God that on last Saturday Night a most furious North-West wind did blow so hard as to force the Sea, with the Spring Tides over, and break down our Banks, Dikes, and Sluices into the Country; insomuch that not only North-Holland, which we hear is all overflowed and quite drowned, but also Haerlem Muyden, and this City have received the considerablest losses that they ever yet sustained; for the Haerlemmer-Meer breaking in upon us filled most of our streets and Burghwalls, with such floods of water that our Kel●●rs, Warehouses, and our lower-Rooms are all under water, nay, even to the Statt-House itself, whereby not only the goods and Merchandizes therein are spoiled, and so much endamaged that no credible computation can as yet be given what exceeding detriment this City alone hath thereby sustained; many millions already besides the irreparable loss of many hundreds of Men, Women, and Children, who have perished already in this second deluge.  
And the Almighty God alone knoweth when we shall see end of our Miseries; for the Waters as yet rather increase then abate; I myself am forced to remove out of my House for my own and Families securities, and yet know not well where to go to be free from danger, having already suffered damage for my own friends and correspondents accounts to the value of 200000 Guilders in my Sellars and Warehouses that I know of; and what is not yet come to my knowledge; and what may happen no Man can imagine, but God's will be done; It is a sad thing to be confined to live in a Country situated so low, that a Man must be beholding to the Trench of the banks, for the security of his life and fortune; for if at any time the great Dike between Harlem and Amsterdam give way, (as it has many times done within these few years) the whole Country again becomes that Sea which once it was; nor are we exposed only to accident, but even to the malice of our enemies, and (which has been as fatal to us as any thing) our own convenience, of which this last war has given severe Testimonies, wherein you know the inhabitants of these parts have been almost as severe to themselves for their preservation; and this very inundation which looks so like destruction; but I believe 'twill be no advantage to you, and I am sure it is no way pleasant to me to enlarge myself upon our misfortunes; I shall only add that amidst them all, I am  
SIR, Your most Humble Obliged Servant J. W.  
Postscript.  
SIR,  
I Had almost forgotten to acquaint you that by reason of these great Floods, all the inhabitants of this place are so severely afflicted with colds, that many families are forced to shut up their Shops, having no body to follow their employments.  
Vale.