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 FAMILY TOUR 
 
 SOUTH HOLLAND.
 
 
 I //////. I ■h£d i>y . 7i'/,_n Mh /ti-jj. A 'Lfy.i/jrJj^ Strive .
 
 A 
 
 FAMILY TOUR 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 SOUTH HOLLAND; 
 
 UP THE RHINE; 
 
 ASD 
 
 ACROSS THE NETHERLANDS, 
 
 4 
 
 TO 
 
 OSTEND. 
 
 fftlirti i!?liition. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET ; AND 
 
 THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIX.
 
 I.ov DO.s : 
 
 BBADHIRV A.1D EVANS, PRINIKKJ, 
 W 1.ITEKR1AB3
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Ix the autumn of 182S, a family party of six 
 persons, with a male servant, set out from London, 
 with the intention of making the tour of the 
 Southern Provinces of Holland, — of ascending the 
 Rhine as far as Mayence, — thence paying a visit 
 to Frankfort, — returning by the Rhine to Cologne, 
 — from thence crossing the Netherlands by Liege, 
 Waterloo, Brussels, and Ostend, to London. 
 
 They gave themselves, or circumstances rather 
 obliged them to dedicate, just one month to the 
 performance of this tour, which they accomplished 
 in twenty-eight days, travelling very much at 
 their ease in the carriages of the different coun- 
 tries (not diligences)^ — in treckschuyts and 
 steam-vessels, — saw whatever they considered to 
 be interesting, — put up at the first hotels, — dined 
 sometimes at tables -d'hote, and at others in their 
 private apartments, and were finally set down 
 from the Ostend steam-vessel on the Tower-hill, 
 having expended on the whole journey just one
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 hundred and thirty-eiglit pounds. Every one of 
 the party returned with the pleasing recollections 
 of what they had seen, and with invigorated 
 health. 
 
 Those who may wish to spend a month in 
 visiting that most extraordinary and interesting 
 country, Holland, — to enjoy the magnificent 
 scenery of the Rhine, to admire the splendid de- 
 corations of the churches, and to be gratified with 
 the beautiful state of agricultural industry in the 
 then apparently happy Belgium, — cannot do 
 better (because they probably cannot derive so 
 much gratification in so short a time, and at so 
 small an expense) than to follow the track whicli 
 is laid down in the following pages, drawn up 
 from notes taken on the spot by one of the party, 
 and now published in the hope that they may 
 prove of some use to future travellers. 
 
 The prints which illustrate and embellish this 
 little volume are the production of that ingenious 
 officer, Lieut. -Colonel Batty, etched by him (being 
 his first attempts on steel) from drawings made 
 by himself on the spot ; they may therefore be 
 considered as faithful representations of what they 
 profess to be.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP 1 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM . 42 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM ...... 67 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AMSTERDAM 92 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN 134 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 
 NIMEGUEN TO COLOGNE 159 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ 179
 
 Vlll CONTE>TS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII, 
 
 P^GE 
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT, AND BACK TO 
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE .193 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE 225 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BELGIUM 238 
 
 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 1. Hotel de Ville of Brussels Frontispiece. 
 
 2. Cathedral of Antwerp, from the Canal au Beurre . 27 
 
 3. St. Lawrence of Rotterdam, from the Leuve Haven . 57 
 
 4. The Hotel de Yille of the Hague 72 
 
 5. St. Pancras Church of Leyden 77 
 
 6. The Waag or Weighing-house of Amsterdam . . 95 
 
 7. View on the Amstel, Amsterdam 121 
 
 8. Bingen, with bridge over the Nahe '209 
 
 9. St. Nicholas' Church, Ghent 269 
 
 10. Hotel de Ville of Bruges 279
 
 mmm.

 
 A TOUR 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 SOUTH HOLLAND, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LONDOX TO ANTWERP. 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1828, we embarked at 
 Deptford, in a sailing-yacht, with our little family 
 party, bound for the Scheldt, and from thence 
 wherever chance might direct us, under a pledge, 
 however, not to exceed the time of one month 
 from the day of embarkation. We dropped down 
 the river with the tide, the wind at east, the 
 weather beautiful ; but night coming on before 
 we could get over the flats^ as they are called, we 
 anchored in Whitstablc Bay. In advancing to 
 this spot, the younger part of the family in par- 
 ticular were greatly amused by the luminous 
 appearance of the sea, which happened to be 
 more than usually brilliant in this climate. They 
 compared the train of light which flashed from the 
 sounding-line to the tail of a comet. Everybody 
 began to philosophise on this phenomenon, and 
 we young ones in particular were naturally inqui- 
 
 B
 
 2 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 
 
 sitive as to the cause of such an appearance, 
 which, we were told, is not of very common 
 occurrence in this temperate climate ; and that, 
 when it does occur, is not anything like so bril- 
 liant as within the tropics : there, we were in- 
 fonned, it is awfully grand. 
 
 The subject of this light, we were well aware, 
 has frequently been discussed by philosophers and 
 voyage writers, and we believe the majority are in- 
 clined to the opinion that this phosphorescent light 
 is occasioned by the spawn of fish, and the m^Tiads 
 of animalcula that are floating in the waters of 
 the ocean : but there is some difficulty in adopting 
 this conclusion, as the light is seen only in par- 
 ticular places, at the same time, and at particular 
 times only in certain spots; whereas the existence 
 of the spa^^^l and minute animals may be supposed 
 to possess the qualities of ubiquity and perpetuity. 
 If this light, which, at the same spot, ceased on 
 Monday, where it had illuminated the whole surface 
 of the sea on the preceding Sunday, was occasioned 
 by these vi^dparous marine animals, what had 
 become of these animals on the succeeding day ? 
 This, we were told, is a very common case ; that, 
 in the tropical regions, the sea would one day 
 exhibit one vast sheet of fire, and the next day, 
 on the same spot, not a vestige of phosphorescent 
 light could be seen. This remark gave occasion to 
 us young philosophers, who had imbibed a smat- 
 tering from that excellent lecturer, Mr. Faraday, 
 to speculate on the cause ; and the conclusion we 
 arrived at was this — that the luminous appear- 
 ance of the sea might be tlie effect of an electrical 
 influence on these minute floating bodies ; and
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP, 6 
 
 this suggestion arose from the circumstance that 
 the phenomenon was the most brilliant just at 
 the time when flashes of lightning were playing 
 round the horizon. It naturally occurred to ask 
 w^hether fresh-water lakes have at any time exhi- 
 bited this same luminous phenomenon ; for if the 
 existence of animalcula be the cause, it ought 
 equally to prevail in fresh as in salt water, where 
 they are not less abundant, as the solar micro- 
 scope of Mr. Carpenter, in Regent -street, abun- 
 dantly testifies, by the numerous horrible monsters 
 which it exhibits. If fresh- water lakes are not 
 subject to illumination, the only inference to be 
 drawn from its absence would be, that the salt 
 held in solution in sea- water is the probable cause 
 of the phenomenon, but exhibited only under 
 particular states of the atmosphere ; and here 
 ends our philosophy. 
 
 On the 7th, with a fine south-westerly breeze, 
 we got under weigh at about six in the morning, 
 reached the North Foreland at eight, and were at 
 anchor in Flushing Roads, directly before the 
 town, at seven in the evening, having run about 
 one hundred miles in thirteen hours. 
 
 It was our intention to have landed the follow- 
 ing morning at Flushing, our object being prin- 
 cipally to inspect the dock-yard, besides which, 
 we were given to understand, there is not much 
 to attract the notice of strangers in this town; and, 
 indeed, the only objects in the naval arsenal, that 
 we expected to derive much gratification from 
 viewing, were some large roofs under which ships 
 are constructed, and which towered high above 
 the mud banks that defend the town from the in- 
 b2
 
 4 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 
 
 cursions of the sea, and far above all other roofs, 
 that of the church alone excepted. Of these 
 coverings for ships we could see three, which ap- 
 peared, when viewed from without, to be similar 
 to the same kind of buildings in all our dockyards. 
 The morning, however, was so windy, and the 
 sea before the town so rough, from the exposure 
 of the roadstead to the North Sea, that we did 
 not tliink it worth a wetting to attempt the shore. 
 It was, besides, desirable not to lose the advantage 
 of a young tide up the Scheldt, which had turned 
 at six o'clock this morning. We therefore weighed 
 anchor a little before seven, and proceeded at the 
 rate of twelve miles an hour up this magnificent 
 river. 
 
 Flushing exhibited no external appearance of 
 commercial bustle. A Dutch eighteen-gun sloop, 
 and some half-dozen ships of a small class, were 
 lying in the road, and about as many a little 
 higher up, opposite the fort called the Rammakins. 
 Between this fort and Flushing we observed two 
 or three new martello towers, that are supposed to 
 give a more complete command of the entrance of 
 the Scheldt, which is here at least three miles in 
 width. We observed some artiller^nnen firing at 
 a mark, on a floating buoy, from one of the forts 
 of the town, the only symptom that displayed 
 itself of military existence along the banks of this 
 beautiful river, each side of which, and without 
 interruption, exhibited the more gratifying effects 
 of peaceful and laborious industry. 
 
 [t was not without reason, perhaps, that the 
 Dutch had been strengihening the Avorks at 
 Flushinof, considerino- the lesson they received, in
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 5 
 
 the course of the last war, of the total inefficiency 
 of those that then existed, assisted as they were 
 by the opposite batteries of Cadsand, to prevent the 
 passage of the Scheldt by a vigorous and cfeter- 
 mined enemy. Tlie distance across appears to be 
 barely two miles and a half, though called three ; 
 yet on the occasion of our memorable expedition 
 under Lord Chatham, which, by a strange misad- 
 venture, took refuge in tlie eastern instead of the 
 western Scheldt, and got into what Sir Home 
 Popham called the Roompot (literally Creampot), 
 Lord AVilliam Stuart, in the Lavinia, with nine 
 other frigates, forced this passage through a cross- 
 fire of the enemy from the two sides, with the loss 
 only of two or three men in the whole. The wind 
 was light, and the tide against him, and the whole 
 of the frigates were under the fire of the batteries 
 from the two sides nearly two hours, yet they 
 passed almost wholly untouched by the enemy's 
 shot. 
 
 That side of the island of Walcheren, which 
 faces the sea, is defended against the encroach- 
 ments of that element by one continued wall or 
 ridge of high sand-hills, interrupted only at AVest 
 Capel, where an artificial dyke has been raised 
 to the height, it is said, of thirty feet, and defended 
 in a very ingenious and extraordinary manner. 
 This artificial barrier is of so much importance, 
 that, on its stability, the safety of the whole island 
 may be said to depend. 
 
 At the point of the island where Flushing is 
 situated, a strong wall of masonry protects the 
 town against the sea; and the side facing the 
 Scheldt is embanked with great care, and its re-
 
 6 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 
 
 pair evidently kept up at an enormous expense. 
 Embankments or dykes of the same kind are 
 carried along both banks of the river ; and at the 
 base of each is thrown out a barrier of stones and 
 stakes to protect the higher ramparts of earth ; 
 and these again are covered with great care and 
 ingenuity with a "kind of thatch, consisting of 
 bean-stubble or straw. The stones at the base 
 are sometimes thrown into a kind of wicker or 
 basket-work of withy twigs, and the whole kept 
 together by ropes made of the same material, and 
 interwoven with rushes; and where the current 
 or the tide sets strongest, rows of stakes or poles 
 are driven into the sand, to act as breakwaters for 
 the protection of the base of the sloping bank, 
 which receives a further consistence by being 
 grown over with grass, on the gently sloping sides 
 of which very fine cattle may be seen grazing, 
 many of which are handsomely spotted. 
 
 These dykes, and their supporting embankments, 
 are seen in great perfection along the shores of 
 South Beveland, the island next to Walcheren, and 
 one of the most beautiful and fertile territories of 
 Holland ; that is to say, beautiful for its cultiva- 
 ■tion and its fertility in all kinds of grain, madder, 
 pulse, hemp, rape, and flax ; in its abundance of 
 orchards of apples, pears, cherries, and plums : 
 ia the number of its villages, situated in the midst 
 of trees, but, to the navigator of the river, known 
 only to exist from the frequent spires of churches 
 that are seen to rise in every direction out of the 
 woods. Even in those villages that are close to 
 the banks, seldom is any part of the houses 
 visible, except the chimneys and the tiled roofs ;
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 7 
 
 but a church-spire in the midst of trees, and a 
 windmill erected on the bank or some artificial 
 mount, the better to catch the breeze, are sure 
 indications of the co-existence of a little hamlet 
 with those conspicuous objects. 
 
 In various parts of the sliores of the river, in 
 addition to the regular embankments, are small 
 breakwaters of stonework thrown out at right 
 angles into the stream, intended to guard the 
 dykes against the shock of floating timber or 
 vessels, but more particularly against the masses 
 of ice which float down in the winter season. 
 These stones are all brought hither, by water 
 conveyance, from the neighbourhood of Brussels, 
 as not a pebble of any description is to be found 
 in any of the Zealand Islands, nor in the northern 
 provinces of Belgium. The general surface, in 
 fact, on both sides the river, is below^ the level of 
 the high-water mark, so that a vast extent of 
 fertile country has actually been rescued from the 
 sea by human labour and ingenuity. It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, that unless due precautions were 
 taken against the breaking in of the sea, which 
 not unfrequently happens, the whole country 
 would be subject to inundation, and revert to its 
 ancient state of useless sterility — alternately a 
 sandy marsh and a sheet of water. 
 
 This is, in fact, what has actually happeused 
 to the eastern side of this very Island, of South 
 Beveland, where, at low water, there is a vast 
 extent of sand, which the Dutch have named 
 ' y erdrunken land,' or land swallowed up by the 
 sea. To obviate a disaster of such fatal import, 
 innumerable inland dykes are constructed in every
 
 8 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 
 
 direction, not only to mark, as they sometimes do, 
 the division of property, but also to afford addi- 
 tional barriers to the waters, so that if the first 
 barrier or sea-dyke should give way, a second and 
 a third may be found to resist the further ravages 
 of the flood. At the commencement of the pre- 
 sent century, however, Walcheren was inundated 
 by a breach of the sea at West Capel, and the 
 water is said to have stood as high as the roofs of 
 the houses of iMiddleburg, which fine city was 
 saved from utter destruction only by the strength 
 of its walls. This event is commemorated by an 
 inscription on a stone. 
 
 The sea had once before washed away the sandy 
 downs, which form a barrier along the western 
 coast, and submerged the ancient town of West 
 Capel, which was afterwards rebuilt further in- 
 land. It is here that, in order to prevent future 
 accidents of the same kind, an enormous dyke, 
 thirty feet high, has been raised to fill up the 
 breach. The expense must have been enormous, 
 but the salvation of the whole island of Walcheren 
 may be said to depend on its stability. 
 
 In all these banks several sluices are con- 
 structed, by means of which the inhabitants have 
 not only the power of letting out the water from 
 the sands, but also of letting in that of the river 
 or the sea, in the event of an enemy invading the 
 country ; and by this desperate measure to make 
 it impossible for him to remain ; but this is an ad- 
 vantage gained only at the expense of an infliction 
 of general misery and distress, amounting very 
 nearly to complete ruin. 
 
 The master of our vessel was well acquainted
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP. \) 
 
 with every part of the river, hut we were compelled 
 to take a Dutch pilot, for the sake, of course, of 
 paying him his fee. We were desirous, in pro- 
 ceeding, to keep close to the northern channel on 
 the Dutch side, along the shores of Beveland, hut 
 the pilot made several ohjections, which our master 
 knew to he perfectly frivolous ; his only avowed 
 reason, on heing pressed, was, that the king did 
 not like it — and as in such cases, when stat pro 
 ratione I'ohintas^ and when we are told that le roi 
 le veut, it would he folly to resist, we stood over to 
 Temeuse, on the southern side. From this place a 
 fine canal has recently heen opened the whole way 
 to Ghent, of the depth of sixteen feet, which, while 
 it admits ships of very considerahle hurthen, acts 
 as a drain to the surrounding country, through 
 which it passes. At Terneuse it communicates 
 with the Scheldt, by two separate sluices or locks. 
 This water communication is of the greatest im- 
 portance, both to Brabant and Holland, by opening 
 a direct intercourse between Antwerp and other 
 principal towns of Belgium, and to the latter 
 country, tlirough various channels of communica- 
 tion, with Dort and Rotterdam. 
 
 In proceeding up the Scheldt, it is impossible 
 not to be struck with the simple means by which 
 the Dutch have succeeded in producing the same 
 effect, though perhaps in a smaller degree, for 
 which in England we launch out into the most 
 extravagant expense. Nothing can exceed tlie 
 economy practised in the construction of their 
 flood-gates, and the wooden piers in which their 
 sluices are placed ; a species of hydraulics, that 
 with us are generally formed of the most costly
 
 10 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 
 
 workmanship in masonry. Having no stone in 
 this country Imt what must come to them from the 
 b^nks of the Meuse or tlie Rhine, necessity has 
 di'iven them to the use of other materials, and its 
 place is eiSlciently suj^plied by the less costly, 
 though less durable, article of wood. 
 
 On the muddy shores and the sand-banks of 
 the Scheldt, left bare at low water, whole shoals 
 of seals may generally be seen in different atti- 
 tudes, some playing about and wallowing in the 
 mud, while others are standing upright, as if 
 watching to give notice to their companions of 
 any danger that may be approaching. These 
 creatures are possessed of a high degree of cun- 
 ning, and not easily to be caught napping ; the 
 usual mode of taking them is by setting a long 
 range of nets below the surface of the high-water 
 line, so as to admit them freely at that time of 
 tide to the shores or banks of the river ; over which 
 nets, as the water falls, they are unable to pass, 
 and are thus caught. In the same manner the 
 inhabitants place rows of twigs, wuth nets between 
 them, the more readily to catch various kinds of 
 fish, which by first encountering the difficulty of 
 passing through the twigs, generally fall into the 
 nets between them. 
 
 The distance from Flushing to Antwerp is 
 reckoned, by the bending of the river, to be sixty- 
 two miles, which our little yacht effected in five 
 hours and a half, and would with ease have done 
 it in five hours, had the wind not failed us in the 
 narrow part of the river, just above Lillo. The 
 appearance of the ancient city of Antwerp becomes 
 here an interesting object, and the more imposing
 
 LONDON TO ANTWERP. 11 
 
 the nearer we approach it along the last reach of 
 the Scheldt ; nor will the traveller feel any dis- 
 appointment on his arrival before this great com- 
 mercial port of the Netherlands. 
 
 At the same time it must be confessed there 
 was nothing on this noble river, either in our 
 progress up it, or before the city, that conveyed 
 any impression of an active or extensive com- 
 merce. In sailing up or down the Thames, or in 
 approaching London within four or five miles — in 
 the first case, the multitude of shipping, of all 
 descriptions, from the largest Indiaman to the 
 deep-laden barge, scarcely emerging from the 
 water, crossing and recrossing each other in every 
 possible direction — in the second, those lying in 
 close contact, tier after tier, for several miles 
 below the first bridge of the metropolis, afford 
 indications not to be mistaken of the commer- 
 cial wealth and prosperity of London. But the 
 Scheldt, when we ascended it, was a vacant river ; 
 we neither met nor overtook a single sail, and with 
 the exception of some ten or twelve small vessels 
 mostly brigs, except two or three American ships, 
 there was little appearance of trade along the 
 common quay of Antwerp. But a great number 
 of vessels were lying in the small harbours that 
 branch out from the river, and in the two large 
 basins. 
 
 Antw-erp, however, is a fine old city. It is 
 impossible to enter through an ancient gateway 
 into its narrow streets, bounded by lofty houses, 
 with their high gable ends or pediments of several 
 stories of windows, and ascending by steps on 
 each side to a point, without being attracted by
 
 12 ANTWERP. 
 
 their grotesque but, at the same thne, picturesque 
 appearance. Indeed their novel and fanciful 
 shp.pes are much more attractive than the more 
 recent and wider streets, with their more spacious 
 houses, many of which are not inferior to any 
 that are met with in London. , 
 
 The Rue de la 3Ier, which had formerly a canal 
 down tlie middle, like those which are generally 
 met with in a Dutch to^vn, but is now filled up, 
 appears to be as wide as Portland Place, and from 
 the variety in the architecture of its houses is infi- 
 nitely more picturesque and striking. 
 
 In this street is the commodious hotel of Le 
 Grand Lahoureur, in which we took up our 
 quarters ; and in it also is the palace of William 
 I., a handsome building enough, but nothing 
 remarkable, being little better than a common- 
 sized house of the first class, the apartments sur- 
 rounding a quadrangle. In fact it belonged to one 
 of the merchants of the town, but was purchased 
 and furnislied for the use of Buonaparte and his 
 generals, when he should happen to pass this way. 
 It certainly has no pretensions to the name of 
 palace. It consists of two suites of six or seven 
 small rooms, some without any other furniture than 
 a deal table, and a few of the commonest chairs, 
 and others entirely without furniture of any kind. 
 If the present royal family should remain a day 
 or so at Antwerp, which they have not yet con- 
 descended to do, there is a bed fitted up in one 
 of the suites of apartments for the king, and an- 
 other in the opposite side for the queen, but their 
 attendants must shift for themselves, and sleep 
 on the floor, unless timely notice be given to
 
 ANTWERP. 13 
 
 prepare better accommodation than this palace at 
 present affords. On expressing some surprise to 
 the young woman who showed us round, that it 
 shoukl he left in so unfinished a state, she readily 
 observed that, ' if Napoleon had remained their 
 sovereign, it would soon have been furnished, and 
 that right well too.' 
 
 Antwerp, though still a place of very consider- 
 able trade, has had the misfortune of being 
 stripped of its splendour and prosperity on several 
 occasions. Her merchants were at one time the 
 most wealtliy body of men in Europe. As an 
 illustration of this, a story is told of one John 
 Daens, who lent to Charles Y. a million of gold, to 
 enable him to carry on his wars in Hungary, for 
 which he obtained the royal bond. The Emperor, 
 on his return, dined with the merchant, who, after 
 a most sumptuous entertainment, produced the 
 bond, not, however, for payment, but to burn it, 
 which he is said to have done in a fire made of 
 cinnamon. 
 
 The greatest blow which the prosperity of this 
 city received, was in consequence of the treaty by 
 which the navigation of the magnificent river, on 
 the right bank of which it is situated, was pro- 
 hibited. It is said that Antwerp before this 
 contained not fewer than two hundred thousand 
 inhabitants, and had sometimes two thousand ships 
 and vessels lying in the river, and its harbours and 
 its basins. The former are now reduced to less 
 than sixty thousand, and the latter to at most two 
 hundred. The town had before this treaty been 
 sacked and set on fire by the infomous Alva, when 
 six or seven thousand of its inhabitants are said to
 
 14 ANTWERP. 
 
 have perished : and the third, and last time, that 
 its prosperity suffered a severe blow, was occasioned 
 by the overthrow of Buonaparte, when his grand 
 design of making Antwerp the greatest naval 
 arsenal in the north of Europe fell with its pro- 
 jector. His plans for this purpose were under- 
 taken on an immense scale ; but they were by no 
 means deserving those extravagant encomiums that 
 were l)estowed on them while in their progress. 
 The two basins are undoubtedly planned with 
 great skill, and executed with excellent workman- 
 ship. They are conveniently entered from the 
 river, well protected by the guns of the citadel, 
 communicate with each other by a stout pair of 
 iron gates, and another pair connects them with 
 the river. For the security of shipping in the 
 winter months these basins are admirably adapted ; 
 and the old East India House, a great quadran- 
 gular building, which stands immediately between 
 them, is well situated for the reception of mer- 
 chandise or naval stores ; but they are mere basins, 
 possessing no conveniences whatever for the build- 
 ing or repairs of ships. As commercial docks 
 they are of considerable importance to the town, 
 and on that account solely they escaped demo- 
 lition, when the dock -yard, which was higher up 
 the river, was destroyed. 
 
 This demolition of the naval establishment was 
 carried into effect in virtue of the Fifteenth Article 
 of the Definitive Treaty of Peace, signed at Paris 
 the 30th May, 1814. By this article, all the ships 
 of war then at Antwerp afloat, and those on the 
 stocks, w^ere — after those actually belonging to 
 Holland, prior to its incorporation in the French
 
 ANTWERP. 15 
 
 empire, had been given up to the Prince of 
 Orange, — to be divided, so that his most Christian 
 Majesty should have two-thirds, and the Dutch, 
 in trust for the Allied Powers, the remaining 
 third ; all those on the stocks to be broken up 
 within a specified time, and the slips, docks, and 
 everything belonging to the naval arsenal, broken 
 up and destroyed. Commissioners were appointed 
 for this partition and demolition, amongst whom 
 were the comptroller and the surveyor of the British 
 navy. The division was as follows : — 
 
 To the French.— \2 Sail of the line, 
 
 4 Frigates, 
 
 2 Brigs ; besides 
 9 Sail of the line, and 
 2 Frigates on the stocks, to be broken up. 
 To the Dutch.— 3 Sail of the line, 
 
 5 Frigates ; and, in trust, 
 7 Sail of the line. 
 
 the line. 
 Total. 
 
 ( 31 Sail of th 
 < 1 1 Frigates, 
 ( 2 Brigs. 
 
 The ordnance stores, guns, and ammunition, were 
 also divided, as well as the timber and other naval 
 stores, the estimated value of which exceeded two 
 millions sterling. 
 
 Thus perished the dock-yards of Antwerp, 
 which Buonaparte had taken so much pains and 
 spent so much money to complete, and which had 
 occasioned so much uneasiness to this country. 
 
 The work of destruction being finished, it next 
 became a question as to the demolition of the two 
 fine basins, which, however, would have been no 
 easy matter ; at least to such an extent as would 
 have rendered them irreparable. It was calculated
 
 16 ANTWERP. 
 
 that the larger pf the two was capable of contain- 
 ing thirty -four sail of the line, and the smaller one 
 fourteen. The representations of the citizens, 
 however, in favour of their being suffered to remain 
 uninjured, as the receptacles of their merchant 
 shipping, and of their vast utility in protecting them 
 in the winter season against the ice (which, it 
 seems, floats about in such laro;e masses that, here- 
 tofore, those of large dimensions were generally 
 under the necessity of going up to the anchorage 
 in the Rupel branch of the river, seven miles 
 above Antwerp), prevailed ; and it was conceded 
 to the town, that these two fine basins should not 
 be destroyed. 
 
 All the fortifications, the storehouses, the smith- 
 eries, rope-house, and other buildings connected 
 with the dockyard estal^lishment, were destroyed, 
 but the citadel was suffered to remain untouched. 
 Since the establishment of Antwerp as a naval 
 port by Buonaparte, nineteen sail of the line and 
 thirteen frigates had been put upon the stocks ; 
 and between four and five thousand artificers of 
 different descriptions were employed in the dock- 
 yards. He had computed, a very little time before 
 his fall, that ten sail of the line might be launched 
 every year. It was boasted of, as a great feat, 
 that a thirty-six gam frigate had been completely 
 finished in one month, with the assistance of the 
 galley-slaves to saw the timber. The artificers, 
 for the most part, were soldiers, and their pay was 
 made up to three francs per day. The timber 
 was generally brought by water from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Touraay and Gemappe; each piece 
 was fashioned in the forest to tlie shape and pur-
 
 ANTWERP. 17 
 
 pose for which it was intended. The cannon and 
 heavy iron-work were sent from the founderies of 
 Liege. To make this naval arsenal complete, it 
 was intended to construct dry docks at the head of 
 the inner or large basin, the wall of which, at that 
 part, still remains unfinished, or rather, that line 
 of the basin was originally left without masonry. 
 The rise and fall of the tide, which is from fourteen 
 to sixteen feet, is highly favourable for the construc- 
 tion of diy docks, of which, convenient as they 
 are, and considered with us as indispensable, there 
 is but one or two, at the most, in all Holland ; the 
 vast expense, from the nature of the soil, and the 
 total want of stone and other material in that 
 country, having probably deterred them from such 
 undertakings. It is supposed that a dock for the 
 reception of a seventy-four gun ship could not 
 be constructed, in any part of Holland, or even 
 at Antwerp, for so little as one hundred thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 The masonry of the two basins here alluded to is 
 very fine, the walls being five feet thick, exclusive 
 of the binders. The wdiole of the works executed 
 at Antwerp by the French is said to have cost 
 them two millions sterling. 
 
 The great object of these two basins was the 
 security of the fleet against the floating masses of 
 ice in the river, during the winter, where it is 
 utterly impracticable for large ships, such as those 
 of the line, to remain in anything like security. 
 
 Before they were ready for the admission of the 
 ships that had been built, we understood that 
 twelve sail of the line were sent into winter-quar- 
 ters in the Rupel branch of the river, where, by due 
 c
 
 18 ANTWERP. 
 
 precautions of stockades, &c., they escaped without 
 much damage. But no part of the Scheldt affords 
 safe anchorage for large vessels in the winter 
 season. 
 
 Even the roadstead of Flushing is at all times 
 a wild, exposed anchorage for ships, being open 
 entirely to the North Sea, which, in bad weather, 
 rolls in with great impetuosity. Yast sums of 
 money have been expended at that port to render 
 the defensive works, as they thought, impregnable. 
 The magnitude of our last expedition, however, 
 alarmed them ; and it is said that no less than 
 five mines were laid, to spring the dykes and inun- 
 date the place, if they found it untenable. For- 
 tunately, however, for the people of Flushing, we 
 found it more convenient to seek for shelter in the 
 Roompot, and content ourselves with the posses- 
 sion of tlie agreeable capital of the island, Mid- 
 delburg, which was assailed and taken from another 
 quarter. Flushing, however, did not entirely escape; 
 and the inhabitants say that the mischief done to 
 them, by the English, was not made good at a 
 less expense than twenty-four millions of francs, 
 or about a million sterling ; which, in its present 
 desolate and neglected condition, maybe considered 
 about the purchase-money of the fee-simple of the 
 to^vn. Still it was fortunate to have escaped with 
 so little damage ; for when the bombardment took 
 place, about one hundred and twenty houses were 
 set on fire ; and, on the evacuation of the island, 
 all the public works of Flushing, the arsenal, the 
 basin, the ships of war, the careening wharf and 
 pits, and the storehouses in the dockyard, were 
 either blown up or burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
 
 ANTWERP. 19 
 
 The Dutch were ultimately, in some degree, 
 avenged of this work of destruction, by the dread- 
 ful havoc which the AValcheren fever made among 
 our officers and troops. 
 
 The Scheldt, it must be admitted, is a magnifi- 
 cent river, and capable of receiving commodious 
 naval establishments in various parts of its course. 
 Terneuse, indeed, on its left bank, has been con- 
 sidered as preferable to Antwerp, in many points 
 of view, for a naval arsenal ; and, among others, 
 on account of its proximity to tlie mouth of the 
 river, and the depth of water, which is sufficient 
 to admit of ships of the largest size to lie there 
 w^itli all tlieir guns and stores on board, ready at 
 any moment to put to sea, which is not the case 
 with regard to Antwerp. Buonaparte was fullv 
 aware of this advantage, and had some intention of 
 removing the naval establishment from Antwerp 
 to Terneuse. A plan to this effi^^ct was proposed, 
 which he is said to have seized witli eagerness ; 
 it contained, among other things, a basin that 
 would hold sixty sail of the line, from whence 
 they might put to sea at once, fully equipped in 
 every respect. 
 
 Fortunately for the world, and for this country 
 in particular, his career was cut short in that very 
 portion of Europe, where he had long cherished 
 his magnificent plans for our destruction ! 
 
 The demolition of Antwerp, and the transfer of 
 ship -building, and artificers, and commerce, to the 
 ports of Holland, was one of the heaviest blows 
 that could, in recent times, have been inflicted on 
 the inhabitants of the former; and yet we observed 
 no external spiiptoms of decay in any part of the 
 c2
 
 20 ANTWERP. 
 
 town : the houses were all inhabited, and kept in 
 high order ; the people bustling and cheerful ; the 
 Bourse daily crowded and noisy; the shops well 
 stocked, and every appearance of an active trade 
 carrying on. Tliis city must, indeed, from its 
 advantageous position, always command a very 
 considerable inland trade, independent of what is 
 carried to it by the Scheldt ; and, as far as ap- 
 pearances went, we certainly did not observe any 
 visible signs of poverty among the inhabitants. 
 The markets were most abundantly supplied with 
 all the necessaries of life, and at a clieap rate — 
 cheap, as compared with the rate of wages, and 
 not merely as compared with the prices of similar 
 articles in England. The common people are re- 
 markably well clothed : and from their quiet and 
 placid behaviour, a stranger would judge them to 
 be contented and happy. 
 
 It cannot fail to occur to the mind of an Eng- 
 lishman, while visiting Antwerp, that if we were to 
 reverse the case, and suppose it to have been a port 
 of England which had suffered the injury, as well as 
 the indignity, of having one of its principal dock- 
 yards blown up, and its fleet partitioned and carried 
 away chiefly by the aid of that very same people 
 who come in shoals to visit the country and take 
 up a residence among them, how very different a 
 feeling would have prevailed among, and how A-ery 
 difiej-ent a reception the destroyers would have 
 experienced from, our countrymen ! for, although 
 we were the chief instigators of the blovv' that 
 crushed the very sources of their prosperity, we 
 did not learn, and certainly did not experience, 
 that the citizens of Antwerp ever manifested the
 
 ANTWERP. 2 1 
 
 least ill-will or incivility towards the numerous 
 Englishmen that have since visited their port ; 
 they ascribe, as in justice they ought, the whole 
 of their misfortunes to the French. 
 
 There are several very fine old buildings in 
 Antwerp, of a peculiar style of architecture, and 
 the houses in general exhibit every possible fancy 
 in the shapes and ornaments of their gable ends, 
 many of which are extremely picturesque ; but, 
 with the exception of the churches and convents, 
 and the Hotel do Ville, there are few public build- 
 ings that deserve much attention. This last men- 
 tioned ancient structure is situated in the Grand 
 Place, which, however, scarcely deserves the name 
 of a square, and is altogether inferior to another 
 adjoining, called the Place Vert^ vvhich, from a 
 churchyard, has been converted into a handsome 
 square, planted with trees, and fenced in by posts 
 of blue stone and iron railing. 
 
 There is somethino- imposinof in the architecture, 
 and remarkable in the general appearance, of the 
 Hotel de Yille ; the central part of the front is 
 cased entirely with variegated marble, and orna- 
 mented with statues. The whole facade is little 
 short of 300 feet. It was once burnt down, and re- 
 stored, as an inscription tells us, in 158 1 . We were 
 told that the public library, witliin this building, 
 was open every day from nine o'clock till four ; but 
 the extent and value of its contents were not as- 
 certained by us, being unable to prevail on a cold 
 phlegmatic Dutchman, the only guardian of the 
 place, to admit us ; so that we did not see wliat 
 little there is to be seen within this externally 
 imposing edifice.
 
 22 ANTWERP. 
 
 We were more fortunate, however, in our visit 
 to the Museum of Paintings, in the suppressed 
 convent of Recollets, to which, though shut up 
 from the public during the exhibition of pictures 
 by modern artists, we, being strangers, found no 
 difficulty of admission. 
 
 In this collection have been brought together 
 many of the best pictures which were at one time 
 in the several churches and convents of the city ; 
 and among them are a few specimens that may 
 be classed with the most perfect of the numerous 
 pictures painted by Rubens. The Museum con- 
 sists of two great rooms. On the right side of 
 the first gallery is the celebrated painting of this 
 artist, ' Christ crucified between the two Thieves,' 
 universally acknowledged as one of the most 
 magnificent specimens of art, both in design and 
 execution, and generally esteemed among the first, 
 if not the very first performance of Rubens. 
 
 The figure of Christ, ' already dead,' is that of 
 a person who has departed in calm and tranquil 
 repose, free from all appearance of convulsive 
 movement, and contrasts finely with the hideous 
 distortions of the features of the robber, who re- 
 proached him, and who is evidently writhing with 
 agony ; and as the executioner, with a bar of 
 iron is breaking his limbs, we see the con^Tilsive 
 twitchings of every part of his body, while the 
 blood trickles down from the foot he has torn 
 from the cross, to which it was nailed. But no 
 pencil, except that of Rubens, could have painted 
 the heavenly countenance of the Magdalen, as she 
 looks at the horseman pointing his spear against 
 our Saviour's side. ' It is,' says Sii' Joshua Rey-
 
 ANTWERP. 23 
 
 nolds, ' by far the most beautiful profile I ever 
 
 * saw of Rul)ens, or, I think, of any other painter ; 
 'the excellence of its colouring is beyond ex- 
 
 * pression.' 
 
 The ' Adoration of the jMagi ' is a rich-toned 
 and magnificient picture, full of variety in the 
 numerous figures, and their drapery is finely 
 contrasted with tlie humble situation of the 
 mother and the infant Jesus. There is, perhaps, 
 a superfluity of rich and high-coloured drapery, 
 but it is a picture meant to be seen at a distance, 
 and, we have no doubt, was seen to more advan- 
 tage as the great altar-piece in the church of St. 
 Michael, from which it was removed, than where 
 it now is. The head of the ox in the stable is 
 admu-ably painted. 
 
 But the picture on which Rubens is generally 
 supposed to have exhausted his art, is the ' De- 
 scent from the Cross.' The original is not in this 
 collection, but there is a small liigTily and beautifully 
 finished copy, undoubtedly by Rubens, yielding 
 only, if it can be so said, to the larger picture in 
 the cathedral of Notre Dame. It is a gem that 
 would adorn the first cabinet in Europe. 
 
 Another fine picture of Rubens, in this gallery, 
 is ' Christ showing his AVounds to St. Thomas.' 
 The incredulity of the Apostle is finely expressed 
 by the intense and inquiring eye, while examining 
 the wound on our Saviour's hand. 
 
 The picture of ' St. Anne teaching the Virgin 
 to read,' we are told by Sir Joshua, is an improper 
 title, ' for the Virgin,' he says, ' being represented 
 ' about fourteen or fifteen years of age, is too old 
 ' to begin to read.' That may or may not be —
 
 24 ANTWERP. 
 
 the picture, at any rate, is a pleasing picture : the 
 face of the Virgin is beautiful, but there is too 
 much keenness, approaching to somewhat of a 
 sneer, in that of St. Anne : it is, however, a striking 
 and an agreeable picture. But the same approba- 
 tion can hardly be bestowed on the next painting, 
 called the ' Communion of St. Francis.' The 
 dying and agonized figure of the saint is calcu- 
 lated to create disgust rather than commiseration ; 
 he is nearly naked, has a squalid, filthy look, and, 
 as Sir Joshua said, ' appears more like a lazar 
 than a saint.' If our great artist had not con- 
 demned this picture, a less competent judge might 
 at least safely pronounce it a disagreeable com- 
 position. 
 
 ' St. Theresa interceding for the Souls in Pur- 
 gatory, and Christ relieving them,' is a finely 
 painted picture; the person of Christ is full of 
 grace and beauty, and the whole clear and highly 
 finished. These last two pictures belonged to the 
 suppressed convent of the little or unshod Car- 
 melites. 
 
 ' The Holy Family,' which once belonged to 
 the Academy of Painters, is a finely coloured 
 picture, but by no means worthy of being classed 
 among the best productions of Rubens. 
 
 Another indiiFerent picture, as we should con- 
 sider it, of this great master is, ' The dead Christ 
 in the arms of his Father.' The person of Christ 
 might serve for the figure of a Silenus. Besides 
 these, tliere are several other productions of Ru- 
 bens ; a fine portrait of a Burgomaster, one of 
 his wife, some holy families, and a few sketches. 
 
 There are two or three pictures by Octavio Van
 
 ANTWERP. 25 
 
 Veen, or, as he is usually called, Otto Yenius, the 
 master of Rubens, which are esteemed as fine 
 specimens of art, particularly ' Tlie Calling of the 
 Apostle Matthew,' which has all the strength and 
 brilliancy of colouring for which his pupil is dis- 
 tinguished. There is an eagerness and conviction 
 of the truth of Christ's mission, in the face of 
 Matthew, which is very expressive. 
 
 There is a picture by Quinten Metsys, of the 
 ' Descent from the Cross,' with two doors or wings. 
 On the one is St. John put into a caldron of boiling 
 oil ; and on the other, Herodias with the head of 
 John the Baptist. Nothing can exceed the savage 
 and brutal expression in the faces of the two men 
 who are feeding the fire under the caldron ; but 
 the distortion of their savage features is quite 
 unnatural, and without an adequate cause. The 
 pictures of this artist are, indeed, all deficient in 
 taste and imagination, and mostly representations 
 of distorted nature, as in his celebrated picture 
 of the ' Two Misers,' in Windsor Castle, coarse, 
 vulgar, and disgusting. Thus also in the present 
 picture, the dead Christ on the knees of the Virgin 
 appears, as Sir Joshua has observed, ' as if starved 
 to death.' 
 
 This painter is usually called the Blacksmith of 
 Antwerp, having changed the anvil for the pallet, 
 and the hammer for the pencil. 
 
 Facing the tower of Notre Dame, or the cathe- 
 dral, is placed a work of his, of a very indifferent 
 description — the iron frame of a well or fountain. 
 It may be considered as a curious monument of 
 the original occupation of an artist who rose to a 
 certain degree of eminence, but in itself is so
 
 26 ANTWERP. 
 
 utterly insignificant, that it would be passed by 
 unobserved if not pointed out. On a stone shield 
 is this inscription : — ' Quintino Metsiis, incom- 
 'parabilis artis pictori, admiratrix grataque pos- 
 * teritas anno post obitum sa?culari cio. ia*c. xxix 
 'posuit.' (1629.) And on another stone is the 
 following : — ' Connubialis amor de Mulcibre fecit 
 Apellem.' 
 
 In the Museum are also several good pictures 
 of Van Dyk ; but, after the eye has feasted on the 
 brilliant colouring of Rubens, they appear, to a 
 mere amateur, and not one of the cognoscenti, 
 cold and spiritless. There are two or three Cru- 
 cifixions by this master, a Pieta, as it is called, 
 being the dead Christ on the knee of the Virgin, 
 and a few portraits. That, however, in which 
 Christ is expiring on the Cross, and Catherine of 
 Sienna, embracing it, while Saint Dominic is stand- 
 ing in an attitude of contemplation, is esteemed, as 
 it ought to be, a sublime composition, heightened 
 as it is by the dark and agitated appearance of the 
 elements in the back-ground. This picture for- 
 merly belonged to the nuns of the order of Saint 
 Dominic. There is also a fine portrait by Van 
 Dyk of Cfesar Alexander Scaglia. 
 
 Of artists of less note there are several good 
 pictures, — some by Seghers, Jordaens, Old Frank, 
 Martin de Yos, Breughel, Pourbus, Coxie, and 
 other Flemish masters. 
 
 We had not time, nor, indeed, much inclination, 
 after feasting on the rich productions of the old 
 masters in the two galleries of the Museum, to 
 bestow much attention on the pictures of living 
 artists which were now exhibiting in two other
 
 / 
 
 Jliilishidby Jokn-Murroi/. AlianarU Street J33I .
 
 ANTWERP. 27 
 
 galleries ; in addition to which was a room appro- 
 priated to statuary figures, at the end of that on 
 the left of the entrance. 
 
 There appeared, however, to be many very 
 respectable performances ; and what was suffi- 
 ciently encouraging to the progress of art, the 
 rooms were crowded with spectators. It is not 
 improbable, from the numerous collections that 
 have been made, and are still making, by indi- 
 viduals, that Antwerp is once more likely to be- 
 come the seat of the arts for the encouragement of 
 the painters of the Netherlands. The contest will 
 be between this place and Brussels ; but the 
 advantage is on the side of Antwerp, from its 
 possessing the greatest number, and the finest 
 specimens, of the first artist that adorned his 
 native country, the celebrated Rubens. 
 
 The Cathedral of Notre Dame, even if it were 
 not in possession of the chcf-cVoeuvre of this great 
 master, cannot fail to invite the curiosity of Pro- 
 testant travellers. Our next visit was to this 
 fine building, whose magnificent towers are justly 
 reckoned among the first which exist in the world ; 
 or more correctly speaking, the tower which is 
 surmounted by a spire ; for though there are two 
 prijcisely alike, yet only one of them is completed, 
 by having a lofty spire rising from its summit, 
 and making the whole height to be about four 
 hundred and fifty feet, to which may be added 
 fifteen feet more for the height of the shaft on 
 which the cross is placed. It is said, indeed, by 
 some of the guide-books to be five hundred feet. 
 The massive tower may reduce the appearance of 
 its height, and deceive the eye ; but it certainly
 
 28 ANTWERP. 
 
 does not appear to exceed four hundred feet to 
 the pinnacle of the cross. The spire is light and 
 elegant, and of the same class as that of Stras- 
 bourg and the Town-hall of Brussels. This noble 
 edifice is said to have taken nearly a century in 
 completing, being commenced under the direction 
 of an architect of the name of Appelmans in 
 1422, and finished in 1518. One of the towers 
 is furnished with a fine set of chimes or carillons, 
 the largest bell of which is said to weigh sixteen 
 thousand pounds. 
 
 The interior of Notre Dame fully corresponds 
 in grandeur with tlie exterior. From the great 
 door which is between the two towers, or, in other 
 words, from the lower extremity of the nave to 
 the opposite end, behind the great altar, the 
 dimensions are given as follows : — The length 
 five hundred feet ; the breadth two hundred and 
 thirty ; and the height three hundred and sixty 
 feet. Of the accuracy of the last dimension there 
 may be some doubt ; and the length appears to 
 be somewhat exaggerated. 
 
 The columns which support the arcades are not 
 to be classed, in point of beauty, with those of 
 York Cathedral, nor those even of Westminster 
 Abbey ; but wdiat may be wanting in elegance, or 
 gTandeur of design, is amply compensated by the 
 high order and the perfect state of neatness in 
 which every part of the church is kept, and in the 
 beauty of the decorations. The gTand altar is a 
 chaste piece of architecture, designed by Rubens ; 
 and facing it, at the lower end of the nave, is a 
 portico of eight columns, which support the loft 
 in which the organ is placed, equally chaste and 
 beautiful.
 
 ANTWERP. 29 
 
 The pulpit is a fine piece of carved wood, labo- 
 riously and admirably executed by Yerbruggen. It 
 is supported by four figures as large as life, hand- 
 in -hand; and the railing of the steps and other 
 parts are surmounted by birds of various kinds, 
 some of which exist in nature, and others are ima- 
 ginary; but the whole of the workmanship is 
 exquisitely beautiful. All the confessionals are 
 fronted with upright figures of difierent characters 
 and in different attitudes, all of them highly ex- 
 pressive of the meaning which the sculptor intended 
 to convey. 
 
 In the several chapels are various pieces of 
 sculpture in marble, and paintings by Van Baelen, 
 Diepenbeck, Backer, Otto Yenius, and others; and 
 in one on the right, as we descended from the choir, 
 is a beautiful piece of sculpture in marble, repre- 
 senting Christ crucified. But the most precious 
 and valuable treasures which Notre Dame con- 
 tains, are two pictures of Rubens, one of which, 
 already mentioned, is considered as i\\Qchef-(Voeuvre 
 of this great master. It is the celebrated ' Descent 
 from the Cross,' which, of all the numerous works 
 of Rubens, maintains the pre-eminence. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds has recorded his disap- 
 pointment on first seeing it, — not, however, at the 
 picture itself, so much as the manner in which it 
 has been misused by cleaning, botching, and var- 
 nishing. This is no doubt true ; but placed where 
 it is, in a very indifferent and cross light, it will 
 require a skilful and practised eye to detect it. 
 He considers the Christ ' as one of the finest 
 figures that ever was invented ;' adding, that 'the 
 hanging of the head on his shoulder, and the fall-
 
 30 ANTWERP. 
 
 ing of the body on one side, give such an appear- 
 ance of the heaviness of death, that nothing can 
 exceed it/ He admits, likewise, that two of the 
 three Marys have more beauty than Rubens gene- 
 rally bestowed on female figures. It would be 
 ridiculous as w^ell as presumptuous to dispute the 
 taste and judgment of Sir Joshua Reynolds ; but 
 we certainly all agree to go much further than 
 this qualified praise he has bestowed on this won- 
 derful production, and to pronounce that female 
 figure on whose shoulder the foot of Christ ap- 
 pears to be resting, to be possessed of one of the 
 sweetest and most heavenly countenances that 
 ever was produced by the pencil of man; and the 
 young woman by her side, who is looking up to 
 Clirist with intense anxiety, as not much inferior. 
 
 It was said by some English critic, that the 
 women of Rubens were like Flanders mares. It 
 is true that, in some of his large pictures, such as 
 the ' Rape of the Sabines,' and some others, the 
 female figures are not of the most elegant or deli- 
 cate shape, or the most lovely features ; but in 
 the figures in the picture in question, and indeed 
 in all his productions in the Museum of Antwerp, 
 he has amply redeemed this fault. 
 
 The great mass of light in this picture proceeds 
 from the white sheet, which. Sir Joshua says, was 
 a bold attempt, and which few but Rubens would 
 have ventured on, for fear of hurting the colour of 
 the flesh ; but he does not notice, what many will 
 think detracts somewhat from the dignity and 
 solemnity of the subject, the vulgar though natural 
 mode in which the figure, leaning over the cross, 
 takes the sheet in his teeth, in order to have both
 
 ANTWERP. 31 
 
 his hands at liberty to assist in lowering down 
 the body. 
 
 There is a history attached to this picture, 
 which makes it and its appendages somewhat 
 more interesting. It is said that the fraternity of 
 Arquebusiers (marksmen of some kind or other, 
 — riflemen, sharpshooters, &c.) transferred to 
 Rubens a piece of ground belonging to the society, 
 on the condition that he should paint for them 
 a full-length portrait of their patron -saint, St. 
 Christopher, who, it would seem, from his portrait, 
 was to be represented under the figure of a man 
 of gigantic stature, carrying an infant (Jesus) on 
 his shoulder across a river. Rubens, probably 
 not relishing the subject, thought fit to choose 
 another, and not only painted for them the grand 
 picture of the ' Descent from the Cross,' but added 
 to it a couple of doors or wings, as they are 
 sometimes called, on one of which he painted the 
 subject of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, in 
 which St. Simeon is receiving the child in his 
 arms : and on the other the 'Visitation,' in which 
 are the two figures of the Virgin and Elizabeth. 
 It would almost appear that the Arquebusiers 
 were not satisfied with these admirable specimens 
 of the painter's art, or at least that they were 
 unwilling to dispense with the portrait of their 
 patron saint, as on the reverse of the two doors or 
 wings, are two other pictures by Rubens, the one 
 representing the Giant, as desired, and the other 
 an old hermit, holding up a lantern, as if to light 
 the saint across the river. The colossal figure is 
 not considered by artists as worthy of Rubens' 
 pencil, and this is not much to be wondered at, as
 
 32 ANTWERP. 
 
 he evidently undertook it with reluctance. AVhen 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds saw it, he pronounced it too 
 red, and the outline not flowing ; now, however, 
 it is difficult to make out either the colouring or 
 outline of these two pictures on tlie outside of the 
 wings, which being constantly kept shut, much 
 of their colouring is lost by being exposed to the 
 strono- lioht and sunshine. Whether this St. 
 Christopher may be the great giant which the 
 legend says dwelt in a fort on the banks of the 
 Scheldt, and exacted tribute from all the craft that 
 passed, and cut off the hands of such as refused, 
 the history of him is silent ; but the legend goes 
 on to say, that one Brabon fought with this giant, 
 slew him, and cut off his hands, and threw him 
 in the Scheldt, after which the fort was named 
 Handswerpen^ which means ' Hands thrown 
 away,' and that this is the origin of the name of 
 Antwerp, and that Brabant took its name from 
 Brabon. Ridiculous as this, like most legends, 
 may appear, the arms of the city, which are two 
 hands and a triangular fort, seem to give counte- 
 nance to the story; and we observe on the arched 
 gateway which leads from the quay into the city, 
 the figure of a huge giant ; but whether it be St. 
 Christopher, or the Scheldt personified, is neither 
 material nor certain. 
 
 On the left of the nave of the Cathedral, in 
 proceeding towards the choir, and as a companion 
 to the ' Descent,' is another celebrated picture by 
 Rubens, of the ' Elevation of the Cross.' This 
 we did not see, a ladder being placed against the 
 doors that concealed it, for the purpose of clean- 
 ing the frames, and varnishing the outside pictures
 
 ANTWERP. 33 
 
 against the grand fete that was to be held at Ant- 
 werp the following month, preparatory to whicli 
 all the churches of the city were undergoing the 
 process of painting and cleaning ; but the picture 
 in question is represented by Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 as one of this artist's ' best and most animated 
 compositions,' On the outside of the wings are 
 painted, ' St. Catherine with a sword, and St. Eloi 
 attended by a female Saint and Angels.' 
 
 The ceiling of the cupola represents the 
 ' Virgin surrounded by Angels.' The painting 
 wants grandeur of design, but is light and pleasing. 
 The grand altar is exceedingly fine, and decorated 
 with some good specimens of sculpture in bas- 
 relief, and in the midst is thcgrand picture of the 
 ' Ascension of the Virgin,' by Rubens — a painting 
 that has been copied a hundred times, and may be 
 seen in almos-t every Catholic church on the Con- 
 tinent. It is not considered as among the best 
 paintings of the great artist. 
 
 The church of St. James, even if it were not 
 for the splendid pictures of Rubens, would be of 
 superior interest in every respect to the Cathedral. 
 It is filled in every part with well-executed sculp- 
 ture and paintings of great merit, though not of 
 the highest class. There is, however, one which 
 we all agreed to place among the first in rank 
 of the master. It is the picture of the ' Family 
 of Rubens,' painted by himself, and adorns the 
 chapel called after his name, and in which his 
 ashes repose. It is called, of course, a holy 
 family ; and a woman, with a child on her knee, 
 is the infant Jesus on the knee of his mother. 
 St. Jerome and St. George standing near her, 
 
 D
 
 S4 ANTWERF. 
 
 are the portraits of the artist and his father ; and 
 the Mary Magdalen, and the other female Saint, 
 are his two wives. There are several other figures, 
 among which are his Mistress and Daughter ; the 
 latter young female is exquisitely beautiful, and 
 the whole family is grouped in the most tasteful 
 manner. 
 
 This picture shows the great skill of the artist, 
 and the pains that have been bestowed on its execu- 
 tion. ' It is as clear and bright,' to use Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds's words, 'as if the sun shone on it;' and 
 he says, moreover, that, ' To a painter who wishes 
 ' to become a colourist, or learn the art of pro- 
 ' ducing a brilliant effect, this picture is as well 
 worth studying as any in Antwerp.' 
 
 There are several good pictures by Jordaens, 
 Van Dyk, Van Heemsen, Otto Venius, Schut, 
 and Diepenbeck ; but next to the Family of Ru- 
 bens, the sculpture -will be most admired. On 
 entering the great door, against a pillar on the 
 left is an Alto-relievo, cut out of a single stone, of 
 the 'Takino- down from the Cross,' which is a most 
 elaborate and masterly 'piece of sculpture, the action 
 of all the figures being expressed with great spirit, 
 and the detail of every object most minutely 
 attended to. It was said to be by Michael Yer- 
 voort, who studied at Rome. There are also two 
 Statues of St. Paul and St. John, both very fine 
 productions of the same artist. 
 
 This church, indeed, is filled ^vith the finest 
 specimens both in marble and wood, by the most 
 celebrated sculptors, Du Quesnoy, Quellyn, Wil- 
 lerasens, and Yerbruggen. Among the marble 
 bas-reliefs, is one very small, in Rubens's Chapel,
 
 ANTWERP. 35 
 
 of tlie ' Crucifixion/ which is exquisitely beautiful, 
 and in which the figure of 3Iary is quite enchant- 
 ing. In the specimens of wood -carving, the pulpit 
 and the confessionals will amply repay any atten- 
 tion that may be given to them. They are chiefly 
 by the two great artists in that line, and to whom 
 most of the churches in the Netherlands are in- 
 debted, Willemsens and Vcrbruggen. 
 
 Speaking of confessionals, a plain Protestant 
 would be apt to consider it as a symptom of laxity 
 in the conduct of the inhabitants of Antwerp, when 
 he observes the side aisles of this and other churches 
 to be filled almost from end to end with these little 
 sentry-boxes, to which the female part of society 
 almost exclusively resort. To a rational being it 
 is quite revolting to see young females, anxious, 
 as it were, to whisper their little failings and weak- 
 nesses, and their very thoughts, into the ear of 
 a priest, at whose mercy they at once place their 
 fortunes, and, perhaps, the welfare or misery of a 
 whole family. 
 
 While examining a beautiful specimen of carv- 
 ing, which decorated one of these confessionals, a 
 well-dressed vouno- female stood as if wishinof to 
 enter the box, but hesitated on observing, what 
 she justly considered us to be, a party of heretics. 
 We turned a little on one side, and presently a 
 strapping, athletic young priest, six feet high, after 
 giving us a scowl due to heretics like ourselves, 
 darted into his seat, and remained for a consider- 
 able time to listen, as he was observed eagerly to 
 do, to the story of the young woman. 
 
 The exterior of St. James's Church is bv no 
 D 2
 
 36 ANTWERP. 
 
 means undeserving of notice. The tower is finely 
 marked by bold= projections; and, though not 
 belonging to any particular class of architecture, 
 w^ll deservedly attract the traveller's admira- 
 tion. 
 
 The only other church, worthy of notice, is that 
 of St. Paul, formerly belonging to the Dominicans. 
 In some respects, the ornamental part of this 
 church is not inferior to the preceding. Against 
 the columns of the nave are placed the statues of 
 the twelve Apostles ; six on each side, rather of a 
 colossal size, but very well executed. The mag- 
 nificent altar-piece in the choir, with its marble 
 columns and various sculpture, is the work of 
 A^erbruggen, as is also the marble statue of St. 
 Paul which faces it. The picture of the ' Descent 
 from the Cross,' which decorates this splendid 
 altar, is the production of a Belgian of the name 
 of Cels, who studied at Rome. It is considered 
 as a work creditable to his talents. 
 
 This church is loaded witli pictures by Teniers, 
 De Grayer, Quellyn, De Yos, Jordaens, and other 
 Belgian artists. There are no less than fifteen of 
 them ranged in a row along the wall of the left aisle 
 on entering; and in the midst of them is a picture 
 by Rubens, which, perhaps, in point of colouring 
 and drawing, is not inferior to any of his works, 
 but at the same time is one of the most disagree- 
 able, — the ' Flagellation of Christ.' In the number 
 of these fifteen pictures is ' Christ carrying his 
 Cross,' by Van Dyk, and a Crucifixion, by Jor- 
 daens — botli good pictures ; but they, as well as 
 the Rubens, are lost among the group in which 
 tliey are ranged, and in the position in which they
 
 ANTWERP. 37 
 
 are placed : the light is so faint as scarcely to 
 admit of their being seen. 
 
 We happened to visit St. Paul's at the time of 
 high mass, and the effect was very remarkable. 
 The choir is separated from the nave and the side 
 aisles by a screen, and the high altar is visible 
 only through a great arch between it and the nave. 
 A high flight of steps leads up to the altar. 
 
 The efl^ect was quite theatrical. The platform 
 before the altar at the top of the steps ; • the mag- 
 nificeiit candelabra, with lights burning in them ; 
 the splendid dresses of the officiating priests ; their 
 activity and rapid movement up and down the 
 feiieps : the ringing of the bell, and the elevation 
 of the host, seen, as it appeared, at an immense 
 distance through the centre arch, and huge ole- 
 ander shrubs in full flower ranged on each side, — 
 had really the eff*ect of a scenic representation, 
 which was not diminished by the pealing organ, 
 the band of music, and the vocal accompaniment, 
 which tended to keep up to admiration tliejeu de 
 theatre. 
 
 The mass being ended, the congregation, con- 
 sisting chiefly of women, and, by far the greater 
 number, women of a certain age, were entertained 
 with a concert of vocal and instrumental music in 
 aid of the organ, which is considered by the people 
 of Antwerp the very first instnmient of the kind 
 in all Brabant, and is, at all events, unquestionably 
 a very fine and powerful organ ; yet a regular band 
 of wind and stringed instruments was stationed 
 in the organ-loft to assist in the performance. 
 
 They played, as we were told, an overture of 
 Mozart, after which some light pieces, which did
 
 38 ANTWERP. 
 
 not appear to be exactly suited to tlie solemnity of 
 tlie place ; but the object evidently was to please 
 tlie audience, while the elderli/ ladies, in particular, 
 were crowding round one of the inferior priests to 
 kiss some relic, which he held in one hand, and 
 wiped with a cloth carl'ied in the other every 
 kiss that this precious article, whatever it might 
 be, received, before it was presented to the next. 
 But this process went on in rapid succession, 
 while, in the mean time, the tin boxes were passing 
 round to collect the grosdien^ cents ^ or stiibers^ 
 from the poor people who had been thus favoured 
 with a holy kiss. On hearing the lively music, 
 and the effect it produced, one could not help 
 thinking that Whitfield was not far wrong wdien 
 he answered some of his flock, who objected to the 
 introduction of lively tunes into his chapel, that 
 he did not see why the devil should be allowed to 
 run away with all the good ones. 
 
 Without intending to speak slightingly of any 
 religion, which has for its object the adoration of 
 the Deity, or being fastidious as to the forms and 
 ceremonies which may be thought necessary to 
 impress the public mind with the duty and neces- 
 sity of assembling together, for the purpose of 
 joining in public worship ; and fully agreeing with 
 the poet that, 
 
 For modes of faith let zealous bigots fight; 
 His can't be wrong whose life is in the right ! 
 
 we still thought that the exhibition at St. PauFs 
 appeared to outstep the bounds of decorum, by 
 converting into a display of levity, not to say 
 mockery, what was intended to be an act of so- 
 lemnity. There is also on the outside of this
 
 ANTWERP. S9 
 
 «lnircli, a piece of mummery infinitely more repre- 
 hensible than the levity we had v»itnessed within. 
 In a small spot of ground, which may be called 
 the churchyard, are stuck upon pedestals at least 
 forty or fifty statues, as large as life, of prophets, 
 saints, priests, and patrons, some of them exceed- 
 ingly well executed, particularly the first two, 
 which represent two of the Dominican padres, 
 who are said to have travelled to Jerusalem, and 
 brought back with them a model of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, from which the one in this cliurchyard 
 has been copied. This piece of imposition stands 
 at the head of the group of statues, A mass 
 of rock work rises up to a considerable height, 
 meant as a representation of IMount Calvary., 
 out of which here and there appear the figTires 
 of saints and angels. At the foot of this rock 
 is the tomb of our Saviour, wherein he is seen 
 through a glass window, lying on a couch, 
 covered with a fine m.uslin sheet. On each side 
 of the tomb are gTottoes, wherein the horrors 
 of purgatory are meant to be represented by a 
 multitude of figures carved in wood, men and 
 women huddled together, with faces expressive of 
 the greatest agony, whilst flames of fire are burst- 
 inor forth and ra^ino: in the midst of them. One of 
 
 O CO 
 
 our party stumbled upon a living subject in the 
 person of an old woman, who was on her knees 
 before this agonized group, and retreated with no 
 slow step, imagining that one of the broiled souls 
 had effected its escape from this fiery furnace. 
 This exhibition is, in truth, a most contemptible 
 trick to extort money from the poor ignorant 
 wretches who frequent the place, and who are told
 
 40 ANTWERP. 
 
 that they may purchase exemption fi'om this 
 dungeon of torment, or at least may shorten its 
 duration, in proportion to their contributions; 
 and boxes to receive their donations are carefully 
 placed in different parts of the cliurchyard. 
 
 This contemptible exhibition, so humiliating to 
 the people and disgraceful to the priests, is in such 
 request at Antwerp, that the question is frequently 
 asked of a sti-anger, ' Have you seen Calvary ? * 
 When education, which is spreading fast over 
 every nation of Eurojiye, except j^erhaps in Spain 
 and Portugal, which ]>ersist in remaining in a state 
 of the most abject and brutal ignorance, shall 
 have enlightened men's minds, these fooleries will 
 have an end, and not till then. This is not an 
 age in w^hich such wretched impositions, not 
 sanctioned by revealed religion, and not consistent 
 with reason or common sense, can long maintain 
 their ground. 
 
 Evelyn speaks with rapture of ' delicious shade© 
 ' and walks of stately trees, which render the forti- 
 ' tied works of Antwerp one of the sweetest places 
 *• in Europe.' Since his time, too, we have heard of 
 shady walks, and the groves and pleasure-houses 
 within and without the walls ; but they have all 
 vanished ; and it will require some years longer 
 before the traveller can speak with delight on 
 things of this kind. The inflexible Carnot, wha 
 was intrusted with the defence of the place, laid 
 all around it bare ; and the young trees, that have 
 since been planted, are something about the size 
 of those which are intended to form the grand 
 mall in the Regent's Park. 
 
 The trees, however, have been replanted, and
 
 ANTWERP. 41 
 
 even the rising generation may perhaps enjoy tlie 
 benefit of their shade. The Quay, at present, 
 seems to be the best promenade ; and when these 
 trees have attained ten or twelve years' growth, 
 it will then form a handsome walk by the side of 
 the Scheldt.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 FROM ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM. 
 
 The most convenient, as well as tlie most expe- 
 ditious, mode of proceeding from Antwerp to 
 Rotterdam is by the steam-boat, which, during 
 the summer months, starts daily, at a certain hour, 
 from either port, regulated by the state of the 
 tide. The somewhat circuitous route among the 
 islands, cannot make the distance much less than 
 eighty miles, which, in our case, were performed 
 in ten hours ; having left Antwerp at nine in the 
 morning, and landed on the Quay of Rotterdam 
 at seven in the evening. 
 
 Our fellow-passengers were not far short of a 
 hundred, English, Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, 
 and Americans ; the ladies nearly as numerous as 
 the gentlemen. A good substantial dinner was 
 provided at a price reasonable enough ; we had 
 delightful weather, the water smooth, everybody 
 in good humour, and tlie navigation among the 
 islands was not only pleasant, but full of interest ; 
 the ingenious and laborious works of the indus- 
 trious Hollanders meeting the eye in every pos- 
 sible contrivance, to save their lands and habita- 
 tions from the inroads of the sea. 
 
 Among the various people of European nations 
 assembled in the steamer, every person, with the 
 exception of two French ladies, spoke intelligible
 
 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM. 43 
 
 English. The steward had been a prisoner of 
 war in England, and entered into the British 
 anny ; was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, where 
 he was wonnded in a skirmish with the KafFers ; 
 and, though yonng and healthy, had the good 
 fortune to enjoy a pension for life from Chelsea 
 Hospital. He was one of the many thousand 
 foreigners, who, perfectly able to maintain them- 
 selves, are mainly supported by the bounty of 
 Great Britain ; and it would seem but reasonable, 
 when certain gentlemen in the House of Com- 
 mons are grudging the pittance of half-pay to 
 officers of the British army, those of the German 
 Legion, many of whom are serving in the armies 
 of their respective states, should be the first to 
 undergo a reduction, more especially when it is 
 considered that ten shillinos on the continent is 
 
 o 
 
 equivalent to twenty in England. 
 
 The course pursued from Antwerp is do\vn the 
 Scheldt, in the first instance, as far as Batz ; then 
 through the narrow channel close to the edge 
 of the extensive sand, along the eastern side of 
 South Beveland, which is the Verdronken^ or 
 sunken land ; the channel of deepest water, wdiich 
 is shallow enough, is here marked oiF by tall 
 branches of trees, continuing for a long way, and 
 until the fortress of Bergen -op-zoom is passed at 
 a considerable distance to the right. We next 
 enter the long and narrow^ channel of Tholen ; 
 through the Yolk Rak into the Flakke and Hol- 
 land's Diep. After this the steamer enters another 
 narrow channel, more resembling an artificial 
 canal than an arm of the sea, and it continues 
 nearly of an equal width as far as Dordrecht or
 
 44 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM. 
 
 Dort, being seldom more than from fifty to sixty 
 yards wide. It has no visible artificial embank- 
 ments, but both its sides, apparently on a level 
 with the water, are thickly clothed with tall reeds. 
 Yet in this narrow channel were lying at anchor 
 a long range of square-rigged vessels, Dutch, 
 Americans, and Norwegians, at least from two to 
 four hundred tons burthen, but not a single English 
 ship among them ; a fact that was noticed with 
 a sort of triumph, as indeed well it might, by a 
 young American officer, who was one of the 
 passengers, and who suffered none of his country 
 ships to be passed without calling the attention of 
 the passengers to the stripes and stars. These 
 vessels were laden chiefly with staves, lumber, 
 tobacco, and other articles of American growth 
 and produce. 
 
 Very little population had hitherto been seen 
 along the shores of the islands : but on approach- 
 ing Dort, the scene began to change ; cottages 
 and workshops of various kinds skirted this narrow 
 navigation close to the water's edge ; and here 
 and there a neatly painted house was seen planted 
 in the midst of a garden. At some little distance 
 from Dort the uniformity was relieved, and the 
 unvaried scene much enlivened, by the appearance 
 of some fifty or sixty windmills, — some reckoned 
 up near a hundred, — busily whirling round, some 
 employed in grinding corn, others in crushing 
 various kinds of seeds, chiefly rape, for their oil, 
 some in the preparation of snuff", but by far the 
 greater number in sawing wood. The reedy banks 
 of the channel had now given way to little patches 
 of garden ground in front of these mills, the lower
 
 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM!. 45 
 
 part of which were generally very neat inhabited 
 dwellings ; their roofs, and also the sides of the 
 mills above the habitable part, were mostly 
 thatched with reeds, in a very neat manner, and 
 so contrived that nothing but the. points were 
 visible, which gave the appearance of their being- 
 covered with a brown rough coat of sand or 
 pebbles, but at a little distance tliis covering 
 resembled the skin of a mole. 
 
 Now also we had on both sides of this navi- 
 gable channel, which from Dort to Rotterdam 
 may be considered as the united branches of the 
 Rhine and the Meuse, numerous small establish- 
 ments of ship and boat builders, small villages, 
 and now and then a gentleman's house and plea- 
 sure grounds. The confluence of the two streams 
 at Dort had considerably enlarged the navigable 
 channel, which here takes the name of the Maas, 
 and retains it till it reaches the sea, having first 
 passed Rotterdam, Delfshaven, and the Brille. A 
 little above Rotterdam we observed, among other 
 shipping that were at anchor, one of the most 
 extraordinary, and it will probably turn out one 
 of the most useless, and it may be added, danger- 
 ous, A'essels that was ever sent upon the ocean. 
 A friend of ours had the curiosity to go on board, 
 and ascertain the particulars of her size and con- 
 struction. She was a steam -boat, named the Atlas, 
 and intended for Batavia. Her lengih measured 
 two hundred and fifty feet, breadth thirty-eight 
 feet, and her calculated burthen nine hundred and 
 lifty tons. She had three engines, each of one 
 hundred-horse power ; four masts, of which her 
 foremast was so calculated as to carr}^ a fore and
 
 46 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM. 
 
 aft sail, square top-sail, topgallant- sail, and stud- 
 ding-sails. The topsail-yard was seventy-four 
 feet long; the other tliree masts were rigged 
 alike, with fore and aft sails, and gaff topsails ; 
 her deck Avas described as rising considerably 
 from Ihe bow and stem towards the centre, which 
 gave her the appearance of being hogged; and 
 this, the engineer said, was purposely done to 
 enable her to bear the weight of the engines with - 
 out breaking ; but lie expected they would bring 
 her deck to a level. It would probably not stop 
 there, but ratlier sink it to an inverted arch, and 
 the ship itself to the bottom of the sea, if any 
 person can be found careless enough of his life to 
 carry her out upon that element. She is wall- 
 sided, and appeared to have no bearing on the 
 water. The Dutch, having no name in their own 
 language for steam but ruik or damp^ have bor- 
 rowed one from us, and called this kind of vessel 
 a Stoom-hoat ; the Germans have named it a 
 Dampf-schiff. 
 
 On landing on the Quay of Rotterdam, we 
 found the Hotel des Pays-bas, a large and most 
 excellent house, completely full, which compelled 
 us to take up our abode at the New Bath Hotel, 
 a much inferior one on the same quay. The house 
 was small and indifferently furnished ; but the 
 most essential part, the beds, were good, and the 
 linen, both for them and the table, white as snow. 
 This article the traveller will find clean and neat 
 throughout Holland, Prussia, and the Netherlands. 
 And it may be here added, that in no single 
 instance were we disgusted or annoyed, notwith- 
 standing the heat of the nights, with bug, flea,
 
 ANTWERP TO ROTTERDAM. 47 
 
 gnat, or musqiiito, in any part of our route, with 
 the single exception of a few small gnats that had 
 entered the open window^ at j\ ntweq). Tliis is the 
 more surprising, especially in Holland, where so 
 much stagnant water prevails. 
 
 The landlord affected a taste for pictures, and 
 showed us one covered with a curtain in the dining 
 room, for which, he told us, an Englishman had 
 offered him ten thousand g-uilders, about 830/. 
 The subject was St. John in the Wilderness, by 
 Murillo, and he said it was out of the Orleans' 
 collection. 
 
 All the luggage of the ninety or a hundred 
 passengers was bundled on shore as fast as it 
 could be got out, and laid on the quay at the same 
 time. The night closing in, it was not without 
 reason that some of the party were apprehensive 
 of the fine opportunity that was afforded the 
 Dutch porters to take advantage of, and exercise 
 their thieving propensities, at which, they had 
 learned, from Marianne Starke's ' Guide,' they 
 were uncommonly expert, and likewise much 
 given to imposition. It would be but fair on 
 the part of IMarianne Starke (if such a person 
 there be), or of her publisher (if it should be a 
 nom de guerre), to print in a note, as an act of 
 impartiality, and for the benefit of Dutchmen 
 who may travel in England, the following notifi- 
 cation, vv^iich appears in an English newspaper, 
 that happened to be in the steamer : — ' Margate is 
 very full of company, and plenty of pickpockets ; 
 thieving is so much the fashion here now, that 
 constables are obliged to be stationed on the pier 
 during the time of landing the passengers ; and
 
 48 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 it is quite impossible to frequent public places, 
 without a protecting guard.' With regard to our- 
 selves, it is but justice to say that every article, 
 great and small, belonging to seven persons, was 
 carefully lodged in the hotel, though nearly dark ; 
 and that the porters, so far from practising or 
 attempting imposition, left the remuneration for 
 their trouble entirely to ourselves, only observing, 
 with a smile, that it was now kirmes, or fair time : 
 as much as to say, ' I hope your honours will give 
 us a trifle to drink.' When we call to mind the 
 daily reports from the several police-offices of 
 thieving, robbing, pocket- picking, house-break- 
 incr, and swindlinof, we have not much to boast of 
 English honesty over that of foreigners. 
 
 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 A smooth flowing river, as large as the Thames 
 at Westminster, and thrice its depth, bordered on 
 the one side opposite to the town with a high green 
 sloping bank planted with trees, and on the town 
 side with a noble, uninterrupted quay, of at least 
 three- fourths of a mile in extent ; and on this quay 
 a long line of fine old elm trees, of some centuries' 
 gTOwtli, yet still in full vigour, — such are the 
 objects that, on approaching Rotterdam by water, 
 first strike the stranger's eye, and, with the seve- 
 ral tiers of ships along the whole extent of the 
 quay, are admirably calculated to convey to his 
 mjnd an impression of the wealth and importance 
 of this commercial city. 
 
 The name given to this fine quay does not at 
 all correspond with its present description. It is
 
 ROTTERDAM. 49 
 
 called Boomtjes, ' or the little trees,' which, like 
 the ' new streets' of our towns, are frequently 
 among the oldest that arc found therein. The 
 ' Boomtjes' are now fully equal in size to the 
 largest trees in St. James's Park, having been 
 planted in the year 1615. 
 
 It is not very difficult to give a general idea of 
 Rotterdam ; but the effect which is altogether 
 produced on a stranger, who, for the first time, 
 has visited a Dutch city, is not so easily to be 
 conveyed. The ground-plan of the city is that of 
 a trianole, the base being the quay we have men- 
 tioned, stretching along the river, in its whole 
 length about a mile and a quarter, according to 
 the plan, the central portion of which is the 
 'Boomtjes,' occupying, as before said, about three 
 quarters of a mile ; and a perpendicular, drawn 
 from it to the opposite extremity, may be some- 
 what less than a mile. Through the middle of 
 most of the streets runs a straight canal, bordered 
 by large, lofty, and healthy trees, — oaks, elms, 
 and lime-trees, chiefly the latter; and all these 
 canals are, or at least were, crowded with shipping 
 of every conceivable size and form. They are 
 crossed by numerous draw- bridges, which, mixed 
 with the shipping, the trees, and the houses, have 
 a very picturesque effect. Between the trees and 
 each of the canals is the quay, which is of a width 
 sufficient for shipping, landing, and receiving all 
 articles of merchandise ; and within the row of 
 trees is the paved streets for carts, carriages, and 
 horses ; and between this again, and extending 
 close to the fronts of the houses, is a paved foot- 
 path of bricks, or clinkers as they are called, set 
 
 E
 
 50 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 edgeways, which, like our trottoirs, are for the 
 pole use of foot-passengers, but, unlike ours, are 
 not raised above the level of the street. It vdll 
 readily be imagined, that in these canal-streets, 
 with all the shipping, there will be an incessant 
 bustle. 
 
 The houses are generally on a large scale, and 
 lofty; in many of the streets they are really 
 elegant. But belonging, as they do, chiefly to 
 merchants and tradesmen, their work-houses or 
 magazines are sometimes on the gTound floor, and 
 frequently extend far behind, while the family is 
 contented to inhabit the upper stories. Witli all 
 this, however, nothino- can exceed in cleanliness 
 every part of the exterior of those houses. Here 
 we observed, as in Antwerp, that the women 
 were constantly employed in washing the walls, 
 the doors, the window-shutters, and windows, by 
 means of small pump-engines, or with pails, mops, 
 and scrubbing-brushes; and when engaged in this 
 operation, they are seldom deterred from pursuing 
 their task of brushing, scrubbing, or dashing 
 water, by the heaviest showers of rain that may 
 happen to fall. In fact, a Dutchman's house ex- 
 ternally is as neat as paint and water can- make 
 it ; nor are they less neat and clean in the interior. 
 The floors, in general, are so rubbed and polished 
 as scarcely to allow one to walk upon them with 
 safety. 
 
 There are three principal canals, or rather, from 
 their superior size and opening into the river, are 
 called havens or harbours. One of these, on the 
 western extremity of the city, is named the Leuve 
 haven, and two otliers towards the eastern ex-
 
 ROTTERDAM. 51 
 
 tremity, the old and new havens. They are, 
 strictly speakhig, three branches or creeks of the 
 Maas, communicatino- with each other and witli 
 the various canals which intersect the town; tlius 
 not only affording a constant supply of water to 
 the canals, but, by the ebbing and flowing of the 
 tide, keeping up a circulation ; and, like the arte- 
 ries of the human body, conveying to all tlie 
 smaller branches a fresh supply of water, and 
 preserving it from becoming stagnant and putrid. 
 In addition to this supply from the ]Maas, is that 
 of the river Rotte, which descends through the 
 very heart of the town, contributing its portion 
 to the replenishing of the canals. 
 
 The old haven, near the extremity where it 
 joins the Maas, is too wide for a draw-bridge, 
 and is crossed, therefore, l)y a flat-bottomed boat, 
 which plies as a ferry. 
 
 Tlie other havens and the canals have many 
 drawbridges over them ; and some have perma- 
 nent stone piers, with openings only in the middle 
 to let the vessels pass through with their masts 
 standing. 
 
 It may be observed that, in general, each par- 
 ticular species of merchandise has its appropriate 
 canal and quay ; and following up this principle, 
 each of the eight or ten market-places has its own 
 peculiar articles for sale, as the butter-market, the 
 cheese-market, the fish-market, &c. 
 
 It is said that Rotterdam at present contains 
 about fifty thousand inhabitants, which is about 
 one-third part less than in tlie days of its pros- 
 perity ; and it may be doubted whether, with all 
 the appearance of briskness and bustle, it is mak- 
 E 2
 
 52 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 ing mucli progress towards the recovery of its 
 former prosperous state : for though there certainly 
 were evident indications of an active commerce 
 about the quays, and the canals and basins were 
 crowded with shipping, most of them Dutch 
 bottoms, and evidently, from their state of equip- 
 ment, engaged, or about to be engaged, in trade ; 
 yet it was a remark we made, in perambulating 
 the town, that none of us had noticed a single 
 additional house recently built, or that was build- 
 ing, or even an old one repairing, in any one of 
 the streets ; and there are certainly not many 
 streets in Rotterdam that we did not, in our short 
 stay, visit. The same observation will apply to 
 the suburbs and their environs, at least on the 
 side wdiich faces the direction of Amsterdam. 
 
 In fact, Rotterdam, like all the sea-port towns 
 of Holland, will yet require time to gain its 
 former state of activity and prosperity. Before 
 that luckless hour in which the sober-minded and 
 calculating Dutcliman was seized with the frenzy 
 of Vri/hcid en Geh/kheid — liberty and equality — 
 which ended in driving away the Oiide Stadt- 
 houder, and receiving the fraternal embrace of the 
 French; — that is to say, before the year 1793, 
 the number of ships that annually cleared out 
 from Rotterdam is stated to have been about one 
 thousand nine hundred; from that year to 1814, 
 the number had dwindled down to something less 
 than two hundred. They have now again gradu- 
 ally advanced to about one thousand five hundred; 
 and when they shall have reached tliat point in 
 the scale from which they descended, the citizens 
 of Rotterdam will probably once more build new
 
 ROTTERDAM. 53 
 
 houses, and renovate some of the once splendid 
 establishments, ])articularly those connected with 
 their East India trade and possessions, that have 
 fallen into decay. 
 
 In the midst of tlicir decreasing prosperity, 
 hoAA'ever, it does not appear that any of their 
 charitable institutions have been neglected or 
 abridged ; and absorbed as the Dutch are gene- 
 rally supposed to be, in the ways and means of 
 accumulating ' filthy lucre,' they cannot justly 
 be accused of any disinclination to relieve the 
 distresses of humanity, or to promote the moral 
 and intellectual advancement of their countrymen. 
 They have their Bible Societies and their Mis- 
 sionary Societies ; they have a Society of Arts 
 and Sciences, instituted for public benefit ; they 
 liave a Philosophical Society, which takes the 
 name, or rather adopts as its motto, the words 
 ' Variety and Harmony,' — ' Verschiedeiiheit an 
 Ocerrenstemming ;' — words that, to an English 
 ear, are not well calculated to convey the idea of 
 harmony. But there is still another society for 
 experimental philosophy, with a name that almost 
 frightens one to look at, — ' Genootschap van 
 Proefondervindelf/l'e Wf/sgehiei^te.' Its objects are 
 highly important to society, but to this singular 
 country in particular — the improvement of agri- 
 culture, navigation, hydraulics, and highways. 
 
 The public buildings of Rotterdam are not par- 
 ticularly striking. The ports or gates are among 
 the most remarkable. The exchange is a modern 
 building, with a dome in the centre, and a turret 
 at each end. The East India House is a large 
 plain building in the ' Boomtjes.' The Court of
 
 n4 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 Justice is a neat Imildino- enoiioh ; and the 
 Scbieland-huis is, perhaps, the handsomest spe- 
 cimen of architecture in Rotterdam. On its front 
 are several pilasters crowned with Corinthian 
 capitals, and the pediment in the centre is tilled 
 with allegorical sculpture. It was the house in 
 wliicli the commissioners for the regulation and 
 
 manaoement of dvkes and canals held their meet- 
 
 ^ . • * 
 ings ; and in it were lodged Napoleon and Maria 
 
 Louisa when, in 1811, thev made the tour of 
 Holland. The India House and the Custom 
 House have nothing remarkable in their size or 
 appearance. 
 
 To almost every house in Rotterdam, and some- 
 times to every window of a house on the first 
 floor, there is fixed a single or double looking- 
 glass or reflector, by means of which a person in 
 the room, sitting before the window, can see by 
 reflection the whole length of the street, the pas- 
 sengers, tlie trees, the canal, and the shipping. 
 When two of these reflectors are placed at right 
 angles, and the right angle pointed towards tlie 
 window, thus. A, a person within directing the 
 ■eye to that angle will see the whole street both 
 to the right and to the left. In some of the 
 to^^^ls of England one may now and then observe 
 one of these reflecting glasses, which is generally 
 supposed to be intended to put tlie inhabitant on 
 liis guard against unwelcome visiters, and on that 
 account they have been whimsically called dunner- 
 scopes. In Rotterdam they are universally adopted 
 for the amusement of the ladies, more especially 
 those of the upper classes, wdio appear but seldom 
 in the streets.
 
 ROTTERDAM. 55 
 
 "SVe were surprised at first that so few shops were 
 observed in the principal streets — in several of 
 them none whatever, till we were informed that 
 in the Hoog-street, or High-street, there were 
 nothing but shops. This street is so far singular, 
 that it has no canal in it. It runs in a direct line 
 east and west, through the town, and may be 
 assimilated to the Strand in London, before its 
 improved state, as to length and breadth, and the 
 number of its shops ; but the houses in general 
 are far superior to those of the old Strand ; and 
 when we passed through it, we found the street 
 nearly as crowded and full of bustle as that of 
 London ; but this was probably occasioned by its 
 beino' the annual fair or kermes. 
 
 This street, so different from tlie rest, was built 
 on a ridge raised considerably above the others, 
 while narrow^ alleys on either side had a regular 
 descent from it. 
 
 The same kind of street, we were told, was to 
 be met with in most of the towns of Holland ; 
 and, indeed, we found it to be so. Sometimes wo 
 were led to conclude that this elevated situation 
 was owing to the accumulation of earth that had 
 been thrown out in digging the canals in the 
 streets parallel to it. This, however, could not 
 have been precisely the case here. The line of 
 Hoog-street was originally the dyk or rampart 
 that protected the old town, to the northward of 
 it, from the inundations of the ^laas, which then 
 washed the foot of this rampart ; and that the 
 whole extent of the tovra between it and the 
 Maas, which is, in fact, the largest and best por- 
 tion of Rotterdam, stands on ground gained from
 
 56 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 the water, and consequently much lower than the 
 rampart on which the High-street is built. 
 
 There is not much in Rotterdam, after the 
 first sight of it, to attract the traveller s atten- 
 tion. The churches in Holland have little to 
 recommend them ; for here, as in all countries 
 where the reformed religion took root and ex- 
 pelled Catholicism, the churches were stripped 
 of all their statues, pictures, and other decora- 
 tions that were profusely lavished on them by 
 their former possessors. The old Romish cathe- 
 dral, at the upper part of Rotterdam, is a fine 
 lofty building, having a remarkable large square 
 tower, with bold projections, the picturesque 
 effect of which is increased by its unfinished 
 state, the top appearing to be in a ruinous and 
 crumblino- condition. Internally, with the ex- 
 ception of a few monuments, there is little beyond 
 the magnitude of the buildino- itself to attract 
 notice. The choir is fenced off from the great 
 aisle bv a screen of bronze railinof. The hio-h 
 altar, with its former ornaments, its sculptures 
 and paintings of saints and angels, has wholly 
 disappeared ; and a plain pulpit usurps the place 
 where the altar once stood, to be used only for 
 the celebration of marriaoes, and the examination 
 and confirmation of catechumens. 
 
 To compensate in some degree for the absence 
 of ornament, an organ has recently been com- 
 pleted, which may be classed among the first 
 instruments of the kind for power and tone that are 
 anywhere to be met with. The gentleman who 
 happened to be in the church when we visited it, 
 and who was one of its deacons or elders, assured
 
 ROTTERDAM. 57 
 
 US that it contained five thousand five hundred 
 pipes ; that the hirge diapason pipe was thirty-two 
 feet high, and sixteen inches square. 
 
 The height of the ceiling, he said, was two 
 hundred feet ; deduct from this the height of the 
 portico or colonnade on which the organ stands, 
 and the height of tlie ornament between its sum- 
 mit and the ceiling, which together did not appear 
 to exceed fifty feet, and there remains one hundred 
 and fifty feet for the height of the organ ; it did 
 not, however, appear so high. It requires three 
 pair of bellows to supply it with wind. This 
 gentleman sent for the organist, who played 
 with several stops ; some of the tones were so 
 deep and powerful as to shake the floor. The 
 human voice stop plays sweetly, and in a chorus 
 the tenor and treble are peculiarly soft and melo- 
 dious ; and we imagined the resemblance of the 
 sounds to those of human voices to be very strik- 
 ing. The Haarlem organ has generally been 
 mentioned as the largest in the world, but we 
 were assured that this of St. Lawrence was very 
 considerably larger and more powerful. 
 
 Every stranger, who takes up his abode in Rot- 
 terdam, thinks it right to pay a visit to the statue 
 of Erasmus, erected in the great market-place, on 
 the centre of an arched bridge, and looking down 
 the canal. It is of bronze, and almost black ; but 
 we were told that for some time after it was first 
 put up, it was the custom to make it undergo an 
 annual scouring, till it was quite bright, and that 
 the practice was only discontinued on those who 
 had the charge of it being satisfied that by such 
 a process they were destroying the beauty of the
 
 58 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 worlvmaiisliip and altering the features. The 
 figure appears intent on a book which he holds 
 open in both hands; it impresses one with the 
 idea of a sober, sedate person, just in that act 
 and attitude which best would become the cha- 
 racter of that gTeat man which it was intended to 
 represent. On two of the sides of the pedestal 
 are two long Latin inscriptions, and on the other 
 two sides the same number in the Dutcli language. 
 His real name in that lano-uaoe was Gerrit Ger- 
 ritz, a cacophonous appellation, vrhich he appears 
 to have felt was not exactly calculated to float 
 smoothly down the stream of time, beyond the 
 precincts of his own country ; and he therefore 
 translated it into Latin and Greek terms of cog- 
 nate signification, and called himself Desiderius 
 Erasmus. We did not perceive that there was 
 anything remarkable in the execution, either of 
 the head and features, or of the drapery ; we 
 thought it above mediocrity, but far below what 
 Chantreyand Westmacott, I3ailey and many others 
 at home, have executed. 
 
 Not far from hence, in a narrow street witliout 
 a canal, stands the Cathedral, which leads to the 
 small house in which this learned man lived ; and 
 in a niche between two windows in the upper tier, 
 there is also placed a small statue of him, under 
 which is this inscription, Hcec est parva damns 
 niagnus qua natus Erasmus. But alas ! to what 
 vile uses may men's houses, as well as their bodies, 
 be turned ! — this humble dwelling of Erasmus is 
 converted into a gin-shop. 
 
 The stork, in its annual visits, for it is a bird of 
 passage, is never molested in Holland. It, there-
 
 ROTTERDAM. 69 
 
 fore, docs not scruple to build its nest on the tops 
 of trees in the midst of towns and villages, on the 
 towers of churches, and even on the chimney-tops. 
 In our rambles through the ^streets, some of our 
 party happened to observe a flock of these birds 
 wheeling high in the air over our heads, wdien a 
 Dutch gentleman told us that, on the following day 
 or the day after, they would certainly take their 
 leave of Holland, being congregated for their 
 departure; he said it had long been remarked 
 that these creatures knew precisely, and strictly 
 kept, their appointed days of arrival and departure 
 in and from Holland, which were about the middle 
 of February and the middle of August, within a 
 very few^ days more or less. This is, in fact, just 
 what has been said of this bird in days of old, as 
 we learn from the book of Job, ' The stork in 
 the heavens hath its appointed times.' It is not 
 exactly known to what parts of the world they 
 migrate from the northern portion of Europe ; but 
 they are common to Egypt, Palestine, Barbary, 
 and the plains of Northern Africa ; — why then, it 
 may be asked, do they leave the food they seem 
 most to delight in — such as snakes, frogs, reptiles, 
 and insects — just at the time when they most 
 abound, and proceed to these sandy and barren 
 countries, where, it is true, snakes and lizards, and 
 a few venomous reptiles may be equally plentiful, 
 but are, perhaps, the only kind of food which Hol- 
 land affords ? Perhaps they may be possessed of 
 delicate appetites similar to our own, and have 
 discovered that, like some of our birds and fishes, 
 these aquatic animals of Holland are out of season 
 in the middle of August. The truth is, we know
 
 60 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 but little of the real history of migratory animals, 
 or of the cause for their migration. 
 
 Fortunately for the stork, it is held as a sacred 
 bird, not only by the Dutcli and Danes, but also 
 in Asia and Africa ; for different reasons, perhaps, 
 in these different reoions. In Holland, not so 
 much for any service it may be supposed to ren- 
 der, in cleaning their dykes and ditches, — for the 
 Dutch have no dislike whatever to frogs, — but on 
 account of the alleoed filial affection of the youno- 
 birds for their parents. This trait vs'as so well 
 known to the ancients, that the stork became an 
 emblem of filial piety ; its English name, indeed, 
 is taken from the Greek word ^ropyrj^ which 
 signifies natural affection. 
 
 A Danish author says, that when the storks first 
 make their appearance in early spring, nothing is 
 more common than to see many of the old birds, 
 tired and feeble with their long flight, supported 
 occasionally on the backs of the young ones ; and 
 the peasants have no doubt that they are laid care- 
 fully in those very nests, in which the year before 
 these young ones had been nurtured. Thus says 
 the poet, — 
 
 ' The stork's an emblem of true piety ; 
 Because wlien age lias seized and made his dam 
 Unfit for flight, the grateful young one takes 
 His mother on his back, provides her food, 
 Repaying thus her tender care of him, 
 Ere he was fit to fly.' 
 
 The Dutch have the character of being a grave and 
 sedate people, but they have also a great deal of dry 
 humour and drollery about them, that is sometimes 
 exceedingly amusing ; and no people in the world
 
 ROTTERDAM. 61 
 
 are more fond of social intercourse than they are. 
 On every side of the city of Rotterdam are tea- 
 gardens, and houses of entertainment, where the 
 citizens meet to enjoy themselves with various 
 kinds of games, drinking their wine, tea, or coffee, 
 and smoking their pipes. They have also their 
 Vauxhalls and Almacks in the suburbs, and what 
 is still better, besides the societies already men- 
 tioned, they have a very flourishing one for the en- 
 courao-ement of literature and the fine arts. There 
 is also a Botanical Garden, which we regretted not 
 liaving time to visit. 
 
 The kermes, or annual fair, to which people of 
 all descriptions resort from different parts of the 
 country, was held at this time in various parts of 
 the city ; and the w^der streets wTre filled with 
 booths for the sale of trinkets and children's toys, 
 cakes, and gingerbread, with all manner of eating 
 and drinking, tossing of pancakes, and the same 
 kind of exhibitions and amusements as are seen in 
 one of our own country fairs of the better kind. 
 
 This annual festival had just commenced as we 
 arrived, and was to continue a fortnight. All was 
 cheerfulness and bustle ; but neither noise, nor 
 tumult, nor drunkenness incommoded the inha- 
 bitants in their houses, or the passengers in the 
 streets. It was decent mirth, quiet humour, and 
 composed drollery. 
 
 We found some difficulty in getting admittance 
 at the dock-yard. It was necessary, we were 
 told at the gate, to have an order or a recommen- 
 dation from some respectable inhabitant ; but as 
 the dock-yard w^as situated at the extremity of the 
 town, and our time was pressing, we desired the
 
 62 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 porter to take our cards to the Schuythy Naughty 
 or rear admiral, who was acting as the commis- 
 sioner, and whose name was De Reus. He imme- 
 diately gave an order that we should see every 
 thing ; on which the officer who attended us 
 seemed to lay great stress, as a special mark of 
 favour ; but we soon found that this ' seeing every 
 thing' was in fact to see very little worth seeing. 
 It consisted chiefly of three objects, which seemed 
 to be considered as the only ' lions ' that could be 
 interesting to a landsman, and the only ones shown 
 to strangers, though it is more than probable 
 there was nothing more to be seen than the naked- 
 ness of the land. 
 
 First, there was the armoury, in which the mus- 
 kets, pikes, swords, pistols, and ail the offensive 
 weapons, except the great guns, used in ships of 
 war, are kept in bright order, and tastefully 
 enough an^anged. They are contained in two 
 small rooms, and could not, at the most, be more 
 than sufficient for the supply of five or six sail of 
 the line. 
 
 The second object of exhibition was a new 
 steam-boat lying afloat in a canal, that was housed 
 over, built expressly for the use of his majesty, 
 and intended to convey himself and family between 
 the Hague and Brussels, or any other part of his 
 dominions traversed by rivers or canals ; tliough 
 it is probable they will soon give up the navio ation 
 of the latter by steam, on experiencing the havoc 
 and destruction which the waves, raised by the 
 paddle-wheels, will occasion to the earthen banks. 
 The lengih of this vessel measured 135 feet ; it 
 had two cnoines of 35 horso t>ower each. The
 
 ROTTERDAM. 63 
 
 chimney or funnel.^ and the rigging that supports 
 it, the railing that runs along the sides, and every- 
 thing on deck that is metal, were of copper, kept 
 bright by constant scouring and rubbing, which, 
 in this damp climate, and not the best of all pos- 
 sible atmospheres, must be a daily drudgery to 
 several persons. The sides are painted green, 
 and the upper works green and gold, highly orna- 
 mented with emblematic sculpture, covered with 
 o'ildino-. Even the rudder is oilt down to the 
 water's edge. The cabins are neatly fitted up, 
 and lined with mahogany. The king and queen 
 have each a bed-room. There are bed places for 
 eight gentlemen attendants, and for two maids of 
 honour. 
 
 The third ' lion ' was a twenty-oared barge of 
 a beautiful model, built also for the use of the 
 king. This mag-nificent boat is sixty-four feet 
 long, splendidly painted in blue and gold. On 
 the prow, which projects considerably beyond the 
 cut-water, is the figure of Neptune, with his trident, 
 sitting in a splendid car, drawn by four tritons, 
 exceedingly well carved, and richly gilt ; the whole 
 of tlie carved work on this barge, and the steam- 
 boat, is indeed far superior to any of those gilt 
 logger-heads, which vre sometimes see stuck under 
 the bowsprit of our ships of war. 
 
 The, builders of our dock-yards, in fact, admit 
 that the art of carving in wood in ship-building has 
 of late years been lost. With tlic Dutch it is kept 
 as a separate branch, and in eacli of their yards is 
 .1 carver's shop. 
 
 We next visited some of their storehouses, which 
 in this yard are not extensive, but they were nearly
 
 64 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 empty. The timber was scanty, and mostly fa- 
 shioned, in which state, we were told, it is brought 
 into the yard. 
 
 A seventy-fonr gun ship, not further advanced 
 than her keel, had just been laid down, and her 
 floor-timbers were all ready, but we did not ob- 
 serve any of the other timbers for her frame. The 
 roof under which she was to be built very much 
 resembled those in our dock-yards ; but w^e saw 
 nothing of those galleries within it, which have 
 been commended as an improvement on our own. 
 
 Under a second roof w^as a fifty-gun frigate 
 building, and under a third, one of the same class 
 repairing. The new frigate had a round stern, 
 similar to those which Sir Robert Seppings was 
 accused of having pilfered from the Dutch, but 
 which, though perhaps superior for all naval pur- 
 poses, he has reconverted almost to square ones, re- 
 serving, however, the principle of upright timbers, 
 which by giving strength constitutes its greatest 
 merit. The Dutch frigate's stern was certainly 
 round with a projection in the centre, like one of 
 those sentry-boxes sometimes seen in the angle of 
 a bastion, and which serves in the ship as the sub- 
 stitute for a quarter gallery. 
 
 The opening between the timbers of this frigate 
 were filled in, so as to make the hull one solid 
 mass, and the builder took care to observe, as if 
 it was something new, that if a plank should start, 
 there would be no danoer of the ship sinkino;. 
 We did not go into the hold, but our conductor 
 said that she was strengthened with diagonal 
 braces, and that all her bolts below the water-line 
 were of copper. They also made use of straight
 
 ROTTERDAM. 65 
 
 timbers and the futtocks of the ribs had square 
 heads and heels fastened by cogues. In short, it 
 appeared to us that the whole of Seppings's inven- 
 tions had been adopted in the dockyard of Rot- 
 terdam ; and so satisfied were they of the utility 
 of roofs, that all the small craft even were building 
 under cover. 
 
 The timber, made use of in the dockyard of 
 this place, is brought by water from various parts 
 of the Netherlands, and is squared, and mostly 
 fashioned in the forests, but being used without 
 a proper degree of seasoning, the ships are not of 
 long duration. This was particularly the case with 
 those built under Buonaparte's reign, at Antwerp, 
 one half of them being rotten without ever going 
 to sea, and nearly useless at the end of five or six 
 years. In fact, all the German timber is light and 
 porous, in comparison with our best Suffolk oak, 
 and liable to that speedy species of decay which 
 has been called, improperly enough, the dry-rot ; 
 a disease which was converted into one of the 
 greatest bugbears that, for a long time, had in- 
 fested our naval arsenals, but the ghost of which 
 has, at last, been laid for ever in the Red Sea. 
 
 One would be led to conclude, that the Dutch 
 must experience a considerable degree of incon- 
 venience from the want of dry docks, though they 
 seem not to feel it. In our dockyards, they are 
 so common, that the bottom of a g-un-brig or a 
 cutter cannot be looked at, without their assistance, 
 When the Dutch have occasion to examine the 
 bottoms of their largest ships, the operation of 
 heaving them down, while afloat, is resorted to by 
 means of careening pits, in which the necessary 
 
 F
 
 66 ROTTERDAM. 
 
 blocks and pnrcliases for the purpose are placed. 
 It is, however, but an a^ykward process, when 
 performed on large ships of war, and not without 
 considerable danger, but it is resorted to in pre- 
 ference to tlie certainty of incurring a large ex- 
 penditure for the construction of a dry dock, 
 especially in a country where the foundations are 
 bad, and no materials to be had except what must 
 be imported from other countries at a great 
 expense.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 There are two methods of making the journey 
 from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, as there are, in- 
 deed, between ahnost every two towns throughout 
 Holland, — by land and by water. The latter is 
 the most common, and most easy and convenient, 
 as well as by much the cheaper, but is somewhat 
 slower than posting ; the treckschuyt going barely 
 at the rate of four miles an hour, while post-horses, 
 or others hired for the journey, will make good a 
 little more than five miles an hour. The dis- 
 tance by either way, in the present case, is nearly 
 the same, as the straight line of road generally 
 accompanies, in a parallel direction, the straight 
 canal, and in most parts of it has a straight row 
 of trees on each side ; everything in Holland, 
 where it can conveniently be done, being laid out 
 with a line. The trifling difference, however, in 
 point of speed is not the only objection which a 
 stranger, desirous of seeing the country, will make 
 to the water conveyance. The banks of the canal 
 are sometimes so high that the view is intercepted 
 by them, and confined to the line of the canal. 
 We, therefore, hired a four-wheeled carriage, 
 known in Holland by the name of char-a-lanc^ 
 which, with its three cross seats, we found to be 
 sufficiently roomy to hold, without inconvenience, 
 f2
 
 68 ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 six persons and their luggage, besides a servant 
 on the dickey. In this veiiicle the owner agreed 
 to carry ns to Amsterdam in two days ; and for 
 the hire of this, with two horses, the owner feed- 
 ing them, and paying the driver, we were charged 
 forty-eight guilders or florins (four pounds ster- 
 ling), the distance being about fifty miles, or a 
 little more. 
 
 On the 11th of August, about noon, we left 
 Rotterdam. The road, as we afterwards found to 
 be common throughout Holland, was paved with 
 a particular kind of brick, called a clinker, set 
 closely on edge, ver}' neatly fitted together, and 
 as level as a bowling green. 
 
 After running for some distance along the side 
 of the canal, the road branched off, and here 
 commenced a continued succession of neat, and 
 sometimes very handsome villas on both sides, 
 and at no great distance from it. Here and there 
 an elegant chateau occurred, surrounded by an 
 extensive domain well planted with patches of 
 trees, but generally in straight lines ; and for the 
 most part the mansion was approached through a 
 grand avenue. The boundaries also of these large 
 estates are frequently terminated by avenues of 
 trees, each row belonging to separate proprietors ; 
 but the division of property is mostly marked by a 
 dyke and a ditch. Most of these country-houses, 
 whether large or small, have a ditch of stagnant 
 water dividing the little front garden from the 
 road ; and close to this ditch, generally in- 
 deed rising out of it, and not unfrequently be- 
 striding it, is sure to be found a small building, 
 square or octagonal, called a lust-huis, or pleasure-
 
 R0TTERDA3I TO AMSTERDAM. 69 
 
 house, with a window in each side, commanding 
 a complete view of the road. These little build- 
 ings or pleasure-houses are so xery numerous, as 
 to form a characteristic feature of this part of the 
 country. They occur, indeed, as we afterwards 
 found, by the sides of the roads throughout South 
 Holland. In the summer and autumn evenings 
 they are the common resort of families, where the 
 men enjoy their pipes with beer or wine, and the 
 females sip their tea ; and both derive amusement 
 in observing and conversing with the passengers 
 on the road. In any other country, these would 
 be considered as just the seasons of the year, and 
 the time of the day, when these ditch-bestriding 
 pleasure-houses would be shunned, the effluvia 
 from the stagnant water being then strongest, and 
 the frogs, which are everywhere seen skipping 
 about, most lively and noisy. But the same 
 vitiated taste, which has selected the ditch for the 
 site of the pleasure -house, may deem the croaking 
 of the frog, when in full song, just as melodious 
 to their ears, as the note of the nightingale is to 
 their more southern neighbours. 
 
 As there is no want of water in any part of 
 Holland, the flower-gardens attached to these 
 villas have generally a fish-pond in some part 
 of them, and when they happen to face the road, 
 the pleasure-house is frequently placed on a hil- 
 lock in the middle of the garden, and is acces- 
 sible only by a bridge or flight of steps. Each 
 villa has its name, or some motto, inscribed over 
 the gateway, the choice of which is generally 
 meant to bespeak content and comfort on the part 
 of the owner, and they aftbrd a source of amuse -
 
 70 ROTTERDAM TO AMSTERDAM, 
 
 ment to the stranger as he passes along. Thus, 
 among others, we read, ' Lust en rust,' Pleasure 
 and ease : ' Well to vrede,' Well contented ; ' Myu 
 genegentheid is veldoen,' My desire is satisfied ; 
 ' Myn lust en leven,' my pleasure and Ufe ; ' Neit 
 zoo guaalyk,' Not so bad ; ' Gerustylek en wel to 
 vrede,' Tranquil and content ; ' Vriendschap en 
 gezelschap,' Friendship and sociability : ' Het 
 vermaak is in't liovenieren,' There is pleasure in 
 gardening. And over the entrance to one of the 
 tea-gardens, near Rotterdam, was inscribed, ' Het 
 vleesch potten van Egypte,' The flesh-pots of 
 Egypt. Some of the larger gardens abound with 
 fruits and vegetables, and beds and borders of 
 flowering shrubs and plants are laid out in all the 
 gTotesque shapes that can be imagined. It must 
 be confessed, however, that an air of comfort pre- 
 sides over these villas. Most of the dwelling- 
 houses are gaily painted in lively colours, all the 
 offices and out-houses are kept in neat order, while 
 the verdant meadows are covered with the finest 
 cattle, mostly speckled brown and white. 
 
 At the distance of about eight miles from Rot - 
 terdam is the ancient town of Delft, once famous 
 for its woollen manufactures, and more especially 
 its pottery ware, which employed many thousands 
 of its inhabitants, and which was known under the 
 name of Delft- ware all over Europe; but the 
 superior and cheaper article manufactured by 
 Wedgwood, gave a death-blow to the potteries of 
 Delft, which can scarcely now be said to exist. The 
 traveller will observe, in passing through this 
 town, a fine old Gothic church, and also one of a 
 more recent date, with a lofty spire ; but as tliey
 
 THE HAGUE. 71 
 
 were said to contain only monuments of tlie family 
 of the House of Orange, of Grotius and Van 
 Tromp, and that there was little worth seeing in 
 the town, we did not stop ; but in passing through 
 a spacious market-place, we could observe a 
 copious supply of fine vegetables and the common 
 fruits of the country. The streets and houses 
 appeared to be kept in neat and clean order, but 
 the town wore a dull aspect, the more so, perhaps, 
 after just leaving the bustle of Rotterdam. The 
 whole country around Delft, with the exception 
 of some contiguous gardens and potato-beds, con- 
 sisted of rich pasturage, and a great number of 
 very fine cattle were grazing in the meadows. 
 No appearance of tillage, except small patches 
 of stubble here and there, and a few enclosures of 
 clover. 
 
 The same kind of villas, parks, and gardens, as 
 those we had passed continue from Delft to the 
 HagTie, which is not above five or six miles. Two 
 or three villages occur on the road, one of which 
 is Ryswick, of no other note than being the place 
 where a treaty of peace was concluded in 1697. 
 
 THE HAGUE, 
 
 The Hague is a well-built, handsome, and clean 
 town, said to contain thirty-five thousand inha- 
 bitants. In passing through the streets there is 
 neither crowd nor bustle ; but one sees an evident 
 appearance of fashion among the inhabitants, 
 which is not to be observed in the commercial and 
 manufacturing towns of Holland. This, indeed, 
 was the case even under the old regime, when the
 
 72 THE HAGUE. 
 
 Stadtholcler used to pass many months of the year 
 at the Hague ; and it is become a still more 
 fashionable residence since the Restoration, and 
 the conversion of the republic into a monarchy, 
 the presence of the royal family always drawing- 
 after it a multitude of employes, foreign and do- 
 mestic. 
 
 It is now the residence, in alternate years, of 
 the King of the Netherlands; and the States- 
 general hold their meetings during that residence 
 in the halls appended to the old palace, near the 
 Vyver-berg, or Fish-pond Hill, at the upper or 
 northern end of the town, which, of course, is the 
 fashionable quarter. Here, too, is the H6tel-de- 
 Ville, or Town-hall. In this neighbourhood the 
 liouses are generally elegant, and the adjoining 
 country as beautiful as a flat and even country 
 can be made. Close to this quarter is the deer- 
 park, a small-meadow, with a wood behind it. 
 Through this wood is the public road which leads? 
 to Leyden, and passes close to the ' House in the 
 Wood,' which belonged to the Princess Amelia de 
 Solms, and is now the occasional residence of the 
 King of the Netherlands, or some part of his 
 family. It is a neat pavilion, but not deserving 
 the name of a palace. It once contained some 
 good pictures; but little is now left within it 
 worthy of attention, except the ceiling of the 
 saloon, part of which was painted by Rubens. 
 
 It is pretended that in this wood are oak trees 
 of five hundred years' growth ; but we saw none 
 that, in England, would not attain the size of the 
 largest at most in one hundred and twenty years. 
 Some of these, however, and the beeches and lin-
 
 The Hapue.. 
 
 TiLb7z{hedh2fTohn,3fiirrai/,Jlbf7^j-le Street J.S ■ 
 
 i
 
 LEYDEX. 73 
 
 dens, are of a respectable size and healthy foliage. 
 Our time would not permit us to visit the public 
 library nor the museum, which we regretted the 
 less, having understood that the best pictures had 
 been removed to Amsterdam, and that those that 
 remained were mostly the work of Dutch artists, 
 and by no means of the first class. But the cele- 
 brated 'Ox' of Potter still remains at the Hague. 
 We therefore pushed on for Leyden, the distance 
 l>eing about eight miles. 
 
 Beyond the Hague tlie estates of tlie nobility 
 and gentry are on a larger scale than any we had 
 met with ; and of course the smaller villas and 
 the lust-houses were less frequent. ]\lany parts 
 of the road reminded us of England, the grounds 
 being broken by coppice wood, in w^hich, when 
 cut down, the young standard trees were left 
 growing; and there was in places some little 
 inequality of surface — something that might be 
 said to approach the size of a hill. The mansions 
 generally stood at the head of one of the long- 
 avenues which run through the domains; and 
 those avenues which led to no house, from their 
 length and level surface, were interminable to the 
 eye. 
 
 LEYDEN. 
 
 Leyden is a very fine town, situated on that 
 branch of the Rhine which alone carries with it 
 its name to the sea, and which surrounds the 
 town, supplying its numerous canals with water. 
 The Rheinland through which it flows is esteemed 
 the garden of Holland. There is no doubt of the 
 Romans having had a station on the spot where
 
 74 LEYDEN. 
 
 Leyden* stands, as several Roman antiquities have 
 been found ; and the remains of an old castle still 
 exist on a mound in the middle of the town, 
 supposed to be of Roman structure, though the 
 prevailing opinion seems to be that this hiirg^ as 
 it is called, was built by Hengist, after his return 
 from his conquest in Britain. 
 
 Leyden made a glorious stand in opposing the 
 Spaniards under Baldis, when he laid siege to it 
 in 1574, on which occasion six thousand of its 
 inhabitants are said to have perished by famine, 
 disease, and the sword. The devotion of the citi- 
 zens, on the above occasion, procured fi'om Prince 
 William of Holland, who relieved the place, the 
 highest praise, and, what was of more import- 
 ance, funds for the establishment of a University, 
 which is deservedly esteemed among the best 
 disciplined and the best regulated schools for the 
 classics, law, medicine, and divinity, on the whole 
 Continent. 
 
 They were just now employed in adding con- 
 siderably to tlie buildings of the University, the 
 number of students, which generally amounted to 
 about three hundred, ha%4ng increased to five 
 hundred within the last three years. Attached 
 to the University is a Museum of Natural History 
 and Comparative Anatomy, beautifully and scien- 
 tifically arranged, and a library of fifty thousand 
 volumes. To the JNluseum has recently been 
 added the splendid collection of birds belonging 
 to M. Temminck of Amsterdam, the produce 
 chiefly of Java and the other Oriental possessions 
 of the Dutch ; and Professor Lesson is probably 
 the first ornithologist in Europe.
 
 LEYDEN. 75 
 
 The Botanical Garden does credit to all who 
 belong to it, being kept in the highest possible 
 order. The walks are beautiful, and without a 
 pebble : they are covered with a mixture of peat 
 earth and the spent dust of tanners' oak-bark. 
 The garden is tastefully laid out in clumps of 
 shrubbery in various forms, round which, on bor- 
 ders, are the various plants, named and numbered 
 according to the system of Jussieu. The whole 
 extent is seven acres, four of which have been 
 added only a few years ago, and laid out in good 
 taste by the late Professor Brugman as a garden 
 for the reception of medicinal plants, and for the 
 use of the medical students. Among the hot- 
 house plants we saw a date-palm with fruit upon 
 it, which the gardener said had been there two 
 hundred years. 
 
 It may be questioned whether the Botanical 
 Garden of Leyden and the Museum are not supe- 
 rior to the Jardin des Plantes and its Museum in 
 Paris. Taken altogether, we were of opinion that 
 they had a decided preference, thougli they wanted 
 the attraction of living animals, of the influence of 
 which we have had experience in the multitudes 
 that flock to the Zoological Gardens of London. 
 
 Near the University a large open space, planted 
 with trees, serves as a promenade for the inhabit- 
 ants. It seems that this place was once covered 
 with good houses, which were destroyed in 1807 
 by the explosion of a vessel laden with gunpowder, 
 when more than one hundred and fifty persons, 
 and, among others, the two professors, Luzac and 
 Kluit, perished under their ruins. Xo stronger 
 proof is wanting of the decay of the trade and
 
 7G LEYDEN\ 
 
 manufactures of Leyden than that of converting 
 the ground, where some of the best houses stood 
 when the accident happened, and which is the most 
 agreeable part of the town, into a mere promenade, 
 instead of replacing them by others. In all our 
 walks we did not observe a single new house 
 building; and, in fact, we were given to understand 
 that the population had decreased a full fourth 
 part of what it was in the days of its prosperity. 
 It is a common observation that the High-street 
 of Oxford may be reckoned among the finest in 
 Europe; but striking as it is, those who hold this 
 oj^inion can know very little of Europe. Without 
 going farther, we may observe that the Breede- 
 street or Broad-street of Leyden, though far from 
 being one of the finest in Europe, is superior, in 
 some respects, to that of Oxford. In the first 
 place, it is much wider, and at least three times 
 the length ; and, contrary to the usual practice of 
 laying out streets by the Dutch, it has the same 
 gently- winding turn, but w\ants the gradual ascent, 
 which contributes so much to the beauty of the 
 High-street of Oxford. The houses in that of Ley- 
 den are generally superior and more picturesque ; 
 and though the number of colleges of ancient 
 architecture, with their turrets, tow^ers, and spires, 
 in Oxford, exceed the number of public buildings 
 in the Broad- street of Leyden, there is one at least 
 that will bear comparison with the most picturesque 
 college in High-street. This is the old H6tel-de- 
 Ville, built, as appears by an inscription in front, 
 in the year 1574. It has a tall spire, somewhat 
 remarkable in its architecture, and not inelegant. 
 It is built with a dark blue stone, which has the
 
 Drcorn, SrStt^Ltd. 
 
 Zsyden 
 
 'U:^, 
 
 I^uilis-Tie^ hy JorhnMvcrrai^.^U/eTruirle Sir-eetJSSl
 
 LEYDEN. 77 
 
 appearance of black marble, and its prominent 
 parts are tipped with gilding. The body of the 
 building has nearly thirty windows on a line in 
 front, three pediments or gables highly orna- 
 mented, a handsome balustrade, surmounted by 
 a ridge of stone globes, and the whole front of 
 this remarkable piece of architecture may be said 
 to be 
 
 With glist'ning spires and pinnacles adorned. 
 
 The ground-floor of this town-house is appro- 
 priated as a market for butchers' -meat, but no 
 appearance of it is visible from the street. This 
 is also the case, as we afterwards found, under the 
 old H6tel-de-Tille at Bruo^es. Nothing- can ex- 
 ceed the cleanliness of Leyden in all its streets, 
 whether those with or those without canals. The 
 former, with their quays, are particularly neat ; 
 and as there is little trade, and, of course, few ship- 
 ping that carry masts, the bridges are mostly of 
 stone, of which they pretend to say there are not 
 fewer than one hundred and fifty. 
 
 We paid a visit to the ancient church of St. 
 Peter, which was built in 1321. It is not only 
 the largest in the town, but by far the best speci- 
 men in the style of Gothic architecture, perhaps, 
 in all Holland ; and the inhabitants persuade 
 themselves it is also the first in point of decora- 
 tions and magnificence. As in all the Reformed 
 churches, so in this, the iconoclasts have left 
 nothing of ornamental sculpture remaining that 
 formerly belonged to it, and have substituted only 
 a few monuments in its place. One of these, 
 erected to the memory of the celebrated Boerhaave, 
 is carefully pointed out to strangers. It is an urn
 
 / a LEYDEN. 
 
 supported on a pedestal of black marble, having 
 on the front a medallion bearing the bust of the 
 deceased, with this inscription : — 
 Simplex sigillum veri. 
 And below it is the following — 
 
 Salutifero Boerhaavii genio sacrum. 
 
 There are several other monuments of distin- 
 guished professors of the University, but none that 
 are calculated to attract much attention. The 
 choir, as usual, is screened off by a railing of 
 bronze, and stripped of all its former Romanist 
 decorations. 
 
 The environs of Ley den are extremely beautiful, 
 and the wliole country around is studded with 
 villas, gardens, and pleasure-houses, standing, as 
 usual, over ditches or in the middle of ponds. The 
 most frequented and, indeed, the most delightful 
 promenade, shaded by a double row of trees, is 
 without the walls, and close by the side of that 
 branch of the Rhine which waters and surrounds 
 the to\%Ti. This gently-moving stream — so gentle 
 that its cuiTcnt is scarcely perceptible — may here 
 be about from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 
 dred feet in width ; and the bank opposite to the 
 walk and between the river and the wall, partakes 
 in some places of the picturesque, being high and 
 well clothed with shrubbery-plants, and briars and 
 tangling creepers. It would, perhaps, be difficult 
 to point out in any part of the world a more en- 
 chanting walk on a fine summer's evening than 
 that which borders the Rhine where it skirts the 
 walls of Leyden. 
 
 A very mistaken notion seems to liave been
 
 LEYDEN. 79 
 
 entertained that the insignificance of the Rhine, in 
 this part of its course, is owing to its waters being 
 lost in the sands. Nothing can be more incorrect 
 than such an idea. That this Leyden branch is 
 of comparative insignificance is very true, but 
 instead of being absorbed, the waters of this noble 
 river, on the contrary, pursue their course in full 
 vigour, and with increased volume, tnutato no- 
 mine^ into the sea. On its reaching the gTeat 
 Delta of Holland, at a place called Schanke, half- 
 way between Emmerich and Arnheim, the stream 
 of the Rhine is first divided : the larger portion, 
 the great mass, indeed, of water turning to the 
 westward, takes the name of Waal^ (the Vallum, 
 of the Romans,) which perhaps, may originally 
 have been an artificial trench or canal. Passing 
 Nimeguen it still retains the name of Waal, and 
 being joined below Theil by the Meuse or Maas, 
 and passing Gorcum, these united waters split into 
 a multitude of branches, some of which empty 
 themselves into an internal sea among the Zea- 
 land Islands, called Holland's Diep ; but a large 
 portion of the united streams of the Waal and 
 Meuse, at the same time, continues its course, 
 under the name of jMerwede, to Doii;, where it 
 again divides itself into the old Maas, and the 
 true jNIaas, the latter of which flows by Rotter- 
 dam, and is rejoined by the Old Maas before it 
 reaches the sea. All these waters, therefore, with 
 the exception of the Meuse, are literally and hond 
 fide the waters of the Rhine ; but these are not 
 the whole of its waters. 
 
 If we return to Schanke, where the Rhine first 
 divides into two branches, the laro^er of which we
 
 80 LEYDEN. 
 
 have thus traced to the sea, we find the northern 
 or smaller branch still retaining the name of 
 Rhine ; but it is again, divided just before reach- 
 ing Arnheim, into two streams, the more easterly 
 one, under the name of Yssel, passing by Zutphen 
 and Deventer, and falling into the Zuyder Zee, — 
 while the other branch, passing by Arnheim and 
 Rhenen, is once more divided into the Kromme 
 River, which runs through Utrecht, and the Leek, 
 which joins the Maas a little above Rotterdam, 
 At Utrecht the Kromme branch is again divided, 
 the larger and more westerly branch continuing 
 the name of the Old Rhine, but stript of all its 
 grandeur, by the many divisions and subdivisions, 
 flows on to Leyden, from whence it is carried by 
 an artificial channel or canal into the sea at 
 Katwyk : a part of it, however, branches oft" to the 
 northward, and contributes to swell the large lake 
 called the Haarlem Meer. The smaller and 
 northerly branch, sent oft' at Utrecht, is called the 
 Amstel, which, after contributing a supply of water 
 to the numerous canals of Amsterdam, passes into 
 the south-west corner of the Zuyder Zee. By a 
 decree of his Netherlands' Majesty, this noble 
 river has been doomed to undergo a further 
 change, which may be called a political degra- 
 dation. In consequence of some commercial regu- 
 lations with 'Les Etats Riverains,' his majesty 
 orders that the Leek shall be considered as the 
 sole continuation of the Rhine ; meaning thereby, 
 it may be presumed, that the Helvetians, Ger- 
 mans, and Prussians bordering on the Rhine, shall 
 have access to the sea only by the Maas, into 
 which the Leek falls into Rotterdam.
 
 LEYDEN. S"! 
 
 The province of Holland in general, however, 
 and the distiict of Rheinland in particular, are 
 most deeply concerned in the smallest or Leyden 
 branch, as by theproper management of this stream 
 only is that part of the country preserved from one 
 sweeping inundation. The main works for this 
 purpose are at Katwyk, where, by very simple but 
 effectual contrivances of flood-gates, the waters of 
 the Rhine are let out into the sea, and those of the 
 sea shut out from the land. The distance from 
 Leyden js about ten miles, through five of which, 
 nearest to the sea, a broad and deep canal has 
 been cut, across which a triple set of double gates 
 have been thrown, the first having two pair, the 
 second four pair, and the last seven pair, with 
 stone piers of excellent masonry between them. 
 Against these last gates the tide rises twelve feet, 
 and, to take off the pressure, an equal depth 
 is preserved in the great dam within them. 
 When the Rhine has accumulated behind the 
 other gates to a certain height, the w^hole of the 
 gates are thrown open at low water, the rush of 
 which completely scours the passage of sand, 
 which, before the adoption of these gates, used 
 constantly to choke up the channel of the Rhine; 
 and the waters, thus impeded, frequently inun- 
 dated the country, and had more than once 
 threatened Leyden with destruction. It has 
 been calculated that these seven gates, when 
 thrown open, are capable of discharging a volume 
 of water not less than one hundred thousand cubic 
 feet in a second of time. 
 
 Still, however, we were given to understand that 
 the commissioners for the management of the 
 
 G
 
 82 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 Rheinland waters are not without their apprehen- 
 sions of the inefficacy of these sluices, on the 
 breaking up of a long frost, or the continuance of 
 heavy rains ; and it was rumoured, that an en- 
 gineer was expected from England to examine 
 and report his opinion whether anything more, 
 and what, could be done for the better security 
 of the country. If the danger arises from that 
 part of the Rhine which lies between Leyden and 
 the sea, why not turn the whole of the water into 
 that channel which already exists between Leyden 
 and the Haarlem Meer, whence it would be re- 
 ceived into the lake Y, and by it carried off into 
 the Zuyder Zee ? 
 
 The surface of the country evidently declines 
 to the northward; and it is not improbable that, 
 even before the building of Leyden, and before the 
 water of this branch was diverted from its north- 
 ern course in order to supply the various canals of 
 the town, the channel which communicates with 
 the Haarlem Meer was the natural and only bed 
 of the Rhine. But, perhaps, it might be feared 
 that an increase of the body of water in the Y 
 might endanger the safety of Amsterdam, on 
 whose shores that city stands. That the whole 
 mass of the Rhine once continued its northerly 
 course into the Zuyder Zee, appears very probable, 
 and equally so that the Waal was a vallum or 
 trench opened by the Romans, in consequence of 
 whicli the great stream of the Rhine was diverted 
 from the original channel, given by the natural 
 slope of the country, into a westerly direction. 
 
 We observed, indeed, on our route from Utrecht 
 towards Rhenen, evident marks of the ancient
 
 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 83 
 
 bed of the Rhine in the rounded pebbles on the 
 bank by the roadside, now at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the diminished stream. Supposing this 
 to have been so, the Zuyder Zee was the great 
 mouth by which this noble river discharged its 
 waters into the Northern Ocean. The Texel, and 
 the six or seven other islands to the northward of 
 it, are evidently formed from the alluvion that the 
 river in its ancient course carried down. It is, 
 indeed, asserted and believed, but on what testi- 
 mony the Dutch do not say, that the Zealand 
 islands were once a part of the Continent ; and 
 we know that not three hundred years ago many 
 thousand acres were swept away from the eastern 
 side of South Beveland, which are now a vast 
 expanse of sand. A great part of Friesland and 
 of Rheinland is still a turbary, (or peat-moss,) and 
 so are the shores of the Zuyder Zee. One may 
 easily imagine that wlien once this light and 
 spongy kind of earth was lifted up by the water 
 underneath, the recoil of the waves of the sea 
 on one side, and the impeded current of the 
 river acting upon it, would easily carry off whole 
 masses into the ocean. The extraordinary shal- 
 lowness of the Zuyder Zee, the numerous sand- 
 banks and flat islands in it, and the nature of its 
 shores, give countenance to the supposition that it 
 was once a great peat-moss, which has been broken 
 up and swept away by the united waters of the 
 sea and the Rhine, before the latter was diverted 
 into the channel of the Waal. But it is time to 
 resume our journey. 
 
 On the 1 2th of August, about ten in the morn- 
 ing, we continued our journey towards Haarlem, 
 G 2
 
 84 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 on a road which, for its goodness, smooth and 
 beautiful as they are in any part of Holland, is 
 not exceeded in the whole of this country. In 
 travelling along it, the passenger is gratified by 
 witnessing a constant succession of gentlemen's 
 seats, the grounds of many of them laid out in 
 exceeding good taste, and all of them kept in neat 
 order ; and this continues for sixteen miles. On 
 approaching Haarlem within a few miles, the 
 INleer or lake of that name, which is, in fact, a 
 little sea, is seen to the eastward, between some 
 of the sand-hills which its waves have thrown up. 
 By the inequalities of the surface which extend to 
 the side of the road, and the mixture of sand and 
 gravel of which they are composed, it would appear 
 that this sea must at one time have been of much 
 greater extent than at present. Most of these 
 eminences or hills, if we may so call them, are 
 generally planted with firs and other northern 
 trees ; the parks or domains over which they are 
 scattered are surrounded with our ordinary park 
 paling ; cottages here and there are seen by the 
 roadside with their little cabbage and potato-gar- 
 dens ; hawthorn-hedges are not unfrequent ; and, 
 in short, these and some other indications of the 
 approach to Haarlem, wore so many appearances 
 of what we every day see in England, that, with- 
 out any great stretch of the imagination, one 
 might suppose one's self to be travelling in some 
 corner of the British Isles. 
 
 Immediately before the entrance into the town 
 of Haarlem is a wood of considerable extent, in 
 which is an excellent house, that once belonged 
 to Mr. Hope, of Amsterdam. It was purchase^
 
 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 85 
 
 by Buonaparte as a residence for his brother Louis, 
 for five hundred thousand guilders ; about forty- 
 two thousand pounds sterhng. 
 
 We did not remain long in Haarlem. It ap- 
 peared to us very much like the other towns in 
 Holland, very w^ell built, very clean, and very dull. 
 Its population was said to be greatly diminished, 
 and its once flourishing manufactures of silks, 
 velvets, and damasks, for which it was famed, have 
 now nearly disappeared, and that little remained 
 but the weaving of linen and woollen cloths and 
 of lace. In fact, it was stated that the population, 
 which was once reckoned to be forty -eight thou- 
 sand, was reduced to about seventeen thousand. It 
 still, however, has its Academy of Sciences, and the 
 Teylerian Society, founded by an individual from 
 whose name it is derived. It has a library, with 
 a collection of philosophical instruments, and of 
 subjects of natural history ; and lectures are de- 
 livered in all the diflPerent departments of science. 
 
 The river Spaarn, issuing from the Haarlem 
 Meer, traverses the city, and having supplied its 
 canals passes on and joins the lake or creek of 
 the Zuyder Zee, on the southern shore of which 
 the city of Amsterdam is built. The name of this 
 narrow prolongation of the Zuyder Zee is wantten 
 on the Dutch maps Het Yy a name that has 
 somewhat puzzled strangers, particularly if you 
 ask a Dutchman what it is called, as he is sure to 
 say it is Tai. The fact is, the letter y in Dutch 
 is pronounced the same as the i in English, or ai; 
 and by abbreviating the definite article het^ the^ it 
 becomes in common parlance 't ai. This w^ill ex- 
 plain how our map-makers have written it, some JVzi,
 
 86 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 some Tye^ and others, still worse, the Ye^ on their 
 maps. A Frenchman, in describing Amsterdam, 
 calls it the E-grec. Any inquiry as to the origin 
 or meaning of the name was useless. In fact, the 
 letter y in their alphabet has no particular mean- 
 ing ; but as its pronunciation is precisely that of 
 ffli, and as this syllable, or something like it, sig- 
 nifies water in many of the northern languages, 
 and in North Holland there are other rivers or 
 waters named the Au and the^^ (Ea)^ it is not, 
 perhaps, an overstrained etymology to suppose 
 that 'the Ai \'s> nothing more than 'the water,' 
 the Ee, or the Ea is the provincial name of the 
 water which flows out of AVindermere and Conis- 
 ton lakes down the Cartmel sands. 
 
 There is little more to be seen at Haarlem than 
 the church of St. Bavon, in which is the celebrated 
 organ whose size and tones, and number of pipes, 
 have been supposed to be without a parallel in 
 this class of instruments ; but as we had seen and 
 heard that of St. Lawrence, at Rotterdam, we did 
 not deem it worth the loss of time that would 
 have been occasioned by waiting for the organist 
 and bellows -blowers, to give us a peal. We 
 should, however, have been tempted to delay 
 awhile, had the season of the year been that in 
 which the tulip, the hyacinths, and the jonquils 
 are in blossom, for which the adjoining gardens 
 are celebrated, and with which they annually 
 supply our florists in England. The art of raising 
 these bulbous -rooted plants so as to produce their 
 flowers in perfection, simple as it may appear to 
 be, is not yet domesticated with us; we have still 
 our fresh importations annually from Holland.
 
 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 87 
 
 The gaudy tulip was an object which, at one time, 
 drove the grave, the prudent, and the cautious 
 Dutchman, as wild as ever did the South Sea 
 bubble, or the senseless speculations that took 
 possession of our countrymen a few years ago, the 
 gullible John Bull. The enormous prices that 
 Avere actually given for real tulip bulbs, of parti- 
 cular kinds, formed but a small fraction of the 
 extent to which the mercantile transactions of 
 this gaudy flower was carried. If we may give 
 credit to Beckman, who states it on Dutch autho- 
 rities, four hundred perits in weight (something- 
 less than a grain), of the bulb of a tulip named 
 Admiral Leifken, cost four thousand four hundred 
 florins ; and two hundred of another, named 
 Semper Augustus^ two thousand florins. Of this 
 last, he tells us, it once happened there were only 
 two roots to be had, the one at Amsterdam, the 
 other at Haarlem ; and that for one of these were 
 offered four thousand six hundred florins, a new 
 carriage, two grey horses, and a complete set of 
 harness ; and that another person ofi'ered twelve 
 acres of land. It is almost impossible to give 
 credence to such madness. The real truth of the 
 story is, that these tulip roots were never bought 
 or sold, but they became the medium of a system- 
 atised species of gambling. The bulbs, and 
 their divisions into perits^ became like the differ- 
 ent stocks in our public funds, — the objects of 
 the bulls and bears, — and were bought and sold 
 at different prices from day to day, the parties 
 settling their account at fixed periods ; the inno- 
 cent tulips, all the while, never once appearing in 
 the transactions, nor even thought of. * Before
 
 88 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 the tulip season was over/ says Beckman, ' more 
 ' roots were sold and purchased, bespoke and 
 ' promised to be delivered, than in all probability 
 ' were to be found in the gardens of Holland ; 
 ' and when Semper Augustus was not to be had 
 ' anywhere, which happened twice, no species, 
 ' perhaps, was oftener purchased and sold/ This 
 kind of sheer gambling reached at length to such 
 a height, that the government found it necessary 
 to interfere and put a stop to it. 
 
 On the great market-place of Haarlem is a 
 statue of Lawrence Koster, wlio is supposed to 
 have been the inventor of printing. He holds 
 forth triumphantly as it were, in his hands, the 
 letter A, as a type of his claim to the invention. 
 It faces the house in which he lived, and in front 
 of which is the following inscription : — 
 
 ' Memoriae sacrum : 
 
 Typographia, ars artium omnium conservatrix, hie primum 
 
 inventa, circa annum 1440.' 
 
 It is asserted that the first book that was printed 
 \%LeMlroir de Notre Salut^ which is presers^ed with 
 gi-eat care in the Hotel de Ville, and another copy of 
 which is said to be preserved in the public library 
 of Hoorn. The prevailing opinion, however, is, that 
 Faust was the inventor who, with Guttenberg, 
 printed the first book in jMayence. In opposition 
 to this, it is maintained by the people of Haarlem 
 that Faust was a servant of Koster, who stole his 
 types and fled with them to Mayence. If the 
 assertion be true that Faust was, about the time 
 when the invention is said to have taken place, the 
 servant of Koster, one of two things is pretty cer- 
 tain, — either that Faust did carry off his master s
 
 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 89 
 
 inveirtioii, or that Koster received the first inti- 
 mation of the art from Faust while in his service. 
 So recently as 1822, a commission, composed of 
 several learned professors, investigated these 
 claims, and reported that it appeared from his- 
 torical documents, that Koster's invention dates 
 somewhere between 1420 and 1425. Haarlem is 
 still famous for casting types, particularly those 
 of Greek and Hebrew; for printing the latter 
 language the Jews mostly derive their types from 
 this city. 
 
 From Haarlem to Amsterdam the face of the 
 country has wholly changed its character. The 
 road takes now an easterly direction, and nothing 
 meets the eye but one continued meadow, inter- 
 sected by ditches to drain off the water, without a 
 tree, or almost a bush in any direction, and termi- 
 nated, after a few miles' travelling, by the Haar- 
 lem Meer on the south, and the Lake or great 
 water Ai^ on the north. A fine broad paved 
 causeway, of ten miles in length, conducts the 
 traveller from Haarlem to Amsterdam ; for five 
 miles it is laid out in a mathematical straight line, 
 and is bordered by a noble canal parallel to it. 
 The other side of the road is bordered by a ditch 
 and a row of willows. These willows, and the 
 causeway, and the canal, are so perfectly straight 
 and parallel, that the eye placed at one end of the 
 five miles, would see the other end, were it not 
 hidden, as it were, below the surface, by the natural 
 convexity of the earth. 
 
 At the end of the first five miles, the waters of 
 the Haarlem Meer and the Ai communicate be- 
 neath a narrow artificial isthmus, having a gentle
 
 90 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 swell resembling that of a bridge ; over this the 
 causeway is continued. At this spot the relative 
 heights of the two waters of the Ai and the Meer 
 are nicely regulated, by means of sluices and gauge- 
 posts, marked into very nice and minute divisions ; 
 and the greatest attention is paid to the state of 
 the waters at this particular spot, the safety of 
 Amsterdam and the adjacent country from inun- 
 dations depending much on the management of 
 these two inland seas. The Dutch are said to 
 have a plan for draining Haarlem Meer, and 
 thereby gaining about sixty thousand acres of 
 land; the success must depend on its depth, but 
 a few hundred pumps worked by windmills would 
 easily and speedily empty its water (if moderately 
 shallow) into the Ai. 
 
 Close to the narrow isthmus, that divides them, 
 is a neat inn, where carriages and horses are to be 
 had ; and where also is an ancient chateau, named 
 Swannenburg, in front of which, and on the pil- 
 lars of the gate, are sculptured several figures of 
 swans. Having crossed the narrow neck, the canal 
 and the road recommence w^ith an angle, inclining 
 more to an easterly direction, and continue for 
 another five miles, close up to the gate of Amster- 
 dam. The canal is supplied by the Ai, through 
 several inlets. In fact it forms in many places a 
 part of the Ai, and is only separated from it, and 
 the navigation protected, by rows of strong posts, 
 called a boom, which, by breaking the waves, pre- 
 serve the opposite bank of the canal or the cause- 
 way, which would otherwise be constantly exposed 
 to the danger of being washed away. 
 
 A steady and undeviating perseverance in
 
 LEYDEN TO AMSTERDAM. 
 
 91 
 
 uniformity, order, and regularity, is discernible in 
 all the public works of the Dutch. An instance 
 of it struck us forcibly in proceeding along this 
 causeway. By the side of the canal is a narrow 
 tracking path for the horses which draw the 
 treckschuyts and other craft. To prevent them 
 from encroaching on the carriage road, a series 
 of hard blue-stone posts, about three feet high, 
 all of the same form and dimensions, are firmly 
 fixed in the ground at equal intervals of twenty 
 yards, making the total number about eight hun- 
 dred and eighty. These stones must all have 
 been brought either from the banks of the Rhine 
 or the Meuse, probably the latter, for nothing of 
 the kind is to be found in all Holland. 
 
 On arriving at Amsterdam, we put up at a very 
 excellent hotel, on one of the Burgwaals, called 
 the Waapenen van Amsterdam, which and the 
 Doelen, are the best in this city.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 Neither the approach to Amsterdam, nor the 
 entrance into it through the Haarlem -gate.^ holds 
 out to the stranger any promise that he is about 
 to be gratified with the sight of a large and beau- 
 tiful city. The environs on this side, far from 
 wearing a tempting appearance, very much re- 
 semble that low tract of marshy land, which 
 stretches along the banks of the Thames between 
 Greenwich and Woolwich ; an extensive flat of 
 dark green meadow, intersected with dykes and 
 ditches ; but somewhat enlivened by the constant 
 whirling motion of some two or three hundred 
 windmills, some grinding com and seeds, but most 
 of them employed in pumping water from one 
 ditch into another, till finally it is disposed of in 
 the sea. 
 
 On entering the city, the first object that catches 
 the eye of the stranger is a row of tall houses, 
 built without any regularity of design, along a 
 quay facing the Zuyder -Zee ; some leaning one 
 way and some another, and all out of the per- 
 pendicular, threatening momentarily to fall. We 
 looked in vain for trees, which we had expected 
 to find like those on the Boomtjies of Rotterdam. 
 The first turning to the right, however, from this 
 quay, afforded a more favourable prospect; but
 
 AMSTERDAM. 93 
 
 still this capital of Holland had a sort of Wap- 
 ping or Thames -street appearance, and looked in- 
 ferior in every respect to Rotterdam. A better 
 acquaintance satisfied us of the error which the 
 first impression had created. 
 
 Amsterdam is situated on the south bank of the 
 creek or lake At, of which we have spoken, just 
 where the river Amstel, after pervading the city, 
 falls into it from the south. This extraordinary 
 city — beyond all doubt the most extraordinary 
 that Europe affords, not even Venice excepted, as 
 to its situation, its rise, and rapid progress to the 
 state in which it now is — dates back its origin to 
 some part of the thirteenth century, it being then 
 a mere assemblage of fishermen's huts, perched on 
 the drier and more elevated patches of a swamp, 
 but not high enough to secure them completely 
 from being occasionally submerged by the sea. 
 But the superabundant products which these poor 
 industrious people were able to derive from the seas 
 and the waters by which they were surrounded, 
 met with a ready market from their northern and 
 southern neighbours. The result was naturally 
 a rapidly increasing intercourse betwen the Bata - 
 vians, the Belgians, and the Northern natives on 
 the Baltic, with whom they exchanged their dried 
 and salted fish for various kinds of grain and 
 clothing ; 'and this commerce brought the mer- 
 chants of these countries to their shores, some of 
 whom found it to their advantage to reside occa- 
 sionally among them, others to form connections, 
 and domiciliate themselves entirely, in spite of 
 their bogs and swamps ; to build store and dwell- 
 ing houses, and to adopt means for the protection
 
 94 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 of themselves -and their property agamst the en- 
 croachments of the Ai, rendered more formidable 
 by the storms that swelled the Zuyder Zee. 
 
 Amsterdam is in form of a crescent, its inward 
 curving line and two horns stretching along the 
 Ai; the length, by the plan, being about thirteen 
 thousand five hundred Rheinland feet, and per- 
 pendicular from the centre of this line, seven 
 thousand five hundred feet, or as nine to five : 
 the circumference on the land side twenty-five 
 thousand five hundred Rheinland feet, surrounded 
 by a wall of regular bastions, and a wet ditch, 
 bordered by a row of trees. 
 
 It is supposed that the first foundation of the 
 city was laid along the borders of the Amstel, 
 which is now the centre. All this part, down to 
 the Ai, is irregularly built, and is surrounded by 
 the Amstel and its branches, the Roken and the 
 Damrack. The streets and canals in this quarter 
 are named the Burgwaals ; and this part of the city 
 still retains the name of the ' Oude Zyde.' Per- 
 haps the earliest building of a public nature is the 
 old Waa^, or "Weighing-house. The more recent, 
 regular, and well-built streets follow a direction 
 round this cluster, and are parallel to each other, 
 and each of theui a crescent, continued from one 
 angle of the city to the other. 
 
 It could only have been when the city had 
 attained a high' degree of prosperity, that these 
 magnificent streets were laid out and built. Their 
 names are the Heeren Graght, the Keyser's 
 Graght, and the Princen Graght ; three street^ 
 that are not easily to be matched in any other 
 town or city of Europe for their length, width,
 
 AMSTERDAM. 95 
 
 and the grandeur and elegance of their buildings. 
 They are parallel, as we have said, to each other ; 
 hut take the general shape of the town, which is 
 that of a polygonal crescent, having all the lines 
 perfectly straight between the angular points. 
 These streets are each about two miles in length, 
 two hundred and twenty feet in width, bounded by 
 large and elegant dwelling-houses, with a canal 
 down the middle, crossed by numerous stone 
 bridges, and bordered by rows of large trees of 
 oak, elm, and linden, on each side, not inferior to 
 those of the Boomtjies of Rotterdam. 
 
 The numerous canals of Amsterdam, it is said, 
 divide the city into ninety different islands, com- 
 municating by two hundred and eighty bridges, 
 either of stone or of wood, the latter being draw- 
 bridges, and many of the former having sluices to 
 open in the centre for the passage of boats, and 
 others for the purpose of regulating the level of the 
 water in the canals. These sluices are so placed 
 and so well attended to, that little danger or 
 damage is now apprehended from high tides and 
 storms on the Zuyder Zee, which, in former times, 
 was but too frequently experienced. 
 
 The mixture of the muddy water of the Amstel 
 with the sea- water from the Ai^ the filth from the 
 sewers, from the houses, and the streets, and the 
 offal from the multitude of vessels that are moored 
 in the canals, most of them inhabited by whole 
 families, must necessarily have the effect of creat- 
 ing a smell at no time agreeable, and sometimes 
 highly offensive. Nor is the unpleasant sensation 
 at all diminished by casting a glance at the colour 
 which the surface of the water invariably bears,
 
 96 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 being that of a rich olivaceous green. The smell, 
 however, except in the lower and more busy parts 
 of the city, is scarcely perceptible, unless, indeed, 
 as the old proverb insinuates, the water be stirred 
 up, which must happen whenever one of the vessels 
 moves her berth along the canal. It is then gave 
 Veau ! and the street passenger, if he be to lee- 
 ward, will do well to cross the first bridge he meets 
 with, and get to windward as fast as he possibly 
 can. This peculiar effluvium has been supposed by 
 some to be injurious to the human constitution, 
 and yet few cities can boast of a more robust and 
 healthy set of inhabitants than are those of Am- 
 sterdam. It is said to be a fact, however, that no 
 cavalry regiment is ever kept at Amsterdam, as 
 the horses all become ill, and many have died, 
 from the badness, as is supposed, of the w^ater. 
 The town is served with fresh water from the river 
 Yecht, five or six miles distant, and carried round 
 in carts ; most of the houses, however, have cis- 
 terns to receive the rain water. It is not impos- 
 sible, that if the water of the canals was not occa- 
 sionally driven out into the Ai^ by the admission 
 of the pure fresh water of the Amstel, the air 
 might become infected, and serious sickness ensue. 
 Be that as it may, it does not appear that Amster- 
 dam is more unhealthy than other towns of Hol- 
 land, or subject to any particular endemic diseases. 
 A humid atmosphere produces here, as it every- 
 where else does, fevers and coughs ; but against the 
 effects of such a chilling air the natives take care 
 to supply themselves with thick and warm clothing; 
 in addition to which the women, who lead a very 
 sedentary life, place the feet on a little wooden
 
 AMSTERDAM. 97 
 
 stool under their petticoats, in which is a small 
 pan of burning charcoal ; and the men, in order 
 to fortify themselves against the baneful effects of 
 such an atmosphere, are said to drink plenty of 
 gin, and smoke tobacco. This may be so ; but it 
 is fair to mention, that we never saw a Dutchman 
 dmnk in the streets, not even among the lower 
 classes. Indeed so strict is the police of Amster- 
 dam, that a beastly drunkard would notbe tolerated 
 in public. 
 
 Wlioever is desirous of seeing human ingenuity 
 and human industry most successfully and most 
 extensively exerted, for the purpose of counteract- 
 ing the injurious effect of one of the most power- 
 ful and destructive elements, and by means the 
 most simple, must visit Holland, and more par- 
 ticularly Amsterdam. He will there see and 
 admire the simple and effectual means that have 
 been adopted for the security of the town, by 
 bringing the waters under complete controul. 
 
 The whole extent of the sea-front, with the quays 
 and the shipping, is protected from injury by a 
 double stockade of strong, square, wooden posts, 
 known by the name of hoomen or barriers, extend- 
 ing at a distance from the quay along the whole 
 line of the city, from the north-west to the south- 
 east corner, a distance of two miles and a half. 
 These large beams of wood are firmly fixed in 
 pairs, with openings between each tier, at certain 
 distances, to allow ships to pass them to and from 
 the quays. Of these openings or passages there 
 are twenty-one, all of which are closed by night ; 
 so that nothing can arrive at, or depart from, the 
 quay till they are set open. By means of these 
 
 H
 
 98 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 barriers, the injurious effects of the waves on the 
 wharf wall, by being divided and dispersed, as well 
 as of masses of ice driven down from the north- 
 ward, are completely obviated. 
 
 All the quays, and, indeed, every house in 
 Amsterdam, are built upon piles ; and as each of 
 these is a large tree or baulk of timber, of forty or 
 fifty feet in length, some idea may be formed of 
 the expense of building in Amsterdam, as well as 
 of the immense quantity of timber that must have 
 been brought thither for this purpose alone. It is 
 recorded that the number of piles on which the old 
 Town House, now the Royal Palace, is built, 
 amounts to upwards of thirteen thousand. 
 
 Indeed the industry of the Dutch is not to be 
 surpassed ; and it is exercised, not only with great 
 skill and ingenuity, but also with indefatigable 
 perseverance; otherwise they never could have 
 succeeded in accomplishing such great under- 
 takings with such small means. 
 
 On no occasion, perhaps, is this ingenuity and 
 perseverance more displayed than in the means 
 employed in conquering the waters of the ocean, 
 and in bringing under subjection the rivers, lakes, 
 and canals, v>^ith which they are surrounded on 
 every side, by means of sluices, drains, ditches, and 
 windmills, of the last of which, for this and other 
 purposes, such as sawing wood, grinding corn, 
 and crushing seeds for oil, the number in the 
 vicinity of all their towns and cities is perfectly 
 astonishing. 
 
 These windmills are remarkable objects on the 
 Boulevards of Amsterdam. There are no less 
 than thirty bastions in the line of fortification on
 
 AMSTERDAM. 99 
 
 the land side, and on each bastion is a windmill, 
 of a description larger than common, for grinding 
 corn, and other purposes. It is whimsical enough 
 that, surrounded as they are with water on every 
 side, there is not a watermill in the whole country. 
 It suited their purpose better to raise a contention 
 between the elements, by employing the wind to 
 drive out the water. Necessity, indeed, taught 
 the Hollander this ; for if it were not for the com- 
 plete subjection in which the waters are held by 
 this and other means, the city of Amsterdam 
 might, at any one moment, be altogether sub- 
 merged. The idea of such a calamity, happening 
 to a city which is stated to contain near two 
 hundred thousand inhabitants, calls for every pre- 
 caution that can be put in practice to avert it. 
 
 Of this number of inhabitants, consisting chiefly 
 of Calvinists, Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews, by 
 far the greater part are engaged in some kind of 
 commerce or other — few of them in manufactures, 
 except such as are in every- day use, and for home 
 consumption. Many of the artisans and the 
 poorer classes inhabit the cellars under the houses 
 of the more opulent, and a great many reside con- 
 stantly on the water, in comfortable apartments 
 built on the upper decks of their trading vessels, 
 more particularly those employed in the inland 
 navigations. 
 
 In this and in many other respects the Dutch 
 bear a strong resemblance to the Chinese ; like this 
 industrious and economical race, they keep their 
 hogs, their ducks, and other domestic animals 
 constantly on board. Their apartments are kept 
 in a state of great neatness ; the women employ 
 H 2
 
 100 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 themselves in all the domestic offices, and are 
 assiduous in embellishing their little sitting-rooms 
 with the labours of the needle, and many of them 
 have little gardens of tulips, hyacinths, anemones, 
 and various other flowers. Some of these vessels 
 are of great length, but generally narrow, suitable 
 to the canals and sluices of the towns. Each 
 vessel is generally navigated by the members of 
 one family, of which the female part is by no 
 means the least useful, nothing being more com- 
 mon than to see the women steering, poling, 
 hauling the ropes, or employed on some other 
 duties of the craft. 
 
 It must be obvious that great quantities of mud 
 will be deposited in these canals, and that a con- 
 stant expense of labour must be incurred in keep- 
 ing them clear. This is as much a public concern 
 as the cleaning of our streets is by scavengers. 
 They employ for this purpose a dredging machine, 
 worked by horses, instead of a steam-engine, 
 which we make use of in the Thames and the 
 dock-yards. 
 
 One of our first visits was to the dock-yard 
 situated at the southern extremity of the quay, on 
 the island of Kattenburg. It was in the dusk of 
 the evening, and the guard was already set ; but 
 the officer on guard very civilly volunteered to 
 wait on the admiral, who ordered that we should 
 be immediately admitted. 
 
 It has the advantage of a magnificent basin com- 
 municating with the Ai, at the upper end of which, 
 arranged in a straight line, are five slips for build- 
 ing ships of the line, with a series of roofs over each 
 slip, but imited so as to form one continued build-
 
 AMSTERDAM. 101 
 
 ing. Adjoining these were four other slips, roofed 
 over, for the largest class of frigates ; and in other 
 pai'ts of the yard were twelve smaller slips, also 
 roofed, for sloops, schuyts, and other small craft. 
 The larger roofs had each a gallery round them 
 within, just under the pitch of the roof. On in- 
 quiring for what purpose these galleries were 
 made, we were told that the only use made of 
 them was to accommodate spectators to view the 
 launch of the ship. 
 
 There was but one ship of the line building, the 
 Jupiter, of seventy-four g*uns. She had a round 
 stern, and was nearly ready ; there were also two 
 forty-four-gim frigates, and two twenty-gun sloops. 
 On observing to our conductor that it appeared 
 they had adopted all our late improvements, both 
 here and at Rotterdam — round stems, diagonal 
 braces, filling in between the timbers, &c., — he 
 said they could not follow a better example ; and 
 on asking him if he had ever seen an English 
 dock-yard, he said he had worked in Deptford- 
 yard for several years. 
 
 There was very little timber in the yard. It is 
 mostly received from the forests of Brabant and 
 Flanders, and is brought to Amsterdam ready 
 squared and sometimes fashioned, by which a 
 great expense of carriage is saved. What other 
 stores they might have, we could not learn ; but 
 tlie person who went round with us supposed they 
 might be sufficient to enable them to send a ship 
 to sea of each class. It was, in fact, too late to 
 go through the magazine or store-house, which is 
 a magnificent building at the entrance of the yard. 
 By carefully pacing along it, we concluded that it
 
 102 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 could not be less than three hundred by one hun- 
 dred and eighty feet, but we afterwards found, in 
 one of the guide-books, that its dimensions are 
 two hundred and twenty by two hundred ; and it 
 is six, if not seven, stories high. An inscription 
 informs us that it was built in the year 1656, and 
 completed ready for use in nine months. 
 
 In a line at the upper end of the yard, and close 
 behind the largest of the roofed tiers of slips, is a 
 long range of buildings, kept in very neat order, 
 consisting of the officers' houses, and the different 
 offices and workshops of the several trades, among 
 which we noticed the block -maker's, the joiner's, 
 the carver's, the blacksmith's, the house-carpen- 
 ter's, and many others, the whole line occupying a 
 space of not less than a quarter of a mile. 
 
 The number of men employed was stated to be 
 about one thousand five hundred of all denomina- 
 tions, and that all the labour of the yard was done 
 by hand, and mostly by task and job. There 
 appeared to be no great exertion on the part of 
 those who were at work. We observed twenty- 
 two men employed, two and two, in carrying a 
 plank on their shoulders, and they moved with it 
 just as we see the convicts sauntering along in 
 Portsmouth dock-yard. Some small craft were on 
 the stocks; and a very beautiful yacht, daubed over 
 with gold and blue paint, and carved with no mean 
 workmanship, had just been finished for the use of 
 King William. The only ship of war afloat was 
 a frigate lying in the basin, housed over in the 
 same manner as we see our ships in ordinary. 
 
 In fact Amsterdam has always been considered 
 as a very indifferent port, whether for merchant-
 
 AMSTERDAM. 103 
 
 men or ships of war, on account of the shal- 
 lowness of water, the shoals, and the difficulty of 
 the navigation of the Zuyder Zee. That difficulty 
 has, however, in some degree been obviated within 
 these few years, by opening a ship canal from the 
 Holder to a point opposite to Amsterdam. 
 
 This great port, from which it is|[said about two 
 thousand sea -going vessels annually clear out- 
 wards, had no other communication with the ocean 
 than by the Pampus channel into the Zuyder Zee, 
 by which, added to the dangers of the navigation, 
 outward-bound ships had frequently to contend 
 with the prevailing adverse winds from the north- 
 ward. Then the Pampus channel, which connects 
 the Zuyder Zee with the Ai^ is so narrow, and so 
 constantly barred up, that large vessels were un- 
 able to pass it at all, without loading or unloading , 
 by means of lighters, or being floated in and out 
 on camels. To obviate these inconveniences the 
 government resolved on cutting a ship canal n^om 
 the Holder to Buyksluys, immediately opposite 
 Amsterdam. This canal, which is fifty miles long, 
 one hundred and twenty-five feet wide at the sur- 
 face, thirty-eight feet at the bottom, and twenty 
 feet deep, was commenced in 1819, and finished 
 in 1825, at the expense, it is said, of about seven 
 hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. Tlie 
 level of the water is preserved by means of flood- 
 gates at the two extremities, to the level of spring 
 tides, when, at high water, the gates are thrown 
 open to supply any waste that may have been 
 occasioned during the neap tides ; but it has other 
 sources from whence it draws a supply of water 
 as it passes through the country. Its course com-
 
 104 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 mences at the Diep, close to the Helder, where a 
 pier had for some years past been thrown out into 
 the Zuyder Zee. From hence it runs parallel to 
 the coast, along the sea-dyke, as far as Petten ; 
 and thence a little easterly to Alckmar ; thence 
 takes an easterly direction to Purmereenal ; thence 
 directly south to Buyksluys, which is directly 
 opposite to Amsterdam, and just w^here the Aiy 
 in its passage to the Zuyder Zee, has been con- 
 tracted by an artificial dyke, to create a current 
 for the purpose of scouring out the channel and 
 preserving a sufficient depth of water in the port 
 of Amsterdam. 
 
 On the published plan of this canal are marked 
 a double set of floodgates at eacli extremity, and 
 two or three others in the interior, for no other 
 purpose, it would appear, than to retain the water ; 
 for as the whole line of country is perfectly level, 
 no locks, of course, were necessary. In the print 
 is represented a forty-six gun frigate, and a large 
 Indiaman, of a thousand tons burden, passing 
 through the sluices at the same time, in the year 
 1825, when the canal was first opened. They 
 are represented as being dragged by six or eight 
 horses, each at a speed not less than three miles 
 an hour. This work must prove of the greatest 
 importance to Amsterdam, and remedy most of its 
 commercial inconveniences, but not that, which is 
 above human skill to remedy, of being shut up for 
 two or three months in the year, and sometimes 
 longer, by ice. The ground, however, is of so 
 loose a texture, that the banks had given way in 
 several places, and it was apprehended that a con- 
 stant expense would be incuiTcd in their repair.
 
 AMSTERDAM. 105 
 
 The public buildings in Amsterdam are, per- 
 haps, less remarkable than in most other cities of 
 the Continent ; but it may be doubted if the city 
 itself, as to the style and magnitude of the dwel- 
 ling-houses, the width of the streets, the broad 
 sheets of water, bordered by the finest trees, has 
 any superior in Europe. A house with eight, ten, 
 or twelve windows on the same floor in front, and 
 with four, five, or even six stories in height, is 
 not uncommon in the three great streets we have 
 spoken of at the upper part of the town. A pair 
 of folding-doors usually lead into a court-yard, 
 round which are arranged the different offices, 
 the coach-house, and stables, and very frequently 
 a neat garden behind all; and where this is want- 
 ing, there are usually some fine flowering shrubs, 
 mostly the oleander and myrtle, placed in pots or 
 tubs round the court-yard. These splendid houses 
 were mostly built in the days of prosperity, when 
 the De Witts, and De Ruyters, and Van Tromps, 
 so nobly disputed with England the sovereignty 
 of the ocean. 
 
 In some part of the front of the very first 
 houses, but generally in the gable or highest 
 story, may be observed a beam of wood project- 
 ing a few feet, in which is a block and sheave 
 for hoisting up goods, furniture, or articles of 
 merchandise ; for however wealthy a Dutchman 
 may be, or of whatever rank, he has no objection 
 to koop and rerkoop a little; that is to say, to 
 buy and sell. In the days of prosperity, an 
 Oppor Koopman was the highest honorary title 
 that could be given in their Indian posses- 
 sions. In houses, however, where merchandise
 
 106 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 was never thought of, this apparatus for hoist- 
 ing up goods is fitted. It marks a distinctive 
 character in the people. Whatever furniture 
 may be required for an En2:lish drawing-room or 
 bed-room, it goes in at the door and is carried up 
 stairs, frequently to the detriment of the staircase. 
 Whatever goes into a Dutch house is hoisted up 
 to the highest story, and let do>vn to its proper 
 place. 
 
 There is one building in Amsterdam which 
 commands the attention of all strangers. This is 
 the old Stadhuis, or H6tel-de-Ville, which that 
 poor simple man, Louis Buonaparte, when created 
 king of Holland, took possession of in 1808, as 
 his palace, and which King William still pre- 
 serves in that character, though he very rarely 
 troubles his good city of Amsterdam, his residence 
 being divided between the Hague and Brussels. 
 The Dutch consider this palace as the eighth 
 wonder of the world. It stands on a large open 
 space, called the Dam, rising with a gentle ascent 
 from the head of the great canal, named the 
 Damrak. It measures in front two hundred 
 and eighty-two feet, in depth two hundred and 
 twenty -two feet, and in height one hundred and 
 sixteen feet, and with the tower and cupola, one 
 hundred and eighty-three feet. On the facade, 
 and ranged along the second story, there are 
 thirty pilasters of the composite order, each thirty- 
 six feet hioh • a second rano;e of the Corinthian 
 order forms a third story. This second colon- 
 nade, of the same height as those below, supports 
 the entablature, out of which rises a pediment, 
 whose base is eighty-two feet, and perpendicular
 
 AMSTERDAM. 107 
 
 height eighteen feet. A fine piece of marble 
 sculpture ornaments this pediment. The city of 
 Amsterdam is represented under the figure of a 
 female wearing an imperial crown, and holding 
 an olive branch in her hand. On her left is an 
 escutcheon bearing the city arms. She is attended 
 by Neptune armed with his trident, and sitting 
 in his car, drawn by sea-unicorns, so they are 
 called, and accompanied by Naiads and Tritons 
 with their conch shells, as if announcing to the 
 world the renown of this fine city. On the cor- 
 nice of this front are three full-length figures in 
 bronze, said to be each twelve feet high, repre- 
 senting Peace, Prudence, and Justice. On the 
 back front are also three figures, the centre one 
 representing an Atlas bearing an enormous globe, 
 with Temperance on one side, and Vigilance on 
 the other. 
 
 We were disappointed in not seeing the interior, 
 a positive order having been received to admit no 
 one at the time we were there, as the young 
 Prince of Holland was daily expected. It seems, 
 however, there is but one room that is deserving 
 of particular notice, but that one is represented 
 as the finest in Europe. It is the ball-room, the 
 dimensions of which are said to be one hundred 
 and twenty feet long, fifty-five wide, and ninety 
 feet high. 
 
 When King Louis took possession of the Stad- 
 huis, the civil and municipal authorities removed 
 into a building in the neighbourhood which was 
 once a convent, but converted at the Reformation 
 into the Prince's Hotel, and subsequently became 
 the Admiralty. It is a large building, surround-
 
 108 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 ing a square court, in the middle of which is a 
 fountain. 
 
 There are at least ten or twelve churches of the 
 established religion in Amsterdam, and churches 
 and chapels of almost every other sort that can be 
 named. At one time the Dutch were intolerant 
 in the highest degree ; and Catholics, Lutherans, 
 Jews, and Anabaptists, and every other sect, were 
 prohibited from holding any public place of wor- 
 ship, but were obliged to congregate in private 
 houses. Now, however, they are allowed to as- 
 semble, each in his own church or chapel, for the 
 performance of divine service ; but even yet none 
 of them are allowed the use of bells, and some are 
 not permitted to raise a tower or spire, but only 
 a simple turret or cupola. 
 
 Not many, indeed, of the established churches 
 have lofty towers or spires ; these are of no par- 
 ticular class or order of architecture, but neverthe- 
 less are of good proportions and pleasing designs. 
 Perhaps they may be classed, in point of size and 
 height, with the tower and spire of St. Martin's in 
 the Fields, and in point of general appearance in 
 the architecture, to St. Mary's or the New church 
 in the Strand. 
 
 The reformers, in taking possession of the 
 Roman Catholic churches, took care to strip them 
 of every ornament and decoration that could be 
 removed or defaced, particularly pictures and 
 statues; they threw down the altars, and have 
 shut out from public view the choir, at the head 
 of which the grand altar used to stand ; they also 
 demolished the chapels and their altars. Thus 
 stripped, the traveller feels little curiosity in enter- 
 ing a Dutch church.
 
 AMSTERDAM. 109 
 
 In the old church that was dedicated to St. 
 Nicholas, it is said, was a statue of the saint as 
 large as life, of solid silver, which the Calvinists 
 pulled down and melted, together with the can- 
 delabra and other pieces of plate belonging to the 
 church. Here, as in the other churches we have 
 seen, a balustrade of bronze separates the choir 
 from the body of the church, and on its cornice 
 is an inscription in Dutch, containing the follow- 
 ing piece of history : — ' The abuse introduced 
 from time to time into the church of God was 
 here exploded in the year 1578.' 
 
 The altar, as usual, has totally disappeared, and 
 a small plain pulpit supplies its place, from which 
 catechumens are examined and confirmed, and 
 marriages solemnised. In other parts of the 
 church are several monuments, not very interest- 
 ing, though generally in a better state of execution 
 than we find them in our own churches. 
 
 There are, however, three large painted windows 
 on the left transept as we go up the nave, which, 
 though completely Catholic, the reforming icono- 
 clasts have spared. We all agreed in considering 
 them by much the best paintings on glass we had 
 ever met with; and there is a history attached to 
 them, which is believed to be true, and which 
 appears to be borne out by circumstances. Two 
 of these windows were the gift of a wealthy bur- 
 gomaster, of the name of Claas Van Hoppen. 
 Claas was accused of heresy, and of favouring the 
 new or reformed religion. The priests and his 
 confessor threatened him with excommunication 
 unless he recanted, and immediately undertook a 
 pilgrimage to Rome, to obtain absolution from
 
 110 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 the pope, who had, no doubt, previously been 
 made acquainted with his wealthy circumstances, 
 and also that he was a hon vivant. The penance 
 imposed by his Holiness was, that he should make 
 a present of two painted glass windows to the 
 church of St. Nicholas, and that for one whole 
 year he should drink nothing but water. The 
 expense of the glass windows was but a trifle to 
 a man of his great wealth ; but having never been 
 a water-drinker, he felt convinced of his inability 
 to fulfil that part of the punishment. He tlierefore 
 solicited a second audience, at which he acquainted 
 his Holiness that the water of Amsterdam was so 
 unwholesome that nobody drank it plain ; and all 
 he requested was to be permitted to add a few 
 grains of corn to correct its impurities, or he feared 
 he should die before the windows were finished. 
 The pope assented to this reasonable request, and 
 Claas Van Hoppen took good care to malt his 
 water well. 
 
 The corner, in which these windows are, is called 
 the Yrowen Koir, or women's choir, there being 
 a great number of female figures painted in the 
 act of prayer. The arms also of the Tan Hoppen 
 family are painted on the glass, and carved also 
 on a tombstone. 
 
 The subject of the painting on the first window 
 is the ' Salutation of the Virgin ]Mary by the 
 Angel Gabriel.' The second, the ' Visit to the Vir- 
 gin by her Cousin Elizabeth.' Beneath are the 
 two apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. On each 
 side are a number of persons on their knees, and 
 among the group on the right is a man clad in a 
 grey frock, who is supposed to be Van Hoppen ;
 
 AMSTERDAM. Ill 
 
 and this is the more probable, as near to him is 
 represented a bishop with his crosier, on which 
 are written these words : — ' Nemo Iseditur nisi a 
 se ipso/ 
 
 Beautiful as these two windows are, the third is 
 still more so, and obviously painted by a different 
 artist. It represents a person, supposed to be the 
 Holy Virgin, on her death -bed. She is raised up 
 by her attendants, and holds a lighted candle in 
 her hand, the flame of which is so perfectly natural 
 that the spectator can scarcely believe it not to be 
 so. A numerous gToup surround the couch while 
 she is apparently receiving the tiaticum; and a 
 host of angels hover above, ready to convey the 
 soul of the dying saint to the regions of bliss. 
 There is another window behind the choir covered 
 with the painted arms of all the burgomasters, from 
 the reformation of 1378 down to the present time. 
 This church has what may be called an elegant 
 tower and spire, said to be two hundred and fifty 
 feet high. In 1760 it was bodily lifted up by 
 screws, to enable the workmen to repair the foun- 
 dation. It is remarked for a fine set of carillons, 
 which emit pleasing silvery tones. 
 
 The new church, originally dedicated to St. 
 Peter, now to St. Catherine, stands on the Dam, 
 close to the palace ; and, new as it was, no doubt, 
 at the time, it is now more than three hundred 
 years old. It is said to be built on the model of 
 the cathedral of Amiens. The dimensions are set 
 down as three hundred and fifteen feet long, by 
 two hundred and ten broad; and it is lighted by no 
 less than seventy-five large windows. It contains 
 some of the best modern monuments in Holland,
 
 1 12 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 particularly one of Admiral de Ruyter, which has 
 usurped the place of the grand altar. The pulpit 
 is a good specimen of carved-work in wood, sup- 
 ported by figures of the four evangelists. 
 
 Besides the steeples or spires of the churches, there 
 are four or five lofty towers scattered in different 
 parts of the city, most of which have their clocks 
 and carillons. One of these, standing on the quay, is 
 the Herring Tower, at which tlie company of mer- 
 chants concerned in the herring-fishery hold their 
 meetings and keep their accounts ; and this spot, 
 on the return of the boats from the fishery, is said 
 to exhibit one of the busiest scenes that occur in 
 this gTcat capital. There is another tower on the 
 quay, named the Scrayershoek Toor, or the Tower 
 of the Mourners, so called from its standing on 
 the spot where the wives and children of seamen 
 were accustomed to take leaA^e of their husbands 
 and fathers on embarking on foreign voyages. 
 It is now converted into offices for those who are 
 charged with the duties of the port. 
 
 From the churches we j)roceeded to view the 
 National Museum of Pictures in the Trippenhuis 
 on the Kloveniersburgwal, which is open daily, 
 except Sundays, to strangers. The name is taken 
 from that of the original owner of the house, which 
 was Trip. 
 
 It is a good building, containing, on two floors, 
 seven or eight rooms, well filled with nearly five 
 hundred pictures, chiefly of the Dutch and Flemish 
 schools, and many of them among the finest 
 specimens of the several masters. Some of the 
 best were removed from the Stadhuis when it be- 
 came the palace ; and to these were added others
 
 AMSTERDAM. il3 
 
 tliat were purchased at the public expense from 
 private collections. A very few only can be no- 
 ticed here. 
 
 There are five pictures of Gerard Douw, all of 
 them good, but two in pai-ticular are eminently 
 beautiful. The one is a large picture of a school 
 by candlelight. It contains twelve figures and 
 five different lights, so placed as to give to the 
 painting a wonderful effect of light and shade, 
 and to produce a perfect illusion by the manage- 
 ment of the strong lights in front, gradually dimi- 
 nishing to the back-ground, and giving great 
 breadth and distance to the picture. The other 
 is a cavalier and a richly dressed lady, under the 
 shade of a thick wood, highly and beautifully 
 finished. 
 
 There are three pictures of -Van Dyk, but none 
 in his best manner. Two portraits, the size of 
 life, of the Princess Mary of England, and her 
 brother the Duke of Gloucester, are the best. 
 
 A magnificent picture of B. Van der Heist, 
 which Sir Joshua Reynolds pronounced to be — 
 and few will dispute tlie propriety of his taste — 
 superior to another large picture of Rembrandt, in 
 the same collection, and so it is considered by the 
 artists of Holland. It represents a feast given by 
 the officers of a company of the Civic Guard of 
 Amsterdam, commanded by Captain Witts, to the 
 Spanish Ambassador, in commemoration of the 
 peace concluded at Miinster in 1648 ; this appears 
 from an inscription of four lines painted on a large 
 drum. This noble work of art contains about 
 thirty full-lengih portraits, to whose company the 
 Spanish Ambassador is introduced, and is in the 
 I
 
 1 14 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 act of shaking hands with the Captain. ' Of this 
 picture,' says Sir Joshua, ' I had heard great com- 
 mendations ; but it as far exceeded my expecta- 
 tion, as that of Rembrandt fell below it ;' and he 
 adds, ' This is, perhaps, the first picture of por- 
 traits in the world, comprehending more of those 
 qualities which make a perfect portrait than any 
 others I have ever seen. They are correctly drawn, 
 both head and figure, and well coloured, and have 
 great variety of action, characters, and counte- 
 nances, and those so lively and truly expressing 
 what they are about, that the spectator has nothing 
 to wish for. 
 
 Another picture of Van der Heist, representing 
 a party of the corps of crossbow^-men sitting at a 
 table, examining a silver vase, apparently intended 
 as a prize for the best marksman. This picture 
 is fine, but every way inferior to the preceding. 
 There are a few good pictures of Mieris ; but one 
 in particular, a lady sitting at a table, writing a 
 letter, a servant waiting her orders, and a little 
 dog asleep upon a stool, are all well conceived and 
 admirably executed. 
 
 A very large picture of Paul Potter, representing 
 a mountainous landscape, in the foreground of 
 which is a boar defending itself against tlie attack 
 of some dogs, urged by a hunter on horseback, 
 accompanied by another on foot, while on the right 
 of the picture a young bear is seen clambering up 
 a tree, with a dog springing after it. The old 
 boar, w^ho defends himself bravely, has laid one of 
 the dogs sprawling on the ground, and another is 
 dreadfully lacerated by his paw^s. The drawing 
 of the dogs is uncommonly fine ; full of energy in
 
 AMSTERDAM. 115 
 
 their action and ferocity in tlieir faces. The horse 
 and his rider are as large as life ; and when 
 viewed from the opposite corner of the room, Loth 
 of them really look, as Smirk says in the Minor, 
 ' as if they only wanted a spark from the torch of 
 Prometheus to start from the canvas,' — and gal- 
 lop over the spectators. Without pretensions to 
 connoisseurship, perhaps one may venture to pro- 
 nounce this as one of the finest pictures, though by 
 no means an agreeable one, that w^as ever painted 
 by the artist. 
 
 Another specimen of Paul Potter is a rich land- 
 scape, well filled with oxen, goats, sheep, asses, 
 and all in their proper situations and attitudes, 
 while under an ancient oak a w^oman is suckling 
 her child, and a man, with a dog beside him, is 
 playing on the bagpipes. A sort of companion 
 to this is Orpheus playing on his lyre : all the 
 beasts of the forest, from the large elephant to the 
 meanest reptile and insect, are scattered over the 
 canvas. 
 
 There are four pictures of Rembrandt, every 
 one of which will command attention. The first 
 is well known under the name of ' La Garde de 
 Nuit ;' which, if we believe the Dutch, who ought 
 to know, and the descriptive catalogue, is entirely 
 a misnomer. The subject of this extraordinary 
 picture — the only fit companion to the great pic- 
 ture before noticed of Van der Heist — represents 
 the departure of a certain Captain Kok, accom- 
 panied by his officers and arquebusiers, to fire at a 
 mark. The figures are numerous, and the details 
 beautifully executed. On the upper part of a 
 pillar are painted the names of the persons repre- 
 i2
 
 il6 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 sented in the picture ; and tliougli one of the most 
 celebrated pictures in Europe, the subject of it is 
 yet left as a matter of doubt. Sir Joshua, how- 
 ever, did not think very highly of it ; he said it was 
 undeserving its great reputation, and that he could 
 with difficulty persuade himself it was painted by 
 Rembrandt, notwithstanding the name and date 
 which are upon it. 
 
 The second picture of Rembrandt is the ' Decol- 
 lation of St. John the Baptist,' all the figures of 
 the natural size, but cut off by the knees. The 
 executioner stands in the midst of the picture, 
 presenting the head of the saint upon a salver to 
 Herodias, who seems somewhat terrified, and to 
 have communicated her terrors to her mother. It 
 is a finely painted but disagreeable representation 
 of a disgusting subject. 
 
 The third picture is composed of the portraits of 
 five regents of a certain corporation of Amsterdam, 
 sitting at a table, with a book before them. There 
 is something very striking in this picture, though 
 composed entirely of portraits, which can scarcely 
 be said to be in action. In the Queen of the 
 Netherlands' boudoir, in Bi-ussels, we saw either a 
 copy or the original of this picture ; but we all 
 agreed that it was fresher, and on the whole a 
 better picture, than this in the Museum of Am- 
 sterdam. 
 
 The fourth is a portrait of some person of no 
 note, and inferior to many of this great master. 
 
 Rubens does not shine here. There are but 
 two pictures of his ; — the subject of one is Roman 
 filial piety ; and the other a sketch of Christ bear - 
 ino- his Cross to Mount Calvary.
 
 AMSTERDAM. 117 
 
 Jan Steen has a great number of pictures, the 
 most exquisite of which, if not of his whole works, 
 is that of a baker, in his shirt, placing his hot 
 loaves on the window of his shop, while the boy 
 is blowing the horn to announce ' hot rolls.' 
 
 The fete of St. Nicholas is an admirable picture; 
 every figure in it tells the story, and the thoughts 
 and feelings are expressed in the most lively man- 
 ner on each countenance. 
 
 Teniers has several pictures, and so has Ostade, 
 but nothing very remarkable. Of the former, the 
 * Temptation of St. Anthony' is perhaps the best. 
 
 TV. Van der Yelde has some excellent pictures, 
 representing the naval battles that took place 
 between the fleets of England and Holland, and of 
 course those only in wdiich the latter were victo- 
 rious. A beautiful and bustling picture of this 
 master is a view of the lower part of the city of 
 Amsterdam, taken from the Schreyershoeks-tooren, 
 (the Tower of the Mourners,) as far as the island 
 of Kattenburg. But there is a pair of pictures by 
 this artist, painted with great care and exactness, 
 which are highly flattering to the national glory 
 of the Dutch. The one represents four sail of 
 English line-of-battle ships, taken in the battle 
 of 1666, between De Ruj-ier and Monck ; the 
 other is the capture of the Prince-Royal, three days 
 after the above-mentioned action. 
 
 There are several others of storms and calms 
 by this master, and also by Backhuisen ; one in 
 particular of the latter, which must also possess 
 great interest with the Dutch. It is the embarka- 
 tion of the grand pensioner De AYitt, on his taking 
 command of the fleet in 1665. The multitude of
 
 118 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 people assembled of all descriptions, — the great 
 man himself marching down, attended by his &taffy 
 — the people and the boats employed in embark- 
 ing the troops, — and the fleet with loosened sails 
 in the distance, present a scene of bustle and busi- 
 ness, which gives uncommon life and animation 
 to this grand picture, which is finely painted in 
 all its parts. 
 
 Wouvermanshas several very fine pictures in this 
 collection, and so has Van der Werf and Wynants. 
 
 There are some good portraits by Miereveld. 
 That of ]Maurice, Prince of Orange, is equal to 
 any that Van Dyk has painted. 
 
 Paintings of birds, plants, and insects, by Hon- 
 dekoeter, — of flowers and fruits by Huysum, and 
 Mignon, and Yan Os, and De Heem, are some 
 of the most perfect specimens that can be met 
 with of these masters. They occupy principally 
 a room by themselves. 
 
 It would be imjust to a disciple of Rubens, who 
 has hardly received his due share of praise, not to 
 notice two pictures, which are close imitations of 
 his master's style. The ' Adoration of the Shep- 
 herds,' and the ' Descent from the Cross,' by G, 
 De Craijer, or Craiyer, who has painted several 
 altar-pieces and other pictiu'es for the churches 
 and chapels of Antwerp, and other churches and 
 public edifices in the Netherlands. 
 
 There are many other pictures of great merit 
 which it is impossible to particularize; such as 
 those of Berchem, Both, Cuyp, Haarlem, Jor- 
 daens, Ruisdaal, Poelenburg, Sneyders, Terburg, 
 Wynants, and several other artists of note in Hol- 
 land and Flanders.
 
 AMSTERDAM. Il9 
 
 The total want of specimens of the school of 
 Italian painting, might render the Museum of 
 Amsterdam of no great estimation in the eyes of 
 those who can see nothing worth bestowing a look 
 upon, but subjects treated in the manner which 
 they are pleased to style the Z^m?* ideal; that is to 
 say, to produce something that does not exactly 
 exist in nature, but superior to it ; — angelic fea- 
 tures, superhuman forms, and beings created out 
 of the fervour of a heated and luxuriant imagina- 
 tion ; the fe-tory wrapt up In some hidden meaning, 
 which none but the painter himself can understand 
 or explain ; gods and goddesses, nymphs, cupids, 
 fawns, and sat}TS, — in short, anything that is not 
 human or natural, if painted with fine flowing 
 lines and warm colouring, is extolled as the link 
 which connects painting with poetry ; and so far 
 the conception is jus-t, as both of them, to ensure 
 the praise and admiration of their votaries, must 
 deal in fiction. The Dutch and Flemish painters 
 are mostly content to follow nature, and only fail 
 when they attempt something that is beyond her. 
 Rubens himself never succeeds so ill as where he 
 attempts what is called allegory. It is in some of 
 those pieces where he found it necessary to intro- 
 duce creatures like nothing that exists on earth, 
 and where his females are such uncouth beings, 
 as almost to justify the resemblance they were 
 said by one of his critics to bear to Flanders' 
 mares. 
 
 Our next visit was to the park or plantation — 
 Plantajie^ as it is generally called by the inhabit- 
 ants. It is situated near the southern extremity 
 of the city, at the end of that noble street the
 
 J 20 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 Heeren Graght, and is surrounded by canals; and, 
 according to the space it appears to occupy on the 
 plan, may be about one thousand yards long by 
 five hundred broad ; or, in extent of surface, about 
 one hundred acres; it contains some tolerably fine 
 trees, and is laid out in straight walks, at right 
 angles to each other. Near one comer is a small 
 botanical garden, consisting chiefly of medicinal 
 plants, but not to be mentioned after the garden 
 of Ley den. 
 
 Not far from the park is the stone bridge over 
 the Amstel, where this river enters the city in a fine 
 broad sheet of water, and with so gentle a current 
 as scarcely to be perceptible. It is called, one 
 knows not why, the Lover's Bridge. It is said 
 to be six hundred and sixty feet long, and seventy 
 feet wide ; it has eleven arches, with piers of stone 
 masomy, mixed with brick-vrork, apparently of 
 solid and well-executed workmanship. From the 
 centre of this bridge is a favourable view of the 
 city on one side, and on the other an extensive 
 prospect over the flat surface of this singular 
 countrj^, divided into squares and parallelograms, 
 by means of dykes and ditches, called polders; 
 spaces that contain, within their boundaries, villas 
 and gardens, which are kept dry by innumerable 
 windmills employed in pumping out the water. 
 
 Ascending the quay of the linnen Amstel, or 
 the river within the city, we are led to the Ex- 
 change, under which it passes through a large 
 arch ; and at this point, over the centre of the 
 arch, is conspicuously placed the figure of Mer- 
 cury, of a colossal size, — rather an odd appen- 
 dage to be selected as the guardian deity of
 
 A3ISTERDAM. 121 
 
 tlie temple, wherein all the mercantile and money 
 concerns of the capital are transacted. For 
 tlioiigh this winged gentleman was the protect- 
 ing deity of commerce, the Dutch were no doubt 
 aware that, among his other qualifications, he 
 had the reputation of being w^ell versed in the 
 art of appropriating to himself what belonged to 
 others. He is also renowned for activity and swift- 
 ness, which have not been supposed among the 
 most prominent features of the Dutch character. 
 
 Like all the continental exchanges, which 
 resemble our own, that of Amsterdam is a qua- 
 drangular building, with an open square space 
 in the middle, round which is an arcade or gal- 
 lery, supported by forty- six columns, each being 
 appropriated to some particular class of mer- 
 chants or traders ; and here people of all nations 
 daily assemble in crowds, at a particular hour, 
 for the transaction of business. This crowd 
 wore a very Jewish and shabby appearance, 
 which made one of our party observe, that he 
 never saw such a multitude of monied men 
 together, that looked so very much like a set 
 of pickpockets. Having* since visited the Stock- 
 exchange of London, and the Bank rotunda, he is 
 quite ready to qualify the harsh opinion he had 
 pronounced on the merchants and money-changers 
 of Amsterdam. 
 
 A similar crowd, wath a good sprinkling of 
 Jews, were loitering daily about the lottery-ofiices, 
 which are numerous in the neighbouring streets, 
 and particularly about the Dam. The prevalence 
 of oamblino- is a vice, from which the Dutch 
 government has no scruple in deriving a consider-
 
 125 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 al)le revenue ; and what can be a fitter subject £oi' 
 taxation ? It was but a mawkish kind of morality 
 that induced a late English chancellor of the 
 exchequer to give up a considerable revenue, levied 
 on the votaries of this vice, at the instigation of a 
 class of men, who are at great pains to make them- 
 selves be thought more righteous than then* neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 The little time w^e had to spare would not admit 
 of our visiting all the numerous institutions, with 
 which this city abounds, for the alleviation of 
 human misery and distress, in all their various 
 shapes. The several hospitals, generally kept 
 distinct, for the reception of the aged, the infirm, 
 and the desolate ; the blind, the lame, the widows, 
 and orphans ; for foundlings, and for those de- 
 prived of reason ; of which, taken together, there 
 appear to be not fewer than forty, most of them 
 large and convenient buildings. The various 
 prisons, and houses of correction and of industry, 
 are said to be under a better system of control 
 and management, than are most of a similar de- 
 scription in other parts of Europe. 
 
 These several establishments have been founded 
 by, and derive their support either from, the public, 
 the several religious societies, or rich individuals, 
 particularly widows who are left in good circum- 
 stances, and who are frequently most liberal contri- 
 butors to charities of this kind. But to make our- 
 selves acquainted with the details of the manage- 
 ment of institutions of this kind required too 
 much time for a flying visit, and we were therefore 
 reluctantly obliged to be satisfied with viewing, as 
 we did most of them, externally.
 
 AMSTERDAM. 123 
 
 From all we could learn, however, concerning 
 these public and private institutions for charitable 
 purposes, the state of the hospitals, the prisons, 
 and houses of correction, the following summary, 
 taken from an old author, who visited Amsterdam 
 nearly a hundred years ago, may be considered as 
 pretty nearly a correct statement at the present 
 day. 
 
 ' I shall now proceed and speak of the alms- 
 ' houses, and of the government of the poor, of 
 ' the prisons, and houses of correction, of this 
 ' wealthy place. 
 
 ' This city is said to have twenty thousand poor 
 ' every day at bed and board. The almshouses 
 ' are many, and look more like princes' palaces 
 ' than lodgings for poor people. First, there are 
 ' houses for poor old men and women ; then a 
 ' large square palace for three hundred w^idows ; 
 ' then there are hospitals for boys and girls, for 
 ' burghers' children, and for strangers' children, or 
 ' those called foundlings. All these boys and 
 ' girls have, every Sunday, and other days of wor- 
 ' ship, tw^o doits given them by the fathers of these 
 ' houses, the wdiich the children put into the dea- 
 ' cons' bag wdien they gather for the poor in the 
 ' churches. Then there is an hospital for fools, 
 *- and a bedlam ; then there are houses wdiere com- 
 ' mon beggars, and gamesters, and frequenters 
 ' of tap-houses, are kept hard at work ; there is 
 ' also a house called a Rasp-house, wdiere petty 
 ' thieves, and such as slash one another with 
 ' knives, — such as beg with cheating devices, — 
 ' women w^ith feigned great bellies, — men pretend- 
 ^ ing to have been taken up by the Turks, — others
 
 124 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 ' that pretend wreck at sea, — and such as beg with 
 ' a clapper or bell, as if they could not speak or 
 ' hear ; — such as these are kept hard at work, 
 ' rasping every day fifty pounds between two of 
 ' them, or else are beaten ; and if yet they rebel, 
 ' and w^on't work, they are set in a tub, wdiere, if 
 ' they do not pump, the water will swell over their 
 
 ' heads. Then there is a house where wh s 
 
 ' are kept to work, and also disobedient children, 
 ' who live idle, and take no course to maintain 
 * themselves ; likewise women commonly drinking 
 ' themselves drunk, and scolds. 
 
 ' All these sorts of hospitals and almshouses 
 ' are stately buildings, richly adorned with pictures, 
 ' and their lodgings very neat and clean. In 
 ' some of the boys' and girls' hospitals there are 
 ' one thousand five hundred; in some eight hun- 
 ' dred ; and in some, five hundred in a house. 
 ' Then they have houses where a man or woman 
 ' may have their diet, w-ashing, and lodging, for 
 ' life, by giving a small sum of m.oney ; tliese are 
 ' called Proveniers houses.' 
 
 Whether these various establishments are capable 
 of relieving the w^hole mass of human wretchedness 
 wdiich this capital, in common with all large cities, 
 must contain, w^ould require a long residence to 
 determine ; but we could .not help making the 
 same remark here as in Rotterdam — that in all 
 our rambles w^e had not met w^ith a drunken per- 
 son in the streets ; nay, more, that w^e had not 
 observed a man, woman, or child, in rags, or 
 met with a real object of compassion in any 
 part of the town ; and the only beggars that 
 accosted us, and those were in some of the lower
 
 AMSTERDAM. 125 
 
 parts of tlie town, were decrepit old men. The 
 truth is, that if a young sturdy beggar should be 
 discovered teasing passengers for alms, the police 
 would instantly seize hold of him and send him 
 at once to one of the w^orkhouses, wdiere, if he 
 refused to perform the task set him, he would be 
 treated, as is mentioned in the above extract, with 
 a spell at the pump. 
 
 Those who are at the head of the police are not 
 so squeamish in Holland as we are. There is none 
 of that fearfulncss and timidity — none of the 
 nonsensical speeches and conversations wdiich our 
 Dogberries of the East and of the West are so 
 fond of making, for the pleasure of seeing them- 
 selves exhibited in the daily papers, — none of the 
 gossiping, for the gentlemen of the press to detail 
 in their respective journals, whenever a rogue or 
 vagabond — especially one of notoriety — happens 
 to be brought before them. 
 
 The law in Holland is clearly defined, and, if 
 the fact be proved, the magistrate has no other 
 line to pursue than to direct that the law shall 
 take its course; and thus the public is relieved from 
 a nuisailce, and society benefited by the example. 
 ' All rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars,' 
 which the act of Elizabeth, in our statute book, 
 professes to set to work, the Dutch take good 
 care shall be set to work; and they also take care 
 to have ready in hand, what our statute likewise 
 directs to have in hand, ' a convenient stock of 
 * flax, hemp, wool, thread, corn, and other neces- 
 ' sary ware and stuff, to set the poor on work/ 
 
 To aid the police in the praiseworthy task of 
 finding useful labour for the poor and idle, ' The
 
 126 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 Society of Friends of Humanity and Public 
 Utility,' have established an agricultural colony 
 called Frederik's-oord, near Steenwyk, on the 
 eastern side of the Zuyder Zee, where the land 
 rises into barren heaths and downs. The institu- 
 tion is said to have answered so well, that the 
 King of Denmark undertook to form a similar 
 establishment in his dominions, which, however, 
 failed. Mr. Jacob has given the details of Fre- 
 derik's-oord from the annual reports printed in 
 Holland; but we doubt much of the ultimate suc- 
 cess of an institution grounded, as in point of fact 
 it is, on the principle and practice of forced labour. 
 
 No loose women are permitted to infest the 
 streets of Amsterdam ; and the public eye, there- 
 fore, is not offended by their indecent and immo- 
 dest conduct. Private haunts of intemperance 
 and debauchery, it is well known, are winked at, 
 perhaps sanctioned, by the government, which 
 could not be prevented either here or elsewhere ; 
 and on this ground it may, perhaps, be deemed 
 politic to allow them. But those disgusting dens 
 of profligacy, known by the names of .9jnel-h.o\ises 
 or miisicos^ frequented by both sexes, and to which, 
 on certain days of the year, respectable families 
 were in the habit of taking their children, to 
 witness scenes of vice in their most odious shape, 
 in order to disgust them — a lesson of doubtful 
 morality — can scarcely now be said to exist, ex- 
 cept among the very lowest of the inhabitants. 
 
 The police of the city appears to be excellently 
 regulated. Robberies or house-breaking are of 
 rare occurrence. The minister intrusted with 
 the police takes care to employ stout young men,
 
 AMSTERDAM, 1'27 
 
 who may be seen in the evenmg walking in pairs; 
 and these are efficient guardians of peace and quiet 
 during the night. Our new and excellent police 
 establishment is not unlike that of Amsterdam. 
 
 Excepting about the quays, wiiere there is 
 always some show of business and bustle, and in 
 the Ayarmoos Straut and Calvers Straut, in both 
 of which are the principal shops for all kinds of 
 wares and merchandise, and which may be com- 
 pared, in point of wealth, with the Strand in 
 London, but without the advantage of its side 
 pavements, Amsterdam appeared to be just as 
 dull and gloomy as the west end of London is in 
 the month of October ; and this arose apparently 
 from the same cause, the merchants and gentry 
 being at this time absent at their country villas, 
 enjoying themselves, — some in the sports of the 
 field, confined mostly to the shooting of rabbits, 
 and others in the tulip and hyacinth beds of their 
 neatly-trimmed gardens. 
 
 It was generally admitted that the trade, and 
 consequently the prosperity, of Amsterdam had 
 not yet recovered, since the peace, from the shock 
 which they had here, as in Rotterdam, experienced 
 by fraternising with the French republicans ; and 
 it was also admitted, as a natural consequence, 
 that the population had greatly decreased. The 
 whale-fishery, once the source of great w^ealth, 
 had entirely ceased; and the East India trade and 
 possessions, to which had been mainly owing the 
 prosperity, the splendour, and the maritime power 
 of the nation, had now become a source of vast 
 expenditure, without a hope of their ever recover- 
 ing their ancient prosperity.
 
 128 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 As a proof of the declining state of Oriental 
 commerce, the East India House and its maoa- 
 zines on the island of Oostenburg are crumbling 
 into ruins. They are fully sensible that they 
 never can, under any circumstances, pretend to 
 compete with the English and the Americans in 
 the East India and China trade ; and the opinion 
 of the soundest politicians is, that the best thing 
 they can do would be to abandon the trade and 
 possessions altogether. 
 
 The bad management and grasping avarice of 
 the Dutch servants in Java have created a rebel- 
 lion among four millions of people, whom that 
 active, intelligent, zealous, and humane governor, 
 Sir Stamford Raffles, had made happy, prosperous, 
 and free. Under his rule they had been relieved 
 from the power of their oppressors, and freed from 
 that impolitic and unjust system of exactions and 
 forced deliveries of produce, which the Dutch had 
 imposed on their land and their labour. 
 
 It was a great mistake on our part, in the nego- 
 tiations for peace, to have voluntarily surrendered 
 this fine island and its four millions of people to 
 the Dutch, as a^n act of generosity to a fallen 
 nation, for as to any claim on us they had none. 
 They never were, and it was not likely they ever 
 would become, popular among the Javanese. 
 Their system of policy has gone far to ruin this 
 noble island, and they have reaped nothing but 
 disgrace, expense, and embarrassment. 
 
 The same indication, which amounts nearly to 
 proof of a decreasing population, that we noticed 
 in other towns of Holland, struck us forcibly here. 
 We did not see a single new house, or a house
 
 AMSTERDAM. 129 
 
 building, in all Amsterdam ; but we did observe 
 three or four old ones pulling down in the Jews' 
 quarter, with an intention, probably, of rebuilding 
 them, as they stood on the margin of a canal. 
 
 The conclusion to be drawn from the few re- 
 marks we made of Amsterdam is, what many per- 
 sons have supposed to be the case, that it is a very 
 dull, and therefore not a very interesting place. 
 The fact, however, is not so: there is always some- 
 thing going on to excite attention. Mrs. Jklontagu 
 says, that she never could understand what the 
 expression ' stock-still' meant till she visited Am- 
 sterdam, when she at once felt its full force. No 
 doubt the ' stocks' or ' stakes' of which there are 
 so many thousands along the quays of Amsterdam, 
 were ' still ' enough ; but the sea by which they 
 are surrounded is not always so. The canals are 
 ' still,' but the craft constantly moving about in 
 them is not so. The quays of a tovv'n from which 
 two thousand vessels clear out annually, or about 
 six daily, are not likely to be ' still : ' and if iNIrs. 
 Montagu had gone a-shopjnng in Warmoos Straat, 
 or Calvers Straat, she would not have found much 
 ' still ' life there. 
 
 No city, for its size and population, abounds 
 with more societies for the cultivation of literature, 
 science, and the fine arts, than Amsterdam. It 
 has an academy of painting, sculpture, engraving, 
 and architecture. At the Felix meritis^ a most 
 respectable society for the encouragement of every 
 branch of art, science, and literature, of physics, 
 music, and even commerce and political economy, 
 lectures are delivered and dissertations read on all 
 subjects. They have a library stocked with books 
 
 K
 
 130 AMSTERDAM, 
 
 in all departments of science; a collection of 
 plaster casts from ancient statues; a chemical 
 apparatus, and a collection of mathematical, phi- 
 losophical, and even musical instruments, and 
 they give concerts. All these are contained in a 
 very handsome building. 
 
 The Society of Public Utility is common ta 
 every city and town in Holland above the rank of 
 a village. Schools of every kind are numerous. 
 Those for the poor are said to be well attended by 
 more than four thousand children : they are under 
 tlie direction of a certain number of curators, who 
 admit the children of the poor without distinction 
 of religious sects. 
 
 The shortness of our stay would not allow us to 
 form any correct conclusions as to the state of 
 society. The ladies seldom appear in public, and 
 rarely in the streets, excepting in the two where 
 the principal shops are ; and verv^ few carriages of 
 any kind are seen in Amsterdam. One of the 
 most common, which serves the place of our 
 hackney-coaches, is a small-bodied coach, like a 
 Brighton ' Fly,' without wheels, and fixed on a 
 w^ooden sledge, drawn by a single horse, and 
 attended by a man w^ho walks by the side, to pre- 
 vent it from upsetting. The Dutch of both sexes 
 now dress pretty much in the same manner as 
 other Europeans. The Friezland ladies, however, 
 have a peculiar head-dress, consisting of a small 
 cap close to the head, to each side of which, and 
 covering the temples nearly as far as the eyes, 
 is attached a plate of gold. The first impression 
 which this odd appendage gives is, that the wearer 
 must have been trepanned. This tasteless head-
 
 AMSTERDAM. 131 
 
 dress, with its cap and golden flails, is said to cost 
 from ten to twelve pounds ; but being a distinction 
 from the vulgar, it is considered cheap enough. 
 These Friezlanders wear besides, golden ringlets 
 round the neck, and pendants from the ear. They 
 are said to be exceedingly tenacious of their ancient 
 customs and dress, and also of their language, 
 which differs as much from modern Dutch as the 
 Flemish does. 
 
 The dress of the ladies of Amsterdam is French; 
 and that usually worn by tradesmen's wives and 
 servant-girls differs but little from that of the 
 same classes in England, except that the latter 
 description of Hollanders have rarely any summer 
 covering on their head but a cap, and they fre- 
 quently wear long cloaks with hoods, as in the 
 Netherlands. The men also now dress much the 
 same as with us. The little round hat, the 
 puckered jacket, and the wude breeches of the 
 men, have entirely disappeared, except among some 
 of the northern fishermen ; and the same kind of 
 hat, the jacket, and short petticoat, displaying a 
 pair of sky-blue stockings, have been equally de- 
 serted by the females. 
 
 Both sexes appear healthy, which our doctors 
 say they ought not to do in a climate so humid, 
 and amidst a stench from stagnant canals so dele- 
 terious. The deaths, we understood, amount to 
 about twenty a day ; which, on a population of 
 one hundred and eighty thousand, give an average 
 of four per cent. ; a much greater mortality than 
 the average of European cities. 
 
 One cannot walk the length of a street in 
 Amsterdam without meeting a certain gentleman 
 k2
 
 132 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 dressed in black, with a crape depending from his 
 hat, and a sheet of paper in his liand. He is 
 known by the name of aansprecker^ (announcer, 
 or reporter,) whose business it is to go round to 
 the relatives and acquaintances of a deceased per- 
 son, to announce his death. To give notice to the 
 friends of the birth of a child, a written bulletin 
 is frequently stuck up on a door-post of the house, 
 stating the health of the mother and child to be, 
 as usual, ' as well as can be expected.' 
 
 If Amsterdam should happily regain its former 
 state of prosperity, it will either be necessary to 
 build on the boulevards, or fill up the adjoining 
 polders : though it is probable that, in such an 
 event, another city would rise on the north side of 
 the Ai, opposite to the old one, either by Buick- 
 sluys, where the grand canal enters it, or at Saar- 
 dam, or more properly Saandam, where the Czar 
 Peter, under the name of Peter Michaelhof, learnt 
 the trade of ship-building ; and where the late 
 Emperor Alexander, when at Amsterdam, visited 
 the cabin and its homely furniture of his gre^t 
 ancestor. 
 
 That side of the Ai is preferable as a port to this 
 on which the city now stands, being the weather- 
 shore, and sheltered from all winds. The king is 
 said to have it in contemplation to appoint com- 
 missioners to examine and report on his naval 
 establishments. He could not do better than 
 remove the dock-yard of Amsterdam across the 
 water, as, in its present position, it is exposed to 
 the prevailing winds. At present, however, it 
 would appear more prudent to direct his attention 
 to his army rather than the navy. He will find
 
 AMSTERDAM. 1 33 
 
 that a military navy is not to be made without an 
 extensive mercantile navy, . which he has not. 
 Certain northern political economists, among their 
 many absurdities, have hazarded the assertion, 
 that an efficient navy may be raised and main- 
 tained without merchant-ships, colonies, or com- 
 merce. A nation that should be foolisli enough 
 to try the experiment would find itself much in 
 the situation of the Israelites, who were required 
 by the Egyptians to make bricks without straw. 
 The Dutch have more sense than to be gulled by 
 such fooleries.
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 Having thus in two days satisfied our curiosity 
 in regard to Amsterdam, visited several of its in- 
 stitutions, and seen externally every street almost 
 in this city, having one of the days been on our 
 legs full eight hours, we made our arrangements 
 for departing the following morning on our way 
 to Utrecht. The distance is twenty-two miles, 
 which, by way of variety, we once thought of 
 passing over in a treckschuyt ; but the weather 
 was threatening ; and wishing to get to the Rhine 
 as speedily as possible, that Ave might see the more 
 of that noble river, we hired a char-a-banc, with a 
 pair of horses, for wliich we agreed to pay sixt-een 
 guilders, and three more for the amount of the 
 tolls, which are high in all parts of Holland. The 
 rain began to fall, and continued incessantly; and 
 as there was nothing remarkable to be seen in 
 Utrecht, w^e determined to proceed as far as 
 Amerungen, a small towm, or rather village, about 
 sixteen miles farther on. For this distance we 
 bargained to pay fourteen guilders, and two more 
 for the tolls, making the whole sum thirty-five 
 guilders for thirty-eight miles, which was per- 
 formed by two very indifferent horses without 
 halting, except to give them a morsel of hay and 
 a little water.
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 135 
 
 The first part of the road after leaving Amster- 
 dam is through a continued avenue of moderate- 
 sized trees, bordered by canals, with gardens, 
 villas, and the same kind of little summer-houses 
 we have so often mentioned as those overlooking 
 the road. It was quite amusing and delightful to 
 pass so many neat houses, *• whimsically pretty,' as 
 one of our countrymen calls the country-dwellings 
 of the Dutch, surrounded by their little gardens, 
 walled in, as it were, within square enclosures of 
 four green dykes, and, as a necessary appendage, 
 as many ditches. Sometimes these enclosures are 
 of considerable extent, containing several villas, 
 and the place shut in is then called a polder^ and 
 the greater part of the country around the capital 
 is made up of an aggi'egation of these polders. It 
 was some time before we had passed the last of 
 these curious communities, when a causeway com- 
 menced that was raised a little above the level of 
 that same kind of flat surface, which occurred on 
 the opposite or western side of the Haarlem Meer. 
 It was, in fact, a continuation of those flat mea- 
 dows, intersected with ditches very rich and green, 
 with numerous herds of cattle grazing, but des- 
 titute of trees, and almost of any kind of shrubby 
 plant, except a few willows along the margins of 
 the ditches. To the westward were seen some 
 sandhills or dunes in the distance, which were on 
 the boundary of the Haarlem Meer, terminating 
 the horizon. 
 
 At the distance of some six or seven miles from 
 Amsterdam, the face of the country begins to 
 change for the better. Somethino- like woods and 
 copses now began to show themselves, and the
 
 136 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEJT, 
 
 grounds Avere enlivened by good, substantial, and 
 gentlemanlike houses, and these became more fre- 
 quent as we advanced to the southward. The 
 surface, too, was more broken and varied as we 
 approached Utrecht. Here, indeed, the nortlwjrn 
 branch of the Rhine, which passes through the 
 town of Utrecht, begins to show something like 
 rising banks, and in passing through the town the 
 stream is so far below the o^eneral surface of the 
 country, that the streets and the houses are con- 
 siderably above the level of the water, to which the 
 inhabitants descend by ladders, sometimes from the 
 second story. The fact is, that the general surface 
 of the country having risen into something like hills 
 at Utrecht, it was no easy matter to cause the river 
 and its canals to rise to the level of the houses ; 
 they therefore sunk the houses to the level of the 
 canals. We saw at once, therefore, that we must 
 here take leave of the flat gardens, their fish-ponds 
 and ditches, and their corresponding little summer- 
 houses, which had afforded us so much amuse- 
 ment. The only striking object that appears from 
 the road is the old church of Utrecht, partly iu 
 ruins, with its noble tower, said to be four hundred 
 feet high. The once celebrated University has lost 
 its character, and is nearly deserted by students, 
 and the professors are said to be reduced to a state 
 of great poverty. The population is reckoned at 
 about thirty thousand, one half of whom are 
 Catholics. We had now to drive along a noble 
 avenue of linden-trees, three or four deep on each 
 side of the road, and of an interminable length to 
 the eye. We have been told, indeed, that the 
 Mall of Utrecht is the finest in the world; which,
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 137 
 
 beautiful as it certainly is, cannot, as we all 
 thought, be put in competition with those mag- 
 nificent avenues of Hampton Court and of Bushy- 
 Park, whose noble trees of linden and liorse-chest- 
 nut far exceed in beauty any that Holland can 
 produce. Neither has it anything to compare 
 with another of the few avenues which fashion 
 has spared to England — that of the magnificent 
 beech-trees which leads to Stanstead House, in 
 Hampshire, — not yet quite defaced by the demo- 
 lition which it suffered by the avidity of its late 
 proprietor. 
 
 The road continues for a considerable distance 
 to be shaded by this avenue of beeches, elms, and 
 lindens ; and scarcely a house occurs on either 
 side that has not a very respectable appearance, 
 with double or triple rows of fine trees leading up 
 to it. The grounds, too, are frequently laid out 
 with large plantations of various kinds of trees 
 and oak copses, and the hedges which enclose 
 them are also of oak. On a rising ground on the 
 left, near the village of Zeyst, is a huge pyramid, 
 or mound of earth, said to be one hundred and 
 fifty feet high, raised by the army of Marmont on 
 the occasion of Napoleon being created emperor ; 
 but we could not discover that it was held in any 
 kind of respect by the Dutch. 
 
 As we approached Amerungen the soil became 
 more sandy, the general surface of the country 
 more undulated, and we observed, for the first 
 time since entering Holland, that rounded pebbles 
 were embedded in the banks by the road-side, as 
 if this indicated the ancient beach or bank of the 
 Rhine, when that mighty stream may have flowed
 
 138 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 towards Utrecht in its inteority, and before it had 
 been divided and diverted into, what we considered 
 to be, the artificial channel of the Waal, which in 
 modern times has become its principal stream, 
 that carries to the sea the great volume of its 
 water. We thought this the more probable, as 
 the surface of the country to the right of the road 
 was depressed, perfectly level, and continued so to 
 the margin of the small branch of the Rhine which 
 flowed through it to Utrecht. 
 
 It has been observed that on the gates of almost 
 all the villas or parks some inscription or motto 
 is written up ; here, however, the custom seems to 
 be to publish in the same manner the name of the 
 possessor of the domain, and generally with a 
 notification to warn off poachers. Thus we fre- 
 quently see ' Jan Peterson's yaght,' ' private 
 yaght,' ' myn eigen yaght ; ' that is, John Peter- 
 son's shooting-ground, private- shooting, or for my 
 own shooting. This kind of notice, it would seem, 
 is effectual for keeping out poachers or intruders ; 
 for the game-laws in Holland are as strict or more 
 so than in England, and the license required for 
 shooting is said to be much more expensive, and 
 the penalty in proportion. It is not easy to imagine, 
 however, what kind of game there could possibly 
 be to hunt or shoot in some of these small domains 
 of a few acres ; but different notions of sporting 
 are entertained by different nations : the oude 
 stadhouder is said to have amused himself by 
 coursing hares and rabbits in the court-yard of his 
 palace, and the old King of Naples enjoyed the 
 pleasure of shooting tame ducks from a window 
 as they were driven past it in the pond. It may
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGTJEN. 139 
 
 be taken for granted, however, that where there 
 is plenty of game to eat, there must be plenty of 
 game to shoot, and we experienced no want of it 
 on our journey at table ; but it did so happen that, 
 in the whole of our route through Holland, and 
 along the Rhine as far as ]Mainz, thence to Frank- 
 fort, and on our return from Cologne through the 
 Netherlands, we never saw a single pheasant or 
 partridge, either running or on the wing ; yet the 
 latter in particular was served up at table daily 
 throughout the month of August. To make 
 amends, hares and rabbits were seen skipping 
 about in great abundance. 
 
 We were now travelling along a very extensive 
 domain, of a gentleman whose name, if it was not 
 the name of his place, appeared at every little gate 
 and opening of the wood — it was Brookhuysen, to 
 wdiich was here and there added' myn eigen yaght.' 
 This property continued for at least a mile, and 
 the plantations of young firs that bordered the road 
 were very extensive on both sides, and rabbits in 
 scores were everywhere seen skipping across the 
 road. We were now on rising ground, and had 
 evidently taken leave of everji^hing like a level 
 meadow, and all the open spaces in the woods and 
 copses were under cultivation. Here, too, on the 
 rising ground to the left, we observed for the first 
 time a few long-haired sheep browsing on the 
 heathy land. 
 
 The crops on the right were chiefly confined to 
 buck-wheat, of which we passed some hundred 
 acres by the road-side in the course of the latter 
 half of this day's journey ; but this grain, with the 
 exception of a few fields of oats and some patches
 
 l40 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEX. 
 
 of clover and potatoes, was the only kind that we 
 observed. It is used here, as in China, for making 
 the lighter and finer kinds of pastry. From the 
 quantity of fresh-ploughed land, however, it is 
 probable that the wheat harvest had been got in, 
 and the stubble turned under by the plough. The 
 road itself the whole way was smooth and beau- 
 tiful, and as level as a bowling-green, but in some 
 few places, where the level surface was interrupted, 
 it was covered with gravel. 
 
 The only inn at Amerungen is the post-house, 
 not very good as to accommodation, but the 
 people extremely civil and desirous of making it 
 as comfortable as our unexpected visit and their 
 means would allow, which is all that a traveller 
 has a right to expect. We paid, however, for their 
 civility — the charge for a bad supper, and an 
 equally bad breakfast, with lodging, being twenty- 
 seven guilders, or forty-five shillings, just about 
 double of that which the best hotel in Amsterdam 
 would have charged. Indeed we have invariably 
 found, what is perhaps not um'easonable to expect, 
 that at the first hotels, where the fare is best, the 
 charge is least. 
 
 On the morning of the 15th at nine o'clock we 
 left Amerungen, and proceeded with the same 
 horses that had brought us from Amsterdam, and 
 which were to carry us to Arnheim, a distance of 
 more than twenty miles, for sixteen guilders. This 
 town is not precisely in the direct road, but the 
 rain which had continued incessantly to fall in 
 torrents for eight-and-forty hours had made the 
 lower and usual road quite impassable. 
 
 That, however, between Amerungen and Arn-
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEX. 141 
 
 heim proved to be quite delightful, perfectly level, 
 and with a very gentle curvature or rise in the 
 middle. It was covered with clinkers, and we had 
 often remarked, in passing over one of these roads, 
 that the water never remained on any part of 
 them. The last two days satisfied us, that let it 
 rain as hard and as long as it may, not a drop of 
 water will be seen standing on either any part of 
 the middle or the sides of the road, provided it is 
 properly kept in order, as they all seem to be. 
 This may be noticed as a fact, but we were unable 
 satisfactorily to account for it ; perhaps, however, 
 it may be explained by supposing the clinkers to 
 be laid on a bed of fine sand, and this perhaps on 
 faggots, which would let the water pass through 
 the crevices between the bricks, and into the sub- 
 strata that support them. 
 
 On approaching the ancient fortified town of 
 Rhenen, the Rhine, or that branch of it which 
 passes close by this place to the northward, 
 now appeared in its natural character of a fine 
 flowing stream, winding close along a bank on 
 which we travelled, elevated several feet above its 
 surface, it having here completely lost its slow 
 and sluggish motion, more like that of an artificial 
 canal than a river. 
 
 Rhenen is an ancient town, in which there is 
 little to excite a stranger's attention, except it be 
 the tower of the old church, which is a bold and 
 striking specimen of heavy Gothic. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of this town, the land appears to be neatly 
 and carefully cultivated, chiefly with tobacco. It is 
 planted in small squares, of a rood, or sometimes 
 less than half a rood, in extent, the side of each
 
 142 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 square being planted with a row of tlie large French 
 kidney bean, or scarlet runners, which had now- 
 reached the height of six or seven feet, and formed 
 a close hedge all round the little plantations to 
 secure the broad leaves of the tobacco-plant from 
 the wind. The bean was now in full blossom of 
 scarlet flowers ; and the ground on the right of 
 the road being covered as far as the eye could 
 reach with these patches of tobacco, the face of the 
 country in that direction presented a very singular 
 and beautiful appearance. 
 
 On the left of the road, the surface rose into 
 hills of considerable height, sometimes covered 
 with thickets of brushwood, mixed with small 
 plantations, in some places, of Scotch firs and 
 Weymouth pines, mingled with oaks, beech, and 
 birch. These, with the heaths and the fern inter- 
 mixed, gave this part of the country very much 
 the appearance of many of the heath lands of 
 England ; the more so, as the road twisted and 
 winded among them, as is usually the case in our 
 own country. 
 
 A little beyond Rhenen we descended to the 
 valley of the Rhine on our right, W' here all w^as flat, 
 and we observed in places extensive and high em- 
 bankments to protect the plain against the en- 
 croachment of the river. 
 
 The approach to Amheim is particularly striking. 
 It is through an avenue of fine beech-trees near 
 two miles in length, and the vista terminated by a 
 lofty old tower of one of the churches, with the 
 Rhine on the right, and the rising grounds of the 
 left covered with villas, and well clothed. The envi- 
 rons of Arnlieim were really beautiful ; perhaps
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 143 
 
 they may but appear to greater advantage after 
 leaving the -sombre flats of the neighbourhood of 
 Amsterdam, 
 
 On arriving at Arnheim, our horses, as may be 
 supposed, were entirely knocked up ; and as the 
 finely paved road of clinkers had here ceased, and 
 a sort of rude jNIacadamised road commences, 
 it would have been madness as well as an act of 
 cruelty to have taken them on to the spot where 
 we were to cross the Waal to Nimeguen. We 
 therefore prevailed on our honest Dutch driver to 
 let his char-a-banc proceed with us to that si)ot, a 
 distance of about nine miles, with a pair of fresh 
 horses from the inn, for which w^e were required 
 to pay the reasonable sum of five guilders. 
 
 The moment we had got through the town of 
 Arnheim, we crossed the Rhine over a long stone 
 bridge, the approach to which, and for some time 
 on the other side of it, was over a very execrable 
 road. We were now on the level valley of the 
 Rhine, and between it and the Waal ; the surface 
 ^^'as low and swampy, and the road continued very 
 indifferent : it appeared as if we had two em- 
 bankments, one on the left to keep out the Rhine, 
 and an immense one on the right to prevent the 
 encroachment of the Waal. It appeared also, as 
 we afterwards found to be the case, that the great 
 public road to Rhenen, on which the rain here 
 prevented us from travelling, was on the summit 
 of this great bank. 
 
 We arrived about three o'clock at a small inn 
 on the right bank of the Waal, directly opposite 
 to Nimeguen, and the access to which is partly 
 by a bridge of boats and partly by a flying bridge,
 
 144 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 the former extending to about the middle of the 
 stream on this side, and the latter over the other 
 half next to Ximeguen. A ferry is not the most 
 desirable method of crossing a rapid river ; but of 
 all the different kinds of ferrying, that by means 
 of what is called a flying bridge is considerably 
 the best and most convenient where it can be 
 adopted, which is only where the river has a con- 
 siderable current. An anchor is fixed at a certain 
 distance up the stream, always greater than the 
 breadth of the river from which a cable of rope 
 or chain passes to the platform of the ferry-boat, 
 which is here supported on a couple of large 
 barges. This cable is buoyed up by passing over 
 such a number of boats as may be found necessary. 
 If the rudder of the large platform be moved so as 
 to turn the heads of the supporting barges about 
 a point of the compass towards the stream, so as 
 to let it act against the sides of their bows, they 
 will, of course, sheer across, or oscillate like a 
 pendulum, with a slow and unifonn motion, to the 
 opposite side, the cable and its supporting boats 
 edging over in the direction of the platform. By 
 having the height of the platform the same as 
 those of the two piers or landing-places on the 
 sides of the river, carriages of any size, carts or 
 waggons, w^ithout unyoking the horses, may drive 
 upon it and pass over without disturbing passen- 
 gers or baggage within them. 
 
 The young Prince of Holland, whose expected 
 arrival in Amsterdam had prevented us from see- 
 ing the palace, crossed over this evening in a car- 
 riage drawn by six horses, not one of which was 
 taken out, nor did the coachman or postilions leave 
 their seats.
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 145 
 
 Having got our dinner at the little inn, and 
 the steam-boat making its appearance, though at 
 a considerable distance, we crossed over by the 
 flying bridge, and waited the arrival of the vessel 
 at Nimeguen. The passage-money for six persons 
 in the great cabin, which we fortunately had to 
 ourselves, and a servant in the fore-cabin, from 
 hence to Cologne, was one hundred and four 
 guilders, or 81. 13^., the distance being more than 
 a hundred miles. 
 
 'On departing from Nimeguen in the steam- 
 boat, we took leave of the last town of the United 
 Provinces of Holland that we should have the 
 ©Importunity of seeing, — of a country that, witli 
 all its ditches and its dykes, its sloots, sluices, 
 and polders, is unquestionably one of the most 
 singular, the most curious, and most interesting- 
 countries in the world ; and as to the people who 
 inhabit, and whose ancestors may fairly be said 
 to have created it, though they have been repre- 
 sented as cold and uncourteous towards strano-ers, 
 rude in their speech, and repulsive in their man- 
 ners, we can, with honest truth, declare, that so 
 far from experiencing any conduct of this kind, 
 or having the slightest ground of complaint in 
 any one instance, or in any part of the country 
 from Rotterdam to Nimeguen, we never found 
 them to be wanting in the common courtesies and 
 civilities of life. They may, perhaps, be more 
 cautious and reserved towards strangers, than the 
 natives of other European countries usually are ; 
 but a very short acquaintance banishes all re- 
 straint, and they become cheerful, open-hearted, 
 and communicative. We are told, however, by 
 h
 
 146 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 certain philosophers who resolve the different 
 temperaments and dispositions of men into the 
 effect of climate, that a Dutcliman must necessarily 
 be grave and phlegmatic, from the animal spirits 
 being subjected to a dull, dense, and humid at- 
 mosphere, to which they are almost constantly 
 exposed. This doctrine is mere theory, like many 
 others espoused by the ingenious author of '■ Esprit 
 ' des Lois ;' but experience having proved it con- 
 trary to fact, is now pretty nearly exploded. 
 
 But the Dutch liave been accused of avarice 
 and inhumanity. That the middle class of society 
 are economical and parsimonious is very certain ; 
 but their pai*simony and economy are, in all pro- 
 babihty, the natural result of industrious habits 
 of trade, and of labour not the most productive -of 
 profit. Their young men, almost from the period 
 of their infancy, are instructed in the pursuits of 
 commerce, and learn at an early age to consider 
 the great Ijusiness of life to be gain, a portion of 
 which is laid by every year. 
 
 Industrious habits in each bosom reign, 
 And industry begets a love of gain. 
 
 In a somewhat higher class of life there is a 
 general inclination to the prosecution of commer- 
 cial pursuits, and indeed in all their undertakings 
 they are equally industrious, persevering, and 
 patient, with the labouring classes. We require 
 no greater proof of the general character of this 
 nation for persevering industry, and their uncon- 
 querable determination to overcome difficulties, 
 than their successful exertions in braving and 
 conquering the waves of the ocean — than the fact 
 that, without a stone or a pebble, they have raised
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 147 
 
 the most splendid edifices ; without a tree they 
 have laid the foundations of large cities on piles 
 of wood; without a stick of timber fit for a ship's 
 top-mast, they built a navy that disputed the seas 
 with the most powerful navy in the world ; that 
 almost without an acre of arable land they supplied 
 the markets of half of Europe with grain ; that 
 with a country not larger than Yorkshire they 
 were able to raise a respectable army, and to take 
 a leading part in the politics of Europe ; and it 
 ought to be added that, in all their mercantile 
 transactions, the Dutch are remarkable for their 
 punctuality, integrity, and honour. Their pa- 
 triotism or love of country has always been a 
 predominant feature in the Dutch character ; in 
 whatever part of the world a Dutchman may be 
 placed, the word Yaderland bears a charm, and 
 is never heard witliout exciting a sensation of 
 pleasure in his mind. 
 
 But then they are accused of being cruel and 
 inhuman ; and with w^hat justice, as a nation, 
 they can be so accused, it would not be so easy to 
 show. The numerous charitable institutions of 
 Holland, more particularly of Amsterdam, many 
 of which are entirely supported at the expense of 
 individuals, should alone be sufficient to disprove 
 such an imputation. There is a little trait con- 
 nected with one of these institutions, which shows 
 them not only a humane but kind-hearted people. 
 The hospital for the reception of the old and indi- 
 gent of both sexes, on the quay of the Amstel, is 
 contrived admirably for the comfort and con- 
 venience of the aged and infirm. The building is 
 three hundred aUd sixty feet long by two hundred 
 l2
 
 148 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 and thirty deep. A gallery on each of the three 
 stories runs round the four sides of the square, 
 and behind it is a large garden for the inmates to 
 walk in, and enjoy the fresh air. This building 
 has a dining-room of one hundred and twenty- 
 three feet in length, and an infirmary of the same 
 dimensions. The year 1783 was tlie centennial 
 anniversary of its establishment, and on this occa- 
 sion the directors gave a feast to all the pensioners, 
 amounting to upwards of six hundred and fifty, 
 who were regaled in the most sumptuous manner, 
 and the best part of Amsterdam were present to 
 witness the joy of the old people on this occasion. 
 The Emperor of China, therefore, is not the only 
 humane person who can enjoy the gratification of 
 making others happy by his annual feast given 
 to the most aged of his subjects. 
 
 The beneficent society and the charitable and 
 disinterested subscribers to the agricultural esta- 
 blishment of Frederick's-oord is another proof of 
 the active benevolence and humanity which dis- 
 tinguish the people of Holland. It is no specu- 
 lation founded on the remotest chance of profit, 
 but solely on that of relieving the distresses of 
 their unfortunate fellow-subjects. Of this small 
 canton or district (which oord signifies) I\Ir. 
 Jacob, the Comptroller of Com Returns, has col- 
 lected a detailed and most interesting account from 
 the published reports of its progress and condition. 
 This benevolent institution, whose object is to 
 lessen the burden of pauperism and improve the 
 moral habits of the juvenile portion of it, is 
 indebted for its origin and its successful progress 
 to the intelligence, the zeal, and indefatigable
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 149 
 
 benevolence of Greneral Van der Bosch. This 
 officer, when in Java, purchased an estate, and 
 made the pursuit of agriculture his study. A 
 Chinese mandarin, with a number of emigrants 
 from that country, settled by chance near him. 
 The General soon oberved that, with all his 
 labour and care, the crops of his Chinese neigh- 
 bour greatly exceeded his own ; he therefore took 
 lessons of the mandarin, and such was the suc- 
 cessful result, that, when he returned to Europe, 
 the estate which had cost him twenty -five thousand 
 rix-dollars, he sold for one hundred and fifty tliou- 
 sand. 
 
 The General, on his return to his native country, 
 published a little tract on the practicability of 
 instituting a general pauper establishment in the 
 kingdom of tlie Netherlands. It happened that 
 the good king (for so he may justly be styled) was 
 in 1817 occupied with a plan for bringing into 
 productive tillage an extensive waste of heath 
 land between Maestricht and Breda. The atten- 
 tion of his Majesty was drawn to that of the 
 General. A society was set on foot at the 
 Hague, for the intended experiment, under the 
 patronage of the King, of which Prince Frederick, 
 his second son, was nominated president for life. 
 Twenty thousand individuals became members, 
 and their contributions amounted to seventy thou- 
 sand florins, or 5,833/. sterling. 
 
 The first operation was to purchase an estate 
 near the town of Steenwyk, on the confines of 
 Friesland, Overyssel, and Drenthe, consisting of 
 about one thousand three hundred English acres, 
 together with two thousand six hundred acres of
 
 150 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 heath land, for which the society paid the sum of 
 fifty-six thousand florins, or about 4,666/. The 
 river Aa^ or A ii, which runs through it, was made 
 naA^gable for boats into the Zuyder Zee. Build- 
 ings for fifty-two families, to consist of six to 
 eight individuals each, a storehouse, a school, 
 and a spinning house, were speedily erected. 
 
 All these operations were commenced early in 
 September, 1818, and ere the tenth of November 
 following, fifty-two indigent families sent by the 
 communes entered upon their new habitations. 
 To each family was granted seven morgen or four- 
 teen acres of land. The whole outfit for each 
 family, made on a minute estimate, was one thou- 
 sand seven hundred florins, or 141/. 13^. sterling, 
 which was to be repaid to the society in sixteen 
 years, while the annual rent, with which the colo- 
 nists were to be charged, was settled to be equal 
 to the interest of the outfit; and such was the 
 success of this small establishment, that, after a 
 few years' experience, it was found that the annual 
 excess of produce over subsistence, of each of the 
 fifty-two families established at Frederick's-oord, 
 amounted to one hundred g-uilders or florins, or 
 8/. 6s. Sd. sterling. 
 
 Loans were now raised for extending the sys- 
 tem, to be advanced by the king in his individual 
 character, or by the government, or by the com- 
 munes, or charitable corporations, or by indivi- 
 duals, each loan limited to five thousand one 
 hundred guilders, or 425/. sterling, the exact 
 outfit of three families : the advantage of thus 
 grouping them together was, that two of them 
 were to consist of six paupers each, and the
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 151 
 
 third of six orphans or foundlings, not under six 
 years of age, with a married couple, or a woman 
 only to take charge of the children. For every 
 such sum the contributors had the privilege of 
 sending three such families. 
 
 Sixty guilders were to be paid back yearly to 
 the contributors, for the maintenance of each child, 
 which in the orphan and poor-houses was found to 
 cost nearly double : and it is reported that these 
 twelve paupers do more than maintain tliem selves. 
 
 The first principle of this society is, that no 
 colonist shall, even for the shortest period, be un- 
 employed; and with this view they are under the 
 inspection of the diiferent officers, who exercise 
 their respective duties with the strictness of mili- 
 tary precision. General Van der Bosch, as supe- 
 rior director, superintended in person the whole 
 establishment. A sub-director presided over one 
 hundred families; a quarter-master over twenty- 
 four families ; a section-master over twelve, who 
 was required to be a practical agriculturist. 
 ' Thus the whole mechanism,' says Mr. Jacob, 
 * resembles that of an army, divided into sections, 
 companies, battalions, and brigades.' They are 
 employed in various kinds of labour, as the 
 preparation of lime from shells, making of bricks, 
 building dwellings, barns, &:c., but the greater 
 portion is employed in field labour; the chief 
 implements are the spade and the hoe, at which 
 they soon become sufficiently expert. Every 
 kind of labour is performed by the piece, nothing 
 by the day. The women are employed in spin- 
 ning and weaving. The amount of their earnings 
 is regularly kept, and a card given which pro-
 
 152 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN* 
 
 cures at the public store food and other articles 
 at fixed prices. The labour with spades of six 
 individuals in digging fourteen acres, and re- 
 peating the operation when required, the sowing, 
 and harvesting, may be supposed to occupy but a 
 certain portion of the fifty-two weeks ; the rest is 
 chiefly employed in preparing the composts for 
 manure, and on this, in fact, the success of the 
 colony almost wholly depends. 
 
 The subject is a very curious and a very im- 
 portant one, as, without it, poor soils, such as sand 
 and heath, can never be rendered productive, and 
 with it we have here incontestible proof that they 
 can. Mr. Jacob has collected all the details, and 
 very remarkable they are, on this subject ; the 
 practice is precisely what General Van der Bosch 
 learnt from his Chinese mandarin. The result of 
 the experiment is that the society obtain rent at 
 about twelve shillino-s the moroen, for the seven 
 morgen, house, and barn ; they are repaid the cost 
 of the flax and yam that has been spun; for the use 
 of the draught cattle, carts, and miplements ; for 
 the furniture and clotliing ; and for the provisions 
 consumed before the first crops were harvested ; 
 and the seven morgen of land, which cost them 
 originally less than four pounds an acre, will pro- 
 duce a yearly rent of more than that sum. If any 
 proof was wanting of the complete success of the 
 experiment it is this, — that by the late statistical 
 return, which Mr. Jacob has received, up to 1825, 
 that is to say, seven years after the first establish- 
 ment, the number of colonists settled in Frede- 
 rick's-oord amounted to six thousand seven hun- 
 dred and seventy-eight individuals, including two
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 153 
 
 thousand one hundred and seventy-four orphans 
 and foundhngs ; and since then, he tells us consi- 
 derable additions have been made to the loans and 
 to the numbers admitted. 
 
 In the southern provinces similar plans have 
 been put in practice. A colony formed at Wortel, 
 near Antwerp, on a barren heath, in 1822, had, 
 at the end of 1823, one hundred and twenty-five 
 farms already in cultivation ; and the society had 
 contracted with the government to maintain one 
 thousand mendicants during sixteen years, at the 
 rate of thirty-five guilders, not quite 3/. a-year, 
 most of them beggars and idlers from Brussels. 
 The chief director of the establishment is Captain 
 Yan der Bosch, a brother of the General, whose 
 plans he implicitly follows. It is, in fact, to the 
 active intelligence, the unshaken firmness, and 
 incorruptible integrity of this humane and disin- 
 terested individual that the success of Frederick' s- 
 oord has been mainly owing. The example is 
 spreading fast throughout the kingdom. At 
 Bruges, an individual who is possessed of a tract 
 of heath land has contracted with Government to 
 take a thousand mendicants on the same terms. 
 It may be added that every encouragement is given 
 to meritorious colonists by indulgences of various 
 kinds, and by the distribution of gold, silver, and 
 copper medals ; and there is also a graduated 
 scale of punishments for ofi'ences. No indecent or 
 profane words are allowed while at work; no 
 wrangling, quarrelling, or fighting ; the use of 
 ardent spirits is forbidden. Places of worship are 
 provided for Catholics, Lutherans, and even for 
 the Jews. School-houses are built, and regular
 
 154 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 masters provided ; and the books made use of are 
 such that neither Catholic nor Protestant can 
 object to them ; and it is stated that the pious 
 instructions of the clergy, combined with constant 
 employment, have had a most beneficial influence 
 pn the habits of all the paupers, but more espe- 
 cially of the younger portion of them. Can such 
 a people, so ready to stretch forth a hand for the 
 relief of poverty and wretchedness, be justly accused 
 of inhumanity or of avarice ? — Every fact contra- 
 dicts the assertion. 
 
 Mr. Jacob observes that ' it is impossible to 
 ' look at the condition of Ireland and not to desire 
 ' earnestly that some plan similar to what he has 
 ' detailed, but accommodated to the state of society, 
 ' and to the character of the peasantry of that 
 ' part of the empire, could be tried.' Earnestly, 
 no doubt, it is to be desired, but it is also to be 
 feared it will remain to be desired ; for were the 
 Irish peasantry even more plastic than they are, 
 it may be questioned whether their volatile natures 
 would allow them to submit to the necessary de- 
 gree of restraint, and the regular and orderly 
 habits of life, which have insured the success of 
 the Frederick's-oord establishment. Besides, it 
 may be apprehended that there are too many 
 mischievous disturbfers of the public peace in that 
 unhappy island ready to counteract a plan Avhich 
 they would describe as an infringement on the 
 civil rights of the people ; and under such impe- 
 diments, and such materials to work upon, no 
 managers would be found, unless armed with mili- 
 tary authority, to undertake the direction with any 
 hope of bringing it to a successful issue.
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 155 
 
 That many individuals of the Dutch nation 
 have proved themselves unworthy the character 
 of humanity in their eastern possessions, is but 
 too true ; and it is not improbable that the un- 
 favourable impression may have been caused from 
 what has happened in that quarter of the world. 
 At ,the same time it must be admitted that the 
 Dutch are not the only people in whom a residence 
 among the slaves of the east has operated a change 
 of character unfavourable to individuals, but which 
 ought not to affect the national character. 
 
 India is unhappily a part of the world to which 
 it is not too much to say, individuals are generally 
 sent with no other view or object than to accumu- 
 late wealth ; and they go under the impression, 
 that the sooner they make a fortune, and quit the 
 country, the more agreeable. Hence it has hap- 
 pened, not to the Dutch alone, that, during the 
 process of accumulation, we have heard of but too 
 many instances where avarice and inhumanity have 
 not undeservedly stamped with infamy the names 
 of individuals. Thus it was avarice alone that 
 induced the governor of a Dutch fort, to commit 
 the base act of selling to the enemy which was 
 investing it the very gunpowder by which he was 
 enabled to make its capture ; and the same base 
 passion alone must have actuated that servant of 
 the English East India Company, who was accused 
 of fitting out a privateer under false colours, to cap- 
 ture a ship belonging to his employers. These 
 are individual delinquencies not chargeable to the 
 national character. 
 
 As little reason is there for accusing the Dutch 
 generally with inhumanity for the atrocious pro-
 
 156 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 ceedings of certain individuals on the island of 
 Amboyna, which, from the little notice taken of 
 them at the time by the government to whom 
 those who were the sufferers belonged, it may be 
 presumed were much exaggerated ; but let them 
 be ever so true, have we no parallel atrocities to 
 produce, exercised on the Omrahs, and Eajahs, 
 and Begums, of our Indian empire ? 
 
 If Warren Hastings had been found guilty of 
 all the charges laid against him, but of which he 
 was proved to be innocent, the character of the 
 English nation would not have been impeached, 
 because a person sent to India from his native 
 country, when a boy, and reared in the midst of 
 depravity, might have committed enormities which 
 would not have been endured at home. 
 
 But it has been alleged that the cruel and 
 cold-blooded character of the Dutch has been 
 developed in the assassination of the very men to 
 whom of all others the country owed its fame and 
 prosperity, such men as the Pensionary De Witt 
 and Barneveldt. De "Witt it is well known was 
 murdered by a set of ruffians of the lowest descrip- 
 tion instigated by the Orange faction ; and Barne- 
 veldt was executed by the sentence of a mock 
 trial before judges chosen for the purpose, by the 
 same faction. But because we also have had our 
 statesmen assassinated, and our legal murders 
 perpetrated on the first personage of the realm 
 under the mockery of a trial, are we on that 
 account to be set down as a nation of cruel and 
 inhuman assassins ? 
 
 The name of Barneveldt reminds one of a 
 noble trait of his widow, befitting a Roman
 
 AMSTERDAM TO NIMEGUEN. 157 
 
 matron. "When her son, to avenge his fathers 
 death, had entered into a conspiracy against the 
 government, was tried and condemned, the mother 
 petitioned for his pardon, and on being asked why 
 she had not petitioned for her husband, nobly 
 replied, 'I would not ask for my husband's pardon, 
 '- because he was innocent and needed no pardon ; 
 ' I ask for my son's, because he is guilty/ 
 
 Holland, indeed, is not wanting in examples of 
 female heroism and self-devotion, nor is Kenan 
 Hasselaar the only heroine who gained distinction, 
 when the inhuman Spaniards laid siege to Leyden 
 and Haarlem. 
 
 We saw too little of female society to form any 
 judgment as to the share which the ladies take in 
 the amusements of their lords and masters. They 
 are understood, however, to make excellent wives, 
 and to manage the domestic concerns with fidelity 
 and ability ; ' yea,' as an old anonymous writer 
 has it, ' it is a general observation in this country, 
 ' that where the women have the direction of the 
 ' purse and trade, the husbands seldom prove 
 ' bankrupts, it being the property of a true-born 
 ' Holland wife, presently after marriage, to apply 
 ' herself wholly to her business.' It may also be 
 mentioned that instances of infidelity are more 
 rare in Holland than in any other nation, indeed 
 they can scarcely be said to exist. 
 
 The middling and lower class of females are 
 certainly not remarkable for their beauty ; but 
 their dress is not exactly calculated to set off their 
 features to advantage. Among the better classes, 
 Parisian fashions have crept in since they have 
 had the advantage of a visit from the French court 
 in Amsterdam.
 
 138 AMSTERDA3I TO NIMEGUEN. 
 
 On the whole we could not agree with the 
 antithetical summary of the Dutch character and 
 their country, which Sir William Temple has 
 given us, without a good deal of modification; but 
 this might strip his paragraph of much of its 
 prettiuess. He says ' that it is a country where 
 ' the earth is better than the air, and profit more 
 ' in request than honour ; where there is more 
 ' sense than wit, more good-nature than good- 
 ' humour, and more wealth than pleasure ; where 
 ' a man would choose rather to travel than to 
 ' live ; will find more things to observe than 
 ' desire ; and more persons to esteem than love.' 
 
 But we will conclude by adding, that there are 
 no people in Europe so well governed as the Dutch, 
 with so little expense, and with so little trouble, 
 because they are sober-minded, quiet, industrious, 
 and obedient to the laws ; and because they have 
 a King to whom they do but bare justice in styling 
 him the ' father of his people/
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PASSAGE UP THE RHINE. FROM NIMEGUEN 
 TO COLOGNE. 
 
 The bad weather, which was but just clearing up 
 this afternoon, had probably deterred passengers 
 from embarking on board the steamer, which left 
 Rotterdam in the morning, as there were not above 
 half-a-dozen on board. "We had therefore the 
 pavilion, or stern cabin, wholly to ourselves; 
 which was so far fortunate, as it was necessary we 
 should pass the night in the boat. We left Ni- 
 meguen about six in the evening, and about nine 
 reached Emmerich, the frontier town which marks 
 the territorial division of the King of the Nether- 
 lands and of Prussia on the left bank of the 
 'Rhine. Here we were stopped about a quarter of 
 an hour by a visit from tlie Prussian douaniers, 
 who appeared to be military officers. They con- 
 ducted themselves towards us with the utmost 
 politeness, and were satisfied with merely opening 
 our trunks, without examining or even touching 
 any article within them. 
 
 We had not much to regret by passing up this 
 lower part of the Rhine by night, as the whole 
 country on both sides of the river is a dead flat, or 
 nearly so, as far as Diisseldorf ; and even there 
 it does not much improve. Low natural banks, 
 overgrown with reeds, rushes, and willows, not
 
 160 PASSAGE UP THE RHINE 
 
 unlike the naviofation amono; the Zealand islands; 
 in some places the view shut out by artificial em- 
 bankments; flat meadows of deep green, inter- 
 spersed with corn-fields, and here and there a poor- 
 looking village, make up, where the banks do not 
 obstruct, the view, for the greater part of the 
 lower Rhine. In short, the surface on both sides 
 differs not much from that of Holland, having the 
 disadvantage of not being enlivened with those 
 numerous and neat little painted houses, trim 
 gardens, and avenues of trees, which, while they 
 adorn, impart an air of cheerfulness and comfort 
 to the inhabitants of the latter country, and which 
 are here wholly wanting. 
 
 The greater part of the inhabitants who made 
 their appearance in and about the villages on the 
 banks of the Rhine, were clothed in rags, half 
 naked, dirty, and sun-burnt, almost to blackness. 
 This was more particularly the case between 
 Urdingen, and Kaiserwerth. Near the latter of 
 these places we passed a long straggling village^ 
 on the left bank, called Gilb, covered by, and in 
 places concealed behind, an embankment, which 
 had a mean and wretched appearance, though INIr. 
 Schreiber* informs us, it possesses great historical 
 interest, being once the Gelduba of Tacitus and 
 Florus, where Drusus established a bridge across 
 the Rhine. There is no vestige at present of any 
 such work. Not only this village, but most of 
 those we had passed, wore, every mark of extreme 
 poverty. The houses mean ; most of them in a 
 ruinous condition, and surrounded with filth; the 
 
 * The author of the best guide for those who visit the Banks 
 of the Rhine.
 
 FROM XIMEGLEX TO COLOGNE. 161 
 
 women and children, who were the only persona 
 seen, were ill-clad, and disgustingly dirty, with 
 ill-looking vacant countenances, and as brown as 
 Portuguese. At Udringen the Rhine is crossed 
 b}' a flying bridge. 
 
 Hitherto we had scarcely seen a vessel of any 
 description navigating this fine river : and among 
 those few which were here and there lying at 
 anchor under its banks, we did not observe a sino-le 
 one that carried the Dutch flag. It was not clear 
 whether this circumstance was owing to any im- 
 pediments caused by the discussions carrying on 
 with the ' Etats Riverains,' in consequence of the 
 treaty of Vienna, or merely to the difliculties and 
 disadvantages occurring in a rivei' navigation, with 
 a current of at least four miles an hour, and, in 
 some of the contracted parts, five. Even our 
 steamer could not make good above five knots in 
 the most favourable parts, fi-equently not above 
 four, and sometimes only three, and was oblicred 
 to cross constantly from one side to the other to 
 catch the eddy water. The recent rains had con- 
 siderably swelled the river, and of course increased 
 the strength of the current. 
 
 On approaching Diisseldorf, the first hills are 
 seen to make their appearance at a short distance 
 behind it. We had heard much of the beauty and 
 bustle which might be expected at this German 
 city, once famed for its gallery of pictures, but 
 that portion of it at least which borders on the 
 river showed no S}Tnptoms of either ; and as we 
 were only to stop half an hour to take on board 
 some passengers, we did not think it worth our 
 while to land. A ruined castle and the tower of 
 
 M
 
 162 PASSAGE UP THE RHINE 
 
 a cliurcli with its ugly spii'e, blazing with twelve 
 gilded suns, were the only objects that attracted 
 our attention. 
 
 From Diisseldorf to Xeuss the river winds in an 
 extraordinary manner, on account of its having, 
 at some time or other, forsaken its ancient bed, 
 which, however, it is said to have done in the time 
 of the Romans, when it flowed close to the walls 
 of Xeuss, then called Xovesium. This town 
 stands at present at the distance of nearly two 
 miles inland, so that nothing more of it than the 
 lofty tower and the cupola of the church St. Quirin 
 can be seen from the river. On the top of the 
 cupola is a full-length colossal^ statue of the saint, 
 which has a fine appearance even at this distance. 
 It was at Neuss that Drusus is reported to have 
 thrown a bridge across the Rhine ; and it was here 
 that, in the year 1813, the allied armies effected 
 their first passage across the river ; and there is 
 now, at the head of the reach before Xeuss, a flying 
 bridge whose cable is moored at such a great dis- 
 tance up the stream, as to require eleven boats in 
 a line to buoy it up. 
 
 X'o sooner had we passed the great bend in the 
 river before Xeuss, than a range of fine blue hills 
 showed themselves in the distance, and were seen 
 to great advantage through a thin transparent 
 ethereal mist, that happened just then to be spread 
 over their sides, the exhalations probably from 
 the late rains, which the sun was just then dis- 
 persino-. After the eye had been accustomed so 
 long to, and so completely satiated with looking 
 on, the everlasting deep green of the meadows, 
 swamps, and dykes of Holland, and with the wil-
 
 FROM NIMEGUEN TO COLOGNE, 163 
 
 lows and ruslies of the low banks of the Rhine, it 
 was a great relief to survey the gentle acclivity 
 which the face of the country now put on, com- 
 mencing close to and ascending ft'om the banks of 
 the river. The rising grounds were covered with 
 corn-fields, cop<;€s, and plantations of wood, and 
 backed by those distant hills, which were wearing 
 so enchantinff a hue. 
 
 Opposite to the Chateau of Benrath the Rhine 
 makes another extraordinary bend, which opens 
 out into one of the finest reaches we had yet seen 
 of this great river. This Chateau had all the 
 appearance of being a good substantial house; 
 it was backed by an extensive wood of beech trees, 
 through which several avenues had either been 
 cut, or the trees, as is most probable, had origi- 
 nally been planted in regular lines to form them. 
 The grounds in front and on each side were in a 
 high state of cultivation, and numerous peasantry 
 of both sexes employed upon them. At tlie bot- 
 tom, or, more correctly speaking, at tlie upper end, 
 of the reach stands the ancient to\\Ti of Zons, exhi- 
 biting its two spires rising out of its two towers — 
 the one square, the other round. From hence all 
 this part of the grand Duchy of Berg, as far as 
 the eye could take in the country'-, was backed by 
 a long range of hills, well wooded in parts, and 
 chequered with corn-fields up to their very sum- 
 mits, so that the view was eminently beautiful. 
 
 On the left bank of the next reach of the 
 Rhine is the town of AYoringen, from whence the 
 voyager obtains the first sight of the ' Seven 
 Mountains,' rearing their blue heads just above 
 the horizon. 
 
 M 2
 
 1G4 PASSAGE UP THE RHINE. 
 
 Several villages now begin to appear in suc- 
 cession along both banks of the river, til] we 
 approach liheinkassel, in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of which the surface of the country- 
 appeared naked and sandy, but the river itself 
 winded into a succession of broad reaches resem- 
 bling so many lakes, especially that fine broad 
 expanse of water, on tlie right margin of which 
 the town of Wiesdorf is situated. 
 
 Here we first get sight of the city of Co- 
 logne, with its numerous spires and towers. Pre- 
 sently the town of Miihlheim appears, situated 
 on the right bank at the head of one of the 
 finest reaches of the Rhine which we had yet 
 passed. At this place, which is supposed to 
 have been the capital of the Ubians, Ca?sar is 
 said to have thrown a wooden bridge across 
 the Rhine. In fact, a wooden bridge still exists 
 across the river at this place, but it is only a 
 flvinor bridoe of the common kind. From tins 
 
 -no 
 
 spot nothing can be conceived more striking 
 and magnificent than the appearance of the city 
 of Cologne, at the distance of three or four 
 miles, situated at the head of a noble expanse of 
 water, bordered by a rich and beautiful country 
 on both of its margins. The ancient town of 
 Deutz, with its old Benedictine Abbey, is im- 
 mediately opposite to Cologne ; and farther in- 
 land, on the slope of the hills, is beautifully situ- 
 ated the once splendid chateau of Bensberg, now- 
 stripped of all its magnificence, and converted, 
 as we understood, into a hospital for the recep- 
 tion of lunatics. 
 
 We arrived at Cologne at eight o'clock in the
 
 COLOGNE. 165 
 
 evening, and took up our quarters at the Rheinberg 
 hotel, which stands on the margin of the river, 
 and immediately before which the steam-boat lands 
 her passengers. 
 
 COLOGNE. 
 
 Cologne, Coin, or as the Germans call it, Keu- 
 len, is a fine old city, and at one time one of the 
 most wealthy and flourishing cities in Germany. 
 It still retains in the lower part of the town, or 
 that which is washed by the river, more evident 
 vestiges of Roman remains than any other spot 
 perhaps on the banks of the Rhine. In a great 
 part of the wall v/hich extends along the river ; — 
 in the Pfaffcnpforte Gate, (the Porta Paphia or 
 Flaminea of the Romans,) on which appear the 
 letters CCA. A. which the Antiquarians inter- 
 pret Colonia, Claudia, Agrippina, Augusta ; — in 
 the Thilnnen or towers rising out of this wall ; — 
 in the mount on which the ancient church of St. 
 Mary stands, still called St. Mary on the Capitol ; 
 — but above all, in the numerous antiquities that 
 have been, and continue to be, dug up in the 
 town and its environs, and which have recently 
 been collected and arranoed in two rooms of the 
 Museum ; in all these we have evidences as strong 
 ' as proofs from holy wTit,' and almost as strong 
 as Rome itself can boast, of the ancient Romans 
 having had one of their fixed stations at Cologne. 
 The numerous busts, the sarcophagi, the stones 
 marked with the numbers of the legions stationed 
 at this spot, form a most valuable collection for 
 the historian, as elucidating the Roman establish-
 
 166 COLOGNE. 
 
 ments of their colonies, in that part of Germany 
 through which the Rhine flows. 
 
 Cologne was Avithoiit doubt the Colonia Agrip- 
 pina. It is said that the Emperor Constantino 
 caused a stone bridge to be erected over the 
 Rhine at Cologne, and that the foundations of the 
 piers may &till be seen when the water is low ; 
 all the guide-books say so, and the iiiliabitants 
 believe it, but no one tliat we fell in with was 
 willino- to own that he had seen them. We were 
 twice at Cologne, but looked in vain for these 
 piers, which after all may probably be nothing 
 more than a ridge of rocks> visible only in a low 
 state of the river. 
 
 Cologne is a large city extending full two miles 
 along the left bank of the Rhine, and about a mile 
 inland, somewhat in tlie form of a crescent. It 
 is said to contain from fifty to sixty thousand 
 inhabitants, an estimate which, judging from the 
 extent and large space of ground unoccupied witb 
 houses within the walls, would appear to be exag- 
 gerated. These open spaces consist of gardens and 
 vineyards once belonging to the convents, from 
 which an indifferent kind of Rhenish wine is still 
 made, being the first place on ascending the Rhine 
 where the grape is cultivated for that purpose. 
 These gardens with the public squares appear to 
 occupy a considerable portion of the city, perhaps 
 not less than one-third part of it. Besides, a 
 city crowded with churches, chapels, and convents, 
 and swarming with young priests and ancient nuns, 
 living in a state of celibacy, is not one in which 
 one would look for a dense population. It is stated 
 in one of the guide books that, previous to the occu-
 
 COLOGNE. 167 
 
 pation of the town by the French, it contained 
 not fewer than twelve thousand mendicants, who 
 had each his particular station, which, on his 
 death, he left as an inheritance to his children. 
 This tribe of beggars, with two thousand five 
 hundred ecclesiastics and a proportionate number 
 of nuns, must have composed nearly a third part 
 of the whole population. 
 
 There are still left beggars enough, not only 
 here, but, as we afterwards found, in every town 
 and village we had to pass through, and also on 
 the road, where every third or foiu'th foot-pas- 
 senger that we encountered, came nmning up to 
 the carriage, holding his hat to the window, or 
 poking it into the inside. Many young Germans 
 having finished their education, or served their 
 apprenticeships, and wishing to see the world, 
 make no ceremony in asking alms to assist them 
 on the road. This offensive and intrusive custom 
 is more frequently practised, and thought less of, 
 by decent and respectable people in appearance, 
 in catholic countries, than in others where that 
 religion does not prevail. At least it is so on the 
 continent, where, in fact, they are regularly in- 
 structed in the practice of begging. The priests 
 beg from the people, and the people from one 
 another. In every church the brass box is carried 
 round with a rattling of its copper pieces to attract 
 the attention of the auditory. Other boxes are 
 set up with slits in their lids, to receive whatever 
 the ' charitable and the humane ' may please to 
 put in them ; and on particular fete-days, as we 
 witnessed in Cologne, the shops are converted into 
 chapels, and the figures of Christ and the Virgin
 
 168 COLOGNE. 
 
 Mary exhibited with open doors, in order to col- 
 lect money ; and decent looking boys and girls 
 mix among the passengers in the street, nrging 
 them to give money. In the church at high 
 mass the old women, who generally compose two- 
 thirds of the congregation, will drop their beads 
 and stop in the midst of a prayer to ask a stranger 
 for charity. 
 
 The city of Cologne, with its churches, chapels, 
 and convents, and its eighty-three towers and 
 thirteen grand gates, which M. Schreiber has 
 assigned to it, has certainly a very imposing 
 aspect from the river. Some of the churches will 
 amply repay the traveller for any spare time he 
 may have to bestow on them, particularly that 
 unfinished mass of building, called the Dom 
 Kirche, or Cathedral, which even in its present 
 state is one of the finest monuments of Gothic 
 architecture, and if ever it should be finished ac- 
 cording to the original design, w^iich is not very 
 probable, would perhaps be the very finest speci- 
 men of this kind in all Europe. Looking at it 
 externally, we observe over the tops of the houses 
 that are clustered round it, a large mass of build- 
 ing terminated by a high roof, surrounded by 
 turrets and pinnacles rising out of the most beau- 
 tiful wall of florid Gothic, richly fluted and fretted, 
 in which are numerous windows of stupendous 
 height and dimensions. 
 
 This, which is the only finished part, is the 
 choir, and at an immense distance from it, and 
 apparently disconnected, the unfinished walls being 
 concealed by lofty houses built close up to them, 
 is seen a beautiful and maonificent but also unfi-
 
 COLOGNE. 169 
 
 nlshed tower of the same rich and florid Gothic, 
 rising to the height of abont two hundred feet, 
 which is very little more apparently than the 
 height of the choir. On the summit of this 
 tower is an iron crane of very large dimensions, 
 which was used for raising the stones; and as the 
 progress of this noble building is said to have been 
 put a stop to in 1499, and no attempt made since 
 that period to finish it, this crane must have stood 
 with its arm suspended in the air, a remarkable 
 and conspicuous object, ever since : — whether it 
 was left by accident after the scaffolding had been 
 removed, or by design, which is most probable, to 
 impress on the beholder that the intention of 
 finishing the building was not abandoned, is now 
 useless to inquire ; but we can safely say it is very 
 improbable that another munificent personage — 
 to carry it on, out of his private fortune — will 
 readily be found. It is remarkable enough that 
 the name of the architect of this splendid building- 
 should remain unknowTi, but the original design 
 is. ascribed to the Archbishop Engelbert de Berg, 
 whose successor commenced it in 1248. 
 
 A sister tower, with a grand entrance between 
 the two, is raised only to the height of twenty to 
 thirty feet. By the original plan these two 
 towers were intended to rise to the stupendous 
 height of five hundred feet, which appears to be 
 about the length of the nave and choir. 
 
 There is enough of the interior to show what 
 the arrangements were intended to be. The 
 columns that w^ere to support the roofs are all up, 
 amounting, as is said, to one hundred. They 
 axe of an immense size, but at present support
 
 170 COLOGNE. 
 
 nothing, the only ceiling being a temporary 
 flooring of planks ; and the gTeat nave is entirely 
 shut up. The service is performed in the choir, 
 which is approached along the left side aisle, and 
 these are the only two parts that are left open; and 
 the only finished part is the choir, and the chapels 
 which sun'ound it. The altar is very fine, but not 
 exactly corresponding with the lofty Gothic style of 
 the windows, columns, and roof. It is a Grecian 
 temple of an octagon form, with eight Ionic 
 columns. On one side of it is the figure of the 
 Virgin Mary with her child, and St. Peter with 
 his keys on the other; two tolerably good statues 
 in white marble. In the choir are two tombs of 
 two Archbishops of Cologne, Antony and Adol- 
 plius Schauenbourg, surmounted with two figures 
 of white marble which appeared to be well exe- 
 cuted. By the side of the columns are figures of 
 the apostles. 
 
 Behind the choir is the shrine of the three kings 
 or magi, said to have been removed from Milan 
 to Cologne in the year 1170, by the Emperor 
 Frederic I., sumamed Barbarossa. Their names 
 are Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. The three 
 skulls, which are all that remain of them, are said 
 to have had crowns of gold ornamented with all 
 manner of precious stones, which were lost or stolen 
 when these highly esteemed relics were carried 
 off in 1794, by the grand chapters of Cologne, 
 who fled with them to Arembcrg, to escape the 
 rapacity of the French. They were returned in 
 1804, but, as the Swiss of the church told us, in 
 a very different state from that in which they 
 were sent awav; and he hinted, what was not
 
 COLOGNE. 171 
 
 necessary, that they were now only paste or glass, 
 insinuating at the same time that the French had 
 stolen the real ones, though in point of fact they 
 were never within reach of the French. On the 
 front of the shrine is the following inscription : — 
 
 * Coq)ora sanctorum recubant hie terna M.igorum, 
 Ex his sublatum nihil est alibive locatum.' 
 
 The meaning of which may perhaps be mystical, 
 and which none of us were anxious to discover. 
 
 The next church we visited was that of St. Peter, 
 in which there is nothing remarkable either as to 
 the architecture or decoration. Above the grand 
 nltar, however, is a picture of Rubens, which is 
 considered to rank amono^ his best; thouo-h neither 
 the subject nor the mode in which it is treated is 
 calculated to give pleasure, but very much the 
 contrary, to excite a painful sensation. It is the 
 crucifixion of St. Peter with the head downwards, 
 and the executioners straining their muscles and 
 distorting their features in hoisting him up. The 
 French carried it off and placed it in the museum 
 of Paris, but were obliged to restore it at the end 
 of the war. 
 
 The picture was painted expressly for this 
 church, being that in which the artist was chris- 
 tened. Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks highly as to 
 the colouring and the light and shade of the draw- 
 ing of the head and body of St. Peter, but finds 
 fault with all the rest ; ' many parts,' he says, ' of 
 ' this picture are so feebly drawn, and with so 
 ' tame a pencil, that I cannot help suspecting that 
 ' Rubens died before he had completed it, and that 
 ' it was finished by some of his scholars.' 
 
 It was one of the artist's last works, and his
 
 172 COLOGXE. 
 
 affection for it was so great, that he says it was 
 the best he ever painted ; and no doubt if any- 
 one of his scholars had been as simple and honest 
 as Gil Bla,s, Rubens, like the Archbishop of Gre- 
 nada, would have told him he was a blockhead and 
 sent him about his business. 
 
 In St. Martin's we observed the large square 
 pillars surmounted, above the ai'cade, with hand- 
 some Ionic column'^, having their capitals gilt. 
 The upper part of the nave and the choir are of 
 light Gothic, and the latter receives its light from 
 a handsome dome. In this church, and, indeed, 
 in almost all others, we observed from two t-o six 
 large tubs or earthen vases, in which were planted 
 handsome oleanders in full blossom. 
 
 St. Mary's is a fine old church, standing on a 
 hill, to which we ascended by a flight of steps. On 
 this hill it is supposed, as we have already observed, 
 that the Roman capitol stood. There was no 
 want of pictures in the choir and on the side walls, 
 but as Vv'e only saw it during service, and the 
 church was full, we could not distinguish what the 
 subjects were, or who were the artists. The church 
 of the Apostles is a plain building, standing at the 
 head of the largest of the five or six squares of the 
 town. This square is planted round with trees, 
 which afford a shady walk, and the centre is suf- 
 ficiently large to allow of a parade, on which tliey 
 mount guard every morning, and is capable of 
 admitting from three to four thousand soldiers to 
 be manoeuvred. The number of troops in Cologne 
 was said to amount to about two thousand four 
 hundred, who looked remarkably smart with their 
 white belts over their blue uniforms turned back
 
 COLOGNE. 173 
 
 Avitli red and closely buttoned up to tlio throat. 
 The Prussian officers, not only here, hut in all 
 the garrison towns, mix much in society, generally 
 dine at the tables d'hote, and are much respected 
 as a body of well-behaved, gentlemanly men. 
 
 From the churches we paid a visit to the Stadt- 
 haus, or hotel-de-ville, which is a very curious 
 old edifice. The portico consists of a double 
 arcade of heavy Gothic arches, w^ith Ionic columns 
 of marble between them. On the entablature 
 between the two tiers of arches are six long inscrip- 
 tions, much defaced, and not easily legible on this 
 account, as well as from their height. One of 
 them we could make out to be in the Latin lan- 
 guage, and inscribed apparently to one of the 
 Cassars. It related to something which concerned 
 the Ubii ; perliaps a brief history of the coloniza- 
 tion of these people, who emicrratcd from the 
 eastern or German side of the Rhine, and settled 
 at Cologne under Claudius Cfesar, who in com- 
 pliment to his wife called it Colonia Ar^rippina. 
 In the centre frieze between the two tiers of 
 columns, is a bas relief representing, ajiparently, 
 Hercules strangling the lion. 
 
 Observing near this spot a great conc'ourse of 
 people entering the doors of an old building in 
 the same enclosure, we found that it contained a 
 collection of paintings and Roman antiquities ; in 
 short, that it w^as a museum recently established. 
 It consisted of six or seven rooms, the walls of 
 which were well covered with a very extensive col- 
 lection of pictures, mostly by old masters of the 
 German school, many of them as far back as the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and confined
 
 174 COLOGNE. 
 
 chiefly to sacred subjects ; holy families, and other 
 sacred personages, with the golden circle, or glory, 
 as it is called, round their heads. There were 
 besides, a great collection of old portraits, and a 
 few modern pictures ; but there was then no cata- 
 logue, and from the general antiquity of the paint- 
 ings, it probably would be no easy matter to pre- 
 pare one. There was one picture among others 
 that seemed to attract more attention than the 
 rest. It was not a performance in the very in- 
 fancy of painting, but still very old, perhaps, at 
 least two hundred years. The subject was the 
 Resun-ection of the Dead. It abounded with per- 
 sonages, created by the most whimsical and ex- 
 travagant imagination. Those who were doomed 
 to be passed to the left were urged on by the oddest 
 looking devils that ever appeared on canvas ; 
 some like Nick Bottom, with asses' heads ; others 
 with monkeys' faces, and large claws to their feet 
 and hands ; some pouncing on their victims by 
 the hair of the head, as they were ascending from 
 the tombs, and dragging them away, while others 
 were thrusting them forward by pitchforks. Old 
 fat-bellied gentlemen and well-dressed young ladies 
 appeared to be objects of peculiar attention to these 
 infernal gentry. In the foreground was a handsome 
 young lady, whom an angel had got hold of by 
 one hand, and an ugly devil by the other, each 
 striving who should carry off the prize. There 
 vras neither name nor date to this, nor, indeed, to 
 any of these old and singular performances. In 
 the room below was a very considerable collection 
 of Roman antiquities, inscriptions, and busts, sar- 
 cophagi, &c., which had been dug out of the ground
 
 COLOGNE. 175 
 
 and the foundations of old walls ; but they were 
 not arranged, nor any catalogue of them pre- 
 pared. 
 
 The streets of Cologne are in so bad a state, that 
 they would appear not to have been paved for a 
 century ; and, what is equally bad, they are sel- 
 dom, if ever, swept, or in any way cleaned. In 
 the lower or most ancient part of the town, along 
 the bank of the river, where the streets are exceed- 
 ingly narrow and the houses lofty, the filth makes 
 them almost impassable, and the stench highly 
 offensive. The only scouring they get is from the 
 torrents of rain falling from long spouts, which 
 almost every house has projecting from the roof 
 in the shape of dragons,. snakes, and dolphins. 
 
 It may be doubted whether if the fifty or sixty 
 thousand bottles of eau de Cologne, supposed to 
 be manufactured here annually, were sprinkled 
 over these streets, they would be thereby rendered 
 sweet : perhaps, indeed, the libation would only 
 make them more offensive ; for it happened to us, 
 when crossing in a steam-boat (from Ostend), that 
 a shower of rain drove below some ninety or a 
 hundred passengers, whose wet cloaks and coats, 
 with the heat from the engines and the smell of 
 fried oil, caused so moist, musty, and fetid an 
 atmosphere, that the steward thought he could not 
 do better, by way of correcting it, than to sprinkle 
 a couple of bottles of eau de Cologne ; but this in- 
 creased instead of abating the nuisance, and made 
 the stench intolerable. 
 
 Cologne has been called 'the dirty focus of 
 ' decaying Catholicism' — ' the dirtiest and most 
 * gloomy city of its size in Europe,' and ' the
 
 176 COLOGNE. 
 
 ' people as motley and miserable as the buildings/ 
 This is somewhat overcharged ; for, in the higher 
 part of the town, the streets are much wider and 
 in better order, and as the Sunday we spent at 
 Cologne was a fete day of some kind or other, 
 we observed all the streets in that neighbourhood 
 thickly strewed with oak leaves, from baskets car- 
 ried by several hundred boys and girls, who had 
 been attending divine service at St. Peter's church. 
 In the same streets, also, we observed before the 
 open windows and doors of several houses small 
 altars with Christ on the cross, and the Virgin, 
 decorated with flowers, and coloured glass beads, 
 the object of which was to collect a few cents or 
 groschenTrom the poor ignorant people, who are no 
 doubt but too easily caught by such trumpery. 
 
 We could not but remark that we never saw 
 the churches so well attended in the whole course 
 of our tour as those of Cologne : that immense 
 building the Dom Kirche was so crowded at the 
 evening service, that it was almost impossible to 
 squeeze in, but the attraction was a popular 
 preach. or, an elderly man, who was veiy energetic 
 and animated ; but it did not appear to us that 
 either his enunciation or his action had any pre- 
 tence to be considered as graceful. 
 
 At high mass, on the Sunday morning, both at 
 St. Peter's and St. Mary's, which vv^e attended, the 
 great majority of the audience consisted of females. 
 In the forenoon the ordinary occupations seemed 
 to be followed as on other days, and I found 
 no difficulty in getting money at the bankers' to 
 enable us to proceed the foUovdng morning. 
 Though they still enumerate not fewer than
 
 COLOGNE. 177 
 
 thirty churches and chapels, and a full proportion 
 of priests, there is perhaps less superstition here 
 than in most CathoHc communities. Everybody, 
 however, has heard of St. Ursula and her eleven 
 thousand virgins, whose bones are collected and 
 stowed away in her chapel ; but we had no 
 curiosity to visit this congregation of human 
 relics — the plunder probably of all the church- 
 yards in Cologne. 
 
 In the evening the bridge of boats that con- 
 nects Cologne with the small town of Deutz, 
 directly opposite to it, was crowded with well- 
 dressed people of both sexts, this being, it seems, 
 a favourite promenade in the summer evenings. 
 A small toll of about a halfpenny is exacted at the 
 entrance every time that a person passes. The 
 company is not often disturbed by the opening of 
 a passage to let vessels through, the trade appa- 
 rently not being very active. Vessels lie on both 
 sides of the bridge, but mostly above it ; their 
 number might be from twenty to thirty, mostly 
 of the long narrow class peculiar to the Rhine, and 
 the lading appeared chiefly to be coals. 
 
 Cologne was once famous for its manufactures 
 of cloth, but the wise magistrates of this city had 
 the folly, on some riotous conduct of the weavers, 
 to cause near two thousand looms to be burnt, the 
 consequence of which was, that the owners of them 
 quitted the city, and carried on their trade in 
 others, where a wiser policy existed. They also 
 in the year 1616, in a fit of religious animosity, 
 expelled every Protestant from Cologne, though 
 the persons of this community were the best and 
 most industrious of their artisans.
 
 178 COLOGNE. 
 
 They have still some trifling manufactories of 
 cottons, of a coarse kind, and silks ; of knit stock- 
 ings, caps, and gloves ; of snuff, from one of which 
 establishments, we observed not less than four or 
 five hundred men returning from their daily labour. 
 The manufacture of eau de Cologne employs a 
 considerable number of persons, and is said to 
 produce a revenue of three or four hundred thou- 
 sand francs. That brown pigment known to 
 artists under the name of burnt umber or Cologne 
 earth, is prepared here from a species of earthy 
 coal dug out of the mountains between Coblenz, 
 and Cologne,
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 FROM COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 Having satisfied our curiosity as to all that 
 Cologne was likely to afford for our information 
 or amusement, we hired a caleche and pair to 
 take us as far as Frankfort, from whence it had 
 come the day before with a party. Our agree- 
 ment was that we should stop at such places on the 
 route as we might think fit, but not to exceed for 
 the whole journey three days ; and for this jour- 
 ney, which is at least one hundred and ten miles, 
 we were to pay fifty-six florins, or 41. ISs. 4(1. 
 sterling, a sum that will not be deemed extrava- 
 gant for the conveyance of seven persons and their 
 baofoaore. This caleche is the kind of (^arriao^e 
 
 CO o o 
 
 most commonly in use along the Rhine, and, in- 
 deed, all over the Netherlands ; it is not quite so 
 commodious as the Dutch char-a-banc, but we 
 contrived, without inconvenience, to stow six in- 
 the inside, all our baggage, part of which was 
 placed in a large round basket under the seat 
 of the driver, and the trunks were strapped on 
 behind. The servant took his seat along with 
 the driver. 
 
 On the 18th, at eight in the morning, we left 
 
 Cologne, and arrived at Bonn about ten ; the 
 
 intermediate country well cultivated, but the sur 
 
 face rather flat, and devoid of much interest. The 
 
 n2
 
 180 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 hills on our right, and those beyond the Rhine 
 on the left, had now receded to a considerable 
 distance. 
 
 It happened to be market-day at Bonn, and the 
 square in which it was held exhibited a novel 
 and curious appearance in the assembled groups. 
 In the centre of this square and down the whole 
 length were about two hundred women drawn up 
 m a long line of two deep, each having a clean 
 white handkerchief neatly folded round the head. 
 The chief articles of sale, which were carefully 
 arranged in the middle space between the two 
 lines, were greens and fruits of various kinds, 
 bread, butter, and eggs. There was no noise nor 
 tumult, and we could not but contrast the order 
 and decorum that were here observed with what 
 is. usually seen in an Enolish market, more espe- 
 cially in such a one as Covent Garden, where it 
 would be no easy matter to oblige two hundred 
 women to keep silence. 
 
 In the centre of the market-place is a pyramid 
 and fountain, and the town -house stands at the 
 head of the square. It is supposed that the 
 Roman general, Drusus . Germanicus, threw a 
 bridge over the Rhine at Bonn, but, in returning 
 by water, we could not see any vestige of it. The 
 neighbourhood of Bonn, however, is full of Roman 
 antiquities, and many private collections of them 
 are said to have been made there. 
 
 This city has recently revived one of those 
 German universities, where young men, like the 
 pol}i-echniques of Paris, fancy themselves to know 
 more than their teachers, laugh at religion, set at 
 defiance all authority, behave with insolence to
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLEXZ. 181 
 
 their fellow-citizens, lose all sense of decency, 
 and muddle away their time in drinking heer and 
 smoking tobacco. They are, in fact, the fniitfiil 
 nurseries of immorality, sedition and licentioiis- 
 ness. That of Bonn perhaps may be said to be 
 as yet in a state of youthful innocence ; and it 
 was probably under this idea, and the influence 
 of such names as those of Xiebuhr and Schlegel, 
 that had induced several Enghsh families to 
 take up a residence at Bonn, for the benefit of 
 their children's education, mostly however, as 
 we understood, for the instruction of the female 
 part in music, which is here much cultivated. 
 The celebrated Beethoven, and also Salmon, re- 
 ceived their musical education at Bonn. The 
 population is estimated at about ten thousand, 
 and a considerable portion is occupied in the 
 manufacture of cottons and coarse cloths, alum, 
 and snuff. 
 
 About four miles beyond Bonn, and close to the 
 side of the road, is an ancient stone cross called 
 the Hochkfeuz, or the High Cross, erected by some 
 archbishop, whose name it is not material to recol- 
 lect, in 1330. A little beyond it is a mountain, 
 on which is seen an old ruined castle rearing its 
 jagged, crumbling top out of tlie thickets that sur- 
 round its base. It is'supposed to be the remains 
 of an ancient castle of the Romans, At tlie foot 
 of the mountain, which is called Godesberg, is 
 the village of the same name, to which a road 
 turns off to the right, a little beyond the cross. 
 Near this village is a mineral spring called Draitscli, 
 in the neighbourhood of which great pains were 
 taken, a few years ago, to establish it as a regular
 
 182 COLOGNE I . COBLENZ. 
 
 watering-place, hut it doeb not seem to have met 
 with much success. 
 
 The range of liills from Godesberg are seen to 
 continue as far as tliat of liolandseck, whose steep 
 side descends to the very brink of the Rhine; and, 
 on the opposite side of the riA^er, the base of the 
 ' castled crag of Drachenfels,' the first or northern- 
 most of the Siebengebirge, or Seven Mountains, 
 comes down close to the water's edge, in defiance 
 as it were of its opposite neighbour. These two 
 mountains, of Rolandseck and Drachenfels, form 
 the grand poi-tal or entrance into a deep, dark, 
 and gloomy ravine, tlirough which the contracted 
 Rhine is seen to force its volume of water with an 
 accelerated current. 
 
 On the summit of Drachenfels, which on the 
 side next the river appears to terminate in a point 
 at the heiofht of one thousand eioht hundred feet, 
 are the ruins of an ancient castle ; and just on the 
 edge of the precipice stands an obelisk, scarcely 
 }>erceptible on account of the height, which the 
 French are said to have made use of as a tele- 
 graph. To the eye it appears to be the loftiest of 
 the seven mountains, whose bases, as they recede 
 from the river, form a crescent or amphitheatre in 
 front of the Rhine, which here again opens out 
 into a broad sheet of water, 'enclosed so completely 
 as to wear the appearance of a fine lake, surrounded 
 by the most pleasing and picturesque mountain 
 scenery, whose margins are skirted with small 
 villages and the spires of churches rising, as it 
 were, out of the trees. 
 
 Being now no longer hemmed in between the 
 dark and glowing sides of the narrow portal or
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 188 
 
 defile, its tranquil and expansive surface is inter- 
 rupted only by two beautiful islands, the larger of 
 which is called Rolandswerth, or Nonnenwerth, 
 the Island of the Nuns, so named from a celebrated 
 convent erected on the island. A few of the nuns 
 were still left when the empress Josephine visited 
 this spot ; and their situation, and the beauty of 
 the island, interested so much that humane and 
 kind-hearted woman, that by her influence she 
 saved the convent from suppression. The nuns, 
 however, were now all gone, but the convent was 
 yet remaining, being converted, at considerable 
 expense, into an inn or hotel ; a speculation which, 
 it seems, had not answered the expectations of the 
 proprietor, who was endeavouring to dispose of 
 the whole island, of one hundred and forty or one 
 hundred and fifty acres, by lottery, in which, we 
 Avere told, several of our countrymen in passing 
 had taken tickets, ' being so near to England.' 
 Unquestionably the island of Nonnenwertli would 
 form one of the most delightful summer retreats 
 that could be desired ; and as to its nearness to 
 England, it may not, perhaps, occur to an English- 
 man, that the distance from London to Nonnen- 
 werth, is several miles less than from London to 
 Edinburgh. But this may easily be seen by plac- 
 ing one foot of a pair of compasses on a map of 
 Europe, on London, and the other on Edii;burgh, 
 when Nonnenwerth will be found to fall wltliin the 
 circle described by them. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that English adventurers should start 
 for a prize that would give them possession of so 
 lovely a spot. As an inn, it was objectionable 
 on account of the trouble of crossing the water,
 
 184 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 and the less likely to succeed, from there being by 
 the road side, directly opposite to it, a tolerably 
 good and long-established house. 
 
 The nunnery and Rolandseck, so near to each 
 other, could not fail to give rise to some romantic 
 tale, in a country where romance has always been 
 highly cherished ; and accordingly, Schiller has 
 composed a ballad of Roland and his mistress, but 
 shifted the scene into Switzerland. Tradition says, 
 that Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, caused 
 the present ruined castle of Rolandseck to be built, 
 in order to be near his mistress, who had become 
 a nun at the convent of Nonnenwerth. 
 
 Legends of this kind, whether founded or not, 
 impart an additional interest to the romantic 
 scenery of this and other parts of the Rhine ; and 
 they are so abundant, that almost every one of the 
 numerous old castles has its legend, of dragons and 
 devils overcome, and ravished virgins released, by 
 monks and Christian knights. 
 
 The other little island contiguous to Nonnen- 
 werth is called Grafenwerth, which, with, the 
 former, divide the Rhine into three parts, forming 
 three rapid streams ; and these, being somewhat 
 dangerous, are called by the boatmen, Gotteshulfe, 
 ' God's help.' 
 
 The boatmen of the Rhine, in fact, require help, 
 even where there is little or no danger ; they are 
 the most clumsy and inexpert watermen, in the 
 management of small craft, that can well be ima- 
 gined. In a common boat there are generally 
 two men ; one at the head with a wooden rake, 
 shaped like those which our scavengers use to rake 
 the mud in the streets ; with this the man pulls
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 185 
 
 the water towards him ; the other on the stern^ 
 either with a similar rake, or flat paddle, pushes 
 the water from him ; so that, with pushing and 
 puUing, they contrive to move the boat, clumsily 
 and slowly enough, tlirough the water. The larger 
 hoats are towed generally along the right bank by 
 as many horses as may be necessary. It is not 
 uncommon to observe eight of them tracking one 
 of the larger kind against the stream. In descend- 
 ing, they have only to take care that the head be 
 kept down the stream, and the current does the 
 rest of the work for them. 
 
 Having passed these islands, we again witness 
 the Rhine spreading out into a broad, expansive 
 lake, its margins covered with numerous villages, 
 those on the right bank being inhabited chiefly by 
 men who work the quarries for slate and building 
 stones. The level pieces of ground, next to the 
 river, are exceedingly well and neatly cultivated 
 with grain and vegetables, interspersed with 
 orchards of fruit trees, apples, pears, cherries, and 
 walnuts ; and the sloping sides of the hills are 
 covered with vineyards; and above these the higher 
 parts are clothed with forest-trees or coppice-wood 
 to their very summits. 
 
 Along both shores of this part of the Rhine, 
 village after village succeed each other at short 
 intervals; but at the upper end of the present 
 reach, where the town of Unkel is situated on the 
 right bank, and Oberwinter on the left, the moun- 
 tains again begin to close and to put on a more 
 rugged and picturesque appearance. As we pro- 
 ceed and approach Remagen on the left bank, 
 we open out a beautiful verdant mountain, well
 
 186 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 clothed with forest -trees, named Apollinarisberg, 
 which, with its old Gothic church and convent 
 crowning its summit, affords, when viewed from 
 the inn at Remagen, one of the most pleasing among 
 the many delightful scenes with which this magni- 
 ficent river gratifies the traveller. At Remagen we 
 were told that the French, in repairing the great 
 road that leads from Cologne to Coblenz in 1801, 
 dug up a great number of Roman antiquities, such 
 as medals, busts, mile-stones, and inscriptions, all 
 of which were afterwards sent to Mannheim. 
 
 The mountains in this neighbourhood are com- 
 posed chiefly of black basalt and argillaceous 
 slate, with which almost all the houses of the to^vns 
 and villages in the long defile of the Rhine are 
 built and covered in ; and with the former the 
 streets are, for the most part, rudely paved. Vines 
 are planted along the steep sides of the mountains 
 on every little spot, however small, where any 
 soil can be obtained. On the top of one of these 
 mountains is situated the castle of Rheineck, part 
 of which appears to have been recently built on 
 the old ruins ; and on the right bank is seen a 
 large rugged rock, at the summit of which stands 
 the ruins of the castle of Hammerstein, clothed 
 with ivy, and almost buried in a thicket. 
 
 The town of Andernach is situated at the foot 
 of a frowning mountain on the left bank of the 
 river, and opposite to it, on the right, the moun- 
 tains come down close to the water s edge, forming 
 thus a similar narrow portal to that of Rolandseck, 
 and Drachenfels, through which the Rhine rushes 
 with gi'eat velocity. This ancient town, with its 
 massive towers, turrets, and ruined walls, is admi-
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 1 87 
 
 rably suited to the sombre scenery that sur- 
 rounds It, Its streets are narrow and ill-paved, 
 and the houses gloomy, old, and out of repair. 
 There is a fine old archway, supposed to be Ro- 
 man, forming the gate of the town on the side 
 next to Coblenz, and below it, in a line towards 
 the river, are the ruins of an extensive palace or 
 castle, supposed to have been built by the Goths 
 soon after the expulsion of the Romans. Near the 
 entrance of the town we observed an immense 
 quantity of millstones, laid on the bank of the 
 river, ready for embarkation ; they are the produce 
 of these basaltic mountains, and in great request 
 all over Europe ; numbers of which were brought 
 to England, till a similar kind were discovered 
 about Stirling in Scotland, which are said to be of 
 a quality equally good. 
 
 Here too we observed large quantities of the 
 tufa-stone formed into square bricks, which, when 
 mixed with lime, is one of the best cements, and 
 hardens like a rock. It is known here by the 
 name of Wass. 
 
 A considerable trade in both these articles is 
 carried on with Holland, but more particularly 
 in the latter, which is considered as the best 
 cement they can make use of for the stone work 
 of their dykes and embankments. Here we saw, 
 for the first time, one of those rafts of wood w^hich 
 travellers have represented of such wonderful di- 
 mensions and construction. This, however, had 
 nothing very remarkable in its size, or the manner 
 in which it was put together. The length might 
 be six hundred feet, and it had six small wooden 
 cottages erected in different parts of its surface,
 
 188 COLOGXE TO COBLEXZ. 
 
 and apparently from twenty to thirty persons to 
 manage it. It bore no sort of comparison with 
 tliose which w^e are told the Chinese are in the 
 habit of sending down their rivers, w4th whole cal- 
 lages and all sorts of domestic animals npon them. 
 After clearing the narrow pass of Andernach, 
 the neat town of Xenwied, with its little blue 
 slated roofs and white chimneys, appears at a 
 distance on the opposite side of the river, the very 
 picture of neatness and uniformity. It is little 
 more than a hundred years, since this place was 
 established as a town by one of the opulent family 
 of Wied, and subsequently w^as greatly enlarged 
 by prince Alexander of Neuwied, who made it 
 publicly known, that industrious persons of all 
 religious sects, whether Protestants, Catholics, or 
 Jews, w4io might wish to reside here, would have 
 full liberty of public worship according to their 
 own forms or doctrine. Among others, a frater- 
 nity of Herrnhiiters or ]\Ioravians settled at this 
 spot ; and people from almost every country in 
 Europe, and of every persuasion, live peaceably 
 together, and manufactures of almost every kind 
 are established on a small scale, at Neuc\-ied. 
 
 A little further on, we passed the small village 
 of Weissenthurm, " the white tower," a building 
 apparently of no very remote antiquity, which 
 stands near the end of the village. Close to this 
 spot on the right of the road, just above an or- 
 chard, an obelisk has been erected to the memory 
 of General Hoche, with this simple inscription : 
 ' The army of the Sambre and Meuse, 
 ' To its Commander-in-Chief, 
 ' Hoche.'
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 189 
 
 The French under this general crossed the 
 Rhhie at this place two or three times — the last 
 on the 18th of April, 1797, immediately opposite 
 to this village. An island in the middle of the 
 Rhine, of which he first took possession, gave great 
 facility in accomplishing the passage. It is also 
 at this very spot that Caesar is supposed to have 
 crossed the Rhine. 
 
 Beyond this island, the river is again seen to 
 spread out its w^aters, and the hills on the left bank 
 to recede, leaving between them and the Rhine a 
 well-cultivated valley or plain, over which are scat- 
 tered numerous villas, with extensive gardens and 
 pleasure grounds, with fruit-trees in the greatest 
 abundance; and the road passes over this descrip- 
 tion of country at such a distance from the river as 
 to conceal it from the sight ; and it is only again 
 approached on arriving at a large stone bridge 
 thrown across the river Moselle, and whose tete- 
 du-pont, at the opposite end, is the wall and gate of 
 Coblenz. On the left of the road, at a little dis- 
 tance from this city, and on. the tongue of land 
 which separates the Rhine from the Moselle, is 
 the monument erected to the memory of the 
 French general Marceau, who, at the age of twenty- 
 six, and in the fourth year of the Republic, pe- 
 rished near Altenkirchen, by a rifle-ball, while 
 attempting to intercept the retreat of Jourdan. 
 It is a truncated pyramid, on the four faces of 
 which are long inscriptions in French, recording 
 briefly the history of his military career. ' Qui 
 ' que tu sois,' says one of them, ' ami ou ennemi 
 ' de ce jeune heros, respecte ses cendres.' They 
 were so respected; for his funeral was attended by
 
 190 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 the officers of the Austrian as well as the French 
 army. 
 
 * Brief, brave, and glorious, was his young career, 
 ' His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes ; 
 
 ' And fitly may the stranger, linprering here, 
 ' Pray for his gallant spirit's bright repose.' 
 
 The bones of Hoche, whose monument, as before 
 mentioned, is at Weissenthurm, are said also to 
 be buried here. 
 
 The city of Coblenz takes its name from the 
 position it occupies on the point of land, formed 
 iDetween the Rhine and the Moselle, — Conjiuentia. 
 Its shape is triangular, one side extending along 
 the Moselle, the other along the Rhine, and the 
 third side inland stretches between the two rivers. 
 On the opposite side of the Rhine, is the cele- 
 brated fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, ' the Broad 
 Stone of Honour,' which is seen to frown over the 
 small town of Thai at its feet. The river is here 
 crossed by a noble bridge of boats, which connects 
 this fortress and town with Coblenz. The French, 
 who destroyed everything they could not keep, 
 blew up the ancient works of Ehrenbreitstein, 
 at the truce of Leoben ; and thus the poet has 
 truly observed — 
 
 ' Peace destroyed what war could never blight.' 
 
 The ruins of the ancient castles and towers, 
 mixed with the rugged and shapeless crags, are 
 said to have given to the commanding mountain 
 of Ehrenbreitstein a grand and imposing appear- 
 ance from the opposite quay of Coblenz, but 
 his Prussian Majesty has thought fit to renew 
 the fortifications, according to the modem unpic-
 
 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 191 
 
 turesque plan of military works of this kind. 
 In fact, the rugged summit of the rock has 
 been smoothed down and levelled, and is now 
 covered to an immense extent with bastions and 
 batteries, with ramparts and round towers, which, 
 but to look at from the opposite bank of the river, 
 are- enough to make a peaceable man tremble. 
 These batteries, however, stiff and formal as they 
 are, with the bridge of boats tlirown across the 
 Rhine, at one of its noblest reaches, gently flowing 
 between its beautiful banks, the massy stone 
 bridge which crosses the Moselle and forms a tete- 
 du-pont to Cobleuz, and the numerous towers and 
 spires which rise above the walls and buildings of 
 that city, compose one of the most magnificent 
 views that the imagination can conceive, when 
 seen, as we had the opportunity of doing on our 
 return, from the middle of the Rhine about half a 
 mile above the 1 ridge of boats. Coblenz, how- 
 ever, is the last place that a peaceable man would 
 choose to dwell in. Strongly fortified on every 
 side, it would probably stand the siege of an 
 enemy for many months ; and if at last got pos- 
 session of, the tremendous fortress of Ehrenbreit- 
 stein, if opposed to the invaders, as would most 
 likely be the case, would speedily batter down the 
 city of Coblenz with its cannon, and with destruc- 
 tive shells lay it in ashes. 
 
 The distance from Cologne to Coblenz is about 
 fifty-two miles, which we accomplished in eleven 
 hours, with the same pair of horses that, as already 
 observed, had arrived at Cologne only the evening 
 before, from Frankfort, The day was closing in 
 when we entered the to^vn ; and as we left it early
 
 192 COLOGNE TO COBLENZ. 
 
 the followino- morninof we saw but little of its 
 interior. Our hotel was the Drei-Schweitzers, 
 situated on the rampart, close to the river, in the 
 neighbourhood of which everything seemed to 
 partake of the mihtary character. It was the 
 same from our first entry at the tete-du-pont, 
 through all the streets, down to the brink of the 
 river — nothing but soldiers, horse and foot, were 
 parading the streets; and on leaving we observed 
 the engineers busily employed in strengthening 
 the old works inland and adding new ones ; so 
 anxious does his Prussian Majesty appear to make 
 any hostile passage of the Rhine, at this place, 
 next to impossible, or at least not very practicable 
 by a coup-de-main.
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT, AND BACK TO 
 AIX-LA.CHAPELLE. 
 
 On the morning of the 19th, we proceeded from 
 Coblenz through a pleasant country, but without 
 any strongly marked features; the villages and 
 scattered housf>s mostly surrounded by vineyards 
 and orchards ; the mountains receding on both 
 sides of the Rhine, more tame than those below 
 Coblenz, and well clothed to their summits with 
 dense woods. At tlie distance of three miles the 
 river Lahn falls into the Rhine, on the right bank, 
 and forms a jutting peninsular point, on which 
 stands the small town of Niederlahnstein, and near 
 it, on the summit of a rock, the ruins of the old 
 castle of Lahneck, beneath which is the v/alled 
 town of Oberlalmstein. 
 
 On proceeding along the left bank, we pass 
 through the small town of Rhense. The Rhine 
 here is of great breadth, and takes an immense 
 sweep to the left, and in the deep bend is seen the 
 village of Niederspey, after which, on turning 
 again to the right, we have the villages of ?Jittel- 
 spey and Peterspey, situated in the midst of rich 
 meadows and orchards, above which, on the risino- 
 grounds, are extensive vmeyards ; while the oppo- 
 site mountains on the right bank are wild and 
 rugged ; the villages at their feet mean in appear- 
 o
 
 194 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 ance ; the few inliabitants who showed themselves, 
 wearing in their dress and appearance the marks 
 of great poverty. At Boppart the Rhine resumes 
 its former direction. 
 
 Boppart is a very curious old town, built on the 
 ruins of ancient forts and palaces, erected in the 
 days of the Romans and the Franks. Some old 
 convents have been converted into more useful pur- 
 poses than their original intent, — manufactories of 
 cloth and cotton. The church is apparently not 
 less ancient or curious in its Gothic structure, 
 and its octagonal spires, than the convents. The 
 liouses appear to be built mostly of wooden beams, 
 arranged in various directions, and the spaces 
 between them filled up with lath and clay ; the 
 streets are narrow ; and as the second and upper 
 stories project beyond the ground story, the oppo- 
 site neighbours might almost shake hands out of 
 their gable ends. The wood-work is generally 
 painted black, and sometimes carved and twisted 
 into a variety of shapes. It is almost unnecessary 
 to add, that the streets are ill-paved, and miserably 
 dirty ; but this is not peculiar to Boppart, being 
 the common characteristic of every Catholic town 
 along the banks of the Rhine. Indeed it may be 
 mentioned, as a general observation, that although 
 the road which skirts the left bank of the Rhine 
 from Coblenz to Bingen is one of the most level 
 and beautiful, perhaps, in all Europe, the moment 
 it comes within the verge of a town or village, it 
 seems to be infected with the prevailing malady, 
 and ceases to deserve any commendation. 
 
 This fine road is, by common accord, ascribed 
 to the labour of the French army while it held
 
 COBLE>rZ TO FRANKFORT. 195 
 
 possession of the country. But, as may be col- 
 lected from tlie accounts of travellers j)rior to the 
 French Revolution, it was always a good moun- 
 tain-road, but liable, as all such roads so situated 
 are, to be cut up by the torrents. But the French 
 engineers, by blasting the basaltic rocks, level- 
 ling down the inequalities, and forming arched 
 sewers for the swollen torrents to pass under 
 the road instead of sweeping across, as hereto- 
 fore, when they swept also at the same time a 
 portion of it into the Rhine, have now made 
 it a most perfect, level, macadamised road, on 
 which neither hole nor rut is to be seen. The 
 materials are admirable ; and, as is the practice 
 with us, we see them here also prepared by break- 
 ing, and laying them in heaps by the road-side, 
 ready to be laid on wherever they may be required. 
 It generally winds close along the edges of the 
 precipitous and naked basaltic mountain, but some- 
 times approaches the very verge of the Rhine ; 
 and here the traveller is protected by a fence of 
 posts and rails. 
 
 From Boppart to Salzig the mountains recede 
 from the river, and the intermediate space is com- 
 posed of meadows, neat cottages surrounded with 
 gardens and orchards, in which are planted innu' 
 merable quantities of cherry-trees, while walnut 
 and ash-trees, mingled together, mantle up the 
 sides of the mountains and the ravines to their 
 very summits. The Rhine here assumes the 
 appearance of a vast lake, on the opposite or right 
 bank of which are the ruins of the two castles, 
 usually called the Two Brothers, of Liebenstein and 
 Sternfels, concerning whom there is a legendary 
 o 2
 
 196 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 love tale, which by a little ingenuity and dramatic 
 tact, might be made acceptable to a modern audi- 
 ence at one of the minor theatres. 
 
 We now approach a very romantic part of the 
 river, and perceive at a distance the extensive 
 ruins of Rheinfels, and the ancient town of St. 
 Gear, situated immediately below them. From 
 this part of the road is opened out one of the most 
 wild and rugged views of mountain scenery that 
 had yet appeared ; the sides of the mountains look- 
 ing like two black gigantic walls ; the river, from 
 a noble expanse, becoming at once narrow, deep, 
 and rapid, and the navioation not by any means 
 free from danger. The ruined fortress of Rheinfels 
 is pleasingly picturesque, and the most imposing 
 of any of the ruined castles we had yet seen. It 
 is also the most accessible from the side of the 
 river; a fine sloping road, bordered by walnut- 
 trees, leading to it from the town ; but perfectly 
 inaccessible on that side which fronts the river, 
 and on that also which faces the north, where 
 the hill terminates almost perpendicularly in a 
 deep ravine, down which flows a small clear 
 stream, that, in the lower part of its course, turns 
 several mills. On the side of the sloping road 
 which leads up to the ruins, and facing the river, 
 is a wall of several hundred yards in length, loop- 
 holed the whole way ; and on the approach from 
 tlie land or western side, the fortress is covered 
 with bastions and redoubts of modern construction, 
 and the whole place seems to be casemated and 
 undermined. At the foot of the hill is a long 
 range of building, built by the Landgrave of Hesse 
 Cassel to serve as a barrack for his troops. This
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 197 
 
 strong castle of Rhelnfels surrendered to the French 
 during the revolutionary war, at the first summons, 
 and was afterwards blown up by them. The view 
 of the ruins from a small plantation, v»-hich forms 
 one of the promenades at the northern end of the 
 towm, and close to the IIotel-du-Rhin, is very 
 beautiful : and we liere met with some young 
 English ladies, busily employing their pencils 
 upon it. This view has often been taken, and a 
 print of it may be seen in Colonel Batty's 
 ' Scenery on the Rhine/ The finely wooded 
 mountain on which the castle stands ; the road 
 windinof at its foot : the Rhine exhibitino- at tliis 
 place a fine expansive lake, closed by mountains 
 luxuriantly covered with wood, and on one of 
 which is perched a ruined castle, present a picture 
 to the eye of the observer tliat cannot be looked 
 upon without rapture and admiration. 
 
 The town of 8t. Goar, like all tliose we have 
 yet seen on the banks of this noble river, has but 
 little to recommend it. The houses are mostly, 
 like those of Boppart, in a wretched state of ruin, 
 built of wx>od and clay, and the upper parts of 
 them overhanging a nan'ow street, dirty and ill- 
 paved ; and we observed that the interior of many 
 of them, which had the doors open, was equally 
 dirty ; and almost wholly destitute of furniture. 
 The few inhabitants we saw were mostly women, 
 ragged and squalid, — their yellow faces, black 
 hair, and coloured napkins tied round their heads-, 
 gave them very much the appearance of tlic lowest 
 class of Malays, as we see them in prints, or the 
 lowest among the gypsy tribes. 
 
 That part of the town we saw was inhabited
 
 198 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 l>y Catholics, we could have little doubt, from their 
 evident state of filth and degradation ; but a Pro- 
 testant church, of considerable size, was pointed 
 out to us ; and a ragged fellow, who had literally 
 but half a pair of breeches, and a torn shirt, see- 
 ino- us attempt to enter it, called out, ' Protestant 
 no good, — no go there/ Without being influ- 
 enced by any illiberal feelings towards the Catho- 
 lics as a body, it is impossible to shut one's eyes 
 against the pernicious effects which this religion 
 evidently has among its votaries of the lower 
 classes. It is well known to all who have visited 
 those parts of Europe, where there is a mixed 
 population of Protestants and Catholics, that the 
 followers of each among the common people, w^ho 
 have to labour for their subsistence, are not diflftcult 
 to be pointed out by the appearance of their dress 
 and their dwellings. The fact is unquestionably 
 so ; and the conclusion is, that there must be some- 
 tliing, connected with their religious duties, or 
 with the influence which the priesthood is known 
 to exercise over their minds, or both, to produce 
 effects so unfavourable to industrious habits, clean- 
 liness, and comfort. 
 
 We had here a specimen of the laziness of the 
 men, which, being the common practice in all 
 that part of the Prussian dominions through which 
 we passed, had frequently attracted our notice. 
 The toll-bar is a long pole, turning on a swivel, 
 between two posts fixed in the ground, on the side 
 of the road opposite to the toll- house, and is 
 weighed down by a heavy stone fixed on the 
 shorter end, so as to keep it always open in the 
 clay-time» It is invariably painted blue and yellow,
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 199 
 
 in a spiral line, like our barbers' pole. Tlie driver 
 never thinks of passing one of these toll-bars 
 without stopping, as he would otherwise be liable 
 to a penalty. The collector, however, will rarely 
 take the trouble to come out of the house to re- 
 ceive the toll, but puts out of the window a little 
 purse at the end of a long stick, for the money ; 
 and if a ticket be necessary, he returns it in a slit 
 at the end of the same stick. 
 
 On the opposite side of the river is another 
 small town called Goarshausen, directly over which 
 is seen the old castle of Katz, or, as it is some- 
 times called, Neukatzenellenbogcn. Mr. Schreiber 
 says, this castle saluted Napoleon one day, which 
 frightened his horse, and he gave immediate orders 
 for its demolition. 
 
 It is at the foot of this Katzberg that the rugged 
 and gloomy contraction of the river commences, 
 of which we have just spoken. On entering the 
 ravine, the first object that attracts the notice of 
 the passenger is a naked mass of black rock, sin- 
 gularly curious, whose strata appear to have been 
 thrown up and disnipted, and the great basaltic 
 tablets and columns piled on each other in hideous 
 disorder. This is the celebrated Lurleyberg, or 
 repeating mountain, so called from an echo which, 
 in certain positions, is said to repeat a voice or 
 noise four or five times. This circumstance, to- 
 gether with the turbulent Rhine taking a sudden 
 turn and foaming round its base, have given rise 
 to a legend ten times told, and in ten difi'erent 
 ways, about a vvater-nymph and a prince-palatine, 
 which every traveller hashes up in a way that he 
 supposes may be most palatable to his readers..
 
 200 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORr. 
 
 This Ondine is said by some to have been mis- 
 chievous, and that she used to charm the boatmen 
 with her syren voice, and thus contrived to draw 
 them into the whirlpool close to the rock. 
 
 AYe nov*' ap]'>roach Oberwesel, on the left bank, 
 an old and impoverished town, wdth a remarkably 
 tine Gothic church. Near the entrance of the 
 town is a chapel, which, we are told by the guide- 
 books, was erected as a monument to the memory 
 of a boy named Werner, who had been stolen 
 from his parents by the Jews, and murdered by 
 them ; — why, it is not said, — but the event is sup- 
 posed to have happened in the year 1287. 
 
 The position of this town amid lofty and rugged 
 mountains, and abounding with shattered towers* 
 and crumbling w^alls inclosing it, and in which 
 are the remains of ten or twelve of the former still 
 standing, and the distant fine scenery, viewed over 
 the silvery surface of the Rhine, oive to Oberwesel 
 a more romantic character than almost any other 
 spot. 
 
 A little beyond Oberwesel is the ruined castle 
 of Schoenberg, j^erched on the summit of a lofty 
 and picturesque rock, once the property of the 
 family of that name, some of the descendants of 
 whom are still in England, but write their name 
 Schomberg. They pretend to trace their origin 
 back to the time of Charlemagne, when the name 
 was Belmont, which Avas afterwards translated into 
 JSchoenberg. The castle is said to have taken its 
 name from seven sisters, of great beauty, wdio, 
 from their j^rudery, were transformed into seven 
 rocks, the points of which are said to be seen 
 when the river is low% and which still bear the 
 name of the Seven Sisters.
 
 COBLEXZ TO FRANKFORT. 201 
 
 Another mined castle is now visible on a lofty 
 peak called Stahleck; and in the midst of the 
 Khine stands the castle of Pfalz, built on a rock, 
 to which, we are gravely told, the counts of the 
 Palatinate were accustomed to send their wives to 
 be brought to bed. From its subterranean, or 
 rather subaquean dungeons and dark chambers, 
 the supposition is more probable, that it was a 
 place to take away the life of, rather than give 
 birth to, human beings, — 'la bastille du Pala- 
 tinat,' as a French traveller more justly calls it ; 
 a convenient jail for state prisoners, and equally 
 convenient for its master to watch and plunder the 
 passengers on the Rhine, instead of its levying, as 
 it now serves, a lawful toll. 
 
 Opposite to this insulated castle, which is still 
 in good repair, and on the right bank, is the 
 town of Kaub, immediately under the ruined 
 castle of Gutenfels, situated on the peak of a 
 lofty rock. Kaub is celebrated by the passage 
 of the army of I>Iarshal Bliicher across the lihine 
 fit this spot, on the first of January, 1814. A little 
 farther on, and on the left bank, stands the old 
 town of Bacharach, situated at the foot of one of 
 the loftiest points of the range of mountains, 
 which is, nevertheless, covered with forest-trees to 
 the very summit. Above the town, and on the 
 side of the hill, is a ruined old church or chapel, 
 dedicated to a saint of the name of Werner, built 
 of red sandstone, and one of the finest specimens 
 of florid Gothic architecture that we had seen on 
 the banks of the Rhine. This chapel was dedi- 
 cated to the boy, whom we have mentioned as 
 being murdered by the Jews, and whose body
 
 202 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 floated against the stream as far as Bacharach; — 
 a miracle that was highly deserving of being com- 
 memorated by a chapel. 
 
 Bacharach is a poor town, and in a more dila- 
 pidated state than any we had yet passed through. 
 Antiquaries seem to have made out the traces of 
 a Roman encampment, round the entrenchment 
 of which the walls of Bacharach were afterwards 
 built ; and as a proof that it was celebrated for its 
 wines in olden time, the name, they say, is derived 
 from Bacchl-ara; and in support of the etymo- 
 logy we are told that, near to the icerth or small 
 island opposite the town, when a long drought 
 has prevailed, a large stone appears in the midst 
 of the river, on which the Komans sacrificed to 
 the deity, for having granted them dry weather 
 and a fruitful vintage. The appearance of this 
 rock, it is said, is still joyfully hailed on the same 
 account. 
 
 The houses, as usual, almost meet each other 
 at the top ; the streets of course are dark and 
 dirty, and extreme poverty seems to be the lot of 
 the majority of the inhabitants. Here, indeed, 
 the Rhine is so closely hemmed in by steep moun- 
 tains, as to admit of no other produce than what 
 the vineyards afford, which may, perhaps, account 
 for the Romans having considered Bacchus as the 
 presiding deity of the place. In fact, the prin- 
 cipal part of the food of the people, through the 
 whole of the long ravine from Boppart to Bacha- 
 rach, and as far as Bingen, must be brought to 
 them from a distance, as, from the scarcity of land, 
 wine, and fruit are the only a^^ticles capable of 
 being cultivated ; and how the vineyards which
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 203 
 
 we here see can possibly pay the labour of culti- 
 vation, is quite a mystery. There is scarcely a 
 patch of half an acre in any one continued space ; 
 mostly, not half a rood. Every little sheltered 
 spot, hovvever small, that possesses the least soil, 
 —every little crevice between the naked rocks, — is 
 choked up with vines; in many places the vine is 
 planted in a basket, with adventitious soil, and 
 sunk in the rocky fragments by the side of the 
 hill. The care and the labour bestowed, thouj^h 
 not toilsome, is constant ; and the distance is fre- 
 quently several miles which the poor cultivator has 
 to go from his habitation to his vineyard, — we 
 should rather say hers; for they appear to be 
 chiefly women, who bear but very little resem- 
 blance to those fair and sylph-like damsels, with 
 which painters are in the habit of peopling their 
 vineyards, when assembled to gather the purple 
 grape. A jacket and petticoat, — a dirty hand- 
 kerchief tied round the head, — the legs and feet 
 naked,— the features dark, dull, and unmeaning, 
 — furnish the true picture of a female labourer 
 of a Rhenish vineyard ; and this was so generally 
 the prevailing feature of the picture, in all places 
 where the chief produce was wine, that we may, 
 almost with certainty, come to the conclusion, that 
 the culture of the vine is an indication of the 
 poverty of those who perform the manual labour, 
 however profitable it may be to the large pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 From Bachai^ach to Bingen, and from thence 
 to Mainz, or jMayence, the channel of the Rhine 
 changes from the direction of north and south to 
 that of east and west, in consequence of which
 
 204 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 the vineyards are cliiefiy confined to the right bank 
 facing the south; and it is here that the vineyards 
 of Asmannshausen, Ehrenfels, Rudesheim, Gei- 
 senheiin, and Johannisberg, occur in succession. 
 
 Between Asmannshausen and Ehrenfels, the 
 steep sides of the mountain, to the height of at 
 least a thousand feet, are covered with vines, 
 growing entirely on terraces, one rising above 
 another to the very summit, the earth on which is 
 kept up by well-built stone walls, of five to eight 
 feet in height; yet many of these terraces are not 
 twice the breadth of the height of the walls that 
 support them. Nearly opposite Bingen, and 
 about Ehrenfels, we counted not less than twenty- 
 two of these terraces, rising one above the other. 
 It is remarkable enough that these fine walls, 
 facing the south, are left naked, tliough they ap- 
 pear to be admirably calculated for the vines 
 to be led against theii' sides, and thereby not 
 only to yield a larger crop of grapes, but to hasten 
 tlieir maturity; l3ut this may, perhaps, be the 
 very reason why they should not be so trained, 
 as the vintage would fall at unequal times; or, as 
 the walls are purposely built loose and without 
 moi-tar, that the water may tlie more readily be 
 drained oif, such draining might probably injure 
 the vine if trained against them; or, which is still 
 more probable, the lack of soil would not admit 
 of training tlie vines without injuring the stand- 
 ards in the terraces. 
 
 In proceeding from Bacharach, we first meet 
 with the old ruined castle of Fiirstenburg, then 
 Sounck, then- Bauzberg, and after that Falken- 
 bero-. Tliis last was under repair, as we were
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 203 
 
 told, for tlie residence of one of the young princes 
 of Prussia, where his royal highness will find 
 himself perched aloft in the air, like an eagle 
 on his aerie. The castle literally occupies the 
 whole summit of the high pointed rock, which 
 it will require some ingenuity to render acces- 
 sible, even on foot, as the rock is precipitous 
 on every side. This extraordinary habitation 
 may truly be said, like Nick Bottom's tragedy, 
 ' to stand on the very pinnacle of its foun- 
 dation.' 
 
 On turning round to Bingerloch, as it is called, 
 where the Rhine is more turbulent and more dan- 
 gerous even than at its passage round the Lurley- 
 berg, we pass the great southern portal of the 
 ravine, and behold at once the mountains to dimi- 
 nish in height, and to recede to a considerable 
 distance from the river ; and the little town of 
 Bingen, placed on an eminence amidst an im- 
 mense extent of vineyards, opens out, standing 
 conspicuous in the beautiful landscape which now 
 presents itself. The last mountain that closes 
 this ravine is that of Riidesheim, with its ter- 
 races of vineyards creeping up its steep sides to 
 the number of of eighteen or twenty ; the summit 
 crowned with an old ruin, to which, as a matter of 
 course, is attached a traditional legend, in which 
 a draoon and a viroin are the chief dramatis 
 
 o e 
 
 persona?. 
 
 The romantic portion of the Rhine is that be- 
 tween Boppart and Bingen, in whicli the several 
 reaches of the river form a constant succession 
 of lakes, accompanied by the most enchanting and 
 diversified scenery, encircled with a chain of the
 
 206 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 most picturesque mountains, some ciotlied with 
 wood, others naked, black, and frowTiing- with 
 rocks, rearing their pinnacled heads under every 
 fantastic shape, and scarcely distinguishable from 
 the ruined remains of forts and castles, which are 
 seen crowning their rugged summits, themselves 
 ' shaped as they had turrets been, in mockery of 
 man s art ;' while the narrow spaces between their 
 feet and the margin of the lakes are smiling >vith 
 cultivation, and enlivened with towns and villages 
 in the midst of vineyards. Here, in short, is 
 
 ' A blending of all beauties ; streams and dells, 
 Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, corn-fields, mountains, vine, 
 And cliiefless castles, breathing stern farewells 
 From grey but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells.' 
 
 On clearing the ravine, however, the scene 
 was entirely changed, and the eye had now full 
 scope to range round the whole of the southern, 
 eastern, and western horizons. The sun was just 
 setting as we left the dark and gloomy gulf, and 
 its western rays, falling on the little town of Bing- 
 en, and the vine-clad side of the opposite moun- 
 tain, afforded a contrast equally striking and 
 agreeable. The broad expansive Rhine glistened 
 in the sun-beams, as its ample volume flowed 
 majestically towards us, interrupted only by the 
 Maus-thurm^ or as travellers inteiiDret it, the 
 Tower of Rats, which is built on a rock in the 
 middle of the river, and by dividing the current, 
 adds to the velocity and the noise of the Binger- 
 loch, which is said to be dangerous to navi- 
 gation. 
 
 This curious tower is too romantically placed 
 to be without its legend, w^hich says it was so
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 207 
 
 named, because one Hatto, a profligate bishop, 
 was by Divine punishment so tormented by rats, 
 as to be obliged to fly and seek for refuge in this 
 tower ; but he was i)ursued by the vermin, wlio 
 fell upon and devoured him ; a fate which he drew 
 upon himself, by having shut up a number of poor 
 people, during a famine, in a barn, and set fire to 
 it, reproaching tliem as being the rats that de- 
 voured the bread of those who had laboured for it. 
 There can be little doubt that we should either 
 read Mauth-thunn^ the tower of customs or tolls, 
 or Mausen-thunn^ the thieving-tower ; at any 
 rate, the legend would appear to an English reader 
 a very clumsy one, in giving the nam.e of mouse 
 to a tower celebrated by a feat performed by rats^ 
 if he did not know that the word maus means 
 rat as well as mouse. 
 
 The endless succession of ancient dilapidated 
 castles is generally spoken of by travellers with 
 a degree of rapture in which some of us did not 
 exactly partake. The eternal round tower, or 
 stone cylinder, which always accompanies, and is 
 always left standing amidst, the castellated ruins, 
 and that alone sometimes remaining, is the very 
 reverse of picturesque. There is besides a moral 
 feeling attached to them, that is apt to carry the 
 recollection back to those days of feudal tenure, 
 when murder and robbery were hardly considered 
 as crimes ; and when many an unhappy victim 
 lingered out a miserable existence in the cells and 
 dungeons of these ancient ruins, which still remain 
 as memorials of the villanous scenes that have been 
 transacted within their walls. A French writer 
 thinks otherwise; he tells us how delightful he
 
 208 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 feels in transporting himself in imagination to 
 those remote ages of ancient chivalry — those ages, 
 as he calls them, of valour and virtue — in imagin- 
 ing himself to be surrounded by those preux 
 cheijal'iers^ the protectors of weakness, the defenders 
 of a sex which in those days knew no other orna- 
 ment but delicacy and gentility. Perhaps he 
 would have been nearer the truth if, instead of 
 preux chevaliers, he had painted these castles 
 to his mind as the retreats of bands of brigands. 
 Lord Byron, we suspect, has taken a juster view 
 of them: — 
 
 ' Beneath these battlements, -vvithia those walls 
 Power dwelt amidst her pass-ons ; in proud state 
 Each rubber-chief upheld his armed halls, 
 Doing his evil will, not less elate 
 Than mightier heroes of a longer date/ 
 
 As we were here to quit the Rhine, a word or 
 two may be added on the general character of this 
 interesting river. We frequently find the epithet 
 ' magnificent ' coupled with the Rhine. To speak 
 correctly, it is not sufficiently capacious to justify 
 the application of that term ; but to tlie eye of the 
 traveller it possesses charms, abundantly superior 
 to those rivers that are so truly magnificent, that 
 one shore is frequently invisible from the other. 
 The Rhine includes within its banks sublimity and 
 beauty, softness and amenity. In gliding do-wn 
 the stream the eye embraces all these at a glance, 
 and riots in endless variety, — the rugged and 
 fantastic forms displayed by naked mountain tops, 
 vying in picturesque with some ancient and ruined 
 castle — the overhanging forest — the sombre crag, 
 mingled with the verdant vine — the neatly culti-
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 209 
 
 vated iDlain — the clustered town with its turreted 
 towers and spires — the sequestered village, and the 
 lonely cottage — the beautiful island, and the con- 
 stant succession of new" objects, and a new dis- 
 position of them, — these are the features ever 
 varied that constitute the beauties, and afford 
 that delight, which travellers rarely fail to derive 
 from an excursion on or along the banks of the 
 Rhine. 
 
 The tow^n of Bingen is situated at the conflu- 
 ence of the Nahe with the Rhine, and is approached 
 from the north by a stone bridge over the former, 
 said to have been built, or its remaining piers at 
 least built, in the time of Drusus. The situation is 
 beautiful, and there was an appearance of industry 
 and bustle which we had not witnessed since our 
 departure from Amsterdam. A number of vessels 
 were lying alongside the quay, and in every street 
 were coopers, house-carpenters, and masons, w^ork- 
 ing at their several trades ; the first preparing their 
 large pipes for tlie approaching vintage, and the 
 others on new" houses building, and old ones re • 
 pairing. Extensive floats of timber were lying 
 along the quay and the shore, and about a dozen 
 of those remarkably long and narrow vessels that 
 navigate the Rhine w^ere at anchor, having each 
 a house on the deck, in wdiich the ow^ner or navi- 
 gator w4th his whole family dwells. We remained 
 for the night at the hotel of the White Horse, a 
 good comfortable house, with a little garden by 
 the river side, the people civil, and the charges 
 remarkably reasonable. There is not much to be 
 seen in the town. A ruined old fort or castle near 
 the upper extremity commands a fine view of the 
 p
 
 ^210 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT, 
 
 surrounding country and the Rhine, which here 
 spreads out to the eastward into a wider expanse 
 of water than in any of its reaches lower down. 
 The mound on which this castle stands is supf)Osed 
 to have been the camp of Drusus, but being called 
 the Klopp, Mr. Schreiber supposes it may have 
 been the retreat of one of the chevaliers hrigands 
 of the middle ages, and that its name is derived 
 from the Greek — (^kK^ttt^s) . From the mound 
 is a splendid view of the Rlieingau, or district of 
 the Rhine, on the opposite side of the river, 
 extending from Cassel near the Maine to Lorrich, 
 and comprehending all the far-famed vineyards of 
 Asmannshausen, Geisenheim, Riidesheim, Johan- 
 n!sberg, and Hochheim. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th we proceeded on 
 our route, which no lono-er skirts the maroin of 
 the Rhine, but passes in a direct line inland, and 
 up a gentle ascent through the midst of highly 
 cultivated vineyards, far different, in size and luxu- 
 riance, from those small patches on the mountain 
 slopes of the great ra^'ine of the Rhine. Tf e are 
 now in the midst of hundreds of acres completely 
 covered with them, till, as we advance up the 
 hill towards Nieder Ingelheim, the culture begins 
 to be varied by a mixture of grain, clover, pota- 
 toes, and various other vegetables interspersed 
 among the vinej^ards. From the level summit 
 of the rising country, on wdiich Ingelheim stands, 
 is a magnificent view of the Rheingau, Avith 
 Riidesheim, Geisenheim, Hochheim, and Johan- 
 nisberg, and the numerous villages scattered over 
 the surface of the country on the farther side of 
 the Rhine.
 
 COBLENZ TO FRANKFORT. 211 
 
 Nieder Ingellieim was the favourite residence 
 of Charlemagne, where, it is said, he l)uilt a palace 
 surrounded by a portico of a hundred columns, 
 brought from Rome and Ravenna. We observed 
 some ruins, which might have been a church, a 
 castle, or a palace, but looked more like an old 
 barn than any of them. On the highest point of 
 this elevated country, in a small copse on the right 
 of the road, stands an obehsk, on the front of which 
 is this inscription — 
 
 * Route de Charlemagne. Termiu^e en I'An l^*" 
 du r^gne de Napoleon, Empereur des Fran(;ais, 
 sous les auspices de Monsieur Jean Bon St. 
 Andre', Prefetdu Departcment du Mont Tonnerre. 
 
 On the other three sides are the names of the 
 entrepreneurs, ingenieurs, &c. The proximity of 
 Ingellieim may have suggested to jVI. Jean Bon 
 St. Andre the introduction of the name of Char- 
 lemagne, where some have supposed he was born ; 
 and at the same time the implied compliment to 
 Buonaparte, to whom and to Julius Caesar this and 
 others of his flatterers pretended to find in him 
 a parallel. In restless activity, rapidity of move- 
 ment, and unrelenting persecution of those who 
 opposed him, Buonaparte might certainly be com- 
 pared wdth Charlemagne. The enormities of the 
 latter, however, were the results of fanaticism ; 
 those of the former, sheer pride and ambition, of 
 which, as Byron says, he was the champion and 
 ► the child, one 
 
 ' Whose game was empires, and whose stakes were thrones. 
 Whose table, earth — whose dice Mere human bones.' 
 
 f2
 
 212 
 
 :mainz, or mayenx'E. 
 
 Having passed the summit, we proceed by a gentle 
 descent, and a tolerably good road, planted on 
 both sides with apple and other fruit-trees, to 
 Mainz, or Mayence. This city belongs to the 
 territory of the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt ; but 
 as the smallness of the contingent furnished by 
 this German prince to the confederacy would not 
 admit of his placing a sufficient garrison in this 
 important place, it was settled at the Congress of 
 Vienna that it should have an Austrian and 
 Prussian governor, in alternate years, and be gar- 
 risoned by Austrian and Prussian troops in equal 
 numbers; but such rapid changes having been 
 found inconvenient, and the gan-ison composed 
 of the two nations not agreeing well together, it 
 was afterwards settled that each governor should 
 remain three years. The number of troops was 
 at this time so considerable, that the whole town 
 wore a military appearance. In the streets few 
 persons were seen but soldiers. The old palaces, 
 hotels, and convents, were converted into barracks, 
 and the finest houses in the town occupied by the 
 Austrian and Prussian officers. With all this, 
 Mayence appeared to be one of the dullest towns, 
 for its size, that we have met with. We observed 
 a little bustle about the quay, along which a con- 
 siderable number of shipping were lying; but 
 there was much less than might have been ex- 
 pected from its commanding situation on the 
 Rhine, near the confluence of the fine navigable 
 river, the Maine, which, in its descent, passes one
 
 MAINZ, OR MAYENCE. 213 
 
 of the finest, most wealthy, and most commercial 
 cities in all Germany. From this river, though it 
 joins the Rhine on the opposite side, and some- 
 what above the town, Mainz, or Mentz, takes its 
 name. The ancient name was Mogimtiacum. 
 Most of the streets are narrow and crooked, par- 
 ticularly those about the old cathedral, or Dom 
 Church : but a fine open street runs down the 
 centre to the very quay ; and there are several 
 squares and open places, one in particular, in 
 which the parade is held. The entrance into the 
 town is over draw -bridges, bastions, and all the 
 various kinds of defences, and within it are bar- 
 racks and guard-rooms in almost every street. 
 
 The fine old Gothic tower, and, indeed, the 
 whole of the exterior of the cathedral, built of red 
 sandstone, with its fretwork and pinnacles, is a 
 very striking object. The tower was once sur- 
 mounted with a spire of wood, eighty feet above 
 the present crumbling summit, but was burnt down 
 by lightning. It is a remarkable fact, that there 
 is scarcely an old church along the Rhine or in the 
 Netherlands, that, in some part of its history, has 
 not been consumed wholly, or in part, by fire. We 
 had some difficulty in finding our way into this 
 noble building, on account of the mean old houses 
 that are clustered round it. The great door was 
 quite blocked up by these houses and shops, and 
 paltry stalls for the sale of fruit, vegetables, and 
 other trifling matters. In groping our way through 
 a dark passage in quest of this door, we might 
 with truth say that, like ' the way that leadeth 
 unto life/ the Way into this church ' was narrow,'
 
 214 MAINZ, UR MAYENCE. 
 
 and difficult to find. Over tlie door we read the 
 following Latin couplet, — 
 
 ' Hscc qui templa subis, ad coeliim attollite menteiM, 
 Sintque piocul nuga?, sit scelus onine procuL' 
 
 The interior corresponds in grandeur with the 
 exterior ; but when the French Jacobins took 
 possession of it, as they did of all the churches 
 wherever they \vent, to convert them into bar- 
 racks, hospitals, and magazines for their armies, 
 the Cathedi'al of jMainz was most scandalously 
 and wantonly abused. The beautiful marble 
 tombs were mutilated, the pictures destroyed, the 
 bronze and iron railings torn up ; the ceiling is 
 blackened, obviously by fire, and full of holes as 
 if it had been pierced by shot. The Swiss of the 
 church, in pointing out the various mischiefs com- 
 mitted by the French, added, that the people of 
 jMainz would not be sorry to have them again, as 
 they spent a waggon-load of money when there. 
 This was the only church, however, we had yet 
 seen that had not undergone repair, and been puri- 
 fied from the defilement and mischief done by those 
 unholy miscreants, and there appeared to be some 
 feeble attempt making to put this also into some- 
 what better condition ; but whether at the expense 
 of the clergy, the inhabitants, or the Prince of 
 Hesse Darmstadt, we did not inquire. Under the 
 monument of one of the archbishops, (that of 
 Albert, ]\iargrave of Brandenburgh,) is a head 
 representing Time, with its wings finely sculp- 
 tured, by Melchior, who would appear to have 
 liad in his mind the head of Homer. There i$
 
 MAINE, OR MAYENCE. 215 
 
 also a large bronze font, richly chased witli excel- 
 lent workmnnship. 
 
 In a small square on the left of th-e great street, 
 which leads to the quay, is a handsome fountain, 
 representing the Rhine, under the pei-sonification 
 of a well-executed figure of an old man ; and in 
 this square is the puhhc library, and the museum. 
 The former we could not see, as it was under repair, 
 and the books were all displaced and on the floors 
 of the rooms, but we went through the small 
 collection of pictures, which, generally speaking, 
 are not of the first class. Among them was 
 ' Christ in the Temple,' by S. Jordaens — ' Christ 
 bearing his Cross,' by Otto Venius — ' A Holy 
 Family,' by Hannibal Caracci — a ' Saint Francis,' 
 by Guercino — ' Rubens' second wife and children,* 
 by himself; the animals in tliis last picture by 
 Sneyders. The old keeper was a little angry that 
 we should have expressed a doubt of the origi- 
 nality of this picture. There was also the portrait 
 of Apollonia, by Domenichino, the Adam and Eve, 
 by Albert Durer, or some one of his school, and 
 a very pretty picture of the Virgin and Child, 
 by Alonzo di Gradi, for which the superintendent 
 told us an offer of six thousand florins had been 
 made by a London picture-dealer; and in two rooms 
 below was a large collection of Roman antiquities, 
 very well arranged, which wxre sent chiefly from 
 the old palace of Ingelheim and other places near 
 the Rhine. Among them was a curious slab, on 
 which was sculptured ' the 22nd Legion;' with 
 certain creatures which they are pleased to call 
 sea-horses on one side, and a bull on the other, in 
 the way of supporters.
 
 216 MAINZ, OR MAYENCE. 
 
 At the bottom of this fine street, on the left 
 side, and close to the Rhine, stands the ancient 
 Electoral Palace, now made nse of as magazines 
 for all the goods that arrive here for shipment. 
 It consists of two immense wings, of a very sin- 
 gular mixture of architecture, partly Grecian and 
 partly fanciful, witli fluted pilasters and rich 
 capitals, the whole of red stone and most elabo- 
 rately worked. The other two wings appear to 
 have been the offices. The gates of the court- 
 yard are locked up at nights : as far as we could 
 learn, tliere is something of a Avarehousing system, 
 which allows merchandise to be lodged in this 
 building until disposed of, and the duties paid. 
 From Mayence, a noble bridge of fifty-two pon- 
 toons, or boats, crosses the Rhine to Cassel, a 
 small fortified town. The Rhine is here not less 
 than seven to eight hundred yards across, and 
 widens out to more than twice that breadtli a little 
 higher u|3, where it receives the watei-s of the 3Iaine. 
 
 Below the bridge are moored in the river six- 
 teen or eighteen water-mills, which were all busily 
 employed in grinding corn. This bridge, like 
 those at Coblenz and Cologne, has its convex side 
 opposed to the stream, and like them also it 
 furnishes a fine broad platform as a promenade 
 for the inhabitants. There is, however, a very 
 pleasant mall at the west end of the town planted 
 with trees, extending down the bank of the Rhine 
 above a mile, which is frequented for its shade in 
 the heat of the day. 
 
 Beino- so near, not more than from six to seven 
 leagues to Frankfort, we determined at once to 
 proceed to that city ; and at the request of our very
 
 MAYENCE TO FRANKFORT. 217 
 
 decent and well-behaved driver, whom we brought 
 from Cologne, we consented to go a little out of 
 our way to the left of Cassel, to a village of which 
 he was a native, in order to change our tired horses. 
 Tliese small animals are capable of performing an 
 incredible quantity of work ; and all the bait they 
 get in the course of a day's journey is once, and 
 sometimes twice, a loaf of rye-bread, which they 
 immediately devour with great eagerness, how- 
 ever tired they may be, and when they would 
 refuse either hay or oats. 
 
 We now ascended a pretty steep hill, on each 
 side of which were luxuriant and extensive vine- 
 yards, the vines so tall as to look from a little 
 distance almost like plantations of hops. These 
 are the \inoyards of Hochheim, and above them, 
 on the summit of the hill, stand the village and 
 church of the same name. This elevated situation 
 commands a most extensive view to the south- 
 ward of the whole valley of the Maine, as far as 
 Hesse Darmstadt and to the mouth of the river 
 where it joins the Rhine, and on the east is the town 
 of Wisbaden and the whole range of the Taunus 
 tnountains, fertile in mineral springs and bathing- 
 houses. Wisbaden has recently become a fashion- 
 able watering-place, and is frequented by numbers 
 of English families. 
 
 Having passed the hill of Hochheim and 
 descended to the level plain, we entered upon an 
 open and well-cultivated country, a great part of 
 whose surface had been covered with wdieat, now 
 all reaped and carried ; a good deal of oats still 
 remained uncut, and whole fields of poppy were 
 under the sickle, from the prolific heads of which
 
 218 MAYEXCE TO FRANKFORT. 
 
 they express an oil. Beet and mangel-wurzel, 
 clover and potatoes, were in great abundance, and 
 large patches of hemp and flax intervened, but 
 very few turnips. There was no appearance of 
 meadow or grass land, and it is not easy to con- 
 ceive from whence the large towns on the Rhine, 
 the populous villages in the valley of the Maine, 
 and the city of Frankfort, derive their supplies of 
 beef, mutton, butter, and milk. Yet they have 
 plenty of all, though we agreed that we had not 
 tasted either good butter or good milk since we 
 left Holland, nor had we observed a single cow all 
 the way up the Rhine from Cologne to Mayence. 
 The few that are kept must be confined to the 
 shed, and fare very poorly. We observed along 
 the road-side, and subsequently along the whole 
 of the Netherlands, women with large knives, bent 
 like a reaping-hook, cutting the grass in the 
 ditches and on the banks, and carrying it off in 
 sacks as food for the cows : and in' the vineyards 
 of Hochheim they were taking off the prurient 
 shoots, and the superabundant leaves, of the vines, 
 binding them in little bundles, and sticking them 
 to dry on the tops of the stakes or espaliers to 
 wdiicli the vines are bound ; and this, we under- 
 stood, was meant as winter food for the cows. 
 Neither did we see any sheep : the system of 
 feeding off the turnips has not been adopted here, 
 nor, as we afterwards found, in the Netherlands ; 
 but we observed several very large flocks of fine 
 geese, watched by boys, feeding on the stubble, 
 and probably fattening for 3Iichaelmas,
 
 219 
 
 FRANKFORT. 
 
 Frankfort may he called a city of palaces. The 
 houses of the merchants and the hotels are on a 
 magnificent scale. Some that have been recently 
 erected on a terrace, along the bank of the Maine, 
 are particularly elegant, but not on so large a 
 scale as some of the old hotels, at which formerly 
 the German princes used to reside, and many of 
 which are still inhabited by the plenipotentiaries 
 of the states of Germany who attend the diet. At 
 the extremity of the terrace is the new public 
 library, a chaste and handsome building, with a 
 portico of the Corinthian order, on the entabla- 
 ture of which is the following short inscription : 
 
 ' Studiis libertati reddita civitas.* 
 
 The library appeared to be well arranged, and 
 particularly rich in ancient and modern history. 
 It contained a few Roman and Egyptian antiqui- 
 ties, and some hieroglyphics of no great value. — 
 The view, from this terrace, of the river and its 
 banks, and the stone bridge of fourteen arches, 
 with the shipping lying below it, is lively and 
 animating. The gi-eat street called Zeil, in which 
 most of the hotels are situated, is, perhaps, one of 
 the finest in Europe. We put up at the Weiden- 
 busch, kept by Mr. May, a civil, obliging, and in- 
 telligent man. The eating and the wines were 
 excellent, and the charge reasonable — three francs 
 each at the table-d'hote and four in private— and 
 some twenty or thirty different dishes are generally 
 served up. It was in vain here, and indeed every-
 
 220 FRANKFORT. 
 
 where, when we wished to dine alone, that we en- 
 treated to sit down to three or four dishes at most ; 
 there seemed to be a feeling that the house would 
 think itself disoraced if a complete dinner was not 
 served up. The dining-room of this hotel ap- 
 peared, by pacing, to be one hundred feet by forty - 
 five; and the number of bed-rooms in the house 
 is ninety-one, most, if not all of them, double- 
 bedded. Mr. May has a cellar of wines, that few, 
 if any, of tlie London wine-merchants would be 
 able to purchase. The Swan, directly opposite, 
 is another hotel apparently as large ; but the 
 H6tel-de-Russie, for splendour and magnificence in 
 the fitting up and furniture, outdoes all the others. 
 One cannot look at those princely buildings, 
 many similar to which are to be found in every 
 city of Europe, without lamenting the great want 
 of taste in all our own public edifices. We seem 
 afraid to adopt that which alone can give them the 
 aj^pearance of grandeur and solidity — those pro- 
 minent lines and deep projections of cornices, 
 which, by the play of light and shadow, produce 
 an effect that magnitude alone cannot impart. We 
 might give an instance in the costly building of 
 the United Service Club, where the poverty of 
 taste and appearance is most conspicuous in its 
 double tier of double columns, the lower fluted to 
 make them appear of smaller dimensions than the 
 upper, and their surmounting pediment as bald and 
 naked as a county gaol or parish workhouse ; to say 
 nothing of the little vulgar triangle placed over each 
 of its narrow windows, and a balustrade which is 
 quite worthy of the other parts of the building. 
 We are equally unfortunate in the new churches
 
 FRANKFORT. 221 
 
 that have recently been built with the public 
 money, most, if not all, of them destitute of taste. 
 The Athenfeum is in somewhat better style, but 
 still faulty. It has a handsome projecting cornice, 
 a frieze, which exhibits the panathenaica, and 
 a well-proportioned balustrade. The windows, 
 though too narrow, have their lintels well relieved; 
 but the sooner the lady over the porch takes her 
 flight to a more appropriate place, the neighbour- 
 ing Palladium, the better. The new public offices 
 in Whitehall would have been beautiful, if the 
 architect had only condescended to look at the 
 basement of the chapel on the opposite side, and 
 taken a hint of the advantage to be gained by 
 raising his building from the ground. 
 
 In Frankfort everything wears the appearance 
 of ease and prosperity ; and none of its forty thou- 
 sand inhabitants, that fell under our observation, 
 wore the marks of poverty. The whole town is 
 surrounded by the most delightful walks, in the 
 midst of groves of trees, shrubby plants, and 
 flowers, excepting the third side, which is termi- 
 nated by a terrace along the river ; and all these 
 walks are attended, morning and evening, by large 
 groups of well dressed people of both sexes. The 
 security of this free town is no longer trusted to 
 redoubts, and ramparts, and glacis ; all of them 
 beyond the ditch, which might also be filled up 
 and added to them with advantaoe, are converted 
 mto extensive gardens, open to all the world. 
 Part of the walls and gates, however, are still pre- 
 served, and the police of the town is entrusted to 
 soldiers raised from among the free citizens, who 
 form a kind of burgher guard, amounting to three
 
 2*22 FRANKFORT. 
 
 or four hundred men. Neither Prussian nor 
 Austrian troops are to be seen at Frankfort, which 
 has been restored to its ancient privileges as a free 
 city. Its little territory does not exceed twenty 
 miles in its largest diameter. In tliis free city, 
 however, about ten thousand Jews are said to be 
 locked up every night in a particular quarter of 
 the town specially appropriated to this persecuted 
 race. 
 
 We all regretted the necessity of an immediate 
 return from a place that possessed so many sources 
 of rational amusement ; but we received here a 
 piece of intelligence that made it necessary we 
 should hasten our departure. By this we were 
 prevented from visiting the old Dom Church, and 
 the several collections of pictures and marbles in 
 the hands of individuals, and particularly the cele- 
 brated statue of the Ariadne, by Danneker, w^hich 
 is spoken of as rivalling an\i;hing of a similar kind 
 executed by Canova. 
 
 On returning to IMayence we took places in the 
 steam-vessel, wdiich was to depart next morning 
 for Cologne, where we arrived about five in the 
 evening of the following day, having started at six 
 in the morning. 
 
 In descendino- tho Rhine we were detained one 
 hour at Coblenz, to have the baggage examined, 
 which was done by the Prussian douaniers in the 
 most gentlemanly manner possible, without the 
 smallest expectation of receiving anything, which, 
 indeed, we were told, if offered, they would indig- 
 nantly reject. 
 
 Nothing can be more delightful, in fine weather, 
 than this passage down the grandest and most
 
 DESCENT OF THE RHINE. 223 
 
 romantic part of the Rhine ; and one only regrets 
 tlie great speed at which the steanicT descends, 
 which, in the present case, conld not be less than 
 ten miles an hour. Hence, we perceive, in quick 
 succession, the ever-varying features of the roman- 
 tic and picturesque mountains, at one time appear- 
 ing with naked and pinnacled summits, under every 
 fantastic shape, at another clothed with orchards, 
 vineyards, and forests, and every now and then sur- 
 mounted by an ancient castle, or convent in ruins. 
 This great variety of objects keeps the eye and 
 the imagination continually on the stretch, while 
 the margins of the smooth and silvery Rhine, form- 
 ing a chain of lakes, exhibit to the view cities, 
 towns, and villages, interspersed with the varied 
 scenery of corn-fields, groves, and orchards, and 
 render it impossible to quit tlie deck for a moment. 
 In ascending the Rhine by land, along the fine 
 road that skirts its left bank, the traveller has the 
 opportunity of visiting these towns, and entering 
 into all the detail of inquiry that leisure will allow ; 
 • but, from the hioh and overhanoino- mountains, 
 under which he is conveyed, he is unable to com- 
 prehend within one grasp the whole of the scenery 
 around him ; whereas, in oUdino; down the middle 
 of the river, every object on both sides is fully 
 brought within the scope of simultaneous vision. 
 It is, perhaps, tlicrefore, the best plan for those 
 who may visit this delightful country, to take the 
 line which we did ; that is to say, to ascend by 
 land, and descend by water. 
 
 Having hired a caleche at Cologne, as far as 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, for sixty francs, w^e left this at 
 eleven o'clock in the morning of the 2:3rd ; and
 
 224 AIX-LA-CIIAPELLE. 
 
 at six in the evening arrived at Julicrs, a small, 
 clean, foi'tified town, garrisoned by about six 
 hundred veteran soldiers of Prussia. Here we 
 dined and slept at the Prince Eugene, where we 
 had excellent fare, good beds, and the charge 
 very reasonable. The road was an ill-paved 
 causeway in the middle, for a considerable part of 
 the way, and deep sand in other parts ; and we 
 could not help wishing, while jolting and rattling 
 over this execrable pavement, that his Prussian 
 Majesty would have spared some of his numerous 
 soldiers, employed on the fortifications of Coblenz 
 and Ehrenbreitstein, to mend his roads, being quite 
 certain that he would gain more glory to himself 
 and confer a greater benefit on his poor subjects, 
 in so doing, than by employing their time and 
 labour in preparations for a state of things which 
 may eventually involve them and their families in 
 misery. 
 
 The next morning we left Juliers, and arrived 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle in four hours ; the road still 
 pretty much the same, and the face of the country 
 flat, cold, and uninteresting. A few patches of 
 wood appeared here and there, but generally the 
 culture of grain prevailed, chiefly oats, among 
 which was interspersed a good deal of green 
 crops, such as clover, mangel-wurzel, potatoes, 
 and a few patches of turnips. Buck-wheat and 
 poppy were also common. Within two or three 
 miles of Aix-la-Chapelle, the surface of the coun- 
 try begins to break into hill alid dale, and to as- 
 sume somewhat of a picturesque appearance, and 
 the approach to the town is by a long-continued 
 descent.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 This ancient town is situated in a valley nearly 
 surrounded by hills, the most prominent of which 
 is Louisberg on the north, and Salvatorsberg in 
 the same direction nearly, the latter of which, is 
 crowned with an ancient church. The pretty 
 village of Bourtscheid, or Borcette, and its wooded 
 hills, are to the south. These northern elevations 
 are composed of friable sandstone and loose sand, 
 among which are found different shells and the 
 remains of several species of marine productions. 
 It is probable that from these hills proceed tliose 
 numerous springs of warm water for which Aix-la- 
 Chapelle was once particularly celebrated, and 
 from which it derives its Germanic name Aachen, 
 the city of Waters, the Cimtas Aquensis of tho 
 Romans. The ' Chapelle' was added to the name 
 by the French from the church or chapel built, or 
 supposed to have been built, by Charlemagne, and 
 perhaps also to distinguish it from Aix in Pro- 
 vence and Aix in Savoy. Whether the Romans, 
 the traces of whom everywhere appear in Europe 
 west of the Rhine, gave it the name of Aquisgra- 
 num, Avhich it bears among the writings and 
 inscriptions of the middle ages, is not certain; and 
 the granum has puzzled the antiquarians not a 
 Jittle ; but it is thought by some that the placQ
 
 226 AlX-tA-CHAPELLl?. 
 
 was dedicated to Apollo, one of whose epitfiefe 
 was Grannus or Grannius, or as Yirgil has it, - 
 Gryiia?iis, v/hen speaking of a grove sacred to 
 that deity — 
 
 * Ilis tibi Grynaei nemons dicatur origo : 
 
 * Ne quis sit luciis, qco ae plus jactet Apollo.* 
 
 The old walls of the city enclose a rety con- 
 siderable extent of ground, which is not built upon, 
 but laid out in gardens and walks. On the out- 
 side of the walls, the old ditches have been filled 
 up and converted into walks and shrubberies, for 
 the use of the inhabitants; a practice vfhich of 
 late years has become eommon in many of the 
 Germanic and Belgic cities, and a very commend- 
 able one, wliicli may be the raeai» of saving 
 them from the hoiTors of a siege in any future 
 wars. The boulevards within the v/alls, which 
 surround the town, have undergone the same 
 conversion, and aiFord a pleasant v.alk. But the 
 principal promenade appears to be that of the 
 Louisberg, the slope of which descends to the very 
 walls of the town, and a convenient carriage- 
 road, as well as a handsome foot-walk, leads up to 
 the summit ; and here there is exhibited a most 
 magnificent view round the whole horizon. On 
 the highest point stands an obelisk which is said 
 to have been originally erected by the French, 
 with an inscription in praise of Napoleon, who 
 was never in want of flatterers ; but which the 
 Prussians, at the conclusion of the war, threw 
 down. The King of Prussia, however, ordered it 
 to be re-erected, generously^ as one of those gen- 
 tlemen who write ' Guides' tells us, on the part of 
 his majesty; but to pause the original inscription
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 227 
 
 to be erased, and another substituted to record 
 the rapid downfall of that extraordinar}'' person, 
 was not so xery oenerous. We could find nothing, 
 however, of the kind. The column, from tlie 
 fractures and fissures in the stones, bore evident 
 marks of having been thrown down and set up 
 again, but the only inscription v>diich appeared 
 on one of its faces consists of the latitudes and 
 longitudes of certain places at which the French 
 had their stations, in carrying on the survey of 
 the country. 
 
 The streets of the old part of the towm are very 
 narrow, and the houses high, as is usual in most 
 German towns; and the architecture full of pictur- 
 esque points and projections, and singularly inter- 
 esting to the painter and the antiquarian. It would 
 be endless to attempt a minute description of the 
 various churches, convents, and other buildings 
 of a public nature that meet the eye in strolling- 
 through the streets, but there are two edifices on. 
 %vhich no traveller should omit bestowino- his 
 attention. The one is the old Hotel-de-Ville, the 
 other the old cathedral or Dom church. The 
 ri6tel-de-Yille is in the market-place, conspicuous 
 enough by its two towers, one of which, or at 
 least the lower part of it, is evidently, and is so 
 recorded, of Roman structure. It is that on the 
 eastern extremity, and still retains its Roman 
 name of the tower of Grannus. The other tower 
 is coeval with the body of the building, which 
 bears the date of 1353. The fa9ade is said to 
 have once contained the statues of the several 
 emperors that were crowned at Aix, but if so, 
 they have wholly disappeared; and wuth them 
 q2
 
 228 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 time lias worn away almost all the promlnenl 
 decorations that once embellished it. 
 
 In the centre of the market-place, and before 
 this town-hall, is a splendid fonntain : the water 
 is received into a magnificent yase of bronze, 
 about twice the diameter, so at least we supposed 
 it to be, of that which is placed in the conserva- 
 tory of Warwick Castle ; from this it is poured 
 through the mouths of two dolphins, swimming 
 in an inferior bason of stone, enclosed within an 
 iron railing, but accessible on two sides to the 
 public. The bronze vase, finely sculptured, is 
 supported on a pedestal rising out of this bason, 
 and from the centre of the vase is another pedestal 
 surmounted by a bronze statue of Charlemagne 
 about six feet high, holding in one hand a sceptre, 
 and in the other the imperial globe surmounted 
 by a cross. At a little distance on each side of 
 the fountain is a large bronze eagle, mounted on a 
 marble pedestal. 
 
 This fountain, which has been carefully kept in 
 repair from time to time, was erected in 1353, at 
 the same time that the Hotel -de- Yille was finished, 
 and under the auspices of the same burgomaster, 
 Avhose name appears to have been Charus. 
 
 In the town-hall of this ancient city, two several 
 treaties of peace were signed, that of 1668, and 
 that of 1748; and in the ancient chapel of Charle- 
 magne, the ceremony of coronation of many 
 emperors has been held. This old cathedral or 
 Dom church had the honour, for so it was 
 considered, of receiving a visit from Napoleon 
 and Josephine; and after their fall in 1818, a 
 Conoress of sovereions was held in Aix-la-Cha-
 
 AIX-LA-CnAPELLE. 229 
 
 pelle, at which, among other important matters, it 
 was determined to withdraw the allied armies 
 from the occupation of France. On this occasion 
 the late Sir Thomas Lawrence "was commissioned 
 by his late majesty George lY. to paint the por- 
 traits of the sovereigns of Europe, and other dis- 
 tinguished personages there assembled. He had 
 a room allotted to him for this purpose in the 
 Town-hall, which is carefully jiointed out to 
 stranorers, and considered as a ofreat honour that 
 w^as done to the town. 
 
 The Dom Kirche or cathedral, or at least, the 
 central part of it, was built by Charlemagne, under 
 the direction of Eginhard, his biogTapher, in honour 
 of Notre Dame. There is a legend concerning its 
 dedication by Pope Leo III., in 804, the truth of 
 which in those days was not called in question, 
 though we of later times may be disposed to feel 
 incredulous. It is merely this; — that three hundred 
 and sixty-five bishops, one for every day in the 
 year, were summoned to assist at the consecration ; 
 but as two were wanting to complete that num- 
 ber, their places were supplied by two others, 
 who had the complaisance to leave their tombs on 
 so solemn an occasion, and returned to their eai-thly 
 abode as soon as the ceremony had been duly 
 performed. 
 
 The ancient part of this remarkable church is 
 of an octagonal form, surmounted by a cupola. 
 Two corridors, of a more modern date, one above 
 the other, of the width of about thirty feet, open 
 by a succession of arches into this octagon, which 
 they surround, with the exception of one side, 
 opening into the more modem choir, which is of
 
 230 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 the form of a quadrangle. From the coiTidor?, 
 pai-ticiilarly the upper one, or gallery, issue as 
 many chapels as there are arches, each arch being 
 opposite its chapel. These chapels, however, are 
 still more modern, having at different times been 
 added by different persons. The vaulted ceilings 
 of the upper corridor are decorated with paintings 
 of scriptural subjects by an Italian of the name 
 of Bernardino, of clear and fresh colouring, and 
 by no means ill executed. 
 
 In each arcade of tlie gallery, and between the 
 massy pillars that divide them, are said to have 
 been placed four beautiful and highly polished 
 columns of gTanite and porphyry, wdiich, among 
 other robberies of the churches by the French, 
 were torn away and sent to Paris ; and four only 
 of these have been returned. It is quite unac- 
 countable that Bliicher, who had certainly no 
 gTeat affection for the French, should not have 
 taken care to see the whole of them sent back, as 
 the only, though a slender, atonement for this 
 sacrilegious outrage on one of the most ancient 
 and interesting edifices, perliaps, in existence 
 throughout all Christendom. It is pretended, we 
 understood, that the rest of those columns were 
 by some accident or other demolished. 
 
 In the seventh arcade of the upper corridor is 
 placed the organ ; and that opposite to it is occu- 
 pied by the chair of Charlemagne, which, being 
 undoubtedly genuine, is an interesting relic of 
 antiquity, and of course highly valued, as it de- 
 serves to be, by the inhabitants of Aix. It con- 
 sists of four slabs of white marble, rudely fastened 
 together by iron clamps, and is ascended by
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 231 
 
 several steps of the same material. Indeed there 
 can be no question as to its identity with the 
 real throne on which this monarch sat. 
 
 The tomb of Charlemagne, which is imme- 
 diately under the centre of the dome of the octa- 
 gon, was opened in the presence of the Emperor 
 Otho III. The body, covered with the insignia 
 of the empire, and decorated with the imperial 
 jewels, was found seated on the chair in question, 
 and placed on his knees was an illuminated copy 
 of the Gospels, which is said still to exist. Otho 
 carried away the insignia, which were afterwards 
 used at the coronation of the emperors of Ger- 
 many ; and having satisfied his curiosity and his 
 avarice at the same time, closed up the tomb. 
 After this, in the year 1165, Frederic Barba- 
 rossa I. caused the tomb again to be opened, in 
 presence of the bishops of Liege and Cologne, who 
 had the body removed and placed in a magnifi- 
 cent sarcophagus, on the cover of which was 
 engraven the Rape of Proserpine, and which is 
 also said still to exist ; but our inquiries did not 
 tend to confirm the report- The chair, how^ever, 
 remains,' and has been used on several occasions 
 as ihc undoubted seat of Charlemagne, and is that 
 on which many of the emperors of Germany have 
 been crowned. 
 
 Tlie Swiss of the church, a shrewd and intelli- 
 gent maa, informed ras that, when Bonaparte re- 
 anained a short time at Aix-la-Chapello, he, with 
 Josephine, paid a visit to the cathedral, attended 
 by the bishop, wdio on opening the wooden case 
 that contains the chair of Charlemagne, invited 
 Napoleon to seat himself on the chair of the man
 
 232 AIX-LA-CIIAPELLE. 
 
 whom he wished the world to suppose lie resem-' 
 hied — ^but Napoleon turned away. Whether it was 
 a feeling of pride that told him he was superior to 
 such a barbarian, and wished to show the by- • 
 standers that he did not consider it any honour to 
 be thus associated with him, or whether he was 
 apprehensive that the bishop might take the advan- 
 tage while in it to press for some privilege, which, 
 when so seated he could not well refuse, were 
 points that had not been settled by the good people 
 of Aachen ; but the latter was probably the real 
 cause of his refusal, from the following circum- 
 stances, for the truth of which the same Swiss who 
 attended ns vouched of his own personal know- 
 ledge. He said that the good bishop having 
 failed with Napoleo:-i, next invited Josephine to 
 ascend the steps, which she, with her usual good- 
 nature, immediately condescended to do ; and 
 having seated herself on the throne of Charle- 
 magne, the cunning prelate took the opportunity 
 of preferring a request, which he hoped she would 
 condescend to grant. It was at petition ready 
 drawn up, that she would use her good offices with 
 In apoleon to present the church with a new organ, 
 to replace the one which the French soldiers had 
 destroyed when they made a barrack of the chinch. 
 She did not hesitate a moment in asking an^ 
 obtaining the boon ; and the organ now in use 
 is, therefore, and very properly, considered as a 
 present of Josephine. 
 
 When Frederic caused the tomb of Charlemagne 
 to be opened, he presented to the cathedral a 
 magnificent chandelier of bronze gilt, about thir- 
 teen feet in diameter, which is still suspended over
 
 AIX-LA-CIIAPELLE. 233 
 
 tlie laroc blue slab which covers the vault where 
 
 o 
 
 the remains of Charlemagne are supposed to rest, 
 and on which is engraved this simple inscrip- 
 tion : — • 
 
 Carolo Magno. 
 This stone is modern. The tomb of black marble 
 which occupied its place was torn away by the 
 French soldiers and destroyed. 
 
 The octagon and its cupola are the only re- 
 maining parts of the building which can be con- 
 sidered as having been erected in the time of 
 Charlemao-ne : and even these have underofone 
 alterations and repairs at the time when the great 
 tower and the choir were added in 1853, in the 
 time of Otho, under the direction of Charus, the 
 burgomaster, who, as before observed, built the 
 Town -hall, and the fountain in its front, and who 
 added the choir to the church. 
 
 This choir, which communicates with the octa- 
 gon by one of the lower arcades, is surrounded by 
 windows of lofty dimensions. The ceiling is said 
 to be one hundred and twenty-four feet high. Its 
 walls are decorated with eight pictures on Scrip- 
 tural subjects, by Bernardino, and also by several 
 pieces of Gobelin tapestry ; the largest of which 
 is uncommonly fine, — the figures bold and spirited, 
 the colours fresh and brilliant, and the tone of 
 colouring equal to that of a picture of Rubens ; 
 the subject is the destruction of Pharaoh and his 
 host in the Red Sea. These Gobelins are held in 
 such high estimation, and preserved with so much 
 care, that they are only exhibited on each side of 
 the high altar on festival days ; but the Swiss pro- 
 duced them for our inspection.
 
 234 AIXLA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 In the choir, and facing the altar, is a well- 
 cxecnted bronze eagle, mounted on a pedestal, 
 which was given to the church by tlie Emperor 
 0th III., whose bones are preserved in a sarco- 
 phagus of white marble, immediately under the 
 hiorli altar. Above this the statue of the. Viroin 
 Mary is placed, who wears a crown of silver gilt, 
 which, it is said, was presented, as a sacred gift, by 
 her unfortunate namesake of Scotland. 
 
 The paintings in the several chapels of the 
 cathedral are not such generally as to deserve 
 much notice ; but in that of St. Michael there is a 
 small collection that well demands the attention 
 of those who visit this church : and what stranger, 
 it may be asked, will fail to do so ? 
 
 The chapel contains a Crucifixion, with several 
 others in his best style, by Albert Diirer ; St. Peter 
 and the Ascension, by Jourdan, and a dead Christ, 
 very fine, but very disagreeable, as all such sub- 
 jects must necessarily be, by Yan Dyk. This 
 last picture was rolled up and fortunately concealed 
 from the French, who, had it been discovered, 
 would undoubtedly have stolen it, as they did the 
 beautiful picture of the Nativity, by Rubens ; they 
 are now both restored to their proper places in 
 this church. Several old German pictures of the 
 fifteenth century, among others, one of St. Anthony 
 trampling the devil under his feet, may be consi- 
 dered to merit attention. There is also a fine 
 picture of St. Sebastian, and three or four others, 
 by Diepenbeck, and St. Ursula with her eleven 
 viro^ins — a moderate number, which she mioht 
 probably have procured, though the heretics are 
 sceptical as to the eleven thousand. Our learned
 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 235 
 
 Swiss bad profited by reading infidel books, and 
 earnestly assured ns tbat tbe Avliole story was a 
 blunder of some French author, he did not re- 
 member the name, who, on hearing that one of 
 the virgins was called Mila, mistook it for Mille, 
 and thus at once converted the eleven into eleven 
 thousand. At Cologne, however, they actually 
 show the skulls and bones of eleven thousand vir- 
 gins, as they were pleased to call them, congre- 
 gated no doubt promiscuously from many a church- 
 yard, and methodically arranged in the chapel of 
 the Ursulian convent ; and no good Catholic priest 
 or layman would venture to dispute so palpable a 
 con'oboration of the legend. 
 
 Having gone round the various chapels, and 
 inquired of the Swiss if there was anything more 
 to be seen, he replied that if we had any taste for 
 relics he would desire a priest to show us a very 
 large and splendid collection of these interesting 
 objects ; but our taste did not lead us that way. 
 On asking him, however, what sort of relics he 
 spoke of, he said they possessed among other 
 thinirs the real swaddlinof-clothes of Jesus, a orown 
 of the Virgin Mary, some hair of her eye-browns, 
 the shoes or sandals of Joseph, with which he 
 walked all the way into Egypt, and a thousand 
 other little curiosities, which were only exhibited 
 to the people once in seven years. As none of us 
 had any great relish for these sort of impositions, 
 we declined the attendance of a priest. 
 
 In the church of St. Peter we saw a relic of 
 another description, — the complete body or skele- 
 ton of a certain Fiorina, a saint of course, wrapped 
 up in silk clothes, an<l placed at full length in a
 
 236 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 glass case. The liead only was visible, and it was 
 a mere skeleton ; the teeth were quite perfect. — 
 If the French had carried ofif these relics and left 
 the pictures, the people of Aix would not have had 
 much occasion to complain or lament their loss. 
 The priests, however, had a higher notion of their 
 value, and hurried them away into the interior of 
 Germany, lest they should be deprived for ever of 
 such valuable treasures. The Emperor of Ger- 
 many, it is pretended, took tithe for their safe 
 keeping, and retained, among other things, the 
 sword of Charlemagne. 
 
 Tlierc are several churches in Aix-la-Chapelle 
 besides the Cathedral, that, from their antiquity 
 and various ornaments, deserve to be visited, par- 
 ticularly that of St. Nicholas, which is a spacious 
 and beautiful church. At the high altar is a pic- 
 ture of the Crucifixion, by Diepenbeck ; and there 
 were two others whicli the French had carried 
 iiway, but were restored and placed at the head of 
 one of the side aisles. Diepenbeck was a disciple 
 of Van Dyk, as well as of Rubens ; and one of 
 these, the Descent from the Cross, is a very close 
 resemblance of Van Dyk's style, if it be not actu- 
 ally painted by this master. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle appears to be a very dull town. 
 The baths once so celebrated are nearly deserted, 
 Spa, and the neighbouring village of Borcette, 
 having drawn away the company, though they too, 
 it is said, liave given way, of late years, to Wis - 
 l)aden, and other baths of Germany. It can boast 
 but of little trade, and few manufactures ; the chief 
 of which are woollen cloths, pins, and needles — the 
 latter article, when made up into packets, ai'^
 
 AIX-LA-CIIAPELLE. 2S7 
 
 marked as Whitcchapel needles. The inhabitants 
 are neither Dutch, Brabanters, nor Germans, but 
 a mixture of all three, and speak a language which 
 partakes of all and belongs to none. They have 
 the character of being nncivil to strangers, but in 
 our short intercourse we certainly did not find 
 them to be so.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 Leaving Aix-la-Chapelle on the morning of 'the 
 25th, it took us eight hours to reach Liege. The 
 road was still paved, but kept in somewhat better 
 order than we had found it on the other side of 
 Aix. Several tough hills, however, contributed to 
 make the journey tedious, though we were amply 
 recompensed by viewing at more leisure the diver- 
 sified face of the country, broken as it Avas into 
 hill and dale, Avith now and then a rich and well- 
 wooded valley, whose verdant meadows, enclosed 
 with hedges, were enlivened with numerous herds 
 of beautiful cattle. 
 
 At the distance of twelve miles from Aix-la- 
 Chapelle we came to a small town, or rather 
 village, called Henri-la-Chapelle, the approach to 
 which, on the summit of a hill, is announced by 
 a Dutch custom-house, this being the frontier 
 station between the Prussian and the Netherlands 
 territory. Here our passport was vised, and we 
 were asked if we had any merchandise or other 
 articles that required to be declared ? On answer- 
 ing in the negative, w^e were permitted to pass on 
 without any examination of our baggage.
 
 239 
 
 LIEGE. 
 
 From a steep hill, the road winds do^^^l into the 
 valley or ]>lain on which Liege stands. This city- 
 is situated at the junction of the Ourt with the 
 Meuse, where their united streams form a fine 
 hroad river, which flows through the heart of the 
 t0A\Ti, and is crossed hy a handsome stone bridge 
 of six circular arches, three of them being of very 
 considerable elevation. A convenient quay for 
 commercial purposes extends the whole length of 
 the town, both above and below the bridge ; and 
 spuptoms of considerable traffic were apparent, 
 from the degree of bustle on the quay in the ship- 
 ping and landing of goods. 
 
 In the lower part of the town the streets as 
 usual are narrow, and the houses lofty, not much 
 unlike some of the gloomy streets of Paris. Those 
 of the upper part, on the side of the hill, are also 
 narrow and inconveniently steep, being ascended 
 in many places by flights of steps. There are 
 two tolerably spacious squares, in one of which 
 stands the Town-hall, and in the other the Thea- 
 tre. The latter is a handsome modern building, 
 surrounded by an arcade ; the former is an im- 
 posing old edifice, though somewhat heavy, with 
 an interior quadrangle containing the public of- 
 fices and records, and the several courts for civil 
 and provincial aftairs. The columns supporting 
 the arcade are short and thick, having very 
 much of the IMoorish character. Under the 
 arcade are little cells or shops, in which small 
 articles of daily use of every description are ex- 
 posed for sale.
 
 240 LIEGE. 
 
 From the square of the theatre and running 
 round the western side of the town, is a circular 
 piece of water enclosed by a parapet wall on one 
 side, and the walls of houses or gardens on the other. 
 A pleasant promenade planted with trees, and ap- 
 parently much frequented, is carried along the side 
 of this parapet wall ; but the houses and gardens 
 on the opposite side are of a very inferior descrip- 
 tion, and are washed by the water, between which 
 and their walls there is not even a footpath. The 
 water is considerably below the surface of the 
 promenade planted with trees, and also of the 
 river which it joins, and from which, by means of 
 a sluice, fresh water can be let into this common 
 sewer, for, in point of fact, it is neither more nor 
 less. The lower parts of the town are intersected 
 by branches of the Mouse, all enclosed by stone 
 walls, the houses themselves frequently forming 
 one side of the enclosure, very similar to what 
 occurs in the canals of Utrecht ; but those streets 
 of Liege have none of the width nor the rows of 
 trees that characterise a Dutch town. 
 
 Liege has long been the principal place in the 
 Netherlands for the smelting of iron, and for the 
 various manufactures of that, and other metals, 
 which, of late years, have been greatly extended. 
 The hills which enclose the valley of the Mouse 
 abound in coal, limestone, and iron ; and capital 
 only is wanting to carry on the works to a very 
 great extent. 
 
 An Englishman of the name of Cockerel! has 
 established manufactories of several kinds, more 
 particularly for the smelting and working of 
 iron ; and in some of them cannon is cast of the
 
 LIEGE. 241 
 
 largest calibre, and steam-engines of tlie highest 
 power, and various other kinds of machinery, 
 arc liere executed. The great bronze lion that 
 surmounts the conical mound of earth, recently 
 raised on the plain of Waterloo, was cast by 
 Cockerell. 
 
 Commerce and manufactures rarely fail to draw 
 in their train the means of promoting the sciences 
 and liberal arts. King WiUiam, in his abundant 
 kindness to his new subjects, has established at 
 Liege a Royal University for students in theology, 
 law, and physic, which the advancing prosperity of 
 the place now made it necessary to be enlarged, 
 for the better accommodation of the increasing 
 number of students; and there has also been 
 recently added to it a botanical garden. Societies 
 have also been formed for the encouragement 
 of the arts and sciences, belles lettres, and general 
 literature. In short, everything in and about the 
 town appeared to us to be in a progressive state 
 of improvement. 
 
 The broad valley in which Liege stands, and 
 which widens out above the tow^n on both sides of 
 the Meuse, has a peculiarly pleasing aspect. The 
 banks on either side of the river are extended into 
 level plains that are terminated by hills skirted 
 with vineyards and varied patches of cultivation, 
 having the more elevated parts of their slopes well 
 wooded, and enlivened with numerous small villas 
 and neat white cottages, situated in the midst of 
 gardens. Every inch of the plain is under tillage, 
 and among its varied products are large planta- 
 tions of hops, the rows of which appeared to be 
 closer together, and the poles and plants at least 
 
 R
 
 242 LIEGE. 
 
 one-third taller, on the average height, than we 
 usually find them in England. They were at this 
 time loaded with flowers from top to bottom, but 
 the clusters appeared more loose, and not so large 
 as those generally grown in Kent. 
 
 We left Liege on the morning of the 26th, 
 along a smooth and level mountain road, some- 
 times running close under a rocky hill, and equally 
 close to the margin of the river, and sometimes 
 having a fine cultivated plain between us and the 
 river. The hills on both sides were finely diversi- 
 fied with wood, and interspersed masses of rock, 
 giving a picturesque appearance to the scenery. 
 New buildings, \s-ith tall chimneys, sending out 
 volumes of smoke, were seen in every direction, 
 and announced the very common and extensive 
 application of steam in their several manufactories ; 
 and numerous rail-roads, from the hills to the 
 river-side, and heaps of coal-rubbish and slag, 
 were the certain indications of active industry and 
 a manufacturing population. 
 
 The enterprising Cock erell has turned the ancient 
 Chateau de Sereign, once the archiepiscopal palace 
 of Liege, into an iron foundry, where, it was said, 
 upwards of two thousand workmen were employed, 
 and iron goods manufactured, from the largest 
 steam-engine to a penknife. Here, too, the good 
 King William had contributed a considerable 
 capital for the encouragement of his Belgic sub- 
 jects, by giving them an opportunity of making 
 themselves acquainted with every branch of the 
 art. A nunnery had also been converted into a 
 paper-mill, constructed on the principle of those 
 invented some time since in France, and now
 
 nuY. 243 
 
 used in Scotland, by which sheets of paper a 
 mile long, if the rollers can be made large enough 
 to receive them, are capable of being manu- 
 factured in one continued piece. Cockerell's 
 father is said to have been a cotton-spinner in 
 Manchester ; one of those bold spirits who, if it 
 was not himself, was one of the same kidney, that 
 made a boast that he would construct a machine, 
 into one end of which a piece of cotton wool in- 
 serted should come out at the other end a ruffled 
 shirt ; to which another observed, that this shirt, 
 put into one end of a machine of his contrivance, 
 should come out a printed Bible at the other. 
 Ridiculous as these boastings may appear, such 
 a process would not be much more wonderful than 
 that extraordinarypiece of mechanism, constructed 
 by Babbaoe which not onlv calculates logarithms, 
 but arranges the types m the frame ready for 
 printing, without the possibility of an error. Such 
 are the extraordinary results of the ' marcli of 
 intellect,' which does not by any means appear to 
 have yet slackened its pace ; nor will any one 
 venture to predict where it will end. 
 
 HUY. 
 
 Tlie usual indications of manufacturing industry 
 and activity continued uninterruptedly as far as 
 the town of Huy, at which place a stone bridge of 
 seven arches crosses the Meuse. Opposite this 
 bridge, and on the right bank, is a lofty hill, on 
 the summit of which formerly stood an old castle ; 
 and on the ruins of this was constructed a regular 
 and extensive fortification, which, like the other 
 R 2
 
 244 HUY. 
 
 decayed works of this kind, was undergoing a 
 thorough repair, and enlargement. Underneath 
 the rock and close to it, that supports this forti- 
 fication, is the old cathedral, a very fine and re- 
 markable specimen of the heavy Gothic ; but it 
 is so overpowered by the immense mass of the 
 impending rock, and the works on its summit, 
 as to appear to the eye much more diminutive 
 than it actually is. We found but little within it 
 deserving of attention, but were amused with a 
 jDleasing set of carillons, which played sweetly and 
 correctly the Huntsman's Chorus in Freyschiitz. 
 
 In proceeding from Huy, the two ranges of 
 hills, that confine the valley and the river, gra- 
 dually approach, and contract them to a narrow 
 space ; and the smooth and beautiful road, the 
 rugged and bold rocks, and the meandering river 
 hemmed in between them, recall vividly to the 
 recollection the valley of the Rhine, on a dimi- 
 nished scale ; for, though equally beautiful, the 
 river Meuse and its accompaniments are by no 
 means equally grand. The rocks are partly 
 basaltic, but chiefly of limestone, lofty and preci- 
 pitous, frequently rising perpendicularly from the 
 maroin of the road. The workino; of several 
 limestone-quarries was in full activity, and masons 
 were busily employed in shaping those large blue 
 flagstones, so commonly met with in Holland, 
 others in hewing them into shapes fit for posts and 
 milestones, and others into square masses for 
 building, all of which are almost in universal use 
 throughout Holland and the Xetherlands. 
 
 Here, too, are produced those very fine blocks 
 of variegated and black marbles, of which speci-
 
 HUY. 245 
 
 mens are to be met with in many of the churches 
 of the Netherlands. Alum-works are also carried 
 on in these ranges of hills to a considerable extent. 
 With such valuable materials as these in constant 
 demand, together with the more important ones 
 of coal, iron, and limestone, in the immediate 
 neighbourliood of a fine navigable river, by which 
 they may be transported either to the northward 
 or the southward, the valley of the Meuse ought to 
 be, as it really is, considered as a mine of wealth 
 to the inhabitants of this part of Belgium. 
 
 Nine miles beyond Huy is the town of Salayen ; 
 and here the valley of the Meuse becomes still 
 more romantic and picturesque than farther down. 
 The rocky cliflfs by the road side now resemble, 
 but on a much grander scale, the rock of St. Vin- 
 cent, near Clifton, sometimes threatening destruc- 
 tion to the traveller, and then receding to give 
 room to some lovely smiling little valley with its 
 neat village church and concomitant convent. In 
 the ruder parts of the rocky defile are seen tlie 
 mantling ivy and numerous creepers climbing up 
 the steep sides, which, w^ith the lofty pinnacles and 
 crested summits, give to these masses of rock the 
 appearance of a succession of ruined castles, that 
 are scarcely to be distinguished by the eye from 
 those ancient fabrics, which are actually existing, 
 and which may occasionally be seen peeping 
 through the dense woods, or perched on the very 
 pinnacle of some rocky eminence. In some places, 
 either by the wasting away of the earth or loose 
 materials, or by the working of the quarrymen, 
 huge masses of naked rock are seen as if sus- 
 pended in the air, or supported on so small a
 
 246 NAMUR. 
 
 base, as to appear to threaten the traveller below 
 with the momentary danger of rolling down into 
 the road. 
 
 XAMUR, 
 
 At the end of this picturesque defile, and di- 
 rectly on a line with the river, suddenly open out, 
 but at a considerable distance, the city of Xamur, 
 with its domes, and its turrets and spires, all of 
 them overtopped by a lofty mass of rock, sur- 
 mounted with castles and batteries, and round 
 towers, that, seen even at this distance, satisfy 
 the spectator as to their vast dimensions. On a 
 nearer approach to the town, these formidable 
 fortifications are the first objects that arrest the 
 eye. 
 
 The entrance into Xamur, from this side, is 
 through an avenue of trees, and over a bridge of 
 blue stone of nine arches. We now have full 
 before us that immense work, which frowns over 
 the city of Xamur, like the fortress of Ehren- 
 breitstein over Thai and Coblenz. From the 
 repairs of this vast fortification, and from the 
 additional works which have recently covered the 
 heights above Huy, it might be conjectured 
 that the King of the Xetherlands lays no little 
 stress on being in possession of the means of 
 obstructing the progress of an enemy, by closing 
 against him a passage by the valley of the Meuse; 
 perhaps, however, he has no choice in thus 
 disposing of the money, which England and the 
 other powers have assigned to him, to be em- 
 ployed in strengthening and repairing the vrorks 
 of his neAV and united government ; — ^but it did
 
 NAMUR. 247 
 
 not appear to us civilians to require any very cri- 
 tical knowledge of military science to be convinced, 
 that these fortifications on the Meuse, let them 
 be as strong and as perfect as art and labour can 
 make them, could stand him in much stead, if 
 unfortunately engaged in hostilities with either of 
 his powerful neighbours, the French or the Prus- 
 sians. We do not see why either of these powers 
 could not march into the very heart of the Nether- 
 lands, without coming under the fire of a single 
 gun. Infinitely superior in discipline and in 
 numbers to anything he could bring into the field, 
 it cannot be supposed that the progress of a well- 
 disciplined army, under able ofiicers, either of 
 France or Prussia, would, for one moment, be 
 impeded by all the fortifications that can be raised 
 on the heights of the Meuse, It may be doubted 
 indeed, if they would think it even necessary to 
 mask these ^vorks, as, of all the countries in the 
 world, perhaps the fine open plains of Belgium 
 are just of that description where an invading 
 army, superior to that of the invaded, w^ould find 
 itself most at its ease. At all seasons of the 
 year abundance of food would be to be had 
 either on the ground or in the granaries, for man 
 and horse; and open towns and villages ready 
 on all sides to afford them good lodgings. Why 
 then should it be expected that such an army 
 would break its head against towers, and bastions, 
 and redoubts ? 
 
 We had often occasion to admire the vast 
 superiority, in discipline and appearance, of the 
 Prussian soldiers over those of the King of the 
 Netherlands. Amonsf the former are scarcely
 
 248 NAMUR. 
 
 ever observed, in a whole regiment, a man above 
 thirty years of age; they are all stout, handsome, 
 wfll-made young men, generally between the 
 ages of twenty and thirty, well-clothed and well- 
 trained. It was quite beautiful to see them on 
 the parade going through the several movements ; 
 and it was impossible not to be struck with their 
 firm and upright carriage, and with the perfect 
 accuracy with which they performed a simultane- 
 ous movement. The Dutch troops, on the con- 
 trary, exhibited a very remarkable contrast. 
 Their clothing was generally put on in so slovenly 
 a manner, as evidently not made to fit the wearer; 
 their exercise was gone through in a careless 
 and indifferent style ; there was no firmness of 
 step, and in marching it was laughable to see 
 them frequently kicking each other's heels. They 
 were, however, as well as the Prussians, mostly 
 young men, and behig natives of the same country, 
 it is obviously the fault of their ofiicers that they 
 are so very badly drilled ; and his Netherlands* 
 majesty cannot too soon endeavour to supply 
 himself with others, that will pay more attention 
 to his soldiers, otherwise he may be well assured, 
 that if the occasion should arise, two or three 
 Prussian regiments would disperse any army that 
 he could be able to send against them. We speak 
 of those only that are serving in Belgium ; we saw 
 some fine troops in Antwerp. 
 
 In addition to the regular army, his majesty 
 has also a militia, which it is hoped may be of a 
 superior kind to that which an English traveller 
 describes as having seen in Amsterdam : ' In the 
 ' afternoon,' he says, ' I paid a second visit to
 
 NAMUR. 249 
 
 ' the Exchange to see the city militia perform 
 ' their exercise ; to which every man is subject, 
 
 * unless he makes a pecuniary compensation : 
 'those, therefore, who, from their poverty cannot, 
 
 * or from their avarice will not, pay the fine, are 
 ' obliged to serve. Here penury and parsimony 
 ' were collected together in such various habits, 
 ' (for they have no regular uniform,) as to make 
 ' the most ludicrous group imagination can sug- 
 ' gest. A giant and a dwarf, a Falstaff and a 
 ' Slender, a bob -wig and a short head of hair ; 
 ' in coats of all colours of the rainbow, joined 
 ' most heterogeneously together to compose a 
 ' rank in which every man followed his own in- 
 ' ventions, in as many different attitudes and man- 
 ' oeuvres as there were men to make them.' It 
 should be observed, however, that this sketch, 
 real or caricatured, was drawn before the French 
 had possession of the country, and about the time 
 that the noted Major Sturgeon was performing 
 his extraordinary exploits, Avith a corps of a 
 similar character, in marching from Brentford 
 to Ealing, from Ealing to Acton, from Acton to 
 Uxbridge. 
 
 Perhaps, however, it is less from Prussia than 
 from France that Belgium is in danger of being 
 attacked ; and it may probably be with a view to 
 oppose the progress of the French down this fine 
 valley of the Meuse, that the king is expending 
 such large sums of money in re-building and ex- 
 tending the fortifications of Huy and Namur. 
 
 This is certainly one of the most easy of the 
 direct routes into this open country from France ; 
 but the whole boundary line affords a choice of
 
 250 NAM DR. 
 
 easy passages for troops, without the reach of any 
 military work. AVhat, for instance, is to oppose 
 the progress of an army from Lille or Mons, or 
 by Charleroi or Fleurus, as in the last invasion, 
 but an army of equal or superior force ? and it is 
 not probable that the King of the Netherlands 
 either has, or ever can have, such an army raised 
 out of his five millions of subjects. 
 
 As to Prussia, she may be supposed to have 
 another and a more advantageous view than the 
 annexation of any part of Belgium to her domi- 
 nions. The small portion of the Rhine which 
 passes through her territories, and the restriction 
 put on its navigation to the sea, might induce her, 
 naturally enough, to look to the Elbe and the 
 Weser, as affording not only unobstructed outlets 
 for the produce and manuf\ictures of Prussia, but 
 also sea-ports for the protection and encourage- 
 ment of commerce, and a free and uninterrupted 
 communication with the Northern Ocean ; but 
 tliese advantages can only be attained in their 
 fullest extent by the possession of Hanover ; and 
 there are those wdio think that his Prussian ma- 
 jesty would not have many scruples in seizing 
 upon this kingdom on the slightest pretext being 
 afforded for such a coup-d'etat. It would then 
 be his interest, and probably his justification, to 
 assist the Dutch against any encroachment on the 
 part of France on the integrity of the Belgic pro- 
 vinces. But these are mere speculations on events 
 that are, perhaps, not yet, nor ever Avill be, con- 
 ceived in the womb of time. 
 
 Like the streets of most of the Belgic towns, 
 those of Namur are generally narrow, and the
 
 KAMUR. 231 
 
 houses lofty, but they appear to be kept in clean 
 and good order, and some few have a tolerable 
 width and bordered by good comfortable houses. 
 The numerous work-shops, chiefly in the various 
 branches of iron and brass ware, give an appear- 
 ance of active industry, which was not contradicted 
 by the equally numerous shops which exhibited 
 those articles of home-made manufacture. There 
 was besides a good deal of traffic and bustle on 
 the river. 
 
 We paid a visit to the cathedral, which is a very 
 handsome specimen of modern arcliitecture, of the 
 Corinthian order, not more than seventy years 
 old ; but it experienced, like all the other chiurches, 
 the bad usage of the French soldiery, who con- 
 verted it into a barrack and an hospital. 
 
 It is now, however, kept in a state of good 
 repair and perfect neatness. The interior of the 
 dome is particularly light and elegant, and the 
 whole floor, the steps and the altars, are entirely 
 of marble of diffi^rent kinds and colours. There 
 are four pictures in this church, said to be by 
 Rubens, — 'The Salutation,' — 'Christ healing 
 the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda,' — ' Show- 
 ing himself to the Apostles,' — and ' The Cruci- 
 fixion.' 
 
 There is also a St. Sebastian, which is supposed 
 to have been painted by Rubens' father. ' The 
 miraculous draught of fishes,' and two or three 
 others, are ascribed to Yan Dyk. There are also 
 several pictures by Xicolai. ' The woman taken 
 in adultery,' — ' Christ in the tomb,' &c. On 
 expressing some doubt as to the authenticity of 
 those said to be by Rubens and Yan Dyk, the
 
 232 NAMUR. 
 
 guide observed that they were considered by the 
 best judges in Namur to be genuine, and not 
 copies; and mentioned in confirmation of this 
 opinion, that when the Emperor Joseph wished to 
 remove them to Vienna, the attempt was strongly 
 resisted by the citizens of Namur; that while 
 the French were plundering the churches of their 
 valual)le pictures, those of Rubens and Yan Dyk 
 in this cathedral, were removed and concealed 
 until they were driven out of the country. 
 
 We had scarcely time to look into the Church 
 of the Jesuits, which appeared, however, to merit 
 attention, particularly the columns of the nave, 
 which were either of red close-grained granite or 
 porphyry, with round bases five or six feet high, 
 and a belt round the upper part. The floor is 
 entirely of marble. 
 
 As we had before us a long journey the fol- 
 lowing day, to Brussels, and should probably 
 spend some time on the field of Waterloo, we 
 desired the servant-girl to be careful not to omit 
 knocking at our door at four o'clock ; on which 
 she significantly said, there was very little danger 
 of any of us being asleep at that hour. On in- 
 quiring what she meant, she said the bell of the 
 Town-hall, just by, would be sure to awaken us ; 
 and she was quite right, for such a toll of about 
 ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, was certainly 
 never before heard : it was just as if one of the 
 most sonorous Chinese gongs was beating in the 
 adjoining apartment.
 
 253 
 
 WATERLOO. 
 
 On leaving- Namur for Brussels, we took leave of 
 the valley of the Meiise, and proceeded northerly 
 by the small town of Jenappe, and by Quatre Bras, 
 to the ever memorable and ever interesting plain 
 of Waterloo, which no Englishman thinks of 
 passing without making himself acquainted with 
 the topographical detail, on the spot, of that tre- 
 mendous conflict which terminated in giving 
 peace to long-afflicted Europe. 
 
 The original features, however, of the ground, 
 where the centre of the English line had its posi- 
 tion, at the last desperate effort made by the enemy, 
 are entirely obliterated; and the ridge which formed 
 a part of jMount St, Jean, is now levelled down 
 with the rest of the plain. This was done for the 
 purpose t)f obtaining a sufficient quantity of earth 
 to form the great conical mound, on which the 
 colossal bronze lion, which may serve either as 
 the British or Belgic lion, is supported, the 
 pedestal of which bears the simple inscription 
 ' June 18, 1813.' The mound and the lion 
 have equally been the subjects of ill-natured 
 censure; but the one, containing the bones of 
 friends and foes who fell in that dreadful day, 
 and the other composed of cannon taken from 
 the enemy, would appear to be aptly enough 
 appropriated, as being at once a memorial, a 
 trophy, and a tomb. The mound is intended to 
 be placed on the spot where the Prince of Orange 
 received his wound. We first observed this conical 
 mount from the heights of Quatre Bras, from
 
 254 WATERLOO. 
 
 whence it appeared in the horizon just like one of 
 the p}Tamids of Egypt. 
 
 There have been so many plans and descrip- 
 tions of the battle and of the neighbouring country, 
 that it would be a waste of time and paper to 
 repeat them. At the foot of the mound may be 
 had plans of all sizes, both of the country and the 
 battle, prints of the monuments that have been 
 erected within and without the church, and every 
 possible information that a visiter could wish for ; 
 and if these should not be considered sufficient, 
 there are a dozen or two of clever and intelligent 
 young fellows who have found it worth their 
 while to loiter about the ground in the expec- 
 tation of visiters, and who have made themselves 
 acquainted with the details of the battle, speak- 
 ing English with tolerable correctness and fluency. 
 In fact we were quite unprepared for these lac- 
 queys, the number of huts, sheds, and cottages, 
 and the population which we met with on the 
 plain of Waterloo. Even on the summit of the 
 mound, which is about one hundred and fifty feet 
 high, and ascended by two hundred and thirty- 
 two rude steps of wood, placed by an individual 
 up one of its sides, we found two women offering 
 for sale cakes and wine, gin, and all manner of 
 cordials. 
 
 The village of Waterloo is in the rear of the 
 field of battle, and close to tlie forest of Soigny, 
 which we passed through in the evening*, over an 
 indifferent kind of paved causeway. The trees 
 are principally of beech, and some of them very 
 fine, but the wood is fit for nothing but fire- . 
 wood, and is used solely for that purpose. The
 
 BRUSSELS. 255 
 
 trees are so close together as to exclude every 
 ray of the sun and to impede the action of the 
 atmosphere ; and the consequence is, that when 
 a log of beech wood is brought out of the forest 
 into the open air, it rives and splits in a most 
 extraordinary manner. This indeed, is the case 
 with most other woods, and it explains why hedge- 
 oaks, or trees that have grown singly and been 
 thoroughly exposed to the air, are less liable to 
 split, and therefore preferable in ship-building 
 to those which have grown in a wood. 
 
 BRUSSELS. 
 Brussels is in all respects worthy to be consi- 
 dered as the capital of the Netherlands. The 
 streets in the lower or more ancient part of the 
 town, about the gate where it is entered near the 
 river Senne, maintain the usual character of a 
 Beloic town, being narrow and the houses hioh, 
 but on the upper or hill part of the city, the streets 
 are spacious and the buildings magnificent. The 
 ascent from the lower to the upper or court end 
 of the town, is about as steep as, and the streets 
 not unlike, those which run through Guildford or 
 Lewes. Two palaces, one for the King and another 
 contiguous to it for the Prince, face the planted 
 piece of ground called the Park, which may be 
 about the size of Lincoln's-inn Fields ; it is laid 
 out in the continental style of gardens, being 
 intersected by straight walks shaded by trees, and 
 embellished with statues, in praise of which much 
 cannot be said. Directly facing the king's 
 palace, and on the opposite side of the Park, is
 
 256 BRUSSELS. 
 
 the house of the Conseil de Brabant, now the 
 Chamber of Deputies. All the houses in the four 
 streets or rows that surround the four sides of the 
 Park are truly magnificent, and in general appear- 
 ance equal, or nearly so, in point of architecture 
 though not in size ; and the houses in the adjoin- 
 ing square or Place Royale^ with the church in 
 the centre of one of its sides, and the two hotels 
 de Bellevue and deFlandres, are all splendid build- 
 ings. The former hotel makes up more than a 
 hundred beds ; and we sat down to a table-d'hote, 
 at which were sixty-six persons, [more than one- 
 half of them English. 
 
 In fact Brussels, next to Paris, is the most 
 populous English colony in all Europe -, and to 
 lodge our countrymen comfortably and in the 
 English taste, whole streets or rows of houses 
 are building for their reception towards the out- 
 skirts of the town ; and for their amusement, 
 the old walls and ramparts have been demolished, 
 and convei"ted into a charming boulevard for a 
 promenade : and along the Allee Verte^ beside the 
 Antwerp canal, they were busily employed in 
 laying out an extensive botanical garden, and in 
 levelling the old fortifications in that quarter. No 
 wonder that so many English families flock to this- 
 great city ; many of whom, however, can-y with 
 their money their depraved habits and vicious 
 propensities, and not a few, a great deal of the 
 latter without much of the fonner, imposing for 
 a time on the inhabitants, who, however, had 
 now become more cautious in trusting them. 
 
 All kinds of provisions, education in all its 
 branches, public amusements, and the luxury of
 
 BRUSSELS. 257 
 
 a carriage, may all be had here for about one-half 
 of what they cost in England ; and there is no 
 restraint but what the law, mildly administered, 
 imposes. Books of all kinds, particularly French 
 and English, are carefully re-printed here, and 
 sold for much less than the editions of our most 
 popular works printed by Galignani at Paris. 
 We have yet seen no place in the course of our 
 tour, not even Frankfort, that wears the appear- 
 ance of so much ease and prosperity as in the 
 inhabitants of Brussels. There are, however, 
 many dissatisfied spirits among them, especially 
 the Catholic priests, who hate the government of 
 Protestants, and the Jacobins, who hate all go- 
 vernments ; but the mild and equitable rule of 
 the king restrains to a certain degree, if it cannot 
 subdue, their hatred. 
 
 We w^nt through the King's Palace, whicli had 
 been newly furnished, and is one of the most 
 habitable and comfortable houses of that dencj- 
 mination, perhaps, in Europe. The ball-room 
 is the only large apartment, and is splendidly 
 fitted up and furnished. It may be some eighty 
 feet by forty, and very lofty. There is another, 
 room, perhaps somewhat smaller, which is called 
 the picture-gallery, but is as unworthy the name 
 as the pictures are unworthy to be placed in it. 
 With the exception of two or three by Yan Dvk, 
 Rembrandt, and Ruysdael, all of them are of an 
 inferior class ; the remainder are absolutely trash. 
 In the exceptions, however, should be included a 
 ' Holy Family,' by Murillo, a small but captivat- 
 ing picture. The expression of the countenance, 
 and the attitude of the child in the arm of Joseph, 
 s
 
 258 BRUSSELS. 
 
 eagerly throwing its body towards its mother, is 
 most natural, and admirably executed. It seems 
 to say, ' Take me, mother, to thy arms.' 
 
 In the queen's boudoir are some better pic- 
 tures. Among them we observed the ' Chapeau 
 de Velours' of Van Dyk, a more pleasing picture 
 than that which may be considered its companion, 
 by Rubens, the ' Chapeau de Paille.' There was 
 also an agreeable picture, by David, of a ' Holy 
 Family,' and Rembrandt's original picture of the 
 ' Burgomasters,' one of which we saw in the 
 jMuseum of Amsterdam. The palace is built 
 round a large quadrangular court-yard, and con- 
 tains the immense number of forty-four rooms 
 en suite ^ through all which we passed. Behind 
 the quadrangle is a garden, which had neither 
 taste nor neatness, nor rare plants, to recommend 
 it to notice. 
 
 From the palace we crossed the Park, to the 
 house of the Conseil de Brabant. The vestibule 
 is very fine. Two wide staircases, one on each 
 side, lead to the two Chambers of Peers and the 
 Deputies. The steps are of marble, and each of 
 a single slab, the produce, as we imderstood, of 
 the hills which enclose the Meuse. The Chamber 
 of Peers on the right is merely a long room, or 
 gallery. On one side of it were two large pictures, 
 painted by Oudevere, the king's painter. One 
 was the ' Battle of Nieuport,' the other, the 
 ' Battle of Waterloo.' The moment chosen for 
 the latter, is that when the Prince of Orange was 
 wounded ; Lord March, the present Duke of 
 Richmond, is close by his side, looking like a 
 veteran of at least fifty years of age.
 
 BRUSSELS. 259 
 
 The composition of these pictures appears to 
 have some merit, but their colouring is not 
 agreeable, and they are somewhat hard in the 
 execution. 
 
 The Chamber of Deputies on the left is on the 
 same plan as that of the Deputies in Paris ; but it 
 has no tribune, each member speaking from his 
 place, — those who represent the Provinces of Hol- 
 land using the Dutch, and those of the Nether- 
 lands generally the French language. 
 
 We next visited the Museum of Paintings in 
 the old Palais d'Orange^ not far from the Place 
 Uoyale^ which consists of two moderate-sized 
 rooms thrown into one by a large arched door- 
 way, and well lighted from the top. It contained 
 five or six pictures, by Rubens, — among them, 
 ' Christ bearing his Cross,' — ' the Nativity,' — 
 ' Opening the Tomb of Christ,' — and a small 
 finished sketch of the ' Scourging of Christ,' 
 superior, as we thought, to the larger picture of 
 this disgusting subject in the Church of St. Paul, 
 at Antwerp. Tliere is in this collection a very 
 fine picture of the ' Siege of Toumay,' by Yan der 
 Meulen, and several by Teniers, Ostade, and other 
 Dutch and Flemish painters. 
 
 At the further extremity of the quadrangular 
 court, in which this collection of pictures is placed, 
 occupying one w^ing, is a suite of rooms, appro- 
 priated to subjects in the several departments of 
 natural history, among which is a collection of 
 very superb specimens of Russian minerals, pre- 
 sented by the present empress. The birds are 
 beautifully set up, but not very numert)us, and 
 the whole collection of animals well arranged, and 
 s2
 
 260 BRUSSELS. 
 
 preserved with great care; what is of essential 
 use to visiters, they are placed at a convenient 
 height for the eye, and are properly labelled. 
 
 Another wing of the quadrangle is appropriated 
 to the sittings of the Royal Academy of Sciences 
 and Literature ; and there is also a library under 
 the same roof, and behind the building is a large 
 garden, which was now closed, and in preparation, 
 as we were told, for a botanical garden. 
 
 The church of St. Gudule, standing on the brow 
 of the hill, is a magnificent specimen of the old 
 Gothic style. It contains some very fine monu- 
 ments ; and the twelve Apostles, at full length, 
 and rather above the common size, arc placed 
 against twelve columns of the nave. The pulpit, 
 by Quesnoy, is beautifully executed, and is pro- 
 bably not inferior to any piece of carving in wood 
 throughout the Netherlands, which is saying a 
 great deal, as this is the country, of all others, 
 where carving in w^ood was carried to the greatest 
 perfection. The subject of the St. Gudule pulpit is 
 the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. 
 The pulpit itself is supported by the figures of our 
 first parents and the Angel, who is driving them 
 out with a flaming sword. The face of Adam is 
 concealed by his two hands placed before it. and 
 his flowing hair ; but the whole figure, by the atti- 
 tude into which it is tlirown, exhibits the strongest 
 representation of grief and despondency that can 
 •well be imagined; while Eve turns round her 
 piteous face, and looks at the Angel in the most 
 affecting expression of countenance, and a look 
 ' more in sorrow than in anger,' evincing at the 
 same time something not exactly of complaint, but
 
 BRUSSELS. 26 1 
 
 as if slie would say, ' Our pimishmcnt exceeds 
 our crime/ The Tree of Knowledge, with its 
 spreading branches, gives support to the canopy 
 over the pulpit ; and the huge snake, having suc- 
 ceeded in destroying the happiness of our first 
 parents, is in the act of sneaking away from its 
 victims, and entwining itself round the back part 
 of the pulpit, on which side its head is seen to have 
 reached the top of the canopy. Here, however, on 
 
 the hiohest summit, stands erect the fioure of the 
 
 • ••11 
 
 Virgin Mary, bearing a long crozier, with the 
 
 point of which she pierces the head of the snake. 
 On either side, on the railing of the steps, are a 
 number of birds and quadrupeds enjoying tliem- 
 selves, as it were, in Paradise ; those on the side 
 of Adam being mostly of the larger species, and 
 such as are endued with masculine strength, and 
 those on the side of Eve, chiefly peacocks, par- 
 rots, and monkeys, which some may, perhaps, be 
 disposed to think was intended as rather a mali- 
 cious satire on the part of the sculptor, in having 
 chosen such chatterers for the accompaniments of 
 mother Eve. 
 
 The Town-house of Brussels, and more par- 
 ticularly its beautiful spire, are scarcely, perhaps, 
 to be equalled for elegance and lightness *. This 
 spire rises proudly eminent, to the height, it is said, 
 of three hundred and sixty-four feet, exclusive of 
 sixteen or eighteen feet of an iron rod which 
 supports the full-length figiire of St. JMichael, 
 wlio, it must be confessed, has been treated rather 
 lightly by converting him into a weathercock. 
 Standing nearly in the centre of the city, this light 
 * A print of this is placed as the frontispiece.
 
 2G2 BRUSSELS. 
 
 and airy spire of exquisite wokmanship is seen 
 from every part of its outskirts, and forms a beau- 
 tiful object from the Park and its vicinity. 
 
 Though the architecture of the Hotel -de- Ville 
 is perfectly regular, it is a remarkable circumstance 
 that the tower, with its lofty spire, is not placed 
 in the centre of the fagade, but much nearer to 
 one end than the other ; and what is still more 
 remarkable, that this irregularity does not, as 
 might be supposed, in the least offend the eye. 
 We are told by an old French traveller that the 
 architect who planned it was nevertheless so much 
 shocked at its appearance, that he put an end to 
 his existence, — an idle story, similar to that 
 which is vulgarly told of the sculptor who made 
 the beautiful statue of Charles at Charing -cross, — 
 that he committed suicide, because he discovered 
 that he had omitted to add a girth to the saddle 
 of the horse, whereas, in point of fact, there is a 
 double girth. 
 
 On the side opposite to that which the Town- 
 hall occupies in the Grand Place, or market-square, 
 is the ancient Palace, of curious Gothic architec- 
 ture, now converted into shops ; but its gilding, 
 its decorations, inscriptions, and other remains of 
 its former splendour, are still visible, and may be 
 made out by those who have time and patience for 
 the task. 
 
 There are no towns on the Continent that, like 
 London, enjoy the inappreciable advantage and 
 luxury of having a copious supply of pure water, 
 brought up into all the floors of the houses if 
 desired ; but there are also few towns which, next 
 to this advantage, have not the enjoyment of public
 
 BRUSSELS. 263 
 
 fountains and public pumps ; and in the decoration 
 and embellishments of these structures, no expense 
 appears to have been spared ; and very often we 
 find a great share of good taste displayed in them. 
 To say nothing of the fountains, of which some 
 are really splendid, the common pumps even of 
 Frankfort, Mayence, and Cologne, and many of 
 the towns of the Netherlands, are ornamental to 
 the streets and squares in which they are erected. 
 They are of various forms, but most commonly 
 that of an obelisk, or the section of a pyramid, 
 curiously carved with fretwork of different devices, 
 and surmounted with statues of men or women, 
 figures of lions, eagles, and other animals, and 
 sometimes with a gilt crown, or armorial bearings. 
 Brussels has its share of both pumps and foun- 
 tains ; and among others, there is one of the 
 latter in the corner of a street, of a singular 
 kind, well known by the name of the Mamiikinpis. 
 It is the statue of a little boy, beautifully sculp- 
 tured in black marble, by Quesnoy, who sends 
 forth night and day, without intermission, a copi- 
 ous stream of pure water, to wdiich none of the 
 young women in the neighbourhood make any 
 scruple of resorting for a supply when wanted. It 
 is said that Louis XIY., when in Brussels, was so 
 shocked at the indelicacy (credat Judceus!) of this 
 exhibition, that he ordered a suit of gold-laced 
 clothes to be made for the manikin ; and report 
 says he is actually clothed in them, wHth a cocked 
 hat and sword, on certain festival days, for the 
 amusement of the inhabitants. If the fact be so, 
 Louis must have intended to play off a joke on 
 the good people of Brussels.
 
 264 BRUSSELS. 
 
 On the 29tli of August, we left Brussels in a 
 caleclie and pair of horses, which we hired as far 
 as Ghent — thirty-six miles, for two and a half 
 napoleons, or somewhat less than two guineas. 
 About half way is the town of Alost, or, as the 
 word signifies, ' to the east,' it being the frontier 
 town of old Flanders in that direction. It is not 
 a very large but a neat town; and in its cathedral 
 there is a picture of Rubens, which travellers 
 generally go to see. The subject is Christ em- 
 powering Saint Roch (who he was we did not 
 inquire) to heal the sick; it is a well painted, but 
 by no means a pleasant picture. There is also a 
 picture of Saint Catherine, said to be by Van Dyk : 
 the face of the Saint is beautifully painted, but the 
 position of the severed head, with respect to the 
 body, rather offends the eye, ^s it is not easy to 
 discover whether it is still on or off the shoulders. 
 These pictures were carried off by the French, but 
 restored. The altar-piece is a painting by a young 
 pupil of the academy of the fine arts, an institution 
 which even this town can boast of 
 
 From Alost to Glient, which is eiohteen miles, 
 an avenue of tall beech-trees is continued almost 
 the whole way without interruption. The cause- 
 way generally was well-paved, and a very consi- 
 derable number of men were employed in keeping 
 it in good order ; the surface of the country per- 
 fectly flat the whole way, and the uninterrupted 
 tillage as neat and clean as a kitchen garden. 
 
 The number of women employed in the various 
 operations of agriculture appeared to be at least 
 equal to that of the other sex, and some of their 
 employments were laborious enough, and to us
 
 BRUSSELS TO GHENT. 265 
 
 appeared disgusting and degrading ; for instance, 
 we observed a young woman harnessed with a 
 man in the painful labour of dragging a harrow 
 over a surface of rough clods. Very few horses 
 appeared to be employed, a single horse being 
 frequently observed to draw a light plough through 
 the loose and mellow soil. We noticed also a 
 number of men engaged in spade husbandry. 
 The green crops were almost exclusively confined 
 to clover and potatoes. 
 
 We may here observe that, since we left Liege, 
 the condition of the agricultural labourers, if we 
 might judge from the appearance of the farm- 
 houses and cottaQcs, and villaoes, was somewhat 
 superior to that of the same class further to the 
 eastward. There was more neatness about the 
 farm -yards, and more care taken in the preserva- 
 tion of every ingredient for the compost heap, so 
 essential for keeping up the prolific quality of the 
 soil. Their grain was carefully stacked, and their 
 dwellings were white-washed, and kept clean 
 before the doors, and these and the windows and 
 the wood- work generally were painted green : this 
 contrast, however, does not apply so much to the 
 state of agriculture of the country between the 
 eastern and western portions of Brabant, as to 
 the general appearance of the houses and the 
 people ; for nothing could exceed the neatness in 
 which the land was cultivated the whole way 
 along the banks of the Rhine and as far as Aix- 
 la-Chapelle ; the care and the labour bestowed on 
 every part of it were little, if anything, inferior to 
 that of the Dutch Netherlands. But this neatness 
 in the cultivation had no correspondence with
 
 26(3 GHENT. 
 
 the dress and appearance of the peasantry, whose 
 extreme slovenliness and the filthy state of their 
 dwellings were quite disgusting. All kinds of 
 dirt was suffered to remain undisturbed before the 
 doors, and it was not unusual to see a parcel of 
 children nearly naked, paddling in pools of water — 
 the drains from some neighbouring dunghill ; 
 but nothing of this kind is seen in Belgium. 
 
 GHENT. 
 
 Ghent is situated on the united stream of the 
 Scheldt, the Lis, and the Lieve. It is a fine old 
 city, but, like all we have yet seen, the height of 
 the houses and the narrowness of many of the 
 streets give it a dull and sombre appearance. The 
 catliedral is a fine old structure, at least equal to 
 the church of St. Gudule at Brussels. It is said 
 to have been built in the eleventh century, and 
 finished as it now appears. If we clearly under- 
 stood the Suisse de Veglise^ the pillars and arcades 
 which we went to see under the ground- floor of 
 the church were the foundations of one still older, 
 on which they rebuilt the present edifice. They 
 correspond exactly, so that this vaulted under- 
 ground story is called a church under the cathe- 
 dral. Almost the whole interior of this fine old 
 building is of marble of various kinds and colours ; 
 the lower parts of the walls are lined almost wholly 
 with black marble. Its two-and-twenty chapels 
 are mostly of marble, with doors of brass. The 
 altar-pieces and all the monuments are also of 
 black and white marble, the former serving as 
 pedestals or bases, on which the whole-length
 
 GHENT. 267 
 
 figures of white marble, from the quarries of 
 Genoa, rest. One of these, a bishop of Ghent, 
 by Quesnoy, and another, a Gennan bishop, by 
 PaoH, are exquisitely fine. The pulpit is a finished 
 piece of carving, supported by two statues oi Time 
 and Truth, under the figures of an angel hold- 
 ing open the ' Book of Life ' before the face of an 
 old man ; and on each flight of steps is the figure 
 of an angel; — the whole by Laurent de Yeana. 
 There is a picture of St. Bavon, by Rubens, but in 
 so bad a light that the subject can scarcely be 
 made out. There is also a large picture of the 
 raising of Lazarus, by Van Veen, reckoned fine ; 
 and the Paschal Lamb, by Yan Eyck, and three 
 others, are highly valued by the inhabitants. The 
 grand altar of black and white marble, wdth the 
 statue of St. Bavon, is by Yanbruggen ; the two 
 colossal statues of Carrara marble by which he is 
 supported are by another hand. The four massive 
 candelabra on the great altar are said to have 
 belonged to our Charles I., and to have originally 
 been the property of the old metropolitan church 
 of St. Paul of London. 
 
 Ghent is almost as much intersected by canals 
 as if it were a town of Holland ; and they talk of 
 its twenty-seven islands and three hundred bridges, 
 which are probably about three times the actual 
 number. In the architecture of the churches we 
 observed nothing very remarkable, but the stepped 
 gables of the houses give a peculiar character to 
 the town. It has some good streets and open 
 squares that are lighted with gas ; and we could 
 not but notice that a great many more well dressed 
 people, both ladies and gentlemen, appeared
 
 268 GHENT. 
 
 abroad in the streets, than we had observed else- 
 where ; it appeared, liowever, that the oreater 
 pait of them were English, who have conoregated 
 here in numbers as considerable, perhaps, as at 
 Brussels. There are, no doubt, many induce- 
 ments held out at Ghent for English families, in 
 moderate circumstances, to fix their abode there. 
 All the necessaries of life are abundant and cheap. 
 There is an excellent college, at which the pupils 
 are instructed in every branch of literature on the 
 most reasonable terms ; and no distinction made 
 between protestant and catholic. There is an 
 academy •for the fine arts, which possesses a good 
 collection of pictures, a public library, and a very 
 good botanical garden which was founded under 
 the republican government of France, out of the 
 gardens and grounds of a suppressed convent. 
 The present king, not to be behind-hand witli the 
 French in beneficence to liis good subjects of 
 Ghent, has founded and built for them the above- 
 mentioned college, or university as it is called, 
 wdiicli does great honour to the care and paternal 
 love for his people, displayed in no way more 
 than in his desire, manifested in every part of his 
 dominions, to instil a taste for literature, science, 
 and fine arts among them. The building is mag- 
 nificent ; the facade, witli its eight Corinthian 
 columns, and noble pediment intended to be deco- 
 rated with allegorical sculpture, in bas-relief, does 
 credit to the architect. Already, we understood, 
 it has about six hundred students, and it possesses 
 very valuable collections in the several depart- 
 ments of natural history, and a library of fifty or 
 sixty thousand volumes.
 
 I
 
 GHENT. 269 
 
 We regretted much that time would not allow 
 us to visit the interior of this splendid monument 
 dedicated to the arts and literature. 
 
 When a traveller finds a free and easy access 
 to these and similar institutions, which are open 
 to all the world in almost every city on the Conti- 
 nent, an Englishman's pride ought to suffer some 
 little humiliation if he only reiiccts that, when a 
 foreigner comes into England, he cannot have 
 access, even in the capital, to any one collection 
 of pictures, nor to any scientific society, without a 
 special introduction. As to pictures, indeed, we 
 have no puhlic collection, save only the few that 
 are huddled together in a small shabhy house in 
 Pall Mall, which we ridiculously call a National 
 Gallery. 
 
 If we really had a national gallery, no one can 
 for a moment doubt that there are numerous indi- 
 viduals public-spirited enough to fill it by con- 
 tributions from their respective collections, and 
 with pictures not at all inferior to those we meet 
 with on the Continent ; but we have not even the 
 bare walls of a building fit to receive them. It 
 can scarcely be believed by a foreigner, that a 
 country which has subsidised all the nations of 
 Europe; that raises a revenue equal — or nearly 
 so — to the accumulated revenues of all Europe ; 
 that has a debt of eight hundred millions, the 
 interest of which is punctually paid on the day 
 it becomes due : that such a nation cannot aftbrd 
 to lay out a few thousand pounds, to bring toge- 
 ther such an assemblage of works of art, as w^ould 
 probably not be matched in any part of the Conti- 
 nent of Europe, is a thing that foreigners cannot 
 understand, especially as they well know that
 
 270 GHENT TO BRUGES. 
 
 many of the finest specimens of some of the best 
 masters are in Englnnd, and would be liberally 
 contributed, provided we had but a suitable build- 
 ing for their reception. 
 
 Nay more, — a foreigner cannot even gain ad- 
 mission to the only two churches that we have in 
 the capital worth seeing, without payment being 
 demanded at the door ; but in this respect he is on 
 the same footing with our own countrymen, against 
 whom they are equally closed. On the Continent, 
 the churches are open to everybody, and should 
 any of them happen to be closed, the person in 
 the neighbourhood who holds the key is always 
 most ready to attend. He may know, perhaps, 
 that he will be recompensed for his trouble, but 
 the odium of makino- a regular demand at the door 
 is unknown. 
 
 Tlie distance from Ghent to Bruges is about 
 thirty miles ; and as the country is here one con- 
 tinued flat, we resolved to travel, by way of variety, 
 in the treckschuyt, or, as they call it, the barge — 
 a very commodious vessel, with good apartments, 
 an<l a canopy over the quarter-deck. She is 
 drawn by four horses, -which proceed at a gentle 
 trot of about four miles an hour, and they are 
 changed at half way. The fare for this passage is 
 five and a half francs, or four shillings and seven- 
 pence each person, a tolerably good dinner, and 
 beer into the bargain. For those who are not in 
 haste, or for invalids, there is no mode of travelling 
 to be compared to this for ease and comfort, and, 
 at the same time, it enables the passenger to 
 occupy himself in any kind of employment he 
 may choose to engage in ; and in the gTeater part 
 of this particular passage there is nothing to dis-
 
 BRUGES. 271 
 
 tract his attention, the banks being so high as to 
 intercept the view of the country. We could see 
 enough, however, to satisfy us that the whole 
 surface was in an admirable state of tillage. It is 
 said, indeed, that in no part of the Netherlands 
 are finer crops produced than in the district be- 
 tween this line of country and Antwerp, called 
 the Waesland, which, centuries ago, was a con- 
 tinued waste of barren heath, naked sand, and 
 splashes of water. 
 
 BPwUGES. 
 
 It took us about eight hours to reach Bruges, 
 a clean, quiet, dull town. Once the central mart 
 for almost all the commerce of the Low Countries, 
 it still exhibits the remains of former grandeur. 
 With its commerce and its opulence, its population 
 gradually fell to nearly one-half of what it was. 
 It is now said to contain about seven thousand 
 houses, and thirty-eight thousand inhabitants, — 
 One portion of the population, and no inconsider- 
 aWe one, ought not, i)erhaps, to be deemed as any 
 very great loss, — that which peopled some dozen 
 convents and abbeys, with their extensive esta- 
 blishments and large tracts of ground within the 
 city walls, most of them now suppressed. 
 
 One of these which still remains near the 
 western extremity of tlie town, is the Beguinage, 
 an establishment for the support of old nuns. It 
 is a large enclosure containing a handsome chapel, 
 a number of very good and neat houses round a 
 spacious square planted with trees, and gardens 
 behind them. These elderly ladies are in the 
 enjojTiient of every comfort. There is a similar
 
 272 BRUGES. 
 
 establishment at Ghent, the chapel of which we 
 attended during service-time, but were not much 
 enraptured by the voices of these ancient virgins ; 
 indeed the whole of that institution was much 
 inferior to this at Bruges. 
 
 Here we also visited an English nunnery which 
 had been founded ninety-nine years ago. The old 
 lay-sister,notwithstandingherwell-trimmedbeard, 
 and a pair of mustaches, w^as a very intelligent and 
 agreeable person, exceedingly communicative, and 
 much pleased to see her country people, and la- 
 mented that she could not indulge us with admis- 
 sion to the cloisters, and the interior ; but their 
 regulations, she said, were strict and positive, to 
 allow no person to see any of the professed nuns, 
 except their relations, or their acquaintances, at the 
 parloir. Even the chapel, she said, had recently 
 been closed against the public, by an order from 
 the government, but she would venture to show it 
 to us, and, indeed, urged us to see it. This chapel 
 is certainly the most perfect model of the kind that 
 can be imagined. It is fitted up with good taste 
 and elegance, and devoid of all trumpery decora- 
 tions. Indeed there was nothing within it, w^ith 
 the exception of the altar, and scarcely that, to 
 indicate that it was a place for Catholic worship. 
 
 A vertical section through the centre of the 
 Sybil's temple will convey an idea of the form of 
 the altar. It is supported on each side by tw^o 
 very elegant marble columns of the Ionic order. 
 The base or plinth on which it stands, the table 
 of tlie altar, and tlie steps leading to it, are all 
 of varied and the most beautiful kinds of marble, 
 which the lady told us was a present from Kome
 
 BRUGES. 273 
 
 to the Patroness, Lady Lucy Herbert. Beyond 
 the dome, and in each side of the nuns* gallery, 
 are two lofty and well proportioned Corinthian 
 columns. 
 
 The number of professed nuns is forty, all from 
 England and Ireland. The whole sisterhood were 
 expelled from this convent on the irruption of the 
 French, and made their way to England, where 
 they were received, and a convent fitted up for 
 them, by Sir Thomas Gage. AYhile there, the old 
 lady said they were all very unhappy, though well 
 treated ; and though there were among them 
 several young ladies unprofessed, and in frequent 
 communications with their friends, there was not, 
 while in England, a single case of desertion — such 
 is the influence that is exercised over the minds 
 of these young creatures, when once entered within 
 the pale of monastic life. 
 
 Observing a large concourse of people not far 
 from the convent, and proceeding towards that 
 quarter, we saw in an unenclosed piece of ground 
 a number of persons dressed in green jackets, with 
 bows and arrows, shooting at a small wooden 
 figure of a bird, appai*ently not larger than a 
 sparrow, perched at the top of a sort of maypole, 
 about one hundred and fifty feet high. 
 
 These arbaletriers, or toxophilites, for they 
 were of that society, of ancient standing in Hol- 
 land and tlie Netherlands, shot their arrows in 
 turn ; and in the course of about a quarter of an 
 hour the bird was hit twice, which was the 
 more dexterously done, as the wind w^as blowing- 
 strong. 
 
 This kind of pole may be observed in almost 
 
 T
 
 274 BRUGES. 
 
 every village of the Netherlands, and for the 
 double purpose of exercising the toxophilites at 
 the mark on its summit, and also of decorating 
 wich garlands on fairs and festivals, when it is a 
 common practice to grease or soap the lower part, 
 and hang up a prize for him who has the skill, and 
 can endure the fatigue, of ascending this slippery 
 pole, so as to reach it. 
 
 The streets of Bruges are kept as clean as those 
 of a Dutch town. The houses and shops are not 
 elegant, but neat, and the people generally appear 
 to be in decent circumstances. The shops and 
 the markets are well suj^phed with every necessary 
 of life : the fruit and vegetables are good in qua- 
 lity, and abundant. The great drawback is the 
 want of good fresh water, which can only be had 
 fi'om a considerable distance. The cheapness of 
 provisions, of house-rent, and of education, has 
 induced many English families to repair to Bruges, 
 as well as to Ghent and Brussels. Besides the 
 very small expense of private teachers, they have 
 the advantage of public libraries, reading-rooms, 
 collections of pictures, public and private, and an 
 academy of painting. 
 
 We rambled through the northern side of the 
 town, which consists of whole streets of cottages, 
 mostly built on one plan, and kept neat and clean 
 by whitewashing. All the women belonging to 
 these cottages were busily employed in weaving 
 lace before the doors, and in many places whole 
 gToups of them gossiping while fingering their 
 bobbins with as much rapidity, and seemingly with 
 as niucli ease and pleasure, as a young lady runs 
 her fingers over the keys of a piano-forte. We
 
 BRUGES. 275 
 
 understood that from seven to eight thousand 
 women are employed on this species of manufac- 
 ture. 
 
 The dress of the people of the Netherlands is 
 not the most becoming, particularly that of the 
 women. Except those who move in the higher 
 sphere of life, and who imitate French and Eng- 
 lish fashions, the generality of citizens' wives and 
 daughters wear, even in the warmest weather, long 
 black cloaks, reaching to their heels, with deep 
 hoods, which the old ladies generally draw over 
 the head, but the young ones mostly turn do>\Ti, 
 in order to exhibit a neat cap, bordered with lace, 
 always clean and as white as snow. 
 
 The men wear, almost universally, the common 
 blue frock and cap which prevails throughout Ger- 
 many ; the frock among the better class being 
 used only as a covering to preserve the regular 
 suit of clothes beneath it. The Spanish character 
 of olive complexions, black hair, and dark eyes, 
 are very obvious among the Belgians ; but not a 
 remnant of the Spanish language remains, and 
 very little French is spoken except at Antwerp 
 and Brussels. Their language, which is called 
 Flemish, is a corrupt jargon of German and Dutch, 
 partaking of both,but not much resembling either : 
 so that, although among us we could make our 
 way by either language, the true Flemish was quite 
 unintelligible to us all. 
 
 Finding that the dej)arture of the steam-packet 
 from Ostend had been put off from the 2nd to the 
 3rd of September, we resolved to spend the day 
 at Bruges rather than Ostend, which gave us an 
 opportunity of seeing the churches of Notre Dame, 
 T 2
 
 276 BRUGES. 
 
 or the cathedral, and St. Salvador. Xotre Dame 
 is a heavy mass of building, ^vith a tower and spire, 
 that belong to no specific class of architecture. 
 The nave is divided fi-om the side aisles by massive 
 columns. The pulpit is one of those curiously- 
 carved fabrics, common to almost every church in 
 the Netherlands. It is supported by the figure of 
 the Virgin sitting on a globe. There are two 
 pieces of sculpture in white marble, representing 
 the Virgin and Child, that are extremely beautiful. 
 The one near the high altar is esteemed the best, 
 and, indeed, has been claimed as the work of 
 Michael Ang-elo. It was found in a Genoese 
 vessel, that had been taken by a Dutch privateer 
 belonging to Bruges, and lodged in this church. 
 Sir Joshua RejTiolds is of opinion that it is of the 
 school of iSIichael Angelo. 
 
 While looking with admiration at this beautiful 
 specimen of sculpture, a gentle^ian of very re- 
 spectable appearance went down before it on both 
 knees, and with outstretched arms remained mo- 
 tionless for at least ten minutes, looking intently 
 at the Virgin, after which he arose, made a pro- 
 found reverence, and walked out of the church. 
 This is the only act of devotion, or rather of 
 idolatrous worship, that we had witnessed on the 
 part of any male individual of a decent appear- 
 ance in our whole route, and we never once ob- 
 served a man to go into the confessional box, 
 while women were entering them constantly. 
 
 The other piece of sculpture is also beauti- 
 fully executed ; indeed, to those who, like our- 
 selves, are not much versed in the niceties of the 
 art, the inferiority is hardly apparent. There is
 
 BRUGES. 277 
 
 something so very natural in the easy and grace- 
 ful figure and position of the A^irgin and lier 
 mild placid countenance, that one cannot contem- 
 plate it without a feeling of pleasure, almost of 
 reverence. 
 
 At the bottom of the side-aisle are two pic- 
 tures which appeared not unworthy of notice. — 
 One was the ' Crucifixion ' in the style of Van 
 Dyk, and the other the ' Adoration of the Kings,* 
 after the manner of Rubens. VTe set them down 
 as equal to Grayer, but could not learn who the 
 artist was. In this church we also observed a 
 picture of the ' Nativity' with two doors or wings, 
 in each of which was a multitude of heads crowded 
 together; the whole by Holbein, or one of his 
 school. St. Salvador is far superior in point of 
 architecture and decorations to Notre Dame. It 
 is a fine specimen of the old light-clustered 
 Gothic, the slender and delicate shafts climbing up 
 the side of the large pondiTous central column, 
 like the creepers that cling to the huge tree in a 
 tropical forest. The arcades between the columns 
 are light and lofty. The organ is a powerful 
 instrument and well played, and the celebration of 
 high mass far superior to that of Notre Dame. 
 
 There were no pictures of the first class, but 
 several of tolerable merit, two or three by Van 
 Os, and one of the ' Last Supper,' by Pourbus, of 
 the date 1562, very good but rather hard. TVe 
 observed also an old painting of the ' Crucifixion,' 
 bearing date 1300, which at once sets aside the 
 pretensions of Van Eyck, who is supposed to have 
 made the discovery of painting in oils at Bruges, 
 in the year 1410. Sir Joshua Reynolds, indeed,
 
 278 ' BRUGES. 
 
 was decidedly of opinion, that this important 
 branch of the art was known many years before 
 Van Eyck was born. The claim, therefore, is 
 probably no better founded than that which gives 
 to Steven of this city the merit of being the 
 inventor of decimal arithmetic. 
 
 Having heard much of the church or chapel of 
 Jerusalem, we paid a visit to it, but were griev- 
 ously disappointed. We found it a miserable 
 little chapel that would with difficulty hold a hun- 
 dred persons ; but in one conier of it there is a 
 sort of cave, to enter which it is necessary to 
 stoop ; and in this cave is the sepulchre of Christ, 
 the same, we are told, as it is seen at Jerusalem. 
 On entering, we perceived, by a glimmering light, 
 an old woman kneeling, before the recumbent 
 figure of a man, with a pale face and a disgusting 
 black beard, and the body covered up by. a white 
 sheet. We need scarcely say that we speedily 
 quitted this receptacle of a piece of detestable 
 mummery with disgust, — a species of foolery, by 
 which the ignorant poor suiler their minds to be 
 deluded, and their pockets picked of that little 
 which scarcely affords them the means of pur- 
 chasing the necessaries of life. 
 
 The old town-house of Bruges well deserves to 
 be noticed, forming one side of the great square 
 or market-place. The building itself has no pre- 
 tensions to taste or elegance, having something 
 of the appearance of large barracks. One of its 
 largest sides, on the ground-floor, is appropriated 
 as a flesh-market, which has the merit of being 
 quite concealed from public view, like that under 
 the town-hall of Ley den; and the side next the
 
 BRUGES. 279 
 
 square is the cloth-market. The tower is rather 
 remarkable, and very lofty : it consists of three 
 parts ; the lower part is a heavy square Gothic 
 structure, corresponding with the body of the 
 building, and pinnacled at the four corners. Out 
 of this rises a second square of smaller dimensions ; 
 and the third stage, still more contracted, is an 
 octagon. The height cannot be far short of three 
 hundred feet. The carillons have the sweetest 
 tones of any we had heard, and they play almost 
 incessantly. 
 
 The present Stadhuis, or town-hall, is in a 
 smaller square, wdiose upper part is planted with 
 trees, and contains the governor's house, before 
 which the military band plays at certain times of 
 the day. This town-house is a very peculiar and 
 striking building, lofty for its size, and its walls 
 terminated by three turrets crowned with spu'es, 
 and numerous little minarets on the ridge of the 
 roof. The walls are ornamented with fret^;ed- 
 work, and the windows are rich and lofty. The 
 head ofhce of police, the guard and watch houses 
 adjoining, are curious specimens of old light florid 
 Gothic, well worthy of attention. 
 
 We had frequent occasion to remark, in the 
 course of our tour, that certain component parts 
 of buildings, not very important in themselves, 
 when common or oft repeated, will sometimes 
 give a character to a town. Thus the lofty broad 
 windows and large squares of glass distinguished 
 the houses of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and the 
 high steps and stoops, as they are called, before 
 the doors, are characteristic of all Dutch towns. 
 The painted wooden houses, the overhanging
 
 280 BRUGES. 
 
 Upper stories, and the plain-corniced gables, are 
 the common features of a Rhenish town; and the 
 tall ornamented gable of many stories, with its 
 fantastic scrawls and fretwork, is characteristic of 
 Antwerp, while those of Ghent are generally a 
 series of steps. The arched chimney of semicir- 
 cular tiles, placed thus, 
 
 gives a marked feature to Bruges, as the 
 
 chimney does to Amsterdam, where it sometimes 
 appears with three arms. 
 
 We had frequent occasions to notice the con- 
 trast in appearance between the Prussian and the 
 Dutch, or rather Belgian, soldiers when on the 
 parade. One of these regiments, or several com- 
 panies of one stationed here, attended divine ser- 
 vice at Notre Dame, where all the music and 
 singing were performed by the band and the sol- 
 diers. To us it had an odd appearance, to observe 
 three grenadiers, with their caps on, supporting the 
 priest on each side of the altar, and the men re- 
 maining covered during the service. In marching 
 to church, we could not but remark how loose and 
 slovenly they were in their dress, and more loose 
 in their step, and so careless in marching as con- 
 stantly to be kicking and treading on each other's 
 heels. When contrasted with the soldier-like
 
 BRUGES. 281 
 
 appearance, the close buttoned-iip coat, tlie up- 
 right carriage and firm step of the Prussians, the 
 difference of the two bodies of men, composed of 
 the same people, was very remarkable. The fault, 
 as we have before observed, must lie with the 
 officers, for the men, though generally small, were 
 young, and, by proper training, would easily be 
 brought into a state of better order and disci- 
 pline. It is just possible, as the elite of the Dutch 
 army were assembling in the neighbourhood of 
 Utrecht, to be reviewed by the king, the regi- 
 ment in question might be chiefly composed of 
 recruits. 
 
 On seeing these troops attending in a body 
 divine service according to the Catholic rites, the 
 reflection was pressed upon us, that the throne of 
 a Protestant king was intrusted for its defence to 
 soldiers of a different persuasion. It would be 
 difficult to ascertain the proportion w^hich Catho- 
 lics bear to Protestants in the army of the King 
 of the Netherlands ; but as the Dutch are not 
 much addicted to the land service, and few of the 
 young Netherlanders engage in the marine, it may 
 be presumed that the land forces are drawTi chiefly 
 from the latter, and are, therefore, most of them 
 probably Catholics. This is still more probable, 
 as the proportion of the whole population of the 
 Netherlands to that of the old United Provinces, 
 is about as three and a half to two, — that is to 
 say, the Netherlands are estimated at three mil- 
 lions and a half, and that of Holland at barely two 
 millions. And as it is supposed that the number 
 of Catholics in the former is about the same as the 
 number of Protestants in the latter, a very great
 
 282 BRUGES. 
 
 majority in the army would necessarily be Catho- 
 lics, even if the aversion of the Hollander to a 
 military life did not induce him to serve by sub- 
 stitute, as is, we believe, allowed by this govern- 
 ment, though not in Prussia. 
 
 It is understood that the Belgians were for a 
 time dissatisfied by being incorporated with Hol- 
 land, but the moderation shown by the king, and 
 the desire which he has manifested to maintain a 
 strict impartiality towards all classes of his sub- 
 jects, have tended very much to reconcile all par- 
 ties to his government, except the Catholic priests, 
 who never will be satisfied with anything short 
 of supremacy. The Belgians complain of the 
 weight of taxes, in which they are not singular, 
 and of the mode of levying them ; but the system 
 and the rates are said to be those which the Frencli 
 left and King William found. 
 
 The Catholic clergy ought to be the last to com- 
 plain, for they have been freed from all appre- 
 hensions as to their fate, by the liberal grant 
 appropriated for their support, which v/e under- 
 stand to be at least a third greater in amount than 
 is made to the clergy of the established Protestant 
 church. On the other hand, the king has been 
 relieved from any apprehension he might have 
 entertained, of the fidelity of the Catholic clergy 
 and their endeavouring to establish a Catholic 
 supremacy, by the concordat he has wisely con- 
 cluded with the pope ; the consequence of which, 
 one can hardly doubt, will be, that Catholic 
 churches will rear their tewers, and spires, and 
 jingle their carillons in Amsterdam, and Protestant 
 churches do the same in Brussels, which have
 
 BRUGES. 283 
 
 hitherto been prohibited, or at least barely winked 
 at, in both cities. 
 
 After all, what has William obtained by his 
 concordat? He has got three things,— First, a 
 veto^ or the power of expunging, from the list of 
 candidates for the yacant sees of archbishops and 
 bishops, any names that shall not be agreeable to 
 his Majesty. Secondly, he has obtained the power 
 of exacting from any such archbishop or bishop, 
 previous to his entering on his functions, the fol^ 
 lowing oath of fidelity, which any good Catholic, 
 or Protestant either, need not hesitate to take. 
 
 ' I swear and promise, on the holy evangelists, 
 ' obedience to his Majesty the King of the Xether- 
 ' lands, my legitimate sovereign. I promise more- 
 ' over to hold no correspondence, to assist at no 
 • council, to engage in no suspicious confederacy, 
 ' neither within nor without the kingdom, that 
 ' may endanger the public peace ; and should it 
 ' come to my knowledge, whether within my own 
 ' diocese or elsewhere, that any measure is plotting 
 ' to the prejudice of the state, I will make it known 
 ' to the king my master.' 
 
 And thirdly, he has obtained the prayer of the 
 church : — ' Domine salvum fac regem nostrum 
 Gulielmum/ 
 
 In return for all which his majesty promises, out 
 of his royal munificence, to bestow a most liberal 
 allowance for the support of the clergy, and to 
 supply funds for the establishment of ecclesiastical 
 seminaries for the education of young pupils in- 
 tended for the church. 
 
 These are most important advantages on the 
 side of the Catholics, and it may be thought,
 
 284 OSTEND. 
 
 perhaps, that William has made but a bad bargain 
 — that the veto is not worth much — that the oath 
 is of still less value, and that the prayer is merely 
 harmless. Of what possible use, indeed, can any 
 oath be that is taken with a mental reservation, 
 and by those who have the means of freeing their 
 consciences from any breach of it, by obtaining 
 absolution? The Papists are likely enough to 
 be as ready as the Roundheads were, to think 
 that, 
 
 * *Tis he V)\\o makes the oath^ that breaks it ; 
 Not he -who, for convenietice, takes it.' 
 
 The Dutch government is doing all that can be 
 done for Belgium, by the establishment of schools 
 for the education of youth of all classes ; and if 
 the Belgians do their duty honestly towards the 
 schools, which are mostly under their direction, 
 and not adhere to that pernicious system of fet- 
 tering the minds of their scholars in the trammels 
 of superstition, and warping their understandings 
 in a direction that may be more suited to their 
 own purposes, this fine fertile country cannot fail 
 to recover, in no great length of time, its former 
 state of affluence and prosperity. 
 
 On the first of September, about four in the 
 afternoon, we embarked on the treckschuyt, not 
 quite so commodious as the fonner one, and were 
 landed in the evening on the quay of Ostend. 
 The fare was one franc and one stiver, about 
 elevenpence each person. The canal that con- 
 nects these two towns is broad and deep, and 
 nearly on a level with the surface of the country 
 the whole way, which has much the appearance of 
 Holland. In the best parts, where anything like
 
 OSTEND. 285 
 
 cultivation appears, the soil is heaped up in rounded 
 ridges, and the deep furrows, we observed, were 
 mostly filled with water. As we approach Ostend, 
 the surface, particularly on the northern side of 
 the canal, becomes more swampy, and the country 
 puts on a more dreary appearance. 
 
 Here, on the 1st of September, they were 
 busily employed in the very midst of haymaking, 
 tlie uncut grass having much the appearance of 
 being recently freed from immersion in water; 
 yet at a short distance were villages, with their 
 accompanying trees and their church spire, seen 
 in every direction. 
 
 On landing, we found there was a considerable 
 degree of alarm in Ostend on account of a fever 
 that had broken out in the garrison ; and to allay 
 the fears of the inhabitants, a public notice was 
 given out, stating the few deaths that had hap- 
 pened, — but which were so great, that if they had 
 taken place in the same proportion in London, 
 they would have given cause for apprehension that 
 either the plague or the yellow-fever or the cholera 
 had got among us. 
 
 Little can be said in praise of Ostend. The 
 town is neat enough, and looks lively, with its 
 painted houses of green, blue, and yellow, which 
 are the prevailing colours. The interior basin for 
 shipping is large and commodious, and is bordered 
 by a broad quay, which, by the grass springing 
 up between the stones, indicated no overflux of 
 trade. The entrance to the basin through the 
 outer channel and harbour is difiicult, and next to 
 impossible when the wind blows strong off the 
 shore. It is defended by a strong and regular
 
 286 OSTEND TO LONDON. 
 
 fort, in which is the citadel. Great precautions 
 have been taken to keep out the sea, by break- 
 waters of wood and stone, but chiefly by a sloping 
 glacis of stonework, on the top of which is a 
 pleasant promenade, having the sea-beach and the 
 sands close beneath it. 
 
 We embarked in the common steamer, and in 
 sixteen hours were landed on Tower-hill.
 
 NOTE.
 
 NOTE 
 
 ox THAT PART OF THE FOREGOING SHEETS WHICH 
 RELATES TO BELGIUM. 
 
 \ St January^ 1831. 
 It is now more than two years since the remarks 
 on Belgium, that occur in this little volume, were 
 written, and in which no change has been made — 
 but a sad change has taken place in the country 
 itself. We left it under a strong impression of 
 the growing prosperity of every city, town, and 
 village, through which we had passed. The anar- ' 
 chy of a few months only has been enough to 
 dry up the sources, and to wither all the branches 
 of that prosperity. From the mild and fostering 
 hand of a beneficent sovereign, the people of this 
 once flourishing country, instigated by a few 
 wicked and designing knaves, have precipitated 
 themselves into the hard and unfeeling grasp of 
 that worst of all tyrannies — the tyranny of a mob ; 
 to whose disposal and caprice their lives and pro- 
 perties were for a time surrendered, and placed at 
 the mercy of the will or the wants of that des- 
 u
 
 290 J^OTE. 
 
 potic power ; nor have they yet been able to rescue 
 themselves from the trammels of a certain set of 
 restless and mischievous demagogues, whose game 
 is anarchy, and the object, that of gaining some- 
 thing in the confusion and ruin which they have 
 created. 
 
 The calamities that have befallen this fine 
 country might almost be considered as a just 
 retribution for the unprovoked and wholly un- 
 called-for rebellion against tlie best of rulers — a 
 rebellion that had not even a pretext for its justi- 
 fication. It was a pitiful imitation of what had 
 taken place in France, aided and abetted by revo- 
 lutionary Frenchmen, joined with factious Belgians, 
 and urged on by a vindictive and seditious editor 
 of a newspaper, who had been justly prosecuted 
 and banished from the country. To the peaceable 
 and well-disposed the consequences have been 
 most deplorable. 
 
 It is admitted by all honest and unprejudiced 
 Belgians, that they had no real cause of complaint 
 against the government. They admit that the 
 commerce and manufactures of the Netherlands 
 had increased threefold since their union with 
 Holland; they admit that Antwerp was yearly 
 rising in commercial importancCj and diverting
 
 NOTE. 291 
 
 the trade of the less convenient ports of Amster- 
 dam and Rotterdam into its owti channel; that the 
 cotton and iron manufactures of Liege were in the 
 most flourishing condition ; that the cotton-mills 
 of this district and Ghent had increased five-fold 
 in number and extent; and that Holland alone 
 had taken from them four times the quantity of 
 coal and iron that France had done during the 
 annexation of Belgium to that kingdom. 
 
 They admit that the king ruled with impar- 
 tiality ; that the offices of state were equally 
 divided between Hollanders and Belgians, and 
 that, on some occasions, the latter predominated ; 
 that there was no exclusion, and that no one 
 could be more anxious than the king was, to 
 conciliate his new subjects. He could not have 
 given a stronger proof of this than the pains he 
 took to procure a Concordat from the pope, and to 
 re-establish the Catholic bishops — to improve the 
 condition of the Catholic clergy — to encourage, by 
 his liberality and example, the establishment of 
 schools for the children of his Catholic subjects. 
 He founded universities and schools for the 
 encouragement of arts, sciences, belles-lettres, and 
 religion, in almost every town of note throughout 
 Belgium.
 
 292 NOTE. 
 
 When this country became incorporated with 
 Holland, one of the first steps taken by the king 
 was to lay on protecting duties, which had the 
 effect of excluding our manufactures from Holland, 
 and injured the commerce of both countries for 
 the sake of benefiting the Belgians ; and thus he 
 incurred the displeasure of his own people and his 
 old ally, in order to conciliate his new subjects. 
 In short, if there ever was a man thoroughly dis- 
 posed to meet the wishes of his people, it was 
 William, King of the Netherlands. 
 
 Of the revolt against such a sovereign, the re- 
 sult has been melancholy for his new subjects, and 
 has conferred a partial benefit on his old ones. 
 On the first burst, as is usually the case in all 
 rebellions, massacres, robbery, pillage, and de- 
 struction of property, indiscriminately took place, 
 — but mostly that of productive property. One 
 instance of this madness may be mentioned as a 
 sample of what happened in many other cases. 
 An Eno-lishman of the name of Cockerell had 
 established manufactories of various kinds about 
 Liege, and one in particular on a very extended 
 scale. On the banks of the Meuse, between 
 Liege and Huy, the archiepiscopal j^alace of 
 Sereign had been purchased or ceded to him for
 
 KOTE. 293 
 
 the establishment of an iron foundry, in which the 
 king took a particular interest, and is said to have 
 contributed funds towards its completion, his object 
 being that of furnishing the best means for the 
 instruction of his subjects in the various branches 
 of the iron manufacture, and for the encourage- 
 ment of its progressive improvement in a part of 
 the country which afforded an ample supply of 
 iron-ore, coal, and limestone. In this manufac- 
 tory every species of iron work, from the heaviest 
 castings to the minutest articles of high polish, 
 was carried on. Steam-engines of every power, 
 from that of two hundred down to ten horses, 
 were constructed, and not fewer than two thou- 
 sand men employed in the various works belonging 
 to it ; but the king's name being also connected 
 with it, it was, at an early period, marked out as 
 an object for destruction. 
 
 This senseless rage of the populace, the suspen- 
 sion of all order, and the treacherous conduct of 
 the people of Brussels, soon produced, what civil 
 commotions are almost sure of producing, a total 
 stagnation of commerce ; gave a deadly blow to 
 manufacturing industry, and threw^ multitudes of 
 artisans and labourers out of employment : the 
 consequence was, poverty pervading all classes,
 
 294 NOTE. 
 
 .bankruptcy and ruin staring in the face the mer- 
 chant, the hanker, and the tradesman, and a total 
 want of confidence between man and man ; and 
 what makes a speedy change for the better almost 
 hopeless, the withdrawal from the country of the 
 honest, sober-minded, and respectable portion of 
 the inhabitants, with the wreck of their property, — 
 leaving the De Potters, the Robaulxes, and the 
 rest of the factious demagogues, to triumph over 
 the ruin which they have been so instrumental in 
 making. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, however, that this evil, 
 like most others, having reached its height, will 
 cure itself, and that a reaction must shortly take 
 place. The faction is fast losing gTOund, and it 
 is not the worst sign when the popular discontent 
 begins to vent itself in squibs and epigrams against 
 the authors of their misfortunes. One of these, 
 common in the mouths of the populace, is to this 
 effect — 
 
 ' When Orange ruled, as our head, 
 "We butter had to smear our bread; 
 But since the day we hail'd De Potter, 
 We've neither tasted bread nor butter.' 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that the union 
 of the two nations never augured well. The
 
 NOTE. 295 
 
 difference of language and religion was of itself 
 repugnant to such an alliance — more especially 
 when toleration on one side had to contend with 
 bigotry and superstition on the other. In this 
 view a separation may be of benefit ultimately to 
 both parties. 
 
 I6th July. 
 Since the above was written, the appointment of 
 a regent has been productive of some good. They 
 have now got a step further, and chosen a king 
 — may they long keep him, and treat him better 
 than they did their first one ! — But he, too, is a 
 Protestant, and on that account alone, he will have 
 a, difiicult card to play. 
 
 THE END.
 
 I.ONDOX 
 
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