_June_ 30_th_.
I dedicated the morning to the Prince of Orange’s cabinet of paintings
and curiosities both natural and artificial. Amongst the pictures which
amused me the most is a St. Anthony, by Hell-fire Brughel, who has shown
himself right worthy of the title; for a more diabolical variety of imps
never entered the human imagination. Brughel has made his saint take
refuge in a ditch filled with harpies and creeping things innumerable,
whose malice, one should think, would have lost Job himself the
reputation of patience. Castles of steel and fiery turrets glare on
every side, from whence issue a band of junior devils. These seem highly
entertained with pinking poor St. Anthony, and whispering, I warrant ye,
filthy tales in his ear. Nothing can be more rueful than the patient’s
countenance; more forlorn than his beard; more pious than his eye, which
forms a strong contrast to the pert winks and insidious glances of his
persecutors; some of whom; I need not mention, are evidently of the
female kind.
But really I am quite ashamed of having detained you in such bad company
so long; and, had I a moment to spare, you should be introduced to a
better set in this gallery, where some of the most exquisite Berghems and
Wouvermans I ever beheld would delight you for hours. I do not think you
would look much at the Polemburgs; there are but two, and one of them is
very far from capital; in short I am in a great hurry; so pardon me,
Carlo Cignani! if I don’t do justice to your merit; and excuse me,
Potter! if I pass by your herds without leaving a tribute of admiration.
Mynheer Van Something is as eager to precipitate my motions as I was to
get out of the damps and perplexities of Soorflect yesterday evening; so
mounting a very indifferent staircase, he led me to a suite of
garret-like apartments; which, considering the meanness of their
exterior, I was much surprised to find stored with some of the most
valuable productions of the Indies. Gold cups enriched with gems, models
of Chinese palaces in ivory, glittering armour of Hindostan, and Japan
caskets, filled every corner of this awkward treasury. What of all its
baubles pleased me most was a large coffer of some precious wood,
containing enamelled flasks of oriental essences, enough to perfume a
zenana, and so fragrant that I thought the Mogul himself a Dutchman, for
lavishing them upon this inelegant nation. If disagreeable fumes, as I
mentioned before, dissolve enchantments, such aromatic oils have
doubtless the power of raising them; for, whilst I scented their
fragrance, scarcely could anything have persuaded me that I was not in
the wardrobe of Hecuba,—
“Where treasur’d odours breath’d a costly scent.”
I saw, or seemed to see, the arched apartments, the procession of
venerable matrons, the consecrated vestments: the very temple began to
rise upon my sight, when a Dutch porpoise approaching to make me a low
bow; his complaisance was full as notorious as Satan’s, when, according
to Catholic legends, he took leave of Calvin or Dr. Faustus. No spell
can resist a fumigation of this nature; away fled palace, Hecuba,
matrons, temple, etc. I looked up, and lo! I was in a garret. As
poetry is but too often connected with this lofty situation, you won’t
wonder much at my flight. Being a little recovered from it, I tottered
down the staircase, entered the cabinets of natural history, and was soon
restored to my sober senses. A grave hippopotamus contributed a great
deal to their reestablishment.
The butterflies, I must needs confess, were very near leading me another
dance: I thought of their native hills and beloved flowers, of Haynang
and Nan-Hoa; {110} but the jargon which was prating all around me
prevented the excursion, and I summoned a decent share of attention for
that ample chamber which has been appropriated to bottled snakes and
pickled fœtuses.
After having enjoyed the same spectacle in the British Museum, no very
new or singular objects can be selected in this. One of the rarest
articles it contains is the representation in wax of a human head, most
dexterously flayed indeed! Rapturous encomiums have been bestowed by
amateurs on this performance. A German professor could hardly believe it
artificial; and, prompted by the love of truth, set his teeth in this
delicious morsel to be convinced of its reality. My faith was less
hazardously established; and I moved off, under the conviction that art
had never produced anything more horridly natural.
It was one o’clock before I got through the mineral kingdom; and another
hour passed before I could quit with decorum the regions of stuffed birds
and marine productions. At length my departure was allowable; and I went
to dine at Sir Joseph Yorke’s, with all nations and languages. The Hague
is the place in the world for a motley assembly, and, in some humours, I
think such the most agreeable.
After coffee I strayed to the great wood, which, considering that it
almost touches the town with its boughs, is wonderfully forest-like. Not
a branch being ever permitted to be lopped, the oaks and beeches retain
their natural luxuriance, and form some of the most picturesque groups
conceivable. In some places their straight boles rise sixty feet without
a bough; in others, they are bent fantastically over the alleys, which
turn and wind about just as a painter would desire. I followed them with
eagerness and curiosity, sometimes deviating from my path amongst tufts
of fern and herbage.
In these cool retreats I could not believe myself near canals and
windmills; the Dutch formalities were all forgotten whilst contemplating
the broad masses of foliage above, and the wild flowers and grasses
below. Several hares and rabbits scudded by me while I sat; and the
birds were chirping their evening song. Their preservation does credit
to the police of the country, which is so exact and well regulated as to
suffer no outrage within the precincts of this extensive wood, the depth
and thickness of which seem calculated to favour half the sins of a
capital.
[Picture: Amsterdam from the Quay]
Relying upon this comfortable security, I lingered unmolested amongst the
beeches till the ruddy gold of the setting sun ceased to glow on their
foliage; then taking the nearest path, I suffered myself, though not
without regret, to be conducted out of this fresh sylvan scene to the
dusty, pompous parterres of the Greffier Fagel. Every flower that wealth
can purchase diffuses its perfume on one side; whilst every stench a
canal can exhale, poisons the air on the other. These sluggish puddles
defy all the power of the United Provinces, and retain the freedom of
stinking in spite of their endeavours: but perhaps I am too bold in my
assertion; for I have no authority to mention any attempts to purify
these noxious pools. Who knows but their odour is congenial to a Dutch
constitution? One should be inclined to this supposition by the numerous
banqueting-rooms and pleasure-houses which hang directly above their
surface, and seem calculated on purpose to enjoy them. If frogs were not
excluded from the magistrature of their country (and I cannot but think
it a little hard that they are), one should not wonder at this choice.
Such burgomasters might erect their pavilions in such situations. But,
after all, I am not greatly surprised at the fishiness of their site,
since very slight authority would persuade me there was a period when
Holland was all water, and the ancestors of the present inhabitants fish.
A certain oysterishness of eye and flabbiness of complexion are almost
proofs sufficient of this aquatic descent: and pray tell me for what
purpose are such galligaskins as the Dutch burthen themselves with
contrived, but to tuck up a flouncing tail, and thus cloak the deformity
of their dolphin-like terminations?
Having done penance for some time in the damp alleys which line the
borders of these lazy waters, I was led through corkscrew sand-walks to a
vast flat, sparingly scattered over with vegetation. To puzzle myself in
such a labyrinth there was no temptation, so taking advantage of the
lateness of the hour, and muttering a few complimentary promises of
returning at the first opportunity, I escaped the ennui of this endless
scrubbery, and got home, with the determination of being wiser and less
curious if ever my stars should bring me again to the Hague. To-morrow I
bid it adieu, and if the horses but second my endeavours, shall be
delivered in a few days from the complicated plagues of the United
Provinces.