When the procession reached the palace of their high mightinesses, their

majesties were received at the door by four deputies from the assembly.

They ascended the great staircase, passed through the chamber of the

national library, and were received at the door of the anti-chamber by

the president of their high mightinesses, and two other deputies. Having

entered the hall of the assembly, her majesty was conducted to her

tribune by two deputies. The king seated himself on his throne, and put

on his hat. On the right side, and behind his majesty, sat the grand

chamberlain, and the aid-de-camp general; on the left, the master of the

horse, and the grand master of the civil list. All the other officers of

state were ranged in proper situations. The members of the assembly

stood up in their places uncovered on the entrance of the king; but when

his majesty covered himself, they followed his example. The president

placed himself in his chair, directly opposite to the king. After the

king was seated on his throne, he directed the grand master of the

ceremonies to administer the oaths of allegiance to their high

mightinesses. The oaths were accordingly first taken by the president,

and afterwards by the other members, in the order of their seniority.

Each member approached to the foot of the throne, and was sworn on the

Holy Evangelists. When all the members were sworn, his majesty delivered

the following speech to the assembly:

“GENTLEMEN,

“When the national deputies came to offer me the throne which I ascend

this day, I accepted it, under the conviction that it was the wish of

the whole nation; that the confidence and the necessities of all

called me to it.

“Relying on the intelligence, zeal, and patriotism of the principal

public functionaries, and particularly on yours, gentlemen the

deputies, I have fearlessly weighed in my mind the misfortunes of the

nation in their fullest extent. Animated by the strongest desire to

promote the welfare of this good people, and entertaining a hope that

I should one day attain that end, I stifled those sentiments which,

till then, had been ever the object and happiness of my life. I have

consented to change my country, to cease to be solely and entirely a

Frenchman, after having passed my whole life in performing, to the

best of my ability, those duties which that name prescribes to all who

have the honor of bearing it.

“I have consented to separate myself, for the first time, from him

who, from my infancy, has possessed my love and admiration: to lose

the repose and independence which those whom Heaven calls to govern

cannot have: to quit him, the separation from whom would fill me with

apprehension, even in the most tranquil times, and whose presence

precludes danger.

“I have consented to all this, and, gentlemen, had I not done so, I

would nevertheless yet act the same part, now that by the ardour, joy,

and confidence of the people through whose country I have passed, they

have proved to me, that you were the true interpreters of the nation,

now especially, when I am convinced, that I may rely on your zeal,

your attachment to the interests of your native land, and on your

confidence in, and fidelity, towards me.

“Gentlemen, this is the first day of the real independence of the

United Provinces. A transient glance at past ages is sufficient to

convince us, that they never had a stable government, a fixed destiny,

a real independence. Under that famous people, whom they fought and

served by turns, as under the Franks and the Empire of the West, they

were neither free nor tranquil.

“Neither were they so afterwards, when subjected to Spain.

“Their wars, and their repeated quarrels until the union, added to the

glory of the nation, confirmed its qualities in point of frankness,

intrepidity, and honor, for which, indeed, it had been always

celebrated; but its efforts procured it neither tranquillity nor

independence, even under the Princes of Orange, who, though they were

useful to their country, as soldiers and statesmen, were always

disturbing it, by pretending, or endeavouring to obtain a power which

the nation denied them.

“Nor could Holland be considered in that state in later times, when

the elevation of ideas, and the general agitation of Europe, so long

suspended the repose of nations.

“After so many vicissitudes, so much agitation, so many calamities;

and at a time when the great states were enlarging themselves,

ameliorating and concentrating their governments and their forces,

this country could enjoy no real safety nor independence, but in a

moderate monarchical state; a form which had been acknowledged during

a long period, and by each nation, in its turn, as the most perfect,

and if not absolutely so, yet as much so as the nature of man will

admit. But, doubtless, if perfection were the lot of humanity, we

might then dispense with a government of this kind. Laws would then be

founded in wisdom, and obeyed without reluctance or obstacle; virtue

would reign triumphant, and insure its own reward; vice would be

banished, and wickedness rendered impotent; but illusions which favour

such romantic ideas of human nature, are transient; and experience

soon brings us back to positive facts.

“However, even monarchy itself is not sufficient for a country, which,

though powerful and important, is not sufficiently so for its

position, which requires forces of the first rank both by land and

sea. It will, therefore, be necessary for it to form a connexion with

one of the great powers of Europe, with which its amity may be

eternally assured, without any alteration of its independence.

“This, gentlemen, is what your nation has done; this is the object of

its constitutional laws, and also that of my taking upon me an

employment so glorious; this is my object in my placing myself in the

midst of a people, who are, and ever shall be mine, by my affection

and solicitude. With pride I perceive two of the principal means of

government and confidence offering themselves to me; the _honour_ and

the _virtue_ of the inhabitants.

“Yes, gentleman, these shall be real supporters of the throne; I wish

for no other guides. For my part, _I know no distinctions of religion

or party; distinctions can only arise from merit and services_. My

design is only to remedy the evils which the country has suffered. The

duration of these evils, and the difficulty of remedying them, will

only increase and realize my glory.

“To effect these objects, I have occasion for the entire confidence of

the nation, their complete devotion, and all the talents of the

distinguished men whom it contains, but particularly of you,

gentlemen, whose zeal, talents, and patriotism, are well known.

“I am at this moment appealing to the good and faithful Hollanders,

before the deputies of the provinces and principal cities of the

kingdom. I see them around me with pleasure. Let them bear to their

fellow-citizens the assurance of my solicitude and affection: let them

carry the same testimony of these sentiments to _Amsterdam_; that

city, which is the honour of commerce, and of the country: that city,

which I wish to _call my good and faithful capital_, though the Hague

will always remain the residence of the sovereign. Let them also carry

the same assurances to their fellow-citizens, and the deputies of that

neighbouring city, the prosperity of which I hope very soon to renew,

and whose inhabitants I distinguish.

“It is by these sentiments, gentlemen; it is by the union of all

orders of people in the state, and by that of my subjects among

themselves; it is by the devotion of each individual to his duties,

the only basis of real honour assigned to men; but principally by the

unanimity which has hitherto preserved these provinces from all

dangers and calamities, and which has ever been their shield, that I

expect the tranquillity, safety, and glory of the nation, and the

happiness of my life.”

The king has given general satisfaction by the choice he has made of the

persons he has nominated to fill the public offices; and if the wishes

of one who trespassed a little irregularly upon their shores can avail,

the brave, frugal, and indefatigable Hollanders will derive happiness,

and, when peace is restored to Europe, prosperity under their new

government.

The revenue attached to the stadtholderate was nominally 18,000_l._ per

annum; but by the great patronage and influence belonging to it, no

doubt it must have been considerably augmented, as also by the revenues

arising from other hereditary territories of the stadtholders; but after

all, the income of the stadtholderate was scarcely sufficient to support

the dignity of the situation, powerful and important as it at last

became. The king, in addition to his revenue, has an enormous private

fortune: the savings which he has effected in the state reconcile the

Dutch to this liberal, but perhaps not excessive allowance made for the

support of his dignity.

How the Hague could be called a village, in all its meridian splendor,

is a matter of surprise: it derived its name from s’Cravenhage, or the

Count’s Wood, on account of a wood which formerly grew here, and which

formed, some centuries since, a part of the domains of the Counts of

Holland. The following anecdote will show the simplicity which reigned

in this great and beautiful city in former times. When Louisa de Coligni

was coming to be married to Prince William at the Hague, the Dutch sent

an open post-waggon to meet her, and she entered the city seated on a

plank: towards the latter end of Prince Maurice’s days, and during

Frederic-Henry’s lifetime, the Hague became a very agreeable place, and

the resort of people of the first distinction.

In my rambles round this city, I was much impressed with the elegance

and spaciousness of the buildings; every object seemed to have partaken

of the spirit and magnificence of a court. But there was a solemnity in

the splendor. It reminded one of looking into a magnificent ball-room

after the greater part of the company had departed, and the lustres were

dying away. If the Orange family had been entitled to sympathy, the

scene would have led me to feel and think for them. Its noble buildings,

its spacious streets, gracefully built, shaded with trees, and divided

by canals, the variety of surrounding scenery, its proximity to the sea,

its elevated situation, and the purity of its air, render the Hague the

most charming town in Holland. The first place I visited was the palace

of the last of the stadtholders. It is a vast pile of houses, many of

them somewhat ancient, surrounded by a canal, without which and a pipe,

paradise itself would have no charms for a Dutchman: over the canal are

several draw-bridges; and the whole has a very pleasing effect seen from

the spot where I took the view of it. On one side of a quadrangle is

part of a new palace, built by the late stadtholder, and which, had it

been finished, would have been handsome and princely; but the troubles

in Holland have prevented its completion.

In part of this building there is a noble gothic hall, much resembling

Westminster-Hall, and very large; on each side little shops were

arranged, similar to those in Exeter ‘Change: it is converting into a

chapel for the king. There were here formerly the prince’s cabinet of

natural history and museum of rarities, consisting of a tolerable

collection of shells, petrifactions, precious stones, fossils, minerals,

and birds. This collection has been removed to Paris, although, from all

I could learn, scarcely worthy of so much trouble: it, however,

furnished the first elements of knowledge to Camper, one of the most

profound geniuses which the United Provinces ever produced, and also

Professor Pallas, who has been called the Pliny of Russia. The French

offered to re-sell this cabinet to the Dutch government, who declined

becoming the purchasers; a tolerable proof of its inferiority. The

prince’s cabinet of pictures was very select and valuable, and was

enriched by the productions of Titian, Holbein, Rembrandt, Vandyke,

Gerard Dow, Metzio, Polemburgh, and other illustrious artists. On the

confiscation of the property of the exiled Stadtholder, the Dutch

government, for the purpose of promoting the polite arts, formed this

collection of pictures, esteemed one of the most valuable in Europe,

into a national gallery, set apart an annual sum for the augmentation of

it, and deposited it in a fine suite of apartments in the House in the

Wood, where a director of ability, and assistants, were appointed to

superintend it: but the French soon afterwards transferred the best of

them to that magnificent depot of the fruits of conquest, the Louvre at

Paris. The first person sent by Napoleon to select for his gallery was

unequal to his office, and left some excellent works behind him, which,

upon “a second shaking of the tree” by another and more able inspector,

were collected, and sent off to that _colossal collector_ of works of

art. Amongst several landscapes by Vernet was the finest he ever

painted, the subject, the waterfall of Tivoli. It is a curious

circumstance that there is not one fine private collection at the Hague.

I was much delighted with the Voorhout, considered the principal street,

in which are many elegant and classical buildings, forming complete

contrasts to the leaning, mercantile structures of Rotterdam. In this

street the most elegant houses are those which formerly belonged to the

Prince Wielburgh, who married the last Prince of Orange’s sister, and to

the French ambassador, formerly occupied by the British minister: but

the most beautiful part of the Hague is the Vyverburg; it is a vast

oblong square, adorned with a noble walk or mall, strowed with broken

shells, and shaded by avenues of trees on one side, and on the other by

the palace, and a large basin of water called the Vyver, almost a

quarter of a mile in length, variegated by an island of poplars in its

centre. This mall is the place of fashionable resort, and, on the

evening of the day I saw it, was adorned with several groups of lovely

women attired in the French fashion, which generally prevails amongst

the genteel families in Holland. Besides these there are many other very

noble ones, and all remarkably clean, but the canals are almost all of

them green and stagnant, and at this season emitted an unpleasant

effluvia. Here, as in many cities in France, the armorial ensigns of

distinguished families, which used to dignify the front of their

dwellings, have been cut away, and many a shield remains despoiled of

its quarterings. Some of them, since the new order of things has

occurred, have been restored. In a square planted on all sides with

trees the parade is held.

As Lady Wortley Montagu, in her accustomed sprightliness of style, has

mentioned with some appearance of disgust, the white fishy faces of the

Dutch women, I beg to observe, that at the Hague I saw several very

pretty females: in general they possessed transparent delicacy of

countenance, but as generally wanted expression. An English gentleman

who had just returned from Italy, where he had been accustomed for

several years to the warm voluptuous brunettes of that beautiful

country, was uncommonly delighted with the fair faces of the Dutch

ladies; but female beauty does not begin to expand itself till after the

imprisonment and regimen of the nursery are past. Pretty and healthy

children are rarely to be seen in Holland: in general they look pale and

squalid, owing to an abominable system followed in rearing them; they

are accustomed for the first two or three months to respire the

atmosphere of a room, the windows of which are never opened to receive

the freshness of the morning air; to wash them with refreshing cold

water would be considered as certain infanticide; the miserable infant

is swathed round with flannel rollers, until it becomes as motionless as

a mummy; and over these ligatures there is always a vast flannel wrapper

folded three or four times round the body, and fastened at the bottom of

its feet: afterwards, for many months it is loaded with woollen

garments, and when at length it is permitted to try for what purpose

legs were originally constructed, it is cased in an additional wrapping

of flannel, to prevent the dreaded consequences of freely inhaling the

salubrious air.

As it was summer, I can only speak from information of an equally vile

and destructive custom, which obtains in the winter, of suffering the

children to sit over the chauffepies or stoves, which frequently

supplants the ruddy tints of health by a white parboiled appearance. I

saw several of these chauffepies, from which the little pots that in

cold weather contain the burning turf, had been withdrawn, used by the

ladies as footstools. Whilst the men warm themselves with the smoke of

tobacco from above, the ladies, to recompense themselves for not using

that indulgence, take care to fumigate themselves below, by placing, in

the proper season, these ignited stoves under their petticoats, and

resemble the glow-worm, which carries his fire in his tail: the cats and

kittens, from the genial warmth of the climate, are glad to take shelter

in this warm mysterious sanctuary. The ladies and the lower classes of

females are always remarkably neat about the feet; the petticoats of the

latter are in general very short, display a well-proportioned leg, clean

blue stockings, and a slipper without any heel-piece, or sabot.

In my way to the palace in the Wood, near this square, I passed by a

vast triumphal arch made of wood, painted to imitate stone, and adorned

with a number of complimentary inscriptions in Latin, in honour of the

king and queen, who passed through it on the 23d of June last, when they

made their public entry; and in a vast field adjoining to the wood was a

lofty temporary obelisk of the same materials, which formed one of the

principal objects of a magnificent fête recently given by the French

commander in chief in honour of their majesties, which was conducted in

the highest style of Parisian taste. The day when I visited the wood was

remarkably fine; this spot, so dear to the Dutch, is nearly two English

miles long, about three-quarters of a mile broad, and contains a fine

display of magnificent oaks growing in native luxuriance. Antony

Waterloo made the greatest part of his studies from this spot and its

environs. The ground upon which it grows, and the country about it,

undulate a little, a circumstance of agreeable novelty, and the whole is

a truly delightful walk, more romantic and umbrageous than our mall of

St. James’s, and surpassed only by the garden of the Thuilleries. This

wood has been held sacred with more than pagan piety. War and national

want, that seldom spare in their progress, committed no violations here.

Although the favourite place of royal recreation, yet, in the fury of

the revolution, not a leaf _trembled but in the wind_. Philip II. in the

great war with Spain, issued his mandate for preserving it: hostile

armies have marched through it without offering it a wound, and the axe

of the woodman has never resounded in it. Even children are taught or

whipt into veneration for it, so that their mischievous hands never

strip it of a bough. Once, however, it is recorded, that at a period of

great state necessity, in 1576, their high mightinesses sat in judgment

upon its noble growth, and doomed it to fall: the moment their decree

was known, the citizens flew to the meeting, remonstrated with a degree

of feeling which did honour to their taste; and upon learning that the

object of its doom was to raise a certain sum to assist in replenishing

the nearly exhausted coffers of the republic, they immediately entered

into a contribution, and presented the amount to the “high and mighty

masters” of the sacred grove.

It has been asserted by some travellers, that the Dutch treasure this

spot more from national pride than feeling, and that they are more

disposed to preserve than to enjoy it. To this remark I have only to

offer, that I saw a considerable number of equestrian and pedestrian

groups, who appeared to relish its shaded roads, and sequestered walks

with great delight. The royal residence is to the right at the end of

the wood. Upon my asking a Dutchman which path led to the “house in the

wood,” the only appellation by which, in the time of the Stadtholder, it

was known, he sharply replied, “I presume you mean the _palace_ in the

wood.” This building is merely fit for the residence of a country

gentleman, and has nothing princely about it, except the centry boxes at

the foot of the flight of stairs ascending to the grand entrance: two

tall and not very perpendicular poles, from the tops of which is

stretched a cord, suspending in the centre a large lamp, stand on each

side of the house in front of the palace; on the left are the

coach-houses and stablings, which are perfectly plain, and are just

separated from the court road by a small stunted plantation: there was a

very handsome carriage of the king’s in the coach-house, without arms or

cyphers, of a pale blue colour, which, with silver lace, is the colour

of the new royal livery. The carriage had every appearance of having

been built in England. Excepting this, I never before saw a carriage,

unless appropriated for state occasions, belonging to any crowned head

on the continent, that an Englishman of taste and opulence would be

satisfied with. Even the carriages of Napoleon, built in a city so

celebrated for its taste in design, and beauty of workmanship, as Paris,

are clumsy and unpleasant to the eye. Although it was Sunday, the sound

of workmen, actively engaged in modernizing the palace after the

Parisian taste, issued from almost every window. Some Dutchmen who were

contemplating the front of the house, shook their heads at this

encroachment of the sabbath. In consequence of the internal arrangement

not being finished, strangers were not admitted. The walks on the

outside of the gardens are formal and insipid; the gardens themselves

are handsomely disposed, and kept in great order, and the whole of the

premises is insulated by stagnant canals crossed with draw-bridges.

In this palace, amongst many other precious works of art, was the

celebrated picture of King William the Third, who appointed the famous

Godfrey Scalken, when he was in London, to paint his portrait by

candlelight: the painter placed a taper in the hands of his majesty, to

hold it in a situation most favourable to the designs of the artist,

during which the tallow melted and dropped on the fingers of the

monarch, who endured it with great composure, for fear of embarrassing

the painter, who very tranquilly continued his work, without offering to

pause for a minute: it is not much to the credit of the prince of the

country to record, that this blunt enthusiasm for his art lost poor

Scalken the favour of the court, and of persons of fashion, and he

retired to the Hague, where he had a prodigious demand for his small

paintings.

The furniture of this, which, as well as of the other palaces, was

superb, but old fashioned, was sold by the French, upon the pretence

that their arms were directed against the Prince of Orange personally.

In this palace the Stadtholder and his family used to indulge his

subjects in that ridiculous custom of eating before them on certain

days; a custom which was a fit appendage to another, that of keeping

dwarfs and fools about the royal person. How this stupid usage came to

be adopted at first I know not, for one would naturally think that the

situation least calculated to inspire awe and veneration, those great

supports of royalty, amongst subjects towards their rulers, would be

that in which a mere animal appetite is gratified. In England such

splendid folly has been long discontinued.

The plain manner in which the Prince of Orange and his family resided at

this palace, is thus described by the late ingenious Mr. Ireland. “The

reception we met with as strangers, was highly flattering. It was the

character of Englishmen that was our passport. Expressing our wish to

see the prince, the court being then full, we were addressed by a

gentleman (whom we afterwards found to be Lord Athlone) through whose

politeness we gained admission, and were with great affability noticed

by the prince. He is short in stature, with much elegance and

familiarity in his manner, not unlike our royal family. The princess and

her daughter, who is about eighteen, appeared in the room: their dresses

were very plain, and they had no other mark of superiority than a

train-bearer. So little ceremony is observed in the exterior of the

house, that just without the door of the apartment, where the prince was

giving audience (which was open), a woman was on her knees scrubbing the

staircase.”

Upon my return to my hotel at one o’clock, the dinner hour, I found a

very agreeable party, composed of foreigners from different countries,

and an excellent _table d’hote_: over the chimney-piece was a good

equestrian portrait of the famous Duke of Cumberland, who lodged at this

house occasionally during the campaigns of 1747. After dinner, in

company with a very amiable gentleman-like Englishman, whom I met at the

_table d’hote_, I set off in one of the carriages, many of which are

always ready to convey passengers, for about the value of six-pence

English, for Scheveling, a village which every traveller should visit,

on account of the beauty of the avenue leading to it, which is nearly

two miles, perfectly straight, and thickly planted with beech, limes,

and oaks; at the end of which superb vista the church of Scheveling

appears. On the sandy ground on each side of this avenue are several

birch thickets, and it abounds with the aiera canescens, hippophae

rhamnoides, a singular dwarf variety of ligustrum vulgare (Privet), the

true arundo epigejos of Linnæus (that is, calamagrostis), and a number

of heath plants, mixed with others usually found in marshes. Scarcely is

there so small a spot, where Flora presents such opposite variety, and

which the fluctuating moisture of the soil can alone account for. Among

the rarer species are convallaria multiflora, and polygonatum, with

gentiana cruciata, which is not a native of England.

The Dutch value this beautiful avenue as much as they do their Wood, and

great care is taken to preserve it from violation. At the entrance, in a

most romantic spot, is the turnpike-gate, where all passengers, except

the fishermen of Scheveling, pay a fraction of a farthing for permission

to enter; and here are stuck up orders, threatening with punishment

those who may attempt to injure in the smallest degree this consecrated

forest. At short intervals, cautionary inscriptions are placed in

conspicuous situations, to warn mischievous “apple munching urchins”

from cutting the smallest twig.

Constantine Huygens, brother of the celebrated mathematician and

mechanist of that name, had the honor of designing this avenue, in which

there are many stately trees, upwards of a century and a half old: a

terrible storm which took place a few years since, laid about fifty of

these noble objects low, to the great grief and consternation of the

country. Here, and perhaps here only, throughout Holland, the traveller

may be gratified by the sounds of a running brook. The foot paths on

each side were crowded with pedestrians of both sexes, in their holiday

clothes; and the slanting rays of a brilliant sun flashing through

openings in the branches of the limes, beech trees, and oaks, upon a

crowd of merry faces, jolting in the most whimsical carts and waggons,

to their favourite spot of carousal, had a very pleasing and picturesque

effect.

The village is very neat and pretty; at the end of the vista, large

sand-hills rising near the base of the church, preclude the sight of the

ocean, which, when they are surmounted, opens upon the view with

uncommon majesty. The beach, which we saw in high perfection on account

of its being low water, is very firm to the tread, and forms a beautiful

walk of nearly six miles in extent. The ocean was like a mirror, and

fishing vessels were reclining on the sand in the most picturesque

forms, just surrounded with water; their owners, with their wives and

children, were parading up and down in their sabbath suits, and the

whole sand for a mile was a fine marine mall, covered with groupes who

appeared as capable of appreciating the beauty of the scene, as the

worshippers of the Steyne at Brighton, or of the Parade at Bath. The

Dutch are said to have an antipathy to sea-air; but this I found not to

be generally true: certain it is, that they are not fond of sea-bathing,

otherwise this beach would be crowded with bathing, and the country

above it with lodging-houses.

Water is no novelty to a Dutchman, and he prefers, and there seems some

sense in his preference, his neat, commodious country-house, and his

gardens, and all the comforts of life about him, to the pleasure of

bathing and contemplating a waste of waters from the windows of a

cheerless inn or lodging-house. An English frigate, which lay off at a

considerable distance, excited a good deal of attention, and added to

the beauty of the scene. Upon quitting the beach we entered an inn which

overlooked the sand and was a place of great resort, every room of which

was crowded and filled with tobacco smoke. The state of Mr. Fox’s health

formed the leading feature of the political discourse. “Herr Fock,” as

he was called, was frequently repeated at every table. Opposite to where

we sat a young Dutch couple were making violent love; they kissed,

devoured dry salted fish, and drank punch with an enthusiasm, which

presented to our imagination the warmest association of Cupid and the

jolly god. John Van Goyen, who died in 1656, and was so justly

celebrated for the transparency of his colouring of water, made this

spot the frequent subject of his charming pencil. Dutch tradition dwells

with delight upon a cock and a bull story respecting the celebrated

flying chariot which used to sail upon those lands, and on the

surrounding country. It was said to have been made by Stevinus, for

Prince Maurice: it is thus described and commented upon in a curious old

description of Holland: “The form of it was simple and plain: it

resembled a boat moved upon four wheels of an equal bigness, had two

sails, was steered by a rudder placed between the two hindmost wheels,

and was stopt either by letting down the sails, or turning it from the

wind. This noble machine has been celebrated by many great authors, as

one of the most ingenious inventions later ages have produced. Bishop

Wilkins, in his Treatise of Mechanical Motions, mentions several great

men who described and admired it. Grotius mentions an elegant figure of

it in copper, done by Geyneus; and Herodius, in one of his large maps of

Asia, gives another sketch of the like chariots used in China.”

Incredible as this story appears, one would be disposed to think, that a

man of Grotius’s celebrity for learning and truth, would scarcely have

eulogized the invention, had he doubted its existence. Upon a level,

hard, straight road, uninterrupted by trees and buildings, such a piece

of ingenuity might perhaps prove successful as a mechanical experiment,

but utterly impossible ever to be made serviceable.

CHAPTER X.

HISTORICAL ANECDOTE OF SCHEVELING ... ANECDOTE OF LORD NELSON ... A

MARINE SCENE ... PASSION OF DUTCH FOR FLOWERS NOT SUBSIDED ...

VENERATION OF DUTCH FOR STORKS ... CAUSES OF IT ... QUAILS AND SWANS ...

HUMOROUS BLUNDER OF A DUTCH WAITER ... UNIVERSAL INDUSTRY ... DOGS AND

GOATS ... THE THEATRE ... THEATRICAL ECONOMY ... PRODIGAL

PROCREATION ... PRESENT STATE OF THE HAGUE ... STATE OF LITERATURE

THERE ... BRIEF ANECDOTE OF DANIEL MYTENS ... OF JOHN HANNEMAN ... OF

JOHN LE DUC, OR THE BRAVE.

The coast of Scheveling is considered very dangerous in rough weather:

the spires of the church here, and those of Gravesande and Monster,

three leagues to the south, serve for landmarks; yet, owing to the coast

of the province of Holland lying very low and flat, they are scarcely

discernible three or four leagues at sea: for want of sand-banks to

break the force of the sea, the coast is much exposed, and the fishermen

are obliged, after their return, to haul their vessels on rollers up the

beach beyond the water’s reach: this labour must be very great, for many

of them are from twenty to thirty-five tons burthen.

This place has been at different periods subject to dreadful irruptions

of the sea, particularly in the year 1574, when it broke in, and carried

away 121 houses: Scheveling has its portion of historic celebrity. In

1650, the expatriated Charles II. after a long exile, embarked from this

place for Scotland, to which he was invited, with a promise of

assistance in recovering the rest of his dominions. Clarendon, in his

History, vol. iii. p. 287, says, the king went from the Hague to

Scheveling, where “the States of Holland, at infinite hazard to

themselves from Cromwell and England, suffered their ship to transport

him. They gave all countenance to the Scotch merchants and factors who

lived in their dominions, and some credit, that they might send arms and

ammunition, and whatsoever else was necessary for the king’s service,

into that kingdom.” And this the States did “when the king was at his

lowest ebb, and was heartily weary of being in a place (Paris) where he

was very ill-treated, and lived very uncomfortably, and from whence he

foresaw he should soon be driven.” Having experienced the most romantic

vicissitudes after his escape from Worcester, this monarch, in the

disguise of a sailor, escaped to Dieppe in Normandy, in 1651; and he

again, in 1660, embarked at Scheveling on board of his own fleet, which

was waiting to receive him. The grateful monarch declared war against

his Dutch friends in 1672, and entered into a private league with the

French king to lay waste their provinces with fire and sword. From this

beach too the Stadtholder, his son the hereditary prince, and two or

three Dutch noblemen attached to the prostrate fortunes of the house of

Orange, embarked when they fled to England: the vessel they sailed in

was a small fishing cutter, navigated by five men; the princesses took

their departure in a similar conveyance the day before.

Another interesting event also is recorded as having occurred off this

coast, by Bishop Burnet, who in the History of his Own Times thus

relates this marvellous circumstance: “There was one extraordinary thing

happened near the Hague this summer (1672); I had it from many

eye-witnesses, and no doubt was made of the truth of it by any at the

Hague. Soon after the English fleet had refitted themselves, they

appeared in sight of Scheveling, making up to the shore. The tide

turned, but they reckoned that with the next flood they could certainly

land the forces that were on board, where they were like to meet with no

resistance. The States sent to the prince for some regiments to hinder

the descent. He could not spare many men, having the French near him; so

between the two, the country was given up for lost unless De Ruyter

should quickly come up. The flood returned, which the people thought was

to end in their ruin; but to all their amazement, after it had flowed

two or three hours, an ebb of many hours succeeded, which carried the

fleet again to sea; and before that was spent, De Ruyter came in view.

This they reckoned a miracle wrought for their preservation.” It is also

a curious circumstance that the reverse of this extraordinary effort of

nature enabled the immortal Nelson to lay his fleet so as to bear upon

the batteries by which the capital of Denmark was protected. The tide

had never been known, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of

Copenhagen, to have risen so high as on the day when the battle first

commenced, and greatly contributed to his success in persuading the

gallant Danes that they were beaten.

De Ruyter, the Nelson of the Dutch, was distinguished for the boldness

of his designs and the celerity of his execution. In 1653, with Van

Tromp, he commanded the Dutch fleet against this country with the

greatest honour to his flag. The Moors presented him with a Barbary

horse, magnificently caparisoned, for his gallantly reaching his

destined port in the Salee roads, and for capturing five powerful

Algerine corsairs. The celebrated vice-admiral d’Estrés said of him in a

letter to Colbert, on account of his noble conduct in those hard-fought

engagements between the English, Dutch, and French fleets off the Texel,

“I should be very willing to purchase with my life the glory which De

Ruyter has acquired in these desperate actions.”

On our return we met groups of little girls, whose short petticoats, and

protuberances on all sides, looked very grotesque. Many of the Dutch

girls of the lower order wear twenty or thirty yards of flannel tied

round their hips. In the village is a pauper house for the poor and

aged, founded in 1614. On a week day, the road from Scheveling is more

characteristically gay, being covered with fishwomen running and singing

to the Hague, under loads of soles, cod, turbot, &c. to which place I

returned, highly delighted with my excursion. In the neighbourhood of

that city are several fine flower-gardens. The passion of the Dutch for

flowers is well known. M. Dutens, in his very entertaining and

interesting Memoirs of a Traveller in Retirement, says, that at the

kermis or fair held at the Hague in the month of May, “I was witness to

a circumstance I could not otherwise have believed, respecting the price

of flowers in Holland; I saw four hundred and seventy-five guineas

offered and refused for a hyacinth. It was to be sure the most charming

flower that ever was seen: it belonged to a florist at Haarlem, and

_another florist offered this price for it_. The reason which the owner

gave me for refusing the offer was, that his hyacinth was known to all

the amateurs of Europe, and that he sold the bulbs every year for more

than the interest of five hundred guineas. These bulbs produced the same

sort of flower in all its beauty.” This singular passion has not

subsided: at Haarlem fine narcissuses and jonquils sell for an immense

price, and parties are made every summer to visit the roses, which grow

in great perfection at Noordwyk.

Upon our return to the Hague, we visited a palace of the _ci-devant_

hereditary Prince of Orange; it forms three sides of an oblong square

towards the street; it was converting into a public office; behind are

some pretty gardens, one of which is less formal than Dutch gardens in

general. I concluded the day by walking round a great part of the town,

the whole of which is surrounded with avenues of trees, similiar to, but

not so fine as the boulevards of Rouen. In the fish-market, the next

day, I saw several storks, who were parading about in perfect security,

of which they seemed to be thoroughly satisfied, and were every now and

then regaled by the offal of the fish. The prejudices of the people have

consecrated these birds, on account of their being considered as the

_gardes du corps_ of republican liberty. The Greeks and Romans regarded

them with peculiar veneration; and in Thessaly the destroyer of one was

punished with exile. No animal but this discovers any token of fondness

for the authors of its existence after it has attained strength and

discrimination sufficient to provide for itself. The stork is well known

to evince an exemplary regard for its aged parents, whom it defends from

attack, and furnishes with food; and well did it deserve the Roman

appellation of “pia avis.” The Dutch frequently erect frames of wood

upon the tops of their houses to encourage these their favourite birds

to build their nests there. Perhaps another reason why these birds are

so much cherished is that which renders them popular in Germany, namely,

on account of their quick perception of fire, and the noise they make

when it takes place. If the Dutch really believed that the storks could

exist only in a pure republic, they must for some time past have

renounced their credulity, for these birds have survived the visits of

the French, and seem to have no objection to be enrolled amongst the

subjects of the new King. It is said that they assemble at certain

periods and hold consultations. Certain it is that the crows in England

frequently meet with all the appearance of a deliberative body. A

gentleman of distinguished talents and veracity assured me, that he once

observed a vast body of crows assembled near his country-house, that

after making a great deal of noise, one of them moved slowly into the

middle, soon after which the rest fell upon him and pecked him to death.

The quails are another species of privileged birds in Holland,

particularly in Guelderland, where they are preserved with superstitious

care in cages suspended on the outsides of houses. The swan too is much

venerated here, and the raven is greatly cherished at Nimeguen.

The traveller will be well remunerated for his trouble in ascending to

the top of the tower of St. Jacques, the only high devotional building

in the Hague, except the new church: to obtain permission to do so, it

is necessary to apply to the principal magistrate of the police, the

reason for which precaution I could not learn. The view from this

elevation is exquisitely beautiful; below, on one side lay expanded the

square, the venerable pile of the town palace, its superb basin, the

noble streets leading towards the wood, and the spires of distant

villages fading in midst of the horizon; whilst, on the other side,

stretched the avenues of Scheveling, terminated by the blue and

sparkling ocean.

A whimsical little penalty followed this gratification; at the hotel

where I resided, a Dutch waiter attended me, who imposed upon his master

to believe that he spoke English very fluently, in consequence of which

he was selected to wait upon all English and American visitors: the

English language of this personage was a ridiculous collection of the

heads, legs, wings, and tails of English words, mingled together with

all the confusion of a giblet-pye. Upon my expressing to this flippant

gentleman my wish to ascend the _tower_ of the church, he said,

interrupting me, “Oh, de _roof_, de _roof_.” I acquiesced, and away he

flew; about an hour afterwards he returned in high perspiration with a

billet, which instead of proving to be an order to view the town and

country from the _roof_ of the tower, was an acknowledgment of money for

the _ruif_ of the treckschuyt for Leyden the day following, viz. the

whole of the cabin which he had engaged and paid the amount of for me.

In Holland, that bee-hive of industry, every available source of service

is made use of, so that dogs, and even goats, are not suffered to pick

the bone, or eat the bread of idleness. Most of the little wares and

merchandizes, and particularly fish, are drawn by the former, who are

properly harnessed for the occasion to little carts, whilst the latter

are yoked to infantine waggons and curricles, to air and exercise little

children in. It is really astonishing to see what weight these animals

will draw after them; nothing can exceed their docility, and for their

labour, the Hollander, who is remarkable for his humanity to the dumb

creation, feeds them well, and lodges them in his house very

comfortably. Owing to the great care paid to their dogs, the canine

madness seldom appears amongst them. On Sundays they are permitted to

refresh and enjoy themselves, and never show any disposition to escape

from their lot of industry. In their farms, cows and oxen are always

used in draft, and display every appearance of receiving the kindest

treatment from their masters.

The theatre at the Hague is tastefully arranged, and supplied with a

tolerable set of French comedians. The centre box is appropriated for

the royal family, and is elegantly fitted up. Before the conversion of

the republic into a kingdom, when the government resided in the hands of

the Batavian directory, the ornaments of the box which was allotted to

them, were very unworthy of the rank of the personages for whose

accommodation it was reserved: a piece of paper, on which was written,

“Le loge du directoire Batave,” and pasted on the box door, alone

announced the dignity of its destination. The usual national spirit of

economy used to display itself in the Dutch theatre, where, to prevent a

useless consumption of tallow, whenever the musicians quitted the

orchestra, they were bound by contract to extinguish the lights by which

they read their music. In many tradesmen’s houses at this day in

Holland, winter courtships are carried on in the dark, the union of warm

love and rigid economy being considered a very laudable conjunction.

If we are to give credit to the ridiculous story which is still believed

at a village called Loosduynen, about three miles from the Hague, the

ladies are far from being economical in breeding. A Dutch author has

gone so far as to declare, that he had seen the three hundred and

sixty-five children of the Countess of Henesberg, and with pleasant

minuteness describes them to be of the size of shrimps, and Erasmus

believed the story. Those who have the hardihood to differ from such

authorities, explain away the miracle by stating, that on the _third_

day of _January_, the beggar wished the countess, who expected to lie in

every hour, might have as many children as there had been days in the

year, and that she on that day was delivered of _three_ children.

The Hague was once celebrated for its many elegant, and especially for

its literary societies; the latter have declined, whilst those of France

have flourished and improved, amidst the frightful fluctuations of

revolutionary tumult. Erasmus, Grotius, and Boerhaave, have conferred

immortality upon the letters of Holland, as they would upon those of any

nation; but the literary glory of the country seems not to have spread

upon the demise of these illustrious sages. Hooft, Vondel, and

Antonides, are known in Holland, but not out of it; and we have heard

but faintly of Huygens, Graveszande, and Vandoveron in physic; of Voet

in jurisprudence, and Burman and Gronovius in the belles lettres.

It is certain, that if the Dutch poets are to be considered as favoured

by Apollo, a condescension which those who are best acquainted with

their productions much doubt, they have made more successful advances in

the most difficult of poetical composition. I have heard of three epic

writers; Antonides, before mentioned, who wrote an epic poem on the

river Y, on which the city of Amsterdam is erected; Rotzans, and the

author of Abraham de Aartsvader, or the history of Abraham the

Patriarch. The Dutch mention with great exultation the name of De Cotts,

who, like our Prior, united the characters of poet and statesman; his

sensibility is said to have been very acute, his fancy very luxuriant,

and his powers of versification very mellifluous. So attractive were the

Muses, that when he held the splendid office of lord keeper of the seals

in Holland and West Friesland, and stadtholder of the fiefs, he retired

to his native shades to tune his oaten reed, which entitled him amongst

his countrymen to the appellation of the Dutch Ovid: at the earnest

solicitation of their high mightinesses, he quitted his lyre and beloved

retreat, and appeared at the court of Cromwell in the character of

ambassador of the States to England, where he was received with that

politeness and attention which our country never fails to observe

towards strangers of merit and distinction. Having accomplished the

object of his mission, he retired from the bustle of life to his native

country, in the bosom of which he expired, beloved, honoured, and

lamented.

I was not much surprised to find that the splendor of the Hague was

principally confined to its buildings, although it has been so often, in

other times, celebrated for its magnificence and the expense of its

inhabitants: the revolution expelled its hereditary princes, dispersed

its nobles, and visited every description of society with more or less

distress. However, I was informed by those who were enabled to compare,

that it is again rearing its head. Before the revolution, sumptuous

equipages and various other characteristics of polished luxury were

displayed in almost every street; and the foreign ministers vied with

each other in costly splendor: during the operation of that political

hurricane scarce any other carriage was to be seen save a few crazy

fiacres, and every servant was stripped of his livery. At present,

society seems to be returning to many of its original habits, and some

handsome equipages appeared in different parts of the town; yet, upon

the whole, the first impression of its gloom was never effaced.

Upon inquiry after the present state of literature at this place, I

found it was considered at a very low ebb: the press of the Hague was

once justly celebrated, but has of late emitted little more than a few

pamphlets of inconsiderable merit. Before the revolution there were

several capital booksellers’ shops, of which I could only discover two;

the books in their shops, apparently the remains of declining literary

traffic, were neither very numerous nor very valuable. The booksellers

formerly found very ample encouragement in the affluence of the court,

and many petty German princes who selected the Hague for their

residence. It has been asserted that as the Hague contained the seat of

the executive government and of the representative bodies during the

revolution, it suffered much less than any other town in the republic;

but this I was well assured was not the case, because the commercial

towns still derived resources from their commerce and enterprize,

through the medium of neutral bottoms and other circuitous modes of

traffic, notwithstanding the severity of British blockades and the

vigilance of British cruisers.

The Hague has produced several very distinguished painters; amongst

others I must beg to mention Daniel Mytens, who was born in 1636, and

went to study at Rome, and afterwards employed himself in designing

after the antique, in copying the most celebrated paintings of the best

artists, and adding considerably to his improvement by an intimacy which

he formed there with Carlo Maratti and Carlo Loti. The dreadful habits

of dissipation to which Mytens was addicted, deplorably interfered with

his advancement in his profession. His imagination was lively, his

colouring agreeable, his composition good, and he designed with great

facility. After a long residence in Italy, he returned to the Hague,

where he was much admired and cherished by the lovers of the arts: his

eminent qualities were displayed in those works which he painted at

Rome, and upon his return to the Hague, where, not many years after, his

productions became greatly depreciated, from his constant indulgence in

the most intemperate excesses, to which he at length fell a victim in

the year 1688. He acquired much and deserved reputation for the sketch

of a very noble design for a ceiling of the painters’ hall at the Hague:

this work commenced, and left unfinished for some years; at length he

roused himself from his indolence, but it was only to show what ravages

it had made on his fine abilities, for he only injured the work which he

attempted to improve. Another distinguished artist, who has shed lustre

upon the Hague, is John Hanneman, who was born here in 1611; by some he

was said to have been a pupil of Vandyke. By others, and with greater

probability, that of Hubert Ravestein; and in the soft and delicate

tints of his carnations, he is considered to be very little inferior to

Vandyke: many of Hanneman’s copies of that illustrious artist are

mistaken for the originals.

Hanneman continued in England sixteen years, and upon his return to the

Hague became the favourite painter of the Princess of Orange: he was

also employed by the Prince of Nassau, for whom he painted, amongst

others, several historical pictures, which are now highly esteemed. The

third and last artist I shall mention is John le Duc, who was born at

the Hague in 1636, and was a disciple of Paul Potter, so justly

celebrated as a painter of cattle, whose works, however, are often

scarcely distinguishable from those of his pupil. His principal subjects

were the same as those of his master, viz. horses, sheep, goats, cows,

&c. He finished his pictures very highly, and possessed great facility

of pencil and purity of style. He was appointed director of the academy

of painting at the Hague in the year 1671. The desire of distinguishing

himself in arms induced him to exert all his interest to obtain a

company, and such was his gallantry in the field, that he obtained the

epithet of “Brave,” after which, unfortunately for the arts, he neither

painted nor designed.

CHAPTER XI.

VEGETABLE PROBLEMS ... APPROACH TO LEYDEN ... GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF

THAT TOWN ... THE TOWN-HALL ... CELEBRATED PICTURE OF LUCAS VAN

LEYDEN ... ANECDOTE OF THAT PAINTER ... ALSO OF KAREL DE MOOR ...

PICTURE OF THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN ... DESCRIPTION OF THAT HORRIBLE

SIEGE ... GENEROUS AND HEROIC CONDUCT OF THE DUTCH WOMEN ... ALSO OF

PETER ADRIAN ... THE MOUNT ... UNIVERSITY OF LEYDEN ... THE STUDENTS ...

ANECDOTES OF BOERHAAVE ... PETER THE GREAT ... GENIUS AND DIFFIDENCE ...

CONFIDENCE IN PROVIDENCE ... MONUMENT OF BOERHAAVE.

After spending some days very pleasantly at the Hague, I proceeded to

the Leyden treckschuyt, which lay at a great distance from the hotel,

where I found, from the blunder of the waiter before detailed, that I

was considered as a personage of considerable consequence, on account of

my having engaged the whole of the ruif to myself. The day was

brilliantly fine, and nothing could be more delightful than my passage

to Leyden: for two miles and a half the left bank of the canal presented

an unbroken succession of handsome country-houses and highly cultivated

grounds, which although laid out like so many vegetable problems,

abounded with a variety of forms, which, as they were clad in luxuriant

green, were very agreeable. Many of these spots were graced by the

acacia and Weymouth pine, to which the soil and climate seemed to be

congenial. On the other side were rich meadows, whose vivid green seemed

to rival that of the emerald, and corn-fields yellow with harvest.

Enchanted with the day and the scenery, I envied not the aquatic pomp of

Cleopatra, although

“The barge she sat in like a burnish’d throne

“Burnt on the water; the poop was beaten gold,

“Purple the sails, and so performed, that

“The winds were love-sick with them.”

The blunder of the waiter added not a little to the delights of my

passage, for I sat a solitary grandee upon the top of the cabin, without

a soul to interrupt the happy frame of my mind formed by the lovely

prospects on every side of me. In this agreeable manner three hours and

a half passed away with feathered fleetness, and at the end of a long

avenue of trees and a line of water, the spires and elevated buildings

of Leyden appeared. We stopped about half way from the Hague at

Leydehendam, a very neat pretty village, the neighbourhood of which

abounds with pleasure houses and gardens. The country as I approached

Leyden appeared to be thickly wooded, and displayed the novel variety of

a gentle undulation of ground. After passing through a beautiful

boulevard, and crossing some drawing bridges, I entered the elegant city

of Leyden through the white gate, and proceeded to a very comfortable

hotel in the principal street, called the Broad street, the length,

spaciousness, and beauty of which entitles it to the highest admiration:

there is no canal in it, and the buildings on each side are very

handsome, many of them splendid mansions. This seat of learning is

considered to be one of the handsomest in Holland, and next in size to

Amsterdam; the entrance to it is through seven stone gates, at each of

which is a draw-bridge: the town is surrounded with a rampart, and a

deep, broad canal, and is adorned by beautiful shady walks. The number

of bridges in this city is astonishing, they are said to exceed one

hundred and forty-five of stone and railed with iron. It has also many

canals, the most beautiful of which is the Rapenburg. It has been

compared by travellers to Oxford, but I cannot see any resemblance,

except in its being devoted to learning, and consequently presenting

many of those features of meditation and consequent tranquillity, which

are to be found in places destined to similiar objects: but in its

fortification, its buildings, streets, and canals, there is

unquestionably no resemblance. The channels or gutters of the Broad

street are covered with boards which open like a trap door, into which

the moment any dirt is lodged, it is removed by persons appointed for

that purpose; and lofty common pumps, with large brass ornaments

constantly scoured and kept bright, are placed in different parts of it,

to supply the inhabitants and to purify the street, of which they are

not a little proud. The fame of Lucas Van Leyden made the stadt-house or

town-hall the object of my first visit; it is a vast gothic building,

presenting a very long irregular front, in a very uncouth style of

architecture, surmounted by a small steeple, which is crowded with

carillons, and stands in the centre of the Broad street. As I ascended

the grand staircase, a painter was giving a finishing touch to some

large stone lions, which by way of blending them with the stone colour

of the rest of the building, he had painted _vividly red_. In one of the

apartments, which was very heavy and gloomy, I beheld the celebrated

production of Lucas Van Leyden, or Hugens, who was born here in 1494,

and died in 1533. This picture is in three divisions, the two external

smaller ones being made like folding doors, to close if necessary over

the middle one. The subject is the last judgment, for which vast sums of

money have been repeatedly offered to the magistrates of the town and

refused. I must confess I felt no more pleasure in contemplating this

picture than what arose from its great antiquity. There are a great

number of figures in it: the females are wholly destitute of beauty, at

the same time there is a freedom in the outline: many of their limbs

appear to be elongated, and every head seems to have been taken from the

same subject, and wholly destitute of expression; however, considering

the early period in which the artist flourished, it is a very curious

and valuable production. This painter was instructed in the principles

of his art by his father, Hugens Jacobs, an artist of some

consideration: it is said that Lucas from his infancy displayed

incessant application, and at the age of nine and twelve years

astonished the artists of his time by his works. After he had learned

the rudiments of his art under his father, he became a pupil of

Cornelius Engelbrecht; at the age of fifteen he painted the history of

St. Hubert, which elevated him to high distinction in his art. On

account of the principles of perspective not being known in his early

time, he proportioned the strength of his colouring to the different

degrees of distance, in which his objects were placed. He painted not

only in oil, but in destemper and on glass. A famous print of this

master’s engraving, the subject a bagpiper, is also mentioned, which

sold for a hundred ducatoons or twenty pounds sterling.

In the justice hall is a celebrated picture of Harel de Moor, who was

born in this town in 1656; the subject, Brutus condemning his sons, the

design, the colouring and finishing of which are very beautiful. De Moor

had great and highly merited honours paid to him by various princes and

distinguished personages, particularly by the emperor of Germany who

directed his ambassador Count Singendoff to engage him to paint the

portraits of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough on horseback,

with which his imperial patron was so gratified, that he conferred upon

him the honour of knighthood, and nobly rewarded him in a more

substantial manner for his admirable production: he had also the honour

of painting that mighty savage of the North, Peter the Great, Czar of

Muscovy. Under the picture of Brutus are some elegant Latin verses;

there is also a large picture representing the bravery of its citizens,

who are rendered immortal in the page of history for the heroic valour

they displayed during a siege, which in the year 1573, for five months,

visited this place with all the horrors of war, disease, and famine. The

historian can scarcely do adequate justice to these heroes. After the

Spaniards had been compelled to raise the siege of Alkmaar, they

determined upon directing their forces against Leyden, from the trenches

of which they were bravely repulsed by Count Louis of Nassau, brother to

the then Prince of Orange; but having been reinforced, they returned to

the attack; when the Spanish general, Francis Valdey, discovering that

he could not take the place by storm, resolved upon reducing it by

famine, and a scene of horror ensued which baffles the powers of the pen

to describe. The Spanish General, Frederic of Toledo, son of the

execrable Duke of Alva, repulsed a body of English auxiliaries who were

coming to the relief of the besieged, in consequence of which the

blockade was so vigilantly conducted, that the wretched inhabitants

could derive no provisions from without. In this dreadful dilemma, they

drew lots to determine which should fall each day to afford sustenance

to the rest with their bodies; and it is said that the spirit of

patriotism ran so high, that many of them anticipated this desperate

alternative, and voluntarily slew themselves to furnish food to their

brave fellow-citizens and soldiers. An extraordinary female patriot, of

the name of Kenneva, headed the women, led them to the ramparts, where

they assisted the nearly exhausted soldiery in working the cannon, and

displayed that enthusiastic courage which great occasions will generally

find lodged in that bosom which is the seat of every gentle, every

tender feeling, and ought only to heave with the tenderest emotions.

Many of them stabbed themselves, to assist in preserving the survivors,

and expiring exclaimed, “See, my poor valiant friends, your provision

for the rest of the day.” But notwithstanding these terrible sacrifices,

and supplies of human flesh, many thousands of the garrison and burghers

perished. The Spaniards, having been informed of their situation, again

summoned them to surrender, and allowed a truce of an hour for

deliberation, during which a consultation was held, the unanimous

determination of which was contained the following reply: “Tell your

arrogant general, that we shall not want the means of life whilst a left

arm remains upon any of our shoulders, and with our right we shall

continue to fight for our liberties to the last.” At length, broken down

by their frightful situation, and hopeless of relief, after having

exhibited prodigies of valor, and the sublimest acts of patriotism and

resignation, the miserable survivors of this ghastly scene of desolation

assembled round the house of Peter Adrian de Werf, the chief magistrate

of the city, a man of great influence amongst the people, and implored

him to sanction with his fiat the surrender of the place; but this noble

being preferring, like Cato, to perish rather than see his country in

the possession of a tyrant, thus addressed his emaciated brethren: “My

brave comrades! cut this body in pieces; it is better that I should die

_for_ you, than _by_ the enemy: my wounds disable me from further

service. Take courage, let me receive death from your hands, and let my

miserable frame furnish a wretched meal for some of you. Take me, and

may Leyden be victorious, and her glory immortal!” Deeply impressed by

such firmness and eloquence, his auditors turned their haggard

countenances aside, and with the convulsive energy of expiring nature,

rushed again to the rampart, and soon afterwards they were thrown into

an agony of joy by the arrival of two carrier pigeons, to whose feet

were tied stalks of corn and hemp, in which letters were concealed,

announcing that relief was at hand. The Dutch confederates, having no

other mode of relieving the inhabitants of Leyden, broke down the dykes

of the Maese and the Yssel, inundated the Spanish camp, and the

beautiful country which surrounds Leyden, and enabled Louis Brissot,

admiral of Zealand, to send many flat-bottomed boats, well armed, to the

succour of the besieged. This desperate measure compelled the Spanish

general to evacuate his camp, and to retire with such of his army as did

not perish by the waters, into their own country. This siege, which

commenced shortly after Easter, was raised the third of October, on

which day a supply of provisions was brought to the famished

inhabitants, who greedily devoured the food, amidst tears and convulsive

inarticulate exclamations to heaven for their delivery, and many of them

dropped down dead upon too rapidly satisfying their ravenous appetites.

After this signal deliverance, the Prince of Orange, although suffering

under severe illness, ordered himself to be carried in a litter to

Leyden, to condole with and express his admiration of its heroic

inhabitants: the interview, as well as many scenes which occurred during

the siege, must have afforded a fine subject for the pencil. He gave

them their option of being exempted for a certain period from taxes, or

of having an university founded in their town; when, with noble and

disinterested wisdom, they gave the preference to the latter. Never did

any seat of learning originate from a nobler cause: it may be said to

have been endowed by the blood of the brave. The clergy of Leyden, in a

public oration, still celebrate the anniversary of the glorious third of

October, in which the story of the siege, and the deliverance of the

town are feelingly recapitulated. I was surprised to find that such a

subject had not more frequently engaged the pencil of the many divine

artists which Holland has produced: the picture which led me to mention

the above story is, in my humble opinion, unworthy of the subject; the

figures are badly grouped, and express no one emotion which can affect

the mind. After quitting the stadt-house, the evening being very fine, I

ascended a large mount, which may be considered as a great curiosity in

Holland, in the centre of the town, where there is a fine view of it:

this mount is surrounded by a high wall, and is said to be the scite of

a castle built by Hengist, king of the West Saxons, on his conquest in

England, or, what is more likely, by one of the antient counts of

Holland. The town presented a very beautiful appearance from this spot,

but it is not elevated enough to enable the visitor to see the

surrounding country: the fruit-trees in the gardens which encompassed

the wall were loaded with very fine fruit, particularly pears, plumbs,

and apples. This place is much resorted to, on Sundays and holidays, by

the citizens and their families, to smoke and enjoy the beauty of the

prospect, and the refreshing sweetness of the air.

The next morning I visited the university of Leyden, which stands by the

Rapenburg canal: it is the most venerable seminary in Holland; and, by

the great number of learned and famous men which it has produced, does

honour to the luster of its origin. There is scarcely a science which

has not been improved and extended in this hallowed seat of learning;

which has to boast amongst its members the immortal name of the younger

Scaliger, who bequeathed to it his valuable Hebrew library; of the two

Hensius, father and son; the former of whom was invited by Pope Urban

the eighth to Venice, “to rescue,” as he expressed it, “that city from

barbarism;” and both of whom shone like stars of the first magnitude in

every branch of graceful literature; of Salmasius, the profound and able

competitor of our immortal Milton; of Boerhaave, whose consummate

knowledge of physic, attracted pupils from the most distant parts of

Europe; and of many other illustrious persons, who have shed honour and

distinction upon their country and the times in which they flourished.

The students board in town at different lodging-houses, wherever their

inclinations or resources may dispose them; they wear no regular habit;

when the professors appear in public, they wear a large black silk gown,

bordered with velvet, on which the word ‘Leyden’ is worked in silver. My

next visit was to the botanic garden, rendered immortal by the

illustrious Boerhaave, as that of Upsal, in Sweden, has been by Linnæus.

Haller says, in speaking of Boerhaave in the Leyden Botanical Garden,

“_sæpe vidimus ante Auroram optimum senen ligneiscalceis per hortum

repentem, ut comminus et cultum herbarum perspiceret, et flores

fructusque specularetur_.” We have often seen the good old man before

the morning dawn, crawling about the garden in the wooden slippers, that

he might immediately superintend the culture of plants, and speculate on

their flowers and fruits. This great man was born at Woerhout, near

Leyden, in 1668; at the age of fifteen he found himself without parents,

protection, advice, or fortune: he had then profoundly studied theology,

intending to devote himself to a clerical life; but the science of

nature presented all her attractions, and for some time wholly absorbed

his contemplation. In 1693 he was created doctor of physic, which he

then regularly practised. At this time he could scarcely exist by his

labours, and was compelled to teach the mathematics to procure the bare

necessaries of life, although he left at his demise the vast fortune of

two hundred thousand pounds. At length his genius dissolved the darkness

in which he was enveloped, many powerful friends gathered round him, and

procured for him the valuable appointments of professor of medicine in

the university of Leyden, of chemistry, and of botany. The Academy of

Sciences at Paris and the Royal Society at London, to each of which he

imparted his discoveries in chemistry, invited him to become one of

their members. Whilst Boerhaave presided in the chair, in chemistry,

medicine, and botany, the city of Leyden was considered the school of

Europe in these sciences. In 1715, when Peter the Great went to Holland

to study maritime affairs, he regularly attended the lectures of

Boerhaave. So widely diffused was his fame, that a mandarine in China

wrote to him a letter thus superscribed; “_To the illustrious Boerhaave,

physician in Europe_,” and it was regularly received. It was the daily

practice of this eminent physician, through his whole life, as soon as

he rose in the morning, which was generally very early, to retire for an

hour to private prayer, and meditation on some part of the Scriptures.

He often told his friends, when they asked him how it was possible to go

through so much fatigue, that it was _this_ which gave him spirit and

vigour in the business of the day. This he therefore recommended as _the

best rule_ he could give; for nothing, he said, could tend more to the

health of the body than the tranquillity of the mind, and that he knew

nothing which could support himself and his fellow-creatures, amidst the

various distresses of human life but a well-grounded confidence in the

Supreme Being, upon the principles of christianity: the truth of his

doctrine he finely illustrated in his severe illness in 1722, when the

course of his lectures and his practice were long interrupted. Of his

sagacity and wonderful penetration in the discovery and description of

such distempers as betray themselves by no symptoms to common eyes, such

surprising accounts have been given, as scarcely can be credited, though

attested beyond all doubt. Yet this great master of medical knowledge

was so far from feeling a presumptuous confidence in his mighty talents,

or from being inflated by his prodigious wealth, that his condescension

to the humblest being who approached him, and his unceasing professional

application were ever the theme of admiration and astonishment.

He often used to say, what will make many a practitioner in physic

tremble, that the life of a patient (if trifled with or neglected),

would one day be required at the hand of the physician. He used to call

the poor his best patients, nobly observing, that God would be their

paymaster; the lustre of his eyes bespoke the activity and vivacity of

his mind. He was always cheerful and desirous of promoting every

valuable end of conversation. He disregarded calumny and detraction; for

even Boerhaave had enemies, and never troubled himself to confute them.

“They are sparks,” said he, “which, if you do not blow, will go out of

themselves. The surest remedy against scandal is to _live it down_, by a

perseverance in well doing; and by praying to God that he would cure the

distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us.” He was never

over-awed by the magnificence or presence of great men, but boldly

persisted in proceeding in what he considered to be right, and left the

consequence to God. He was enabled, with unexampled celerity and

acuteness, to penetrate into the tempers and characters of persons at a

glance of his eye. A friend, one day, who had often admired his patience

under great provocations, asked him, if he ever knew what it was to be

angry? to which Boerhaave replied with the most perfect frankness, “that

he was naturally quick of resentment; but, that by prayer and

meditation, he had obtained complete mastery over his passions; this he

attributed, as he did every good thought, and every laudable action, to

his God.”

About the middle of the year 1737, he felt the first approaches of that

indisposition which was destined to bring him to his grave, viz. a

disorder in his breast, which was occasionally very painful, often

threatened him with immediate suffocation, and finally terminated in an

universal dropsy: during all the anguish which he suffered, his placid

temper and firmness of mind never forsook him; he attended at once to

the ordinary duties of life as if in full health, and prepared for that

death which his skill and experience enabled him to know was not very

distant.

About three weeks before his dissolution, when the Rev. Mr. Schultens,

one of the most learned and exemplary divines of his age, attended him

at his country-house, the Doctor desired his prayers, and afterwards

entered into a sublime discourse with him on the spiritual and

immaterial parts of the soul, which he illustrated with wonderful

perspicuity, by a description of the effects which the infirmities of

his body had upon his faculties, which, however, they did not so

oppress, or vanquish, but his soul was always master of itself, and

always resigned to the pleasure of its Maker, and then added, “He who

loves God ought to think nothing desirable but what is most pleasing to

the supreme goodness.” As death approached nearer, he seemed to be more

happy, amidst the increase of corporeal torments, and at length, on the

23d September, 1738, he sunk under them in his 70th year. His funeral

oration was spoken in Latin before the university of Leyden, to a

crowded audience, by his friend Mr. Schultens, amidst tears of genuine

regret and sympathy. The city of Leyden has raised a monument in the

church of St. Peter, to the sanative genius of Boerhaave, “Salutifero

Boerhaavii genio sacrum.” It consists of an urn upon a pedestal of black

marble, with a group representing the four ages of life, and the two

sciences in which Boerhaave excelled. The capital of this basis is

decorated with a drapery of white marble, in which the artist has shown

the different emblems of disorders, and their remedies. Upon the

pedestal is the medallion of Boerhaave; at the extremity of the frame, a

ribband displays the favourite motto of this learned man, “Simplex

vigilum veri.” Professor Allamand had destined a very fine piece of red

jasper to be employed in this medallion, but on account of the great

expense of cutting the stone his design was abandoned. His pictures

represent him as above the middle size, well proportioned, and of a

strong constitution; when age had silvered over his hair, his

countenance was said to have been extremely venerable and expressive,

and to have much resembled the head of Socrates, but with features more

softened and engaging. He was an eloquent orator, and declaimed with

great dignity and grace. He taught very methodically, and with great

precision, but always so captivated his auditors, that they regretted

the close of his discourses, which he often enlivened with a sprightly

turn of raillery; but it was ever refined, ingenious, and incapable of

offending. He used to say, “that decent mirth was the salt of life.” In

the practice of medicine he gave a decided preference to green over

dried herbs, thinking that there was more virtue in herbs when they had

their juices, than when decayed and withered. He was a great admirer of

simples, and consequently was not a great patron of the apothecaries.

When health would permit he regularly rode on horseback; when his

strength began to fail he walked, and upon his return home, music, of

which he was passionately fond, gladdened the hours of relaxation, and

enabled him to return to his labours with redoubled alacrity. Dr.

Johnson has written the following beautiful eulogium on this great man;

“A man formed by nature for great designs, and guided by religion in the

exertion of his abilities; determined to lose none of his hours, when he

had attained one science, he attempted another; he added physic to

divinity; chemistry to the mathematics, and anatomy to botany. He

recommended truth by his elegance, and embellished the philosopher with

polite literature; yet his knowledge, however uncommon, holds in his

character but a second place; for his virtue was more uncommon than his

learning. He ascribed all his abilities to the bounty, and all his

goodness to the grace of his God. May those who study his writings

imitate his life! and those who endeavour after his knowledge, aspire

likewise to his piety.”

CHAPTER XII.

THE BOTANIC GARDEN ... THE CELEBRATED ANCIENT PALM ... BUSTS AND

STATUES ... THEATRE OF ANATOMY ... LIBRARY AND PORTRAITS OF

DISTINGUISHED PERSONS ... MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ... ATTRACTIONS OF

THE UNIVERSITY ... ITS PRESENT CONDITION ... SEVERITY OF ITS

EXAMINATIONS ... ANECDOTES OF REMBRANDT ... HIS GENIUS AND

RAPACIOUSNESS ... A STRATAGEM ... CRITICISMS ON HIS WORKS ... MR.

DESENFAN’S SPLENDID GALLERY OF PAINTINGS ... JOHN OF LEYDEN ... HIS

AMBITION, CRUELTY, AND FATE ... DUTCH BOWING ... SAINT PETER’S

CHURCH ... ANECDOTE OF RUSSIAN PRISONERS.

The botanic garden is not very large; in the time of Boerhaave it must

have been small indeed, as its history represents it to have been

considerably enlarged since that period: in the frontispiece of his

Index Horti L. Bat. 1710, it is represented to be a petty square piece

of ground. It now occupies about four acres, and is in excellent order:

the trees and plants are marked according to the Linnæan system; but it

is infinitely inferior in value and arrangement to the botanic gardens

of Upsala and of the Dublin Society. Amongst the plants, I approached

with the reverence due to it, the venerable remains of vegetable

antiquity, in the shape of a palm, which stands in a tub in the open

air, supported by a thin frame of iron work; it is about fourteen feet

high, and was raised from seed by the celebrated Carolus Clusius, who

died professor at Leyden in 1609: the professor who attended me,

presented me with a bit of its bark, as a little relic. This tree and

the pot in which it grows, are also figured in the frontispiece of

Boerhaave’s Index before mentioned: it there appears to have been about

half as high as at present, and is said to be the palm mentioned by

Linnæus in his Prælectiones in Ordines Naturales Plantarum, p. 27,

published by Giseke in 1792, at Hamburgh, which Linnæus suspected to be

a chamærops, but which, as the ingenious Dr. Smith observes, his editor

rightly refers to the rhapis flabelli formis, Ait. Hort. Kew, v. iii. p.

473. It comes from China and Japan: there is a tree of this kind, and

about as large, in the botanic garden at Paris, and another at Pisa. In

this garden is also the ginkgo of the Chinese, a standard twenty feet

high; Strelitzia reginæ, Ait. Hort. Kew, v. i. p. 285, tab. 2, which has

never yet flowered in any garden out of England; the olea laurifolia, a

new species according to Mr. Van Royen; Royena lucida in flower, as

large as a moderate hawthorn tree, and thought to be very handsome; and

a singular plant from the Cape, supposed to be an echites, with a large

tuberous root raised high above the surface of the ground, two or three

weak stems a foot high, and large dark brown flowers. In the university

library is Rauwolf’s Herbarium, which is very magnificent, and the

plants well preserved; also Boccone’s Herbarium of the plants described

in his Fasciculus Plantarum, published by Morison at Oxford, in 1674;

these specimens are very poor: Herman’s Collection of Ceylon Plants is

also here, which are a part of the celebrated Herbarium, the rest of

which is at Copenhagen; also a volume of West India plants, belonging to

Herman, which are very scarce in Holland, and a fine collection of

mathematical instruments; amongst other things, a most pure and

brilliant prism of Brazil pebble, and a two-inch cube of Iceland

refracting spar, perfectly clear and free from blemish.

In a very long apartment in the gallery there are some busts and statues

in tolerable preservation, but of no great value; the best are busts of

Nero and Agrippina, Servilius and a Bacchus: they were presented to the

university by a citizen of the town. I was shown into a small room

containing some stuffed birds and beasts, which were in very poor

condition. The theatre of anatomy is very near the botanic garden; in it

is a valuable collection of anatomical and pathological subjects. This

hall is well worthy the notice of the traveller, as well for its

valuable contents, as for having furnished Europe with some of its best

physicians. This library is celebrated throughout Europe, for the many

valuable specimens of oriental literature with which it abounds,

exclusive of the books before mentioned. Golius, upon his return from

the East, and who afterwards filled with great reputation the Arabic

professorship of the university, has enriched this valuable depositary

of learning with many Arabic, Turkish, Chaldean, and Persian

manuscripts. I have before mentioned that Joseph Scaliger bequeathed his

valuable collection of Hebrew books to it. The precious manuscripts

contained here are said to exceed eight thousand. Since the last war

commenced, no addition of English publications has been made to this

library, which contains the Transactions of the Royal and Antiquarian

Societies of London, and the Histories of Gibbon, Robertson, and Hume.

To suffer an inimical disposition between two countries to erect a

barrier between intellectual communication is giving additional

barbarism to the ferocity of war. To the honour of England and France,

they have never permitted those melancholy conflicts which have so long,

and so fatally inflamed the one against the other, to check the free and

liberal interchange of philosophical discovery and literary

investigation. Whilst the respective governments have been engaged in

reciprocal schemes of vengeance, the learned societies of both countries

have communed with each other in the language of peace and liberality.

The king of Spain has presented this library with some magnificent

folios, descriptive of the antiquities of Herculaneum. The books are

principally bound in fine white parchment, and are gilded and decorated

with considerable taste and splendor. There are in this room several

excellent portraits of eminent men who have belonged to the university,

or who have been benefactors to it: the head of that elegant and

voluptuous poet Johannes Secundus, who died at the age of twenty-five,

distinguishable for its dark penetrating eyes, adust complexion, and

black hair and beard, is very fine. There are also very interesting

portraits of Janus Douse, who during the siege of Leyden exhibited the

most admirable heroism, by which he acquired the applause of the Prince

of Orange and the government of the town: this hero shone in letters as

well as arms; also of Erasmus at different stages of his life; of Hugo

Donellus, painted after death, in which all the appearances of mortality

are finely imitated with ghastly precision; also of Daniel Heinsius, and

a miniature of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein. There are also several

medallion likenesses of distinguished Englishmen carved in ivory, such

as Milton, Marvel, Ludlow, Wickliffe, Harrington, &c. &c. executed by an

English refugee, who took shelter in Holland after the overthrow of the

Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion. There is a museum of natural history,

principally collected by Professor Allemand, containing some fine ores,

corals, and pebbles, and also some rare quadrupeds and amphibia: also a

young ostrich in the egg; the nautilus with the animal in it, and some

papilios. In the anatomical theatre are the valuable preparations of

Albinus, amongst them are specimens of the progress of ossification in

the fœtus. This university has also to boast of the works of Mr. Pestel,

professor of jurisprudence, for his admirable work, entitled Fundamenta

Jurisprudentiæ Naturalis. The constitutional regulations of this

university are conceived in a noble spirit of liberality. No offensive

obligations, no religious tests, no repulsive oaths, are imposed, no

insidious attempts at proselytism are exercised. Youths of every

religious persuasion mingle together in perfect harmony; like brothers

they aggregate to study, and not to quarrel about modes of faith.

Whatever may be the rank of the student, or from whatever country he may

come, he speedily adopts the decent, gentle, and frugal manners and

habits of the inhabitants. The long war and revolution in this country

have naturally withdrawn a great number of young men of rank and fortune

from this seminary, and prevented others from entering it. The students

do not now exceed two hundred. A considerable number of English

students, in a period of peace, used to flock to this illustrious

academy, which, as well as the beauty, tranquillity, cleanliness, and

salubrity of the city in which it stands, and the cheapness and perfect

freedom of living, and the charms of the surrounding country, holds out

the strongest attractions to the recluse and studious. The examinations

for academical honours are more severe than even for those of Trinity

College Dublin.

Amongst other circumstances which have concurred to crown Leyden with

celebrity, I must not omit to relate that its neighbourhood gave birth

to Rembrandt in 1606. His real name was Gerretz, but he is known by the

name of Van Ryn, an appellation given to him from the place where he

spent the youthful part of his life, on the borders of the Rhine. This

illustrious artist is one amongst the many instances which might be

produced, of the effect of accidental circumstances in early life

determining the character and formation of genius; he derived his

peculiarity of shade from the circumstance of his father’s mill

receiving light from an aperture at the top, which, and not his studying

under Jacob Pinas, gradually led him to use that breadth of shade for

which he was so eminently distinguished. At a very early period he

exhibited strong proofs of genius for painting, and by his productions

astonished his master Jacques Van Zwanenburg, in whose school he

continued three years. His father’s mill, and the circumjacent country,

first attracted his attention, which, with the heavy living objects with

whom he associated, so completely possessed his mind, that he seldom

selected any others which were beautiful or graceful. When very young,

one of his friends prevailed upon him to go to Amsterdam, and offer one

of his pictures for sale, which he did, and sold it to a very able judge

of genius in his line for one hundred florins. He went on foot with the

treasure under his arm, but returned in a carriage. This trifling

circumstance induced him to settle in that city, where he soon became

solicited by persons of the first distinction for his works. Here, from

the number of pupils who flocked to him, and the great demand for his

paintings, wealth poured in upon him copiously. For instructing each of

his pupils he received one hundred florins per annum, but becoming

avaricious as he became wealthy, he sold a great number of copies made

by them for his own pictures, in which he deceived the purchaser by

retouching several parts. The swindling tricks and stratagems by which

this great artist used to raise money, threw a deeper breadth of shade

than his pencil ever cast upon his canvass, over the brighter parts of

his genius. It is related that one of his pupils, well knowing his

rapacious disposition, painted a number of coins upon some cards which

he laid upon his master’s table when he was from home; on his return, he

ran eagerly to seize them and recovered the vexation of his

disappointment, only by admiring the dexterity of the deception.

Rembrandt was a great humourist. One day when he was painting a large

family picture, and one of the subjects was actually sitting to him, his

servant informed him of the death of his favourite monkey, which he felt

so sensibly, and whimsically, that he immediately ordered the dead body

to be brought in, and drew it as one of the group, which he would not

expunge, although the family refused to pay for the picture before it

was effaced. His finest historical pictures are those of Ahasuerus,

Esther and Haman; the woman taken in adultery; and St. John preaching in

the wilderness, which are said to be touched with inexpressible fire and

spirit. The imagination of this great artist was lively and active, and

his invention very fertile: he had a large collection of old draperies,

armour, weapons, and turbans, which he used sportively to call his

antiques; these he preferred to any of the works of the Grecian artists.

He had also a great number of the finest Italian prints, drawings, and

designs, many of them taken from the antiques, which afforded him

gratification, but do not appear to have ameliorated his taste. His

portraits are excellent, and resemble life as near to perfection as

possible, but his airs and attitudes are defective of grace and dignity.

Many of his heads display such minute exactness, that even the hairs of

the beard, and the wrinkles of old age, are given with the most

exquisite fidelity. The portrait appears to breathe upon the canvass. It

is a curious circumstance that his lights were produced by a colour

unusually thick, more resembling modeling than painting, but every tint

was so judiciously placed, that it remained on the canvass in full

freshness, beauty, and lustre. The etchings of Rembrandt are greatly

admired, and are regarded as prime treasures in the cabinets of the

curious in most parts of Europe: these productions rival his paintings,

every stroke of the graver exhibits expression and life: his genuine

works are rarely to be met with, but whenever they are presented for

sale, they produce incredible prices. In the splendid collection of Mr.

Desenfans, are some exquisite productions of this and other Flemish

masters; this collection is, upon the whole, the best in England, and is

exhibited to persons of respectability, without cost, by its liberal

possessor.

Amongst the curiosities of Leyden, I did not take the trouble of seeing

the shopboard of the celebrated John of Leyden, a character

distinguishable for its ambition, enterprize, and ferocity: those who

have furnished us with an account of this aspiring monster, relate that

his name was Bucold; that from being the son of a taylor, and brought up

to his father’s trade, he resolved upon becoming a king; that

accordingly he first tasted of royalty on the board of a strolling

company of comedians in the character of a prince, which affording him

much gratification, he connected himself with a baker of Amsterdam, a

fanatic, who called himself God’s vicegerent upon the earth, and

declared that he was sent to illuminate the world. This fellow, previous

to his becoming the associate of John of Leyden, assumed the name of

Thomas Munster, and impregnated a number of Germans with his religious

phrenzy, which aimed at the demolition of the doctrine of Luther: this

fanatic faction spread with incredible celerity, until the Elector of

Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the duke of Brunswick, resolved upon

drawing the sword against these furious zealots. The prophet Munster was

taken prisoner and lost his head; but soon after, as if inspirited by

this blow, John of Leyden took Munster at the head of a troop of

sanguinary bigots, and ordered himself to be proclaimed king. After this

ceremony was performed he committed the most horrible outrages: in the

name of God, he battered down all the churches, and changed the religion

of the country; he recommended polygamy, and kept a seraglio of sixteen

wives, one of whom endeavoured to assassinate the Bishop of Waldeck, who

fortunately seized the poniard from her hand, and plunged it into her

own bosom; and another, John himself put to death for hesitation in

complying with his wishes. When he appeared in the streets of Munster,

he wore a crown upon his head, carried a sword in one hand, and the New

Testament in the other, and was preceded on horseback by a group of

dancing boys, whilst the sides were by his mandates, crowded with the

prostrate terrified citizens, who were punished with instant death if

they stood, or remained covered in his presence. The reign of this petty

tyrant was brief: the Bishop of Munster besieged the town, which

suffered nearly the same horrors which I have described to have occurred

at Leyden, when the Spaniards sat down before it; the living fed upon

the dead, and a look that intimated a wish to surrender was punished

with instant death. The miseries which surrounded him, served only to

inflame the fanatical spirit of the monster; at last, however, the town

was taken by surprise, and John and the ministers of his bloody ambition

were conducted before the victorious prelate, to whom, after being

charged with the enormities which he had committed, he is said to have

replied, with the craft of a coward, in the following manner: “The

possession of my person has cost you much money and much blood, my death

will be a loss to you, my life may become a source of profit to you, put

me in an iron cage, set a price upon the exhibition of me, and send me

through Europe, thus will you in the end be the gainer by me.” The

bishop saw through his object which was the dastard preservation of his

forfeited life, and accordingly ordered him to be put to death with a

refinement of cruelty, at the relation of which human nature sickens,

abhorred as the victim was. Two executioners tore his flesh slowly

asunder with red hot pincers, and after the mitred conqueror and his

followers had glutted their eyes with his writhings, and their ears with

his screams, a javelin pierced his heart, and his mangled body was

thrown into a cage, and exposed to the birds of the air from the steeple

of St. Lambert’s church. It has been observed by some travellers, that

the Dutch are much given to a tremulous motion of the head. I saw no

instance of this national trait except, where I expected to find it,

among old and paralytic persons. The practice of bowing is not confined

to the Dutchman, though adduced against him as a sort of blemish by

every Englishman who extends his rambles no farther than Holland:

throughout Germany the same courtesy is displayed, and even among the

common Russian boors the practice of exchanging bows is quite common.

I was not much gratified with the church of St. Peter, the principal one

in the city; it is a large ponderous building, in the worst style of

gothic architecture. In this structure the English and Russian soldiers

were confined when taken prisoners at Alkmaar. The poor Russians, who

expected no quarter, looked upon the brass chandeliers which are

suspended in the body of the church, as the instruments of execution, to

each of which they thought of being fastened by the neck. The Russians,

in their first campaigns with the French, entertained the same

apprehension, and were most agreeably astonished on one occasion, which

presented a memorable display of French sagacity, to find that, instead

of being shot or guillotined, they were presented with new clothing of

the Russian uniform, and offered their liberty.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE PRESS OF LEYDEN ... ITS STAPLE TRADE ... ANECDOTES OF GERARD

DOUW ... OF JEAN STEEN ... HIS SINGULAR PAINTING OF THE DELUGE ...

ANECDOTES OF FRANCIS MIERES ... THE PICTORIAL CONTEST ... ANECDOTE OF

VANDERWELDE ... THE VILLAGE OF RHYNSBURG ... SINGULAR RELIGIOUS

ASSOCIATION ... A CURIOUS CUSTOM ... EXPLOSION AT LEYDEN ... CONDUCT OF

THE KING ... HAARLEM ... ITS CELEBRATED ORGAN DESCRIBED ... ANECDOTE OF

HANDEL ... MR. HENRY HOPE’S HOUSE.

In the streets of Leyden are several very handsome bookseller’s shops,

particularly Murray’s in the Braadstraat, where there are many valuable

publications, and particularly a fine collection of the classics, which

are sold at very reasonable prices. The press of Leyden, in the time of

Elzevirs, presented some of the most elegant specimens of typography, in

the many correct and beautiful editions which they have given of the

most renowned authors of antiquity. In beauty, variety, and profusion,

the Leyden press rivalled, and in many instances surpassed, that of the

Hague and Amsterdam; but since the period of the above bibliopolists, it

has gradually decayed. It may be easily imagined, that with the change

which has taken place in the political relations of Holland, the liberty

of the press is not what it used to be at Leyden, which was once

celebrated for its Gazette, a rival in reputation of that of Brussels:

the former was distinguished for its partiality to the Stadtholder, and

his well known attachments to the English cabinet; and the latter for

supporting the true interests of the country. The editors and

proprietors of the Leyden Gazette fled with precipitation, on the

irruption of the French into Holland; and the paper which is now issued

from Leyden, is of course the organ of the new government, and but

little enlivened with political discussion.

The staple trade of Leyden, the woollen manufactory, has suffered very

severely from the establishment of extensive looms in various parts of

Germany, from the last and present war with England, and from the

superiority of the manufactures of Yorkshire, which are in such high

estimation in America and Asia, that Dutch merchants trading to those

countries, found it more advantageous to send out English cloths. The

coarse cloths of Holland had formerly a brisk market amongst the East

and West India Companies: but from the above cause thousands of

manufacturers have been obliged to renounce their looms, and divert

their skill and industry to other sources of support; and in all human

probability the woollen manufactures of Leyden will never revive.

Before I quit this celebrated city, I cannot help mentioning that, in

addition to the illustrious artists before mentioned, it gave birth to

Gerard Douw, who was born here in 1613, and entered at the early age of

fifteen into the school of Rembrandt, with whom he continued three

years, and from whom he obtained the true principles of colouring: his

pictures are generally small, and remarkable for their wonderful

brilliancy, delicacy, transparency, and exquisite high finishing.

Sandrart relates a curious anecdote of the laborious assiduity which he

displayed. Being with Bamboccio in the painting-room of Gerard Douw,

they were enraptured with the wonderful minuteness of a picture which

Douw was then painting, and were particularly struck with the finishing

of a broom, and could not refrain expressing their surprise at the

amazing neatness displayed in so minute an object; upon which Douw

informed them that he should spend three more days upon that very broom

before he could complete it to his satisfaction. The same author also

relates, that in a family picture of a Mrs. Spiering, Douw occupied five

days in finishing one of the hands that leaned over an arm-chair. This

disposition to elaborate execution, in which he far surpassed every

other Flemish master, so alarmed a great number of persons, that they

had not patience to sit to him, and hence he chiefly applied his fine

powers in works of fancy, in which he could introduce objects of

still-life, and gratify his inclination in the choice of his time. A

noble instance is related of the liberality of his great patron, Mr.

Spiering, the husband of the lady above-mentioned, resident of the king

of Sweden at the Hague, namely, that he allowed him a thousand guilders

a year, with no other stipulation than that Douw should give his

benefactor the preference of purchasing every picture he painted, for

which he always paid him to the full extent of his demand. He lived to a

great age, but his sight was so affected by the minuteness of his

performances that at the age of thirty he was obliged to use spectacles.

The finest picture from his hands considerably exceeded his usual size,

being three feet high by two feet six inches broad within the frame:

this matchless piece of art represents two rooms; in the first there

appears a very curious piece of tapestry, forming the separation of the

apartments, in which there is a very pretty-figure of a woman with a

child at her breast; at her side is a cradle, and a table covered with

tapestry, on which is placed a gilt lamp and some pieces of still-life;

in the second apartment is a surgeon’s shop, with a countryman

undergoing an operation, and a woman standing by him with several

utensils: the folding doors show on one side a study, and a man making a

pen by candlelight, and on the other side, a school with boys writing,

and sitting at different tables, which parts are lighted in a most

charming and astonishing manner, so that every feature and character of

countenance is distinctly, and most intelligibly delineated. Incredible

sums have been given, and still continue to be given for the works of

this master, in his own country, and in every polite part of Europe

where they are to be found. Some of his best works are now in the royal

gallery at Dresden.

I must not omit that comical, dissipated humourist and happy artist, Jan

Steen, who was born here in 1636, whose wit and drollery were only

surpassed by his wonderful powers in painting, in which such was his

astonishing faculty, that he seemed to be more inspired than instructed,

for he kept an alehouse for a considerable time, from the cellars of

which he drew more for himself than for his customers, and having

exhausted his barrels, he replenished them by the product of his art, to

which he never devoted himself but upon such occasions, and generally

discharged the bills of the brewers and wine merchants with pictures.

Although he might have lived in great affluence by his masterly pencil,

he was frequently reduced to the most deplorable penury by indolence and

dissipation; his faces alone completely indicated the rank and condition

of the person depicted. Great prices are now given for the works of this

artist, though they sold for small sums in his life time, on account of

his being obliged to sell upon the pressure of necessity. A

characteristic anecdote is related of this singular artist. In a picture

of the crucifixion, having introduced a numerous group of figures,

consisting of monks, old women, and dogs, at the foot of the cross, he

was asked to explain the reason of such an assemblage; to which he

replied, “the clergy and the old women are always the most eager in

their inquiries, when any thing curious occurs.” Some years since,

another instance of his eccentric turn of mind was sold for a

considerable sum at Amsterdam, viz. a painting of the deluge, which he

had delineated by introducing a large Dutch cheese, with the word Leyden

inscribed upon it, floating in the centre of a sheet of water, which, he

said, would incontestably prove that all the world was drowned. The name

of Jan Steen naturally introduces that of his great friend Francis

Mieres, who was born here in 1635, and was a pupil of Gerard Douw, who,

from the rapid progress he made in his studies, used to call him the

Prince of his Disciples: in rich transparency, an unusual sweetness of

colouring, and an elaborate but delicate touch, he nearly approached his

illustrious master. Mieres was generally paid a ducat an hour for his

works, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany paid him no less than a thousand

rix dollars for one picture. Unfortunately for this artist, he conceived

an uncommon friendship for the drunken, droll Jan Steen, which

frequently involved him in inconvenience, and disgrace. An anecdote is

related of Mieres, in consequence of this association, which in its

result did much honour to his feelings; being accustomed to pass whole

nights with his friend in the most joyous manner at a tavern, he was

returning home very late one evening from his company, when he fell into

a common sewer, which had been left open in order to cleanse it, where

he must have perished, had not a cobler and his wife, who were in a

neighbouring stall, heard his cries, and instantly ran to his relief;

having extricated him, although they were total strangers to him, they

took care of him for the night, and treated him with all the kindness in

their power: the next morning their guest returned to his lodgings,

strongly impressed with the humanity and hospitality of his new friends,

whom he resolved to reward in a manner worthy of their conduct; and

accordingly having painted a picture in his best manner, he returned to

his preservers and presented them with it, telling them it was the

production of a person whose life they had preserved, and directed them

to go and offer it to his friend and patron Cornelius Plaats, who would

give the full value for it. The woman, unacquainted with the real value

of the present, expected only a moderate gratuity for the picture, and

was overwhelmed with surprise when the liberal purchaser paid her eight

hundred florins for it. The grand Duke of Tuscany offered three thousand

florins for a picture of Mieres, representing a lady fainting, and a

physician relieving her. Francis Mieres left two sons and a grandson,

all of whom were distinguished artists. John Van Goyen the father-in-law

of Jan Steen, was also an artist of great celebrity: he painted a great

number of pictures, and his execution was marvellously rapid, of which

the following curious anecdote is recorded as a memorable instance:

Hoogstraten relates that Van Goyen, Knipbergen, and Parcelles, had

agreed each to paint a picture in one day, in the presence of several

other artists, their friends, to whose judgment was left the disposal of

a considerable sum of money subscribed for that purpose by the

contending artists, to be bestowed upon the person who produced the best

picture within that period. As soon as Van Goyen took the pencil,

without making any previous sketch, he first laid on the light colour of

the sky, then he rubbed on several different shades of brown, next

masses of light on the foreground in several spots; out of this chaos,

he produced trees, buildings, water, distant hills, vessels lying before

a sea-port, and boats filled with figures, with almost magical celerity,

and exquisite spirit, and finished the whole within the limited time, to

the astonishment of the beholders. Knipbergen proceeded with his work in

quite a different manner, for instead of beginning to colour his canvass

he sketched on his palette the design he had formed in his imagination,

and took much pains to give it all imaginable correctness, every rock,

tree, waterfall, and other object, was disposed in the manner it was

intended to be finished in the painting, and he attempted nothing more

than to transfer the sketch upon the canvass; this picture was also

finished in the time, and was allowed by the observers to possess much

merit. The method observed by Parcelles differed from both, for when he

took up his palette and pencils, he sat a long time in deep meditation

upon his subject, and having arranged his thoughts, he executed within

the time also, a sea-piece, admirably designed and delicately finished.

The judges were unanimous in deciding for Parcelles, observing, that

though the pictures of Van Goyen and Knipbergen were full of spirit,

taste, and good colouring, yet in the picture by Parcelles there was

equal merit as well in the handling as the colouring, and more truth, as

being the result of great thought and judicious premeditation. William

Vandervelde, the celebrated marine painter, was also born here in 1610:

the love of his art induced him to remove with his family to England, on

account of the superior elegance in the construction of British ships;

and he was successively patronised by King Charles II. and King James

II. Such was his enthusiasm, that, in order to unite fidelity with

grandeur and elegance in his compositions, he would boldly advance in a

small light vessel into the very heat of a naval engagement, and make

his sketches, in undaunted tranquillity, whilst the balls were flying

about him in all directions. Of this bold spirit he exhibited two very

memorable instances, before he came to England; one was in the severe

battle between the Duke of York and Admiral Opdam, in which the Dutch

admiral and 503 men were blown up; and the other, in that great battle,

which lasted three days, between Admiral Monck and Admiral de Ruyter,

during which engagements Vandervelde plied between the fleets, so that

he was enabled to represent every movement of the ships, and every

material circumstance of the action, with astonishing minuteness and

truth. There were formerly some good private collections of paintings in

this city, but the political storms of the country have dispersed them.

About a mile from Leyden there is a very valuable collection by some of

the most distinguished Dutch and Flemish masters, belonging to Mr.

Gevers, who has a noble mansion, and grounds very tastefully disposed;

and who upon all occasions is happy to permit strangers to visit his

cabinet, and to show them every hospitality.

Near this city, in the village of Rhynsburg, the assembly of a very

singular and equally liberal religious association is held, the members

of which are called after the name of the place, Rhynsburgians: this

meeting was established by three peasants, who were brothers, of the

name of John, Adrian, and Gilbert Van Code, who to an excellent and

profitable acquaintance with farming, which they followed, singularly

united a profound knowledge of languages, for which they were so

celebrated, that Prince Maurice, and Monsieur de Maurier, the then

French ambassador, honoured them with several visits, and conversed with

them in Latin, Greek, Italian, and French, in each of which they

astonished their visitors by their fluency and pronunciation: another

brother, William, filled the professorship of the oriental languages in

the university of Leyden. In consequence of the churches being left

without their pastors, on the expulsion of the remonstrant clergy in the

year 1619, the three first-mentioned brothers determined to supply their

places, and undertook to explain the Scriptures: they set an example of

genuine christianity which has been rarely displayed; and they taught

that every one had a right to worship God according to his own form of

faith, taking the Bible for his guide. This association meet every

Saturday, for the purpose of digesting the discourses of the ensuing

Sunday, when, with the sincerest humility, one of the fraternity

distributes the bread and wine. After the morning duties of the Sabbath

are passed, they reassemble in the evening to return thanks to the

Almighty for his favours, and at the same time particularize the

instances of his goodness. On Monday morning they part to attend to

their different temporal concerns, and at their taking leave, solemnly

impress upon each other the sacred obligation, and the blissful result

of a perseverance in the pious course which they have hitherto pursued.

Such benevolent and exalted principles attract persons of various

persuasions to the meeting, who assist in its solemnities, and partake

in the pure spirit of its devotion. The religion most followed previous

to the revolution, was the presbyterian and calvinistical; before the

revolution, none but presbyterians were admitted into any office or post

under government, except in the army. The republic, in its early stages,

displayed its wisdom in making the calvinistical persuasion predominant,

for the country at that period was too poor to erect magnificent temples

of worship, and support a train of prelates in the splendor bestowed

upon them in other countries, which were more rich, and had a population

adequate to the cultivation of the soil. It was of the highest

consequence to Holland to encourage population, and they could not more

effectually do it, than by a policy equally generous and enlightened,

which offered an asylum to all foreigners persecuted for their religion,

and discouraged all monastic institutions.

As I was one day roving in this city, I was struck with the appearance

of a small board ornamented with a considerable quantity of lace, with

an inscription on it, fastened to a house: upon inquiry, I found that

the lady of the mansion, where I saw it, had lately lain in, and was

then much indisposed, and that it was the custom of the country to

expose this board, which contained an account of the state of the

invalid’s health, for the satisfaction of her inquiring friends, who

were by this excellent plan informed of her situation, without

disturbing her by knocking at the door, and by personal inquiries: the

lace I found was never displayed but in lying in cases, but without it,

this sort of bulletin is frequently used in other cases of indisposition

amongst persons of consequence.