The canal between Leyden and this place is nearly the pleasantest of
the great number, which connect all the towns of the province with each
other, and render them to the traveller a series of spectacles, almost
as easily visited as the amusements of one large metropolis. Though
this is said to be one of the lowest parts of Holland, the country
does not appear to have suffered more than the rest by water. The many
country seats, which border the canals, are also proofs that it is
thought to be well secured; yet this is the district, which has been
proved, by indisputable observations, to be lower than the neighbouring
sea, even in the profoundest calm. During the voyage, which was of four
hours, we passed under several bridges, and saw numbers of smaller
canals, crossing the country in various directions; but the passage of
a trechtschuyt is not delayed for an instant by a bridge, the tow-rope
being loosened from the boat, on one side, and immediately caught
again, on the other, if it should not be delivered by some person,
purposely stationed on the arch. It is not often that a canal makes
any bend in its course; when it does so, there are small, high posts
at the point, round which the tow-rope is drawn; and, that the cord
may not be destroyed by the friction, the posts support perpendicular
rollers, which are turned by its motion. Such posts and rollers might
be advantageously brought into use in England. On most of the canals
are half-way villages, where passengers may stop, about five minutes,
for refreshment; but they will be left behind, without any ceremony, if
they exceed the limited time, which the boatman employs in exchanging
letters for such of the neighbouring country houses as have not packet
boxes placed on the banks.
Haerlem, like Leyden, is fortified by brick walls, but both seem to be
without the solid earthen works, that constitute the strength of modern
fortresses. A few pieces of cannon are planted near the gate, in order
to command the bridge of a wide _fossé_; and the gate-house itself is a
stout building, deep enough to render the passage underneath somewhat
dark. There is otherwise very little appearance of the strength, that
resisted the Duke of Alva, for twelve months, and exasperated his
desire of vengeance so far, that the murder of the inhabitants, who at
last surrendered to his promises of protection, could alone appease it.
A narrow street leads from the gate to the market-place, where two
pieces of cannon are planted before the guard-house; the first
precaution against internal commotion, which we had seen in the
country. Haerlem had a great share in the disputes of 1787, and is said
to adhere more fully than any other city to the Anti-Stadtholderian
politics of that period.
The market-place is very spacious, and surrounds the great church,
perhaps, the largest sacred building in the province of Holland. The
lofty oak roof is marked with dates of the early part of the sixteenth
century. The organ, sometimes said to be the best in Europe, is of
unusual size, but has more power of sound than sweetness. The pipes
are silvered, and the body carefully painted; for organs are the only
objects in Dutch churches, which are permitted to be shewy. They
are now building, in the great church at Rotterdam, a rival to this
instrument, and need not despair of surpassing it.
A great part of the congregation sit upon chairs in the large aisle,
which does not seem to be thought a much inferior place to the other
parts. During an evening service, at which we were present, this was
nearly filled; and while every person took a separate seat, women
carried _chauffepieds_, or little wooden boxes, with pans of burning
peat in them, to the ladies. This was on the 4th of June. The men enter
the church with their hats on, and some wear them, during the whole
service, with the most disgusting and arrogant hardihood.
We passed a night at Haerlem, which is scarcely worth so long a stay,
though one street, formed upon the banks of a canal, consists of
houses more uniformly grand, than any out of the Hague, and surprises
you with its extensive magnificence at a place, where there is little
other appearance of wealth and none of splendour. But the quietness
of the Great in Holland is daily astonishing to a stranger, who
sometimes passes through rows of palaces, without meeting a carriage,
or a servant. The inhabitants of those palaces have, however, not less
earnest views, than they who are more agitated; the difference between
them is, that the views of the former are only such as their situation
enables them to gratify, without the agitation of the latter. They can
sit still and wait for the conclusion of every year, at which they
are to be richer, or rather are to have much more money, than in the
preceding one. They know, that, every day the silent progress of
interest adds so much to their principal; and they are content to watch
the course of time, for it is time alone that varies their wealth,
the single object of their attention. There can be no motive, but its
truth, for repeating the trite opinion of the influence of avarice
in Holland: we expected, perhaps, with some vanity, to have found an
opportunity for contradicting it; but are able only to add another
testimony of its truth. The infatuation of loving money not as a means,
but as an end, is paramount in the mind of almost every Dutchman,
whatever may be his other dispositions and qualities; the addiction to
it is fervent, inveterate, invincible, and universal from youth to the
feeblest old age.
Haerlem has little trade, its communication with the sea being through
Amsterdam, which latter place has always been able to obstruct the
reasonable scheme of cutting a canal through the four miles of land,
that separate the former from the ocean. Its manufactures of silk
and thread are much less prosperous than formerly. Yet there are no
symptoms of decay, or poverty, and the environs are well covered
with gardens especially on the banks of the _Sparen_, of which one
branch flows through the town and the other passes under the walls.
Some charitable institutions, for the instruction and employment of
children, should be mentioned also, to assuage the general censure of a
too great fondness for money.
The house of LAURANCE COSTER, who is opposed to FAUST, GOTTENBURGH
and SCHEFFER, for the honour of having invented the art of printing,
is near the great church and is still inhabited by a bookseller. An
inscription, not worth copying, asserts him to be the inventor. The
house, which is small and stands in a row with others, must have
received its present brick front in some time subsequent to that of
COSTER.