The passage from Amsterdam hither is of eight hours; and,
notwithstanding the pleasantness of trechtschuyt conveyance, seemed
somewhat tedious, after the habit of passing from city to city in half
that time. The canal is, however, justly preferred to others, on
account of the richness of its surrounding scenery; and it is pleasing
to observe how gradually the country improves, as the distance from
the province of Holland and from the sea increases. Towards Utrecht,
the gardens rise from the banks of the canal, instead of spreading
below its level, and the grounds maintain avenues and plantations of
lofty trees. Vegetation is stronger and more copious; shrubs rise to a
greater height; meadows display a livelier green; and the lattice-work
of the bowery avenues, which occur so frequently, ceases to be more
conspicuous than the foliage.
It was Whitsuntide, and the banks of the canal were gay with holiday
people, riding in waggons and carts; the latter frequently carrying a
woman wearing a painted hat as large as an umbrella, and a man with
one in whimsical contrast clipped nearly close to the crown. The lady
sometimes refreshed herself with a fan, and the gentleman, meanwhile,
with a pipe of tobacco. Every village we passed resounded with hoarse
music and the clatter of wooden shoes: among these the prettiest
was _Nieuversluys_, bordering each side of the canal, with a white
drawbridge picturesquely shadowed with high trees, and green banks
sloping to the water's brim. Pleasure-boats and trechtschuyts lined the
shores; and the windows of every house were thronged with broad faces.
On the little terraces below were groups of smokers, and of girls in
the neat trim Dutch dress, with the fair complexion and air of decorous
modesty, by which their country-women are distinguished.
About half way from Amsterdam stands a small modern fortification; and
it is an instance of Dutch carefulness, that grass had just been mowed
even from the parapets of the batteries, and was made up in heaps
within the works. Not far from it is an ancient castle of one tower,
left in the state to which it was reduced during the contest with the
Spaniards.
Near Utrecht, the ground has improved so much, that nothing but
its evenness distinguishes it from other countries; and, at some
distance eastward, the hills of Guelderland rise to destroy this last
difference. The entrance into the city is between high terraces, from
which steps descend to the canal; but the street is not wide enough
to have its appearance improved by this sort of approach. Warehouses,
formed under the terraces, shew also that the latter have been raised
more for convenience than splendour.
The steeple of the great church, formerly a cathedral, excites, in
the mean time, an expectation of dignity in the interior, where some
considerable streets and another canal complete the air of an opulent
city. It is not immediately seen, that a great part of the body of
this cathedral has been destroyed, and that the canals, being subject
to tides, have dirty walls during the ebb. The splendour, which might
be expected in the capital of a province much inhabited by nobility,
does not appear; nor is there, perhaps, any street equal to the best
of Leyden and Haerlem; yet, in general beauty, the city is superior to
either of these.
We arrived just before nine, at which hour a bell rings to denote
the shutting of the larger gates; for the rules of a walled town are
observed here, though the fortifications could be of little other use
than to prevent a surprise by horse. The _Chateau d'Anvers_, at which
we lodged, is an excellent inn, with a landlord, who tells, that he has
walked sixty years in his own passage, and that he had the honour of
entertaining the Marquis of Granby thirteen times, during the war of
1756. Though the Dutch inns are generally unobjectionable, there is
an air of English completeness about this which the others do not reach.
Utrecht is an university, but with as little appearance of such an
institution as Leyden. The students have no academical dress; and their
halls, which are used only for lectures and exercises, are formed
in the cloisters of the ancient cathedral. The chief sign of their
residence in the place is, that the householders, who have lodgings to
let, write upon a board, as is done at Leyden, _Cubicula locanda_. We
were shewn round the town by a member of the university, who carefully
avoided the halls; and we did not press to see them.
There are still some traces remaining of the Bishopric, which was
once so powerful, as to excite the jealousy, or rather, perhaps, to
tempt the avarice of Charles the Fifth, who seized upon many of its
possessions. The use made of the remainder by the States General,
is scarcely more justifiable; for the prebends still subsist, and are
disposed of by sale to Lay Canons, who send delegates to the Provincial
States, as if they had ecclesiastical characters.
The substantial remains of the Cathedral are one aisle, in which divine
service is performed, and a lofty, magnificent Gothic tower, that
stands apart from it. The ascent of this tower is one of the tasks
prescribed to strangers, and, laborious as it is, the view from the
summit sufficiently rewards them. A stone staircase, steep, narrow, and
winding, after passing several grated doors, leads into a floor, which
you hope is at the top, but which is little more than half way up. Here
the family of the belfryman fill several decently furnished apartments,
and shew the great bell, with several others, the noise of which, it
might be supposed, no human ears could bear, as they must, at the
distance of only three, or four yards. After resting a few minutes in
a room, the windows of which command, perhaps, a more extensive land
view than any other inhabited apartment in Europe, you begin the second
ascent by a staircase still narrower and steeper, and, when you seem
to be so weary as to be incapable of another step, half the horizon
suddenly bursts upon the view, and all your meditated complaints are
overborne by expressions of admiration.
Towards the west, the prospect, after including the rich plain of
gardens near Utrecht, extends over the province of Holland, intersected
with water, speckled with towns, and finally bounded by the sea, the
mists of which hide the low shores from the sight. To the northward,
the Zuyder Zee spreads its haziness over Amsterdam and Naerden; but
from thence to the east, the spires of Amersfoort, Rhenen, Arnheim,
Nimeguen and many intermediate towns, are seen amongst the woods and
hills, that gradually rise towards Germany. South-ward, the more
mountainous district of Cleves and then the level parts of Guelderland
and Holland, with the windings of the Waal and the Leck, in which the
Rhine loses itself, complete a circle of probably more than sixty
miles diameter, that strains the sight from this tremendous steeple.
The almost perpendicular view into the streets of Utrecht affords
afterwards some relief to the eye, but increases any notions of danger,
you may have had from observing, that the open work Gothic parapet,
which alone prevents you from falling with dizziness, has suffered
something in the general decay of the church.
While we were at the top, the bells struck; and, between the giddiness
communicated by the eye, and the stunning effect of a sound that seemed
to shake the steeple, we were compelled to conclude sooner than had
been intended this comprehensive and farewell prospect of Holland.
The Mall, which is esteemed the chief ornament of Utrecht, is, perhaps,
the only avenue of the sort in Europe, still fit to be used for the
game that gives its name to them all. The several rows of noble trees
include, at the sides, roads and walks; but the centre is laid out
for the game of _Mall_, and, though not often used, is in perfect
preservation. It is divided so as to admit of two parties of players
at once, and the side-boards sufficiently restrain spectators. The
Mall in St. James's Park was kept in the same state, till 1752, when
the present great walk was formed over the part, which was separated
by similar side-boards. The length of that at Utrecht is nearly three
quarters of a mile. The luxuriance and loftiness of the trees preserve
a perspective much superior to that of St. James's, but in the
latter the whole breadth of the walks is greater, and the view is more
extensive, as well as more ornamented.
This city, being a sort of capital to the neighbouring nobility, is
called the politest in the United Provinces, and certainly abounds,
more than the others, with the professions and trades, which are
subservient to splendour. One practice, observed in some degree, in all
the cities, is most frequent here; that of bows paid to all parties,
in which there are ladies, by every gentleman who passes. There are,
however, no plays, or other public amusements; and the festivities,
or ceremonies, by which other nations commemorate the happier events
in their history, are as unusual here as in the other parts of the
United Provinces, where there are more occasions to celebrate and fewer
celebrations than in most European countries. Music is very little
cultivated in any of the cities, and plays are to be seen only at
Amsterdam and the Hague, where German and Dutch pieces are acted upon
alternate nights. At Amsterdam, a French Opera-house has been shut up,
and, at the Hague, a _Comédie_, and the actors ordered to leave the
country.
The ramparts of the city, which are high and command extensive
prospects, are rather emblems of the peacefulness, which it has long
enjoyed, than signs of any effectual resistance, prepared for an enemy.
They are in many places regularly planted with trees, which must be
old enough to have been spared, together with the Mall, by Louis the
Fourteenth; in others, pleasure houses, instead of batteries, have
been raised upon them. A few pieces of old cannon are planted for the
purpose of saluting the Prince of ORANGE, when he passes the city.
Trechtschuyts go no further eastward than this place, so that we hired
a voiturier's carriage, a sort of curricle with a driver's box in
front, for the journey to Nimeguen. The price for thirty-eight, or
thirty-nine miles, was something more than a guinea and a half; the
horses were worth probably sixty pounds upon the spot, and were as able
as they were showy, or they could not have drawn us through the deep
sands, that cover one third of the road.
We were now speedily quitting almost every thing, that is generally
characteristic of Dutch land. The pastures were intermixed with fields
of prosperous corn; the best houses were surrounded by high woods, and
the grounds were separated by hedges, instead of water, where any sort
of partition was used. Windmills were seldom seen, and those only for
corn. But these improvements in the appearance of the country were
accompanied by many symptoms of a diminished prosperity among the
people. In eight-and-thirty miles there was not one considerable
town; a space, which, in the province of Holland, would probably have
included three opulent cities, several extensive villages, and ranges
of mansions, erected by merchants and manufacturers.
_Wyk de Duerstede_, the first town in the road, is distinguishable at
some distance, by the shattered tower of its church, a monument of
the desolation, spread by the Spaniards. The inhabitants, probably
intending, that it should remain as a lesson to posterity, have not
attempted to restore it, further than to place some stones over the
part filled by the clock. The body of the church and the remainder of
the tower are not deficient of Gothic dignity. The town itself consists
of one, or two wide streets, not well filled either with inhabitants,
or houses.
The road here turns to the eastward and is led along the right bank of
the Leck, one of the branches of the Rhine, upon a raised mound, or
dique, sometimes twenty, or thirty feet, above the river on the one
side, and the plains, on the other. Small posts, each numbered, are
placed along this road, at unequal distances, for no other use, which
we could discover, than to enable the surveyors to report exactly
where the mound may want repairs. The carriage way is formed of a deep
sand, which we were very glad to leave, by crossing the river at a
ferry; though this road had given us a fine view of its course and of
some stately vessels, pressing against the stream, on their voyage to
Germany.
On the other side, the road went further from the river, though we
continued to skirt it occasionally as far as a small ferry-house,
opposite to Rhenen, at which we dined, while the horses rested under a
shed, built over the road, as weigh-houses are at our turnpikes. Rhenen
is a walled town, built upon an ascent from the water, and appears to
have two, or three neat streets.
Having dined in a room, where a table, large enough for twenty persons,
was placed, on one side, and a line of four, or five beds, covered
by one long curtain, was formed against the wainscot, on the other,
the voiturier clamoured, that the gates of Nimeguen would be shut
before we could get to them, and we soon began to cross the country
between the Leck and the Waal, another branch of the Rhine, which, in
Guelderland, divides itself into so many channels, that none can be
allowed the pre-eminence of retaining its name. Soon after reaching the
right bank of the Waal, the road affords a view of the distant towers
of Nimeguen, which appear there to be very important, standing upon a
brow, that seems to front the whole stream of the river. In the way, we
passed several noble estates, with mansions, built in the castellated
form, which James the First introduced into England, instead of the
more fortified residences; and there was a sufficient grandeur of
woods and avenues, to shew, that there might be parks, if the owners
had the taste to form them. Between the avenues, the gilded ornaments
of the roof, and the peaked coverings, placed, in summer, over the
chimneys, glittered to the light, and shewed the fantastic style of the
architecture, so exactly copied in Flemish landscapes of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.
As the sun declined and we drew near Nimeguen, the various colouring
of a scene more rich than extensive rendered its effect highly
interesting. The wide Waal on our left, reflecting the evening blush,
and a vessel whose full sails caught a yellow gleam from the west; the
ramparts and pointed roofs of Nimeguen rising over each other, just
tinted by the vapour that ascended from the bay below; the faint
and fainter blue of two ridges of hills in Germany retiring in the
distance, with the mellow green of nearer woods and meadows, formed a
combination of hues surprisingly gay and beautiful. But Nimeguen lost
much of its dignity on a nearer approach; for many of the towers, which
the treachery of fancy had painted at distance, changed into forms
less picturesque; and its situation, which a bold sweep of the Waal
had represented to be on a rising peninsula crowning the flood, was
found to be only on a steep beside it. The ramparts, however, the high
old tower of the citadel, the Belvidere, with the southern gate of the
town beneath, composed part of an interesting picture on the opposite
margin of the river. But there was very little time to observe it: the
driver saw the flying bridge, making its last voyage, for the night,
towards our shore, and likely to return in about twenty minutes; he,
therefore, drove furiously along the high bank of the river, and,
turning the angle of the two roads with a velocity, which would have
done honour to a Brentford postillion, entered that adjoining the first
half of the bridge, and shewed the directors of the other half, that we
were to be part of their cargo.
This bridge, which is partly laid over boats and partly over two
barges, that float from the boats to the shore, is so divided, because
the stream is occasionally too rapid to permit an entire range of boats
between the two banks. It is thus, for one half, a bridge of boats,
and, for the other, a flying bridge; which last part is capable of
containing several carriages, and joins to the other so exactly as not
to occasion the least interruption. It is also railed for the safety
of foot passengers, of whom there are commonly twenty, or thirty. The
price for a carriage is something about twenty-pence, which the
tollmen carefully collect as soon as the demi-bridge has begun its
voyage.