their death in gold letters, but no names: in the wall at the east end of the church, a cannon ball is exhibited, which was fired into it by the Spaniards in the 16th century, during divine service.

The walks round this city are very beautiful, and at a short distance from it there is a noble wood, in which is a fine walk of stately elms, nearly three miles long, abounding with beautiful scenery: this wood is a rival of that which I have described at the Hague. In this delightful place stands the mansion of Mr. Henry Hope, whose family has been long known for its loyalty and immense wealth it is said to have cost fifty thousand pounds. Upon the revolution taking place, this gentleman was obliged to seek refuge in England, to the capital of which he had previously transported in safety his magnificent collection of paintings.

The villa, which is built of brick stuccoed, is modern and magnificent, and before the revolution was frequently resorted to by the Prince of Orange and his family, who were much attached to its opulent and liberal owner, which he eminently merited, by having rendered them many important services, particularly in 1788, when it was unsafe for him to appear on the exchange of Amsterdam without military protection. As the pictures were re

HH

moved, there was nothing in the internal part of the mansion worthy of notice.

Haarlem and its environs are more celebrated than any other spot, for the beautiful flowers which it produces, the soil being peculiarly propitious to their production.

CHAPTER XIV.

ANECDOTES OF LAWRENCE COSTER-ART OF PRINTING HOW DISCOVERED ITS ORIGINALITY DISPUTED-FEMALE FORTITUDE AND PRESENCE OF MIND-SIEGE OF HAARLEM-HEROIC CONDUCT OF THE WOMEN-BRIEF ANECDOTE OF WOUVERMANS-OF BAMBOCCIO -FATAL EFFECTS OF SEVERE CRITICISMANECDOTES OF NICHOLAS BERGHEM AND HIS TERMAGANT WIFE-OF RUYSDAAL-ENORMOUS SLUICES APPROACH AMSTERDAM-ITS GENERAL APPEARANCE-A SLEY ERASMUS'S WHIMSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THAT CITY-THE STADT-HOUSE-SILENCE REPRESENTED AS A FEMALE THE TOWER -CLOCKS, SINGULAR MODE OF STRIKIng the hour.

NOT far from the church, the spot where stood the house of Lawrence Coster, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, the celebrated inventor of the art of printing, is shewn; formerly there was a statue over the gate where he lived, with this inscription:

MEMORIE SACRUM

TYPOGRAPHIA,

ARS ARTIUM OPTIMA

CONSERVATRIX,

HIC PRIMUM INVENTA

CIRCA ANNUM M CCCC XL.

236

DISCOVERY OF PRINTING.

The first book he printed is kept in the town-house, in a silver case wrapt up in silk, and is always shewn with great caution, as a most precious relic of antiquity. The glory of this transcendent discovery, which spread light and civilization over the world, and formed a new epoch in its history, was for a long time disputed between Haarlem, Mayence, and Strasburg: the latter, after a laborious investigation, has renounced her pretensions, and the general opinion seems to bestow the palm upon the first city. The manner in which Coster imbibed the first impressions of this divine discovery, is said to have been from his cutting the letters of his name on the bark of a tree, and afterwards pressing a piece of paper upon the characters, until they became legible upon it, which induced him to continue the experiment, by engraving other letters upon wood. Those early principles were soon diffused through France, with considerable improvements, by the enterprizing ability of the Etiennes; by the learned Manutius, a celebrated Venetian painter, and the inventor of Italian characters through Italy; and through the Netherlands by Christopher Plantin, whose printing-office at Antwerp was one of the principal ornaments of the town, and who was distinguished for his skill, erudition, and prodigious wealth, created solely by a successful prosecution of his important business.

ANECDOTE OF FEMALE FORTITUDE.

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Mayence.contests the honor of the invention, but it is generally believed that a servant of Coster, of the name of Faustus, stole the types of his master on a Christmas-eve, whilst he was attending his devotions at church, and fled with his booty to Mayence. The portrait of Coster is to be seen in most of the booksellers' shops at Haarlem, and in other principal towns.

A memorable, but not an unusual instance of affection, and of female presence of mind, occurred in this city many years since, at a spot which is still shewn with no little degree of national pride, whereon an antient castle stood, the lord of which was severely pressed by the burghers of the town, who laid siege to it, on account of his tyrannical conduct towards them: driven to the last extremity, and when his life was upon the point of paying the forfeit of his crimes, his lady appeared on the ramparts, and offered to surrender, provided she might be permitted to bring out as much of her most valuable goods as she could carry on her back; which being complied with, she brought her husband out upon her shoulders, preserved him from the fury of the troops, and gave up to them possession of the castle-thinking in the language of Shakspeare,

"If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
"And in thy sight to die, what were it else,
"But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap ?"-

Henry IV. Part 2d. Act 4.