six o'clock in the evening embarked upon the Merwe river, a noble branch of the Maas, the breadth of which is about a mile, lessening but in a little degree as it reaches Rotterdam. The water of this river is rather foul, its shores are beautifully lined with villages, farm-houses, and avenues of trees. A botanical gentleman informed me that the eryngium campestre, field eryngo, so very rare in England, grows in great profusion, and wild, on either side of the river, and in most other parts of Holland.

When the night advanced, the floating lanthorns of the fishermen had a pleasing and romantic effect, as we glided along with a fine breeze; and a row of lamps running parallel with a canal supplied by the Merwe, announced our passing Schiedam, so celebrated throughout Holland for its distilleries of geneva, of which we were informed there were three hundred before Holland submitted to the arms of France.

When the French troops entered Holland as victors, this beautiful river, in a season remarkably rigorous, formed a compact road of ice for the infantry, cavalry, and artillery, of the invaders dreadful as the winter was, the French were in want of the most necessary articles of cloathing; even whole battalions were destitute of shoes and stockings, and centinels frequently did duty with no other covering than

14

ANECDOTE OF BONAPARTE.

a tattered blanket, and the fragment of a pair of breeches, which time and service had reduced by instalments to little more than a few shreds: yet they did not repine.

In a milder climate, after the French took possession of Bologna, a soldier, whose coat was nearly in the predicament of his military countryman's breeches before mentioned, came up to Bonaparte, and begged that he would order him a new pair, to which his general, who had none to give him, very shrewdly replied, "my good fellow, that "will not do, it will hinder your wounds from being seen."

When the French troops entered Rotterdam, they were quartered on the inhabitants, whose good opinion, I was well informed, they soon conciliated by their quiet conduct and orderly deportment. I afterwards received the same character of the French troops in other parts of Holland, from those with whom, I am convinced, they were not very welcome visitors, on account of the contributions which they levied.

In the faces of our crew, and the scenery on each side of us, before dusk-fall, we saw those studies to which the exquisite works of the Dutch school have familiarized every person of taste. About twelve o'clock we arrived at the boom, or barrier for shipping at Rotterdam, and here a

luckless accident had nearly befallen me. The luggage of the passengers was deposited in small holds nearly the length of the vessel, covered over with loose boards the night was dark, and as by the light of a solitary lamp we were endeavouring to get at our luggage, a fat Dutchman's wife sprung out of the cabin, in which she had been concealed during our expedition up the river, who thinking. that we were molesting some of her bonnet-boxes, in the unguarded violence of her approach, slipped into one of the holds, the boards of which had been inadvertently left open by the Swiss bridegroom before mentioned, in an irritable struggle to obtain his luggage; the oaths and howlings of the poor lady brought out her husband, a man whom we had remarked for the unpleasantness of his physiognomy and deportment during the voyage, and as I stood nearest to his prostrate wife in the act of assisting her, he charged me with having maliciously occasioned her suffering, and threatened repeatedly to call the watchmen of the city and send me and my companions to prison.

It was a long time before I could allay the storm, and. dulcify the temper of this man, which, considering my situation, required some little forbearance and management of feeling. At length we got on shore, and after much difficulty and perambulation discovered a comfortable hotel in the suburbs; the gates of the city being always shut, and the boom closed at eleven o'clock..

Our hotel lay at the bottom of a most beautiful avenue of trees, running parallel with the river opposite to the ferry. Our landlord was very civil, and all his servants spoke French. In the principal apartment was a print of Napoleon in his coronation robes-I afterwards observed similar prints in many other houses in the city.

Many of the principal merchants of Rotterdam have country-houses in these delightful suburbs. I walked along a line of them, and beheld for the first time a specimen of the taste of the Dutch in rural scenery: the gardens, upon a level with the river, and divided from it by a high raised road, appeared to have been all designed by a mathematician; but still their neatness and luxuriance left a pleasing impression on the mind. Upon every gate, or house, a motto indicative of the mind of the owner, or of the character of the place, presented itself-of which the following are specimens.

Vreede is myn Lust Haf

Peace is my garden.

Lust en rust

Hope and repose.

Na by Bruten

Almost out of town.

Ziet op u minder

Look upon those beneath you.

N. B. This was inscribed upon a large house that commanded some little cottages.

Wel te vreeda

Very content, &c. &c.

These inscriptions are seldom used but by opulent tradesmen; amongst the higher classes they are con

sidered to be a little tinctured with vulgarity, though, as I found, they sometimes indulge in them: the villas of the latter are frequently known by names corresponding with those which are applied to the country residences of the superior families in England.

In the morning our luggage was inspected by the proper officers, who gave us very little trouble, and were content with a trifling douceur. The entrance to the city, towards the river, through the principal gate, called De Nieuwe Hoofds Poort, a structure infinitely more elegant than another barrier of this city, called De Oude Hoofds Poort, is very handsome.

The immediate transition from the tranquillity of the country to the busy hum of men was very striking: the canals, with their numerous draw-bridges, as we proceeded to our city hotel, the Mareschal de Turenne, were lined with vessels of all sorts and sizes; and notwithstanding the war, every one appeared to be engaged in some active pursuit or another.

Before hostilities began, it was no uncommon circumstance to see between three and four hundred merchant ships, from England alone, lying in these canals and in the Maas; by which a vast commerce is carried on with

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