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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 renumerated 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 bason, the noble streets leading toward the wood, and the spires of distant villages fading in the mist of the horizon; whilst, on the other side, stretched the avenues of Scheveling, terminated by the blue and sparkling occean.

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 se

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lected 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 gibletpye. 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 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 labor, 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 shew 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 logis du di"rectoire 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 an 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 tradesmens' houses at this day in Holland, winter courtships are carried on in

A A

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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 365 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,

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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 a certain circumstance, 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, beforementioned, 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 Friezland, 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