246

ENTRANCE OF AMSTERDAM.

I reached Amsterdam just after the gates had been closed, but my commissaire and I were admitted upon paying a few stivers. As soon as we had entered, every object denoted a vast, populous, and opulent city: every street, and I passed through a great number before I reached my hotel, was tolerably well lighted, but in this respect infinitely inferior to London. At length, after traversing the city about two miles and a half, I reached the principal hotel, called Amsterdam Wappen, or the Arms of Amsterdam, which, in point of magnitude and accommodation, may vie with the first hotels in our own metropolis. Here, after an excellent supper of fish, which the Dutch dress to admiration, and some porter, which was an excellent imitation of that description of beverage for which London is so justly renowned, I found a sopha bed prepared for me, with curtains pendent from the centre, in the French taste, which much prevails in the internal arrangement of the houses of this great city.

In the morning I was awakened by the chimes of some of the churches, which in softness and sweetness resembled the distant sounds of a harp. Although it was seven o'clock, upon looking from the window, I heard the hum and beheld the bustle of business which in other countries characterise mid-day. Under the agreeable influence of a brilliant, cloudless sky, I descended into the street, and mingled with the active, ant-like multitude, every member

of which presented a physiognomy full of thought and calculation: gold, goid, seemed to be the only object:

-That yellow slave

Will knit, and break religions; bless the accursed;

Make the hoar leprosy adored; place thieves,

And give them title, knee, and approbation,

With senators on the bench.

Timon of Athens, Act IV. Scene 3.

The first circumstance that afforded novelty was, that amidst all the bustle I seldom met with any carriages on wheels to augment the noise of the scene. Upon enquiry I found, that, by the police laws of Amsterdam, wheelcarriages are limited to a certain number, which is very inconsiderable compared with the size of the city, from an apprehension that an uncontrouled use of them might hazard the foundation of the houses, most of which are built upon piles; for nearly the whole of the ground on which this vast city stands was formerly a morass.. A carriage, called by the Dutch a sley, and by the French a traineau, or, on account of its solemnity, un pot de chambre, is used in their room; it is the body of a coach fastened by ropes on a sledge, and drawn by one horse; the driver walks by the side of it, which he holds with one hand to prevent its falling over, and with the other the reins: nothing can be more melancholy than this machine, which holds four persons, moves at the rate of about three miles an hour, and

248

ERASMUS'S REMARK.

seems more like the equipage of an hospital, than a vehicle in which the observer would expect to find a merry face; yet in this manner do the Dutch frequently pay visits and take the air. It was in allusion to the forest foundation of this wonderful place, that Erasmus sportively observed, when he first visited it, that he had reached a city, the inhabitants of which, like crows, lived upon the tops of trees; and another wit compared Amsterdam to Venice, on account of both having wooden legs.

Amsterdam is situated on the rivers Y and Amstel, from the latter of which it derives its name; it is about nine miles and a half in circumference, of a semicircular form, surrounded with a fosse about eighty feet wide, and a rampart faced with brick, which is in several places dismantled, and twenty-six bastions: it has also eight noble gates of stone, and several draw-bridges: the population is estimated at three hundred thousand. In 1204, with the exception of a small castle, not a building was to be seen upon the scite of this great city, which, from being at first a petty village of fishermen, dilated in the lapse of years, and by the enterprize and industry of the inhabitants, into a magnificent capital, which, at length, upon the shutting up of the navigation of the Scheld, added the commerce of Antwerp to its own, and became the great emporium of the world. Neither here, nor in any of the cities or

towns in Holland, through which I passed, is a stranger annoyed by barriers, productions of passports, or any of those disagreeable ceremonies which distinguish the police of many other countries. In Holland a foreigner finds his loco-motive disposition as little restricted, or encumbered by municipal regulations, as in England. Canals intersect nearly the whole of this city, adorned with avenues of stately elms. Many of the houses are very splendid, particularly those in Kiezer's gragt, or Emperor's street, and Heeren gragt, or Lords' street, where there are many mansions, which, were they not so much concealed by the fan of the trees before them, would have a very princely appearance. Many of the shops are also very handsome, particudarly those belonging to jewellers and print-sellers; in the windows of the latter prints of the illustrious Nelson, and of our marine victories, were exposed to view. The druggists here, and in other parts of Holland, use as a sign a huge carved head, with the mouth wide open, placed before the shop windows; sometimes it rudely resembles a Mercury's head, at others it is surmounted by a fool's cap. This clumsy and singular sign is called de gaaper, the gaper; what analogy it bears to physic I could not learn; it is very likely to have originated in whim and caprice. Some of the shop boards, called uithang borden, have ridiculous verses inscribed upon them.

K K

The first place my curiosity led me to was the Stadthouse, which is unquestionably a wonderful edifice, considering that Holland furnishes no stone, and that the foundation of the building was boggy; the latter circumstance rendered it necessary to have an artificial foundation of extraordinary construction and magnitude, and accordingly it rests upon thirteen thousand six hundred and ninety-five massy trees, or piles, the first of which was driven on the 20th of January, 1648, and the last on the 6th of October following, when the first stone, with a suitable inscription, was laid; and seven years afterwards the different colleges of magistrates took formal possession of the apartments allotted for their respective offices, but at this time the roof and dome were not completed the expence of this mighty edifice amounted to two millions sterling. The principal architect was John Van Kampen, who acted under the controul of four burgomasters. The area in which it stands is spacious, and was till lately called Revolutie plein; it is disfigured by the promixity of the waag, or weigh-house, a very old shabby building. The form of the Stadt-house is square, its front is two hundred and eighty-two feet, its depth two hundred and fifty-five, and its height one hundred and sixteen. It has seven small porticoes, representative of the seven provinces; the want of a grand entrance is a great architectural defect, which immediately excites the surprise of the