Batavia, and that trade at present employs about 80 of the finest merchant ships in the world, of the burden of from 500 to 1000 tons. They are admirably equipped, and make the voyage to and from India in 9 months upon the average. An increasing trade is carried on in the valuable product tions of the East, the chief of which are sugar, coffee, and spices. The West India trade, formerly carried on with Surinam, is almost extinct. The trade in provisions is very great: much corn is brought down the Rhine from the interior of Germany; and from the upper parts contiguous to that river a vast supply of timber for ship building is conveyed. This is an important branch of industry, at present very flourishing, as near 100 of the best class of vessels are now building in the different dock-yards.

seen a

A stranger who has never Dutch town before, will find more amusement in merely walking through the streets than in any of the sights which guide-books are usually contented to enumerate. He will be struck with the novel and picturesque combination of water, bridges, trees, and shipping, in the heart of a city. He will remark the quaint buildings with gables facing the street, and often overhanging the foundation more than a foot;

-the canals traversed by innumerable drawbridges opening and shutting to allow the passage of vessels, the carts running upon sledges instead of wheels, with barrels of water placed in front, which is jerked out through several small holes, so as to sprinkle the pavement as the horse moves on, and diminish the friction. The shoes of the horses, which it is not improbable he may compare to pattens; the wooden sabots of the peasants; the brass milkpails, glistening like polished armour; the little mirror fastened before the window of every house (§ 15.), and the rude busts of Turks' or Moors' heads in front of the chemists' shops, called from their open mouths Gapers, are all novelties not to be met with in his own country.

An enormous dyke or dam, erected

It

at the junction of a small stream called the Rotte with the Maas, whence comes the name Rotterdam, passes through the centre of the town. originally protected the country behind it from inundations during high tides of the Maas. The Hoog Straat (High Street) stands upon this DAM.; and the newest part of the town is built on the ground extending between it and the Boompjes, and gained from the Maas since the dam was erected.

The objects worthy of observatio are: The statue of Erasmus, who was a native of this place. It is of bronze, and stands on a wide bridge over a canal, which serves the purposes of a market-place, called the Grote Market, near the centre of the town. Erasmus's real name was Gerrit Gerritz, which, in accordance with the custom of the learned of his time, he translated into Desiderius Erasmus. The house in which he was born (1467) still exists; it is turned into a gin-shop, and is situated in the Breede Kerk Straat, leading to the Great Church. It bears a small statue of the scholar, with the inscription, " Hæc est parva domus, magnus quâ natus Erasmus."

The Great Church of St. Lawrence, Groote Kerk, (built in 1472) of brick, contains the monuments of the Admirals de Witt and Cortenaer, and Vice Admiral (Schoudtbijnacht) van Brakel, all erected to their memory by the States General, and bearing epitaphs in old Dutch verse. The very fine Organ, according to some, is superior in size and tone to that of Haarlem, the largest metal pipe being 17 inches in diameter, and the number of stops 5084. The organist will play at any time in consideration of a fee of 10 guilders for the hour. They who do not intend to visit Haarlem will do well to hear this instrument. The architectural details of the church, though much mutilated, are fine, and, like almost all the great churches of Holland, have been too much neglected. In this and other Dutch churches it will be remarked that the coats of arms on the monuments are all defaced: this was the act of the French republicans

The other public buildings are, the Exchange, where business is transacted daily at 3 (scientific persons visiting Rotterdam should see the collection of philosophical instruments, and the library, in the room above it); the Stadhuis, or Town Hall, a large new building with a Composite portico, and the house formerly occupied by the East India Company, on the Boompjes, close to the Hôtel des Pays-Bas, turned into warehouses since the company was broken up; but none of them deserve either minute description or examination. The phi losopher Bayle, when exiled from France, ended his days here, in one of the houses on the Boompjes.

The dock-yard is inferior to that of Amsterdam, and on a much smaller scale than similar establishments in England. It is shown to strangers on producing an order from a respectable householder. A relic is preserved here of the successful attack made by the Dutch upon the English fleet in the Medway, 1667, when they burnt the magazines at Chatham, along with several men-of-war. It is a portion of the stern of the Royal Charles, the admiral's ship, which was captured by them.

M. Nottebohn possesses an excellent private collection of the modern Dutch and Flemish schools.

Half a day will suffice to see all that is remarkable in Rotterdam.

There are so many English here, that the language is very generally spoken and understood. They have two churches; a Presbyterian church, which has existed more than two cen

turies, and an Episcopalian, on the E. side of the Haring-vliet, surmounted by the arms of Queen Anne and the Duke of Marlborough: these, though served by ministers from Great Britain, form part of the National Church establishment, the salaries being paid by the Dutch government. The

Scotch Presbyterian church is on the Schottsche Dyk.

The water of the Maas, which is drunk here, will cause considerable annoyance to persons unaccustomed to it: travellers should avoid it. (§ 6.)

In the suburbs are many places of entertainment, with Gardens, not unlike tea-gardens in England, except that some of them are frequented by the higher classes of citizens, and partake of the nature of a club. Here are found billiard and ball rooms, skittlegrounds, refreshments of various kinds, and much smoking.

There is a public walk outside the Ooster (eastern) gate, called Plantage, whence a good view is obtained of Rotterdam.

There are several Clubs here, where English as well as continental newspapers are taken in; a stranger may be introduced by a member, and ge nerally by the master of the hotel.

This was the native place of Adrian van der Werf, van der Neer, Netscher, and Zachtleeven, painters, and of James Crofts, Duke of Monmouth, son of Charles II. by Lucy Waters.

The Post Office (het Postkantoor) is on the Wijnhaven, in the Wijnstraat.

Curiosities from China and Japan may be purchased of De Groot, 342. Hoogstraat, opposite the Walloon church.

Trekschuiten (§ 5.) start nearly every hour in the day, to Delft and the Hague: the fare to the Hague is 20 stivers.]

Diligences Daily to Utrecht. Nymegen, Gouda, Antwerp, and Breda.

Steamboats to Nymegen every morning in summer; every other morning during the rest of the year. Those of the New Dusseldorf Company are best. (See R. 12.)

Steamers daily to Moerdyk in 3 hours; to Middelburg, in Zealand, in

9; twice a day to Dort; to Gouda and back daily; 6 times a month to Havre and Dunkirk; to London every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. To Antwerp daily, in 8 to 10 hours. (See R. 18.) To Bois le Duc (Hertogenbosch) daily, in 8 hours, To Hull once a week.

runs for a considerable distance alongside of the canal, as, indeed, is the case with most roads in Holland.

Station. Schiedam. The town is on the left, surrounded by windmills, and enveloped in everlasting smoke, rising from its distilleries of gin (je never, i. e. juniper). See p. 26.

Stat. DELFT, Inn, Gouden Molen (Golden Mill). On the Schie, 8 m. from Rotterdam, 17,000 inhab.; and said to derive its name from delven, to dig. This town, "the parent of pot

5 trains a day; to the Hague, 13 miles, in 45 min; to Amsterdam in 23 hrs.

Length of Railway from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, 92,230 Engl. yards, or about 521 Engl. miles.

This railway, the first that was constructed in Holland, is due to the enterprise of a public company, called "The Railway Company of Holland," whose affairs are managed by a council of administration consisting of 5 commissaries and the engineer. The difficulties of construction arising from the peculiar physical character of the locality were the least that the company had to contend against, owing to the hostility of the proprietors of the land. The company was formed on the 8th Aug. 1837, at Amsterdam, and the part between Haarlem and Amsterdam was opened 20th Sept. 1839. The engineer was the Chevalier F. W. Conrad, M. I. C.E.

The

gauge is 2 métres = 6 ft. Eng. from centre to centre of the rails, which rest upon longitudinal timber bearings, and the cost of each Eng. mile of single line of railway laid was 2394l. 10s.

Trekschuiten to Delft in 2 hours. The old road to Delft is pleasantly varied with villas and gardens, and

Holland itself, in its chief article of produce, to which it has given a name (Delft-ware, in Dutch plateel), by the superior manufactures of England, and the improved taste introduced by Wedgwood in the making of pottery, All the earthenware now made here is of the coarser kind, and does not employ more than 200 persons.

The streets appear empty and dull, but there is enough to amuse a traveller for an hour or two.

Pepys, in his Diary, 18th May, 1660, describes the sights of Delft: -" To the church, where Van Tromp lies entombed, with a fine monument. His epitaph is concluded thus: Tandem bello Anglico tantum non victor, certe invictus, vivere et vincere desiit. There is a sea-fight cut in marble, with the smoke the best expressed that ever I saw in my life. From thence to the great church, that stands in a fine great market-place over against the Stadt-House; and there I saw a stately tomb of the old Prince of Orange, of marble and brass, wherein, among other varieties, there are the angels with their trumpets, expressed as it were crying. Here were very fine organs in both the churches. It is a most sweet town, with bridges and a river in every street."

The New Church (b. 1381) in the great square contains the costly monument, clustered with columns and rich in marble, but in very bad taste, erected by the United Provinces to the memory of William I., prince of Orange, who was assassinated at Delft, 10th July, 1584. His statue in marble, in

full armour, with sword and sceptre, reclines upon the tomb; and at his feet is the figure of his favourite little dog, whose affection saved his master's life from the midnight attack of some Spanish assassins, who had planned to murder him while asleep in his camp, near Mechlin, 1572. The Spaniards, advancing stealthily, under cover of the darkness, had nearly reached the tent, when the vigilance of the dog, whose instinct appears to have told him that they were enemies, detected their approach. He instantly jumped upon the bed, and, by barking violently, and tearing off the clothes with his teeth and feet, roused his master in time to enable him to escape. The faithful animal pined to death after his master's deThe inscription on the tomb makes mention of the dog's attachment. There is a second and better statue of the prince, under the arch at the head of the tomb, in a sitting posture. Beneath is the burial vault of the present royal family of Holland. Here also is the simple monument of GROTIUS, who was a native of Delft, and is interred in this church. This church contains a fine organ.

cease.

In the Old Church (Oude Kerk), which has a leaning tower, is the monument of Admiral Tromp, the ve teran of 32 sea-fights, who conquered the English fleet under Blake, in the Downs, 1652; and afterwards sailed through the channel with a broom at his mast-head, to signify that he had swept the sea of the English. He was killed at last in an engagement represented in bas-relief on his tomb, between Schevening and the mouth of the Maas, in which the English were victorious. In the same church are buried Piet Hein, who from a fisher lad of Delfshaven rose to be admiral, captured the Spanish silver fleet, and died for his country; and Leeuwenhoek, the naturalist, also a native of Delft. The Grand Pensionary Heinsius, the friend and fellow-councillor of Marlborough and Eugene, was also born here.

The house in which William Prince |

of Orange was assassinated is nearly opposite to the west end of the Old Church; it is called the Prinssenhof, and is now a barrack. After crossing the court, a small door on the right leads to the spot where the murder was committed. The identical staircase which he was about to ascend after dinner, and the passage where the murderer Balthazar Geraarts stood, SO near to his victim, that the pistol must almost have touched his body, will assuredly be looked upon with interest by every traveller. An inscription, on a stone let into the wall, records the event; and 3 holes, bored in another stone below it, pass for the identical marks of the fatal bullets which killed him. He expired in the arms of his sister, and his wife (the daughter of Coligny, who had been murdered in a similar manner, and in her sight, at the St. Bartholomew massacre). The last words of the hero were, "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, ayez pitié de moi et de ce pauvre peuple!" In the month after his assassination the states of Holland met at Delft, and placed his son Maurice, then a youth of 17, at the head of affairs.

On an island surrounded by canals, near the entrance of the town, is the State Arsenal of Holland, an extensive and gloomy building, looking like a fortress, and ornamented with the arms of the ancient Dutch republic. It was originally the Dutch East India House.

Okey, Barkstead, and Corbet, the regicides, settled at Delft. They were seized in an alehouse here by Sir Geo. Downing, the English envoy at the Hague, sent to London and executed at Tyburn.

Between Delft and the Hague (about 42 miles) the trekschuit will be found an agreeable and good conveyance. The canal from Delft to Leyden is by many considered as being the Fossa Corbulonis, and probably a part of the ancient excavation has been adopted. Corbulus employed his soldiers in excavating this canal in order to unite the Rhine and the Maes. (Tacitus. Annal. 11. 20.)

The country is even more thickly spread over with cottages, villas, country seats, and gardens (§ 13.), than on the other side of Delft. On the left of the canal and high road, but on the right of the railroad, appears the spire of the church of Ryswyk, near which the famous treaty of peace was signed (1697) between England, France, Holland, Germany, and Spain, in a house of the Prince of Orange, now removed; its site is marked by an obelisk. Stat. THE HAGUE (La Haye, in French: S'Gravenhage in Dutch; Haag in German). Inns: Hôtel Bellevue, near the park, comfortable; bed, 1 fl. 20 c., double-bedded room 2 fl.; dinner, 2 fl. ; tea, 60 c.; breakfast, 70 c.; wax lights, 40 c.; tabled'hôte at 4. Oude Doelen, comfortable; Nieuwe Doelen, complaints of the attendance. (Doel is the Dutch for the bull's eye in the target, derived from times when archery was the favourite amusement, and the inn the place of resort for the various companies, or guilds of marksmen, when the contest was decided). Hotel de l'Europe, in the Lange Houtstraat, close to the Museum: bed, 1 f.; breakfast (without meat or eggs), 60 cts. Table d'hôte, 1 fl. Maréchal Turenne; Keizershof (Imperial Hotel); Twee Steden (Two Towns); Heerenlogement (Gentleman's Lodging).

The population is 61,000. Though long the residence of the Stadholders, and now of the King of Holland, up to the beginning of the present century, the Hague ranked only as a village, because it had neither corporation nor walls, and did not return members to the States General; Louis Buonaparte, however, during his rule, conferred on it the privileges of a city. Other Dutch cities owe their rise to commerce or manufactures; this to the residence of a court, the presence of the Government and States General, and the abode of foreign ministers. Its origin may be traced to a hunting-seat of the Counts of Holland, built here in 1250; and its name, to the Counts' Hedge (S' Graven Hage) surrounding their park.

The principal streets are, the Voorhout, lined with trees and bordered with splendid hotels; the Prinssengracht, Kneuterdyk, and Noord Einde. The Vyverberg (hill of the fish-pond) is a square or place, with avenues of trees forming a shady promenade on the one side, and a piece of water on the other. It is in Holland alone that so gentle a rise in the ground as is here perceptible would be dignified with the name of a hill.

On the southern side of the Vyverberg stands the Binnenhof, so called because it formed the "inner court" of the Count's Palace, an irregular building of various dates. The Gothic hall in the centre of it, now used for the drawing of the lottery (Loteryzaal), and criminal court (Hoog Geregtshof) is the oldest building in the Hague, and the only remaining fragment of the original palace of the Counts of Holland. It is a fine room, with a pointed roof, supported by a gothic framework of wood, somewhat in the style of that of Westminster Hall. It possesses some interest in an historical point of view; since, upon a scaffolding erected opposite to the door, on a level with the top of the steps, the virtuous and inflexible Barneveldt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, was beheaded in 1618, at the age of 72. This event is a stain on the character of Prince Maurice of Nassau ; but it is not true, as some have asserted, that he looked on from a side window during his rival's execution. The people beheld it with tears; many came to gather the sand wet with his blood, to keep it carefully in phials; and the crowd of those who had the same curiosity continued next day, notwithstanding all they could do to hinder them. The Chambers of the States General or Dutch parliament, and several of the public offices, are situated in the Binnenhof. The public are freely admitted to the debates of the second Chamber.

Between the Buitenhof (Outer Court) and the Vyverberg is an old gate-tower, called Gevangepoort (prison gate), remarkable as the place in