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name has at last obtained, is compared, with great effect, to the course of a mountain brook, which rises at first among rocks and wild woods, and which, after dashing over precipices, and gliding majestically through valleys, and receiving the tribute of ten thousand hundred streams in its course, at last gives its name to provinces and kingdoms, and forms a characteristic girdle to everlasting mountains. The ode, entitled, To my Goddess, in which the author has finely personified Phantasy, is another exquisite piece of the same kind, and though different in many respects from Ben Jonson's admired ode on the same subject, yet strongly reminds us of the following beautiful lines of that

author:

Break, phantasie, from thy cave of cloud,
And spread thy purple wings;
Now all thy figures are allowed,
And various shape of things:
Create of airy forms a stream,

It must have blood, and nought of phlegm,
And though it be a waking dreani,

Chor. Yet let it like an odour rise,
To all the senses here,

And fall like sleep upon their eyes,
Or music in their ear.

Perhaps, however, the best of these light lyrical pieces is that entitled A Journey to the Hartz during Winter, in which human life is viewed, as it were, from the elevation of those high mountains, and its various paths are likened to the different situations and difficulties which, a journey amidst swamps and rocks, and long desolate moorlands, and occasional intervening woods, and picturesquely fringed ravines, would present.

There are also some pieces which do not fall under any of the descriptions already given. The following reminds us very strongly of some of the simplest lays of our Lake School, but it is very pleasingly versified in the original, and presents altogether a scene which most minds given to observation have seen exemplified in life. It is intended to represent the different objects which engage different minds, in different situations of life, and the curiously contrasted feelings with which the same objects are

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To fetch the needful draught.

Wom. This lovely path, 'midst thickly twisted boughs,

Leads from the rocky mound on which we
sit,

By secret windings, to my quiet cot,
And to my crystal well.
Wan. I go-lo, here are traces of some
artist's hand,

Whose skill has long since vanished.
Nature, that clothes the earth with thou-
sand charms,

Thus fashions not her works.
Wom. Pursue thy way yet farther.
Wan. An architrave, with weeds and
moss o'ergrown,

Here peeps upon my right.
Yes, I am sure that now my way has led,
Where human genius, with its forming
skill,

Upon the stones and hoary ruins round,

Has placed its signet. Wom. Go farther still. Wan. Beneath my steps a stone inscribed appeals, But time has nearly worn the legend out. -"Tis quite illegible. Words deep engraved that sought, the inscriber's thought,

To bear to future times,

Are now all vanished.

Wom. Art thou astonished, stranger, at these stones ?

viewed by an inquisitive and culti-Around my cot, that decks the upland

vated understanding, and by one confined to the daily drudgery of household occupations.

slope,

Are many more, covered with mould

and moss.

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Wom. There thy steps will reach The crystal well from which sweet draughts I bring

To cool the summer's heat.

Wan. O Genius, what a holy influence breathes

Over the spot where thy remains are laid; Thy choicest works in ruins deck thy grave.

But yet thy spirit, in immortal youth,

Looks smiling o'er the wreck. Wom. Stop, stranger, till from out my cot I bring the bowl to quench thy burning thirst.

Wan. The glossy ivy shrouds, in its green leaves,

This image of the virgin; How these kindred columns from the ruin

Raise their smooth stems upright! And there the sculptured image of a Nun, Her sombre head, with hoary, moss adorned,

Looks sadly o'er the strewed and broken limbs

Of kindred saints that crowd this tangled shade.

Oh, is it thus, with dust and moss embalmed,

That her best masterpieces Nature leaves

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And when thy opening beauty is gone by, Oh may a heavenly harvest of good deeds Give grace and majesty to thy last days. Wom. My blessing for thy care, and does my babe yet sleep!

Nought have I in my cot to bless this draught

But a poor morsel of our household bread. Wan. My thanks, sweet dame-how lovely and how green

Is now this sunny spot on which the sun
Sheds his departing rays.

Wom. My husband from the field will
soon return,

Oh, stranger, stay, and of our frugal supper Receive a share.

Wan. Is this thy cot?

Wom. Beside these ruined walls My father built this lonely tenement From the waste ruins which thou seest around;

And ere he died, within my nursing arms, He saw me happy as the bride of one Who ploughs the neighbouring fields. My babe has now from out his sleep a waked,

And seeks the joy of active playfulnessThou little rogue!

Wan. Oh, Nature, uniform and good
in all thy works—

To all thy varied children, thou preparest
Their proper dwelling-place.
The swallow on the high and polished

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I seek again my cottage, which the sun
With his last rays adorns :
Oh let my weary steps be welcomed home,
By such a wife, as that who owns this cot,
With such an infant on her faithful breast.

Among the minor verses is the following very beautiful address

TO THE HUSBANDMAN.

A little furrow holds thy scattered seed; One somewhat deeper will receive thy bones,

Yet plough and sow with gladness—from

the soil

Springs the rich crop that feeds and gladdens life,

And hope is not quite vanished from the

grave.

have seen a woman smoking. With
a view to get a little more time for vi-
siting the works at Catwicke, I went
a day a-head of our party. I was for-
tunate enough to fall in with a most
intelligent and very pleasant travel-
ling companion from England in the
treck-schuit, and the time passed very
agreeably, as we moved peaceably and
quietly along, opening one gentleman's
house after another, till we reached
Leyden, at five o'clock in the after-
noon, having had a passage of about
three hours. Some of the little villas
which are seen from the canal are very
neatly dressed off, but their only
scenery consists in a peep at the ca-
nal, which they always preserve, for
they are otherwise thickly embossed
or encircled with trees, and, not con-
tented with the canal passing at the

JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO HOLLAND, distance of 100 yards, and often not

INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF THE
GREAT WORKS AT CATWICKE.

(Continued from p. 116.)
LETTER X.

DEAR J

Leyden, In my last letter I gave you some general Friday, account of the Hague 8th August. and the village of Scheveling, and I now find myself seated in the cabin of a treck-schuit for Leyden, passing through a perfectly flat country, having on the one hand a plain to which the eye can affix no limits, but, after leaving the Hague a little way, we see the extensive range of sand hills described in my last as forming the northern shores of Holland. From the Hague to Leyden is about 12 miles, and the level of the canal and contiguous country is many feet below the surface of the German Ocean. Such is the perilous situation of this country, and its dependence upon the dikes, that, if these boundaries were to give way in any one place, the whole country would be speedily inundated. I need not trouble you further with a description of our voyage, than by telling you, that we had about 50 passengers, and a profusion of smoking, which, however, was entirely confined to the male sex, though it is not uncommon to see boys of 12 and 14 years of age diverting themselves with a pipe in their mouth. I do not recollect to

more than a few paces, they must still have a farther cut leading up to the door; indeed, the house is not unfrequently encircled with water, preserving only an approach, which, in some instances, is accomplished by means of a bridge. Whether this propensity for canals arises from the mere idea of accommodation in communicating the water with the house, which to a private family must be extremely trifling, or whether it is intended as a drain to the lawn, I cannot pretend to say; but, as the water is often stagnant, and sometimes rather in a putrid state, it forms but a disgusting object to the eye of a Scotchman, whose country is generally so elevated, that the waters flow off the land in a pure and limpid stream.

Leyden, famous for its memorable siege in 1573, when it stood out against the Spanish yoke, and celebrated as a University, contains about 40,000 inhabitants, but, what is chiefly remarkable in regard to its population, every third inhabitant is said to be a beggar. The number of these mendicants is certainly very great, and they often form a painful tax upon the traveller through Holland, but, in Leyden in particular, there is something very squalid and ghastly in their appearance, while they bewail their situation, and lay claim to your humanity, in a tone of voice peculiarly plaintive. This town is so much branched with canals, that no fewer than 145 bridges of stone, brick, and timber, are necessary for enabling the

inhabitants to communicate with the various parts of it. This gives the place a wonderfully diversified appearance, adding much to its curiosity in the eye of a stranger, although it renders the canals less useful to the inhabitants of the town, as the boats generally go no farther than to its walls; but this, indeed, is common throughout Holland, and thus the Dutch unaccountably lose, in many of their towns, one of the greatest benefits of a water conveyance in carrying goods more immediately to the door of the merchant and the consumer.

Our inn being nearly opposite the Townhouse, under which is the butchers' market, while dinner was getting ready we walked to the Townhouse, through the market, where we saw a great show of butchers' meat, and almost at every stall one was employed in chopping minced meat, which the Dutch emphatically term "Hacked fleysch." In the Townhouse we were shown paintings of the chief captains of the famous siege, and the picture of a shocking explosion which took place here in the year 1807, which laid a considerable portion of the city waste, and threw down the western gable and organ of the Church of St Pierre, though at the distance of 900 feet from the canal, where the accident happened, for I tried the distance with my measuring-line. By this catastrophe no fewer than 137 persons were killed, besides numbers who were wounded, among whom was one of the professors of the college, who was at the time walking in his garden at a considerable distance. His garden wall was thrown down, and he was buried in the ruins. This dreadful catastrophe was occasioned by the explosion of a quantity of gunpowder, said to be 140,000 pounds weight, which was on board of a boat in the canal. Some of the effects of the concussion were very remarkable. It broke innumerable windows in the city of Leyden and its neighbourhood, and the shock was even felt at the Hague, Haarlem, and throughout a considerable portion of Holland. We visited the church of St Pierre and tomb of the great Boerhaave. The university here was long famous for experimental philosophy, and also its anatomical and botanic chairs, and for its gardens, which were originally founded by Boerhaave, and under the

patronage of the King of Holland, they are undergoing a considerable extension. The King is also, for the benefit of natural history, about to establish a menagerie of wild beasts. In these gardens there is shown a fine plant of the great aloe, said to be about 100 years old, which was expected to be in flower this year. There is also shown, in an apartment very neatly fitted up, a considerable number of Roman antiquities from Herculaneum, &c. chiefly in stone. The college is rather a mean building, and we had to regret that it was vacation time. We, however, went into two of the class rooms, and saw in each two tables, about 10 or 12 feet in length, with corresponding forms. The profes sors' desks are of oak, very large and clumsy. The senate hall measures about 30 feet by 20 feet, with a table covered with carpet cloth. A sand-glass and a mallet were on the table, while the room was hung round with paintings of the most eminent of the professors for several hundred years, among which was observed a head of Boerhaave. The anatomical theatre contains several curiosities, among which the female attendant who showed it pointed out specimens of the human skin which was tanned and formed into thick pieces of leather. A very powerful battery for electrical experiments is kept here, which naturally brought to our recollection the famous Leyden vial. These remarks upon the class-rooms and general appearance of this college are made to give you some idea of the very circumscribed state of this university, which suggests a curious state of the times when the most eminent youths of England, particularly from Scotland, were sent to study law and philosophy here less than a century ago; and it is singular, that, within these few years, several young men have come here to study. A change of residence and manners must be useful to youth, but, for a university education, it would certainly be a strange step to change England for Holland, in the present state of Europe, with regard to the sciences. One young gentleman we met with here from Scotland, whose residence was intended to fit him for a counting-house, where the Dutch language was required. He was a parlour boarder, and paid L.45 per annum, and said that L. 60 was

the common board at the University, but, from his account of their comforts, they did not appear to be very suitable to the taste of an English

man.

Among other curiosities to which our guide carried us, he seemed to be pressingly anxious that we should visit Altenberg castle, an old Roman fort, which is shown here as one of the greatest curiosities in Holland: it is about 60 feet in height, about 200 feet in diameter at the base, and 50 feet at the top, and its sides are fantastically laid out in petty walks, with shrubbery, as a labyrinth. It is observable in Holland, that any thing that suggests the idea of a hill, or an eminence, attracts particular notice; and our guide asked us, with much formality, if we could believe that such a mass of earth could have been thrown up by shovels. But on observing to him that the cubic contents of Fort Altenburg would only make but a short length of one of the dikes of Holland, he turned hastily round, and we followed him. Having been this mornSaturday, 9th August. ing joined by one of the party from the Hague, where the mind, in absence of its chief attraction, the court, is soon satisfied with the novelties of the place, we spent the morning in going over various parts of the town, and after breakfast, visited the famous works at Catwicke, situate upon the coast about six miles from Leyden. We formerly noticed, that the river Rhine was now so subdivided into the Meuse, the Waal, Amstel, and Vecht, that it is difficult to trace its waters in Holland; but there is still a branch of this noble stream called the Oude Rhin, or Old Rhine, on which Leyden is built, which has its embouchure at Catwicke. Its waters were now quite languid, and, indeed, during the summer months, the drainage being more effectual by the other rivers, the Old Rhine is pretty nearly stagnant, and it is only during the wet season that they become troublesome or dangerous, and that, indeed, chiefly when the wind prevails from the

We would call the particular attention of our readers to this description of the great works at Catwicke, it being, we believe, the only correct account of them to be found in our language. EDIT.

north and north-west, which raises a great sea upon the coast, and gorges all the rivers in Holland. For ages past, the waters of the old Rhine have been particularly destructive to the district of Leyden, and have, indeed, at times threatened the lower parts of Holland to a great extent.

It had, accordingly, long been a desideratum with the States of Holland, to get the inundations of the Old Rhine corrected and kept within bounds. A plan had been finally arranged by the Prince of Orange, and was about to go on, when the Revolution broke out. The work having been considered of much utility, and very popular, was, notwithstanding, proceeded with, under the direction of Simon Kross, as engineer in chief. It was completed and opened on the 22d of July 1805; was occasionally visited by Bonaparte in person, but much oftener by his brother Louis, who is said to have taken great interest in its progress. The whole operation cost the State from L. 30,000 to L. 40,000. The works of Catwicke, in the language of the French, are termed the New Rhine, and consist of works of excavation to a considerable extent, with three sets of locks or sluices. The seaward sluices being situate about high water mark upon the sands, the intermediate set about a quarter of a mile farther up the river, and the landward sluice or lock is about half a mile above the intermediate ones. This system of sluices appears to be useful for the greater defence, in case of accident, to the seaward sluices, and also to act as a scouring apparatus for their connecting canal or channels. The set of sluices to seaward, above alluded to, consist of five arches, having a common water-way of 60 feet, which are faced with marble, and are fitted with a strong set of triple gates, which lift perpendicularly with a wheel and pinion apparatus, and when worked, they are lifted during the period of low water, to allow the surplus waters of the country to escape, and are again lowered to defend the country from the encroachment of the tidal waters. Beyond this range of sluices a channel is cut across the sands to seaward, to the extent of about 220 yards, and about 12 or 13 yards in breadth, forming a paved channel for the land waters, and a battery to the lower

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