In one of the walls a cannon-ball still remains embedded, a relic of the memorable siege by the Spaniards in 1572. There is an extensive view from the church tower.

The Dutch nation, and the inhabitants of Haarlem in particular, are very anxious to obtain for their townsman, Laurence Janszoon Coster, the credit of the Invention of Printing, grounding his claims upon a dubious local tradition which cannot be traced farther back than the middle of the 16th century, and upon this passage in the Chronicle of Cologne (date 1499), "before the art of printing was invented at Mainz they had printed in Holland, as is proved by the Donatus;" but no mention is here made of 'Coster. His statue is placed in the open marketplace, near St. Bavon, fronting the house where he lived. His name was not Coster, which is the name of his calling, viz. sexton to the church. His own was Jansz, according to his signatures, in which the word Coster is omitted. In the Stadhuis are preserved one or two small folios without date or printer's name, of the kind called block books, each page being printed in common ink from a single block, said to be of 1428 (twelve years before Gutemberg's attempt); another, "Spiegel der Menschelijke Behoudenisse (Speculum humanæ Salvationis)," in double column and printing ink, is referred to the year 1440. Along with them are shown specimens of the original blocks, or wooden types, invented and used by Coster. He may possibly have originated the idea of taking off impressions with ink upon paper from solid wooden blocks. His attempts were made, it is said, as early as 1420-25, and may have led the way to the perfection of the invention. This seems to be the exact extent of his claim to the discovery. The merit of forming moveable metal types, or single letters cast in a mould, capable of being employed in many books successively -in fact, the art of printing, is now proved, almost beyond a doubt, to belong to John Gutemberg, of Mayence. The

| Dutch, however, do not abate their claims, and a controversial war is still waged on the subject. The arguments in favour of Coster may be seen in Ottley, History of Engraving, vol. i. Haarlem still possesses a type foundery, celebrated especially for Hebrew and Greek types cast in it.

The Stadhuis, which is an edifice older than the time of the siege (although 1630 is inscribed on it, and 1633 on the projecting portico), also contains some excellent portraits by Franz Hals, a painter whose high eminence is little known in England, but who may here be appreciated. In one room is a group of 14 persons, including P Maurice and Barneveld, around a table; likenesses of the town-guard, &c.

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Haarlem is also famous for hyacinths, tulips, and other flowers, which grow in the utmost luxuriance and beauty in a soil particularly congenial to them, viz. an artificial combination of.light sand, with rotted cowdung, while water lies so near the surface that their roots readily find nourishment. The latter end of April, and the beginning of May, is the time when the beds are in their greatest beauty; but it is at other seasons worth while to visit one of the numerous Nursery Gardens (Bloemen Tuin) in the S. outskirts of the town, where there is at all times something to be seen, and where roots and seeds may be purchased. The gardens of a great part of Europe are supplied from Haarlem, and there is little doubt that the taste of cultivating flowers originated in Holland; but the trade in tulips is not carried on as in the days of the Tulipomania, and 100 florins is now a very large sum for a root.

"The enormous prices that were actually given for real tulip bulbs, of particular kinds, formed but a small fraction of the extent to which the mercantile transactions in this gaudy flower were carried. If we may give credit to Beckman, who states it on Dutch authorities, 400 perits in weight (something less than a grain) of the bulb of a tulip named Admiral Leifken, cost 4400 fl.; and 200 of another,

named Semper Augustus, 2000 A. Of this last, he tells us, it once happened there were only two roots to be had, the one at Amsterdam, the other at Haarlem; and that for one of these were offered 4600 fl., a new carriage, two grey horses, and a complete set of harness; and that another person offered 12 acres of land. It is almost impossible to give credence to such madness. The real truth of the story is, that these tulip roots were never bought or sold, but they became the medium of a systematised species of gambling. The bulbs, and their divisions into perits, became like the different stocks in our public funds, and were bought and sold at different prices from day to day, the parties settling their account at fixed periods; the innocent tulips, all the while, once appearing in the transactions. Before the tulip season was over,' says Beckman, 'more roots were sold and purchased, bespoke and promised to be delivered, than in all probability were to be found in the gardens of Holland; and when Semper Augustus was not to be had any where, which happened twice, no species perhaps was oftener purchased and sold.' This kind of sheer gambling reached at length to such a height, that the government found it necessary to interfere, and put a stop to it."-Family Tour in South Holland.

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The Teylerian Museum, an institution for the promotion of learning, founded by an opulent merchant, after whom it is named, contains a few good paintings of modern Dutch artists, a remarkable collection of prints, especially rich in works of A. Ostude; and a collection of coins and fossils: among the latter are one of two curious specimens, described by Cuvier, including the jaw of a fossil saurian brought from the celebrated quarries at Maestricht, 1766, and a laboratory well stored with philosophical instruments.

The Haarlem Society possesses a Museum of Natural History.

Haarlem is the head-quarters of the Dutch establishment of National Education, and here is the principal semi.

nary for schoolmasters (Kweekschool voor Schoolonderwijzers).

Several Cotton Factories were established in this neighbourhood under the patronage of the late king; they have increased both in number and the quantity of goods they manufacture since the separation of Holland from Belgium.

There are extensive Bleacheries of linen here: they owe their reputation to some peculiar property supposed to exist in the water. Before the discovery of bleaching by chlorine, the fine linens made in Silesia, as well as those of Friesland, were sent hither to be bleached; and being then exported direct to England, were named after the country from whence they were embarked, not that in which they were made. Such fabrics are still known in commerce by the name of Holland.

Haarlem is the birth-place of the painters Wynants, Ostade, Wouvermans, Berghem, and Ruisdael.

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In the environs of Haarlem are some agreeable Walks; especially those constructed on the site of the ancient Ramparts, which no one should leave unseen. Another walk is to Brederode, a ruined castle, which belonged to the lords of the same name. of the family was the distinguished leader in the struggle which freed Holland from Spanish tyranny. Linnæus resided long in the house of Hartekamp, near Bennebroek, between Haarlem and Leiden, then inhabited by the rich merchant Clifford, whose name and collection he has immortalised in his work, the Hortus Cliffordianus. He also composed his "System of Natural History" while living there. A walk of 3 m. leads to the Blue Stairs, the highest summit of the Dunes (§ 12.), whence a remarkable view may be obtained of these singular creations of the wind, and of the ocean beyond them. The way thither lies through the village of Blumendaal (Inn; Zomerzorg).

The citizens of Haarlem even surpassed their neighbours of Leiden in their brave resistance to the Spaniards.

The Siege of Haarlem preceded that of Leiden; and as the distinguished conduct of its defenders served as an example of patriotism to their fellowcountrymen, so the bloody tragedy which followed it, and the sacrilegious breach of faith on the part of the conquerors, lighted up a spirit of resistance and abhorrence of the Spaniards, which led the way to a long series of martial exploits performed by the Dutch, in the sieges of Leiden and Alkmaar; and occasioned in a few short years the total expulsion of their oppressors from Holland. Haarlem was by no means strongly fortified; indeed, its external defences were weak in the eyes of an engineer, and even its resources within were but small. The garrison was limited to 4000 soldiers, among whom were some Scotch; but every citizen became a soldier for the occasion; nay, not men alone, but even women, bore arms; and a body of 300, under the guidance of the heroine Kenau Hasselaer, enrolled themselves in a company, and did duty with shouldered pike and musket. Though the Spaniards had made formidable breaches in the walls near the gates of the Cross and of St. John, two assaults on them had failed; and, after seven months of fruitless hostilities, and a loss of 10,000 men, they were compelled to turn the siege into a blockade. In order to maintain it with the utmost strictness, and to cut off all approach from the water, a fleet of warboats was introduced upon the Lake of Haarlem. Several attempts on the part of their friends to throw in supplies totally failed; the garrison having consumed every thing within the walls down to the grass which grew between the stones of the streets, and seeing no alternative but to die of starvation, determined to place the women and children in their centre, and cut their way through the enemy's camp. The Spaniards, however, having heard of this, and fearing the effects of their despair, sent a flag of truce, and offered terms of pardon and amnesty, on condition of surrender of the town and 57 of the chief inhabitants. A condition N. Germ.

so hard would not have been granted, had not these 57 devoted citizens voluntarily yielded themselves up. When the Spaniards entered, they found the garrison of 4000 reduced to 1800. Three days passed, and the promise given by the Spaniards was kept, and the arms of the townspeople were surrendered; but when all suspicion of treachery was lulled, the blood-hounds of the cruel Alva and his son, Ferdinand of Toledo, were let loose on the unsuspecting and now unarmed citizens. Ripperda, the governor, and the 57 were first sacrificed; and afterwards four executioners were called in and kept constantly at work, until 2000 persons, including the Protestant ministers, the soldiers of the garrison, and many citizens, had been inhumanly butchered in cold blood. Towards the conclusion of the tragedy, the executioners became so exhausted, that the remaining victims were tied two and two, and thrown into the Lake of Haarlem. The siege lasted from December, 1572, to July, 1573. Four years after the town again fell into the hands of the Dutch.

The excursion through North Holland (Route 4.) commences here; by following it, the traveller may see the most interesting and primitive part of the country, and reach Amsterdam in two or three days.

RAILROAD, Haarlem to Amsterdam, 12 miles. Trains 4 times a-day, in 30 min. Omnibuses convey passengers to and from the station at Haarlem for 15 c.=3d.; and at Amsterdam for 20 c.=4d.

The railway bridge over the Spaarne, at Haarlem, is of iron, with six openings; the two middle openings have a swing bridge of a very simple and solid construction, which opens and shuts both openings at the same time, to render the passage of vessels as rapid as possible, as between 14 and 15 thousand pass through annually. The principal beams are each 75 ft. long, and were cast in a single piece; the whole bridge weighs upwards of 110 tons, and the machinery for moving it is so perfect, that one man turns it easily in 2 minutes.

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bridge is only shut during the passage | of the train; a self-acting signal is attached to it. The line throughout, between Haarlem and Amsterdam, is formed on fascines. In marshy spots all the earthworks are laid on beds of fascines more or less extensive, according to the nature of the ground. Where the railway traverses pools of water, the fascines alternate with beds of rubble, and are held together by stakes and wattles, until the weight of the earth laid upon them becomes settled and the mass consolidated. The earth work is chiefly composed of sand from the sea beach, and is covered with turf.

The road to Amsterdam leads out of a venerable gateway, a relic of the ancient fortifications of the town, which probably withstood the attacks of the Spaniards during the memorable siege. Outside of the gates the traveller has before him a singularly monotonous prospect. The high road to Amsterdam runs as straight as an arrow, as far as the eye can reach; on one side of it is the equally straight canal, and nearly parallel with it the Railroad; on the other a uniform row of willow trees. The causeway, elevated above the surrounding country, is carried along the summit of a dyke, whose prodigious strength alone restrains the waters of the Haarlemmer Meer, which presses on it, on the rt. hand, and divides it from the Y, an arm of the Zuider Zee, on the 1.

The Lake of Haarlem. Independently of the threats of the ocean from without, the Dutch have had here an enemy within their walls, as it were, who for many years made a gradual conquest of territory. Since the 15th century, the body of water called the Lake of Haarlem has spread itself over, and in fact swallowed up, a large portion of the districts known as the Rhijn and Amstel-land. Previous to that time the lake can scarcely be said to have existed, except that the spot now in the middle of it, and deep below the surface, was then occupied by a marsh of considerable extent. Towards the end of the 16th century, this realisation of the hydra began to gain

head; and, in one sweeping inundation, 4 small lakes, previously at some distance from each other, owing to a rapid increase of their waters, burst, and united themselves permanently into one, overflowing the intervening space. At the same time several villages, originally at a distance from the water, were surrounded by it, and compelled to assume a sort of amphibious existence, half in and half out of the water; and in this state they continue at present. The lake is now 11 leagues in circumference; and the effect of the wind acting upon so large a surface, quite unsheltered from its fury, is appalling; for, though the depth is slight, its waters are heaped up against the sides by a storm to such a height, that nothing but the strength and perfection of the dykes prevent the bordering districts, already partly below the level of the waters, from being swallowed up in ruin.

The annual expense of keeping them in repair is enormous.

The principal outlet for the lake is through the sluices of Katwyk; and, by means of them, and under skilful and unceasing management, the waters are no longer dangerous, though at one time they threatened to cut through the narrow neck, or isthmus which joins North to South Holland, and convert the former into an island.

"The borders of the lake are studded with villas of the wealthy inhabitants of Amsterdam; and its waters are covered with boats. The lake is 14 feet deep, 6 feet of which only are water, and 8 feet of mud, the alluvial débris of the mountains in Switzerland, washed down by the Rhine. The mud is used in the manufacture of the durable and valuable Dutch bricks called clinkers, with which houses are built, and roads paved. The mud is a composition of silicious earth and clay, blended by nature."-Dr. S.

The States General of Holland have sanctioned a plan for converting the bed of the lake into arable and pasture land. Operations were commenced in the spring of 1840, by forming a watertight double rampart or dyke and ring canal round the lake, into which the water is pumped up, to be discharged