From Breda, a short ride through a country abounding in open moors, pine barrens, and light sands, brings the traveller to Antwerp.

Without proceeding here to give an account of Antwerp, I revert to Rotterdam, for the purpose of describing the direct route from this city to Antwerp, which I took on my first visit to the Netherlands. I left Rotterdam in a steamboat at an early hour in the morning, and sailing up the Maes by the village of Ysselmonde, soon arrived at Dort. The steamboat, like the trekschuyts, was ordinary in its appearance and appointments, being destitute of the tasteful ornaments which decorate those of the United States. In proceeding up past Rotterdam, you have a fine view of the regular and sightly buildings of the Navy Yard. In this quarter lay the large four-masted steamboat, called the Monster. She was constructed several years before, but owing to her enormously disproportionate length, measuring two hundred and fifty feet from stem to stern, and only thirtyfive feet, or about one eighth part at the beams, she hogged in launching, and had never yet been to sea, owing to disputes between the owners and the government, who had contemplated employing her as a packet to Batavia.

In ascending toward Dort, we met or passed many of the huge vessels engaged in the trade of the Rhine. They are heavy misshapen hulks, of three or four hundred tons' burthen, whose place might be advantageously supplied by the substitution of steamboats, steam being so decidedly superior to wind for the purpose of navigating rivers. But the prejudices of the people, and especially the interest of the persons now employed in the trade, had proved, hitherto, an effectual obstacle to the introduction of this improvement. It would seem that the Dutch ministry have no such prejudice against change in some respects, because they have anticipated other nations in trying the experiment of a steam-ship to cross the Atlantic, in the packet which communicates between Holland and her colonies in South America. But there is less readiness for innovation in regard to the internal navigation of the country. Thus the canal-boats have remained the same for a century. A plan was lately attempted to introduce canal-boats with small keels, so as to prevent their making lee-way, but the government set their faces against it as an unsafe innovation. So also the slow and unwieldy craft in question continued to maintain undisputed possession of the commerce of the Rhine.

Dordrecht, or Dordt, as it is commonly called, is strongly situated upon the point of an island formed by the inundation which gave birth to the great lake of Biesbosch. In the Kloveniers-Doelen of this city, was holden the celebrated synod of 1610, which condemned the tenets of Arminius. The position of the city renders it conspicuous from various points of view, in sailing upon the mingled streams which branch out from the Rhine and the Maes in this vicinity. And its buildings, reaching down to the bank of the river, with the imposing mass of the great church rising above them, have a fine effect in the distance, as I have elsewhere remarked. This edifice was erected for Catholic worship, like the other great churches in Holland; and originally dedicated to the Virgin. It is a noble structure, and in addition to its magnitude, and the imposing style of

its architecture, it possesses a white marble pulpit, which is justly esteemed as a very beautiful piece of workmanship. In addition to its other branches of trade, Dordt is celebrated as the greatest timber-market of the country, enormous rafts being floated down to this city for sale from Andernach and other places on the Rhine.

Leaving Dordt, we proceeded by the Kil into Hollands Diep, and passing Willemstadt, proceeding down toward the innermost islands of Zealand, leaving Over Flakkee on the right, and thence by the islands of Tholen and South Beveland, and in sight of Bergenop-Zoom, into the Scheldt, and to Antwerp.

I had occasion, during the voyage of this day, to be confirmed in sentiments, which had frequently occurred to me before, somewhat at variance with the received opinions concerning the Dutch. One fact, which struck me at every turn in Holland, was their superior temperance, as compared with ourselves. It should be remembered, that in every part of Holland it is difficult to obtain pure water. At Rotterdam it is more tolerable than in the other large cities, being procured by the filtration of the muddy current of the Maes, but even there it is not wholly pure. At the Hague, and at Leyden, and at Amsterdam, it is not only deleterious in quality, but has a bad taste. This circumstance would naturally lead to the more extended use of spiritous liquors, as would also the extreme humidity of the atmosphere, constantly filled with exhalations from the surface of the vast body of fresh water which pervades all Holland. And yet I am well satisfied there is much less of intemperance among the Dutch than there is in some other countries, which have no such plausible excuse for the indulgence of a bad habit. The custom, universal among the better classes, of drinking only light wines at the table, extends even to the ordinary at an hotel; so that any gentleman who should call for brandy with his dinner, would be looked upon as possessing a singular taste, to say no more. And, as I have once before observed, there is no bar-room, with its long array of decanters, at any of the respectable houses in Holland.

Another thing, about which some misapprehension prevails, is the use of tobacco in that country. You see the pipe, to be sure, almost every where; and smoking seems to be as much a matter of course with the male sex at least, as eating. But the degree of annoyance, to which a stranger is subjected by this national usage, is grossly exaggerated in the books. A little toleration should be practised by the traveller toward the peculiarities of the people among whom he happens to be. I uniformly found the gentlemen, whom I casually met in the trekschuyts, diligences, and steamboats, particularly sedulous to avoid giving offence to others by the untimely use of tobacco. And they observe, on all occasions, the greatest neatness in regard to it, avoiding to fall into those unseemly practices, which are too often incidental to smoking, and are so much worse than the habit itself. Their pipes are always neat, and often tasteful and beautiful, with porcelain or amber bowls, silver caps and embroidered handles, of highly ornamental appearance. I do not speak, of course, of the practice of individuals in their own families, where, however, if the attentive wife is expected to have in readiness for her husband, on his return home from business, his chair, his slippers, and his pipe,

we need not apprehend that, in the use of the latter, any of the rules of neatness will be infringed.

How far the careful neatness of the Dutch, their constant use of tobacco, or other peculiarities in their manners, may be the result of climate and physical circumstances, I do not stop to inquire, in a mere cursory description of things that are apparent to the traveller; my object being to narrate, and not to discuss. I quit the subject, therefore, with an anecdote, which, although related of a period far removed from the present day, is not the less apt as an illustration of existing customs. The Emperor Charles Fifth, when passing through some village in Holland, manifested to a notable of the place a desire to see the apartments of his wife, as a matter of curiosity. The gettleman entreated his imperial master to wait until he had obtained permission of the lady. He hastened to her and communicated the desire of the Emperor. After a moment's hesitation, she cried, No, it is impossible; the Emperor would not be willing to take off his boots;' for her principles of cleanliness were too sacred to admit of any compromise with the etiquette of imperial rank. The progress of civilization has greatly diminished the difference which formerly existed in this respect, between the Hollanders and the intelligent classes in other countries; but long after the time of Charles Fifth, the dwellings of the poor in Holland would have put to shame the richest mansions in the rest of Europe. One of those contemporary chroniclers, who have given us so clear an insight into the interior of the palace, says of Louis Fourteenth : Le Roi et Monsieur étaient habitués, des leur enfance, à la saleté de l'intérieur des maisans, en sorte qu'ils ne croyaient pas que cela pût être autrement ;' and this amid all the luxuries and splendor of the Palace Royal and

of Versailles.

In describing the towns, as well as the open regions of Holland, I have repeatedly mentioned the verdant appearance of both, as one of the most delightful features of the country. It was the more striking to me, from the general neglect of this particular, in the ordinary husbandry of the United States, as well as in the decoration of the cities. No one can fail to see how much the bright flowering hedges of Holland add to the beauty of the landscape, as compared with the naked stone walls and the mean, coarse fences, which are made to divide the fields in America. The deficiency of agreeable promenades and avenues of trees in and about most of our large towns, is still more to be lamented, especially as a little forethought and care might have given us, in all of them, the same rich shaded walks, and rows of noble old trees, which adorn Rotterdam, the Hague and Harlem. How much soever, in beautifying our cities, we may prize the decorations which are purely the work of art, we should never be unmindful of the bounties of Nature, and of her power to contribute to the same desirable end.

VOL. XVI.

ARGUMENT'S SAKE.'

WHO thinks as others, and agrees
With all, finds nought, and little sees:
Did all accord, then all might stand
Stock still, and darkness drown the land!

68

SIR: I send you a few more extracts from my travelling note-books. They are the first sketchings of a series of essays, narrative, descriptive, and characteristic, which I intended to improve and extend at my leisure, but which I have suffered for years to lie neglected among my papers, until the subjects of which they treat are almost out of date. Such as they are, I trust them to the indulgence of your readers. Your obt. servt.,

GEOFFREY CRAYON.

PARISIAN SKETCHES IN 1825.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH CHARACTER.

As I am a mere looker-on in Europe, and hold myself as much as possible aloof from its quarrels and prejudices, I feel something like one overlooking a game, who, without any great skill of his own, can occasionally perceive the blunders of much abler players. This neutrality of feeling enables me to enjoy the contrasts of character presented in this time of general peace; when the various people of Europe, who have so long been sundered by wars, are brought together, and placed side by side in this great gathering-place of nations. No greater contrast, however, is exhibited, than that of the French and English. The peace has deluged this gay capital with English visitors, of all ranks and conditions. They throng every place of curiosity and amusement; fill the public gardens, the galleries, the cafés, saloons, theatres; always herding together, never associating with the French. The two nations are like two threads of different colors, tangled together, but never blended.

In fact, they present a continual antithesis, and seem to value themselves upon being unlike each other; yet each have their peculiar merits, which should entitle them to each other's esteem. The French intellect is quick and active. It flashes its way into a subject with the rapidity of lightning; seizes upon remote conclusions with a sudden bound, and its deductions are almost intuitive. The English intellect is less rapid, but more persevering; less sudden, but more sure in its deductions. The quickness and mobility of the French enable them to find enjoyment in the multiplicity of sensations. They speak and act more from immediate impressions than from reflection and meditation. They are therefore more social and communicative; more fond of society, and of places of public resort and amusement. An Englishman is more reflective in his habits. He lives in the world of his own thoughts, and seems more self-existent and self-dependent. He loves the quiet of his own apartment: even when abroad, he in a manner makes a little solitude around him, by his silence and reserve: he moves about shy and solitary, and as it were, buttoned up, body and soul.

The French are great optimists: they seize upon every good as