Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

with Dutch order and neatness, and we endeavoured to amuse ourselves as well as we could, till dinner was announced. I was requested by one of the American gentlemen to walk to the window and see how we liked our new vehicle. What was my surprise when he pointed to a waggon. I thought be was joking, but the man who was putting our trunks in, and to whom the other spoke, confirmed his assertion. I cannot attempt to describe to you the make or shape of this carriage, because we have not any thing resembling it; I shall only add, that we were exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and the water, during our next stage, frequently passed through it. All travellers, you know, must either meet, or expect to meet with some accidents, otherwise their accounts would be void of interest. Now, such really was our case, for we expected from the state of the roads that we should be overturned every moment, but our guardian angel watched over us miraculously, and we arrived at Breda about six in the evening, after a wonderfully expeditions journey of thirty miles in 15 hours! We were conducted to a neat litlle inn, where we fortunately met with a French servant, who translated for us. We now looked forward to a good night's rest, but we never passed a more miserable one.

The town of Breda is clean and very pleasant. The houses are built very much in the English style. But the manners of the Dutch, after the graceful elegance of the French, appeared barbarous in the extreme. From the short time I was among them, it would be almost unfair to give a decided opinion of their character. My judgment could only be hastily formed, and as we are frequently told that it is wrong to judge by appearances, I ought to profit from this advice, for I must confess their manners were so inelegant, and their countenances so uniformly stupid, that I was disgusted with them before I could possibly learn whether they had any intrinsic worth. The ladies are pretty, but I should not think their education was much attended to. I am now rather digressing, and must not forget I have still, to get to Rotterdam.

We quitted Breda about eleven o'clock. We now had a considerable increase to our party, among whom was a French of ficer, a sensible well informed man, I need not add polite, for by French, is understood polite, and all the &c's attending on good breeding. 'This day's journey brought us many inconveniences, as we had to cross the water three times. Ourselves

and our trunks were put into a room, where twenty Dutchman were smoking round a fire, which we did not dare to approach. Hungry, but unable to satisfy our appetites, as a small stale brown loaf was all they had to offer us. Our situation, you will allow, was not very agreeable, and what would have been our fate, if the two American gentlemen had not assisted us, I am at a loss to imagine; I believe we must have remained for ever in one of these miserable inns. Every passenger being obliged to take the charge of his luggage and carry it to the ferry, which was at a considerable distance. These transatlantic foreigners kindly took our trunks, and the French officer, the sight of whom was sufficient to make a Dutchman tremble, prevented the imposition which we otherwise must have submitted to, for the Dutch are the greatest cheats imaginable! Carriages, horses, people, &c. were all put into the ferryboat together. These water excursions took place three times, and about seven in the evening we arrived at Rotterdam.

L. M. B.

And now for my further perigrinations. We left Bruxelles about one o'clock, the weather was uncommonly fine for the season, and the immense size of our vehicle did not dismay us, so determined were we to see every thing in a favorable point of view. I must first give you an idea of our arrangements within the Diligence (for all public stages bear that name) we were seated three on each row: 1st row, an English gentleman who passed for a Frenchman, my mother and myself. 2d row, a French gentleman, and lady, and a Flemish lady, whose tongue, like an alarum, never once ceased to annoy, and as her conversation was addressed to her neighbours, she was obliged to speak in French, (if her jargon might be so termed) 3d row, facing us, an enormously large German, an Italian, rather talkative, and a grave Dutchman. 4th, the back and last row, a native of Bruxelles, a native of Toulon, and I have forgotten who the third

was.

But can you imagine for one moment, these people all conversing at the same time and in different languages? could it be compared to any thing but the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel! certain it is however, the ladies were the most eloquent, I do not mean to include myself, for you know at all times, I am very quiet, I was seated in the corner enjoying very much the novel scene before me, and also much delighted with the country, which had the appearance of

beautiful gardens. We arrived at Antwerp about six in the evening, and after tea, were accompanied by the master of the hotel, to the house of a lady for whom we had letters. It is now I want the power of description to give you an idea of the friendly and hospitable manner in which we were received. The family consisted of an elderly lady, her son, two single daughters and a married one, the most studied attention was shown us during the evening, and after supper, when we proposed returning to the inn, we were informed that they had sent to say we should not return, and begged us to remain that night and the following day with thein. They treated us in the English way, and when they heard our determination to proceed on our journey, they evinced much concern, and used every persuasive argument to induce us to pass two or three days with them. On the morning of our departure at 1-2 past three, the family were all up, and though I do not often form hasty friendships, I must confess I left them with regret, for in their house I think I perceived a true picture of domestic felicity.

I do not like Antwerp so well as Bruxelles. There was little going forward, when I was there, and the streets appeared dull and gloomy, the ladies have, when walking, the appearance of nuns, they wear large black scarfs thrown carelessly over the head, hanging down behind, but in their manners they are amiable, and extremely friendly to foreigners.

L. M. B.

I have forgotten to mention, in my former accounts, that travelling in Holland is rendered particularly unpleasant by the number of dykes. The roads are narrow, and the water on each side gives rather an awful appearance. Were two carriages to meet, much inconvenience, if not danger, must ensue.

We passed a place not far distant from Rotterdam, where there were 300 mills in a row at marked distances. The noise proceeding from them was disagreeable, and I should be very sorry to go past them in a single-horse chaise, or in any carriage drawn by horses unaccustomed to the sound; but the animals there seem to have (I cannot say acquired, it must be natural,) the same methodical ways as their masters, and it would be nearly as difficult to make them advance faster than their usual pace, as to force a Dutchman to any thing he did not like, as will appear hereafter.

We stopped at the coach or waggon-office, which you please, about a quarter of a mile from the inn, which the French officer had recommended to us, because it was kept by English people: he saw all our baggage weighed, and afterwards put on a sledge which was to follow us, and thus we proceeded to the sign of the Peacock. The night was cold and dark, and our last passage by water had completely chilled us; added to this misery, we were uncommonly hungry! Picture then to yourself five poor travellers arriving at a comfortable inn, in the English style—a clean room, carpetted, and a charming coal fire in a grate! (We had not seen such a thing since we had left England, for the French burn wood, and do not use stoves.) Our first exclamation was expressive of delight. My mother, who, till now, had been obliged to have recourse to an interpreter, was enchanted with the sound of an immediate answer in her own language, and had not the recollection intruded itself, that we had yet much to encounter, ere we should behold this "region of bliss," we certainly should have thought ourselves transported to paradise. The respectful attention of our fellow travellers did not cease. The officer, who was to join his regiment on the following day, went to the French commissary, to solicit his attention to our requests, and the two Americans introduced us to the American consul, who, in case any difficulty should offer, to oppose our quitting Rotterdam, promised to use his interest in our behalf, and one of the gentlemen offered us a passage in his ship, but we had not sufficient courage to accept it, as we must have left his vessel and have gone in a small boat, as soon as the English coast should have appeared. On the following morning, after our arrival at Rotterdam, we went to the commissary, and also to the house of Mr. Smith, a respectable English merchant, to whom we had recommendatory letters. The French government had written to the commissary to desire him to give us our passport upon application. He behaved like a true Frenchman, that is, politely, and told us it would be ready the next day. Our only remaining difficulty was now to obtain a passage to England, and we applied to Mr. Smith, the most likely person to have obtained it. He told us it would be some days before a vessel would sail; we were, therefore, agreeably surprised, when he sent to inform us, two days after, that a small sloop was going to an English port, as soon as the wind should change.

I was delighted with Rotterdam; the
novelty of the scene, so different to any
thing I had before seen, amused me great-
ly, and the weather, during our stay,
though cold, was tolerably fine. The
streets are so much alike, that it is diffi-
cult for a stranger to know where he is.
The canals run through each, and it is
possible to walk off the pavement into the
vessels which are alongside. There are
two draw-bridges in almost every street;
but as foot-passengers are frequently
obliged to wait while these are let down,
the quietest way of proceeding is to cross
the canal in a treckschuyt, which is con-
tinually worked backward and forward
by two men: the price of a passage over
is the fifth part of an English penny. The
houses are brick, from four to six stories
high. The cleanliness of the Dutch, with
respect to their dwellings, has always
been proverbial. There is not any rail-
ing on the sides of the canals; thus, on a
dark night even carriages run great risks,
and if the Dutch were as renowned for
inebriety as the English, I think nu-
merous accidents would occur. We unfor-
tunately lost ourselves one evening, and
you can have no idea of our distress, for
neither French nor English were, at first,
of any service to us, and we walked in
vain up and down the streets. At last
we knocked at a merchant's house, as the
last resource, in the hope of meeting with
some civilized being. To our great joy,
a clerk appeared, who, with all his stu-
pidity, could just understand enough
French to make out our tale of sorrow
and to take pity on our distress. He ac-
companied us as far as the inn, at the
sight of which, we offered up the humble
but sincere ejaculation of, thank God!
I have before observed that the Dutch
women are generally pretty; and their
dress is perfectly neat, though rather ou-
tré. They wear immense hats, which
might occasionally answer the purpose of
umbrellas. They are set up in the air,
and lined with printed linen. I, at that
time had a small French hat, which great-
ly amused the Dutch ladies. Their caps
fit their heads closely; but I shall not en-
ter into a detail of the ladies, and shall
content myself with observing that the
gentlemen, in opposition to the ladies, (a
thing not uncommon,) wear remarkable
small hats.

There are a number of churches at
VOL. I.-No. vi.

58

Rotterdam; and I think I was informed
The
forty-two streets exactly alike.
Dutch are accustomed from their child-
hood to make and drink spirits, but they
have not any pernicious effect upon their
constitution; nay, they affirm that the cli-
mate is such as to render the use of them
absolutely necessary. I must, however,
once more introduce the French officer to
your notice, who, during our journey,
having heard my mother and self express
our dislike to the custom of smoking, po-
litely requested a man who was puffing
smoke in our faces, to refrain from such
indecorum, as it was particularly unplea-
sant to the ladies. The Dutchman made
no reply, but turned round in order to an-
The officer again in-
noy us the more.
treated him to put away his pipe. The
This was too
Dutchman persevered.
much for French politeness to submit to,
and he quietly broke the man's pipe,
which put him into a complete rage. The
Frenchman put his hand to his sword. I
began to be alarmed, and begged him to
say no more. The Dutchman descended,
and was forced to walk many miles.
parting he wished all the French and la-
dies at a far distant region, you may guess
where.

At

The captain came on the Sunday morning to inform us he should sail that evening, and wished us to go on board. The vessel was not larger than a Gravesend boat, say fifty tons, with a cabin of miserable dimensions; but were I to describe all we suffered in the passage, independent of our narrow escape from shipwreck, I might fill a quire of paper. I shall, therefore, pass over our sea voyage, and arrive at Gravesend as quickly as possible, where, after all our fatigues, dangers and perils were made known, the English had the cruelty to forbid our landing till the following day, while in despair we began to dress potatoes, the only provision on board. We were absolutely famished. But fortunately the lieutenant's conscience accused him, I judged so at least, for by the time our frugal repast was prepared, a boat came alongside to take us to the alien office, where we met a few more barbarous John Bulls, and were obliged to answer all their questions ere we were allowed to go to an inn. So much for English customs! So much for English politeness!!

L. M. B.

Ν

ART. 6. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

DOMESTIC.

IN New-York, Philadelphia, &c. the

following works have been republished, by the principal booksellers: Considerations of the Principal Events of the French Revolution, by the Baroness DE STAEL.

Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern, from the German of FREDERICK SCHLEGEL.

SASS' Journey to Rome and Naples, in

1817.

Felix Alvarez, or Manners in Spain, by A. DALLAS, Esq.

Account of a Voyage of Discovery, to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Islands, &c. by Capt. B. HALL.

New Tales, by Mrs. Orie.
FRANKLIN'S Works.

Letters, during a Tour through some parts of France, Savoy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands, in the Summer of 1817. By THOMAS RAFFLES, A. M.

COLLINS & Co. have published Capt. RILEY'S NARRATIVE, third edition. To which is now added, a New and Interesting Narrative of the Shipwreck of the ship Oswego, on the Coast of South Barbary, by JUDAH PADDOCK, her late Master.

EDWARD EARLE, Philadelphia, has published a new and original Poem, entitled, The Mariner, by ARCHIBALD JOHN

STON.

At Elizabethtown, N. J. a new paper, called the Elizabethtown Gazette, is published by J. & E. SANDERSON.

Since the restoration of Eastport to the United States, a weekly paper has been established there, called the Eastport Sentinel, and Passamaquoddy Observer.

PAUL ALLEN, Esq. has issued proposals for establishing a new daily paper in Baltimore, to be called the Morning Chronicle.

Proposals are in circulation for publishing a German Monthly Journal, octavo form, in this city, to be entitled, DER DEUTSCHE FREUND,-The German Friend. This journal will be calculated to entertain and instruct. "In the pursuit of truth, the history of the times, religious intelligence, and news in literature and the arts, shall be noticed." The editor will be assisted by able coadjutors in the United States and abroad, and efforts will be made to render this publication interesting and useful. Should the

plan meet with sufficient encouragement, the first number will appear on the 1st January, 1819, edited by the Rev. F. C. SCHAEFFER, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in this city, Teacher of the German Language, and Member of several learned Societies. As soon as adviseable, the German Friend will be issued weekly.

KIRK & MERCEIN, have in press, The Identity of Junius, with a Distinguished Character, &c. To be printed from the second London edition, corrected and enlarged.

THOMAS G. FESSENDEN, Esq. bas published a poem, entitled "The Ladies' Monitor."

R. & W. A. BARTOW, New-York, have commenced the republication of the Youth's Magazine, or Evangelical Miscellany, "New Series," from the London edition.

The first number of the Journal of the Times, edited at Baltimore, by Paul ALLEN, Esq. has appeared, and is an excellent and a very promising specimen of the talents and taste of its conductor.

J. G. BOGERT, Esq. of this city, has in preparation for publication, a Treatise on Extraneous Fossils, and an Examination of the Mineralized Remains of Animals and Vegetables in the United States, which will be accompanied by an account of the several mountain ranges through the same, with their relative elevations and stratifications, so far as relates to excuvia and their localities. The engravings are to be executed by ANDERSON. New-York Historical Society, 8th Sept.

1818.

The following communication was presented by Professor Mitchill, M. D.

"Since my last communication (August sitting) the department of ZOOLOGY has been enriched by about fourscore specimens, chiefly of FISH, in fine preservation. They are safely deposited on the shelves of the Cabinet of Natural History, and make so valuable an addition to the collection, that I heartily congratu late our association on the acquisition. The donation was made by Mr. John G. Mott, of Liberty-street, brother to my late excellent friend Dr. Samuel G. Mott. During the more active season of a life lamentably too short, Dr. Mott rendered me important aid in my ichthyological inquiries; and in my memoir published in the New-York Philosophical Transac

Systema Solaris, carmine Latino descriptum; adjectæ sunt notæ, quibus cum res tum verba Paullo obscuriora breviter explicantur, et tabulæ aliquot astronomica. G. L. SCHULTZE. 8 maj. Lips. Goeschen. 54 pag. et 9 tab.

tions, I made a respectful acknowledg- TER. Second edition. Large 8vo. Leipment of his services. He afterwards zig. Vogel. began to form a museum for his own use, but his progress has been arrested by death. He left this world without any specific direction about these articles. The generosity of his brother, in the administration of his effects, has made every thing right; for on a delicate suggestion that the articles ought to become the property of the Corporation, he instantly agreed with me in opinion, and delivered them in person.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be presented to Mr. John G. Mott, for his liberal donation of the elegant specimens of ichthyology prepared by his late brother Dr. Samuel G. Mott, deceased; that his name be registered among the benefactors of this Institution, and that the communication of Professor Mitchill on the subject, together with this resolution, be published.

By order of the Society,

JOHN PINTARD, Recording Sec'ry. Mr. SAUNDERS, in Wall-street, has brought the Kaleidoscope to great perfection. It now has a brilliancy of colours, with a revolving wheel, producing a most surprising and beautiful effect.

The Directors of the United States Bank, have chosen the plan drawn by Mr. STRICKLAND, of Philadelphia, to whom they have awarded the first premium. Mr. LATROBE's plan has been approved as the next best, to whom they have awarded the second premium.

Mr. HENRY WILLIAMS, whose Anatomical Wax Preparations have been so greatly admired by medical men and the public at large, has just completed a superb piece of work. It is an elegant full length female figure in a recumbent position, susceptible of seventeen anatomical divisions. Mr. W. has selected this city as the place where he first intends to exhibit this elegant specimen of his ingenuity, and of native talent.

Dr. F. PASCALIS of this city, has received the diploma of Associate of the French Medical Society and Faculty, in Paris.

FOREIGN.

Among the numerous works lately pub. lished in Germany, we find the following: Chemical Letters for Ladies, by W. A. LAMPADIUS. Large 8vo. Freiberg. Cratn. Electrochemistry, by the same.

Manuel of Hebrew, Syriac, Chalde, and Arabic Grammar, by Professor VA

Antiquities of the Israelitic People, &c. Large 8vo. Berlin. Rücker.

The Origin and Diversified Relation of European Languages, by CHR. G. VON ARNDT; and now published by Dr. J. L. KLUBER. Frankfort on the Maine.

The Posthumous Writings and Correspondence of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, with his Life and Portrait. Translated from the English. 1st vol. Large 8vo. Weimar.

Regeneration of Germany, by J. H. B. DRASEKE. Luneburg. Herold.

Likenesses of the most Eminent Men of all Nations and Times. Published at Qwickau by Schumann. In this collection we find, as a matter of course, our countryman Washington.

Riley's Narrative has been translated into the German language, and published by Schmidt in Jena.

The Posthumous Work of the Baroness DE STAEL: Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution, has been published in Germany, in French, English, and German.

The Sermons of F. THEREMIN, have been published at Berlin, 1817, by Dun、 ker & Humblot.

The Sermons and Orations of the General Superintendent Dr. T. F. C. LOFFLER, have been published at Stralsund. These sermons are highly esteemed in Germany.

Upwards of three hundred different publications have appeared in Germany, relative to the Third Centenary of the Reformation. Some of these have been received in this city. One of them is peculiarly interesting: Renewed Remembrance of the Men who laboured for and against the Reformation by Luther. The author is the learned Rev. Dr. H. W. ROTERMUND, of Bremen.

GRUBER in Halle, and GOESHEN in Leipzig, propose to publish an elegant edition of WIELAND'S Works, in 46 volumes..

A Characteristical Representation of Minerals, by Professor HABERLE, has been published in Weimar; and also Introduction to the Study of Mineralogy, by the same learned gentleman. Thes works are valuable to the student

« ForrigeFortsæt »