Some

innocence, howev

he rest a fortnight,
ven then. Dear si

east say it was for d
the university, I
but hear how Prov
Four. The ship was
got from prison,
of the Garonne, an
drowned. It hap
There was a ship a
lembarked, and i

I SUPPOSE by this time I am accused of either
neglect or ingratitude, and my silence imputed to
my usual slowness of writing. But believe me,
sir, when I say, that till now I had not an oppor-
tunity of sitting down with that ease of mind
which writing required. You may see by the
top of the letter that I am at Leyden; but of my
journey hither you must be informed.
time after the receipt of your last, I embarked
for Bourdeaux, on board a Scotch ship, called
the St. Andrew, Capt. John Wall, Master. The
ship made a tolerable appearance, and, as another
inducement, I was let to know that six agreeable
passengers were to be my company. Well, we
were but two days at sea when a storm drove us
into a city of England, called Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. We all went ashore to refresh us, after
the fatigue of our voyage. Seven men and I
were one day on shore, and on the following
evening, as we were all very merry, the room
door bursts open; enters a sergeant and twelve
grenadiers, with their bayonets screwed, and put
us all under the king's arrest. It seems my com-
pany were Scotchmen in the French service, and
had been in Scotland to enlist soldiers for the
French army. I endeavoured all I could to prove

arrived safe at Ro
and to Leyden, a
You may expe
and though I am
undertaking, yet

part of your ex
me more than
descriptive of th
young man who
his travels, visit
cribe, passes t
attention as h
quently not ha

he applies to

gives us the m
have seen th
been fifty yea
is quite a dif

i

my innocence, however I remained in prison with
the rest a fortnight, and with difficulty got off
even then. Dear sir, keep all this a secret, or at
least say
it was
for debt, for if it were once known
at the university, I should hardly get a degree;
but hear how Providence interposed in my fa-
vour. The ship was gone on to Bourdeaux before
I got from prison, and was wrecked at the mouth
of the Garonne, and every one of the crew were
drowned. It happened the last great storm.
There was a ship at that time ready for Holland,
I embarked, and in nine days, thank my God, I
arrived safe at Rotterdam, whence I travelled by
land to Leyden, and whence I now write.

You may expect some account of this country, and though I am not well qualified for such an undertaking, yet I shall endeavour to satisfy some part of your expectations. Nothing surprised

me more than the books every day published descriptive of the manners of this country. Any young man who takes it into his head to publish his travels, visits the countries he intends to describe, passes through them with as much inattention as his valet-de-chambre; and consequently not having a fund himself to fill a volume, he applies to those who wrote before him, and gives us the manners of a country not as he must have seen them, but such as they might have been fifty years before. The modern Dutchman is quite a different creature from him of former

с

ad a Scotch will well b

times. He in every thing imitates a Frenchman, but in his easy disengaged air, which is the result of keeping polite company. The Dutchman is vastly ceremonious, and is exactly perhaps what a Frenchman might have been in the reign of Louis XIV. Such are the better bred; but the downright Hollander is one of the oddest figures in nature. Upon a head of lank hair he wears a half cocked narrow hat, laced with black ribbon, no coat, but seven waistcoats, and nine pair of breeches, so that his hips reach almost up to his armpits. This well clothed vegetable is now fit to see company, or make love. But what a pleasing creature is the object of his appetite? Why she wears a large fur cap, with a deal of Flanders lace, and for every pair of breeches he carries she puts on two petticoats.

is pale and fat, th one walks as if sh cart, and the othe de. I shall not en untry of its share of objects on this e Caughter is most char complete beauty We want many of en tolerable. The ll, though very var ay doze, you may od an amusement entertainment alway terally a magicia abolical art, perfo

A Dutch lady burns nothing about her phlegmatic admirer but his tobacco. You must know, sir, every woman carries in her hand a stove, with coals in it, which, when she sits, she snugs under her petticoats, and at this chimney dozing Strephon lights his pipe. I take it that this continual smoking is what gives the man the ruddy healthful complexion he generally wears, by draining his superfluous moisture. While the woman, deprived of this amusement, overflown with such viscidities as tint the complexion, and give that paleness of visage, which low fenny grounds and moist air conspire to cause. A Dutch woman

st of the

person

fools. I have seen

this humour,

W

de glass from wh as not his face asked, they mu eer in the woo you, sir, were you In winter, whe house is forsaker

Sleds drawn by

time the reignin here that slide

and a Scotch will well bear an opposition. The one is pale and fat, the other lean and ruddy. The one walks as if she were straggling after a go-cart, and the other takes too masculine a stride. I shall not endeavour to deprive either country of its share of beauty, but must say, of all objects on this earth, an English farmer's daughter is most charming. Every woman there is a complete beauty; while the higher class of women want many of the requisites to make them even tolerable. Their pleasures here are very dull, though very various. You may smoke, you may doze, you may go to the Italian comedy, as good an amusement as either of the former. This entertainment always brings in harlequin who is generally a magician, and in consequence of his diabolical art, performs a thousand tricks on the rest of the persons of the drama, who are all fools. I have seen the pit in a roar of laughter at this humour, when with his sword he touches the glass from which another was drinking. It was not his face they laughed at, for that was masked, they must have seen something vastly queer in the wooden sword, that neither I, nor you, sir, were you there, could see.

In winter, when their canals are frozen, every house is forsaken, and all people are on the ice. Sleds drawn by horses, and skating are at that time the reigning amusements. They have boats here that slide on the ice, and are driven by the

1

LIFE OF GO

For my

extremely dear, and t
chymical professor
ch care to come hith
my stay here may
are the happiness of
Dext March.
Direct to me, if I

winds. When they spread all their sails they go
more than a mile and a half a minute, and their
motion is so rapid that the eye can scarcely ac-
company them their ordinary manner of travel-
ing is very cheap, and very convenient. They
sail in covered boats, drawn by horses, and in
these you are sure to meet people of all nations.
Here the Dutch slumber, the French chatter, and
the English play at cards. Any man who likes
company may have them to his taste.
part I generally detached myself from all society,
and was wholly taken up in observing the face
of the country. Nothing can equal its beauty.
Wherever I turn my eyes, fine houses, elegant
gardens, statues, grottoes, vistas, presented them-
selves, but when you enter their towns you are
charmed beyond description. No misery is to be
seen here; every one is usefully employed. Scot-
land and this country bear the highest contrast.
There, hills and rocks intercept every prospect;
here, it is all a continued plain. There you might
see a well dressed duchess issuing from a dirty close,
and here a dirty Dutchman inhabiting a palace.
The Scotch may be compared to a tulip planted in
dung, but I never see a Dutchman in his own house
but I think of a magnificent Egyptian temple de-
dicated to an ox.

you, to Madame Thon best of men

Preserve you, and the

With what dilige profession is no attended the lectu

pupil of Boerhaav Albinus on Anato forms us, that a pined possession of remonstrance, till he lost his 1 DOW came for a Dr. Ellis saw the

Physic is by no means taught here so well as at Edinburgh, and in all Leyden there are but four British students, owing to all necessaries being

and suggested a at once to dive pursuits, and t ledge. He als prosecute his advice were e the sum that