A Tour Through the Batavian Republic/Letter IX
LETTER IX.
Leyden, November, 1800.
THE botanic garden of Leyden, which belongs to the university, has enjoyed for a century and a half a distinguished reputation throughout Europe. It occupies about four acres of ground, and is in excellent order. Many of the trees and plants (those probably which are the rarest), have scrolls of parchment attached to them, on which is written, for the use of students, a description of them according to the Linnean system. The gardener shewed us a palm-tree which was in existence when the Spaniards were masters of the United Provinces; and this afforded him an opportunity, which no citizen of Leyden ever loses, of descanting on the courage, constancy, and sufferings, of the old inhabitants of the town.
In the garden is an apartment for the reception of statues, altars, and other antiques, which were presented to the university by a burgomaster of the town. Many of the statues are considerably mutilated. Of those which are in a tolerable state of preservation, a bacchus and a bacchinal, Servilius, a full figure of a Roman consul, and the busts of Nero and Agrippina, were the best.
From this apartment, the stranger is conducted into another, which contains a small collection of natural history. The birds and beasts of this collection, and particularly the latter, which have not the advantage of being kept in glass frames, are so wretchedly preserved, that it is impossible for a person unaccustomed to such sights, to look upon them without extreme disgust. Half the face of the Hippopotamus, which holds a conspicuous place among these rarities, is consumed or disfigured by the animalculæ which it has produced; and similar depredations have been committed to a greater extent on most of the quadrupeds in the collection. The specimens of the mineral kingdom, which are numerous and elegant, are well arranged in this apartment in handsome mahogany cases, and to the most remarkable of them is affixed a technical description.
We saw both these halls and their contents to great disadvantage, for a number of carpenters were at work in them, making alterations and improvements; and, consequently, the statues, beasts, &c. were in disorder and confusion. When the improvements are finished, which are to a laudable extent, and will be attended with a considerable expence, the collection of natural history and antiques will appear to much more advantage than they at present do, and particularly is proper pains be taken to clean the animais, and supply the parts of them which have been destroyed or disfigured through want of care. But whatever embellishments the liberality of the university may bestow on this collection, it will be found far inferior to the rare assemblage of curiosities which was formed by the zeal, industry, and taste, of a private individual of our own times and nation[1].
At a short distance from the botanic garden, is the theatre of anatomy, which has supplied the world with so many excellent physicians. It contains a numerous and valuable collection of subjects relative to anatomy and pathology, and the whole is arranged with admirable neatness and carc. The assemblage of lusus naturæ in this theatre is extremely curious, and abounds in every imaginable species of deformity. A child with two heads, the unhappy offspring of a peasant's wife in Friesland, who survived this monstrous delivery many years, claims particular attention. I have seen a conception of a similar kind, in the anatomical preparations of Mr. Ingham of Newcastle in Northumberland, a gentleman of great erudition and science, whose professional character and extensive medical knowledge are above any eulogium of mine. The mention of this person recals to my mind his son, whose premature death, about a twelve-month ago, excited universal regret. He was a youth of most promising talents, and uncommon goodness of heart. To a powerful and ready genius, he united unwearied application in the pursuit of knowledge; qualities for which minds of singular vigour are rarely distinguished: and perhaps his early loss to society, which he was so admirably fitted to adorn and improve, may in a great measure be attributed to that indefatigable diligence which, enlarging the mind, disables the body from resisting the attacks of disease.
The public library of Leyden is chiefly celebrated for the stores of oriental literature which it contains. Joseph Scaliger bequeathed to it a valuable collection of Hebrew books; and Golius, who filled for many years with great reputation the Arabic professorship of the university, enriched it with the rare Persian, Chaldee, Arabic, Turkish, and other manuscripts, which he brought with him from the east. The manuscripts which repose in this library amount to eight thousand, and form its principal treasures. The heavy volumes of controversial divinity, which crowd the shelves, far exceed the proportion which they contain of elegant and valuable literature. But these dull remains of a bigotted and unenlightened age do not appear to be much looked into, and the good sense of the approaching century may perhaps dispossess them of the places which they so unworthily fill. Among the publications of a recent date, I saw the histories of Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon, and the Transactions of the Royal and Antiquarian societies of London; but no English books since the commencement of the present war with Holland. The last addition to the library, were some magnificent folios, describing the antiquities, of Herculaneum, which were a present from the king of Spain. The books are principally bound in parchment, which is extremely white and pleasing to the eye; and they are mostly gilded and ornamented with much elegance and taste, the decorations being suitable to the subject of the book.
The library contains some good portraits of eminent Dutchmen: of Erasmus, at various periods of his life; of Grotius; and Janus Douse, who distinguished himself equally in arms and letters. During the siege of Leyden he was one of its bravest defenders, and his conduct on that occasion was so highly approved of by the Prince of Orange, that the government of the city was afterwards entrusted to his care. A portrait of Daniel Heinsius, and a miniature of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein, whose patronage of Erasmus probably procured his head the honour of a place among the Dutch savans, are deserving of peculiar specification. But the most striking portrait is that of Hugo Donellus, which was painted after death. The clay-cold paleness of the countenance, and that expression which the agonies of death have given to the features, are most exquisitely described. It is painted on wood, and in excellent preservation. I am seriously mortified that I could not learn the name of the artist.
There are also in the library, carved in ivory to resemble medallions, the likenesses of some Englishmen distinguished for their attachment to civil and religious liberty, as Wickliff, Harrington, Milton, Marvel, Ludlow, &c. They were executed, I understood, by an English refugee, who took shelter in Holland from the cruelties of James II. after the failure of the Duke of Monmouth's unhappy expedition, in which he bore a share, and continued to reside at Leyden till his death. The carvings are neat, and certainly no disgrace to the library.
The church of St. Peter, the principal one in Leyden, is a large heavy building, in the Gothic style of architecture. Like other Dutch churches, it is without pews, and the congregation are seated on chairs. It is heated by two or more large stoves, and we found its warmth very agreeable; but, notwithstanding, the Dutch ladies invariably use chauffepies. Near the pulpit is an half-hour glass, which the preacher turns when he begins his sermon, and the congregation are satisfied (probably with reason) if his discourse last no longer than till the sand is run out.
In this church were confined the English and Russian soldiers which were taken prisoner last year at Alkmaer. The Ruffians were impressed with the belief that they were preserved from immediate slaughter, to be guillotined or hanged, and perceiving three large brass chandeliers, suspended by chains from the roof of this church, they imagined a Russian soldier was to be hung from each branch of the chandeliers. Their joy was extravagant when they found their fears were ill founded, and they embraced their French and Dutch guards as saviours and protectors. It added to their happiness, that they were well fed, comfortably sheltered from the inclemencies of the weather, and abundantly furnished with straw for beds. The church of Leyden, both in point of accommodations and provisions, was probably a palace compared with any dwelling which they had hitherto inhabited, and the men whom they regarded as their deadly and sanguinary enemy, they found to be generous and hospitable friends.
In later times, the Gazette of Leyden bore that kind of reputation in England which formerly was attached to the Brussels Gazette, with this difference, that the Leyden paper leaned with unwarrantable partiality to the politics of the stadtholder and Great Britain, while that of Brussels favoured their enemies, and therefore was received in England with almost unlimited favour and belief. When the conquest of the republic became inevitable, the editors and proprietors of this journal, who had rendered themselves thoroughly obnoxious to the French and the republican party, by their daily abuse of the revolution and their entire devotion to the stadtholder, quitted Leyden with precipitation. Since that period the gazette of Leyden has been conducted by men of diametrically opposite opinions and partialities, and it now breathes a spirit of hostility to Great Britain as implacable as that of any paper which is published within the territories of the Batavian republic. I should not omit to mention that to every Dutch newspaper, as well as to all the proclamations and ordinances of the Batavian directory, the Words vreyheid, gelykberd, and broderschap liberty, equality, and fraternity, are prefixed. They pay an inconsiderable duty to the state, and do not much exceed, one fourth of the price of an English newspaper.
In the centre of Leyden is a tumulus, or fort, said to have been built by Hengist the Saxon prince, which is elevated above the tops of the highest houses, and commands an extensive view over the town. The top is surrounded by a wall, on which small pieces of cannon might be mounted, and contains, in a circle of about 150 paces, a labyrinth of trees, a bason of water, and benches and tables for the accommodation of visitors. In fine weather the citizens of Leyden resort to this place to drink tea, and smoke their pipes. The ascent to it is by an easy flight of steps, and at convenient distances there are seats to rest the weary. I have never seen a more agreeable place of recreation in the centre of a large and populous city. Those who frequent it, breathe on its top a wholesome and elastic air, and enjoy a fine prospect of the sea, the lake of Haarlem, the city of Leyden, and the surrounding meadows.
Leyden formerly vied with Amsterdam and the Hague, for the number of valuable publications in modern literature which issued from its press, and much exceeded them in the variety of classical works which it produced. The Elzevirs, justly celebrated for the correct and beautiful editions which they have given the world of the best writers of antiquity, resided in this city, and ennobled its press by the elegant specimens of typography which for the long course of a century appeared from their printing-office. But for the last fifty years this branch of trade has declined rapidly, and it may be considered at present as extinct. There are, however, some respectable booksellers' shops, where choice collections of the elastics are to be seen, which sell at a much more reasonable price than they are to be bought for in England; and for modern publications, Murray in the Breestraet may rank with the most eminent bibliopolists in Europe.
The woollen manufactory of Leyden, which half a century ago gave employment to several thousand industrious workmen, and was a perennial fountain of wealth to the city, is now in the last stage of decay. If its manufactures never rivalled in the fineness of their articles the looms of England, their coarse cloths found a ready sale on the continent, and the East and West-India companies procured them markets in the other quarters of the globe. As the commerce of Holland declined, that of Great Britain increased, and the manufacturers of Yorkshire, to the ruin of those of Leyden, found a vent for their commodities in most of the considerable markets of America and Asia, where the English cloth became in such estimation, that Dutch merchants trading to those ports soon discovered it was to their advantage to send out English cloths in preference to the manufactures of their own country. The woollen trade of Leyden also received much injury on the continent, from the establishment of extensive looms in various parts of Germany and the Netherlands, Which then ceased to draw any considerable supplies from Holland; and the present war with England, by suspending nearly all exterior commerce, has almost filled up the measure of its misfortunes.
What advantage the restoration of peace will produce to the staple trade of Leyden, or whether it will ever revive to any extent of conference, are points which I do not feel competent or inclined to discuss. The probable fate of its university, when the sword shall be sheathed, and harmony restored to Europe, is a subject more congenial to my heart.
A period of general warfare is unfavourable to all seminaries of learning, because it calls into the active employments of military life, a number of youths of fortune and condition who probably otherwise would have embraced some of the erudite professions, or at least have completed their education in a college. From this cause the university of Leyden has suffered a diminution of its students in common with all the public academies of Europe, but more than those of Great Britain and the other states, into whose territories the actual flames of war have not been carried. It has also sustained a great loss of students from the interruption, of the intercourse between the republic and those countries (the dominions of the Emperor and Great Britain) from whence Leyden attracted every year many pupils.A few years of tranquillity, under the care of skilful and learned professors, will probably restore the university of Leyden to much of its former lustre. The neatness and accommodations of the city, the grave and sober manners of its inhabitants, the purity of the air, and the beauty of the vicinage, are circumstances which strongly recommend the university of this place, and eminently qualify it for studious retirement and instruction.
- ↑ Sir Ashton Lever. The museum which bears the name of this gentleman is an honour to the English nation. It is perhaps the best collection of natural history in Europe; and is equally to be praised for the variety of its articles, the excellence of their preservation, and the judgment with which they are arranged.