A Tour Through the Batavian Republic/Letter VIII
LETTER VIII.
Leyden, November, 1800.
UNDER the impression that we should never visit it again, and delighted with its beauties, we quitted the Hague with feelings of regret. None of the expectations raised in our minds by the report of the magnificence of that charming village had been disappointed, and we had derived unlooked-for pleasure and advantage, from agreeable society and curious information.
The disasters of our former voyage did not intimidate us from again embarking in a treckschuyt; and I shall now describe to you a mode of travelling which has three excellent qualities to recommend it — cheapness, regularity, and security. I say security, for such storms as that to the violence of which we were exposed, do not perhaps occur above once in a century, and unless it blows a hurricane there is no danger to be apprehended in these boats. A treckschuyt is a covered barge, divided into two apartments; the after one, called the roof, which is superior in point of accommodations, contains from eight to a dozen persons, and the other from forty to fifty, according to the size of the boat. This vessel is drawn by a single horse, and moves so precisely at the rate of four miles an hour, that people in Holland universally compute the distance from place to place by the time which the passage occupies, not by miles as in England. The price for a seat in the roof, or cabin, is about three pence an hour; and, if it is not crowded with passengers, scarcely any mode of travelling can be more agreeable, unless expedition is required. In this apartment there are generally four windows, a table in the middle, with seats on each side of it covered with handsome cushions; and, according to the fancy of the skipper, or master, of the boat, this little cabin is otherwise ornamented with pictures or looking-glasses. The motion of a treckschuyt is so steady, that a person may read or write at his ease; or from the windows he can enjoy a pleasant prospect of the country, of numerous villages and seats which skirt the canals, or of vessels for the purposes of pleasure or business, which are constantly passing and repassing. Treckschuyts are the stage-coaches of Holland: they depart every hour, in various directions, from most of the considerable towns of the republic; and arriving at the appointed time at the place of their destination, passengers who wish to proceed further find boats ready to set out immediately. By means of these useful vessels, an easy intercourse exists between the most distant parts of the republic, and the cheapness of the conveyance allows its benefits to be felt by the poorest people. To a Dutchman, a treckschuyt is the most agreeable conveyance imaginable. He smokes in it or sleeps in it, as his inclination leads him; and is neither shook by the agitation of the vessel, nor disturbed by the velocity of its motion. He knows to the eighth part of a penny the sum which his journey will cost him, and he can calculate with equal accuracy the moment when he shall arrive at the end of it. If his journey is long, he either carries with him a little store of provisions, or purchases a frugal dinner at the place where the boat usually stops for a few minutes at the hour of that meal. He does not then go on shore to eat his dinner, but a steak is expeditiously brought to him, with such other refreshments as the house affords, or he chooses to have; and when that matter is arranged, which never occupies more than five minutes, the treckschuyt immediately proceeds. Some of these advantages may be enjoyed in common by an Englishman, but he is occasionally exposed to disagreeable circumstances in these vessels, which detract much from their advantages.
We left the Hague at three in the afternoon for Delft, having previously, which is a necessary precaution, taken places in the roof of the treckschuyt. Two ladies and a gentleman were our fellow passengers to that place, where we quitted the boat to walk through the town to a canal from whence a treckschuyt was ready to set off for Rotterdam.
The cabin of this boat, to our extreme mortification, was so crowded, that we could not obtain seats in it, and therefore we were obliged to take our places with the common passengers. It was now dark, and one miserable candle only illuminated a long apartment, which contained five-and-twenty or thirty people. On our departure, all the windows of this place were shut, to exclude the air, except that, near which we sat, which was permitted to remain open, though not without violent opposition, out of courtesy to us strangers, who particularly requested it should. The heat arising from the chauffepies, or foot-stoves, of the women, the tobacco-pipes of the men, and the air vitiated by the respiration of so many human beings, was intolerable.
The custom of smoking is so prevalent in Holland, that a genuine Dutch boor, instead of describing the distances of places by miles or hours, says they are so many pipes asunder. Thus a man may reach Delft from Rotterdam in four pipes; but if he goes on to the Hague, the journey will cost him seven. Of our fellow-passengers, fifteen at least were resolute smokers. Shall I describe the effects produced on us by the fuliginous vapours of so many pipes, or by the saliva they caused, which almost covered the floor of the cabin? No! No! It is sufficient to say we arrived at Rotterdam, with aching heads, and diseased stomachs. A treckschuyt is nevertheless an excellent conveyance.
The business which called us to Rotterdam was to procure cash for bills on London. I was readily accommodated by two gentlemen, to whose politeness and attention I am otherwise much indebted. The exchange between Rotterdam and London on bills payable three days after sight, is at the difference of the enormous sum of twelve per cent in favour of the former city. This difference is not so much caused by the balance of trade, which is to the advantage of Rotterdam, as by the ideas which prevail on the continent of the financial embarrassments of the British nation, and the depreciation which the notes of the Bank of England have undergone, since that body has ceased to issue cash for their paper. Could I have given bills on Hamburgh, I could have had cash for them almost at par; or could I have engaged that my drafts would be paid in London with specie, the difference in the exchange would have been considerably less. It is the opinion of very intelligent merchants at Rotterdam, that whenever peace is restored to Europe, would the bank of England not resume paying its notes in cash, the exchange with London will be still more unfavourable to that city, for then in every commercial sense the bank must be accounted insolvent, and its paper of no more value than French assignats. One cause which tends to depreciate the notes of the bank of England on the continent is, the great quantities of forged ones which are circulated in the north of Germany, the Netherlands, Brabant, and Holland, and the immense losses which the merchants have thereby sustained. These notes are principally of the denomination of five or ten pounds, and skilfully executed. The engraving of the forged notes is said to be neater than that of the real ones, and the ink of a brighter black. But on the whole the imperfections of the genuine notes are well imitated. I could gain no information where these forgeries are supposed to be fabricated, and I will not hazard any conjectures of my own. The jews are charged with ushering them into circulation, but this accusation, like many other calumnies which have been invented against this despised face, is probably devoid of foundation.
We travelled from Rotterdam to this city by the canals, without any of the disagreeable circumstances which attended our former excursions by water. The weather was pleasant; we had seats in the roof of the treckschuyt, and the company were polite and agreeable. As we had hitherto had but an imperfect view of Delft, we staid some time in that city to survey its buildings and curiosities.
Delft is a neat, well built town, abounding, like all places in Holland, with canals, bridges, and trees[1]. In the new church is shewn a monument of indifferent execution, which was erected by the states-general in honour of William I. Prince of Orange, who was assassinated here by an emissary of Philip II. in 1584: and there are also monuments to the memory of Prince Maurice and Frederic-Henry. Delft was formerly famous for its manufactures of earthen-ware, which rivalled the porcelain of China, and was generally sought after and esteemed throughout Europe, for its elegance and beauty. At present scarcely five hundred persons are employed in the potteries of this place, which in their most flourishing days gave subsistence to upwards of ten thousand labourers. The same jealousy, however, towards strangers is still observed; here; and unless a traveller is well recommended, he cannot obtain a sight of their manufactures. The decay of this branch of commerce doubtless arises in part from the same causes which have enfeebled the republic, as the dissensions of domestic parties, the expensive wars in which the state has been involved, and the dreadful termination of its hostilities with France; but the more prominent causes of this astonishing decay are, the immense quantities of porcelain which for a century and a half have been imported into Europe from China, and the rival manufactures which in that time have been established in Germany and England. The earthen-ware of Staffordshire was some years ago so much approved of in Holland, that the states-general, in order to protect the manufacturers of Delft from absolute ruin, were obliged to lay duties on its importation into the republic, which were so severe as to amount almost to an entire prohibition.
It is perhaps because they have rivalled and surpassed them in their staple manufacture, that the citizens of Delft bear a rooted animosity to the natives of Great Britain. In an inclement season of the year, the brave sick and wounded of the British army, which defended Holland, were refused admission into this town, where they thought to find succour and relief[2]; their wounds and diseases procured them no pity, though their blood had been shed, and their health wasted (but ineffectually), for the preservation of the republic. The gates of the place were shut against them, and the armed burghers of the town harshly repulsed the miserable wretches, who solicited shelter, warmth, and food. These unhappy beings were exposed, with their sores and diseases, to the aggravated evils of hunger and cold, experiencing at the hand of their allies a treatment more severe, than would have been their lot had they fallen into the power of the enemy.
Delft is famous in Holland for its beer breweries, as well as for its manufactures of porcelain; and I must acknowledge that London porter is imitated with tolerable success. If, however, it is drank out of the cask it is very inferior, but after it has been in bottles some time its taste is nearly as agreeable as London bottled porter, from which it is difficult to distinguish it.
I should not mention that we were detained about half an hour, in a mean cabaret, on the canal which leads to Leyden, waiting for the departure of the treckschuyt, but to relate an incident which happened to us. The turf-fire of the room in which we sat was so surrounded by Dutch soldiers, smoking and drinking gin, that neither of us received any heat from it; and though the evening was cold, they kept their places with frigid unconcern. We had not been seated long before a French soldier came into the apartment, and feeling for our uncomfortable situation, he immediately insisted that the Dutch should make room for us near the fire. This the boors reluctantly complied with, and our obliging Frenchman seated himself beside us: drinking a glass of Bourdeaux wine, which perhaps he ordered for the occasion, he said, with a politeness and gallantry which certainly belonged to the old school, moving at the same time his hat with a very aristocratical grace, "Madame et monsieur, tout ce qui vous puis faire plaisir[3];" and when the boat was ready to set off, he escorted us to it, and cordially wished as a good voyage.
Leyden is the second city in magnitude of the United Provinces, and inferior to none in the spaciousness and elegance of its buildings, the utility of its public institutions, and the agreeable manners of its inhabitants. It is situated on the ancient bed of the Rhine, the diminished waters of which river fill an inconsiderable canal that bears its name, and at a very short distance from the city, mingling with larger streams, it is no longer known by its classical appellation. The Houses of Leyden are built with their gable ends to the streets, in the old Dutch taste; which is infinitely more pleasant to the sight in a town where every thing else is Dutch, than clumsy attempts at Grecian or Italian architecture. A Dutch house in the old style of building is generally six stories high, the three first of which are of an equal breadth, but of unequal heights; from the third story the roof rises to a point, and the rooms of this part of the house necessarily diminish in size as they approach to the apex of the building. The front wall of the upper apartments projects so from the roof as nearly to hide it, unless viewed in profile; and the exterior of each room diminishes till that of the attic story is two-thirds less than the basement. To the aperture of the upper room, which is closed with a wood shutter, is commonly fixed a small crane, for the purpose of hoisting up wood and turf; and these cranes sometimes have grotesque heads carved upon them. The windows and doors of most houses are painted green, and the brick-work often white or black, where there are projections or diversity of masonry.
The principal streets of Leyden are broad, long, and well paved, rising in the middle, so that no water can remain upon them, and the same rigid cleanliness prevails here as in other parts of Holland. The street in which the stadthouse is placed, is accounted by the inhabitants of this city one of the finest in Europe. It extends, with an inconsiderable curve, from one extremity of Leyden to the other, and is about two miles in length. All the houses in it are elegant and neat; and beside the stadthouse, which is a magnificent building, it is ornamented with an hospital of fine appearance and great extent, and other public erections.
In the halls of the stadthouse are preserved some good pictures, which are well deserving the notice of a traveller. The principal one representing the Last Judgment, is a picture of great antiquity, painted on wood by Lucas Van Leyden. It is divided into three compartments, which fold by means of hinges together, and so protect the piece from the injuries of the air. The contrast between the angels and devils, the joy of the blessed, and the despair of the damned, is skilfully managed. But the picture to which your attention is peculiarly called by the person who conducts you over the stadthouse, describes a story of great interest in the annals of this city. It represents the famished inhabitants of Leyden, after they had by their valour and constancy obliged the Spaniards to raise the siege of their town, eagerly devouring the relief which was brought them by their countrymen.The memory of this siege is still preserved by the citizens of Leyden, with annual rejoicings and festivities; and once in seven years a kind of jubilee is held in honour of that great event. In consequence of the gallant defence made by its inhabitants, and the dreadful miseries which they suffered, the states-general, to reward their bravery and patience, founded in Leyden the noble university which has since reflected so much honour on that city, and been attended with important benefits to philosophy and science.
In 1573, the Spaniards, flushed with the conquest of Haarlem, laid siege to Alkmaer; but finding the place too strong for their forces, they turned their arms against Leyden. The approach of Prince Frederic of Nassau, with a considerable body of men, drove them for a short time from their trenches; but having procured re-inforcements, they returned, and, according to the practice of the age, being apprehensive they should not be able to take the city by force, they turned the siege into a blockade. The Spanish general, Frederic of Toledo, son of the Duke of Alva, repulsed a body of English auxiliaries which were coming to the relief of the besieged, and otherwise so vigilantly conducted the blockade, that the inhabitants of Leyden were reduced by famine to the most deplorable distress. Disheartened by their miserable situation, and hopeless of relief, the burghers of the town assembled in great numbers about the house of Peter Adrian de Werf, a man of much influence and authority in the place, and loudly and mutinously exclaimed, that the town must surrender, or its inhabitants would perish of hunger. But this man, who possessed the firmness of Cato, and preferred to die rather than see his country under the dominion of a tyrant, expostulated with the mob, and said, "It is indifferent to me, whether I perish by means of the enemy, or the hands of my fellow-citizens. Kill me then, if you have the courage, and appease your hunger with my miserable carcase." The firmness of Adrian inspired his fellow-citizens with patience and resolution; they returned to their duties with cheerfulness, and endured the most pressing extremities of famine with heroic fortitude. When every article of subsistence was consumed, the bodies of the dead furnished a horrid food for the support of the living, and still the citizens of Leyden defended with invincible resolution their town. At length the Dutch confederates, having no other means of relieving their distressed countrymen, broke down the dykes of the Maese and the Yssel, and inundated the Spanish camp, and the beautiful country which surrounds Leyden. This desperate measure obliged the Spanish general to evacuate his camp; and the besieged town, after having suffered the most terrible distress, was relieved. This siege, which commenced shortly after Easter, was raised the third of October, and the same day a supply of provisions was brought to the famished inhabitants of the place, who for upwards of five months had suffered unspeakable distress.
The university of Leyden, which is the most ancient in the United Provinces, and has enjoyed the greatest share of reputation, was founded the year following this dreadful siege, by the states-general and Prince William. of Orange, to reward the citizens for the unparalleled bravery and constancy with which they defended their town. This institution has had the good fortune to number among its professors and scholars some of the most learned men and excellent physicians that Europe has produced. In its infancy, the younger Scaliger, Heinsius, and Salmasius, prosecuted the study of the ancient languages in this university, with a success which has not since been surpassed; and after their times, Boerhaave, in the physical chair, filled Leyden with medical students from all parts of Europe. To mention all the great scholars and physicians whom this university has produced would be a laborious employment. There is perhaps no science which the professors of Leyden have not eminently contributed to illustrates no branch of polite literature in which they have not excelled.The present professors in the university of Leyden are persons of respectable talents and merit; but I am prevented from gaining all the information respecting the university which I hoped to obtain, by the unfortunate absence of the gentleman to whom we had letters of recommendation. The schools of Leyden have suffered in the general calamities which have befallen the republic; and the number of students in the university, particularly of foreigners, is greatly reduced. The names of students at present on the books of the university do not exceed a hundred and fifty, and of these how many enrol themselves on the academical lists from no very laudable motives, it is difficult to ascertain. What I allude to is this: since the establishment of liberty and equality in the United Provinces, every person eligible to the militia is obliged actually to serve in the corps of the district to which he belongs; whereas before the revolution, such as could afford to furnish a substitute were exempt from personal service. The ingenuous youth, who attend the universities of the republic to pursue their studies, are free from this dangerous and disagreeable service, and therefore many enter themselves as students with no other view than that they may enjoy this privilege. This class of students I am inclined to believe is more numerous than that of the youth who attend the university according to the spirit of the institution.
- ↑ Delft is the birth-place of Hugo Grotius, and its inhabitants are reproached that they have not erected a statue in honour of their fellow-citizen, as the burghers of Rotterdam have done to the memory of Erasmus.
- ↑ Before the revolution, every considerable town in the republic was possessed to a certain degree of an independent jurisdiction, by means of which it could refuse the admission of foreign troops into it, unless the orders of the states-general were peremptory to the contrary effect. The dislike of the city of Delft to the English was slightly alluded to in letter the sixth.
- ↑ Sir, madam, I wish you every thing that can give you pleasure.