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[1]; their wounds and diseases<references>
- ↑ 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.
