of about a week in that city, to catch one glimpse of the sun. I will not venture to hazard any conjecture what effect the air has on the inhabitants of the place, but for the most part they are a dull and heavy-looking race, with countenances full of cares and concerns of business. I must, however, observe here, that I have not seen in Holland one Dutch face which had the least expression of that despicable quality, cunning, in it, either on the Exchange, in shops, or in the streets; and, on the contrary, I do not think I ever saw a shopkeeper in England, on whose countenance that quality was not most legibly written. A Dutchman's countenance, whatever his avocations may be, is honest, frank, and candid; and the only expression which ever appears in it that is displeasing, is an expression of caution which borders on suspicion. Most Dutch merchants, from education, example, and habit, are tainted more or less with the vice of avarice, or rather a strong passion for accumulation; but, I believe, the merchants of no nation in the world are more to be
