of her intercourse with Great Britain. Before the war, it sometimes happened, that three hundred English vessels were seen at one time within the port of Rotterdam; and this number was certainly exceeded by the ships belonging to the place and those of other nations. At present the number of neutral vessels in the harbour do not exceed fifty, and trade is at this time more than usually active, if the retrospect be taken from their late circumstances. If I were to judge from the bustle and confusion occasioned in streets by the transport of merchandise from one part of the town to another, I should say the place enjoyed a thriving commerce; for in the morning it is scarcely possible to walk in the streets, where no paths are exclusively appropriated to foot-passengers, as in England, without having your safety endangered, or your clothes dirtied, by the numerous sledges laden with hogsheads and bales which are continually passing. I have been prevented for ten minutes from passing over a draw-bridge by a train of these vehicles, all of them perhaps carrying as great
