disposition to gratify those who frequent his house, has not the ability; for, alas! the Hague is no longer the resort of the wealthy and luxurious from all parts of Europe, and by such guests alone is an inn to be maintained in splendour. I conjectured from the name of the hotel, and its having been much frequented by persons of the British nation, that I should find some one who could speak English, but I was disappointed, and to add to my mortification, the waiters speak French most barbarously.
Geographers and travellers have persisted in calling the Hague a village, because it is not surrounded with walls or fortifications, which are necessary in their opinions to constitute a town or a city; but probably it is indebted for this humble appellation to the signification of its name in the Dutch language, s' Graven Haag, or the Count's Hedge, it forming some centuries ago a part of the domains of the counts of Holland. I will not dispute or vindicate the propriety of a term which is of so little consequence to settle.
