CHAP. XXX.UTRECHT—AMSTERDAM.
On arriving at Utrecht, we were prevented from proceeding to Amsterdam by boat, the same evening, as we had intended, in consequence of heavy rains; and, by the recommendation of one of our passengers, took up our quarters at an inferior inn, near which the diligence stopped. The fire-pan, tobacco, and other accompaniments for smoking, were very shortly placed before us for our entertainment, and the good people seemed much astonished that we should prefer the more simple enjoyment of tea.
This city is celebrated for having been the first to shake off the galling yoke of Spain in the year 1579. It was here that the seven provinces formed their alliance, under the counsels of William, prince of Orange, in a conference known as the treaty of Utrecht.
In the morning, we prepared early to set off by the barge or treckschuyt for Amsterdam; but, before leaving, we were destined to meet with a specimen of Dutch manners. The master of the inn made a most exorbitant charge, and, whenmy friend questioned it, he repeated the sum in a rough manner, without deigning to give any other answer, at the same time, approaching with a menacing aspect; my friend took him by the shoulder and pushed him off; this lowered his tone, but he was aware that we had no time to contest it, as we must either set off instantly to gain the barge, or lose our passage, and therefore obstinately adhered to his original demand, and upon the principle of choosing the least of two evils, we thought prudent to comply with it.
After traversing a great part of the city, we fortunately reached the barge just as it was on the point of starting. There were three cabins, of different prices, and we had the honour of being placed in the best or aftermost, for our conveyance in which, and luggage, we were charged thirty-one stivers each, equal to about half-a-crown; this, for a journey of twenty miles, we could not complain of. The scenery along this canal, my friend stated to be beautiful in the extreme; in short, it is regarded as the most interesting and characteristic picture that this country displays, and realizes the description of our amiable poet, Goldsmith.
“The slow canal, the yellow-blossom’d vale,The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail,The crowded mart, the cultivated plain.”
“The slow canal, the yellow-blossom’d vale,The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail,The crowded mart, the cultivated plain.”
“The slow canal, the yellow-blossom’d vale,The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail,The crowded mart, the cultivated plain.”
“The slow canal, the yellow-blossom’d vale,
The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail,
The crowded mart, the cultivated plain.”
We heard them very merry in the fore cabin, but had the one we occupied to ourselves until about noon, when two elderly Dutch ladies, who were conversant in French, joined us, and proved agreeable companions, although they were negative characters.
We rested for a short time at a house of entertainment on the banks of the canal, where we were refreshed with buttered rolls, which had slices of cheese laid between the divided halves. At half after two, we arrived at Amsterdam, and took up our residence at the Wapen van Amsterdam, instead of the City of Hamburg Hotel, to which we had been recommended, a mistake we were not aware of until some hours afterwards; however, it was one of the best inns in the place, so that we had no reason to feel disappointed. At the table d’hôte, charged thirty stivers per head, we met with a countryman of ours, Mr. W., with his wife and daughter; and after dinner, were conducted by him to a coffee-house, where, from the English papers, we became acquainted with the particulars of her late majesty’s death.
On the following day, August the 16th, notwithstanding it was disposed to be rainy, we accompanied Mr., Mrs., and Miss W⸺ to Broeck, and Saardam. After passing in a ferry-boat to Brocksluyh, we engaged a tilted carriage, capableof containing nine persons, constructed like a caravan, the sides with neat open work, and canvas curtains to keep out the weather.
We arrived at Broeck for breakfast, and the day now proving fine, our party were delighted with the novel and extraordinary appearance, and cleanliness of this little paradise. In each house, there is one particular door which is always kept closed, except on the occasion of a wedding or funeral. The gardens are the very picture of elegant neatness; in some of them the shrubs are arranged and cut into the shapes of tables and chairs, or other fanciful forms; the ground is laid out in pleasing walks and parterres, and the eye enchanted with the most beautiful variety of flowers.
We now proceeded to Saardam, where the first circumstance which attracted our notice, was a new married couple, returning from church to take coffee, previous to enjoying the wedding dinner; on this occasion, we were informed that the bride’s fortune was a number ofwindmills, an article that Amsterdam and its neighbourhood abounds with. Our leading object, however, was to visit the house once occupied by Peter the Great, consisting of two small rooms with an enclosed recess for a bed; the door of which we opened, while some of us stepped within theframe on which the bed had rested. A board was suspended from the ceiling, with an inscription in the Dutch and Russian languages, of which, the following is a translation.
“Nothing is too little for a great man.”
The Emperor Alexander visited this spot in the year 1813, and left two Latin inscriptions on marble, commemorative of the event.
After this, we walked about the village, visited the church, and returned to Amsterdam for a late dinner, highly gratified with our day’s excursion.
We devoted the greater part of the next day to examining the city of Amsterdam, which is so intersected with streets, canals, and bridges, bearing a strong similarity to each other, that it is not an easy matter to gain an accurate knowledge of it. It takes its name from the riverAmstel, andDam, signifying a mound, raised to prevent this river from overflowing the surrounding country. The city is principally built upon piles, driven into the morass to form a solid foundation, and of which it is said, that no less than thirteen thousand are fixed under the Stadt-house alone. We visited the Exchange, one of the finest buildings of the kind in Europe. After this, we entered a Jew’s synagogue, the noisy and discordant devotion of which, soon tired us, so that we were glad to take our departure, particularly aswe had no expectation of being permitted to bid for the key of the sanctum sanctorum. We regretted this day, parting from our new and agreeable acquaintance, Mr. W⸺ and his family, who left us for Utrecht.
On the following morning, one of the partners of the bank of Messrs. Melvil and Co. with whom I had done business the day before, called to rectify some trifling error in the discounts, and understanding that I was proceeding alone, kindly gave me a letter of introduction to a friend at the Hague.
The time was now approaching, when my friend C⸺ felt compelled to separate from me; he had from day to day deferred his departure for St. Petersburg, in hopes of effecting a more agreeable arrangement for his journey, than had previously offered itself; for he would have been obliged to have pursued his journey partly by canal, and partly by land, and the latter night and day, for nearly a week unremittingly, through a wild country, and along dreadful roads. He had, however, some prospect, as far as Hamburg, of the company of the Swiss clergyman, who travelled with us from Nimeguen to Utrecht, but here he was disappointed, for this gentleman was uncertain when he could depart, and on account of the advanced state of the summer, andpossibility of the winter setting in early, my friend thought it imprudent to delay any longer; he therefore concluded upon setting out in the evening of Sunday the 19th, by a vessel which crosses the Zuyder sea to Lemner, from whence he was to proceed by diligence or canal to Groningen, where he would find a conveyance to Bremen and Hamburg.
On Sunday morning, we visited the new church, the organ of which is said to be the largest in Europe, and to exceed the celebrated one at Haarlem. After this, we went to the Stadt-house, one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe; the foundation-stone of which, was laid in the year 1648; it is built of freestone, two hundred and eighty-eight feet in length, two hundred and thirty-five broad, and one hundred and sixteen in height, to the top of the roof. The grand saloon is one hundred and twenty feet long, and one hundred high. We ascended the tower, the view from whence my friend C⸺ described to be most extensive, and extremely beautiful, commanding the whole of the town and harbour, and a considerable surface both of land and water.
We were anxious to have visited the dock-yard, and a variety of other places in this interesting city, but it became necessary that we should prepare for our respective departures, as I had determinedto set off to Haarlem, on my way to Brussels, at five in the evening; and much of our time was frittered away in the unavoidable arrangements for conveyances, &c. I was induced, in preference to taking the diligence for Rotterdam, to pass by the barge through the Hague, as this would afford me the better opportunity of gaining an acquaintance with the country and its inhabitants.
I shall not attempt to enter into any particular description of the city of Amsterdam, but merely observe, that I was forcibly impressed with an idea of its similarity to Venice; both are situated on marshy grounds, in the immediate vicinity of the sea, and intersected by canals, which divide them into innumerable small islands; but the farther parallel is certainly in favour of the latter; for although Pope tells us, that
“Venice from dirt, and sea-weeds rose;”
“Venice from dirt, and sea-weeds rose;”
“Venice from dirt, and sea-weeds rose;”
“Venice from dirt, and sea-weeds rose;”
yet I think the natural salubrity of its climate, as well as the general superiority of its buildings, and more extensive display of specimens of the fine arts, would prove greater attractions in the eyes of the stranger. With respect to the point of salubrity, the canals of Venice are more uniformly covered with water than those of Amsterdam, which offer a surface of mud, and hence fewer noxious exhalations are here generated; not that I am ignorantthat Venice is far from being a healthy summer residence, in consequence of injurious miasmata, raised from its very foundations, by the intensity of the solar ray.
The atmosphere of Amsterdam is greatly impregnated with moisture, and the place necessarily very damp, which must favour the production and aggravation of rheumatic disease; the liability to which, is perhaps the best excuse that can be made for the general use of tobacco by its inhabitants.
It is true, that the above custom also suits the calculating notions of the Dutch. I am on this point forcibly reminded of the observation of a solitary and smoking Dutchman, when Dr. Moore had expressed, through the medium of an interpreter, his regret at being unable to converse with him, in consequence of his ignorance of the Dutch language; and which was to this effect: “They ought to console themselves for the accident of not understanding each other; for as they had no connexions, or dealings in trade together, their conversing could not possibly answer any useful purpose.”
The moment now arrived, when I was to be separated from my very kind friend, with whom I had, on the present tour, travelled more than fourteen hundred miles; we cheered the painfulmoments of parting, by the anticipations of soon meeting again. We fortunately had little time to spend in useless regrets, for the boat, when we reached the canal, was on the point of setting off, and they make it a rule to wait for no one; even an English gentleman, who was in expectation of the momentary arrival of two friends to accompany him, was obliged to stay behind, because they would not tarry an instant after the signal bell had rung. This was a source of regret to my friend, as he had taken much pains to interest him in my favour, and, indeed, I promised myself some pleasure from travelling in his company. Not that my heart was sufficiently frenchified, to be capable of suddenly expanding to the warmth of a new friendship; no! I preferred indulging in the delightful emotions inspired in it, by the recollections of my late amiable companion; of whose uniform kindness, and anxious concern for me, I shall never—never cease to be most sensible.