Chapter I: Front Matter

A
TOUR THROUGH HOLLAND,
ALONG THE RIGHT AND LEFT
BANKS OF THE RHINE,
TO THE SOUTH OF
GERMANY,
IN
THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF
1806.

Pergit et hostiles (tanta est fiducia) ripas
Inconitatus adit.
CLAUDIAN.

BY SIR JOHN CARR,

OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, AUTHOR OF THE STRANGER
IN IRELAND; A NORTHERN SUMMER, OR A TOUR ROUND THE BALTIC.

PHILADELPHIA:

Printed for C. and A. Conrad and Co., Samuel F. Bradford, Byrch and
Small, and James Humphreys, Philadelphia: Andrews and Cummings, Boston:
Peter A. Mesier, New-York, and Edmond Morford, Charleston.

FRY AND KAMMERER, PRINTERS.

1807.

TO HIS GRACE
JOHN, DUKE OF BEDFORD.

MY LORD,

If the name of your Grace had been rendered illustrious solely by those distinguished Patriots from whom you derived it, my pride could not fail of being eminently gratified by being permitted to dedicate to you the following pages: but other, and infinitely more impressive and honourable emotions are awakened, when I reflect, that in the present descendant of the House of Russel are displayed that patriotic fervor, that lofty spirit of political independence, and that ardent zeal in the great cause of humanity, which distinguished so many of its branches in the annals of this great country. Indeed, my Lord, it is a felicity to be able to attest, from experience, and now to record, the pretensions of your Grace to the gratitude of your country and the love of mankind.

To the wisdom of your administration was committed a great and important, but a much neglected portion of the United Empire. You became the ruler of a country long oppressed, wickedly calumniated, and still bleeding from many a wound. Soon after the elevation of your Grace to this august situation, public symptoms appeared which called for sagacity and energy of no ordinary nature. Instead of listening, in the sunshine of vice-regal magnificence, to the vague reports of the idle, the ignorant, or the mischievous, you penetrated into the wild recesses of that distracted country, reputed to contain the hot-bed of insurrection; you personally contemplated the character of the poor, suffering Irish peasant, in all its rough but affecting simplicity; you beheld a fellow-being possessed of affections easily to be won by tenderness, of a vivid imagination, and quick and ardent susceptibility, clothed in rags, and living in common with the beast of the field, in a state of penury and wretchedness, unknown to the miserable and oppressed of any other region. To see, to feel, and to meditate relief were all simultaneous in the mind of your Grace. When some partial excesses at length broke out, when the violent and the intolerant clamorously demanded the terrible inflictions of military law, you firmly, wisely, and most humanely resolved upon surrendering up the guilty to the laws of their country, without delivering over their unoffending vicinage to the savage dominion of the bullet and the bayonet. The noble experiment answered, and your Grace lost no portion of your popularity, in the very spot where dire necessity compelled you to offer up victims to justice. Your conduct on that occasion, even in the absence of every other laudable event of your life, is sufficient to sweeten it to its latest period.

A great and unexpected political change rendered the administration of your Grace too brief to execute the enlightened and salutary plans which you had conceived for the amelioration of Ireland; but it was of sufficient duration to afford opportunities of displaying those qualities of the head and of the heart, which will endear your memory to that unhappy country for ever, and you have left to it the benefits of a brilliant example.

That your illustrious successor may adopt the same clemency and wisdom which your Grace so efficaciously exhibited; and that he may complete the measures which extraordinary political events prevented your Grace from perfecting, is the cordial prayer of him who is an enthusiastic well-wisher to Ireland, and who, with great respect, has the honour to subscribe himself,

My Lord, your Grace’s
Most obliged obedient servant,
JOHN CARR.

2, Garden-Court, Temple.
18th May, 1807.

TO THE READER.

I am indebted for some interesting anecdotes of the most eminent Painters of the Dutch and Flemish School to the authors of the Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres, to Pilkington’s Dictionary of Painters, and to the elegant and witty D’Israeli.

I had no companion with me during the greater part of the Tour described in the following pages, which was taken amidst many untoward and embarrassing circumstances, the melancholy effects of war, and which, for that reason, will, I hope, be favoured with the indulgent candour of my friends and of the Public.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
A Confession: the war: an adoption: confidence in fortune sometimes
necessary: hateful character of a spy: a motive for travelling: a
moral: anecdote of a royal description: miseries of a Dutch
galliot: Calvin and Servetus: religion and a rope’s end: Dutch
anecdote of fortitude: anecdote of a Newfoundland dog: appearance
of Holland from the sea: its coast: a dilemma: the Maas river:
anecdote of Napoleon: of a Dutch woman: a disaster: Rotterdam
described: leaning houses 1

CHAPTER II.
The boompies: Bayle: prerogatives of genius: Spanish inscriptions:
a Dutch dinner: Dutch beggars: a good bargain: anecdotes of some
members of the Batavian executive body: anecdotes of the passion
of the Dutch for traffic: anecdote of Lord Nelson and the Dey of
Tunis: hereditary dresses: the Exchange of Rotterdam; anecdotes
of the English there: several anecdotes of the King and Queen of
Holland: public opinion of them: duty of a Tourist 13

CHAPTER III.
Commission countenances: physiognomies compared: homage paid to
genius: Erasmus’s statue: inscription: revolutionary whims:
learned gallantry: kisses: anecdotes of Erasmus: cathedral of
Saint Lawrence: the rival organ: charity schools: public
examinations: effects of education on the public mind: his Grace
the Duke of Bedford: Mr. Lancaster’s school 22

CHAPTER IV.
The coins: practice of vails-giving in Holland: fruit and vegetable
sellers: Dutch passion for scrubbing and mopping: whimsical
sarcasm of a traveller: singular offence offered to a
chambermaid: Dutch prints of Lord Nelson: treatment of our
countrymen at Verdun: Dutch compared with the Chinese: private
collections of paintings: brief anecdote of the Vanderwerfs:
remarks on Dutch and Flemish schools: Dort; anecdotes of
distinguished persons there: anecdote of Cowper: interposition of
Providence 30

CHAPTER V.
Licensed brothels; remark upon them: Dutch literary meeting
described: spitting pots: pipes, Dutch extravagant in them;
smoking; historical anecdote of tobacco: general temperance of
the Dutch: arbitrary power of police masters: travelling in
Holland very cheap and very agreeable: canal to Delft: Dutch
sawing mills: English circular masonry mills: Dutch language:
specimen of the English, Dutch, and German languages 41

CHAPTER VI.
Dexterity of boatmen: Overchie: Dutch gingerbread: a French saying:
Delft china: Delft: Dutchman’s remark on the war: new church:
anecdote of Grotius: affectionate stratagem: Grotius’s remarks on
education: Barneveldt: noble female anecdote: the carillons;
carilloneurs: Dutch frugality towards the dead: revolutionary
moderation: firmness of manufactures 56

CHAPTER VII.
Spirited remonstrance: anecdote of a regicide: interesting anecdote
of Frank Hals and Vandyke: a Dutch Bloomfield: delightful passage
to the Hague: Dutch discussion of Desdemona’s wish: Ryswick:
approach to the Hague: Dutch review: old and new constitutions
compared: brief review of the ancient constitution of Holland:
also of the political history: remarks on the Princes of the
house of Orange 66

CHAPTER VIII.
Remarks on the last Stadtholder; also on the Princess of Orange;
her presumption and indiscretion: hatred of the Dutch to the
House of Orange: Fête at the Hague on the flight of that family.
Reasons assigned for the progress of the French arms; for the
glorious triumph of British prowess. Conduct of the new
government towards some of the servants of the old: the new
constitution of Holland 76

CHAPTER IX.
Grand entry of King and Queen into Holland: opening of the meeting
of their High Mightinesses: anecdote of royal economy: the Hague
described: Lady W. Montagu’s remarks rebutted: pretty female
faces: a Dutch nursery: Dutch mode of increasing animal heat: the
wood: its sanctity: the palace formerly called the House in the
Wood: anecdote of King William the Third: unostentatious habits
of the Orange family: charming jaunt to Scheveling: a marine
hotel: Mr. Fox 92

CHAPTER X.
Historical anecdote of Scheveling: anecdote of Lord Nelson: a
marine scene. Passion of Dutch for flowers not subsided.
Veneration of Dutch for storks: causes of it: quails and swans:
humorous blunder of a Dutch waiter: universal industry: dogs and
goats: the theatre: theatrical economy: prodigal procreation.
Present state of the Hague; state of literature there: brief
anecdote of Daniel Mytens: of John Hanneman: of John le Duc, or
the Brave 106

CHAPTER XI.
Vegetable problems. Approach to Leyden: general description of that
town: the town-hall: celebrated picture of Lucas Van Leyden;
anecdote of that painter: also of Karel de Moor: picture of the
siege of Leyden: description of that horrible siege: generous and
heroic conduct of the Dutch women: also of Peter Adrian: the
mount: university of Leyden: the students: anecdotes of
Boerhaave: Peter the Great: genius and diffidence: confidence in
Providence: monument of Boerhaave 116

CHAPTER XII.
The botanic garden: the celebrated ancient palm: busts and statues:
theatre of anatomy: library and portraits of distinguished
persons: museum of natural history: attractions of the
university; its present condition; severity of its examinations:
anecdotes of Rembrandt; his genius and rapaciousness: a
stratagem: criticisms on his works: Mr. Desenfan’s splendid
gallery of paintings: John of Leyden: his ambition, cruelty, and
fate: Dutch bowing: Saint Peter’s church: anecdote of Russian
prisoners 128

CHAPTER XIII.
The press of Leyden; its staple trade: anecdotes of Gerard Douw: of
Jean Steen; his singular painting of the Deluge: anecdotes of
Francis Mieres: the pictorial contest: anecdote of Vanderwelde:
the village of Rhynsburg: singular religious association: a
curious custom: explosion at Leyden: conduct of the King.
Haarlem; its celebrated organ described: anecdote of Handel: Mr.
Henry Hope’s House 137

CHAPTER XIV.
Anecdotes of Lawrence Coster: art of printing how discovered; its
originality disputed: female fortitude and presence of mind:
siege of Haarlem: heroic conduct of the women: brief anecdote of
Wouvermans: of Bamboccio: fatal effects of severe criticism:
anecdotes of Nicholas Berghem and his termagant wife: of
Ruysdaal: enormous sluices; approach to Amsterdam; its general
appearance: a sley: Erasmus’s whimsical description of that city:
the stadt-house: silence represented as a female: the tower:
clocks, singular mode of striking the hour 148

CHAPTER XV.
Dungeons in the stadt-house: treatment of the prisoners: hall of
justice: the torture: criminal trials: capital punishment:
anecdote of a malefactor: the bank; its former and present state:
popular tumult: effects of diffusive education: public fête at
Amsterdam: dancing Dutchmen: the Beguines: ladies of Holland:
house rent: the water of Amsterdam 164

CHAPTER XVI.
Police: fires: laws relating to debtors; ditto to bankrupts: the
aanspreekers: singular custom: the trokenkorb: the streets:
insalubrity of stagnant canals: societies for recovering drowned
persons: noble conduct of the Emperor Alexander: Polish
gratitude: Austria: the exchange: a Dutch merchant: herring
fishery 174

CHAPTER XVII.
Former commerce of the Dutch: Batavia: anecdotes of national
frugality: exchange and banking business: commercial house of
Messrs. Hope: Jew fruit-sellers: marine school: the rasp-house:
the work-house: the plantation: priests how supported: parish
registers: the poor: literary societies: Felix Meritus: modern
Dutch painters 183

CHAPTER XVIII.
The Dutch theatre: theatrical traffic: the rondell: singular
village of Brock: Saardam: cottage of Peter the Great: climate,
divisions, and population of Holland: journey to Zeyst: Dutch
fond of coffee: small farms: picture of a Dutch peasant’s nest:
effects of industry: palace of Soestdyke: pyramid raised in
honour of Bonaparte: society of Herrenhuthers; their house and
internal arrangements described 193

CHAPTER XIX.
The mall of Utrecht: a gasconade: the Rhine: conquest of Utrecht:
the cathedral: beautiful lines: anecdotes of distinguished
persons born at Utrecht; the ancient inhabitants: a direction:
the city of Arnheim: anecdote of Beck: Dutchy of Berg: Cleves:
anecdote of Flink: a tedious form: anecdote of brown bread: the
contrast: the reception: Bonaparte’s hatred of English 204

CHAPTER XX.
Dusseldorf described; its inhabitants; the grand ducal court:
anecdote of Murat: a double entendre: the flying bridge: Cologne:
a contraband peep: the cathedral: a collection of gods: a bon
mot: priestly mummery: anecdote of an archbishop of Cologne:
anecdote of Rubens and other distinguished persons: present state
of Cologne 221

CHAPTER XXI.
Remarks on the French army: origin of the conscription:
Robespierre: French soldiers: policy of the generals: military
vanity: bulletins: mode of attack: Rhenish confederation: act of
imperial abdication 236

CHAPTER XXII.
Imperial regulation necessary to be known: the director of the
bureau des diligences par eau: singular adventure: a scrape: a
stratagem: passage to Bonn: a discovery: excellent effect of
brandy: the city of Bonn: the Mall: effect of black: present
state of Bonn: the seven mountains: the monastery: anecdote of
the Empress Josephine: beautiful scenery 251

CHAPTER XXIII.
Basalt mountains: Andernach: anecdote of General Hoche: Rhenish
floats: singular accident: French police: Neuweid: the Rhine
boat: tomb of General Marceau: anecdote of French heroism:
Coblentz; its surrender to the French arms: anecdote of French
vivacity: the rock and fortress of Ehrenbreitstein: the griffon:
stupendous French roads: Boppart 261

CHAPTER XXIV.
The young conscript: singular French anecdote: St. Goar; its
history: Oberwesel: the palatinate: a celebrated vineyard: a
regale: Bacharach: Bacchus: the Rhyngau song: Rüdesheim: Roman
derivations: the priory of Johannesberg: vineyards classed:
grapes classed 274

CHAPTER XXV.
Biberich: Charlemagne’s palace: bridge of boats: Mayence: horrors
of war: the art of printing: the Hockheim hills: remarks on old
hock: the tooth-brush: Francfort: splendid table d’hôte:
inauguration of the Prince Primate: anecdotes of the French: the
fair 284

CHAPTER XXVI.
Beautiful village of Offenbach: bravery of the Hessians: anecdotes
of Mareschal Augerau. Excursion to Darmstadt: minute-posts:
Darmstadt: law’s delay in Germany: agreeable manners of the
Germans: national antipathies. Return to Francfort: gloomy
appearance of the continent. French army on its march against the
Prussians. Return to London 294

TOUR THROUGH HOLLAND.