Schultens, the orientalist, and Muntinck, who founded the botanical garden so much admired. Its finest edifices are the Gothic church of Saint-Martin, the spire of which is 330 feet high, and the town-house, built in 1793, upon a spot which passes for one of the finest in Holland. One of the bridges, called Botering-Hoog, is regarded as a chefd'œuvre. These buildings, and many others which might be mentioned, with the cleanliness and regularity of its streets, rank Groningen among the finest cities in Holland. It formerly was a member of the Hanseatic league. It is pretended, upon some very uncertain evidence, that it is built around the Roman fortress called by Tacitus Corbulonis monumentum; yet the first time it is mentioned in history is in the ninth century, and it was not till the fourteenth that they raised the fortifications which have been kept up with much care ever since. BOOK CLI. Leeuwarden in the province of Friesland, communicates Leeuwarwith Groningen, and with Dockum, Sneek, and other towns, den. by means of canals, and thus carries on an active trade. This pretty town is surrounded by a fosse and an earthen rampart one of its twelve churches contains the tombs of the princes of Orange; their palace is one of its principal edifices. Upon the site of a hamlet swallowed up by the sea in 1134, stands Harlingen, important on account of its Harlingen, fortifications, and also a place of very considerable trade: near the harbour may be seen a monument erected in honour of Gaspard Robles, who, by repairing at his own expense the dikes of the province, merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens. Assen, the capital of the province of Drenthe, is a hand- Assen. some small town, which, by a canal, communicates with Meppel, a town of 4000 souls, and with the Zuyderzee. There have been discovered in the environs, tombs of the ancient Germans. Koevorden, built in the form of a penta- Koevorden gon, is surrounded by fortifications which are by some regarded as the chef-d'œuvre of Coehorn; it is besides environed by a marsh, which renders it difficult of access. The province of Over Yssel contains several cities of importance in Zwool, the capital, the church of Saint-Mi- Zwool. chael is remarkable for its fine organ and the sculpture BOOK CLI. Campen. upon its pulpit; Campen, upon the left bank of the Yssel, at a short distance from its falling into the Zuyderzee, is surrounded by walls and fosses; the sand-banks which obstruct the harbour menace with total destruction its trade, Deventer. which has been long on the decline. Deventer, which boasts its hard ware, beer and gingerbread, possesses some fine buildings; it is the native place of the philosopher Gronovius. Zutphen. Gueldres or Guelderland, which has preserved the name of a city ceded to Prussia, more than a century ago, was formerly inhabited by the Sicambri, a people from Germany. The first city we come to, following the course of the Yssel, is Zutphen, defended by some fortifications. English readers will connect with Zutphen, the renowned and gallant Sir Philip Sydney, who was killed at the siege of this town, then in the hands of the Spaniards, in 1586. Upon the bank of one of the arms of the Rhine, stands Arnheim. Arnheim, not less strong, the seat of the government of the province. It was fortified by the celebrated Coehorn. Its ramparts are planted with beautiful elms, and form an agreeable promenade. It possesses a good harbour; its streets are straight; the principal church contains the tombs of the ancient Dukes and Counts of Gueldres. Some leagues to the south of this capital, lies the much more Nimeguen. considerable city of Nimeguen, anciently called Noviomagus, which, during the middle ages, was changed to Numaga. Nimeguen is built on a steep rising ground, reaching down to the edge of the Waal, and the steepness is so great, that some of the streets are scarcely passable for wheel carriages. Most of the streets are narrow and dark; but some of them are of a tolerable breadth and well formed. The principal church is a handsome structure, and the town-house, a very old building, is also worthy of notice. From the top of an ancient tower, called the Belvidere, there is a most extensive view.' All Holland,' says a traveller, describing it, seemed to lie like a map before me, presenting a flat of such extent, that the eye is almost wearied with wandering over the boundless space, and which is so intersected in every direction with rivers, canals, and swamps, that the whole country looks as if but yet half recovered from the mighty universal flood. From Arnheim in the north, to Gueldres in the south, and from Utrecht in the west, to the forests of Guelderland, and even of Westphalia in the east, the whole country here lies open to the view; and at a fearful depth below, is traced the broad majestic Rhine (Waal) sweeping onward in its full and steady course through this wide favouring land, to where the horizon, sinking into earth and water, terminates the scene.' Nimeguen is celebrated for two treaties of peace the first, concluded in 1678, between Spain, France, and Holland; and the second, the following year, between the Germanic empire and Sweden. BOOK CLI. One of the arms of the Rhine flows through Utrecht, a Utrecht. a city of much more importance than all we have yet mentioned. The name of Trajectum, by which it is designed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, announces it to be one of the fifty fortresses which Drusus caused to be erected amongst the Batavi, to maintain possession of the course of the principal rivers. This rising city was several times destroyed by the Barbarians during the reign of Valentinian: Ulpius Trajan rebuilt it, which procured for it the name of Trajectum Ulpii. Utrecht stands, what does not often occur in Holland, on a rising ground, and lying on the banks of the Rhine, and in the midst of a country, every part of it cultivated like a garden, the situation is pleasing, and the appearance of the city agreeable. As usual, a number of canals run through it, and the public mall or promenade through numerous avenues of fine trees is highly ornamental. Its cathedral was destroyed by a violent storm in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and is now in ruins. The tower of the cathedral is very lofty, and from the top, it is said that fifty or sixty walled cities and towns may be seen. There repose in this cathedral the ashes of several emperors. The edifices in Utrecht possess a character of antiquity, which inspires respect: in examining them, the remembrance of the act of union of 1579, which proclaimed the independence of the republic of the seven United Provinces, and that of the peace which was signed in 1713, present themselves to the mind. We are reminded that in this city, the cradle of pope Adrian VI, the preceptor of BOOK CLI. Amersfoord. Islands of the Zuyderzee. Texel. Charles V, was formed that mighty maritime power, which struggled against England, which was humbled by Louis XIV, but which made that great king to tremble. Its university, its scientific collections, and its societies of arts, of sciences, and for benevolent and useful purposes, are worthy of the rank which Utrecht holds in the annals of Holland. Burman, the editor of the classics, was a native of Utrecht. The learned Graevius, who resided and died here, was a native of Saxony. It has given name to a kind of velvet which is still manufactured here. The road from Utrecht to Amsterdam is considered as passing through the most beautiful and picturesque part of Holland. The whole line is over a flat but fertile country, along the banks of the great canal, which is ornamented on both sides with nearly one continued range of country seats, belonging to the wealthy merchants. The extremely rich appearance of this part of the country, the noble breadth of the canal, ornamented with trees, and the quick succession of villas passing before the eye, render the scene very interesting, possessing indeed nothing of the sublime, but much quiet rural beauty. Amersfoord is the second city of the province of Utrecht; it is large and well fortified; it prides itself in having given birth to the celebrated Olden Barnevelt, the victim of the ambition and despotism of Maurice of Nassau. From the extremity of the Zuyderzee to the island of Schiermonnik Oog, the smallest and most northerly of the islands which border the entrance of this great gulf, the passage is forty leagues, and the navigation very dangerous, because it is necessary to pass between a great number of sand-banks. The island just named, as well as that of Ameland, where there are 3000 inhabitants, and that of TerSchelling, much larger, but with nearly the same population, are dependant upon the province of Friesland. To the south-west of these, Vlieland, surrounded by sand-banks; the important island of Texel; and Wieringen, covered with meadows and cultivated fields, and possessing a population of 12000 souls, belong to North Holland. The Texel is celebrated for several naval engagements which were fought near its coasts, and especially for one in 1653, where the celebrated Van Tromp lost his life. To the south of the Texel, opposite the village of Camperdown, in North Holland, was fought on the 11th October 1797, an engagement between the British fleet under the command of Admiral (afterwards Viscount) Duncan, and the Dutch commanded by De Winter, each fleet sixteen sail of the line in number, besides frigates. The Dutch were defeated with the loss of ten ships of the line and two frigates captured, with their admiral and vice-admiral. The isle of the Texel produces a considerable quantity of tobacco; its meadows are covered with cattle and sheep, principally the latter, whose milk is employed in making excellent cheese of a greenish colour, for which it is indebted, it is said, to the dung of the animals. The population amounts to 4400: on its southern coast it has a commodious road-stead, where ships assemble to wait for the north-east wind, which is necessary to take them through the dangerous current of Mars-Diep, and carry them to Amsterdam. Ord. The northern extremity of North Holland, which stretches to a point opposite the island of Texel, is a dry and sandy country, which bears the marks of a recent recovery from the sea, and which the Hollanders call their Siberia. The waves, at the entrance into the Zuyderzee, wash the neat town of Helder, where the British forces under the late Duke of York disembarked in 1799, and where, after a fruitless attempt to raise the Dutch, they were compelled to re-embark, after a campaign of a few weeks duration; and near to it is Williams Ord, a maritime establishment, found- Williamsed by Napoleon, and now under the protection of the reigning sovereign, whose name it bears. This establishment enjoys a little palace, whose park, planted with stunted .trees, yet resembles a small oasis in the midst of an arid steppe. On the coast of the Zuyderzee, Medinblick, a Medinblick small city of 2000 souls, with a harbour, is during severe tempests threatened with complete submersion: it is looked upon as the oldest city in North Holland, and was the residence of the ancient kings of Friesland. Horn, at the bot- Horn. tom of a bay, is the native place of William Schouten, who discovered, in 1616, the American cape, to which he gave the name of his native city. It is tolerably well built; its harbour is good; and its environs are embellished by gar |