12b STUDIES OF NATURE. 



of the Rhine, from which their oaks are tranfmit- 

 ted. Holland contains lit lie or no arable ground, 

 and her granaries contain more Polifh corn than 

 that great kingdom referves for the fupport of it's 

 own inhabitants. The fame thing holds true as 

 to articles of luxury ; for, though they obfervc ex- 

 treme fimplicity in drefs, furniture, and domeflic 

 economy, there is more marble on fale in their 

 magazines than lies cut in the quarries of Italy 

 and of ihe Archipelago ; more diamonds and pearls 

 in their calliets than in thofe of the jewellers of 

 Portugal ; and more rofe-wood. Acajou, Sandal, 

 and India canes than there are in all Europe be- 

 fides, though their own country produces nothing 

 but willows and linden-trees. 



The felicity of the inhabitants prefents a fpec- 

 tacle ftill more interefting. I never faw, all over 

 the country, fo much as one beggar, nor a houfe 

 in which there was a fingle brick, or a fingle pane 

 of glafs, deficient. But the 'Change of Amfter- 

 dam is the great objed of admiration. It is a 

 very large pile of building, of an architeélure 

 abundantly fimple, the quadrangular court of 

 which is furrounded by a colonade. Each of it's 

 pillars, and they are very numerous, has it's cha- 

 piter infcribed with the name of fome one of the 

 principal cities of the World, as Conftantinople, 

 Leghorn, Canton, Peterfburg, Batavia, and fo on; 



and 



