157 
J. E. Smith to Mrs. Howorth. 
Dear Madam, Leyden, July 15, 1786. 
I hope I need not make any apology for not 
having sooner availed myself of the permission you 
gave me at parting; for you will do me the justice 
to believe that I should not easily neglect an op- 
portunity of enjoying your conversation, or even 
the shadow of it: in fact, I have of late been very 
busy indeed, nor have I had a moment at my com- 
mand, till this day, for some time past. This morn- 
ing finished my academical business, to my great 
joy. Well has Miss Lane imagined that the great 
wigs must have a formidable appearance; there 
were near twenty of them assembled ; some to bait 
me, and others to watch my behaviour. However, 
thank God! I came safe out of their hands, and 
have now nothing to receive from them but congra- 
tulations. I go hence on Monday for the Hague, 
and thence to Antwerp, Brussels, &c. nor will I 
forget to pay my devotions at the tomb of the good 
Archbishop of Cambray, as I have already done at 
that of Boerhaave. 
I feel some reluctance at leaving Holland, and 
particularly Leyden. I like the people better and 
better, and have made some agreeable acquaintances 
here. There is something very delightful in the re- 
collection of being in a country of universal tolera- 
tion and unbounded liberty ;—the first country that 
afforded an asylum for the Protestant reformers 
who were driven from their native soil, and long 
