: 160 
He had just dined and was coming down stairs, 
when near the bottom the assassin pretending to 
have some business with him, shot him almost in- 
stantly dead. There is an inscription on the wall to 
commemorate it. 
What a great man was Maurice Prince of Sax- 
ony; to whom Germany owed its liberty, and whose 
daughter married the great Prince of Orange, by 
whom she had Prince Maurice! What a constel- 
lation ! 
I am sure you would be charmed with the Dutch 
neatness,as Iam. Their beds here are made in the 
form of those in the pictures to our History of the 
Bible. I should have liked very well, if I had had 
nothing else to do, to have stayed longer at Leyden, 
for I began to form some very agreeable acquain- 
tances there. It is the custom in this country for 
strangers coming to a place to make the first visit : 
if I had known that at first, I should have made 
acquaintances sooner. I was very often at Professor 
Allamand’s, and learnt many little particulars of 
etiquette, which it is not amiss to know. There are 
many very delightful walks about Leyden, but all 
flat. The Hague is the pleasantest place I have 
seen: on one side of it is a delightful wood, which 
extends three miles, in which is the Prince of 
Orange’s summer palace; on the other side is a 
fine avenue two miles long, which leads to the sea, 
and at the end is a village: here are even some 
little elevations of ground, with woods and thickets 
of birch. 
Your affectionate and obedient Son, 
J. E. Smiru. 
