Tour in Holland. 159 



At Bonn we met with Baron Humboldt, and M. 

 Schlegel, celebrated for his translation of Shake- 

 speare. On going up the Rhine, Sir James knew the 

 history of every place and of every battle that had 

 been fought. A professor of his acquaintance in one 

 of the towns, invited us to dinner, and I was as- 

 tonished to see the lady of the house going about 

 with a great bunch of keys dangling at her side, 

 assisting in serving up the dinner, and doing all the 

 duty of carving, her husband taking no part what- 

 ever in it. I was annoyed that we had given so 

 much trouble by accepting the invitation. In my 

 younger days in Scotland, a lady might make the 

 pastry and jelly, or direct in the kitchen ; but she 

 took no part in cooking or serving up the dinner, 

 and never rose from the table till the ladies went to 

 the drawing-room. However, as we could not afford 

 to keep a regular cook, an ill-dressed dish would 

 occasionally appear, and then my father would say, 

 " God sends food, but the devil sends cooks." 



In our tour through Holland, Somerville was 

 quite at home, and amused himself talking to the 

 people, for he had learnt the Dutch language at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. We admired the pretty quaint 

 costumes of the women ; but I was the only one who 

 took interest in the galleries. Many of the pictures 

 of the Dutch school are very "fine ; but I never 



