HOLLAND. 29 



eight miles of the coast, but most unfortunately the wind 

 then veered about, and kept us for three days and nights 

 off the island of Voorn, at the mouth of the river Meuse. 

 After sundry delays, we finally succeeded in landing our- 

 selves and baggage on the left bank of the river, opposite 

 Brielle, upon the morning of Sunday the — July, having 

 been ten days on the passage. The time passed more 

 agreeably than I anticipated, having often pictured in my 

 mind the monotony of a voyage, lengthened beyond expec- 

 tation as ours had been, as exceedingly painful. Indeed, 

 the idea of existence on board of a ship, becalmed on a 

 breathless Indian sea, had to my mind always presented 

 a more dreaded image than a plague-struck city, or the 

 horrors of the most raging tempest, and, what is singular, 

 I have often in dreams leaped from the side of a vessel 

 into the sea, rather than be so immured. But ' time cures 

 all,' and on the tenth day, when I was about to land on 

 the sandy beach of Holland, I felt tolerably reconciled to 

 my situation, although well enough pleased to set foot on 

 such terra firma as this marshy country affords. At the 

 same time, though I felt less pain than I expected from 

 this marine captivity, I also experienced less pleasure. 

 The view of the ocean, boundless on every side, which 1 

 beheld for the first time, is less sublime than I had 

 imagined, and our notions of the mighty deep are so 

 indefinite that there must usually be a feeling of disap- 



