72 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



the land, we should have spacious stores of information opened to 

 our view. The zoological treasures of private individuals from Java, 

 and Sumatra, and Surinam, must be very valuable ; and the personal 

 adventures of the Dutch in those remote countries are no doubt 

 replete with instruction. Surinam, so famous for its far-extending 

 forests, its rivers, plains, and swamps, is still possessed by Holland, 

 as I have remarked above. 



" Although Holland offers every comfort to the weary traveller, 

 and every luxury to the epicure, we scarcely find an Englishman, 

 not in commerce, who is resident in any part of this country ; whilst 

 in Belgium, just at the other side of the ditch, a country so like unto 

 Holland that it might be taken for Holland itself, English families 

 swarm like congregated swallows towards the close of September. 

 Our countrymen are fond of what they call seeing sights ; and there 

 is undoubtedly a greater sphere for this in Belgium than there is in 

 Holland, for Holland contracted hers considerably by gutting her 

 churches and shutting their doors six days out of seven ; whereas 

 the Belgians have preserved their religious ornaments, and they keep 

 their churches open throughout the whole week. If we may judge 

 by the crowds of Englishmen who are for ever sauntering up and 

 down these Belgian churches, we must come to the conclusion that 

 they are pleased with what they see. And still it can only be a 

 feast for their eyes, as they know little or nothing of the ceremonies 

 which are performed, or of the instruction which is imparted through 

 the medium of pictorial representations. ' How have you got over 

 your time, to-day ? ' said I, one afternoon to an acquaintance, who, 

 like Mr Noddy's eldest son in Sterne, was travelling through Europe 

 at a prodigious speed, and had very little spare time on his hands. 

 He said that he had knocked off thirteen churches that very 

 morning ! 



"Whilst myself and sisters-in-law were at Amsterdam admiring 

 some of the pictures which form part of the immense treasures pro- 

 duced by the Dutch artists, my eye was riveted to the spot by one 

 which will be gazed upon in after-times with extreme interest. The 

 spectator will see represented, with great fidelity, an act of self- 

 devotedness noways inferior to that which has rendered famous the 

 name of a Roman light-horseman, who mounted his steed and rode 



