ROTTERDAM. 123 



sorl of Vauxhall Garden, where great preparations were 

 making for a gala entertainment to be given to-morrow 

 (Sunday) evening ; for although the Dutch are Presbyte- 

 rians, and attend church regularly, the bulk of the people 

 seem to consider the Sabbath as ended when the after- 

 noon service is over, and devote the remainder of the even- 

 ing to amusement. In the course of this excursion, we 

 saw several of the fanciful little gardens and garden- 

 houses belonging to the middle class of merchants, and 

 to which they retire in the summer afternoons. All of 

 them are immediately on the exterior of the town, and 

 the windows of the summer-houses invariably look out 

 upon the wide-spreading meadows which surround it. 

 Many of these spots are kept in trim order. The walks 

 are laid with fragments of shells, or with pounded bricks. 

 The edgings are composed either of the usual materials, 

 box or thrift, or of some shewy annual plants, such as ten- 

 week stock (Malcomia maritima) ; and sometimes they 

 consist of low boards, painted green, or of lattice work of 

 the same colour. Ornamental border-flowers are nursed 

 with care, and not a weed is suffered to appear. Fruit- 

 trees are not neglected. Besides apple and pear, plum 

 and cherry trees, all of which are generally kept dwar- 

 fish, we observed some standard mulberry-trees, now in 

 fruit. Mulberry-trees, however, are more generally train- 

 ed against the walls of houses. One peculiarly fine spe- 

 cimen of this kind, belonging to Mr Vermeer, a mar- 

 ket-gardener, attracted our particular notice : it is train- 

 ed along the front and roof of his house, and its branches 

 completely cover and conceal both. We were told that 

 the fruit of this tree has in some years been sold for 

 a sum equal to £ 4t0 Sterling. Grape-vines are like- 

 wise commonly trained against the walls of the houses in 

 the outskirts of the town ; and we were assured that they 



