T10TTERDAM. 131 



Wc visited the Exchange, which consists of a suite of 

 buildings forming a square. Soon after 2 o'clock, the court 

 and piazzas were crowded with merchants, many of them, 

 we were assured, of great opulence. We were not a little 

 surprised to learn, that these gentlemen had already re- 

 turned from dinner to the prosecution of business. The 

 dinner-hour of olden times, 1 o'clock*, is still continued in 

 Holland : the Dutchman rises from table before the cloth 

 be drawn ; the practice of drinking wine after dinner being 

 unknown. From 'Change, he returns home to tea and coffee 

 between 3 and 4 o'clock : he then again resorts to his count- 

 ing-house, where he spends a few more hours in business ; 

 and supper is the only meal at which he indulges in any 

 degree of relaxation. 



In apartments over the piazza of the Exchange, belong- 

 ing to the Batavian Society of Rotterdam, we were shewn 

 a set of philosophical instruments, with numerous models 

 of various kinds, some specimens of minerals, and a few na- 

 tural curiosities. We understood that lectures on natural 

 philosophy and on chemistry are occasionally delivered here. 

 The models seem to form the most interesting and import- 

 ant part of the collection. 



Statue of Erasmus. 

 The bronze statue of the celebrated Erasmus has often 

 been described. It is situated at a bridge in the Great 



* Mr Creech, in his Sketches of the Changes of Manners in Edinburgh, 

 informs us, that the shopkeepers of that city used, in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century, to shut their shops from 1 to 2 o'clock, when they went 

 to dinner. The musical bells of St Giles's are still chimed during that hour, 

 although many of the present generation scarcely know that this diurnal 

 carillon was originally intended to gratify the ears of their forefathers while 

 they dined. 



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