BKKDA. 265 



v Breda. 



Sept. 6. — Very early in the morning we procured a guide, 

 being anxious to view this ancient capital of Dutch Brabant, 

 without delaying our journey. 



We aroused the beadle from his slumbers, and got ac- 

 cess to the Church, — a venerable structure, containing 

 some very old monuments. Of these, the mausoleum of 

 Count Engelbrecht of Nassau is the finest. The base and 

 roof are of Lydian-stone ; the figures in alabaster ; and the 

 chief of these are regarded as the work of Michael Angelo 

 Buonarroti. The sculpture is beautiful, and strikingly 

 faithful ; but the Count on his deathbed, frightfully ema- 

 ciated, is certainly not an agreeable subject. The pale hue 

 of the alabaster, partly polished by the fingers of visitants, 

 and partly covered with dust, imparts additional horror to 

 the figure, and, at the early hour at which we viewed it, 

 the yet uncertain light of the dawn aided the illusion. In 

 a small chapel at one end of the church, the great brass 

 font of former ages, about fourteen feet in height, is still 

 preserved : so massy is it, that a sort of lever-crane appears 

 to have been employed for raising the cover. 



The Castle, built by King William, is a large square 

 structure, surrounded by a branch of the river Merck. 

 Here we were refused admittance by the sentinels, and we 

 had not time to apply in regular form for an order. The 

 Stadtholder's Palace is close by ; and also the house in 

 which Charles II. resided, during part of his exile, and at 

 the moment when he was called to the throne. Although 

 Breda is a regularly fortified town, and esteemed one of 

 the strongest in the Low Countries, room has been found, 

 near the Palace, for several fine serpentine walks, shaded 

 hv trees. These walks have of late years been thrown 



