418 HOLLAND. 



ditions are to be seen here. The force of example is strikingly 

 exhibited at these universities ; for frugality in expence, order, a 

 composed behaviour, attention to study, and assiduity in all things, 

 being the characteristics of the natives, strangers who continue 

 amongst them soon adopt their manners and form of living. And 

 though the students live as they please, and study as much or as lit- 

 tle as they think fit, yet they are in general remarkable for their 

 sobriety and good manners, and the assiduity and success with which 

 they apply themselves to their studies. No oaths are imposed, nor 

 any religious tests ; so that Roman-catholic parents, and even Jews, 

 send their children here with as little scruple as protestants. 



Language. ...The language of the United Provinces is Low Dutch, 

 which is a corrupted dialect of the German ; but the people of fashion 

 speak English and French. ,-The Lord's Prayer runs thus: Onse 

 Vader, die in de hemelin zyn, utven naam ivorde geheylight : uwekon- 

 ingkryk kome : uivc tvillc geschiede ■ gelyck in den kernel zoo ook op. den 

 arden, ons dagelicks broot geef ons heeden, ende vergeeft onse schulden, 

 gelyk ook ivy vergeevcn onse sclmldenaaren : ende enlaat ons niet in 

 ziersoeckinge, maer -vertast ons van der boosen. Amen. 



Antiquities. ... Holland contains few antiquities. Near Catwyk is 

 a ruinous Roman tower ; and in the middle of Leyden an artificial 

 mount, on which is a round tower built, according to traditional 

 report, by Hengist the leader of the Saxons who invaded England. 



History. ...After the Seven United Provinces had obtained their 

 independence, as related in the preceding summary of the history of 

 the Netherlands, they soon became distinguished as a commercial 

 and maritime state ; and by their sea wars with England, under the 

 commonwealth, Cromwell, and Charles II, justly acquired the reputa- 

 tion of a formidable naval power. When the house of Austria, which 

 for some ages ruled over Germany, Spain, and part of Italy, with 

 which they afterwards continued to carry on bloody wars, was become 

 no longer formidable ; and when the public jealousy was directed 

 against that of Bourbon ; which was favoured by the government of 

 Holland, who had dispossessed the prince of Orange of the stadt- 

 holdership ; the spirit of the people was such, that they l'evived it 

 in the person of the prince, who was afterwards William III, king 

 of Great Britain ; and during his reign and that of queen Anne, they 

 were principals in the grand confederacy against Lewis XIV, king 

 of France. 



Their conduct towards England in the wars of 1742 and 1756 has 

 been mentioned in the history of that country, as also the occurrences 

 which led to a rupture between them and the English in the year 

 1780. As it was urged that they refused to fulfil the treaties which 

 subsisted between them and Great Britain, so all the treaties which 

 bound Great Britain to them were declared null and void, as if none 

 had ever existed. By this war, their trade suffered considerably ; 

 but Negapatnam, in the East Indies, was the only place not restored 

 to them by the peace of 1783. 



Probably to their separation from Great Britain may be attributed 

 the differences between the states-general and the emperor Joseph 

 II, who, from the exhausted state of several of the European powers, 

 seemed to have a favourable opportunity of accomplishing his de- 

 signs. In the year 1781 he had been allowed to demolish the Dutch 

 barrier in his dominions, for which they had contended so despe- 



