1837-3% LETTER FROM LEYDEN 127 



only twice in the week, and that to-night is one 

 of the nights, I cannot let the opportunity pass. 

 You will naturally have some difficulty in de- 

 ciphering this epistle, for, having lived in the 

 Dutchest houses and Dutch styles, and been 

 further exposed to a Dutch fog in a Dutch trek- 

 schuit on a Dutch canal, the webs that began to 

 develop themselves between my toes on the 

 second night at Rotterdam have, in spite of 

 tobacco and schiedam, made their appearance, 

 and are spreading fast in the digital interspaces, 

 and I can hardly doubt but that in a sufficiently 

 extended residence I should be converted into as 

 amphibious a mammifer as any in His Nether- 

 landisch Majesty's dominions. They say the pal- 

 mipedous character is lost as you proceed up the 

 Rhine, so that I have hopes of returning in. a recog- 

 nisable state even to my dear little darling Willie, 

 whose good health and progress it did my heart 

 good to read of. I spent a glorious morning in the 

 museum at the Hague. There they have Savery's 

 real " Orpheus and the Beasts," but, believe me, 

 nothing to compare with ours. I saw four pic- 

 tures by the same master as your father's. His 

 style is inimitable, and is more recognisable, be- 

 cause more depending on touch, or the mechani- 

 cal working of the picture, than any other quality, 

 except truth and nature in the individual object. 

 It is by Breughel de Velours, so called on account 

 of his smooth finish, and to distinguish him from 



