220 Domestie Habits and Amusements of the Dutch in 1820. [Oct. I ? 
composition, the beauty of which re¬ 
sults entirely from its construction, and 
which in the hands of an ultra-mon- 
farist shares the fate of the butterfly in 
the gripe of a clown. It has indeed 
been asserted that the verses of Pe¬ 
trarch have a high claim to admira¬ 
tion as effusions of genuine feeling, but 
from this opinion Sismondi has with 
great modesty, and as we think with 
great justice, expressed his dissent. It 
is not the nature of genuine passion to 
indulge in those quaint conceits, ex¬ 
travagant metaphors, and verbal puns 
with which those celebrated produc¬ 
tions abound ; and were there no other 
evidence of the existence of Laura than 
what they contain, we should ceitainly 
class her with the fictitious divinities 
the Celias and Delias of other professors 
of the arspoetica. It is also not a little 
surprising, to state at once the argu¬ 
ments on the unbelieving side of the 
question, that the influence of this 
44 angel ever bright and fair” should 
have been insufficient to preserve her 
enraptured admirer from that of nymphs 
of frailer mould, by whom he had se¬ 
veral illegitimate children. On the 
other hand, Petrarch speaks of his at¬ 
tachment, in his letters, in the most 
serious terms, and it is at any rate 
quite evident that his mistress was not 
a mere 44 creature of the brain.” The 
reader will therefore decide the matter 
in the way most satisfactory to his 
fancy, for ourselves we beg to defer 
giving judgment thereupon. 
With Petrarch we close our account 
of the first great era of Italian litera¬ 
ture. Of its three principal ornaments 
it may be remarked in brief, that Dante 
is most distinguished by genius, Boc¬ 
caccio by nature and humour, and Pe¬ 
trarch by elegance; and if the perusal 
of their works should suggest a su¬ 
periority of mental power on the part 
of the two former, the benefits arising 
from it to society cannot for a moment 
be put in competition with those result¬ 
ing from the long, the active, the use¬ 
ful life of the latt er^ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
rrTHE information your correspondent 
-1. R. S. (Mag. for Feb.) gave re¬ 
specting the cure of warts, is decidedly 
ineffectual. I have tried the milk or 
juice of spurge, and have found it of 
little or no use, and have heard the 
same evidence from other friends avIio 
have read your valuable Miscellany: 
but allow me to suggest the nitrate of 
silver (lunar caustic), for the cure of 
those troublesome excrescences, which 
is extremely simple and harmless. The 
method of using it is, to dip the eud of 
the caustic in a little water, and rub it 
over the warts, and in the course of a 
few times so doing, I am persuaded 
they will be gone. The muriate of 
ammonia (sal ammoniac) is likewise a 
very useful remedy. And I can vouch 
with as much truth as your correspond¬ 
ent, that out of twenty years practice 
I never knew the above remedies to fail. 
W. S. 
For the Monthly Magazine . 
On the domestic habits and amuse¬ 
ments of the DUTCH in 1820. 
T HE Dutch are a formal people, and 
an attachment to system is con¬ 
spicuous in all their transactions. This 
disposition is strikingly exhibited in 
the affairs of courtship and marriage. 
Imprudent matches are seldom made in 
Holland, most of the wealthy or re¬ 
spectable inhabitants of a place always 
contriving to intermarry with one 
another; so that sometimes half the 
people of a town are linked together in 
this manner. The youth of both sexes 
have but few opportunities of making 
a choice out of their own circle, nor do 
they seem at all anxious to do so, one 
young man being in the estimation of 
the young ladies nearly as good as any 
other young man, and the gentlemen 
are not too difficult if a lady’s person 
is at all tolerable, prudence being con¬ 
sulted previous to every other consi¬ 
deration. The chief members of those 
family circles give dinners to the rest 
in turns, for which purpose certain 
days are appointed, called fami lie days. 
When a young man wishes to get mar¬ 
ried, and has made his choice, he writes 
a formal letter to his father and mother 
respectfully requesting their approba¬ 
tion. The old people send for answer 
that they must have time to consider 
and consult together upon a point so 
important, but that he may expect an 
answer in three weeks, more or less. 
Hitherto, it must be observed, the 
lovers have never met in private, at 
least so it is understood. The young 
man having received the approbation 
of his parents in due form, he again in 
the same style, requests that his father 
would be pleased to wait upon the 
young lady’s father to demand his 
daughter in marriage for his son. Much 
form and ceremony passes between the 
two 
