234 
and many villages have them likewise. 
Several dispensaries have becn establish- 
ed,where medicines are distributed gratis 
to the poor; and there is a central hos- 
pital for the vaccine inoculation. Speedy 
assistance Is given to persons found 
drowned, which in a country so inter- 
sected by water, too frequently happens. 
in fact, every day gives mse to some In- 
stitution of public utility. An estabiish- 
sneut, destined to the support of disabied 
seamen, was much wanung in Holland. 
His Majesty, King Louis Napoleon, bas 
dately commanded that a Jarge biulding, 
at Deltshaven, on the banks of the Meuse, 
which for merly belonged to the East 
India Company, should be appropriated 
to this most essential purpose. 
Character of the Dutch.—Fidelity and 
good faith form the distinguishing cha- 
yacteristic of a Hollander. He is natu- 
Rally phlegmatic, laborious,and persevering 
in his resolutions. {tis suficient to look 
over the annuals of the revolution of the 
United Provinces, in order to forin a 
judgment of what a nation is capable of 
undertaking, which wishes toshake off the 
yoké of tyranny ; and in our own tine we 
have seen the Dutch, united with the 
Frénch, vying in courage with the latier, 
to drive from their territory the enemy, 
who sought to be masters of tt. We eel 
beheld the Dutch worthy the descendants 
of those Batavians, who for along series of 
years were the adimiration of all Europe. 
Ve do not now descr.be them as a peo- 
ple, iu whom avarice has stifled every 
noble and generous sentiment, We 
must not, however, contound that ece- 
nomy on whiek public as well as private 
fortune depends, with that sordid ava- 
rice which destroys every liberal idea. 
Tt is true, however, that the manners 
of the Dutch are mach changed within a 
century. We do not see them toiling 
iucessantly, with the loss of ease and com- 
fort, to heap up wealth, 1 inorder tu leave 
it to their hewrs ; but it is no Jess true, 
that Holland is ‘still the country where 
luxury bas made the least progress. It 
3s but very rare, that their expences can 
equal their revenue ; and when that is the 
case, the Dutch think the year very 
badly employed : this mode of living 
rakes away trom a man’s credit and re- 
putation, as much asa wanion and pro- 
fuse extravagance does i other parts of 
‘Europe. A Dutchman, therefore, is 
fost in the opinion of the public, when it 
is known that he has dissipated his for- 
tune, either through unforeseen circum- 
stances, or his own miscyuduct. 
Sxetches of FHoliand in 1806. 
{April J, 
It is to this economy, the Dutch must 
attribute the beauty and utility of their 
_public works; the multiplicity of bridges, 
ef high roa ads. This economy enables the 
community at large to pay the taxes, 
which by this means are less sensibly felt, 
than elsewhere. In no country are com- 
mercial engagements more religiously ob- 
served, aud no where are domestic vir- 
tues held in higher estimation. Far from 
blaming in the » Dutch those gualities | 
which they have maintained, even to the 
very day we write, we should on the con- 
trary applaed them for having preserved 
that spint of order, whieh is inseparable 
from real economy, and render them the 
justice which is their due, 
The French abandon the smiling banks 
of the Luire and of the Seine to mbhabit 
those of the Sprée and of the Neva; 
that is not the case with the Dutchman. 
He is only happy amidst his shipping and 
canals ; and if, through interested motives, 
he is jhdueeck to leave his native soil, he 
delights to find in his new country, a 
suniar.tocal situation, audits accustumed 
habits; it is for this reason that Batavia, 
from its low, flat, marshy position, makes 
him forget the immensity of space which 
divides him from the Texel... “ The 
Dutch, (says Monsienr Garrat, in his 
Memoir relative to [olland;) have, I may - 
say, buiit Holland; they almost appear to 
say to themselves, What we have done is 
well.” : 
Bread is not, as in France, the principal 
food of the people; it constitutes but 
a small part of their daily wants; a 
whole Dutch family will not consume in 
a day, as much as a native of the former 
province of Limousin would searcely 
think enough for his subsistence. 
Besides the rein of which bread is 
usually made, the people make use of 
buck-wheat and barley, whether ground, 
or whole; of this there isa very great 
consumption. Potatves are much “eul- 
tivated also, 
The English custom of eating meat 
half raw, is not adopted in Holland; and 
they foliow the gencral custom of most 
nations of Europe, to give it that degree 
of cookery, necessary to facilitate both 
mastication and digestion. The Duteh 
consume a vast quantity of salted meat, 
which is held. in higher estimation, sag 
perhaps any where; their mode of curing 
2t being so excellent. The hams of this 
country, but particularly those of Guel- 
derland, are 1) high repute among fo- 
reigners. They consume large quantities 
of geese and wild-ducks. Whatever 
may 
