Before leaving London, perhaps it will be expected of me to say something about the character and peculiarities of the English people. All those with whom I became acquainted with some degree of intimacy, I found hospitable and agreeable. It is, however, an undoubted characteristic of them as a people, to be distant and cold, if not supercilious in their intercourse with strangers. There is a pride, I may say, with perfect truth, a haughtiness of national feeling, which is every thing but amiable. The distances between the different classes of the people are as distinctly marked as the different castes in India, and they have no personal, social sympathy with each other; yet the lowest feel a pride in the greatness of the higher classes, which makes them subservient to their masters, and proud even of their connection with the greatness which overshadows and oppresses them. This sort of feeling I conceive to be the strongest tie that binds the lower to the higher classes. It is not a feeling of patriotism so much as of vanity. It pervades all classes below the Crown the peasant is proud in the greatness of the squire; the squire in that of the noble; the small noble in that of the higher, and so up to the king. My readers can form their own conclusions from these premises as to the state of society, and the permanence of the interests which bind the people together.

CHAPTER XI.

Dover-Calais-Brussels-Lace Manufactories--Waterloo-Antwerp Churches-Dordrecht -- Rotterdam-The Hague--Harlaem--The Great Organ--Amsterdam--Brock-Dutch Dinners.

E crossed the Channel at Dover, to Calais, in

WB

France, where we remained one night at the Hotel Quillac, one of the best hotels in France, and proceeded thence to Brussels, through Lille, Ghent and Malines. This was in the latter part of the month of June, when the time of harvest was rapidly approaching, and the country, in an agricultural point of view, showed to the best advantage. Belgium is said to be the best cultivated country in Europe, and we could easily believe it to be so, from what we saw of it. Every foot of ground is made available for some kind of produce-no room being lost even for fences; indeed, we saw scarcely a fence of any kind in the whole country. The conductors on the railroads in Belgium, start their trains with. sound of bugle; the foremost conductor blowing a "trali la," which is answered by the hindmost, before the train is put in motion. The notes are soft and pleasing, while, at the same time, they are inspiring, and give a sort of triumphal start to the procession of cars, that has quite an inspiriting effect.

Brussels is a beautiful city, and, being the residence of the king and court, has a well regulated municipal government, and is kept in clean and

beautiful order. Here we visited one of the largest manufactories of lace, for which this city has been so long and so widely celebrated; in this establishment they employ two thousand women, the most of them, however, working at their own homes. We saw many of them at work. The lace is all made by hand; the finest kind requires about eight hundred bobbins--that is, so many different threads, each of which has to be taken up at the proper time, and laid in the precise place which the pattern requires. It takes one person nearly three months to make one Flemish ell (about three-quarters of a yard) of the finest quality. It will be seen, therefore, that the prices which are charged for this kind of lace, must necessarily be enormously high to make it a remunerative business.

We visited the battle field of Waterloo, and had the plan of the battle, and the position of the troops, fully explained by a veteran guide. There must be a regular manufactory, somewhere in this neighborhood of old bullets and fragments of weapons, if we may judge from the quantity offered for sale by the mul titude of lazy fellows who follow the visitor everywhere, urging him to buy the genuine relics of this hard fought field, and which they are ready to swear are real originals; but this trade has been carried on rather too long for any confidence to be placed in their statements.

From Brussels we proceeded to Antwerp. Here we visited the Cathedral, during high mass, and for myself, I must confess, that the multitude of ceremo

ANTWERP--CATHEDRAL-ROTTERDAM.

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nies with which their forms of worship are encumbered, seem, to my unsophisticated, Protestant notions, so insignificant and peurile, so fantastic and childish, that I could see no relevancy in them whatever; nothing appropriate to my ideas of what ought to characterize the devout approach of a creature into the presence of his Creator. In St. Paul's Church is a representation of Mount Calvary, and the crucifixion, which is so minute and well executed as to be very painful to look at. There is also a representation of the sepulchre, and the body of the SAVIOR, with the "linen clothes," &c., and of Purgatory, with its flames, and many persons suffering its torments. The figures in these pieces are of the size of, and made to imitate life as closely as possible. Surely, these things can produce, in every well regulated mind, no emotions but such as must be entirely inappropriate, as well as unpleasant. St. Jaques' Church is rich in RUBENS' paintings, and in sculptured marble. In front of the Cathedral is a well, over which is an iron canopy, the work of QUENTIN MATSYS. Antwerp was, in the sixteenth century, the richest commercial city in Europe; but, from political causes, and religious persecutions, its prosperity became destroyed. It is now improving again rapidly.

From this we proceeded through Dordrecht to Rotterdam. Here we saw the house in which ERASMUS was born; also, a bronze statue erected in his honor. The city is traversed, in every direction, by canals of filthy water. The Hague is a much pleasanter city, although the nuisance of the canals exists.

here, as well as at Rotterdam, but not to so great an extent. The place, also, is kept in much better order, no doubt from being the seat of government, and the residence of the king. The population is about seventy thousand. The picture gallery contains some fine paintings; among the rest, the "Young Bull," the master-piece of PAUL POTTER. The best critics have been unable to find the least fault with this picture; it is absolutely perfect. In the outskirts of the town is the palace, called ""T Huis in 't Bosch," (The House in the Woods,) surrounded by a beautiful park. There are many finely ornamented rooms in it, and some good pictures. The great hall is covered with paintings, both walls and ceiling, principally by RUBENS.

At Harlaem, we stopped to see and hear the great organ, which is considered to be one of the best behaved lions on the Continent. It was built by CHRISTIAN MULLER, of Amsterdam, in 1738. The number of pipes is five thousand; stops, sixty-four; it has three rows of keys for the hands, and pedal board for the feet. The organist played for us about an hour, using all the stops. The imitation of bells, the human voice, &c., is very good; but that of a violent storm, with thunder, hail and rain, is truly perfect.

Amsterdam is the great city of Holland, and, if it was not for its dirty canals, would be really a fine city. All kinds of offal are thrown into these canals, to render its already putrid, stagnant water, more offensive; this is the more strange and unaccounta