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THE CELEBRATED ORGAN.

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snow-white linen in such perfection as at Haarlem: before the war, Scotch and Irish linens used to be sent here to be bleached. There was a considerable manufacture of silks and camblets, but it has experienced a great decline, and the principal trade is bleaching threads and cambric; the inhabitants are calculated at thirty-two thousand. The cathedral, which is said to be the largest in the kingdom, though I am inclined to think that of Utrecht greater, was built in 1472, and the steeple, which is very handsome, was added in 1515. To inspect the internal part of the building, I was obliged to apply to one of the principal clergymen belonging to it, who resides in an adjoining house, and attended by a lady-like looking woman, perhaps his wife, or house-keeper, I was admitted into this venerable pile, where the first object that struck me was the celebrated organ supported upon pillars of porphyry: this instrument is said to be the finest and largest in the world; it occupies the whole west end of the nave. For a ducat paid to the organist, and two florins to the bellows blower, the former will gratify the traveller by playing for an hour; unfortunately for me he was absent in the country, and I did not hear the celebrated vox humana, or pipe, which most admirably imitates the human voice. Of the magnitude of this enormous musical pile, the reader may form some conception when he is informed that it contains

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ANECDOTE OF HANDEL.

eight thousand pipes, some of which are thirty-eight feet in length, and sixteen inches in diameter, and has sixty-four stops, four separations, two shakes, two couplings, and twelve bellows; like an elephant, that with his proboscis can either pluck a violet or raise a tree by its roots, the notes of this wonderful instrument can swell from the softest to the sublimest sounds, from the warbling of a distant bird to the awful tone of thunder, until the massy building trembles in all its aisles. On every Tuesday and Thursday, a voluntary is played upon this organ from twelve till one o'clock, when the doors of the cathedral are thrown open. Many years since the immortal Handel played upon this organ, when the organist, in amazement, pronounced him to be an angel, or the devil. Between two of the columns which support the organ, there is a noble emblematical alto-relievo, with three figures as large as life, by Xavery, representing Gratitude, assisted by Poetry and Music, making an offering to Piety, and a Latin inscription purporting that the organ was erected in 1738, at the town's expence, the same having been built by Christian Muller of this city. This is the organ which the good people of Rotterdam are endeavoring to rival the cathedral, like the other churches, is crowded with square wooden monuments, painted with the arms of the deceased on a black ground, with the date of

MR. HOPE'S HOUSE.

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their death in gold letters, but no names: in the wall at the east end of the church, a cannon ball is exhibited, which was fired into it by the Spaniards in the 16th century, during divine service.

The walks round this city are very beautiful, and at a short distance from it there is a noble wood, in which is a fine walk of stately elms, nearly three miles long, abounding with beautiful scenery: this wood is a rival of that which I have described at the Hague. In this delightful place stands the mansion of Mr. Henry Hope, whose family has been long known for its loyalty and immense wealth it is said to have cost fifty thousand pounds. Upon the revolution taking place, this gentleman was obliged to seek refuge in England, to the capital of which he had previously transported in safety his magnificent collection of paintings.

The villa, which is built of brick stuccoed, is modern and magnificent, and before the revolution was frequently resorted to by the Prince of Orange and his family, who were much attached to its opulent and liberal owner, which he eminently merited, by having rendered them many important services, particularly in 1788, when it was unsafe for him to appear on the exchange of Amsterdam without military protection. As the pictures were re

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moved, there was nothing in the internal part of the mansion worthy of notice.

Haarlem and its environs are more celebrated than any other spot, for the beautiful flowers which it produces, the soil being peculiarly propitious to their production,

CHAPTER XIV.

ANECDOTES OF LAWRENCE COSTER-ART OF PRINTING HOW DISCOVERED ITS ORIGINALITY DISPUTED-FEMALE FORTITUDE AND PRESENCE OF MIND-SIEGE OF HAARLEM-HEROIC CONDUCT OF THE WOMEN-BRIEF ANECDOTE OF WOUVERMANS-OF BAMBOCCIO -FATAL EFFECTS OF SEVERE CRITICISMANECDOTES OF NICHOLAS BERGHEM AND HIS TERMAGANT WIFE OF RUYSDAAL-ENORMOUS SLUICES APPROACH AMSTERDAM-ITS GENERAL APPEARANCE-A SLEY ERASMUS'S WHIMSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THAT CITY-THE STADT-HOUSE-SILENCE REPRESENTED AS A FEMALE-THE TOWER -CLOCKS, SINGULAR Mode of strIKING THE HOUR.

NOT far from the church, the spot where stood the house of Lawrence Coster, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, the celebrated inventor of the art of printing, is shewn; formerly there was a statue over the gate where he lived, with this inscription:

MEMORIE SACRUM

TYPOGRAPHIA,

ARS ARTIUM OPTIMA

CONSERVATRIX,

HIC PRIMUM INVENTA

CIRCA ANNUM M CCCC XL.

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