ey have also a singular mode of
airing their Linen and Beds, by means of what they call a Trokenkorb,
or Fire-basket, which is of the size and shape of a Magpie's Cage, and
within it is a pan filled with burning Turf, and the Linen is spread
over the Wicker-frame; or, to air the Bed, the whole Machine is placed
between the Sheets. Nay, there are sundry Dowager Fraws who do warm
their Legs with this same Trokenkorb, using it as though it were a
footstool; and considering the quantity of Linsey Woolsey they wear, I
wonder there are not more Fires. To guard against this last, there are
Persons appointed whose office it is to remain all day and all night in
the Steeples of the highest Churches; and as soon as they spy a Flame,
they hang out a Flag if it's Day, or a Lantern if at Night, towards the
quarter where the Fire is, blowing a Trumpet lustily meanwhile.

Eating and Drinking here very good, save the Water, which is so Brackish
that it is not drunk even by the Common People. There are
Water-Merchants constantly occupied in supplying the City with
drinkable Water, which they bring in Boats from Utrecht and Germany in
large stone Bottles, that cost you about Eightpence a-piece English. The
Poor, who cannot afford it, drink Rain-water, which gives rise to the
merry saying, that a Dutchman's Mouth is for ever open, either to
swallow down Smoke or to drink up Rain. And indeed they are a
wide-gaping Generation.

Being as yet a Bachelor, I agreed for my Lodging and Victuals with Mr.
Vandepeereboom, who had a fair House, very stately, on one of the Canals
behind the Heeren Gragt, or Lord's Street. 'Twould have had quite a
princely appearance, but for a row of Elms in front, which, with their
fan, almost concealed the Mansion. The noble look of the House, too, was
somewhat spoilt by its being next door to a shop where they sold Drugs;
which like all others of this trade in Holland, had for a sign a huge
Carved Head, with the mouth wide open, in front of the window: sometimes
it rudely resembles a Mercury's Head, and at other times has a Fool's
Cap upon it. This clumsy sign is called _de Gaaper_,--the Gaper,--and I
know not the origin of it. Some of the Shop-boards they call _Uithang
Borden_, and have ridiculous Verses written upon them; and 'tis singular
to mark how much of the Jackpudding these Dutchmen, who are keener than
Jews in their Cash-matters, have in them.

Mr. Vandepeereboom was high in the College of Magistrates,