l chalked, but not a Soul to Scrape Fiddle
or Foot Minuet. Farther from here is Saardam, which, at a distance,
looks like a City of Windmills.

_Item._--I forgot to say, that at Brock they tie up the Cows' Tails with
Blue Ribbons.

The Houses of Saardam are principally built of Wood, and every one has a
Fantastic kind of Baby Garden. Here is the Wooden Hut where Peter the
Great lived, when he wrought as a Shipwright in the Navy-yard. It stands
in a Garden, and is in Decent Preservation. The women in North Holland
are said to be handsomer than in any other part of the country; but I
was out of taste with Beauty when I came hither, and could see naught
but ugly Faces.

So, coming back to Amsterdam, I found that Mr. Vandepeereboom's
Prediction was fulfilled with a Vengeance, and with Compound Interest.
The Business of the Beguine had Blown Over; but another affair had
Blown On, and this very speedily ended in a Blow Up. I am sorry to say
that this Fairspoken and seemingly Reputable Mr. Vandepeereboom turned
out to be a very Great Rogue. Our Firm was in the Batavian trade,
dealing in fine Spices, Nutmegs, Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, and so forth;
also in Rice, Cotton, and Pepper; and especially in the Java Coffee,
which is held to be second only to that of Arabia. In this branch of
Trade the Dutch have no competition, and they are able to keep the price
of their Spices as high as they choose, by ordering what remains unsold
at the price they have fixed upon it to be Burnt. How it came to pass
that the Spice Ships consigned to us were all wrecked on the High Seas
and never insured; that the Batavian Merchants, to whom we advanced
money on their Consignments, all failed dismally; that every Speculation
we entered into went against us, and that we always burnt our Surplus
Goods just as prices were about to rise,--I know not; but certain it is,
that I had not been three weeks back in Amsterdam before the House of
Vandepeereboom and Dangerous went Bankrupt. Now 'tis an ugly thing to be
Bankrupt in Holland. The people are so thrifty and persevering, and so
jealous of keeping their Engagements, that the very rarity of Insolvency
makes it Scandalous. A Trading Debtor being a character very seldom to
be met with, he is held in more Odium in Holland than in any other part
of Europe. Yet are their Laws of Arrest milder than with us in England,
where for a matter of Forty Shillings an Honest Man becomes the prey of
a Catchpole, and for