sumption is astonishingly
great in the neighbourhood, besides a considerable export trade.

I continued my journey to Brussels along an excellent road, the centre
of which was paved, as from the nature of the soil, it would be
otherwise impassable in winter. The roads in this country run for many
miles together, in a straight line between rows of trees; and I must
confess I thought it very uninteresting to travel through. The flatness
of its surface, is but rarely interrupted by any eminence, which affords
a prospect calculated to make any impression on the mind. There are many
neat villages, and occasionally one sees _country seats_ decorated in
that formal style of gardening, which was originally introduced from
this country into England, but which has there long since yielded to a
more natural taste. The farming seems very neatly managed; the numerous
canals, although they add nothing to the beauty of the country, are of
great utility to the farmer; and travelling is very cheap in the boats,
which pass between the chief towns.

It would require scenery like that of the Rhine, to induce me to adopt
this conveyance; but many of these canals pass between banks which
exclude all view of the surrounding country. I found the Netherlander
generally impatient to be relieved from the great military expences,
incident to their present situation. There is, I think, little reason to
doubt, that when some of the existing taxes can be removed, the _Orange
family_ will become popular. The stamp duties are very heavy; there are
land and house taxes, and a personal tax. It is to be expected, that the
people should wish for a diminution of their burdens, but _Liege_ is the
only place I have visited in the countries lately relinquished by
France, where the separation seems to be generally regretted. I found
that the Prussian government, was by no means popular, on the left bank
of the Rhine, and that an union with either Austria or Bavaria, was much
wished for in those provinces, whose future destiny remains to be
decided at the Congress of Vienna.

Having met with but few English travellers since I had quitted
Switzerland, I was much struck on entering Brussels with the _vast
numbers_ of my fellow subjects, moving in all directions. The garrison
was almost entirely composed of English troops, so that I felt here
quite at home. I found that there was an _English theatre_, as well as a
French one, and that balls, and entertainments of