LETTER CLXVIII. Mr. Kaye to Mr. R. Richardson. DEAR SIR, LILLE EN FLANDRES, July 11th, 1763. As this part of our tour is rather hurrying, you will excuse my not having wrote to you before we only stay'd in each town till we had seen what was worth our observation, and then left it. At the Hague we were but three days, most of which we pass'd with Mons. de Bentinck, one of the first Nobles of Holland; and who not only shew'd us every instance of politeness there, but recommended us to all the people of eminence at Leyden; and they have done the same for us to Geneva. I will tell you briefly the towns we have seen, and those accurately; and you will not think our time mispent. The Briel, Rotterdam, Delft, the Hague, Scheveling, Leyden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Broek, Pulmerend, Horn, Alkmaar, Beverwyke, Saardam, Utrecht, Torgau, Bergen-op-Zoom, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, and this town, where we have been fortunate in coming at the time of their rejoicing for the peace. We have heard the Te Deum, and have had fireworks, comedies, balls, and entertainments of a very unusual kind upon the water.— 1 The Peace of Fontainebleau with France and Spain, signed February 10th, 1763. Bergen-op-Zoom we saw to great advantage, with a gentlemen who was Aide-de-Camp to Lowendahl, at the siege of it. From Utrecht we went to the head-quarters of the Moravians, at Zyst: the buildings are larger than those at Pudsey, but not near so elegant, and the situation bears no comparison. You can scarce measure how the sight of Trinity Mount rejoiced me, after having been near a month upon a dead flat. We saw a very fine cabinet of Mr. Bischoff's, at Rotterdam; consisting of pictures, prints, drawings, Japan, China, medals to an immense value; and yet the owner continues to sell tape at one penny per yard. Since we came into Flanders, we have been feasted daily with paintings; but chiefly of Rubens and Vandyke. Churches, convents, cabinets, and fortifications, we have visited without number. From hence we go thro' Tournay, Mons, Brussels, Liege, Spain, and Aix-la-Chapelle, into Switzerland; and from thence to Turin. There we shall part. As the Principal of Hartford and Mr. Earle go so far before they see France, I shall remain in Italy, pass the winter between Rome and Naples, and return thro' France next year. One advantage I shall gain by this alteration of their plan is, that, by seeing the most distant country first, I shall, in case I should be summon'd home, be enabled to take the remaining one at any time in a summer excursion. I am not without hopes of reaching Vienna before my return; as I know my Lord Stormont,3 and am very intimate with the secretary, Mr. Langlois. There was one picture of an Holy Family, by candlelight, with another light from the moon introduced upon one of the figures, which I should have thought well worth a voyage from England solely: it is in possession of Mr. Van Zyster, at Antwerp, a man of considerable fortune, but confined: he refused 30,000* livres, which the king of France offer'd him. Lowendahl declared that, if the king had given him a commission, it should have been the second thing he would have seized after the Castle of Antwerp. The English have swarmed in Flanders: Spaw and Aix-la-Chapelle have been full. You mentioned a print, which you wanted to enquire after: I wish you would let me know it when you write; for I have left my memorandum in England. I am sorry to find our dissentions continue: it lowers us much in the eyes of the Continent, when we should otherwise be looked upon as a people something more than human. I wish we may not attribute all our misfortunes at home, and our characters abroad, to the weakness and ambition of one man. I told 3 David, seventh Viscount Stormont, afterwards Earl of Mansfield, was in July, 1763, appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Vienna, in which station he continued till 1772, enjoying the esteem of Maria-Theresa the Empress, her son Joseph, and their minister Kaunitz. He died in 1796. 4 £1200 sterling. the Duchess of Portland that she might expect some plants from Yorkshire; and am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken. Medicine and Botany I should think are but at a low ebb at Leyden; but the Professor of Natural History and Experimental Philosophy is extremely clever. There are no English there, and but a few Scotch. Prince George of Strelitz we were presented to: he is a very fine sensible lad, of about fifteen, and stays there a year longer. We found another gentleman there, a brother of Lord Aberdeen's, who is studying the civil law, and will, I dare say, make a figure at the English bar: he comes to Oxford for one year, to attend Dr. Blackstone's lectures. Since I came to Holland, I have seen the Armenian, Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic, and Jewish Services; and am in no danger of becoming a proselyte to any. I saw them without prejudice, and am more than ever attached to the decent solemnity of the Church of England. When you do me the favour to write, you will direct to me, Chez Messrs. Bon 5 Margaret, the wife of William, second Duke of Portland, and only daughter and heir of Edward, the second Earl of Oxford. Her love for Natural History was extraordinary; and her collection very wonderful. The Catalogue of the sale of her Museum, which took place in April, May, and June, 1786, occupying thirty-eight days, is of great interest. In it will also be found several articles of virtù, and among them the Barberini Vase and Bedford Missal. The author of the Flora Scotica was her chaplain and secretary. 6 Afterwards the famous Judge Blackstone. tems, at Geneva, where we shall be in about a month. I beg my kindest respects to my aunt, and am, Dear SIR, You will do me the justice to believe, that no distance can make me regardless of those whose kindness I have experienced.-You have a double call upon me for my remembrance, that of nature and of my obligation; and I acknowledge it with pleasure. What I write to York, I must persuade myself is in common to those who are so good as to interest themselves in my fortune; and I may conclude, that you are not unacquainted with my various transactions till I reached Manheim, from whence I wrote to my sister Peggy. The court of the Elector Palatine was then at Schweitsingen; and I was received with great attention and hospitality. I dined the days I staid there with the Elector and the Princes of Hesse Cassel, |