Letter 26 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules, read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 26, Paris, Dear Charlie, We have been to Dine at the Palais Royale at the Trois-Fraire-Provenceau of which I suppose the boys have told you, and I shall only speak about the fine building, so renowned all over the world. The Palais Royale is to Paris what Paris is to France. Its history is briefly this. Cardinal Richelieu built it for himself, but the king, Louis XIII, was jealous, and the wildly old priest gave it to the monarch, and after Richelieu's death he moved into it. In 1692 it fell into the hands of Philippe, Duke of Orleans as a gift or marriage portion from Louis XIV, and here the great Orleans collection of paintings was gathered, and which was sold in 1789 at the breaking out of the Great Troubles. In 1814 Louis Philippe obtained it as his inheritance and lived there till 1831. The garden is very fine, and is about 750 feet by 300, and has beautiful rows of lime trees, trimmed into shape, as are most of these trees in Paris. In the center are flower gardens and a basin of water, with a fine fountain. In this open space are beautiful bronze and marble statues. One I admired exceedingly, it is Eurydice, stung by a snake. In this garden are hundreds of persons under the trees, on chairs which are hired where they read and take refreshments. Under the arcades which surround the area are the most tasty shops of Paris, and where you may get anything you please. A gayer sight than this same palais royal, or as they now call it, palais national, cannot be seen in this world. I shall not attempt to tell you about the apartments of the palace, and which you can read of at your leisure. What a loss it was to the world when, in February 1848, 600,000 engravings, all classified by Louis Philippe, and making 122 enormous folios, were destroyed by the mob, and the Queen's own library also. We louged about from one shop to another, and made purchases of some pretty things, which we hope may serve to show friends at home, that we did not quite forget them. The passage d'Orléans will never die out from my memory, nor shall I ever forget the café d'Orléans, with its mirrors, walls, and ceilings, all radiant with a thousand lights. We find at every few steps the magazine for the Indian weed, and all varieties of pipe, from the commonest embois to the elegantly carved ecum de mer, which would cost two or three hundred francs. Here, too, are the theatres français and palais royale, and other places of amusement. In our walks about the city we are sure to have all the notable places pointed out, and one morning, just after I had obtained a Henry IV silver coin in fine preservation, we were taken home by a long walk through Rue Saint-Honor. The house number three in the street is the one in front of which Henry IV was assassinated by Ravillac. A bust of the king stands against the second story with an inscription. In the Rue Vivien, number thirty-four, we saw the house where Molière died, on which is a marble tablet with this inscription. At the corner of the same street, where a small passageway branches off, is a fine monument to the memory of the great poet and the noblest comic writer of France. The statue is a bronze, in a sitting posture, on each side are figures, one humorous, the other serious, both looking at the statue. At the foot of the monument is a basin to receive water, which flows from three lions' heads. This work was put up in eighteen forty-four with public services, on which occasion the first men of France took apart. Another morning's walk led us to the Rue de l'École du Médecin, and in this street Marat lived, at number twenty, and here it was in a small room that he was stabbed while bathing by Charlotte Corday in seventeen ninety-three. And in this same street was held the old club of the Cordelliers. When I see the places of which I've heard so often it seems very interesting and will forever identify the scenes with my future reading. We all enjoyed a visit to the palace of the Luxembourg. This edifice was begun in the sixteenth century, and the present palace was chiefly built early in the next one by Marie de Medici's, in imitation of one at Florence. Bonaparte used it when chief consul. The old senate held its sessions there till its dissolution in eighteen fourteen. I never saw a building whose proportions appear to me so elegant. The court is a parallelogram of three hundred and sixty by three hundred feet. The front consists of two pavilions joined by terraces, and in the center rises a cupola, around which are statues. In such a palace fine rooms are to be expected, and here they are in great number. The senate chamber, or chamber of peers, is very suitable for its purpose. The library is good and contains about fifteen thousand volumes. The picture gallery is large and at present principally filled with pictures of living artists, and at his death the picture of each one is removed to the Louvre. All the great paintings of Napoleon's battles are gone to Versailles, so we shall see them in the series. The chapel is an exquisite gem. It has, beyond all comparison, the most devotional air of anything I have seen of the sort. The gardens are fine and have some noble terraces, adorned with plenty of statues, some of which are quite old, but a great many new ones, by living artists, are rapidly taking their places. The balustrades of the terraces are beautified with groups of children, athelete, etc. Here are some fine old orange trees, which were throwing out their blossoms most frequently, and I must not forget the noble clusters of chestnut trees, which are on the sides of the walks. The garden is a lovely spot, and I saw hundreds of old and young, who seemed to enjoy themselves highly. I am half surprised to find myself more delighted in Europe, with the completeness and splendor of the gardens and public grounds, than with the palaces and their internal gorgeousness. If I could carry back to my own beloved country, anything from England and France, it should be their gardens, their walks, their libraries and museums. As to the comforts and elegances of life, we have enough of them for our good. The Musée d'artillerie is quite a place of interest, and here are some fine suits of ancient armor. The arrangement is good, and an hour's attention is well repaid. Yours affectionately, Weld. Letter 27 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J. O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 27, Paris, Dear Charlie This has been a great day for enjoyment, and has made us all in love with Paris. We have seen this morning that which has pleased me more than all else I have looked at in Europe. We spent several hours at the Hotel de Cluny in the Rue des Marathins. I am surprised that so many Americans come to Paris and never see this castle of curiosities. To understand our gratification I must bore you a little with its history, and then you will see what a treat we enjoyed. This venerable pile was erected in the site of the Palais des Thermes, formerly the dwelling place of the Roman governors of Gaul. Here Julian lived when he was made Emperor of Rome in 360. Of the extraordinary remains of this palace I shall tell you by and by. On this spot then in 1480 an abbot of Cluny commenced this building, and it was completed in 1505. This magnificent monastery, the city residence of the monks of Cluny, was often made the residence of royal and distinguished visitors. Here for two years lived Mary, the daughter of Henry VII of England, and widow of Louis XII of France, who while here married the Duke of Suffolk. Her chamber still exists, and we saw it in high preservation. This marriage, you will remember, laid the foundation for the claim of Lady Jane Grey to the crown. Here too for a season the excellent abbess and the nuns of Port Royal found a refuge. Some forty years ago it came into the hands of Monsieur Samorand, a man devoted to antiquarian pursuits, and here he expended a large property informing a vast collection of all sorts of relics he could gather belonging to the medieval ages. A few years ago he died, and then the government wisely purchased the hotel and its unrivaled museum for half a million of francs, and additions are constantly made to it of every curiosity that can illustrate the habits and manners of the early history of France and Europe. The building is very striking in its first aspect. It has several gothic turrets and very rich windows, and the courtyards and gardens are all in keeping. What good times those old abbots and monks must have had in their visits to Paris in such a palace as this was! You pass from room to room, all filled with the antique, till you get leg-weary. The floors are exquisitely beautiful, some in fine old black oak, let in in patterns, others are bricks and tiles in mosaic. Then the old mantelpieces are wonderfully fine. We saw plenty of tapestry, old as the hills, and one set of hangings was the history of David and Bathsheba. Some of the bedsteads are very curious. One belonged to Francis I. Perhaps the largest and most valuable collection of carved wood furniture in the world is here to be seen. Such cabinets, chairs, tables, chests, I never imagined. The work is of the most delicate and complicated character. Then you find a wonderful collection of glass and earthenware, cups and goblets belonging to men of note of every age in French history. One room is full of ancient armor, another of gems, enamels, etc. Another of pictures of the most curious kind, and as to mirrors and looking-glasses, they are in great plenty, and China enough to make some ladies in America, whom I know, break the commandment. You can fancy, Charlie, what sort of a place this must be when I tell you that the catalog of this collection is a volume of 240 octavo pages and embraces 1,895 particulars. I have the catalog and can assure you that it includes some queer antiquities of which we cannot speak particularly at present. A word or two about the ruins of Julian's Palace of the Baths. Here is a vast hall which was doubtless the place for cold baths. The dimensions are 60 feet by 35. In the cellars are the evident remains of the warm baths. The walls are of immense thickness and will probably last as long as the earth on which they rest. This hall is the place of deposit for any Roman sculpture that may be found in the excavations of the city. I am sure that next to the Crystal Palace this has been our greatest treat. We enjoyed this morning the more because we had the company of Mr. George Sumner, who has lived in Paris so long that he is perfectly familiar with every object of interest. I never met with anyone who appeared to have so much local knowledge as he possesses. He knows the history of everything, and he seems at home on all names, dates, and facts of other ages. Whenever we read up, after a talk with him, we find that he knows all that is known, and in truth he talks like a book, but better than most books. The attention of this gentleman has been very great to us boys, and he never seems tired when doing us kindness. But if Mr. S knows places well, he is no less intimate with men, and probably no American has ever enjoyed his opportunities to cultivate the acquaintance of the best and greatest men in Paris. We have visited the Church of St. Salpice, which was begun in 1655 and only completed late in the last century. The portico is very grand, and is a double row of dork pillars, forty feet high. It has two towers, which are over two hundred feet high, and on which are telegraphs. The church forms a cross, and is four hundred and thirty-two feet in length, one hundred and seventy-four in width, and ninety-nine in height. The organ is finely carved, and is more elaborate in its work than any of yet seen. The statuary, both in bronze and marble, here, is beautiful, and the candelabra are greatly admired. As to pictures, I can only say they are many and fine. The marble monument and statue, to Languette de Gherqui, the former curee of this parish, and who mainly contributed to its erection or completion, is much admired, and on this tomb is the most elegant inscription of modern times. But I cannot insert it here. Directly in front of the church, in an open square, is a very fine fountain, which partakes of the ecclesiastical in its style, having in four niches the statues of Busset, Massillon, Fletier, and Fenélan. In our walk we were all struck with an immense wooden pile, which we found was the bibliothèque de Saint-Jean-au-Vivre. The front is very chaste, and has very many arched windows. The library is more than three hundred feet in length, and is covered on the exterior with the names of all the great authors of every age and nation. We saw the names of many of our countrymen, Washington, Franklin, Rumford, Clinton, Cooper, Prescott, Irving, etc. We were unable to enter as repairs were in progress, but were told that the library has two hundred thousand volumes, and several thousand manuscripts. We have all been much gratified with the Church of Saint-etienne-du-Mont. It boasts an antiquity that dates back to 1131, and its tower and turret are known to be as early as 1222. The exterior is remarkable for a strange mixture of architecture, and some of the details are very beautiful. The interior cannot fail to interest a thoughtful person, I think. The pictures are very fine indeed, and some of the marbles are of the highest excellence. We went into the little chapel of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, where is the tomb of the saint. The tomb was literally stuck over with small tallow-candles, and looked like a piece of meat, larded.  All the people kneeling at this tomb seemed far more intent and in earnest than the hundreds at Grand Mass in the Church proper. Just as we stepped outside this chapel we found on the wall the monuments of Racine and Pascal, who are both buried in this church. The church was full of people, and in one little chapel the priest was baptizing an infant. We went in and looked on. It was the first time I have ever witnessed this monstrous memory in the Catholic Church, and I called in the doctor and Mr. S., who were looking at some statuary. The priest was hardly decent at his work. He did it all in a hurry, put oil and something else on the child for a naft, and how men and women could stand and let the stupidity take place on their children I cannot understand. After seeing Pascal's grave and thinking of his immortal works, it was poor preparation for the Mountbank exhibition and awkward work of making Christians that we witnessed. You know, Charlie, that I am not a lover of Romanism, but I never felt so thankful as on that day for being a Protestant. The pictures of this church are very well worthy of careful notice, especially to said to have been given by the city to the saint, who caused a famine to stay its ravages and restored a sick king by intercession. Now, pray, do not think me church mad if I carry you once more to another old one. I am sure, if you had seen it, that it would cause you to talk about it often. Well, it is the church Saint-Germain de Près. This is regarded as the oldest in Paris and was originally an abbey. There was a church here as early as five sixty. This was probably built about the middle of the ninth century and its completion was in the twelfth, for it was consecrated by Pope Alexander the Third. In this church was the tomb of Childebert, the founder of the first edifice. The abbey had a refractory, cloisters, etc., was surrounded by a moat and had been fortified. A large open field, close by, was the resort of dualists, and many a bloody affray has there occurred. Casimir, king of Poland, was an abbot of this church. The revolution was sadly injurious to this fine sanctuary and it was, for a time, converted into a salt-peeter manufactory. Charles X repaired it and after him Louis Philippe carefully superintended its restoration. The inside of the church is a cross with a circular choir and the arches are semicircular and indicate great antiquity. The restoration of the nave and choir has been most carefully done at immense expense. The roof of the choir is painted deep blue with stars. The capitals of the columns are richly gilt and the shafts are painted in red stripes. These are the exact copies of the old devices. Nothing can be finer than the marble altar and the carved stalls of the choir. Nor does the church lack for historical names among its dead. Here are the tombs of Earl Douglas, Descartes, Mobyan, Montfesson and Casimir, Poland, who died abbot in 1672. Everything here in ecclesiastical architecture is so different from all that we have in our country I am in these noble relics with great pleasure and do not know but I shall soon become as antiquarian in my taste as you know who. Yours affectionately, James. Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 28 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 28, Paris. Dear Charlie, on a fine morning we rode over to the Jardin des Plains, accompanied by Mr. R., whose long residence has made him very familiar with this lovely spot. I think we all looked forward to this excursion with great anticipation, because we knew that this was the most famous garden in Europe, and then, in connection with it, are the richest cabinets of the world of natural history, mineralogy, geology, and a noble collection of living animals from all countries. Ever since 1635 the world has been placed under contribution to enrich this spot. The greatest botanist and naturalist of Europe have labored here. Buffon himself was the great man of the place in his day. Even revolutionary fury spared this retreat and treasury of nature. Bonaparte made it his pet, and when the troops of Europe were at the walls of Paris, they agreed to respect and preserve the spot so dear to science. This establishment is on the banks of the river, and there are many portals by which entrance may be obtained. The gardens are very large, but I cannot speak of their exact size. They are in the neatest order. Every shrub and flower, plant and tree is labelled, so that reference is easy. I was delighted to see, on a lofty eminence, the cedar of Lebanon. It is a glorious tree, and was planted here in 1734, and is now about twelve feet round at its base. We also saw some palm trees, which were given by Louis XIV. They were, I should think, nearly thirty feet high. The menagerie has long been famous, and is most admirably laid out in walks and enclosures, so that the animals have plenty of room for exercise and pasture. Since the days of Noah's Ark, I suppose there never was such a collection of animals, clean and unclean. The bears, elephants, lions, and tigers are all what are called first-rate specimens. We were pointed out the house where the celebrated Cuvier lived, and which was his favourite residence. Here was his life's labour, the zoological cabinet, which he arranged according to his system. Only fancy a house about four hundred feet long, having three stories, and all filled up with nearly two hundred thousand specimens, and the preparations are almost as fine as the animal was in life. The Museum of Comparative Anatomy, also, was the labour of Cuvier. The collections of mineralogy and geology are very extensive, but I did not have much time to examine them, nor are they as much in my line as some other things. The specimens of precious stones were curious, and I was pleased to see amber containing perfect insects, perhaps antediluvian insects. And so we employed three hours upon what I should have liked to pass three whole days. But it would take years of diligent study to understand what is here to be seen. If a person walks about Paris and inquires much as to the history of the city and its improvements, as we Americans say, he will soon find that Paris has been chiefly indebted for her grandeur to Henry IV, Louis XIV, Napoleon, and Louis Philippe. Bridges, places, arches, and fountains show how much Paris owes to these rulers. Of fountains there are, I should think, nearly a hundred in the city, and some are exceedingly fine. The Seine is not much of an affair. With us it would be only a muddy brook. Some of the bridges that span it are fine. I have seen nothing in Paris more picturesque than the prospect from the Pont Neuf. It is my favorite standpoint. Off to the right are the towers of Notre-Dame and the long line of old houses which tell of centuries upon centuries since they were built. And on the left of the river are the Hôtel de Ville, Saint-Germain-Lorxeroi, and some of the most venerable streets. From the bell tower of Saint-Germain the signal was rung for the infamous massacre of the Protestants in Saint Bartholomew's Eve, the 23rd of August 1572. In the Rue de l'Arbre, sec, at number fourteen, was admirable Colligny murdered on that occasion. It was formerly known as the Hôtel Ponceau, but is to be demolished in a few weeks to make way for improvements. We felt a desire to see the spot where the Bastille formerly stood, and which was destroyed by the mob in July 1789, and the key of which is now at Mount Vernon having been sent as a present to Washington. This was the theater of the greatest resistance made by the insurgents in June 1848, and here too it was that the Archbishop of Paris met with his death. On the side of the Bastille Louis Philippe laid the foundation of a column which commemorates the Revolution of 1830. The column is a bronze and is 163 feet high, in addition to the pedestal of white marble, supported by immense granite box. The diameter of the column is, I believe, 12 feet, and it costs about 1200,000 francs. There is no masonry in the interior. The staircase is suspended, and the whole concern vibrates with the passing breeze. I did not ascend, you may be sure. The Corinthian capital over which is a gallery with rails is very beautiful, and is the largest casting in bronze that is known, or rather was, for I think that the Amazon at the London exhibition will take the palm for size. On the globe which surmounts the pillar stands a colossal gilt figure which represents liberty. On the bands which encircle the pillar are the names of those who were killed in the three days of July, amounting to 504. All around and beneath are interred the remains of these patriots. We are going to take the cemetery at Perlachès for tomorrow's excursion, and the rest of the day I must devote to Letters' home as the packet day is close at hand. Yours, Weld. End of Letter 28. Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 29 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 29. Paris. Dear Charlie. This morning, as we were taking a very comfortable breakfast at the coffee room of our hotel, and as I was reading Gallignani's daily paper, I found a person at the next table addressing me in nasal twang. Stranger, is this fellow Gallignani a reliable chap? I assured him that he passed for an authority. Laying down his paper on the table, he pathetically described the tramp which the program for the sightseeing of yesterday's paper had given him, and declared his inability to keep up with the instructions for that day. Finding that he was a character, I carried on the conversation, and he talked most edifyingly to all in the room, as he spoke loud enough to be heard at the very end. I inquired if he had been to London. His reply was, I reckon I have, why I came on purpose to see the Crystal Palace. Well, sir, said I, and how did you like it? Oh, that exhibition is some! And pray, sir, what did you think of the Greek slave? There, now, Stranger, I takes it that where she were raised cotton was dreadful scarce. This was too much and too good, and I think it is by far the best thing I have heard about the exhibition. How the boys managed to keep quiet I know not, but they did as well as could be expected. The room was thoroughly awake, and I resigned our countrymen to other hands. After breakfast we rode to the cemetery of Père Lachaise. This spot has, for centuries, been celebrated for its beauty, and for a time of more than one hundred years the Jesuits had a country residence here. They had it early in the sixteenth century, or perhaps at the close of the fifteenth. Louis XIV made his confessor, Père Lachaise, the superior of the society, and in 1705 it was the headquarters of Jesuitism in France. The present cemetery was consecrated in 1804, and the entire grounds are walled in, and they are very nearly two hundred acres. You know how much I admire Greenwood and Mount Auburn. Well, I still prefer them to this, Galgotha. The walks are some of them fine, but the tombs are too thick. There is no regularity. It looks as though there had been a rainstorm of tombs and monuments, and they lie as they fell. This is the very metropolis of death. Some of the monuments are elegant indeed, but often their beauties are hidden. The most attractive spot to us was the resting place of the bravest of the brave. Ney has no monument. The tombs of Casimir Perrier, the Countess Stemidoff, Ébillard and Eloise, General Macdonald, Lavalette, Gaubert, Foy, Molière, Laplace and Junot are some that most pleased us, and are exquisite specimens of art. Many of these tombs have small rooms with altars and glass doors. Opposite the altar is a chair, and we saw several mourners in devout attitude at the Shrine of Affection. I have heard from a Parisian of great intelligence, and who has been connected with the city government, that very nearly, if not quite, thirty millions of dollars have been spent upon this cemetery. Of course the expanse of sculpture here has been enormous, as the best talent of Europe has contributed to adoring the spot, and perpetuate the memory of the departed. On leaving this charnel house of mortality, we drove to the Abattoir de Puppincourt, which is the largest in the city, and occupies 645 feet by 570. On entering we found four slaughterhouses, each standing alone. Here, too, are sheds for 4,000 sheep, and stables for 400 oxen. There are also four melting houses. We also noticed a large building called the Tripery for preparing tripe and the feed of animals. The week we were there the statistics of slaughter were as follows. 872 oxen, 356 cows, 700 calves, and 2,875 sheep. Nothing of the sort can be kept cleaner than this establishment. The water ran down every charnel, and very little blood could be seen, or effluvia noticed. When will New York have its abattoirs? No city in the world needs such an auxiliary to health and comfort more than she does. Perhaps the good people will call for one after a few more visitations of cholera. There are four other similar establishments in Paris. We had a nice ride home round the boulevards, and, stopping at the consul's office, found a famous budget of letters and papers, and with great pleasure we addressed ourselves to their contents. I am amused to see how various are the demands made upon the time and services of a consul. He needs to have the patience of Job, and if he answers satisfactorily and authoritatively the questions which I have heard propounded, he ought to have, in his library, the acts of every state legislature in the union. Marriage, death, removal of deceased relatives from their places of sepulchre, rates of interest, values of stocks, condition of railroads, and statistics of all sorts have been topics which I have heard laid before him for advice and opinion. Very few men, however, possess more general knowledge of the United States than our consul, Mr. Goodrich does, and his kindness will lead him to do all he can to satisfy the queerest. Yours as ever, J-O-C. Letter 30 Paris Dear Charlie Yesterday we went to the Cirque in the Champs-Élysées. It is a very large building with sixteen sides, and behind is another spacious one for the horses. The intention of the builder was to represent a Moorish hall, and the pillars of iron are, with the panelings of the walls, gilt and frescoed. The roof is very elegant, and the largest chandelier in Paris is at the center, blazing with, I cannot tell you how many gas lights. The circus will accommodate about six or seven thousand people, and when we were there it was very nearly full. We paid two francs each and had the best seats. The performances were very good, and some quite beyond anything I had before seen. There was one feet that was really great. They placed planks upon supporters from the center of the circus up to the edge of the gallery, making an angle of about fifty feet. Well, Charlie, a fellow walked in with a ball, about three-quarters of a yard in diameter, and on this ball he trotted about on the ground for perhaps two minutes. Then he marches it to the foot of his plank, still standing on it, and up he goes. Yes, he totes and coaxes the ball under his feet. Up, up, till at last he stands on it in the gallery, and then did not the place ring again with applause. But then it is not over, for down he comes the self-same way, and that is the tug of war, but he did it. This he did backwards also each way. I never saw anything before that would equal this, and I want to see him do it again before we leave Paris. The horsemanship was very good. But there was one fellow who threw himself into the very oddest attitudes you can fancy. He looked as he moved about on the earth like anything but human. We were all much amused with the audience. Entire families were there. You could see parties coming in where there was no mistake about grandfather and grandmother, father, mother, and all the children. It seems that all classes here have a taste for amusement and pursue it with much earnestness. The audience behaved very well. Everything was quiet. I noticed a great many well-dressed women who carried round crickets to the ladies for their feet, and for this they got a few sews. As we returned we found in the grounds through which we walked scores of establishments for juvenile amusement, stalls where there are exhibitions of moving figures, and at which you may shoot with bow and arrow by paying a small price. Not far from the Cirque we met with an outdoor concert in a very tasty garden, the performers all occupying a fine orchestra. The audience were seated at tables in the garden, taking ice cream, lemonade, coffee, etc. Now and then one of the singers would pass round and take up a collection. This day we went to the hippodrome, which is a very large enclosure, nearly opposite the triumphal arch. This is no less than 380 feet in diameter, and we'll see all of 10,000 persons who are under shelter. But the coarse ground is open to the heavens. This place is open from three to five during the warm weather and is under the same management as the Cirque. Our great object in coming was to see the ball feet again and also the skirmishes of some 20 Arabs who are here exhibiting their tactics. I never saw a more reckless, savage-looking set of fellows than they were. Only one looked like a venerable Arab. He did look patriarchal. They had several sham attacks and wrote about shooting helter-skelter, looking as if they would enjoy the real thing much better. These fellows are said to be some of the Algerine captives brought over by the French. Our friend Mr. Hodgson, who lived so long in Turkey and speaks Arabic, talked with them much to their surprise. We have determined to leave Paris this week and commence our journey through Belgium, Holland, go up the Rhine and take Switzerland on our return to Paris. And perhaps we may leave tomorrow. I ought not to omit saying that we have had a very pleasant Sunday in our own parlor here. We did not feel much like going to the French church that morning, and the doctor invited the Reverend Dr. Murray, Dr. Chetwood, Reverend Mr. Darling, Judge Darling, Reverend Mr. Hovey, Mr. King, and some other friends to join us and have a religious meeting. It was a very interesting one, too. Dr. Murray spoke about the state of France, the need the French had of our Sunday, and how they could not be a free and happy people and get along without soldiers till they had it. All the ministers took part, and I shall not very soon forget that day, and then I think we all thought a good deal about home, as each minister talked and prayed for our families. Our next letters will, I suppose, be from Brussels. Yours, etc., George. End of Letter 30. Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 31 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 31. Brussels, Dear Charlie The fine weather and the advantage of having pleasant company has induced us to leave Paris and pursue our journey, leaving many things to see in the great metropolis when we return. I forgot to tell you that in Paris I had the pleasure to meet an English clergyman, a relative of mine, who was there passing the honeymoon. This gentleman and his lady joined our party, and we are now to go together as far as Antwerp, certainly. We took the rail from Paris direct to Brussels, a distance of 230 miles, and passed through Amiens, Arras, Daouais, Valenciennes, Kwevrain, Saint-Jean-Maps. Here, King Louis-Philippe, with General Dumourier in 1792, gained a battle over an Austrian army, and so gained Belgium to France, little thinking that his son-in-law would be its king. Mons, Brune Lecompte, Halle, and Soet Brussels. At Kwevrain we found the custom house of Belgium, and the little river, called the Annelle, is the boundary of the Republic. Mons is a fine-looking place, fortified strongly. The region is one entire coal field, and there are many pits in operation. Ten miles from Mons, Marlborough fought the battle of Marplaquette in 1709. When we passed, the town was in great commotion with the trial of Count Bocharmé and his wife for the murder of her brother. She was, by some means, acquitted, but he was convicted and executed by the guillotine. As soon as we entered Belgium, we were struck with the improvement of the lands. The small towns looked remarkably thrifty, and every place seems to speak of manufacturers and industry. At Brussels we put up at the Hotel Bellevue in the Place Royal. The situation is good. In a large square and in front of our hotel is the magnificent statue in bronze of Godfrey, Duke of Bologna, the cast of which we so admired as the crusader in the exhibition. In this square Leopold was inaugurated King of Belgium. Every traveller enters Brussels with expectation of pleasure. He has heard that it is Paris in miniature and then Byron has thrown around it his witchery of song. I can see but a dull and dim resemblance to Paris. Brussels, with its suburbs which are quite large, has only a population of 130,000. The town is very clean, looks cozy and has some very beautiful edifices.  However there is quite enough of romance after all in this same place and when you traverse it thoroughly you find enough to call out deep interest and before you leave it you are much gratified and in all probability feel desirous to see it again. I like to be in places that have a history and this Brussels has. Let me tell you about this place. It stands on the brow of High Hill and the upper and lower towns are different affairs entirely. The summit is covered with palaces, public buildings, boulevards, parks, etc. and the lower part is in the valley of the River Seine. Brussels was a city in 709. In 976 the Emperor Otto held his court here. In 1044 it was fortified and had seven gates. In 1405 a fire destroyed 1,400 houses and in 1549 it suffered from two earthquakes. But still it grew and flourished under the dukes of Burgundy and became famous for tapestry, lace and firearms. In the days of Charles V the city of Brussels was at its zenith. Philip II his son and his infamous general the Duke of Alva ravaged this city and Vincentage. The people were fanatical and the rulers cruel. In 1695 the city was besieged and 4,000 houses destroyed by the bombardment. In 1794 Belgium was annexed to France. After the Battle of Waterloo the Prince of Orange was proclaimed the sovereign of Belgium. In 1830 the revolution displaced the Orange dynasty and Belgium broke off from Holland. And in 1831 the people chose Leopold for their king. The first thing I wanted to see was the Hotel de Villa which many years ago pleased me exceedingly. And I think all our party have been delighted with it. This is the noblest civil building in Belgium. It stands in a fine square and is a glorious specimen of the Lombardi Gothic school. The spire is of open fretwork and the sun shines through it. It has long been esteemed as one of the most precious works of architecture in Europe. The extreme height is 364 feet and it was erected in 1444. On the spire is a gilt statue of St. Michael 17 feet high which turns with the wind. In front of this town hall Counts Egmont and Horn were executed under the eye of Alva but they were nobly avenged by William of Orange. At the head of a very steep and narrow street stands the most imposing structure. It is the Cathedral Church of St. Goudou. The foundation was laid in 1010. The front view is very much like that of Notre Dame at Paris. This church is occasionally called St. Michael's in Old Writers as it had a double consecration to the Archangel and Goudou. The interior of this cathedral is very impressive though the architecture is simple. The pillars supporting the roof are massive and must receive the admiration of all spectators. There are brackets attached to them on which stand finely executed figures of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, executed by the following renowned sculptors, Vandalin, Quellen, Tobias and Ducnoy. The pulpit is regarded as the finest in Europe and is the most elaborate composition of structure in wood that is extant. It is the work of the great Verbruggen and was originally executed for a Jesuit society at Louvain in 1699. The art is exquisite and far superior to the taste which is exhibited. The pulpit represents the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise by the Angel.  On the steps and balusters are various beasts and birds. The owl, ape and peacock are conspicuous. We found preparations for a great church holiday to be observed the next day and the Virgin Mary was gaily decked out in embroidery, lace and jewelry. A monument to Count Miraud in a chapel is a most exquisite production and was executed by Giefs. Here Charles V in 1616 held the chapter of the Golden Fleece. The restoration of this beautiful church has been carefully attended to lately and the new windows of painted glass are very fine, but some of the old windows, by wayde, are grand indeed. In this church the famous sacramental wafers are placed away as relics of inestimable value. Perhaps you recollect the story of the Jews who perloined them and profanely struck the consecrated bread with knives. When low a miracle blood came from the incision and the unbelievers were smitten down. Of course they were taken and tormented and burnt. This was at the close of the fourteenth century. The great celebration of this popus imposition of a miracle is kept up in July every year. All one side of this noble building is a set of mean, low, one and two-story shanties which deface the appearance of the venerable pile. While in the church we saw vast numbers of boys and girls who had come to make their confession and prepare for their first communion to take place next day. We often saw in the streets of Paris and Brussels girls dressed in white with wreaths of flowers and boys with dresses that looked as if they were bound to a wedding. These were young people going to communion. The poor children in this church looked as funny on the occasion, sitting and chatting, waiting for their turn to confess as the priests looked tired and indifferent. We spent much of our leisure time walking in the noble park and gardens. Oh, when shall we have in America such care taken of our few green spots in our great cities as is here displayed? No lady can be more cherry of the order of her drawing-room than are the authorities at Brussels of these beautiful promenades. Then, too, here are avenues of trees that make you in love with the city as you enter it. I do wish all our towns would raise committees of public-spirited men who should undertake, by voluntary contributions or town action, to plant the roadsides that form the entrances to these places. I was delighted some months ago to hear that a few gentlemen in Haverhill in Massachusetts had banded together for this purpose. Charlie, if you live to take an active share in the business of life, try and do something for the place you live in that shall appear after you have gone. Mark the spot of your residence better, because you have once lived in it. We are too selfish. We do not fulfill our duty to those who are to come after us. We do not, even in the matters of this present state, live up to the great law of our being. No man liveth to himself. Leopold's palace is exceedingly plain and unpretending for a royal residence. It was originally composed of two wings, through which a street ran its course, but they are now united by a central building with a handsome portico having for its support six Corinthian pillars. The edifice is about three hundred and ninety feet in length, and while the front is on the park, the rear opens on an extensive garden. At the opposite side of the park is the Chamber of Representatives. In the park and near to the palace is the prettiest glen and bit of miniature word I know of. We found our accomplished representative, the Honorable Mr. Bayard, kind and attentive. He lives in a charming part of the city, and his position must be a pleasant one, having good society in the place and near to Paris. Yours affectionately, J. O. C. End of Letter 31, read by Cibela Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 32 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J. O. Choules, read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 32, Brussels, Dear Charlie I like this city very much. It is so clean. The buildings in the upper part of the town are new, and in pleasant contrast to the lower portion, which looks so very old. I think from walking about a great deal that there must be many English people here, for they carry their country in their dress and manner. We spent a morning at the various shops, and principally at the lace and print stores. We purchased some very beautiful engravings, lithographs and illustrated works, which will remind us of our pleasant days in Brussels, and which I hope may amuse our friends. The lacework executed here is uncommonly rich, and, you know, is very famous, but I am sorry to say is also very expensive. A person may soon get rid of large amounts of money here. We made some purchases for the ladies at home, but no doubt if they had been with us, the bills would have been heavier than they were. The way we managed for getting money while we were traveling is by a circular letter from Bering and Brothers. On this we are introduced to houses in the great cities through which our route lies, and the letter states our credit at London. Then from these houses we obtain what we need, and have each house endorse the amount, so that as we go from place to place our financial position in London still appears. In Brussels we found the banker, or at least his agent, for whether the banker or his clerk we did not know, a perfect specimen of vulgarity and rudeness. He was the most uncivil fellow that we have yet seen in Europe. His most pleasant words were grunts, and his motions and attitudes were almost threats. He looked like a Jew, but he acted like a wild Arab, and his maneuvers would have been a godsend to the comic Dr. Valentine if he had witnessed their display. His gray hairs did not command respect, and what made his rudeness so hard to bear was the fact that nothing occurred to call it out. So we met him at an unhappy moment. The museum is in the old palace of the Spanish governors of the Low Countries, and long before their day it was the Ducal residence of the Brabants. The building was begun in 1346 and completed in 1502. The pictures of Europe are one of my great objects of interest, and here we begin to find them. We have left the London and Paris collections for examination as we return. From the catalogue we found that there were about 600 pictures here and some statuary. The chief attraction of this gallery is found in the very few early Flemish paintings which it boasts. I think a Gerard Dau were long be remembered by me. It is an interior, and the effect of the light in the room is admirable. Many of the paintings are styled gothic. That means they were painted previous to the time of Van Eyck. An interior of the Antwerp Cathedral by Nieves is very fine, and I was much pleased with some large pictures by Philippe Champagne, some of whose portraits I have seen in New York. Here are four pictures by Paul Bernese. Number 285 is the Marriage of Kanna. I think I never saw a picture in which I was so impressed with the magnificence of the coloring. The table is richly spread, and the light appears on it coming down the columns. The rich colors of the fruits contrasting strongly with the white table and the gay dress of one of the figures. The management of light by introducing various colors in the dresses is wonderful, and the blue sky produces the happiest effect. I never before understood how much a picture depended on the arrangement of color. The drapery of this composition struck me greatly, and although I know little of great paintings, yet I do know what I like, and this picture as a whole seems to me wonderfully fine. In 1695, when this town was bombarded by the French, fourteen churches were destroyed, some of which contained the best pictures of Rubens, Van Dyke, and other great painters of that century. I observed here a good portrait of Henrietta, Queen of Charles I, who seems to have been a favorite with painters. I have seen a score of her faces by Van Dyke at Windsor, Paris, and elsewhere. This was by Minyar. All make her very beautiful. The adoration of the Magi by Van Dyke, the inventor of oil painting, is curious, and descent from the cross by Hemling, who flourished about 1450, interested me. Amongst the pictures by unknown masters I saw some good ones. I thought the portraits in this class very spirited.  In this building, too, the doctor found a treat in the Great Burgundy Library, where are nearly 20,000 manuscripts, some of which are the most richly illuminated vellums that are known. Some of the miniatures of the early Fathers and Saints are of exquisite beauty. This precious collection has twice, I learned, been stolen by the French, as were also the best pictures. The library consists of about 200,000 volumes. I saw some glorious specimens of Russian malachite. You would, I am sure, Charlie, hardly forgive me, if I had had so little of your love of the curious as to go away from Brussels without a look at the world-renowned fountain, the mannequin. One day, when upon a tramp, we inquired it out. The dirty dog is a little bronze figure made by the famous duke-noy in 1648. It stands at the corner of the Rue de Chaine and the Rue de la Touve. He still maintains his ground, and there seems no danger of his losing his occupation. The botanical garden lies on the side of the hill leading from the city towards Antwerp, and is apparently kept in fine order. It is about 650 feet long, and I should think nearly 200 wide. Tomorrow we are to spend at Waterloo, and George is well nigh distracted. We have heard very little from him since we reached Brussels, but about Napoleon, Wellington, Ney, and Grouchy. The last-named marshal finds no favour at his hands, as he regards him as a traitor to the emperor at the critical moment. One thing is certain, he knows more about the battle than most persons, and will feel quite at home when he once makes out his standpoint. We all anticipate his transports with interest. We are to start early, so good night. Yours, Weld. End of Letter 32. Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 33 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, and Switzerland, edited by J. O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 33. Brussels. Dear Charlie. I am thoroughly tired out with a day at Waterloo, and though I should be glad to retire at an early hour, yet as tomorrow's mail takes all letters for the next steamer, we are all hard at the duty and pleasure of correspondence with our friends. I shall give you but a hurried account of our visit to the great battlefield of Europe. We were all up early in the morning, and after an excellent breakfast, we engaged a carriage and a pair of horses for the day. The distance is about twelve miles. After riding about two miles, we found the road touched the forests of Saint-Noise, so well known in consequence of Byron's description of the march of the army from Brussels to Waterloo. On the way we met several guides, who commended our services to notice, backed up by testimonials of former travelers. We selected Pearson, and he took his place beside the driver, and we arrived in two hours at the village. Passing by what is called a museum, we addressed ourselves at once to a survey of the field. There are no signs of the past except in monuments and houses that are famous for their being occupied by the hostile parties during the battle. We turned our attention first to the chateau of Hugamot, because from our knowledge of the transactions of the Great Day, we regarded it as the grand point of attraction and the central one for our observations. This farm is an old-looking affair without buildings, a small chapel, twelve or fifteen feet long, and the garden and orchard having a strong stone wall around them. This was the strong point of the British army, and if Napoleon could have gained it, he would have turned the flank of the enemy. To this he directed all his power, and the marks of the conflict are yet very apparent. All day the attack was made upon the farm by thousands under the command of Jerome Bonaparte. The wall was pierced with loopholes, and through these the English cold-stream guards kept up the most destructive fire upon the French troops. The exterior of the wall still shows what a terrific onset was made. We went into the house, obtained some refreshment, bought some relics, and among other things, a neat brass crucifix, which hung against the wall. We then went to look at the farms La Belle Alliance and La Haite Sainte, the famous mound where the dead were interred, and which is surmounted by the Belgique lion. This is an immense work, two hundred feet high, and from the summit we saw the entire field. Of course we all had our feelings excited at standing on the spot where the two greatest soldiers of Europe measured swords and had a continent for spectators of the conflict. When the French army marched through Waterloo on their way to Antwerp in 1831, they looked savagely at the Belgian Monument, and one man fired his musket at the lion, and the mark is still visible upon his chin. We were much gratified at the farmhouse of Hugamont, and the hour we spent in its orchard and gardens will long be remembered by us all. I have read an account of the attack upon the house, which says, The Belgian yeoman's garden wall was the safeguard of Europe, whose destinies hung upon the possession of this house. The garden wall is covered on the inside with ivy, and here we secured several roots of the plant, and having bought a basket at the farmhouse, we planted them in earth taken from beside the grave of a British officer who fell in the orchard. His tombstone bears the name of J. L. Blackman. These plants will give us trouble to carry, but Dr. Choules has determined upon carrying them home for Mr. Hall, whose stone house needs ivy on the walls, and he intends obtaining roots from various places of interest in Europe to serve as mementos of other lands.  We were annoyed by urchins who beset our steps, eager to sell us genuine relics of the field, which are likely to increase in number as long as there is demand for them. George, of course, was in his element, and he did little but plant the different sites in his memory for the purpose of comparing notes by and by with Gleeg, Hedley, etc., etc. I do not attempt to give you anything like a description of the place, or an account of the battle, as you have books which are devoted to these points. It is a circumstance worthy of notice that, in 1705, the Duke of Marlborough came very near to fighting a battle with the French on this ground, but was prevented by the Dutch commissioners who were with him. We obtained some good engravings of the buildings that are famous for their connection with the battle, but they are nothing like as fine as the folio illustrated volume of colored engravings which we have so often looked over with interest. I tried to get a copy in London at any price, and would have given anything in reason, but the work is out of print and the market, and can only be gotten at the sale of a collector. On returning to Brussels and enjoying our dinner at a late hour, we passed the evening in the arcades, where we saw some beautiful goods exposed for sale, and again examined some lacework. You will smile at the idea of a pocket handkerchief which costs from one hundred to one thousand dollars each. The embroidery of letters upon lacework is costly, and we saw single letters which had required a week's work. We like this city, and if time allowed us, should certainly pass a week here. I should not forget to say that we saw the king in the park near to his palace. He looks like a man of fifty-five, and I thought had a melancholy air. Yours, James. End of Letter 33 Read by Cibela Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 34 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 34 Antwerp Dear Charlie In company still with our friends from Bristol on a wedding tour, we took the rail for Antwerp. The arrangements of the rail road in Belgium seem to me as perfect as they can be made. All is order, civility, and comfort. On starting for this place, we had the curiosity to inquire as to the number of passengers, and found thirteen first-class, seventy-one second-class, and one hundred and three third-class. The road we took lay through a level country, but cultivated to a great degree, and the produce was chiefly clover, beans, potatoes, grain, and turnips. On leaving Brussels, we noticed the fine botanical gardens on our right, and the Allee Vert, a noble avenue of trees which reaches Tlacan, a pretty village, dating as far back as the seventh century, and containing a fine palace where Leopold frequently resides. Napoleon once occupied this palace, and here it is said that he planned his Russian campaign. The park is spacious, and the village has a celebrated cemetery, and here Madame Malibran reposes. The first stopping place is, at about six miles from Brussels, at Vilvorde, a very ancient town, having a population of not quite three thousand. It is known in history as Vilferdom, and was a place of some consequence in 760. It was here that Tyndall, who was the first translator of the New Testament into English, suffered martyrdom in 1536, being burnt as a heretic. The testament was a twelve-month edition. It was published in 1526, and probably was printed at Antwerp, where he then resided. Fifteen hundred copies were printed, and they were mostly bought up by Bishop tonsil and destroyed. The only copy known to exist is in the library of the Baptist College at Bristol. This copy belonged to Lord Oxford, and he valued the acquisition so highly that he settled twenty pounds a year upon the person who obtained it for him. Both Tyndall's assistants in this great work, Frith and Roy, suffered martyrdom before his death. I am sorry to find by history that Sir Thomas More employed one Phillips to go over to Antwerp and decoy Tyndall into the hands of the Emperor. The last words of the martyr were, Lord, open the King of England's eyes. Sir Thomas More was a bitter persecutor, and he was recompensed in his own ways. Not far from Vilvorde are the remains of the Chateau of Rubens, and in the same vicinity is the house where Tenier is said to have lived. Mechlin, or Maline, is a fine-looking town with twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and it is spelt by early writers ways without number. The railroad just touches on its skirts, and of course we can only look at it. Its cathedral church loomed up, and we long to see its interior, where Van Dyke's greatest picture, the crucifixion, is found in the altar. The tower shows well at a distance. The other churches have some pictures of great merit by Rubens. After passing Mechlin we saw at our right a large town, lying perhaps two miles off, and then a still smaller one on the left, and a fine old castle which looked in good preservation. The road led us through some fine country residences, and just before entering Antwerp we passed Birkham, a sweet little village. And I would not omit to say that the small place called Vieux-Doux, before we came to Birkham, is famous for being one of the last places where heathenism retained its hold in this part of Europe, and here was formerly an idol. Antwerp, or as the French write it, Aum-Ver, is a noble city on the river Scheldt, and is about twenty-seven miles from Brussels. The population is rather more than eighty thousand. The city is laid out in the shape of a bow, and the river forms the string. The river here is one hundred and ninety yards wide. The tide rises about fifteen feet. This place is a very ancient origin, and its legends are mixed up with the fabulous. Early in the sixteenth century it was an important town. It was fortified and became one of the chief places of trade for the north of Europe. In fifteen-twenty the population was over two hundred thousand. Five hundred vessels daily came into and left the port, and two thousand others were always lying in the river and basins of the port. The death blow to this place was the Treaty of Munster, which stipulated that every vessel entering the Scheldt should gestage her cargo in Holland, so that it had to be conveyed to Antwerp by land. The abolition of the Spanish power was severely felt at Antwerp. You know, I suppose, that this is regarded as one of the strongest fortifications in Europe, and has been the scene of repeated sieges. The last and most celebrated one was in 1832, when it was captured by the French after a brave defense of two months. You cannot easily fancy what a charming old city this is, but I shall try to give you some account of it and our employments here. We put up at the Hotel St. Antoine in the Place Vert, nearly opposite the cathedral, and it certainly is one of the best houses we have seen anywhere. The courtyard is spacious and has fine orange trees around it. Our rooms are very elegant and on the first floor. The coffee room is admirably attended, and the table-dote is the best we have yet set down to. A large part of our anticipated pleasure arose from the fact that here are the great works of Rubens, and in the city of Rubens, Van Dyke, Tenier, Jordan, and Quentin Metis, we felt that we could not be disappointed. In the Place Vert we find a colossal statue of Rubens by Giefs, and passing on a few steps at the corner we come to the cathedral of Notre-Dame, which is so celebrated all over Europe as one of the grandest specimens of the Gothic order of architecture. There is much dispute as to the exact date of this church, but the evidence is in favor of 1422, and it is known to have been finished in 1518. This church is 466 feet high, 500 feet long, and 250 wide. The nave is thought to be the most superb in Europe, and the side naves are double, forming 230 arches, supported by 125 magnificent pillars. And some of these are 27 feet in circumference. Here Philip II in 1555 held a chapter of the Golden Fleece, at which 19 knights and nine sovereign princes were present. In 1559 Paul IV made this church a cathedral, but in 1812 Pius VII issued a bull by which it was made dependent on the diocese of Maline. The effect of the evening sun upon the painted windows is the production of a glory which no pen can describe. Charles V was once an actor here, for he stood godfather at the baptism of the Great Bell. The pulpit is carved work and done by Verbruggen. It represents the four quarters of the world, and though elaborate is not as beautiful as the one in St. Godot at Brussels. The glory of the church is the breathing scroll of Rubens, so often seen upon the walls of its solemn aisles. Here is Rubens's great picture, the descent from the cross. To this picture pilgrimages have been made by all the lovers of art from other lands, and all concede the grandeur of idea and the simplicity of the style. There is quite a story about this picture in which Rubens and the crossbowmen of Antwerp both figure, but which I have no time to tell you at present. Nearly opposite is the elevation of the cross. The saviour's face and figure are not to be forgotten by anyone who carefully gazes on this canvas. Both these pictures were carried off by the French, and also the assumption of the Virgin, which is the High Altarpiece, and were restored by the Allied sovereigns in 1815. This last named picture is said to have been executed in sixteen days, and his pay was one hundred florins a day. I like it exceedingly, and the figure of the picture is more spiritual than any other I have seen of the Virgin. Its date is 1642. I advise you to read Sir Joshua Reynolds's lectures, where you will find a critical description of these immortal pictures. The steeple or tower is regarded as unrivaled, and is one of the highest in the world. It is four hundred and sixty-six feet high, and from the top we could see Brussels, Ghent, Malines, Louvain, and Flushing, and the course of the Shelt lies beautifully marked out. I hardly dare tell you how many bells there are. Our valet said ninety-nine, one local book of facts says eighty-eight, but I suppose there are eighty or ninety, and every fifteen minutes they do chime the sweetest music. Charles V wished the exquisite tower could be kept from harm in a glass case. The tracery of this tower is like delicate lacework, and no one can imagine half its beauty. After we came down we examined at the base the epitaph of Quentin Matisse, once a blacksmith, and then under the force of the tender passion he became a painter. The ironwork over the pump and well outside the church is his handiwork. All around the cathedral are the finest old gabled houses I ever saw, Charlie. I never tire in looking at them. They were the great houses of the time when the Duke of Alva made Antwerp the scene of his cruel despotism, and when the Inquisition carried death and misery into men's families. The oppressions of the Spaniards in this city sent many of the best manufacturers from the Low Countries to England, and Queen Elizabeth received them gladly. Yours, et cetera, Weld. Letter 35 Antwerp Dear Charlie I believe the lads have told you what they have seen in Belgium, and as they are just now busily employed, I shall endeavor to tell you our doings and enjoyments for the last day in this noble old city. We have been to see St. James's Church, where the great attraction is the tomb of Rubens. The altar is exquisitely fine, and was the work of Duchenne. Rubens brought it from Italy. Over the tomb is the famous Holy Family, in which Rubens has introduced himself as St. George, his father as Jerome, his wives as Martha and Magdalene, his grandfather as Old Time, and his son as the Angel. This wonderful creation of art was carried off by Napoleon to the Louvre, but was restored to the Church in 1815. From hence we repaired to St. Paul's Church. It was built in 1679. It has a noble appearance and retains its cloisters. In this building we noticed the flagellation by Rubens, Jesus bearing the cross by van Dyke, the crucifixion and resurrection by Jordan's, and the adoration of the shepherds by Rubens. As we left the Church we visited the cavalry, which is at the entrance, or rather off from it at the right. It is meant to represent the place of Christ's death. There are several statues of prophets and apostles, and a sort of grotto. At the end is Mount Cavalry, and the summit is the scene of the Savior's crucifixion. Beneath is the tomb, the body, and the stone rolled away, and at the left are bars and flames, and poor creatures in purgatorial fires. A more wretched-looking burlesque was never placed in the Vincentage of Art and the productions of genius. Popery employs such trickery unblushingly in papal countries, but withholds their exhibition from the common-sets of England and America, waiting till our education shall fit us for the simple, unalloyed system of delusion. We find the number of priests in Belgium much greater than in France. We see them in the cars, at the stations, and in every street. At one station, on our way to Antwerp, we saw a most strangely dressed man. He wore a cloak, and the cape formed a sort of hat. His head was shaved, and his feet were bare. We learned that he was a monk of La Troppe. He was as noble a-looking man as I have seen in Europe. We devoted the morning to the museum, which is so famous for containing the richest productions of Rubens, Van Dyke, Jordans, and a host of other great Flemish artists. As we entered, we saw with interest the chair of Rubens, which he used in his studio. It bears his name and the date of 1638. It is in a glass case. Rubens has sixteen pictures here, of high character, and Van Dyke several. We were all delighted with number 215, a dead Christ on a stone table, and the virgin mourning at his side. Number 212 is a wonderful composition, Christ to crucify between the thieves. The look of the dying penitent at his savior is not to be forgotten. The Magdalene of this picture is a creation of beauty indeed. I have purchased a fine engraving of this picture and several others by Rubens, and I hope, by looking at them long, to retain the impression I had made on my mind as I gazed upon the originals. Number 221, the Trinity, is a profane and ungracious representation of a dead Christ in the arms of a stern old man, who is intended for the Father. This picture is wonderfully fine, as regards the foreshortening of the dead body, and I never saw such an exhibition in this respect. Number 218, Christ showing his wounds to Thomas, is fine, but the picture has suffered from damp. Quentin Matzis has several of his productions here, and we looked with interest at a fine Sir Thomas Moore by Holbein, The Flight Into Europe by Memling, Madar de la Rosa by Albert Durer, and many others by Flemish artists. I was greatly pleased with number 382, The Death of Rubens by Van Bray, who died in 1839. This is large, and I think a most effective picture. The two sons, the priest, the wife fainting, and the two scribes are admirably disposed, and the open window, through which the cathedral spire is seen, seems to me exceedingly clever, but I fancy I admired it more than artists have done. On leaving this noble collection we stopped at St. Andrew's Church to see a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, over a monument of the two ladies' curl, one of whom waited on her at her execution at Father and Gay Castle. After dinner we sallied out to see the exchange, or bourse, and from which the first London one was copied. Of course, this gave it an interest to us, as we could fancy we saw the royal building in which Queen Bess made such a display, and of which Gresham had so much reason to be proud. It has a piazza of iron arches and granite pillars, surrounding a square two hundred feet long by one hundred and sixty wide. It was built in 1531. On returning home we accidentally met with Mr. Visi, the American Council. He invited us to his drawing-room, and we had a very pleasant half-hour. But when he found we were to leave the next day he insisted on taking us to the outskirts and showing us the citadel and fortifications. In a few minutes he had us in a carriage and became our kind and efficient guide till the loss of daylight rendered it useless to look around. I think we shall never forget the very great attention and friendship with which we all met from this gentleman, and I was gratified to hear him say that here, in Europe, nothing seemed to interest him in relation to mere party strife at home, while the honour and union of the country seemed to him all and everything. Mr. Visi has a good library and some fine paintings. He is a man of taste and marked by energy of character, and is just such a representative of his country as she needs at such points as Antwerp and other large cities. Yours truly, J.O.C. End of Letter 35 Read by Cibela Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 36 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 36 Dear Charlie, I assure you we felt sorry to leave Antwerp. It is such a thoroughly fine old place, has so much of old Spanish history still bound up with its present aspect, and is so decidedly foreign in its appearance, language, etc. I have only time to say a word about the docks of Antwerp, which were a favourite project of Napoleon Bonaparte. They were constructed at enormous outlay, and the Emperor expected to make this place the great rival of London. At the piece of 1814 the dockyards were demolished, but the great basins still exist, and are used for purposes of commerce. They are useful in winter to preserve vessels from the ice which floats on the shelf. It was a lovely morning when, having parted with our English friends who proceeded to Bruges, we entered on board an iron steamer for a passage of about eight hours to Rotterdam. The boat was neat and clean, though small, and the cabin was adored with baskets and pots of flowers of various kinds. The view of the city and its fortifications was fine as the boat receded from the shore. On our way we passed Dort, one of the finest towns of Holland, and from appearances, I think, one of much trade. Its population is twenty thousand. Here, in 1618, was held the famous Synod of Dort, the great labour of which was to settle the claims of the rival systems of Calvin and Arminius. At this Synod, Bishop Hall was a delegate from the English church, and he, good man, never dreamed of denying the validity of the ordination of his brethren in that council. We felt interested as we sailed along this town in remembering that here, in 1421, seventy-two villages and more than one hundred thousand persons were drowned by the incursion of water from the dike. The river stretches far away and looks much like a lake. If anyone looks at the face of the country, he will at once understand why these regions have been termed the low countries. We passed, as you may see on the map, Gravendil, Wielandstadt, and the far-famed fortress of Bergen-Opzum, which is one of the strongest places in Holland. You know that Antwerp stood a long siege in 1831 when it suffered severely, and as we passed Fort St. Laurent, we were pointed out the spot where a most gallant occurrence happened at that time. A gunboat belonging to Holland got on shore, and the Belgians hastened to capture her, when her captain, a young man named Van Spake, rushed into the magazine, put his cigar upon an open keg of powder, and in the explosion, perished, with twenty-eight of his crew out of thirty-one. He was an orphan who had been educated at Amsterdam. He has a fine monument next to Admiral De Ruders and a fine ship of the Dutch Navy bears his name. On board our boat we found two young gentlemen of about fifteen or sixteen belonging to Rotterdam who were going home for vacation. They are pupils at a boarding school in Brussels. They spoke English very well and gave us a great deal of pleasing information. The dinner on the boat was very excellent. On reaching Rotterdam we merely rode through it to take the cars for the haig. It is a fine-looking town, has seventy-five thousand inhabitants, and some noble East Indian men were lying at the wharves. Many of the houses were like those at Antwerp and told a Spanish origin. Here I noticed looking-glasses at the windows so that anyone in the parlor can see the reflection up and down the streets. I was glad to be able to see the bronze statue of Erasmus, who was born here in fourteen sixty-seven. We were delayed by the absence of the authorities to sign our passports, but were in time to reach the cars and then started for the haig, which is thirteen miles from Rotterdam, and we were forty minutes on the way. The road is excellent. We passed through Delft and here could not fail to admire the gardens and country houses. It was dark as we entered the town and we took up our quarters at the Dolan, which is a name indicating that archers have resorted thither. Whoever goes to this house will be sure to do well. We obtained capital rooms. Early next morning we called on Mr. George Folsom, our chargé d'affaires. This gentleman is an old friend of mine, and he gave us a most cordial welcome, taking entire possession of our party for the day. Mr. Folsom resides in a very handsome style upon the Vorhut, the best street of the city, and which, like every other part of the place, is adorned with noble trees. It seems strange to call this place a city, it is so thoroughly rural in its appearance. It hardly shows, like a town of sixty-five thousand people, on account of being concealed in shrubbery cut up by canals and overshadowed with forest trees. Very early in the day we were kindly provided with carriages and taken to Scheveningen, a village about three miles off. Our road lay through a fine avenue of trees. This is a great fishing-place and a great watering-place. It has a large hotel, which we went to for lunch. It is the great rendezvous of the fashionable part of society in Germany during the heat of summer. We could not help drawing a contrast between Scheveningen and Newport, and not much to the advantage of the Dutch beach. This spot has some celebrity, as the port whence Charles II embarked for England at his restoration. On our way back we saw the residence of the Queen Dowager, sister to the Emperor of Russia, and of whom Mr. Folsom speaks highly as a very excellent and sensible lady. Mrs. Folsom and the ladies of our party had visited the Queen the day before. The house looked quite snug and very unpretending. On returning we at once repaired to the museum, which is supposed to be, in many respects, the finest in Europe. Here, too, is the famous picture gallery, in which are the best productions of the Flemish and Dutch schools. You are aware that Holland has had extensive trade with China and Japan through her colonies, hence the richness of this museum, which, so far as Japan is concerned, is unrivaled. I have a catalogue of this wonderful collection, and to that I must refer you, for as to description of what I saw it would be impossible to tell you a hundredth part. The oriental curiosities are very rich and fine. A plan of Jettoh, the capital of Japan, is very curious, made by natives. The historical treasures are rich and numerous. Here we saw the armor of De Ruder and that of Van Tromp, well-scored with bullets. The sword of Van Spake, a part of Tsar Caesar's bed, the dress of William of Orange when he was murdered at Delft, the pistols and bullets by which he fell, etc. We all expected much pleasure from the gallery of paintings, and I believe we experienced no disappointment. And how could we, with such treasures of art and genius? Here we noticed with most interest Rembrandt's surgeon and pupils dissecting a dead body. This is number 127. The body is admirable and the legs are thrown into shadow. The portraits are lifelike. The portraits of Rembrandt's wives are fine specimens of coloring. Number 123 is the world-renowned bull by Paul Potter. The glory of this work is its minute adherence to nature. The leaves and plants and every appearance of vegetation impresses the spectator with the idea of reality. This was carried off to the Louvre, although the Dutch offered twenty thousand pounds sterling to redeem it. I liked the pictures of De Ruder and Van Tromp, but the treat of all to me was the show of small Dutch pictures by Gerard Dau, thirty-five in number, a battlefield and Haykart by Woovermans, and many others from his studio, Flight into Egypt by Wanderwerp, Fruits and Flowers by Brugels, Interiors of Cottages by A. V. Ostad, a kitchen by Tenye, and a very large hunting-piece by Sniders, who I greatly admire. As to portraits they are in any number and some are very fine. One of Lawrence's Custer by Durer is Curious. We went to see the King's Palace and here we found only the relics of the splendid gallery which was once to be seen. An auction had recently disposed of more than half the paintings. The late monarch was a man of taste, but had sadly involved himself in its gratification. Many of the paintings here are exceedingly fine and will be disposed of in a public sale next October. After leaving this place we went with Mr. Folsom to see the Bremenhof. This is the place where the Dutch Parliament meets. We went into the second chamber and heard the debates, which were not very edifying. The appearance of the members was very much like that of a New England Assembly of legislators. The fine Gothic hall here is said to be the oldest building in the city. It was on a scaffolding in front of it that Barnabelt, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, was beheaded in 1618 at the age of 72. We also saw the gateway of the tower in which Cornelius DeVitt was confined in 1672 on the ridiculous charge of conspiracy against the Prince of Orange. The populace feared his acquittal and they by a maneuver introduced his brother, John DeVitt, the Grand Pensionary to visit him in prison. Then they broke in, dragged them forth and tore them to pieces under the gateway. We went to look at DeVitt's residence, which is plain and unpretending. I do wish you could have been with us in our ride through the Bosch, a fine park of forest trees near to the town. The forest never looked more pleasant to me than here. May is a sweet month and especially when, with all her verdant beauty, she is just about to rush into the arms of June. We all talked of you in the charming drive and Mr. Folsom made kind inquiries after you. On reaching home we went with our kind guide to see the house which was occupied by John Adams when he was at this court negotiating a treaty with Holland in aid of our independence. We are to spend tomorrow and the next day at Harlem on our way to Amsterdam and the boys will tell you what we see there. Affectionately yours, J.O.C. End of Letter 36 Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 37 of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 37 Amsterdam Dear Charlie, in order that we might enjoy an opportunity to hear the great organ at Harlem to advantage, Mr. Folsom advised us to spend a Sabbath day there which we did in company with his family. We took the rail to Leiden, ten miles. Here we saw the dunes or sandhills which guard the Dutch coast and which are from one to four miles in width and are from thirty to fifty feet high. These immense piles would soon be scattered by the strong winds if they were not regularly sown with reed grass, the roots of which often spread from twenty to thirty feet, binding the banks and the decayed vegetation furnishing good soil for potatoes. The existence of Holland and its population is only ensured by perpetual strife maintained against the sea and winds of heaven. We could not look at Leiden and forget that the Pilgrim Fathers of New England were once exiles at this place. They called it a goodly and pleasant city and here they spent twelve years and we looked at the scenery with interest as we thought of their wonderings and how much preparation was expended in establishing the glorious foundations of our own New England. The city has about forty thousand inhabitants. Its university is still famous and the hall of the institution is rich in portraits of the great and good. The Museum of Natural History is very large and is quite curious in Oriental and Egyptian relics. In Japanese curiosities the Dutch museums are far more affluent than any others of Europe as they maintain almost exclusive traffic with Japan. The history of Leiden is very interesting. In 1573-4 this town suffered an awful siege from the Spaniards for four months and lost more than five thousand inhabitants by war and famine. At last the elements conspired in their favor and an incursion of the sea destroyed the Spaniards and brought succor to the Dutch. Rembrandt the painter was born at Leiden in a windmill. By the way there are literally thousands of windmills in this country and some of them are very pretty objects. The sales of these mills are immensely large and I think I saw some that were quite one hundred feet long. Many of the best men of England have studied at Leiden and if you read the lives of Evelyn and Goldsmith you will find that they were much attached to this place. Bohav, the great physician, was a professor here and so were Arminius and his rival Gomorris. Gerard Dau or Dew, Ben Steen and Vandervelt the artists were born here. Near Leiden the Rhine enters the sea by the aid of a canal and slew skates and here are great salt works carried on by evaporation. From Leiden we took the rail to Harlem, eighteen miles, and we found the road very good and the first class cars perfectly luxurious. We noticed on our right the Warmond Catholic Seminary for Popish priests and saw the young men in large numbers walking about. The road runs through a sandy tract of country and much of it is made land. Approaching Harlem we found the cottages and country houses very numerous and exceedingly pretty and we were pointed to the castle of the unfortunate Jacqueline whose history you know has been so charmingly written by our friend Mr. T. C. Grotten. We made our home at the Golden Lion and found the place comfortable and very thoroughly Dutch. The landlady is a brisk, bustling body and speaks English tolerably well. Harlem has about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. On Sunday morning we went to the church of Saint-Bavant. We found a large congregation and they sung most heartily. The Domini had a cock-tat hanging up behind him in the pulpit and he was beyond doubt a very eloquent man. The great organ, built in 1738, was long deemed the organ of Europe but is now supposed to be excelled at Freiberg. We heard it during several service times and in a voluntary. It unquestionably is an instrument of great sweetness as well as power. It has five thousand pipes. The church is lofty and looks plain enough after what we have seen in Antwerp. Of course we went to see the statue of Koster who is said to have been the inventor of printing in fourteen twenty to twenty-eight, twelve years before Gutenberg made his experiments. The Dutch are strong advocates for their inventor but I think evidence in favor of metal type lays with the man of Mayence. You may be sure that, when we were so fortunate as to be here early in June, we did not fail to go into the nurseries and gardens and see the hyacinths, tulips, narcissuses, anemones, ranuculuses, etc. We went to the extensive grounds of Mr. Crelege, the first florist of Holland, number one hundred forty-six, Kleine Hothweg, and here we were greatly delighted. The tulips were exceedingly fine and undercover they received as much attention as if they were babies. The hyacinths surpassed in beauty and variety anything we are accustomed to. I noticed a double blue called Gloria Mundy, van Spijk, l'important, same color, Goethe, double yellow, Leclerc, crimson, and emicus white which were particularly beautiful. But we were all perhaps most pleased with the extensive beds of anemones and ranuculuses which rarely do well in our hot climate and here flourish in a humid atmosphere. Certainly they are the prettiest flowers I ever saw but they lack perfume. Here we saw them by the thousands. The exquisite color and condition of these large gardens pleased us much. The young gentleman who kindly devoted three hours to us spoke English well and was very courteous and attentive. I have brought away a catalog of the flowers with the prices. The soil of Harlem is everywhere a deep sand and everything appears to flourish. The vintage of this place is very pleasant and we rode for two hours through a noble wood, fringed with sweet villas and made a visit to the palace built by the great banker Hope of Amsterdam and which was the residence of King Louis Bonaparte. It is now a picture gallery and contains some good historical pictures and many fine small ones of the best artists of Holland. I think the boys forgot to tell you that at the Hague we found the annual exhibition of paintings by the living artist of Holland just opened and the treat was very great. It is quite clear that the art is not lost here and that rare excellence is still to be found among the Dutch painters. We were all delighted with a picture of Charles IX of France and his surgeon Ambrose Pare. The time is just before the Bartholomew massacre and Catherine is in the room plotting with her wretched son. Some of the portraits were remarkable productions and events of power rarely seen in this department. Some of the interiors of houses and churches were quite in the style of Ostad, Nieves and Gerard Dau. A picture of the Virgin and Jesus and John by Sforza of Amsterdam received general praise. Of this artist I shall have more to say. The great lake of Harlem which is 30 miles in circumference is to be drained and for several years operations have been in progress to this end. The immense works employed for this purpose are worthy of notice. After leaving Harlem and taking leave of our kind friend the minister at the Hague with his amiable family, we again entered the cars and after riding twelve miles reached Amsterdam. The chief feature on the way was the everlasting windmill employed here to grind wheat, etc. We went to the Hotel Dolan and found it all that Mr. Folsom had said. This is a great city of 225,000 inhabitants. The canals are immense affairs and the ships and vessels of all sorts give it a very active appearance. All around the city is a wide fossa and there are four great canals inside with many minor cuts. Some of these canals are more than 125 feet wide and are edged with very fine houses and the intercourse of the city is kept up by some 250 bridges. The city is about eight miles round. Everyone seems actively employed. Yours affectionately, J.O.C. End of Letter 37 Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information please visit LibriVox.org. Letter 38 of Young Americans Abroad or Vacation in Europe travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland. Edited by J.O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter 38 Amsterdam Dear Charlie The next morning after reaching this fine but queer city we called on the American Consul and he gave us a very friendly reception. He is quite a young man but seems to be full of energy. At his house we met a Mr. J.G. Swartz, a native of Philadelphia, but who came to Holland very young and has made this city his residence. He is highly distinguished as an artist and we saw a fine production of his at the exhibition at the Hague. Mr. Swartz is a charming companion, full of enthusiasm, and when he found out that I was fond of pictures he at once volunteered to be our guide to the galleries here and in all our movements here our kind friend has been with us. The most imposing building here is the Stadhouse or Palace. It was finished in 1655 and used to be the seat of the town councils. Louis Bonaparte used it as his residence and the King occupies it when he comes here. The Marble Hall is assumed to be one of the noblest rooms in Europe and is 125 feet long, 57 wide and nearly 100 feet high. From the top of this building you get a capital view of the town cut up into artificial islands by the intersection of canals, etc. In this building is much fine statuary and a few historical paintings. The churches are large but look barn-like. The organ of the old church is very rich in its decorations and here, as at Harlem, men sit in church with their hats on if they choose. The clergy wear a short black cloak and deep white ruffs on the neck. The Jews are quite numerous and have several synagogues. They live mostly in one part of the city. I do not think any of us shall forget our visit to the picture gallery in Amsterdam. Our attention was directed by Mr. S. to the best paintings and the particular merits of the artists were kindly explained to us. The sight of a great picture is an event and I think that the day on which I first saw Rembrandt's Night Watch will long be regarded by me with pleasurable feelings. It is a company of archers who are going out with their captain. The lights and shades are wonderfully introduced. The City Guards of Amsterdam, by van der Helst, is a large picture with twenty-five portraits and is esteemed as the finest portrait picture in the world. But my favorite here is a small picture called The Night School by Gerard Dau. I would cheerfully go a hundred miles on foot to see such a picture. The management of the lights upon the interior and figures is beyond anything I could have imagined. His hermit and crucifix is another gem. The picture of officers plundered by peasants by Rembrandt and several landscapes of his are still in my mind's eye and several pictures by the two Ostads, Teniers, and both are quite sufficient to make me understand how it is that some men have found such fascination in collecting a gallery. The best specimens of Jan Steen are in this city and his Fed of St. Nicholas would take wonderfully well with our good old knickerbockers at home. A landscape with Catalan figures by Albert Koop is strikingly beautiful and how I wish you could see a fat boy, the son of a burgo-master by Bartholomew Helst, dated 1648. Van Dyke, whose portraits have never been equalled, has some of his best in this museum and his burgo-master of Antwerp, van der Bracht, is as bold a picture as you could wish to gaze at. Hauntcutter's flowers and fruits and Snyder's game-pieces are among the best of their kind in the world. Some of the finest things I have seen in Holland, in the way of painting, are the little gems descriptive of life as it lay about the artist, interiors of domestic abodes, and outdoor scenes at the roadside. These, the patient, plotting Dutchman, have worked up most elaborately. One or two of Nicholas May's's pictures are wonderful. I saw one in a private collection and it was a glorious thing, though only a kitchen with two or three figures. Oh, how poor are the things we often hear spoken of as fine pictures. The eye, it seems to me, obtains its education rapidly in such a gallery as this. I am sure I shall look at works of art in future with new feelings. There was a most beautiful Jew boy about eleven years old that used to stand at our hotel door to sell matches, who regularly beset us with his wares. His face was as striking as any fancy picture you can meet with, and his beauty and impudence made him a pretty successful merchant. Mr. Schwartz took us to a noble mansion belonging to a merchant prince to see his great picture of Columbus before the council explaining his theory. This is a first-class execution. The coloring is very fine and the drawing good, and we all felt pride in seeing such a picture from the easel of our countrymen. I wish we had some good painting of his in America. His portraits are excellent, and one of his wife has earned him his high reputation in Holland. Through the kindness of this gentleman we were introduced to the Artists Club and spent our evenings there in very pleasant society. The artists belonging to it are probably about fifty, and the other gentlemen who mainly supported are about two hundred. I was much surprised to find nearly every gentleman we were introduced to speaking excellent English. We met here a very gentlemanly accomplished lawyer, Mr. Van Linnep, whose father is a man of great wealth. His attentions were very friendly. While here James was quite poorly with some slight attack of fever, and both our friends and the council were unremitting in their services. The water is very poor, rainwater is valuable indeed. The best drinking water is brought from Utrecht in stone demi-johns. The bad water is often used, however, flavored with shydom. We saw several of the floating houses in which whole family reside and carried articles from place to place. The herring fishery in its season is a great matter in the commerce of Amsterdam. Everything here impresses the stranger with the idea of activity, wealth and great comfort, and I fancy that a person would very soon become attached to the city as a place of residence. Tomorrow, if James is better, we resume our journey and start for Cologne. Yours affectionately, Weld. End of Letter Thirty-Eight Read by Cibella Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox.org. Letter Thirty-Nine of Young Americans Abroad, or Vacation in Europe, travels in England, France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland, edited by J. O. Choules. Read for LibriVox.org into the public domain. Letter Thirty-Nine, Cologne Dear Charlie, we are strangely favored with weather. Every day is fine, and we begin to think that the climate has been abused, for we have had an uninterrupted spell of bright, sunny weather. We started after breakfast for our journey to Cologne and took the cars for Utrecht, which is twenty-three miles from Amsterdam. Our road was not one of much interest beyond the pretty gardens of the suburban residences. Brukellen and Marcen we thought pleasant little places. Utrecht is a large town and has, I think, nearly sixty thousand inhabitants, and of these one half are Catholics. It is rather on an ascent, and so is unlike any other place we have seen in Holland. The place is famous for the Treaty of 1713. Here is a university and some very fine private residences, and the fortifications have been laid out in fine walks. The Mall, or public walk, is a noble avenue of trees, and they are in six or eight rows. In this place is a cathedral which we only saw. From its tower is the best view of the country, and it is said you can see more than twenty towns from it. From Utrecht we continued by railroad to Arnhem, a distance of thirty-three miles, and we saw more forest trees than we had before noticed. In the cars were several Catholic priests who smoked incessantly. Arnhem is on the banks of the Rhine and is a pretty little place of about sixteen thousand inhabitants. We were, of course, reminded by Dr. C. that here Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586 of his wound received in the Battle of Zutphen. The entire vicinity seemed to us a delightful spot, and we have seen no place where the houses appear so English and American. The scenery is very attractive, and we would have liked to stay over a day, but the steamer for reward was ready to start, and we had only time to get our tickets and go on board. We found a neat, comfortable boat and met pleasant society. The Rhine here is bounded by flat shores and has no points of interest and affords no promise of what is so soon to be. We entered Prussia at Lobith and had a very thorough examination of our trunks by officers who came on board. At Vessel, I think, a town of some twelve thousand inhabitants and having a very strong fortress, we stopped half an hour and a crowd came round the boat. Rapine, who wrote history of England, lived here while engaged in the task. How singular it is that all the histories of England, of any note, have been written by men not born in England. They have been French, Scotch, Irish, etc. We reached Rurort in the afternoon and left the boat. This is the great central depot where the coal of the Rur is deposited. Here we crossed in a ferry boat, rode a mile or two in an omnibus, and then took the cars for Cologne, after waiting some hour or two in consequence of a delay. The first we have met with on any railroad on the continent. It was dark when we passed through Düsseldorf, and we felt sorry not to stay here and see the watercolor drawings that remain in this collection once so famous, but we were told at Paris that the best of the drawings and pictures have gone to Munich. In the cars we met a gentleman and his lady who were evidently Americans. We entered into conversation and found that they were from Nashville, Tennessee. They had been traveling very extensively in Europe and had been through Egypt, crossed the desert, and visited Syria and the Holy City. I quite respected a lady, Charlie, who had traveled hundreds of miles upon a camel. The journey had been very beneficial to her health. We reached Cologne at about ten o'clock after crossing over a bridge of boats fourteen hundred feet long, and went to the Hotel Holland on the banks of the river and found at a very good house with a grand view of the Rhine, and the chambers are as good as can be desired. Few places are more fruitful in the reminiscences which they furnished than this old city. Cologne has a Roman origin and was settled by a colonel sent by Nero and his mother, who was born here in her father's camp during the war. It still retains the walls of its early fortifications built as long ago as the 12th and 13th centuries. In Cologne, Caxton lived in 1470 and learned the new art of printing, which he carried to England and introduced there. Its present population is about 90,000, having increased laterally and, no doubt, will rapidly increase in consequence of its connection with Paris, Strasbourg, Berlin, Antwerp, and other cities by railroads. We turned our steps very early to the cathedral and here we expected nothing less than a treat, but much as we had heard of it and as often as the doctor had described it, we found it far beyond all our anticipations. The church was commenced in 1248 and is still far from completed. It is always thought to be one of the grandest Gothic piles in the world. The name of the architect is not known. Gerhard is the earliest builder whose name is associated with this church in 1252. The plan was to build the two towers 500 feet high, but the loftiest has only attained the height of about 185 feet. Much of the external work is in decay, but great pains and cost have been given to repair the stonework and the work is going on with vigor and success. It is supposed that it will require three millions of dollars to carry out the design. The form of the church is a cross and the arches are supported by a quadruple roll of 64 columns and including those of the portico, there are more than 100. The four columns in the middle are 30 feet in circumference and each of the 100 columns is surmounted by a chapitée different from the others. On one tower still exists the old crane which raised the stones that came from Drachenfeld's. The only part of the cathedral yet finished is the choir. This is 160 feet high and whether you look at it outside or gaze on its interior, you are lost in admiration. The stained windows are really beyond all others I have seen. All around the choir stand colossal statues of the apostles, the virgin and the savior. In a chapel not far from the altar is the renowned shrine of the three kings or magi who came from the east with gifts to the infant savior. These bones once rested at Milan, but Frederick Barbarossa in 1162 gave them to an archbishop of Cologne. So here they are in a case silver gilt and arcades on pillars all around and inside the pillars little gold prophets and apostles. The jewelry at this shrine has been formerly valued at 6 millions of francs, but in some of its transportation in troubled times it has met with spoilations, but it is still radiant with gold and pearls and gems of all descriptions. The restoration of the shrine is going on and costly offerings are frequently made of the undertaking. The skulls of these worthies are crowned with gold and look ghastly enough in spite of diamonds and rubies. Their names are Caspar, Melchiar and Balthasar. We paid a heavy fee to see the rare show, but it is well enough to understand the memory that there is in the world. We went the entire round of the little chapels and saw some fine monuments to the great ones of church and state. I was much pleased with a bronze statue of archbishop Conrad of Hochstaden who died in 1261 and some exceedingly old paintings. We also saw the library in Sacresty and the sacred vestiments, some of which were splendid enough. Here we saw a bone of St. Matthew, some St. Shrine and Silver and the state cross of the archbishop with several of the very finest ivory carvings that we have fallen in with. A look at the vast workshop where the stone carving for restoration are made was quite interesting. While wandering through the aisles of the cathedral we met with a very pleasant family from New York and after introduction we agreed to make the passage of the Rhine together and as there are young people in the party this will be very agreeable to us. We have rather a limited time to pass here and so have concluded to neglect the Virgin's Bones at St. Ursula's Church of which we had read all the legends. Men and women trained up to worship these odds and ends are the people who are flocking by thousands to our country and there is a great deal for such folks to learn before they will value and understand our privileges. We next turned our steps to St. Peter's Church where Rubens was baptized and we saw the brass font which is still there and also his father's tomb. It was to this church that the great painter presented his famous crucifixion of Peter which he thought the best he ever painted but artists differ with him in this estimate. The picture now exposed to view is only a copy which was made in Paris when the original was in the Louvre but the man in charge turns the picture which is on a pivot and you have the original before you. Peter's head is very fine and much more striking than the rest of the body. The little garden in the cloisters of this church is very sweet and there are some good bits of sculpture. The beautiful Church of the Apostles we could not see accepting the outside and its appearance is quite singular. The styles of architecture I thought strangely mixed up. Of course we got some cologne water at the genuine fountain head in Julek's place and in the evening we made an examination of a curiosity shop where we found a fine old engraving of Rubens's head and two excellent engravings of Ostad's interiors. They are gems in their way and though very old are perfect. We saw the house where the unfortunate Queen of France died in 1644 respecting whose last days so interesting a fiction has been written and we were told that it was also the very house in which Rubens was born. At all events it is a very plain establishment for such celebrity as it possesses. We have also seen a military review but the discipline was poor and only the music good. A gentleman here from America engaged in the wine trade has amused us all by his facts in relation to Champagne which is here manufactured in large quantities and is fabricated from a mixture of some ten or twelve different wines. A very superior brand is the result which the good people of America will pay well for with an appropriate brand duly furnished to order. On the roof of our hotel is a sort of room or garden called the Belvedere. In it are a variety of fine plants in healthy condition. The roses were very fragrant. The view across the river from this place is charming and the village of Deutz looks prettily with its large hotel and plenty of smaller houses of resort. Tomorrow we go up the Rhine and we are all hoping for a fine day and then we expect a pleasant one. Yours truly, James. End of letter thirty-nine. Read by Cibela Denton. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, please visit