derstanding, that, at the time when the mind of man is sufficiently enlightened to avoid the weakness of shameful credulity, a whole people should stoop to such extravagant imposition! what a shame to justice and honesty, that those who are trusted to guard the rights of a people, and who certainly are too well informed to yield their belief to such trash, should yet join in, and give the weight of their authority to so gross, so wicked a decep→ tion on a community! The magistrates, the courts of justice, and the governor-they walk, too, in company with the bald-pated impostors-Good Gon! can more be said? volumes of comment could not elucidate or render it more conspicuously absurd than the bare recital of the fact itself.

It is impossible for me to recount to you the number of nunneries, of various orders, in which unfortunate women were cloistered up, some from bigotry, and others by force, in this city. There were, however, two of them English one of Dominican ladies, founded by CardinalHoward, in the reign of Charles the Second, of which a lady of the noble House of Norfolk was always abbess: the other is of Benedictine nuns; the Beguinage of the latter is like a little town, surrounded with a wall and ditch, and divided into pretty little streets, where every Beguine has her apartment; the number of them amounts in general to seven or eight hundred, sometimes more.

If population be the true strength of a nation, this part of Popery is very impolitic. The succession of women in this one convent since the reign of Charles the Second, must amount to many thousands. Had those been married, and, on an average, had only two children each, with the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, down to the present day, in all the ramifications of descent, there is no doubt but their number would equal that of the whole people of some extensive provinces. What then must be the loss to the popula tion of the earth, arising from the celibacy of so many millions of males and females as have been consigned to sterility in the catholic countries, ever since that extraordinary doctrine came first into fashion? It is out of the reach of calculation: not but, now and then, they

may have children-indeed they certainly have, but those are generally disposed of in a way not to bring shame on the frail Sisterhood, or their Confessors.

In wading through such a torrent of offensive ideas as the innumerable absurdities and deceptions of Popish countries continually raise in the mind, it is a pleasing circumstance to be relieved by the contemplation of some really useful, humane institution; and such a one presents itself now to my recollection: At Brussels, and, I am told, at all great towns of the Netherlands, there is a public office for lending money at a very moderate interest upon pledges: it is called the Mount of Piety; and was established nearly 108 years ago by the Archduke, Albert, and Isabella, his wife. By this institution, the poor are saved from the fleecings and frauds of pawnbrokers and to render it still more perfect in accommo dation, there are private passages for entrance; so that those who would wish to conceal their necessities, are exempted from the mortification of being seen publicly going in, or coming out,

You have read, I presume, that in the days of Heathenism, the Deities of that curious Mythology were supposed to rejoice in the number Three. The Popish Code has fixed' upon Seven as the lucky number. Thus they have seven sacraments, seven deadly sins, &c. &c. Brussels has improved upon that; and, taking the hint from their blessed liturgy, has seven grand streets; seven parish-churches; seven Patrician families, out of which the Magistrates are or were elected; seven large squares; seven midwives, licensed and sworn by the Senate; and seven gates, leading to seven places of recreations and exercise, one to a place proper for fowling, a second to a place for fishing, a third to one for hunting, a fourth to pleasant fields, a fifth to pastime grounds, a sixth to springs and vineyards, and a seventh to gardens. Besides all which sevens, they boast of having once had the great good fortune of entertaining, at one time, seven crowned heads, with seven thousand horse belong ing to their retinue. If there were any spell in the num ber Seven, the people of Brussels surely must have been secure from all mischief; but the Sans-culottes have broẹ

ken the charm, dispersed the necromancers, and lowered poor number Seven to its mere arithmetical value.

The inns, or eating houses, in this city, were equal to any in the world: a stranger might dine there better and cheaper than any place perhaps, on earth. The wines, also, were excellent and cheap; and coach-hire beyond expectation reasonable And here I recollect to remark to you, that, all the way from Ostend to Brussels, one is obliged to set, dine, &c, in bed chambers; a circumstance which is extremely discordant to the feelings of those who have been used to British inns, although the bed. chambers are, to say the truth, large and commodious. At the very walls of Brussels begins the famous wood of Sogne, from which the inhabitants were allowed to cut wood for fuel: as fast as the trees were cut down, fresh ones were planted in their stead; by which means the wood was preserved, and it afforded a continual supply to the poor.

Brussels is so very remarkable a place, that I have ta ken more than my usual scope of description of it. Just as I had finished it, I read a paragrah in the public papers, stating that it is likely to be annexed to the territories of the French Republic.

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LETTER XIII.

HITHERTO, as I have proceeded on my travels, I have been purposely very particular in my description of the towns through which I passed on my way to India, in order to give your mind a disposition to inquiry, and point out to you an overflowing source of improvement and delight,

Having so far shewn you how amply you will be re warded, even in amusement, by the trouble of searching into books, for the accurate topographical descriptions of towns, cities, buildings, &c. &c. I think I may spare myself that labour for the future, and confine myself to those points that more immediately apply to the enlarge ment of the mind--I mean, the government, laws, mang F

ners, and character of the people of each country; and only use the former as subservient to the latter purpose, at least until I come to those places where, the ground being but little trodden by British feet more precise de scription may become necessary.

But before I leave the Netherlands, I must make a few remarks upon the country and people, which it would be unpardonable in me to omit, after having been already so minutely particular in things of inferior merit to the scope of my plan.

Although personal appearance be, in the eye of Moral Philosophy, a very inferior consideration, and mind the proper study of man; yet in describing a people, I cannot think it altogether unnecessary to include their personal appearance, as it will be found that there exists a greater analogy between the person and the mind of men than is generally perceived, Thus the lively hilarity, the restless activity, the levity and fantastic character of the French, are strongly pourtrayed in the national person. In like manner, the lusty, fat, clumsy and misshapen person of the people of the Netherlands, is strongly illustrative of the temper and habit of their mind, intellects and spirits industrious and heavy; dull of understanding, but not defective in judgment; slow in work-but, persevering in effort, and unerring in the process, they areg enerally successful in the end: in war, cold and backward at offensive operations, but inflexible and terrible in resist ance; like the boar of the forest, they seek not the combat with any, but will not go out of their way to decline it with the most powerful; their appetites and desires cooler than other nations, but less subject to change or caprice: never violently in love, but rationally attached to their wives; and both men and women faithful to their conjugal vow, as well from natural temperament, as from a principle of virtue.

Thus constituted by nature, the effects of their industry are wonderful in every thing, but chiefly in their canals and sluices, which serve not only for the support of their commerce, and the facility of intercourse, but for their defence against enemies: this was in other times; but, alas! the former of these uses, commerce, has so entirely

absorded all their intellect, and possessed their very souls, that they seem almost entirely negligent of the latter; and from being, of all people, the most wise and vigilant in determining and ascertaining their rights, the most zealous asserters and defenders of their independence, the most ardent friends to liberty, and the most determined enemies to slavery, they are become a sort of strange, inconsistent, hotchpotch politicians, whom ingenuity itself would find a difficulty in describing. They retain so much of their ancient and noble vigilance as serves to make them suspicious--so much of their independence as disposes them to change--so much of their jealousy as stimulates them to resistance--but not one particle of their former wisdom, to instruct them where they should attach themselves, where resist, or where resolve to act nor of their courage to carry any resolution they might from into effect.

In the year 1781, the Emperor JOSEPH the Second came to Brussels, in order to indulge his paternal feelings, as a monarch, with the contemplation and view of his subjects, and also to be inaugurated; and perhaps upon no occasion that has even occurred in the most volatile nation, was there greater joy more universally expressed. For some time before his arrival, the whole country was in motion, and even with them, domestic industry stopped its usual persevering pace suspended in the eager, anxious expectation of his arrival. Every thing in the birth, education, natural disposition and person of the young Emperor, united to impress his subjects with the most exalted opinion of his goodness, and to inspire all ranks of people with the most fortunate presages of a wise and beneficent government. Nor did he disappoint them: his conduct, when among them, is handed over to remembrance, by a variety of acts of benevolence and condescension, which showed that the grandeur of the monarch had not made him forget the nature of the man, and that his heart was better fitted for the mild, domestic enjoyments of a subject, than the stern and unbending hardihood fit for a King: for I am perfectly of opinion. with the celebrated JUNIUS, that there are virtues in a private man which are vices in a King; and that the mo