Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/197

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC
185

ought, perhaps, rather to say sublime; for when the whole strength of the organ is exerted, never did I hear, or could conceive, sounds more godlike. The swelling majesty of each gigantic note seems of more than mortal birth, and the slightest sounds enchant the ear. Solemnity, grandeur, delicacy, and harmony, are the characteristics of this noble instrument. The length of the longest pipe is thirty-two feet, and its diameter sixteen inches. In all, the organ has sixty stops or voices, four separations, two shakes, two couplings, and twelve bellows. — I borrow this information from a printed paper which we received from the organist. During the time the organ was playing, a number of well-dressed people collected in the church, and listened with rapturous attention to the divine sounds of the instrument. Men as well as women in Holland keep on their hats in church, and many paid us the civility of a bow for the pleasure which they received from the organ at our expence.

The custom of bowing in Holland is extremely troublesome. It is not sufficient, as