Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/79

Village or town, the Hague is a place of wonderful magnificence; The Voorhout, which I deem the principal street, contains many elegant and classical buildings, in the purest style of architectures and none of the monstrous, unnatural defects are to be perceived, which distinguish the mercantile erections of Rotterdam. Walking in the mall, which is in the middle of this street, I could have conceived myself to be in one of the most elegant towns of Italy, but for the murky atmosphere, surcharged with foggy vapours, which hung over my head, and never permitted one genial ray of the sun to bless me with its warmth; and the grotesque figures of Dutch milk-maids, fish-carriers, &c. bawling most inharmoniously their various commodities to sell. In this street the house of the prince of Wielburgh, who is allied to the stadtholder's family, and that of the ambassador of the French republic, which was formerly the residence of the British minister, are buildings of uncommon elegance; but, either from a want of taste, or a love of simplicity, I preferred the house