Vol. I. to ITALY. 11
* The Prince of Orange resides here, and keeps * At wfcnt
a very fine Court. Here the States-General K'^Englan<1*
t Assemble, and the Ambaisadors and other Mi-1 You may fee
nisters os Foreign Princes have their Residence. the place os
The People are more polite and sociable than in
other places ; and this is the place whither Tra- Hail sohere the
vellers usually resort. The Coaches are nume- states os Hd-
rous; The Houses and Walks are very fine, and,and mset-
the Air is perfectly good. In a word, ’tis most
certain, that the Hague is an Inchanting place.
The Wood is one of its chief Ornaments: For,
as I told you the other day, it tires one to see
nothing but Meadows; and therefore to walk in
a Wood in Holland, gives a double Pleasure and
Satisfaction. You have also the Walk by theBe*w« the
Sea-side to the Village of Schevel';ng, whither you Hague and
may go in half an Hour, by a strait Pathway
cut cross the Downs. There is a good Filhery at pie^ehe-
Scheveling. There you may see a Chariot with longing ’to the
Wheels and Sails, which the Wind drives by the ^arl os Port-
Sea-shore, so firm and even is the Sand on thatancE
Coast.
The Sieur Refner, a Gentleman of Zealand,
who dwells at the Hague, hath a Cabinet, where,
among other things, are a great number of very
curious Shells. ' \
The situation of the Hague deserves in a pecu-
liar manner to be distinguilh’d from that of any
other place in Holland, because of the variety of
its Landskip: For it hath the Wood on the North,
the Meadow on the South, feme Arable Lands
Eastward, and the Downs and the Sea to the
Weft. '
Its Trade is inconsiderable, in respeCt of the
Cities which have Havens, or great Manufactures:
yet a great deal of business is transaded in this place:
Besidcs, there are many rich and noble Families,
which live on their Revenues^or Employments in
the Army or Court. This