In the chamber for marriages, and injuries, there is nothing to arrest the attention of a visitor one minute. In Holland, marriage being a civil contract, when agreed upon in Amsterdam, it is always first performed before the magistrates in this room, without whose fiat the ceremony would be invalid; the clergyman, according to the religion of the parties, performs his functions afterwards. This room is also called, amongst the lower orders of people, the _Scolding Chamber_, on account of the irritability frequently displayed here by parties of that class, when they come to obtain redress for small offences. We were also led through the chamber for sea affairs, the mercers’ hall, the painters’ chamber, and in this room, but little suited to the treasures which it contains, is a very long picture by Vandyke, in which there is a gray head of an old man, of matchless excellence, which the observer cannot but retire from with regret. The burgomasters of Amsterdam were offered seven thousand florins for this head alone, to be cut out from the rest of the picture. There is also a large picture by Vanderhelst, representing a feast given by the burgomasters of Amsterdam to the ambassadors of Spain, on account of the peace of Munster, which closed a war that had lain waste the Netherlands for eighty years; and many other large and fine paintings by Rubens, Jordaans, and Otho Venius. It is a matter of surprise, that after Holland submitted to the French arms, these exquisite productions should be permitted to remain, upon the walls which they have so long adorned. In the great, or council of war chamber, there are some good paintings representing the ancient train-bands, and officers in their proper costume; many of which are portraits. In the secretary’s office, a handsome room, amongst other decorations, is a basso-relievo of _Silence_, which the Dutch are very fond of representing under the form of a _woman_. Upon my observing to a Dutchman, that in England such a compliment had never been paid to my own lovely country women, he replied: “Yes, but do you not notice that the statuary has placed the finger of the lady upon her mouth, as if he thought that no one of the sex, not even a Dutch female, could preserve silence without keeping her lips forcibly together with her finger.” The convenience of having nearly all the principal public offices, and courts of justice under one roof, is very great; the size of the kingdom, and simplicity of its public transactions, render such a concentration more easy of accomplishment in Holland than in England.