Amsterdam has no noble squares, which add so much to the splendor of London, nor is there any bridge worthy of being noticed, except that which crosses the river Amstel, which is built of brick, has thirteen arches, and is tolerably handsome: on the river looking towards this bridge, there is a fine view of the city, which I preferred sketching, to a more expanded one on the coast immediately opposite to the city, in the north of Holland. The only association throughout Holland, which resembles a monastic one, is that of the Beguines, who reside in a large house appropriated to their order, which is surrounded with a wall and ditch, has a church within, and resembles a little town; this sisterhood is perfectly secular, the members of which wear no particular dress, mingle with the inhabitants of the city, quit the convent, and marry when they please: but they are obliged, as long as they belong to the order, to attend prayers at stated periods, and to be within the convent at a certain hour every evening. To be admitted of this order, they must be either unmarried or widows without children, and the only certificate required is that of good behaviour, and that they have a competence to live upon. The restraints are so very few, that a Beguine may rank next to a happy wife: they have each an apartment and a little flower-garden, and take no vows of celibacy or of any other sort; in short, the whole establishment may be considered as a social retirement of amiable women, for the purpose of enjoying life in an agreeable and blameless manner. How superior this to living A barren sister all your life, Chaunting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon! _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Act I. Scene 1. The ladies of Holland, if I may judge from those with whom I had the honour and happiness of associating in Amsterdam, are very amiable, thoroughly well bred, well educated, speak English, French and German, and they are very polite and courteous to strangers: they are also remarkable for their attention to decorum and modesty; the unmarried, without prudery, are highly virtuous, and the married present a pattern of conjugal fidelity. They are also very fond of dancing, particularly of waltzing, and they are much attached to English country dances, in which the most graceful Parisian belle seldom appears to any advantage.