The Dutch are so familiarized to these scenes, that parents frequently carry their children to them; from the hope of preserving them from vicious propensities, by placing before their eyes the nauseous and frightful images of suffering profligacy. Such an experiment in morals would be somewhat dubious in its operations; for vice like deformity ceases to disgust in proportion as it is contemplated. Such ideas never enter the sober brains of such visitors; they go to spend an hour, which to them is mirthful, and the poor wretches I have mentioned augment the pleasures of the scene by the gaudiness of their finery, and the company add to its vivacity. In the beauty of its plumage, “they forget the dying bird.” Through considerable interest I was enabled to see the Rasp-House, or prison for male and female culprits: it is a large quadrangular building; most of the cells and rooms look towards the yard, which is considerably below the level of the street. The food is wholesome and abundant, and the chambers are kept very neat. I saw in this place nothing objectionable but the period allowed to the prisoners for taking exercise, which is infinitely too short and infrequent, each person being allowed to walk in the yard only once in the week; the consequence is, that few of the prisoners looked healthy. Holland is justly celebrated for its public charities. In Rotterdam, before the last war, there were many benevolent institutions, some of which have inevitably languished, and others expired, in consequence of the political convulsions of the country and the usually impoverishing effects of long hostility. In the streets I was surprised to see the horses shod in the shameful and clumsy manner they are: the shoe is behind elevated to a considerable height, so that the poor animal must suffer from the position into which he is always forced, resembling that of a lady in a high-heeled pair of shoes of the last century. At my hotel I was much gratified by the whimsical appearance of a meeting called the _Society of Variety and Unity_, which was held there: about eighty Dutchmen of the middling classes of life were assembled in one of the rooms, to discuss philosophical, but more particularly religious questions: when I entered the room, one of their members was addressing the body upon the subject of death, as I was informed. His eloquence appeared to be as sluggish as the canal opposite; the motto of the fraternity was well illustrated by what appeared; the only _variety_ I saw was in their pipes, and their _unity_ was effected by the fumes of their tobacco, which seemed to blend them in one common mass of smoke.