In our treckschuyt, I witnessed a strong contrast to the spirits and loquacity of the French and Germans; all was smoke and silence, save when it yielded to a few short sentences, in which the word _mi vrow_ frequently met my ear. One very grave elderly gentleman, who wore an enormous curled and powdered wig, and who somewhat resembled Lord Burleigh in the Critic, spoke but once all the way, and that was in the following oracular sentence; “_Wat is goed voor de man is ook goed voor de vrow_—What is good for the husband, is as good for the wife;” so similar in many instances are the Dutch and English languages, that some of our witlings have observed that bad English will make very good Dutch. M. Siegenbeek, minister of the anabaptist church at Leyden, and the first who has occupied the chair for Dutch literature and eloquence in the university of that city, in which, by his genius and attainments, he reflects honour upon his country, has published a very ingenious work, entitled, _Verhandeling over de Nederduitsche Spelling_; a Treatise on Dutch Orthography, tending to render it uniform: this work and another by the same author, called _Verhandeling over den Ionsted, &c._ or a Treatise on the Influence of Euphony or agreeable Sound, and of the Facility of Pronunciation, on the orthography of the Dutch language, were, at the instigation and by the able exertions of M. Vander Palm, the agent of national education, some years since published, for the improvement of the national language and poetry. The late Batavian government adopted the system of orthography proposed by M. Siegenbeek, and ordered it to be used by all the offices of administration. It is generally understood that the language of Holland is divided into High and Low Dutch, whereas there is but one pure language, as in England, which is called Neder Duitch, the language of the Netherlands, or of a country lying very low. In Holland, as in every other country, there is a variety of provincial idioms; for instance, a raw native of Friesland would not be understood at Amsterdam. Of the Dutch language our immortal lexicographer, Johnson, says, “Our knowledge of the northern literature is so scanty, that of words undoubtedly Teutonic the original is not always to be found in any ancient language, and I have therefore inserted Dutch or German substitutes, which I consider not as radical, but parallel; not as the parent of, but as sisters to the English.” To close this digression, the language, I must confess, did not sound dissonant to my ear from the lips of well-bred persons. The following specimens will enable the reader to observe the solidity of the learned doctor’s remark. Was you at Lord Nelson’s funeral? Yes. Waart gy by Lord Nelson’s begravenis? Ja. Waren sie bey Lord Nelson’s begræbniss? Ja. Be then so good as to describe it to me. Weest dan zoo goed en beschryft het my. Sein sie dann so gut, und beschreiben sie es mir.