"Sy stierf voor uyt: hy pooghd' haer een' wijl tijds te derven, Maer had geen' sin daer in, en ging oock liggen sterven." Considering the affinity of the languages, and the frequent and constant intercourse with Holland, it is singular that we should have to reproach ourselves with such almost total ignorance respecting the literature of that country. With the exception of the slight sketch given by Dr. Bowring of its poetical literature, an Englishman has no work to which he can turn in his own language for information; and Dutch books may be sought for in vain in London. The late Mr. Heber when in Holland did not neglect its literature, and at the dispersion of his library I procured a few valuable Dutch books; among others, the very handsome volume which has given rise to this note. It contains much interesting matter, and affords a most amiable picture of the mind of its distinguished author, who lived to the very advanced age of ninety-one. There is a speaking and living portrait of him prefixed, from the beautiful graver of Blotelingk, and a view of his chateau of Hofwyck, with detailed plans of his garden, &c. He was secretary to three successive princes of Nassau, accountant to the Prince of Orange, and Lord of Zuylichem; and lived in habits of friendly intercourse with almost all the distinguished men who flourished during his long and prosperous life. His son is well known to the world of science as the inventor of the pendulum. Translations of three or four of Constantine Huyghens' poems are given by Dr. Bowring in his _Batavian Anthology_. And the great Vondel pronounces his volume to be-- "A garden mild of savours sweet, Where Art and Skill and Wisdom meet; Rich in its vast variety Of forms and hues of ev'ry dye." S. W. SINGER. THE REV. MR. GAY. The very interesting notices which you have often given us of the truly great and inestimable Locke, induce me to trouble you with an inquiry relative to a philosophical writer, who followed in his school, I mean the Rev. Mr. Gay, the author of the Dissertation prefixed to Bishop Law's translation of King's _Origin of Evil_. It is sufficient evidence of the importance of that Dissertation, that it put Hartley upon considering and developing the principle of association, into which principle he conceived, and endeavoured to prove, that all the phenomena of reasoning and affection might be resolved, and of which Laplace observes, that it constitutes the whole of what has yet been done in the philosophy of the human mind; "la partie réelle de la métaphysique" (_Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilités_, p. 224. ed. 1825).