power and the will of the States General. Their solicitude and vigilance for their town’s welfare are quite remarkable; but that their attachment often blinded them to their country’s more general interests, becomes clear, if we consider that Amsterdam was more important than all the towns of the province of Holland together and that the province of Holland alone provided 60 per cent of the total income of the Seven Provinces forming the Dutch Republic. Hence, until the present time, the name of Holland is generally used in designating the Netherlands. Taking all in all and remembering especially what was said about the town’s outward appearance and population, we must conclude that no place could have been more appropriate than Amsterdam, as the abode of the typically Dutch genius Rembrandt. A noted Dutch writer, Van Deyssel, has expressed this well in the following words: “Rembrandt and Amsterdam, these belong so amazingly together! There are northern cities, that are like Amsterdam, but it seems to us that Amsterdam for the one who beholds her quietly, has a unique, unequalled, deep charm. Amsterdam is the heart of Holland and this means that it lies in the middle of Holland as the heart in a flower, and that it is the spot where the most delicate beauty of Holland is found.” No art is more akin to the city’s beauty and embodies it better than the art of Rembrandt. It is hard to take leave of Rembrandt and his unique abode, without allowing the town’s immediate surroundings to fascinate us by their quite original charm. The excursion, which we could offer our friends through Amsterdam’s immediate neighbourhood, in Rembrandt’s company, would, however, give rise to so many comments, often of great local interest, that they would far exceed the limits of this periodical. The reader shuuld therefore look for an account of such an excursion along the Amstel River, past diked, across meadows, illustrated by Rembrandt’s works, in one of the coming numbers of the Dutch art-periodical “Oud-Holland.” FOOTNOTES 1 Fenelon, _The Adventures of Telemachus_, Book III, where we find stated in a footnote that the description of the Phoenician town, Tyre, actually depicts Amsterdam. 2 Described by Dr. Hofstede de Groot under numbers 656, 761, 857, 1211, 1334, and reproduced by Lippmann—Hofstede de Groot, 1st series 163, 3d series 23, 1st series 72, 2d series 79 and 8.