Haarlem is distant seven miles from Amsterdam, and the journey occupies nearly three hours; about midway we arrived at a village, where we had to change both the canal and barge, walking through the town, our luggage being conveyed by barrowmen. On our arrival at Haarlem, the captain, after arranging with his other passengers, accompanied me to the Lion d’Or, to which I had been recommended. Before entering the inn, I was not a little surprised by the landlord’s daughter inquiring from me in English, where my friend was. I replied that I was alone; and she asked whether I had not had a friend with me; on satisfying her, and saying that he was gone to Hamburg, she offered to take care of me, and in case I was proceeding to the Hague and Rotterdam, to give me letters to houses where I should receive every attention. Of course I endeavoured to learn how she had acquired any knowledge of me, which she explained by stating, that her father had been the day before, at our inn at Amsterdam, and had become acquainted with my intention of visiting Haarlem, and that they looked out for me as an uncommon traveller. While I was taking refreshment, the gentlemen with a lady, who had been disappointed in their passage by our barge, arrived, and as they were proceeding to Leyden on the following morning, I determined to avail myself of their invitation to accompany them. We arose early in the morning to walk over the town, which is of great antiquity, having been a flourishing place as early as 1155; but the most interesting object, is the statue of Lawrence Coster, once an alderman of this city, and the asserted inventor of the art of printing, and which stands in the _grand place_. It is true that the honour of the above invention is disputed with Coster and Haarlem, by various other towns of Germany, as Mentz, Strasburg, &c.; but there is strong ground to consider Coster entitled to the priority of claim, as the dates of some of the books of his printing are anterior to those of Faust, or any other of his competitors. Adrianus Junius, who was born at Hoorn, in 1507, tells us, that Coster hit upon this invention as he was walking in a wood near Haarlem, by cutting the bark of beech-trees into letters, and then stamping them upon paper as a seal; and that he afterwards extended and improved his discovery, and set up a printing office in his house, and that Faust, or Fust, who was a servant of his, one day, while the family were at church, stole away his types and other materials, and fled with them to Mentz, where he commenced business as a printer. The first book which Coster brought out, and his original types, are preserved in the Stadt-house for the inspection of the curious; we had not, however, time to examine them, nor even to hear the celebrated organ of this city, for we did not arrive on the day before until after evening service had concluded; and to hear it at any other time, is a gratification which must be handsomely paid for.