"The only violence offered, was that of throwing into the canals whoever wore not Orange ribbons. Every yellow rag, woollen, silk, and linen, were employed; and when these were exhausted, the flowers were made use of; and happily the revolution began in the spring, when the primroses and daffodillys could serve as Orange cockades. To this day, every boor, and tradesman, and schoolboy, wears the ensigns of the prince; and every street in every village, as well as in every town, has triumphal arches with emblematical figures and Latin inscriptions, such as, 'Tandem justitia triumphat,' 'Novus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo,' 'Vox populi, vox Dei.' I shall only say, if this last motto be true, the Prince of Orange is the only _Jure divino_ monarch in the universe. I believe, since the time of Germanicus, deservedly the darling of the Romans, never was a people so fond of one man; surely there entered not the smallest intrigue of his own into his election. There is something of innocence and simplicity in his character, which promotes more his popularity than the greatest capacity. But, Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis Tempus eget. "_Breda, 16th March._ "We arrived here the day before yesterday, in three days from the Hague, and as the snows were then melted, after the most violent frost in the world, we discovered Holland in all its native deformity. Nothing can be more disagreeable than that heap of dirt, and mud, and ditches, and reeds, which they here call a country, except the silly collection of shells and clipped evergreens which they call a garden. It gave us a sensible pleasure, as we came near Breda, to find ourselves on a dry barren heath, and to see something like a human habitation. I have heard that a man, from the aspect of Holland, would imagine that land and water, after many struggles which should be master of it, had at last agreed to share it betwixt them. If so, the land has come by much the worst bargain, and has much the smallest share of the possession. I am told, however, that Holland is a pleasant enough habitation in the summer: though even that beauty lasts a very short time; for, during the latter end of summer and during the harvest, the canals send forth so disagreeable and unwholesome a smell, that there is no enduring of it.