Excerpt from The Friend, Vol. 12: A Religious and Literary Journal; October 6, 1838 On our way to the Hague we passed through the ancient town of Delft, so famous for its first introduction of the manufacture of China. Ware in Europe, which England, Germany, and France have so perfected as to rob her of the profits of this beautiful and useful art. We could not refrain from paying the tribute ofa visit to the tomb of the gallant old Van Tromp, the terror of England's infant navies. It was here, also, that Grotius was born and buried. Another hour through a beautiful country, (for one so level, ) brought us to the Hague. This being the capital, and the residence of the court, it presents a totally different aspect from all the other cities of Holland. Its streets are spacious, and its houses more ele gant. Several fine palaces adorn its squares, particularly the Palace in the Wood though not in the grandiose style, its peculiar situation, in the midst of a fine forest and park, and the curious interior, make it an object of much interest. Some of the rooms are painted in the Chinese style. One great hall was painted by nine of the first masters of the Dutch school the designs are allego. Ries intended to represent the triumphs of the Hollanders over the Spaniards. Rubens' master-hand is here seen to great advantage. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.