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152 for the departure of the treckschuyt, but to relate an incident which happened to us. The turf-fire of the room in which we sat was so surrounded by Dutch soldiers, smoking and drinking gin, that neither of us received any heat from it; and though the evening was cold, they kept their places with frigid unconcern. We had not been seated long before a French soldier came into the apartment, and feeling for our uncomfortable situation, he immediately insisted that the Dutch should make room for us near the fire. This the boors reluctantly complied with, and our obliging Frenchman seated himself beside us: drinking a glass of Bourdeaux wine, which perhaps he ordered for the occasion, he said, with a politeness and gallantry which certainly belonged to the old school, moving at the same time his hat with a very aristocratical grace, "Madame et monsieur, tout ce qui vous puis faire plaisir ;" and when the boat was ready to