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174 The Elzevirs, justly celebrated for the correct and beautiful editions which they have given the world of the best writers of antiquity, resided in this city, and ennobled its press by the elegant specimens of typography which for the long course of a century appeared from their printing-office. But for the last fifty years this branch of trade has declined rapidly, and it may be considered at present as extinct. There are, however, some respectable booksellers' shops, where choice collections of the elastics are to be seen, which sell at a much more reasonable price than they are to be bought for in England; and for modern publications, Murray in the Breestraet may rank with the most eminent bibliopolists in Europe.

The woollen manufactory of Leyden, which half a century ago gave employment to several thousand industrious workmen, and was a perennial fountain of wealth to the city, is now in the last stage of decay. If its manufactures never rivalled in the fineness of their articles the looms of England, their coarse cloths found a ready sale on the continent,