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232 they are permitted, I have met with beggars who could ask charity in the French and English tongues, as well as their native language; but they were persons advanced in life, and consequently my wonder was diminished. I must here remark, that throughout the towns of Holland which I have seen, none of those squalid and disgusting objects obtrude themselves on the compassion of the public, which are to be met with, and offend the eye, in the streets and on the highways of England. In the great cities of Holland there are munificent foundations for the reception of all kinds of lazars, where their treatment is tender, and their maintenance comfortable.

Notwithstanding the decayed state of the commerce of Amsterdam, at the hours of business the exchange is filled with merchants and traders. It is a smaller building than the Royal Exchange of London, and less neat and commodious. Like the Exchange of Rotterdam, it serves also as a rendezvous for the militia of the city, who assemble once a week to be exercised in the