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Rh however, through which canals do not run, are narrow, and there are no extensive squares, so that the number of houses in Amsterdam, for the space of ground on which it stands, is great. The appearance of the stadthouse from the top of the Felix Meritis (for the name of the society is given to the house where it holds its sittings, and inscribed in .large letters of gold on the front) is noble; but the churches and other public buildings of the city are not much to be commended either for elegance or grandeur.

According to an accurate estimate made in 1783, the number of houses in Amsterdam amounted to thirty thousand seven hundred and fifty, and it was then supposed to receive a yearly increase of fifty dwellings. The calamitous circumstances of the times, since that period, have not prevented the erection of new buildings to a greater amount annually