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268 are in general temperate in their diet, and the use of spirituous liquors and wines does not prevail to near so great an extent in Holland as in England. A drunken person is rarely to be seen; and that vice is accounted infamously dishonourable, if frequently practised.

Among the personal faults which I have heard imputed to the stadtholder, after imbecility of understanding, he has usually been accused of a passion for the pleasures of intoxication; and it is said that during the latter part of his government he was seldom sober. Much credit, however, is not to be attached to such rumours, and certainly the Prince of Orange does not carry marks of inebriety on his face. The lethargic disposition of the stadtholder has not been seized by the wit or malice of party in Holland, as a subject of ridicule against the fugitive prince. His personal infirmities disappear before more substantial objects of irritation and resentment.

The Dutch in general are well acquainted with anecdotes of the court and domestic