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372 throughout the United Provinces was the disposition of the people more favourable to the French than that at Utrecht; and, notwithstanding the severe impositions that have been laid on them, the inhabitants of the place still continue to entertain the strongest attachment to France.

The university of Utrecht has suffered more by the war than that of Leyden, and scarcely contains at present fifty students. It has at all periods, I believe, been inferior to the celebrated academy of the latter city, whether for the learning and reputation of its professors, the number of students which they attracted, or the assistance afforded to pupils by public libraries, botanical gardens, or anatomical preparations. As people are led by their partialities in favour of certain opinions, the university of Utrecht is censured or praised for its attachment to, and cultivation of, French principles; while, on the contrary, though early in the new order of things a deputation of students congratulated the provisional representatives of Holland on the revolution in the government