Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/87

Rh be considered as the guardians of public morals, that they permit a brothel to be established within the sacred precincts of a national palace. Yet, to the dishonour of the Batavian government, such is the purpose to which a part of the house in the wood is infamously prostituted.

On the confiscation of the property of the exiled stadtholder, the Dutch government, with laudable zeal for the encouragement of the polite arts, formed his collection of pictures, then esteemed one of the most valuable in Europe, into a national gallery, and set apart an annual sum for the augmentation of this cabinet by purchase. A noble suite of apartments in the house in the wood was provided for their reception, and a director of taste and genius, with proper assistants, appointed to superintend this national collection.

To the politeness of Mr. J. G. Waldorp, the keeper of this cabinet, a person of great intelligence and merit, I am highly indebted for the distinguished attention which at various times he shewed me. He is himself a