rasmus,
stood in the centre of the market-place like a municipal guard,
excites our compassion. There is not, I believe, on the face of the
earth another statue of a scholar that is so neglected by those who
pass it, so despised by those who surround it, and so pitied by those
who look at it. However, who knows but that Erasmus, subtle professor
that he was and will ever be, is contented with his corner, if indeed,
as tradition tells, it be not far from his house? In a little street
near the square, in the wall of a small house which is now used as a
tavern, there is to be seen in a niche a bronze statuette of the great
writer, and under it runs the inscription: _Haec est parva domus magnus
qua natus Erasmus_. Eight out of ten of the inhabitants of Rotterdam
have probably never seen nor read it.

In an angle of the same square is a small house called "The House of
Fear," where upon the wall is a picture whose subject I have
forgotten. According to the tradition it is called "The House of
Fear," because the most prominent people of the city took shelter in
it when Rotterdam was sacked by the Spaniards, and were imprisoned in
it three days without food. This is not the only record of the
Spaniards to be found in Rotterdam. Many buildings, erected during the
time of their dominion suggest the style of architecture then
fashionable in Spain, and many still bear Spanish inscriptions. In the
cities of Holland inscriptions on the houses are very common. The
buildings, like old wine, glory in their antiquity and declare the
date of their construction in large letters on the facades.

In the market square I had every opportunity of observing the
earrings of the women, which deserve to be minutely described.

At Rotterdam, I saw only the earrings which are worn in South Holland,
but even in this province alone the variety is very great. However,
they are all alike in this respect,--instead of hanging from the ears,
they are attached to a gold, silver, or gilded copper semicircle,
which girds the head like a half diadem, its extremities resting on
the temples. The commonest earrings are in the form of a spiral with
five or six circles; they are often very wide, and are attached to the
two ends of the semicircle. They project in front of the face like the
frames of a pair of spectacles. Many of the women wear another pair of
ordinary earrings attached to the spirals. These are very large and
reach almost to the bosom, dangling i