[dateline] Leyden April the 8th 1781
[salute] Honour'd Mamma
I have been wanting to write to you this sometime but there has been nothing worth
writing, and even now I know not what to write. We have not long since, heard of the
taking of St. Eustatia, it cast a great damp upon the spirits of the dutchmen here;
however the latest news from America make up for it for in the English news papers
there is paragraph which makes mention that by the latest dispatches from New York
they learn that the corps under Col. Tarleton was defeated, but it is not yet confirmed;
however if it is true, it is no news to you, but what will be perhaps is the check
the English have had in the East Indies, and of the two Colonels Fletcher and Baily
one was kill'd and the other taken, they also have lost a great number of men.
Since I begun this letter Pappa is arrived from Amsterdam, he has received two letters
from you which came by Col. Laurence, but I was very much disappointed, to find there
was none for me; as to Sister, she has not done me the honour of writing me one line
since I have been in Europe. The last letter that I recieved was one from you containing
some excellent advice
1 for which I am very much obliged to you.
I am now at the most celebrated university in Europe which was founded here for the
valour of its inhabitants when it was besieg'd, when they were at war with Spain,
it was put to it's choice whether to be exempt from all taxes for a certain number
of years, or to have
{ 101 } an University founded here, and they wisely choose the latter. I will give you a short
description of this city.
Leyden is fortified as are all the other Towns in the seven Provinces, with a strong
Rampart of Earth and a very broad Canal, so that it is able to sustain a seige. The
Citizens are able to lay the whole Country about them under water, as was done by
the advice of the Prince of Orange during the famous Siege which they sustain'd which
was in 1574. They had recourse to the desperate Remedy of cutting the Banks of the
Maes and Issel, by which all the neighbouring country was turn'd into a kind of Sea,
and 1500 Spaniards were drown'd before they could retire. The besieg'd were reduced
to extraordinary straits, they were forced to make paper money, which was afterwards
chang'd for Silver. They had these Legends upon them, on one side, Haec libertatis
ergo, and Pugno pro patria; “These miseries we suffer for the Sake of our Liberty,
and in defending our Country.” And on the other side were these Initials N.O.U.L.S.G.I.P.A.C.
that is Nummus obsessae urbis Lugdunensis sub gubernatione Illustrissimi Principis
Auriaci cusus. In English The Money of the besieged city of Leyden, coined during
the Government of the most illustrious Prince of Orange. The University was founded
about a year after the city's deliverance.
Hengest castle or the Berg said to have been built by Hengest The saxon as a Trophy
for his conquest of England is situated in the middle of the city in an Angle formed
by the Channels of the Old and New Rhine and is planted with Trees. From the Top of
it is an Extensive Prospect of the adjacent Country and Villages, of the Haerlem lake
and the Sand hills. Some Antiquarians pretend, that it was built by the Romans as
a garrison for one of their Legions. There is a Well here out of which it is said
the Inhabitants took a Fish alive when the Place was almost famish'd during the siege,
Which was shewn to the Enemy over the walls, in order to discourage the besiegers,
by making their condition appear better than it was. This well is now dried up.—The
plesantest Street in Leyden is the Rapenburg. It has a fine Canal over which are several
handsome bridges. Each side of it is adorned with a Row of lofty Trees and the Streets
as well as those of all the other cities of Holland have a small Declivity towards
the Canals so that they can never be dirty even after the greatest rains.
The Physick Garden is a curiosity here. The inscription on old Clusius's tomb, flatters
him a little.
2 The Poet in extolling this Professor of Botany who died in 1619 says, wittily enough
{ 102 } | view
“Non potuit plures hie quaerere Clusius herbas
Ergo novas campis quaerit Elysiis.”
“Since no more herbs the Earth to Clusius yields
New ones he seeks in the Elysian fields.”
This is all that is remarkable in this City.
3
[salute] I am your dutiful Son,
[signed] John Quincy Adams