Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/225

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC
213

difficult tunes are executed on the bells with a precision that is astonishing. The chief fault of this species of music is, that the sound of one note, for the want of stops, is confounded with the found of another; and when the chimes are out of order, which often happens, from the complexity of the tunes which they play, an unpleasant discord is produced. The labour of a carilloneur is so severe, that after he has performed an hour, he is generally obliged to go to bed; and even in winter, he plays, or rather works, in his shirt.

On the ground-floor of the stadthouse is the prison of the city for capital offenders, and apartments of detention for debtors. The latter did not amount to thirty; and the number of felons in this place of confinement, or rather I ought to say of persons suspected of felony, for none of them had been tried, was five. I saw but one of the felons' cells, which I believe was a fair specimen of the rest, in which two persons were confined. It was airy, clean, and spacious, and the persons who inhabited it seemed