Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/45

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THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC.
33

painted in a whimsical taste, and others adorned with grotesque figures, according to the fancy or wealth of their respective proprietors.

We are lodged at present at General Chorié's head-quarters, formerly the Statehouse, at present the Central-bureau, where the French commander resides, and the municipality of Rotterdam hold their sittings. It is a spacious, solid, but ill-constructed building. As an Englishman, it possesses a secret recommendation to me, which I should be sorry not to mention. It was the occasional residence of George the Second, when he visited his Hanoverian dominions, and has been dignified by the presence of other of our princes of the blood. Time, the impartial analyser of reputations, has set his seal on the character of George the Second. We may praise him, without the suspicion of venality; or censure, uninfluenced by the prejudices of party. He was a sovereign endowed with many princely virtues: — he was brave in the field, prudent in the cabinet, frugal of the public revenue, and jealous of the national honour. During