The streets of Amsterdam are not remarkable either for elegance or cleanliness. In general they are \ cry narrow ; many of them, indeed, which contain the hous es of the most opulent merchant, are not more than six teen or seventeen feet wide. Vet along the banks of the canals there arc some streets of uncommon magnificence, calculated to give a stranger a very high opinion of the opulence of their inhabitants. Kiezer's gragt, or em peror's street, Herren gragt, or lords' street, and Pris sen's gragt, or princes' street, are upwards of 140 feet wide, and are lined with houses, whose princely splen dour would do honour to any town in Europe. All the streets are paved with brick, and have no raised side path for foot passengers ; but as wheel-carriages arc neither numerous in this city, nor allowed to be driven with speed, a person may walk here with as much se curity as on the flag-stone pavements of London. Here are seen none of those noble squares which give so much splendour to some of our own cities; and indeed the whole town, with the exception of the three streets which we have mentioned, has rather the mean and crowded appearance of a bustling sea-port, than the grand and elegant air of an opulent metropolis. The interior of the houses, however, is sufficiently splendid, decorated very much in the French style, and the sides of the rooms are painted, in general, with a series of landscapes in oil-colours. The environs of this city pre Ant no objects that indicate the vicinity of a great Ca toital ; on every side, the approach to it is by water, ex cept towards Oudcrkirk, to which there is a delightful road through gardens and groves.
Of the public buildings with which Amsterdam is em bellished, the first that attracts the notice of a stranger is the Stadthouse, unquestionably one of the most won derful edifices in the world. The labour, the time, and the expense, which are said to have been necessary to complete it, would appear zdtogether incredible, were trot the highest calculation which has been made of them ender cd probable by the magnitude of the building, and the nature of the ground on which it stands. In a coun try which furnishes no stone, a building two hundred and eighty-two feet in front, two hundred and fifty-five feet in depth, and one hundred and sixteen high, may well be believed to have cost an expense of two mil lions sterling, especially when we consider that its foun dation is boggy, and that it rests upon 13,695 massy trees or piles. The first pile was driven on the 20th of January 1648, and about eight years after the different colleges of magistrates took possession of their respec tive apartments, though the roof and dome were not yet completed. John Van Kempen was the principal arc bite ct, but acted under the advice and control of four burgomasters.
The Stadthouse, though a structure of prodigious size, has nothing very magnificent in its external appearance. it is ornamented, indeed, with a few statues of excel ',cuipture ; but if we except three bronze figures representing Justice, y; earth, aral Strength, and (.of lossal statue of Atlas holding the world, the rest am almost lust to the view in the wide extent of Wall on which they are placed ; while the eye is constantly () fended by gilded Neptunes, tridents and trumpets, and other ludicrous ornaments, in the true Dutch style. On
the top of the edifice there is a tower, which rises fifty fee t above the roof, and which contains a great number of bells, the largest of them weighing between six and seven thousand pounds. The chime of these bells, is remarkably harmonious ; they play every quarter of an hour an 'agreeable air ; And an excellent carrilloneur is engaged to entertain the citizens three times a•week, whose style of execution is heard by a stranger with equal delight and astonishment. lie plays by a brass barrel, which is seven feet and a half in diameter, and weighs 4474 pounds. The Stadthouse has seven small porticoes, representative of the seven provinces, but has no grand entrance ; a defect which is attributed to the cautious foresight of the burgomasters, who superinten ded the building, that in case of tumult, the mob might thus be prevented from rushing in.
The interior of the edifice is highly superb. Its prin cipal apartment is the tribunal, on the basement floor, to which convicts are conducted through a massy folding door, to receive the awful sentence of the law. The walls of this chamber are of white marble, adorned with bas-reliefs and figures, emblematical of the pur pose to which it is appropriated. A grand double stair case leads from the tribunal to the burgher's, or marble hall, a most magnificent apartment, 120 feet long, 57 broad, and 80 high ; with galleries 21 feet in width on each side, the whole composed of white marble. Bronze gates and railing, which, though massy, are finely exe cuted, form the grand entrance into this hall ; and over the entrance is a colonade of Corinthian pillars of red and white marble. One end of the room is adorned with a colossal statue of Atlas, supporting on his shoulders the globe, and attended by Vigilance and Wisdom. The celestial and terrestrial globes are delineated upon the floor in three large circles, 22 feet in diameter, and 69 in circumference, composed of brass, and various co loured marbles ; the two external circles representing the two hemispheres of the earth ; the central, the plant sphere of the heavens. The other apartments worthy of notice, are the burgomasters' cabinet, the burgomas ters' apartments, the chamber of the treasury ordinary, and the great council of war chamber, and the painter's chamber, in which there is a very long picture by Van dyke, containing, among other figures, the gray head of an old man of such matchless excellence, that for that head alone, the burgomasters were offered seven thou sand florins. There is in this chamber another large picture by Vanderheld, representing a feast given by the magistrates of Amsterdam to the ambassadors of Spain, on account of the peace of Munster, and many other fine paintings by Reubens, Jordaans, and Otho Venius. In the second floor, there is a large magazine of arms, which extends the whole length of the build ing, and contains a curious and valuable collection of ancient and modern Dutch arms. On the top of the building there are six large cisterns of water, intended as a supply in case of fire, to prevent which, the chim nits are lined with copper.