I don’t give you an Account of the Houses of Correction, nor of the Hospitals, of which here are a great Number well founded, and well maintained, because I have an extraordinary Antipathy to Prisons, and dread the very Name of an Hospital, to which however I perceive that I am making great Strides; but it will be Time enough for me to give you an Account of those Mansions, when I have fixed my Quarters there. A Description of a Synagogue would not, I believe, be material to you; therefore I shall only acquaint you, that here are two, one for the _Portuguese_ Jews, which is very fine, the other for the _German_ Jews. They are both Jews alike, but differ in their Taste and Sentiments. The _Portuguese_ Jews are the handsomest of the two, for they shave their Beards, and some of them are very genteel. I was shew’d one the other Day, who was a smart young Fellow, and might, have cut a Figure among the Petits-Maîtres. I was told, that he had been educated in our Religion, and that he seemed to be fond of it; but being at _Paris_, in the Retinue of M. ***, Ambassador of ***, he ran away from that Minister’s Service, and came to _Amsterdam_, where he turned as staunch a Jew as if he had never heard the Name of Jesus Christ.
Near the Jews Quarter there is the Garden of Simples. I am not Botanist enough to tell you what Plants it contains; but have been assured, that ’tis one of the finest in _Europe_ for foreign Plants, which, considering the great Trade that is carried on by the _Dutch_, is not improbable.
When I have told you, that the public Walk, which they call _The Plantation_, is near this Garden, and that it consists of several fine Rows of Trees, one of which is cut out in the Shape of a Fan, I shall think that I have not omitted giving you the minutest of my Remarks on the Inside of _Amsterdam_.
The Suburbs of this great City, in which ’tis said there are about five hundred thousand Souls (as many as are in _Naples_) are extremely populous. There are above eight hundred Windmills continually at Work, in grinding Corn, or sawing of Timber. On the other Side of the Harbour, there are several Villages, of which _Sardam_ is the most considerable, not only for its Size, in which it surpasses many Towns, but for the Wealth of its Inhabitants, who are called Peasants, and pretend to be nothing else, tho’ I can’t imagine why; for they trade and make a Figure here upon the Exchange, like the most substantial Merchants, and don’t apply themselves to Agriculture. I have been told, that there are above a thousand Windmills at _Sardam_, always employed in sawing of Timber; which would have been a rare Field for _Don Quixot_ to have display’d his Valour. That Neatness of which the _Dutch_ are so fond, is cultivated to the greatest Nicety in this Village; and the _Amsterdammers_ themselves cannot but own and admire it.