CHAPTER V.ROTTERDAM .-- THE CHARACTER OF THE DUTCH .-- THEIR RESEMBLANCE TO.
THE GERMANS .-- A DISPUTE BETWEEN VANE AND TREVYLYAN, AFTER THE MANNER OF THE ANCIENT NOVELISTS, AS TO WHICH IS PREFERABLE, THE LIFE OF ACTION OR THE LIFE OF REPOSE .-- TREVYLYAN'S CONTRAST BETWEEN LITERARY AMBITION AND THE AMBITION OF PUBLIC LIFE.
OUR travellers arrived at Rotterdam on a bright and sunny day.

There is a cheerfulness about the operations of Commerce,--a life, a bustle, an action which always exhilarate the spirits at the first glance.
Afterwards they fatigue us; we get too soon behind the scenes, and find the base and troublous passions which move the puppets and conduct the drama.
But Gertrude, in whom ill health had not destroyed the vividness of impression that belongs to the inexperienced, was delighted at the cheeriness of all around her.

As she leaned lightly on Trevylyan's arm, he listened with a forgetful joy to her questions and exclamations at the stir and liveliness of a city from which was to commence their pilgrimage along the Rhine.

And indeed the scene was rife with the spirit of that people at once so active and so patient, so daring on the sea, so cautious on the land.

Industry was visible everywhere; the vessels in the harbour, the crowded boat putting off to land, the throng on the quay,--all looked bustling and spoke of commerce.