To his Mother Date: AMSTERDAM, June 19, 1738. DEAR MOTHER, I stayed at Stanton Harcourt till Sunday (the 11th instant) in the afternoon. Thence returning to Oxford, I learned that Mr. Ingham was expected to set out on Monday or Tuesday. Therefore I left Oxford on Monday morning, and in the evening met with him and Mr. Tltschig, who were to embark the next morning. On Tuesday (the 13th) we took ship and fell down to Gravesend; many of our acquaintance bearing us company thither, two of whom were determined to go on with us, whithersoever it should please God to call us. We set sail from Gravesend on Wednesday, lost sight of England about four in the afternoon, and before seven the next morning saw the coast of Holland. About eight we entered the Meuse, and, sailing by Brill, Brielle. See Journal, vi. 417n. between ten and eleven came to Rotterdam. Never did common fame more grossly vary from the truth than in the English accounts of Holland. They tell us of a dirty, slovenly, unpolished people, without good nature, good manners, or common decency; whereas the very first thing that must strike every one that has eyes, and that before he has gone an hundred yards from Rotterdam Haven, is that this is the cleanest place he ever saw in his life, there being scarce a speck of dirt to be seen either on the doors or steps of any of the houses or on the stones of the street. And all the natives he meets, whether men, women, or children, are of a piece with the place they live in; being so nicely dean from head to foot, both in their persons and clothes, as I have seen very few in my life even of the gentry in England. There is likewise a remarkable mildness and lovingness in their behavior. All you meet on the road salute you. Every one is ready to show the way, or to answer any questions, without anything of the English surliness. And the carriage as well as dress of all the women we have yet seen is exactly modest and altogether natural and unaffected.

On Thursday in the afternoon we left Rotterdam. The road we traveled in for several miles was a continued arbor, and as dean (excepting a very little dust) as a gentleman's parlor, or indeed his table, need be. We lay that night at Goudart Gouda. (being eight in all, five English and three Germans). On Friday morning (after having seen the great church there, famous for its painted glass) we set out again, and were surprised more and more at the pleasantness of the road. Walnut-trees shaded it for many miles; and the little houses stood so thick on either side, that it seemed like walking through a train of villages. The hedges were exactly cut all along, and all the houses neat almost to an extreme. In the afternoon we came to Ysselstein, where we were received with open arms by the Baron Watteville and the Church which is in has house. There are about twenty (beside children) in that little community, and their number increases daily, who are of one heart and one soul and have all things in common. Saturday the 17th (my birthday) was their monthly Thanksgiving Day. From about two in the afternoon till nine at night, the time was spent in prayer, praise, and such other exercises as became those who were 'all filled with the Holy Ghost.' Many strangers were present, with some of whom we set out in the Track-skuyt early in the morning, and went by Utrecht through a country which is, as it were, all one garden to Amsterdam, about thirty miles from Ysselstein. A physician, who had lived some years at Herrnhut, carried us to his lodgings, where we design to stay one or two days. Both he and the master of the house are full of faith and love. Oh may our Lord give us more and more of their spirit! From hence (if God permit) we shall go by Frankfort, where Count Zinzendorf now is, to Herrnhut. Dear mother, pray earnestly for me, that all things may work together for my good, and that by all God would build me in the faith which is in Christ Jesus ! I am Your affectionate and dutiful Son. James Hutton can send any letter to me, if it be writ before the middle of July o.s. Else I shall probably be on my journey home.