date), a vast crowd of people, for purposes not specifically
mentioned, were assembled in the great square of the Exchange in the
well-conditioned city of Rotterdam. The day was warm- unusually so
for the season- there was hardly a breath of air stirring; and the
multitude were in no bad humor at being now and then besprinkled
with friendly showers of momentary duration, that fell from large
white masses of cloud which chequered in a fitful manner the blue
vault of the firmament. Nevertheless, about noon, a slight but
remarkable agitation became apparent in the assembly: the clattering
of ten thousand tongues succeeded; and, in an instant afterward, ten
thousand faces were upturned toward the heavens, ten thousand pipes
descended simultaneously from the corners of ten thousand mouths,
and a shout, which could be compared to nothing but the roaring of
Niagara, resounded long, loudly, and furiously, through all the
environs of Rotterdam.
The origin of this hubbub soon became sufficiently evident.
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