Excerpt from Dutch Pictures: With Some Sketches in the Flemish Manner; And Pictures Done With a Quill I have heard that a politician once declared that had he not been bred up to the Quaker persuasion, he would surely have been a prizefighter. It is probable that, had I not drifted into authorship, I should have been a broker's man. I can even remember in early life once taking stock in a theatrical wardrobe, and once making out the Christmas bills for a fashion able tailor and I can recall the delight with which, in a neat round hand, I expatiated upon one demon's dress, complete, six page's tunics and tights, and again upon one best superfine Saxony broad cloth frock-coat, with silk sleeve and skirt lining, buttons and binding. On that same art of inventory-making and stock-taking I still take my stand. What ever success I have to be thankful for in a life of incessant and painful labour - never without censure, seldom relieved by encouragement or praise - pursued in sickness and sorrow, in poverty and obscurity, has been due to the pen and the inkhorn of the inventory-maker, to persistence in describing the things I have seen, and to a habit of setting down the common things I have thought about them: exactly as they have been presented to me, and exactly as they have occurred. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.