HAGUE, a town of the United Provinces, in
Holland, situated in E. Long. 4. 10. N. Lat. 48. 49.
—In Latin it is called Haga Comitatis; in French, La
Haye; in Dutch, der Haag, or 's Graavenhage, i. e.
the Earl's Grove or Wood, from the wood near which
it is built, and in which the earls of Holland had a
country-house. Though it sends no deputies to the
states, it is one of the most considerable towns in Hol-
land, pleasantly situated, and exceeding beautiful. It
may indeed compare with almost any city in Europe,
though geographers account it but a village. The in-
habitants also breathe a better air than those of the
other cities, as it stands on a dry soil, somewhat
higher than the rest of the country. It has no gates
or walls, but is surrounded by a moat over which
there are many draw-bridges. Two hours are required
to walk round it, and it contains about 40,000 or
50,000 souls. It is a place of much splendor and
business, being the seat of the high colleges of the
republic and province of Holland, and the residence
of the stadtholder and foreign ambassadors; and there
are a great many fine streets and squares in it. In the
inner court, all the high colleges and courts of justice
hold their assemblies; there also the foot-guards do du-
ty, as the horse-guards in the outer, when the states
are sitting. De Plaats is an open airy place, in form
of a triangle, adorned with neat and beautiful build-
ings: the Vyverberg is an eminence, laid out into fe-
veral fine shady walks, with the Vyver, a large basin of
water, at the bottom: the Voorhout is the most cele-
brated part of the Hague, and consists of the mall,
and three ways for coaches on each side, planted with
trees, being much the same as St James's park at Lon-
don: the palace of Opdam, or Wassenaar, is built in
a very elegant taste: the Prince and Princess Grabs are
fine streets: the Plan, in Dutch Het Plein, is a beau-
tiful grove, laid out in several cross walks, and sur-
rounded with stately houses. The Jewish synagogue
is well worth being seen by a curious traveller; and al-
so the palaces of the prince of Orange, the hotel of
Spain, the new Voorhout, the mausoleum of the bar-
on of Opdam in the great church, and the several
hospitals. The environs of the Hague are exceedingly
pleasant. Among other agreeable objects are the
wood, with the palace of Orange at the extremity of
it, called the house in the wood; the village of Sehe-
veling; and the sand-hills along the north sea; with
the village of Voorburg, and the charming seats and
fine gardens round it. Two miles from the Hague is
Ryfwick, a village: and, a quarter of a mile from
that, a noble palace formerly belonging to the prince of
Orange, famous for the treaty of peace concluded there
in 1697. Loosduynen, where Margaret, countess of
Henneburg, and daughter of Florence IV. count of
Holland and Zealand, is said to have been delivered of
365 children at a birth in 1276, is about five miles
from the Hague. Five miles beyond Loosduynen,
and not far from the beautiful village of Graveande,
is Houtlardyck, another palace belonging to the prince
of Orange, and one of the finest structures in the Low
Countries.