DELFT, a large town of South Holland, on the Schie, nearly ten miles N.W. from Rotterdam, and in the line of the canal between Rotterdam and the Hague. It formerly possessed extensive potteries of "Delft ware," but the pottery of Holland is now almost entirely superseded by articles of English manufacture. There are still, however, a few manufactories of coarse earthenware and tobacco-pipes, besides coarse woollen stuffs, carpets, and soap. The new church contains the monuments of Grotius (born here in 1583) and William I. of Orange; the old church contains the tombs of Admiral Van Tromp and Leuwenhoek the naturalist. The city itself is well built but gloomy, the streets being intersected by narrow stagnant canals lined with trees. Pop. 17,500.