Nimeguen, 20th March.
We have come from Breda in two days, and lay last night at Bois-le-duc, which is situated in the midst of a lake, and is absolutely impregnable. That part of Brabant, through which we travelled, is not very fertile, and is full of sandy heaths. Nimeguen is in the Gueldre, the pleasantest province of the seven, perhaps of the seventeen. The land is beautifully divided into heights and plains, and is cut by the branches of the Rhine. Nimeguen has a very commanding prospect, and the country below it is particularly remarkable at present because of the innundation of the Wahal, a branch of the Rhine, which covers the whole fields for several leagues; and you see nothing but the tops of trees standing up amidst the waters, which recalls the idea of Egypt during the inundations of the Nile. Nimeguen is a well-built town, not very strong, though surrounded with a great many works. Here we met our machines, which came hither by a shorter road from the Hague. They are a berline for the general and his company, and a chaise for the servants. We set out to-morrow, and pass by Cologne, Frankfort, and Ratisbon, till we meet with the Danube, and then we sail down that river for two hundred and fifty miles to Vienna.
(David Hume)