other curiosities is a Missal of the 14th century, and the scheme of a lottery drawn at Bruges in 1445-an earlier date than is usually given to the invention of lotteries, which renders it probable that they originated in Flanders, and not in Italy, as is commonly believed.

Adjoining the H. de Ville is the Palais de Justice, anciently called Palais du Franc de Bruges (the liberty of Bruges, an extensive district independent of the town). The back view of this building, toward the Fish-market, is curious. The Council Chamber of the magistrates is particularly deserving of notice: it is antique, though the rest of the building dates from 1722. It contains a magnificent chimney-piece, occupying one side of the room, carved in wood (date 1529), including statues as large as life, and well-executed, of Charles V., Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, Charles the Bold and Margaret of York, his third wife, surrounded with coats of arms of Burgundy, Spain, &c. It is also decorated with marble bas-reliefs representing the story of Susannah.

There is a Gothic chapel in the corner of the square at the opposite end of the Town House, on the site of the 1st dwelling of the Counts of Flanders, and called La Chapelle du Sang de Dieu, from some drops of our Saviour's blood, brought by Count Thierry of Alsace from the Holy Land, and presented by him to the town, and now deposited in a richly jewelled and enamelled shrine of silver gilt, executed, in 1617, by Jean Crabbe. This is to be seen in the upper chapel, where is a pulpit with medallions carved in wood. The interior has been recently restored, and is not worth seeing. Admission by tarif, 50 cents. The exterior of the staircase leading to the chapel is in a florid Gothic, and dates from 1533. The crypt, called the Chapel of St. John, is the oldest building in Bruges, perhaps of the 9th cent.

John Van Eyck, the painter, who died at Bruges, 1441, was buried in the former cathedral of St. Donatus, demo

lished by the French, which stood opposite the Hôtel de Ville. Its site is now planted with trees, among which stands a vile clumsy statue of Van Eyck, being a painted plaster cast of the marble statue in the Academy, executed by Calloigne, 1775-1830, a native of Bruges, and director of the Academy.

The Jerusalem Ch., in a very remote part of the town, is only remarkable on account of a copy of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem contained in it, from which it gets its name. It is a fac-simile of the interior of the tomb, and it is recorded that the founder of the chapel, a burgomaster of Bruges, Pierre Adorner, who is buried here, with his wife, made 3 journeys to the Holy Land to perfect the resemblance.

There is an English nunnery here; it was founded more than a century ago, for 40 nuns, natives of England and Ireland. The chapel is much admired. Strangers are admitted to hear the service, which is exquisitely chanted by the nuns.

1.

The Academy of Painting, in the Gothic building called Het Poorters Huys, originally the factory of the Biscayans, Academie Plaets, contains some fine old paintings. The most remarkable are, by J. Van Eyck: The Virgin and Child, with St. George and St. Donatus; the donor on his knees, holding a pair of spectacles ; date 1436. "It has great character of nature, and is very minutely finished, though the painter was 66 years old when it was done." 2. A portrait of his wife, is painted in a very superior style, and deserves minute attention. 3. A head of Christ, with the date 1440. The second figure 4 has been partly erased, so as to look like 2, which has given rise to the erroneous assertion that this was the first picture painted by this artist with oil colours. (§ 25.)

Hans Hemling. An altar-piece with folding doors; in the centre the Baptism of Christ; on the wings portraits of the donor of the picture, his wife and family; and on the outside, the Virgin and Child. This is a beau

"Le Couvent de l'Assomption contains a small picture-gallery, a pretty chapel, and a school of 100 poor children, who are taught lace-making by the nuns, a touching sight."—J.

The Archers' Guilds deserve notice: in the hall of the Fraternity of St. Sebastian or the cross-bowmen is a bust of our Charles II., and a portrait of his brother the D. of Gloucester. From the tower in the archery ground there is a good view of Bruges.

Service is performed on Sundays in an English Protestant Church.

The Ramparts, extending all round the town, are an agreeable walk.

The principal manufacture carried on in the town is that of lace; but even it is much fallen off.

In the two Latin lines already quoted, § 25., this town is said to be famed for pretty girls. Bruges has not lost its reputation in this respect, and many a fair face and pair of black eyes will be met with peeping out from under the black hood of the mantle, called faille, which is generally worn by

the females of the lower orders, or surrounded by the primly plaited frills of a lace cap.

The invention of decimal arithmetic

has been attributed to Simon Stevin, of Bruges. He was one of the best mathematicians of his age; he recommended, but did not invent, decimal arithmetic. He is the inventor of what is now called Bramah's press. There is a heavy, illdraped statue of him in the Place de Simon Stevin.

The famous order of the Golden Fleece was established by Philip the Good, in 1430, at Bruges. In the symbol of this institution he paid a just compliment to the skill of the weavers of Flanders, who, by the perfection to which they had brought the manufacture of wool, had mainly contributed to the rapid advancement in prosperity of this country during the middle ages. The fleece, therefore, was very appropriately chosen as an emblem of the power and splendour of the rulers of Flanders. During the discontents which broke out in Belgium in the 14th cent., Edward III. in

vited many Flemings to England, who brought over with them the art of manufacturing the finer woollen cloths previously unknown, and by their assistance we soon surpassed those of Flanders in excellence.

Six canals concentrate at Bruges, from Ghent, Sluys (Ecluse, the port of Bruges), Nieuport, Furnes, Ypres, and Ostend.

On the sea-shore, about 7 m. N. W. of Bruges, is Blankenberg, a fishing village in the midst of the sand-hills, not unlike Scheveningen in Holland. It is frequented in summer as a bathing place. Inns Bellevue; Hôtel de l'Empereur.

BRUGES TO GHENT. (45 kilom.) The Railway Station at Bruges is on the Vrydags Markt.

The Grand Canal between Bruges and Ghent is bounded by high banks on each side, and for the greater part of the distance is lined with tall trees, enlivened by occasional villas and neat gardens.

"Europe can boast no richer, goodlier scene, By fertile fields and fruitful gardens green.'

Dante (Infer. xv. 4-6.) compares the embankment, which separated the River of Tears from the sandy desert, with that which the Flemings have thrown up between Ghent and Bruges against the assaults of the sea.

"Quale i Fiamminghi tra Guzzante e Bruggia,
Temendo 'l fiotto che in ver lor s'avventa,
Fanno lo schermo, perchè 'l mar si fuggia."
The Railroad is carried a little to the
S. of the canal.

12 Bloemendael St.
10 Aeltre St.

7 Hansbeke St.

3 Landeghem St.

13 GHENT STAT. on the S. E. side of the town, which stands principally on the rising ground beyond the station. The trains leave the station in the same direction in which they enter it. On the high ground to the left, on arriving, and on the other side of the Schelde, is the new Citadel-the church on the hill, with a dome, is St. Pierre.

GHENT (French, Gand; Flem. Gend; Germ. Gent.).— Inns : H. Royal; Poste; both on the Kauter or Place d'Armes: H. de Flandres, clean and quiet. 2nd Class: Paradis: Lion d'Or H. des Pays-Bas, Marché aux Grains; very comfortable, but small.

Ghent lies upon the rivers Schelde and Lys, whose numerous branches, traversing the town, form canals in all directions: it has about 97,000 inhab. In the time of Charles V. this was, perhaps, the largest and most populous city of Europe. It contained 35,000 houses, and 175,000 inhab.; and that emperor used sportively to say that he could put all Paris into his glove (gant). The circumference of its walls at the present day measures between 7 and 8 miles. In the 10th cent. it was the capital of Flanders, but in process of time the turbulent weavers, among whom a spirit of independence had early begun to work, rose up against their feudal superiors, and threw off their yoke, or obtained from them concessions and immunities which formed the origin of popular rights in Europe. At length its burghers became so bold and warlike, that they were able to repulse from their walls 24,000 English, commanded by Edward I., in 1297; and contributed to beat the élite of the French chivalry at Courtray, in the "Battle of Spurs." Their allegiance, both to the Counts of Flanders and Dukes of Burgundy, seems to have been little more than nominal; since, whenever these seigneurs attempted to impose a tax which was unpopular, the great bell sounded the alarm, the citizens flew to arms, and slew or expelled from the town the officers appointed by their sovereign. It did not take long to equip an armament of burghers and artizans, who had weapons always at hand, and who repaired to the scene of action in their every-day or working dress, only distinguished by a badge, such as a white sleeve worn over it, or a white hood. Thus it happened that popular tumults were as frequent in the 14th and 15th centuries in Ghent as they have been in Paris in the 19th, and rather more difficult to quell. On

the other hand, it not unfrequently happened that the seigneur, aroused by some act of atrocity or insubordination, collected his forces together, and took signal and terrible vengeance. These courageous but undisciplined citizens then atoned for their audacity on the field of battle, being mowed down in thousands. Afterwards came the season of retribution and humiliation for the town: enormous subsidies were levied on it: its dearest privileges were confiscated; and its most honoured citizens and magistrates were condemned to march out of the gates in their shirts, with halters round their necks, and to kiss the dust before the feet of their imperious lord and conqueror. The city of Ghent was several times forced to make such an abject and ludicrous act of submission. The immediate cause of its decline and ruin may be traced to this spirit of revolt. The citizens, "intoxicated with the extent of their riches and the fulness of their freedom," engaged in a contest with their sovereign, Philip the Good. It is no little proof of their vast resources that they were able to maintain it from 1448 to 1453; but in the end they were compelled to submit, with abject humiliation, heavy fines, and loss of trade.

In 1400 the city of Ghent is said to have contained 80,000 men capable of bearing arms. The number of weavers then amounted to 40,000, and they alone could furnish 18,000 fighting men out of their corporation. A custom derived from that period still exists in the town:- a bell was rung at morning, noon, and evening, to summon the weavers to their work and meals: while it tolled, the drawbridges over the canals could not be raised for the passage of vessels; and other persons were even enjoined not to go out into the streets, for fear of interrupting the vast stream of population; while children were carefully kept within doors, lest they should be trodden under foot by the passing multitude.

Though fallen from its high estate, it does not display the same signs of decay and listlessness as Bruges: it is

still the Belgic Manchester. In 1804, while united to France, it was ranked by Napoleon as the third manufacturing town in his dominions, after Lyons and Rouen. The Revolution of 1830, however, inflicted another vital blow on its prosperity. Several considerable manufactures are, however, carried on here, especially that of cotton. In 1801, a clever Fleming, named Lieven Bauens, brought over from Manchester English workmen and spinning jennies. The manufacture quickly took root, so as to employ in a few years more than 30,000 workmen. Sixty steam-engines were employed, not long ago, in the town and neighbourhood to set in motion the machinery of the various cotton mills. But since the Revolution many have ceased to work, and several proprietors have removed their establishments to Holland.

The picturesqueness of the houses of Ghent, the fantastic variety of gable ends rising stepwise, or ornamented with scrolls and carving, arrest the stranger's eye at every turn. (See § 25.) Among the chief buildings

The Beffroi Belfry Tower, is one of the most ancient in the town, dating from 1183. One of the earliest privileges which the citizens obtained from their feudal lords was to be allowed to build a belfry, and they long regarded it as a kind of monument of their power and wealth. It originally served as a watch-tower, from which the approach of an enemy might be descried, and it contained the tocsin-bell, by the tolling of which the citizens were called together to arms or to debate. One of the bells still bears this inscription : "Mynen naem is Roelant, als ick clippe dan ist brandt; als ick luyde, dan ist Storm im Vlaenderlandt." The Gilt Dragon, formerly on the top, which the Gantois carried off from Bruges in the wars of the 14th century, as a trophy of their conquest of that town under the generalship of Philip Van Artevelde, has been taken down and placed in a house near the H. de Ville, 1843.

It originally decorated one of the Greek churches in Constantinople, and was brought from thence by the

men of Bruges, who went on the first crusade as soldiers of Baldwin, Count of Flanders. The charters, title deeds, and records of Ghent were originally deposited in the lower part of the building; it now serves as a prison.

The view from the top is certainly far more striking than that from the great tower at Bruges; the watchmaker, through whose shop, at its base, the entrance lies, exacts as much as he can get for admission.

Charles V., when recommended by the cruel Alva to raze to the ground this town, whose rebellion had given him so much trouble, took him to the top of the Beffroi, and showing him the vast city spread out beneath, asked, "Combien il falloit de peaux d'Espagne pour faire un gant de cette grandeur ?”

How many skins of Spanish leather would it take to make such a glove?. thus rebuking the atrocious suggestion of his minister.

It is, indeed, an interesting prospect; the number of the squares, and width of the streets, admit the eye to range over something more than mere roofs of houses. Besides the towers and steeples of many churches, and the imposing mass of the Town Hall close at hand, in the distance may be perceived the site and ruined walls of the Citadel, built by Charles V. to overawe the citizens. Beyond this, if we continue the survey, is the Great Béguinage, with its streets and squares; and, following the line of ramparts, still further to the left, near the Promenade of the Coupure, the Maison de Force, a vast building, resembling a wheel in its ground plan, with the steeple of the prison church rising in the centre.

The Cathedral of St. Bavon (Flem. St. Baefs), though somewhat heavy externally, is one of the most handsome in its internal proportions and splendid in its decorations of all the churches in Belgium. It was founded in 944, the choir and crypt were rebuilt in 1228, and the whole was finished in the beginning of the 16th century. "Thé choir and transepts are lined with black marble, the balustrades are of white or variegated marble, a species of decora