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English Service is performed twice every Sunday at a church in the Rue des Tanneurs, on Sundays and Holidays, atto 11 A. M. and 3P. M.

Max Kornicker, a respectable bookseller, has a shop in the Place Verte, No. 732.

"Baillie's Indian Warehouse is worth visiting; the traveller will there see the best specimens of the black silk for which Antwerp has always been celebrated, of which the mantillas are made. It is sold by the weight: the richest quality, about 1 English yard wide, costs about 25 f. the Flemish ell. The colour does not change even on the application of lemon juice. Mr. Baillie possesses a fine collection of paintings of the Dutch and Flemish schools.

A British Consul resides at Ant

werp.

A Canal, capable of admitting vessels of 70 tons, runs from Antwerp through the desolate district of heath and morass, called the Campine, to Herrenthals, a distance of 10 leagues. Railways. (§ 22.)-to Malines, Brussels, Liége. Terminus outside the Porte Borgerhout. Omnibuses call at the hotels to convey passengers to and fro (See Rt. 23.) to Ghent. Terminus beyond the Schelde, at the Tête de Flandres.

Steamers to Rotterdam daily in summer, in 9 or 10 hours (Rte. 13.); to London, Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Vigilantes (cabs) stand in the Place Verte and Place de Meir: fare fr. for a drive within the walls; or by hour, 14 and 1 fr. (§ 22 a.)

ROUTE 22 A.

ANTWERP TO TURNHOUT, AND THE BELGIAN PAUPER COLONIES, AND ROUND TO LOUVAIN.

Diligence daily to Turnhout.

The road traverses a wide district of heath, much of which is unreclaimed, but at first it passes many pretty villas; the waste begins about 8 m. from Ant

werp.

A little way short of Westmael is the convent of the monks of La Trappe, who have reclaimed an estate of 400 acres from the barren heath. It is a plain building, somewhat like a workhouse. The brothers, nearly 60 in number, observe the strict rule of the order, in preserving silence, passing the night in prayer, &c. The garden is also the burial-ground, and a grave lies always open to receive him who is next to drop. Cleanliness is little attended to, for this order are the humble imitators of the ancient Anachorets, by whom every sensation that is offensive to man was thought acceptable to God. The most perfect hermits are supposed to have passed many days without food, many nights without sleep, and many years without speaking."

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Westmael. About 7 m. N. E. of this is Wortel, a pauper colony established by the Dutch government in 1822, and containing 460 inhab. stands in the midst of a heath. was placed, at its foundation, under the direction of Capt. Van den Bosch, brother to the General, and the plan of operation was similar to that of Frederick's Oord. (See Route 7.) The company at Wortel contracted to maintain 1000 paupers for 35 florins each, per ann.; other paupers were afterwards taken. Another pauper settlement was undertaken by one person near Bruges, who also agreed with government to maintain 1000 paupers for 35 florins each, per ann.; but whether from the separation of Belgium from Holland, or whether the pauper colonists, chiefly idle vagrants sent from Brussels, being of an inferior class, certain, however, it is, that the pauper settlements in Bel

gium are far behind the colony of Frederick's Oord in prosperity."-Commerc. Statistics. 4 miles beyond is Merxplas, a colonie forcée, to which convicts are sent, and are compelled to work. Turnhout. Inn, Porte d'Or,-clean, small, and cheap.

12 miles S. of this, in the midst of the desolate tract of moor and heath called the Campine, is Gheel, a village of 7500 inhab., a large part of whom are occupied in taking charge of lunatics sent hither from various parts of Belgium, amounting to 700 or 800. Some are sent hither by their friends; the paupers are supported by the government, or their parish. The native peasants here have for generations devoted themselves to this charge. The mild system of treating lunacy has long prevailed here. St. Dympna, the the patron saint of lunatics, was an Irishwoman, a daughter of a king of that island; and she is said to have suffered martyrdom here by the hand of her father, from whom she had fled in order to devote herself to devotion and celibacy, in company with a Christian priest named Gerebernus. From the cures wrought upon pilgrims to her shrine, Gheel became famous for the treatment of mental diseases. The church dedicated to her contains her altar, at which is some curious and elaborate carving in stone and oak, representing the legends of the saint, and a crucifixion. The altar-piece, surmounted by the Holy Rood, is in the style of some of the retablos of the churches in Spain. A tabernacle contains some of her relics. Here is also a sculptured monument to a Count de Merode and his Countess, 1550 (see p. 250.), resembling that of Sir F. de Vere in Westminster Abbey, being supported by marble figures at the

corners.

The road runs hence southward about 8 miles to Vesterloo, where it crosses the river Neethe; and about 10 miles further, just after crossing the Démer, is the village of Aerschot. In the Church here is a rood screen or Jubé, remarkable not only for its elaborate execution, but also for the ex

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ANTWERP TO BRUSSELS. RAILWAY, BY MALINES.

44 kilomètres = 27 Eng. miles. Trains, 40 min. to Mechlin, and 35 thence to Brussels.

Rt. is the village of Berchem, the head-quarters of the French general, Marshal Gerard, during the siege. In the orchards and gardens on the right the French commenced the trenches by which the approach to the citadel was effected.

Many pretty country seats and gardens of the merchants and citizens of Antwerp lie near the railroad.

Vieux Dieu (Oude God) Stat.

Contich Stat.; the village (3500 inhab.) lies to the W.; not far from it appears the Gothic castle of Ter Elst.

Duffel Stat.; the town is on the 1. At Lierre (13,500 inhab.), 1 m. distant (no inn, but a pot-house), the noble Church of St. Gommaire contains an exquisite flamboyant rood-loft, recently restored in a manner creditable to the town. Beyond Duffel the river Neethe is crossed.

Rt. at the entrance of the village of Waelhem, about 2 m. on this side of Mechlin, the remains of a low rampart or fortification may be seen on either side of the road. This is a relic of the struggle between the Dutch and Belgians, 1830-31. The narrow wooden bridge was the scene of a sharp skirmish, in which the insurgent Belgians succeeded in driving the retreating army of the Dutch from a strong position, and compelled them to retire under the walls of Antwerp.

MECHLIN STATION, where the trains stop for a few minutes. It is 5 minutes' walk from the town, which is entered by the picturesque Porte d'Egmont. This station is the point of departure from which 4 lines of railway ramify through Belgium. These are called in the timetables, Ligne du Nord, which leads to Antwerp; Ligne de l'Est, to Louvain, Liège, Verviers; Ligne de l'Ouest, to Ghent, Bruges, and Ostend; Ligne du Midi, to Brussels, and thence to Mons, Charleroi, and Namur, or to Lille. There is almost invariably great confusion, and frequently delay, here, from the meetings of the trains. Travellers should take care they are not put into the wrong train, and that they are not run over in crossing the numerous lines of rails. Sheds, at least, ought to be constructed to protect passengers and their baggage from the rain.

MECHLIN (Fr. Malines; Flem. Mechelen; Germ. Mecheln). Inns: H. St. Jacques; La Grue, in the Grande Place. Malines is situated on the Dyle, and has 24,600 inhab. It is one of the most picturesque Flemish cities, from the quaint architecture of its houses, and the multitude of signs over the shops, but presents now a deserted aspect. The railway was planned to traverse the midst of the city, but the magistrates (gaudet Mechlinia stultis, § 25.), like the wise men of Northampton, Oxford, and Maidstone, stoutly resisted this, and with success. few of the millions who pass this city annually, enter it, and still fewer stop here. Malines is the see of the Belgian Primate.

Now

The Gothic Cathedral, dedicated to St. Rumbold (the choir finished in 1451, the nave in 1437), deserves to be visited. The interior is large and lofty. It has a carved pulpit, representing the Conversion of St. Paul, with the fallen saint and his fallen horse below; and an altarpiece in the N. transept, by Vandyck, of the Crucifixion, painted after his return from Italy. "This, perhaps, is the most capital of all his works, in respect to the variety and extensiveness of the design, and the judicious disposition of the whole. In the efforts which the

thieves make to disengage themselves from the cross, he has successfully encountered the difficulty of the art, and the expression of grief and resignation in the Virgin is admirable. Upon the whole, this may be considered as one of the first pictures in the world, and gives the highest idea of Vandyck's powers: it shows that he had truly a genius for history painting, if it had not been taken off by portraits. The colouring of this picture is certainly not of the brightest kind, but it seems as well to correspond with the subject as if it had the freshness of Rubens. St. John is a mean character, the only weak part in the picture, unless we add another circumstance, though but a minute one-the hair of the Magdalen, at the foot of Christ, is too silky, and indeed looks more like silk drapery than hair."— R. The picture was carefully cleaned in 1848, and seems to have been little retouched. In the side chapels, around the choir, are 25 paintings by Michel Coexie, or at least of his time, representing events in St. Rumbold's life, very curious. The organ possesses a

rich and full body of tone.

The massive, though unfinished Tower, begun 1452, is 348 English feet high, that is, only 18 feet lower than the cross of St. Paul's: had the steeple been completed, it would have been 640 ft. high. A story is told of an alarm being given in the town that the tower was on fire; but, when fire engines were brought, and the inhabitants had flocked together in haste to put out the conflagration, it was found to be nothing more than the light of the moon shining through the Gothic open work. This, which was probably only a malicious joke, has given rise to a sort of proverb, not at all relished by those to whom it is applied,—" The wise men of Malines tried to extinguish the moon.

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This church was built with the money obtained by the sale of indulgences to pilgrims, who flocked hither in 1452, to celebrate a Jubilee proclaimed by the Pope throughout Christendom, on the occasion of the war against the Turks. In the Place in which the cathedral

stands, are several ancient buildings, Les Halles, with a turret, date 1340, and the Town Hall, called Beyard, a structure of the 15th century.

In the Church of St. John is a very famous altar-piece with wings by Rubens, composed of the following pieces: The Adoration of the Magi. "A large and rich composition; but there is a want of force in the Virgin and Child: they appear of a more shadowy substance than the rest of the picture, which has his usual solidity and richness. One of the Kings holds an incense vase. This circumstance is mentioned to distinguish this picture from the many others which Rubens has painted of this subject. On the inside of one of the doors is the Decollation of St. John the Baptist; on the other, St. John the Evangelist in the caldron of boiling oil. The figures which are putting him into the caldron want energy, which is not a common defect of Rubens: the character of the head of the Saint is vulgar; which, indeed, in him is not an uncommon defect. The whole is of a mellow and rich colouring. On the outside of those doors are John baptizing Christ, and St. John the Evangelist in the Isle of Patmos writing the Apocalypse: both of these are in his best manner; the Eagle of St. John is remarkably well painted; the Baptism is much damaged.". R.

Sir Joshua mentions 8 small paintings in panels under these, all by Rubens, but showing little merit, except facility of hand. The subjects were the Crucifixion, the Nativity, and Resurrection: the first alone remains; the others, it is believed, were not returned with the rest of the pictures from France."Rubens was paid for these 8 pictures 1800 florins of Brabant, about 180l. English, as appears by the receipt in his own handwriting, still preserved in the sacristy; and the whole was begun and finished in 18 days.”—R.

The elegant Gothic Ch. of Nôtre Dame, passed on the 1. hand in coming from the Railway, contains behind the high altar the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, by Rubens, painted for the guild of Fishmongers, and considered one of

his most masterly works; his excellence of colour, and rivalry of the Venetian school, are nowhere more conspicuous than in this picture; it ought not to be passed over unseen. On the wings or shutters are painted, -The Tribute Money taken from the mouth of the fish,-Tobias and the Fish,Peter, Andrew, James, and John, the 4 disciples who were fishermen. Beneath these were three small pictures which also disappeared with the French. Rubens painted these 8 subjects in 10 days for 1000 florins.

There is another Church of Nôtre Dame here, called De Hanswyk; it owed its existence to a statue of the Virgin which floated up the river against the stream by miraculous agency, till it stopped and remained fixed at the spot where the church, which was built in This was consequence, now stands ! not the only miracle performed by the image; for it obtained such a high reputation for curing all kinds of maladies, that the weak and the devout made pilgrimages to it from far and

near.

The image exists no longer, having been destroyed by sacrilegious hands when the army of the Confederates, under Oliver Temple, in 1580, took and pillaged the city. (Dead saints, images, and pictures were formerly much given to make similar voyages by themselves. See curious instances at Valencia, Santiago, and Burgos. Span. Hdbk. pp. 449. 662. 901., 1st ed.; and at Leghorn, Hdbk, for N. Italy, 471, ed. 1847.)

Mechlin was the seat of the Imperial Chamber, founded by Charles the Bold, 1473, which continued to maintain the reputation of a most upright court of justice for many centuries. Charles V. and Philip II. presided over it in person.

Mechlin is the birthplace of Ernest Count Mansfeld, the celebrated leader in the 30 years' war; of Michel Coexie (1497), the scholar and imitator of Raphael; and of Dodonæus the botanist (d. 1585).

The manufacture of Lace, which receives its name from Mechlin, is much fallen off; only 8 houses are now em. ployed in making it.

It is a coarser

and stouter variety than that made at Brussels.

A group of 3 very picturesque old houses in the Kraam Straat are a fit subject for the pencil. "The Porte d'Egmont, and the pile of buildings called Béguinage, near the entrance of Mechlin, are curious relics of antiquity."-P. H.

The Railroad to Brussels, 20 kilomètres, on leaving Mechlin, crosses the canal leading to Louvain.

The Château of Rubens at Steen, of which place he was seigneur, still exists, though fast falling to decay, near the village of Elewyt, a little on the E. of the road between Malines and Vilvorde: it is surrounded by a moat. Teniers's house at Perck, 3 m. from Vilvorde and 2 m. from Steen, is called, from its 3 towers (none of which remain), Den Drey Toren, and is marked by the original gabled gate-house and the moat which surrounded it. A spread eagle on the folding doors is said to be the work of the artist himself. In the village church is his wife's tomb, and a painting by him.

10 Vilvorde, Stat. (2700 inhab.), a dull town, has an interesting Ch. containing fine carvings in wood. Tindal, translator of the Bible into English, suffered martyrdom here as a heretic, in 1536, being strangled at the stake, and then burnt, outside the town, near the Penitentiary, which stands on the site of his prison.

On quitting Vilvorde many pretty country seats are seen on the banks of the broad canal which goes to Brussels, and outside of Vilvorde the vast Penitentiary mentioned above.

gardens and park are very beautiful. It is 3 m. from Brussels. Madame Malibran is buried in the Cemetery of Laeken: a statue of her in marble, by Geefs, has been set up as a monument by her husband, who caused her body to be removed hither from Manchester. The Allée Verte, a long avenue of trees, extends nearly all the way to Brussels from Laeken.

The Railroad runs on the opposite side of the canal, and terminates at the Porte de Cologne, near the botanic garden, opposite the Rue Neuve.

10 BRUSSELS

(French, Bruxelles ; Flem., Brussel; German, Brüssel).Inns: H. de Bellevue; charges wax candle, 1 fr.; tea, 1 fr. 50 c.; breakfast, do.; table-d'hôte, 3 fr.; bottle of ordinary wine, 3 fr. 50 c.; dinner in private, 4 to 5 fr. ; lodging, 2 fr. H. de Flandre; very good.-H. de l'Europe; good. These 3 in the Place Royale. H. de France, Rue Royale, corner of the Mont du Parc; highly recommended; comfortable and moderate. H. Royal, new, in the lower -H. de la Regence, near the Place Royale; good, quiet, and mo derate. H. de la Grande Bretagne, Place Royale. . H. de l'Univers, Longue Rue Neuve.-H. des Princes, Place de la Monnaie.-H. de Saxe, H. des Quatre Saisons.

town.

The expense of living at one of the principal hotels ought not to exceed 12 fr. a day, including a bottle of Bordeaux wine.

2d class Inn: H. de Hollande; where the expenses ought not to exceed 8 francs daily.

Hôtel Garni. the Rue Royale.

Hôtel Kreuznach in

There are also several Boardinghouses, among which may be mentioned one in the new Quartier Louise, leading from the Boulevard de Waterloo, kept by Mrs. Haydon.

On approaching Brussels, the Palace of Laeken, belonging to the King of Belgium, appears at some distance on the right. It is handsomely furnished, but there is nothing to distinguish it from other kingly residences, of which a traveller may see enough in Brussels, the capital of the kingdom a continental journey. It was origin- of Belgium, and seat of government ally built for the Austrian governor of and of the Chambers, on the small the Netherlands before the French re-river Senne, has 106,000 Inhab., or, volution, and was afterwards inhabited including the suburbs, 145,000. by Napoleon, who here planned his divided into the upper and lower disastrous Russian campaign. The towns, the former being the newest as

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