18

Hal (Station).

Hotels: Des Pays Bas A pretty village of partly on the Senne, an having no objects of pchurch of St. Mary, c miracle-working image wood, two feet high, a wealth by pious offeri given by Charles V., M II., &c. A side chapel aimed, it is said, at th the Virgin in her mant over the town to protect The high altar deserve one of the most beauti marble, and sculptured, artists. Below is the ta St. Martin dividing his lents are represented on Torks of art, at the loonstruction is surmou orgeous font, of brass, rtist Lefevre, in 1467 laced in the octagon ba】 is covered with a spire, groups representing the Martin, &c.

At Hal, the direct line falls in. Leaving it, we singham, and crossing th

Loth (Station), abou It has a very fine churc having over the high alta dom of St. Peter) by De Quitting Loth, the ra the canal Charleroi, passe stations.

After which,

St. Gillis, crossing the g boulevard, and arrives

entering

Brussels-(Route 7).

ROU

London to Brussels

Bruges, Ghent

London to Dover-(R

Mail steamers leave D

and 10-45 p.m.

The dis

63 English miles, and th

BRADSHAW'S HAND-BOOK

when 50,000 of the besieged, and 70,000 of the Spaniards who besieged it, under General Spinola, fell; and the town was reduced to a heap of ruins. Philip II.'s daughter had vowed she would not change her chemise till Ostend was taken; and its colour by the time the place was captured gave name to the "Isabel yellow." It was ceded in 1715 to the Emperor of Germany. Louis XV. entered

it in 1745, after a siege of 18 days, which all but completed its destruction. Ostend possesses a College of Navigation. The oyster parks are outside the Bruges Gate, and ought to be visited. The town, but shabby in appearance, contains, however, two good squares, or, as they are more properly called, places. The Maison de Ville forms the entire side of one of them. It was formerly reckoned among the most magnificent structures of the kind in Belgium, being ornamented with two fine towers at each wing, and a dome in the centre; but this superb building was nearly ruined by the bombardment of 1745. The body of the town-house still subsists, but of its dome and two beautiful towers there only remains the stump of one of them, surmounted by a wooden cupola. The church has no claim to architectural merit, but the inside is richly ornamented. It has a lofty octangular steeple, with a very clumsy spire, affording, however, an excellent sea-mark.

The Fortifications of Ostend are more than two miles in circumference. They were dismantled, but had not been essentially injured. They are now undergoing repairs and additions which will make them very formidable. As the place is situated on an elevated beach, the ramparts tower above the flat country, which, being lower than high-water mark, can be speedily and extensively inundated. The only hostile approaches are along the high sand-hills to the north and south; the former is protected by a strong redoubt, built by the late French government, and called Fort Napoleon. It forms a favourite promenade.

Ostend is a favourite watering-place, and is much frequented in the months of August and September. There are very many bathing machines on the beach; and near the sea, on the Digue, a bathing house has been established.

Steamers for London twice a-week, every Tuesday and Friday afternoon or night, performing the voyage in about 11 hours; also daily at 10 mrn.

and 8 aft. by the mail packets to Dover, in 4 to 5 hours. A direct rail (the West Flanders) is opened to Thourout, Courtray, &c.

Ostend to Bruges.-(Distance, 14 English miles.) The railway, on leaving Ostend, proceeds through a country presenting no very remarkable appearance, being rich in an agricultural point of view, but flat and undiversified in its general appearance.

Plasschendael (Station). A commune with a population of 1,600, situated a little to the right of the railway. It possesses no object of interest save its ancient château Plasschendael.

The Dunkirk and Ostend canals join here. BRUGES (Station)-Flemish, Brügge, or Bridges, of which there are many. Hotels:

Hotel de Commerce: a first-rate old established house, enjoying an excellent reputation. Hotel de Flandre: an old established house, famous for its fine wines and good dinners. Aigle Noir; Rosimont. Population (1873), 48,113. The railway station at Bruges is on the Vrydags Markt, or Friday's Market. The West Flanders Railway is now open to Courtray, making a direct railway from Ostend and Bruges to Paris, via Lille. Amiens, &c. It is 23 miles shorter than by Ghent. A railway runs to Blankenburg.

On leaving Ostend it is a very general custom for travellers going to Germany to take a railway ticket for the whole distance to Cologne, for the purpose of reaching the Rhine with the least possible delay. In doing so, they deprive themselves of the opportunity of visiting the cities in Belgium, which possess more objects of interest to the lover of the fine arts, more pure and perfect specimens of florid Gothic architecture, a richer collection of rare and beautiful paintings, by the old Flemish masters, than can probably be found in the whole of Germany. If, instead of hurrying in this hothaste through a country which presents so many points of interest to travellers in general, and to Englishmen in particular, our countrymen were to devote a part of their time to Belgium, they would never regret becoming acquainted with its peculiarities, its fine old cities, its glorious monuments, its arts and sciences, the people, and their institutions.

Bruges occupies a prominent place in the history

of Flanders, the traveller will find this town especially worthy of notice-not that it presents the aspect of a populous modern city, but because it has preserved the peculiarities which distinguished its appearance during the middle ages, when it was the emporium of European commerce, the residence of merchant princes, occasionally that of the reigning sovereign, and when its population exceeded 200,000. The mailed warrior or the gloved artizan meet no more upon the fortifications, the commerce which animated its quays and canals is dispersed over Europe, its merchants are no longer opulent as princes, the city is no longer the capital of West Flanders. Yet, though these things have passed away, we cannot infer that it was in vain that Providence raised up this town to such a remarkable point of grandeur and importance in a remote age. The characteristic intrepidity, activity, and proverbial turbulence of its artizans, the inflexible will and sturdiness of its burghers, the associations of its merchants and traders, which led to that interchange of opinion, that communion and unity of sentiment so fatal to despotism and feudal oppression, created and fostered that honest love of individual liberty, that regard and attachment for corporative nd communal privileges, for which the men of Gient and Bruges struggled during several centuries.

This deep attachment to local institutions has been merged into that of national patriotism, and if the traveller, in conversing with an intelligent inhabitant of Bruges, deplores its depopulated streets, he will be told that if Bruges is not the great and important city it was formerly, it has still much to be thankful for; its citizens, instead of being at continual variance with their sovereign, or the neighbouring towns, are now members of an independent kingdom, governed by a prince of their own choice, with one of the most liberal constitutions in the world-that Bruges is no longer isolated in its splendour and solitude, but that it forms a component part of the nation, and confident in the re[sources of the country for the gradual develop[ment of all branches of industry, it anticipates a return of comparative prosperity.

BRUGES is situate in a spacious and beautiful plain, about 6 miles from the sea. It is intersected by a great number of canal, and is,

indeed, the central point at which all the canals of the province meet.

On fête days the fine old city wears a gay and animated appearance. The beauty of the women of Bruges is of ancient repute, but the present generation scarcely justify the proverb, "Formosis Bruga puellis." When they are seen enveloped in the mantilla of Spanish origin, their brunnette complexions and dark eyes render them most picturesque and pleasing objects among the many splendid and exquisite specimens of architecture with which their dwellings are adorned and embellished.

"Fair city, worthy of her ancient fame

The season of her splendour is gone by;
Yet everywhere its monuments remain,
Temples which rear their stately heads on high,
Canals that intersect the fertile plain,

Wide squares and streets, with many a court
and hall.

"Spacious and undefaced, but ancient all,

When Imry read of tilts, in days of old, Of tournays, graced by chieftains of renown, Fair dames, grave citizens, and warriors bold. If fancy could portray some stately town, Which of such pomp fit theatre might be, Fair Bruges, I shall then remember thee."-SOUTHEY. Bruges contains very many objects of interest which will require a day at least to visit.

The Cathedral (St. Saveur). This beautiful church was founded in the seventh century by St. Eloy, and was greatly indebted for its erection to the liberality of Dagobert, the then King of France. It was entirely consumed by fire in 1358, but was again erected, after a more magnificent scale, on the same spot, the charitable subscriptions of the faithful defraying the cost. The spire is 470 feet high. It is built of brick, and in its external appearance presents nothing remarkable or attractive, but its interior is admirable. The paintings are worth notice because of their antiquity, and representing contributions to the history of Flemish art. Immediately under the grand entrance are several works by J. Van Oost, "The Baptism of Christ," "Christ on the Cross," and Jesus leaving his Mother to ascend Calvary" being the principal. A small picture, with shutters, hangs at the south side of the aisle, representing the Martyrdom of St. Sylvester, by Hans Hemling or Memling. There is likewise an excellent painting of the Last Supper, with Abraham and Elijah in the centre and at the side, by Peter Porbus. On either side of the altar is a black and white marble tomb. The choir is adorned

with tapestry, executed by Vanderboight, along which are suspended the arms of chevaliers of the order of the Toison d'Or, presents from a chapter of that order, placed in the church by Philip the Good, who founded the order 1430, on the day of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, and to whose memory a tomb is erected in one of the chapels. In the north aisle of the chapel of the Cordonnie are several monumental brasses, built into the wall, which may be looked upon as interesting specimens of early Flemish art, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Nôtre Dame is a church no way remarkable for its architecture, surmounted by a tower and stunted spire, 435 feet high. The most precious ornament of Notre Dame is a statue of the Virgin and Child, said to be by Michael Angelo. If it be surprising to find a work by this great man in Belgium, behold the explanation. The work was painted for Genes, and the vessel in which it was being conveyed was taken by a Dutch pirate, who brought it to Amsterdam, where a Bruges merchant bought it and presented it to this church. Horace Walpole offered, in vain, 30,000 florins for it. There are many other excellent paintings in the church, the principal of which are the Adoration of the Magi, by Seghers; the Adoration of the Shepherds, by De Crayer; an Infant Jesus, by Jacques Van Oost; St. Anthony of Padua, an Assumption, and the Marriage of St. Catherine of Sienne.

The Tombs of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and of his daughter, Mary, wife of the Emperor Maximilian, are to be seen in the south aisle of the choir. These were the last native sovereigns of the Netherlands. Mary of Burgundy died on the 27th of March, 1452; and Charles was killed at the battle of Nancy, in 1477. The monument of the Duchess was erected in 1495. In 1558 Philip II. paid Master Iongehlinck the sum of 14,000 florins for the execution of one similar to that of the Duchess, for his grandfather, Charles the Bold. The effigies of both are made of copper, richly gilt, and repose at full length on slabs of black marble. Beneath and around the slabs are coats of arms richly enamelled. They have lately been re-gilt and cleaned. They are shewn to the public only on days of great solemnity, but strangers can easily obtain access to see them on other occasions.

Visitors will be well repaid by visits to the churches of St. Giles, Jacques, Walburge, Anne, &c. The Church of Jerusalem is the fruit of a vow made by a pious merchant of Bruges, who, when in the Holy City, promised to build in his native town, if ever he returned to it in safety, a temple, on the model of that of Jerusalem, with an exaet representation of the tomb of our Saviour. The church also contains some fine specimens of coloured glass.

In the Church of St. Salvador are the Seven Acts of Mercy, by Van Dyke; the Resurrection, by Van Os; the Martyrdom of St. Barbara, by Cels; and numerous other pictures.

The Church of St. Mary is remarkable for its fine specimens of carving; the pictures are not of striking merit.

Church of St. Basil, or of the Holy Blood, is situated opposite the Town Hall. A beautiful Gothic façade will attract notice. It is called Le petite eglise de Saint Basili, and tradition says that some drops of our Saviour's blood, brought by Count Thierry, of Alsace, from the Holy Land, are now deposited in a richly jewelled and enamelled shrine of gilt silver. This is shewn in the Upper Chapel, the shrine being exposed on every Wednesday to the veneration of the faithful. In this chapel are some beautiful paintings, and a pulpit, with medallions carved in wood. Fifty cents are charged for admission.

Hospital of St. John, which is close to the church of Nôtre Dame. The period of its foundation is unknown. It is only known that in 1188 the governor prescribed many rules to the religious brothers and sisters of the house. It originally only received Magdalenes into it, but now persons of every description are received and attended by the sisters. This institution is celebrated for possessing several beautiful pictures, painted by Hans Hemling, so remarkable for purity of colouring and brightness of tone, that the most indifferent spectator will find himself an admirer of their prominent beauties. In the chapter house are hung the portraits of some of the directors and superiors of the establishment, the celebrated paintings-the pride of the city and admiration of travellers-by Hans Hemling, presented by him to the hospital, as a mark of his gratitude for the kindness with which he was treated when a patient