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of the French and Flemish languages may be marked by a line, drawn east from Gravelines to the Lys, and along that river to Menin, and thence east again to the Meuse, by the south of Brussels and Louvain, between Maestrech and Liége, South of this line French is spoken, and Flemish north of it. A more undulating line, drawn from Menin to the frontier near Chimay, and intersecting the ccntry between Valenciennes and Mons, would draw a demarcation between the two dialects of the French spoken in Belgium. On the west of this line the Picard dialect spoken, and the Walloon on the east of it.

WORKS OF ART.-SCHOOL OF PAINTING Belgium can boast of a brilliant history, not alone in reference to architecture; in her school of painting, we find an eminent degree of perfection characterising its productions, whilst its master and students have been signally remarkable for their perfection in the art. This school may be looked upon as dating from two separate epochs, and may be designated the schools of Van Eyck and Rubens. The founders of the early school were the brothers Aubert and John Van Eyck, who are said to have lived between 1370 and 1445. The tone and character of their works, with those of their scholars, and the degree of perfection with which they had been executed, may be easily gleaned from their numerous productions still existing in Belgium, forming, as they do, a great attraction, and the study of which becomes a special object of interest in a Belgian tour. The traveller of taste will appreciate them as equalling, if not surpassing, in their excellence, the productions of their European contemporaries. So far back as 1358, a guild of painters was established at Bruges. This corporation of artists, in the reign of Philip the Good, enjoyed a deservedly eminent reputation, and in the days of Van Eyck we find, registered on its records, above three hundred names, constituting, as a whole, the most celebrated school of that period.

Though Van Eyck cannot be said to be the inventor of oil painting, yet he cannot be denied the credit of having been the perfector of, and may in some measure be esteemed the father of the art. The perfection to which he brought oil painting is fully seen, to the present day, in the deep brilliancy and liveliness discernible in all his works, which, by the freshness and perfect preservation of their colours, excite the wonder and admiration of every traveller. And it is also certain that his school must have achieved a high character for proficiency in this department, since we find Antonello of Menina, an Italian artist, travelling into Flanders in order to acquire a knowledge of it, though, two hundred years previously, oil painting had been practised in Italy.

With the works of Van Eyck and his brother must be associated Hans Hemling

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another artist of the same school, whose chef d'œuvres exist in Bruges, in the Academy and Hospital of St. John.

In studying the productions of the early Flemish school we must not forget that their path was a new and entirely original one. Without the classic works of antiquity to guide them, or the great models of later times to imitate, they were forced by the necessity of circumstances to fall back upon the volume of nature; from it they took their models, and hence that formality, and stiffness, and meagreness of outline, so unpleasantly combined with a want of refinement in their works, which defects are more than covered by the elevated sentiment, sacred solemnity and truthful force of expression marking them. Through the works of Quentin Matsys, Frans Floris, De Vos, the Bringhaes, &c., down to Otto Vennius and Rubens, we can distinguish the progress of the Flemish school.

SCHOOL OF RUBENS.-Rubens and his illustrious pupil Vandyke may be looked upon as the presiding geniuses of the second epoch in the history of the Belgian or Flemish school. We cannot, in any language of our own, better exhibit the character of the school, than that in which the head of it is described by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the following extract: "The elevated situation in which Rubens stands in the esteem of the world, is a sufficient reason for some examination of his pretensions. His fame is extended over a great part of the continent without a rival; and it may be justly said that he enriched his country, not in a figurative sense alone, by the great examples of art which he left, but by what some would think a more solid advantage-the wealth arising from the concourse of strangers whom his works continually invited to Antwerp. To extend his glory still further, he gives to Paris one of its most striking features, the Luxembourg Gallery; and if to these we add the many towns, churches, and private cabinets, where a single picture of Rubens confers eminence, we cannot hesitate to place him in the first rank of illustrious painters."

In the present age, Belgium possesses a School of Living Artists, whose productions, especially those historical ones of Wappers de Keyzer, Bufre, Maes, &c. can bear competition with the best productions of the other schools of the present day.

ARCHITECTURE has been carried to its highest degree of perfection in the corstruction of the cathedrals and town halls of Belgium, which display the finest specimens of the ornamental Gothic style of the middle ages. In England, Gothic architecture is confined chiefly to churches, but in Belgium it is shewn to be equally suitable to civic edifices and private dwellings. Fronts richly decorated with quaint and fantastic sculptures, lofty sloping roofs, full of windows, pointed gables

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castellated towers, battlements, and projecting windows, combine to produce general effect, which, from its grandeur and intricacy, delights the spectator.

MANUFACTURES.-The industry of the Flemings has within 200 years converted a tract of land, once a sandy and barren heath, into a beautiful garden; and the product of its wheat is often not less than sixteen to one, and oats ten to one, whilst scarcely in any part of Britain does wheat give more than eight or ten to one. East and West Flanders alone produce annually flax to the amount of £1,600,000. The coal mines of Hainault produce more than those of the whole of France; and the annual quantity raised in Belgium is 2,000,000 chaldrons. More than 150,000 tons of iron are annually founded. The cloth manufactures at Verviers employ 4,000 men; and the cotton manufacture, notwithstanding the loss of the Dutch colonial markets, has improved steadily since 1830, and now represents a capital of £3,000,000 sterling. Commerce has greatly increased in Belgium lately. The principal exports are the productions of its flourishing agriculture and numerous manufactures, such лs corn, bran, coal, oil, lace, woollen and cotton cloths, linen, canvas, arms, rutlery, and ironmongery. The woollen manufacture may be said to constitute the staple manufacturing trade of Belgium. At all events it is the object of immense industry, and a quantity of foreign wool, to the value of 14,000,000 frs., or £583,333 6s. 8d. sterling, is consumed annually. Carpets, flax, and linen also constitute important items in the manufactures of Belgium. The cotton manufac ture in Belgium represents a capital of 60,000,000 frs. in buildings and machinery. and the number of hands employed is at least 122,000. A brisk trade is likewise carried on in silk, lace, ribbons, hosiery, hats, leather, oil-cloth, paper, and lithography, &c.

COMMERCE.-The commerce of Belgium at present extends its relations te numerous parts of the world, and includes almost every indigenous and foreign production. The average amount of value it represents may be estimated at 360,000,000 francs-that is, 210,000,000 of imports and 150,000,000 of exports. The external commerce of Belgium suffered greatly by the revolution in 1880, as Holland has since retained and monopolised the trade with all the colonies which belonged to the kingdom of the United Netherlands.

RELIGION. The Roman Catholic is the religion of the state, but the King is a Protestant, and every other form of faith has free exercise.

RAILWAYS.-Belgium is the first state in Europe in which a system of railways has been planned and executed at the public cost; and certainly it is an honourable distinction to have given the first example of such a national and systematic provision of the means of rapid communication. The undertaking was firs

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