Chapter I

OSTEND, the Harbour--Canal Docks--Police--Economy of a private
carriage for a party on the continent--General aspect of
Ostend--Effluvia--Siege in 1604--Fortifications--Promenade--Sands
and sea-bathing--Commerce--BRUGES, the railroad--Belgium
naturally suited to railroads--Old canal travelling to Bruges
superseded--Appearance of the city--Its style of ancient
houses--The streets--Canals and gardens--Squares--Style of public
edifices--Resembles Pisa--_Ancient history of Bruges_--Its
old palaces--Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary of
Burgundy--Singular marriage custom of the middle ages--House in
which the Emperor Maximilian was confined--Residences of Edward
IV. of England, and of Charles II.--_Commercial greatness of
Bruges_--The Hanseatic League--Her tapestries--The order of the
Golden Fleece instituted in her honour--Saying of the Queen of
Philip the Fair--Story of the Burghers at the court of John of
France--_Her present decay_--Air of reduced nobility--Costume of
the middle classes--Grave demeanour of the citizens--No traces of
the Spaniards to be found in the Low Countries--_Flemish sculptures
in wood_--Pictures--No modern paintings in Bruges--_Collection in
the Church of St. Sauveur_--Characteristics of the early Flemish
school--The paintings in _the Museum_--Statue of Van Eyck--His
claim to be the inventor of oil painting--_Collection in the Chapel
of the Hospital of St. John_--Story of Hans Memling--The cabinet
of St. Ursula--The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings--The
Hospital of St. John--Statue by Michael Angelo--TOMBS OF
MARY OF BURGUNDY AND CHARLES THE RASH--The tower of Les
Halles--Carillon--Splendid view--The _Palais de Justice_--Superb
carved mantel-piece--_Hotel de Ville_--Its statues destroyed by the
French revolutionists--Diamond setters--Comparison of Bruges and
Tyre--Mr. Murray’s hand-books--The manufacture of lace in Belgium. 1