Chapter II

Quays of Antwerp--Peculiar mode of training young trees--The
Scheldt--The flying bridge of Napoleon--Story of Van
Speyk--Polder at the Tête de Flandres--Its catastrophe in
1837--Zwyndrecht--_Different professions of the Belgian
saints_--Story of the curate of St. Joachim--Beveren--_St.
Nicholas_--Dense population--A market--Flemish
ballad-singers--Ancient drama of Flanders--Tamise--RUINOUS
CONDITION OF THE COTTON TRADE _in Belgium since the
revolution_--Its causes--Inability of the government to
afford relief--Diminution of exports since 1833--Remarkable
petition of the trade to the legislature--Remedies suggested
by them--Impracticability of any commercial union with
France--Or the Zoll-Verein--_Dendermonde_--Siege by the
Duke of Marlborough--Description of its present state--Its
manufactures--MECHLIN--Curious old city--The Archbishop
Sterckx--A political prelate--Mechlin lace--Flax--The Cathedral
of St. Romoald--The tower--Carillon--Immense bells--The
corporation of Mechlin--_The tomb of the Bertholdi_--Van Eyck’s
paintings--_Vandyke’s Crucifixion_--Superiority of Rubens in
composition--_Church of Notre-Dame_--“The miraculous draught
of fishes”--Favourite paintings of Rubens in the Church of St.
John--Hôtel de St. Jaques. 80