CHAPTER II.
GHENT.
Bruges a cheap residence—Tables-d’Hôte, their influence upon society—Canal from Bruges to Ghent—Absence of country mansions—Gardens—Appearance of Ghent—M. Grenier and M. de Smet de Naeyer—The Conseil de Prud’hommes, its functions—Copyright of designs in Belgium—The linen trade of Belgium—Its importance—Great value of Belgian flax—Its cultivation—Revenue derived from it—Inferiority of British flax—Anxiety of the government for the trade in linen—Hand-spinners—Spinning by machinery—Société de la Lys—Flower gardens—The Casino—Export of flowers—General aspect of the city—Its early history—Vast wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted for—Trading corporations—Turbulence of the people of Bruges and Ghent—Jacques van Artevelde—His death—Philip van Artevelde—Charles V.—His bon mots regarding Ghent—Latin distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities—Siege of Ghent, Madame Mondragon—House of the Arteveldes—Hôtel de Ville—The belfry and Roland—The Marché de Vendredi—The great cannon of Ghent.
Bruges has the reputation of being an economical residence for persons of limited fortune, but I have reason to believe it does not fully merit it. I have understood, that at the termination of the war, a large mansion with every appurtenance, was to have been had for twenty-five pounds a year, but the concourse of English, and the influx of strangers, has now placed it, in this respect, pretty much upon a par with other places of the continent.
We dined at an excellent table-d’hôte at the Hôtel de Commerce, the only inconvenience being the early hour, 2 o’clock, but this, and even earlier hours for dinner, we became, not only reconciled to, but almost to prefer before leaving Germany. To the prevalence of these tables-d’hôte in every town and village of the continent, must, no doubt, be ascribed much of that social feeling and easy carriage which characterise the people of almost every country in Europe except our own. Being frequented by persons of all ranks, they lead to an assimilation of manners and of taste, which must be conducive to general refinement; and by an interchange of opinions and a diffusion of intelligence during the two or three hours of daily intercourse, they must contribute to a diffusion of information, and a better understanding between all classes.
In England, with our present sectional ideas and well defined grades, their introduction would be impossible, or if attempted, would only serve to make more distinct and compact the divisions into which society is parcelled out. And yet, how desirable would it be that some successful expedient could be discovered to produce a more frequent intercourse between these numerous castes, and to soften down these Hindoo prejudices, which are an unquestionable source of insecurity and weakness in England. It is to this, that in a great degree is to be ascribed the virulence of political jealousies, and the intense hatred of political parties. So long as wealth is constituted the great standard which is to adjust conventional precedence, affluence and intelligence must form one exclusive race, of whose feelings, habits, objects and desires, poverty and ignorance, as they can know nothing, may be easily persuaded to believe them hostile and destructive to their own; and even mediocrity of rank, as it stands aloof from either, will continue to look with alarm and jealousy upon both.
Were it practicable, by any salutary expedient, to enable the humble and laborious to perceive for themselves, that the enjoyments and habits of the rich are not necessarily antagonist to their own, it would at once paralyze the strength of the demagogue and the incendiary. Religious bigotry and political malignity, like sulphur and nitre, are explosive only when combined with the charcoal of ignorance.
The railroad from Bruges to Ghent, runs for the entire way within view, and frequently along the bank of the canal which connects the two cities, and which occasionally presents greater beauty than one is prepared to expect; its waters folded over with the broad leaves of the water lilly, and variegated with its flowers, and those of the yellow bog bean; and its steep banks covered with the tassels of the flowering rush. The road passed through numerous copses, cultivated for firewood and planted with the oak, the chesnut and the weeping birch, with here and there broad patches of firs and hornbeam. But the beauty of the long lines of ornamental trees which enclose the road and sometimes border the canals in Flanders, is much impaired by the fashion of pollarding their tops for the purpose of fuel.
One misses, also, the numerous seats and mansions of the landed gentry to which we are familiarized in travelling in our own country, “the happy homes of England,” that constitute the rich luxuriance of a British landscape. But here, their erection is discountenanced by the law against primogeniture, by which the property of the individual is compulsorily divided amongst his heirs; and, at former periods, their absence may, perhaps, be ascribed to the insecurity of the country, perpetually visited with war and all its accessories, so that men found their only safety within the walls of their fortified towns. In the neighbourhood of Ghent, however, they are more frequent than in any other district of Belgium which I have seen, an evidence, perhaps, of the more abundant wealth of its successful manufactures and merchants.
In the vicinity of all the villages and suburbs, each house is provided with a garden, richly stocked with flowers, (amongst which the multitude of dahlias was quite remarkable), and surrounded, not by a fence, but more frequently, in gardens of any extent, by a broad dyke of deep water, covered with lillies and aquatic plants. Every inch of ground seemed to have been subjected to the spade, and with a more than Chinese economy of the soil, made to contribute either to the decoration or the support of the owner’s dwelling.
After passing the hamlets of Bloemendael (the valley of flowers), and Aeltre, we came in sight of Ghent, situated on a considerable elevation above the water of the Scheldt (pronounced Skeld), the Lys, the Lieve, and the Moer, which meet around its base, and with their communicating branches and canals, divide the city into six-and-twenty islets, connected by upwards of eighty bridges of wood or stone. Its towers and steeples are discernible for some miles before it is reached, mingled with the tall chimnies of its numerous manufactories, which mark it as the Manchester of Belgium.
The court-yard of the station was filled with a crowd of omnibuses, fiacres and vigilantes, an improvement upon the cabs of London, and a drive of a few minutes brought us to the Cauter, or Place d’Armes, where, following the direction of the Hand-book, we stopped at the Hôtel de la Poste, a spacious house, kept by a M. Oldi, who, we were told, was son to a Baroness of the same name, who figured on the occasion of the trial of Queen Caroline.