You have read, I presume, that in the days of Heathenism, the Deities of that curious Mythology were supposed to rejoice in the number Three. The Popish Code has fixed upon Seven as the lucky number. Thus they have seven sacraments, seven deadly sins, &c. &c. Brussels has improved upon that; and, taking the hint from their blessed Liturgy, has seven grand streets; seven parish-churches; seven Patrician families, out of which the Magistrates are or were elected; seven large squares; seven midwives, licensed and sworn by the Senate; and seven gates, leading to seven places of recreation and exercise, one to a place proper for fowling, a second to a place for fishing, a third to one for hunting, a fourth to pleasant fields, a fifth to pastime grounds, a sixth to springs and vineyards, and a seventh to gardens. Besides all which sevens, they boast of having once had the great good fortune of entertaining, at one time, seven Crowned Heads, with seven, thousand horse belonging to their retinue. If there were any spell in the number Seven, the People of Brussels surely must have been secure from all mischief; but the Sans-culottes have broken the charm, dispersed the necromancers, and lowered poor number Seven to its mere arithmetical value.
The Inns, or eating-houses, in this city, were equal to any in the world: a stranger might dine there better and cheaper than in any place, perhaps, on earth. The wines, also, were excellent and cheap; and coach-hire beyond expectation reasonable——And here I recollect to remark to you, that, all the way from Ostend to Brussels, one is obliged to sit, dine, &c. in bed-chambers; a circumstance which is extremely discordant to the feelings of those who have been used to British Inns, although the bed-chambers are, to say the truth, large and commodious. At the very walls of Brussels begins the famous wood of Sogne, from which the inhabitants were allowed to cut wood for fuel: as fast as the trees were cut down, fresh ones were planted in their stead; by which means the wood was preserved, and it afforded a continual supply to the Poor.
Brussels is so very remarkable a place, that I have taken more than my usual scope of description of it. Just as I had finished it, I read a paragraph in the public papers, stating that it is likely to be annexed to the territories of the French Republic.
LETTER XIII.
Hitherto, as I have proceeded on my travels, I have been purposely very particular in my descriptions of the towns through which I passed on my way to India, in order to give your mind a disposition to inquiry, and point out to you an overflowing source of improvement and delight. Having so far shewn you how amply you will be rewarded, even in amusement, by the trouble of searching into books, for the accurate topographical descriptions of towns, cities, building, &c. &c. I think I may spare myself that labour for the future, and confine myself to those points that more immediately apply to the enlargement of the mind——I mean, the government, laws, manners and character of the People of each Country; and only use the former as subservient to the latter purpose, at least until I come to those places where, the ground being but little trodden by British feet, more precise description may become necessary.
But, before I leave the Netherlands, I must make a few remarks upon the Country and People, which it would be unpardonable in me to omit, after having been already so minutely particular in things of inferior merit to the scope of my plan.
Although personal appearance be, in the eye of Moral Philosophy, a very inferior consideration, and mind the proper study of Man; yet, in describing a People, I cannot think it altogether unnecessary to include their personal appearance, as it will be found that there exists a greater analogy between the person and the mind of Man than is generally perceived. Thus the lively hilarity, the restless activity, the levity and fantastic character of the French, are strongly pourtrayed in the national person. In like manner, the lusty, fat, clumsy and misshapen person of the People of the Netherlands, is strongly illustrative of the temper and habit of their mind, intellects and spirits: industrious and heavy; dull of understanding, but not defective in judgment; flow in work——but, persevering in effort, and unerring in the process, they are generally successful in the end: in war, cold and backward at offensive operations, but inflexible and terrible in resistance; like the boar of the forest, they seek not the combat with any, but will not go out of their way to decline it with the most powerful: their appetites and desires cooler than other Nations, but less subject to change or caprice: never violently in love, but rationally attached to their wives; and both men and women faithful to their conjugal vow, as well from natural temperament, as from a principle of virtue.
Thus constituted by Nature, the effects of their industry are wonderful in every thing; but chiefly in their canals and sluices, which serve not only for the support of their commerce, and the facility of intercourse, but for their defence against enemies: this was in other times; but, alas! the former of these uses, commerce, has so entirely absorbed all their intellect, and possessed their very souls, that they seem almost entirely negligent of the latter; and from being, of all People, the most wise and vigilant in determining and ascertaining their rights, the most zealous asserters and defenders of their independence, the most ardent friends to Liberty, and the most determined enemies to Slavery, they are become a sort of strange, inconsistent, hotch-potch politicians, whom ingenuity itself would find a difficulty in describing. They retain so much of their ancient and noble vigilance as serves to make them suspicious——so much of their independence as disposes them to change——so much of their jealousy as stimulates them to resistance——but not one particle of their former wisdom, to instruct them where they should attach themselves, where resist, or where resolve to act——nor of their courage to carry any resolution they might form into effect.