The Flemings won, be it recorded.

Let alone, the Fleming would have worked out his own salvation in his own way. The country was prosperous. The King and Queen were popular, indeed beloved; all seemed to be going well with the people. Although Belgium was not a military power such as its great neighbors to the north, the east, and the south, its army played an important part in the lives of the people, and the strategical position which the country held filled in the map the ever present question of "balance"; the never absent possibility of the occasion arising when the army would be called upon to defend the neutrality of the little country. But they never dreamed that it would come so soon.... One might close with the words of the great Flemish song of the poet Ledeganck:

"Thou art no more,
The towns of yore:
The proud-necked, world-famed towns,
The doughty lion's lair;"
(Written in 1846.)

[The Author]
Greenwich, Conn.
April, 1916.

Contents

PAGE
Malines, and Some of the Vanished Towers[17]
Some Carillons of Flanders[41]
Dixmude[55]
Ypres[65]
Commines[85]
Bergues[93]
Nieuport[99]
Alost[111]
Courtrai[119]
Termonde (Dendermonde)[133]
Louvain[147]
Douai[157]
Oudenaarde[163]
Furnes[171]
The Artists of Malines[181]
A Word About the Belgians[199]

List of Illustrations

The Great Cloth Hall: Ypres[Frontispiece]
[Title page decoration]
PAGE
The Tower of St. Rombauld: Malines[18]
Malines: A Quaint Back Street[22]
Porte de Bruxelles: Malines[26]
The Beguinage: Dixmude[34]
Detail of the Chimes in the Belfry of St. Nicholas: Dixmude[42]
The Belfry: Bergues[46]
The Old Porte Marechale: Bruges[50]
The Ancient Place: Dixmude[56]
The Great Jube, or Altar Screen: Dixmude[58]
The Fish Market: Dixmude[60]
No. 4, Rue de Dixmude: Ypres[72]
Arcade of the Cloth Hall: Ypres[76]
Gateway, Wall, and Old Moat: Ypres[80]
The Belfry: Commines[88]
The Towers of St. Winoc: Bergues[94]
The Tower of the Templars: Nieuport[100]
The Town Hall—Hall of the Knights Templar: Nieuport[103]
Tower in the Grand' Place: Nieuport[104]
The Town Hall: Alost[112]
The Belfry: Courtrai[120]
The Broël Towers: Courtrai[124]
The Museum: Termonde[138]
The Cathedral: Louvain[148]
The Town Hall: Louvain[150]
The Town Hall: Douai[158]
The Town Hall: Oudenaarde[164]
Old Square and Church: Oudenaarde[166]
The Fish Market: Ypres[172]
The Church of Our Lady of Hanswyk[190]