The cathedral of Ghent is considered one of the most handsome Gothic buildings in Belgium. The pulpit is a most beautiful specimen of workmanship, and is composed of white marble and richly-carved oak; near the great altar are magnificent antique candelabras, said formerly to have belonged to Charles the First of England, and were suspended in the old church of St. Paul's in London. Amongst the splendid paintings that ornament this cathedral are Lazarus rising from the dead, by Otto Vennius, St. John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, and the Paschal Lamb. Our Saviour is also represented on a throne holding a crystal sceptre. There are likewise two marble statues that represent the Apostles St. Paul and St. Peter, and numerous other beautiful paintings.
I took my departure at ten o'clock for Antwerp, where we arrived at six the following morning.
Oct. 1. Immediately on my arrival I proceeded to the top of the Antwerp steeple, or tower, which consists of six hundred and twenty two steps, and is four hundred and sixty-six feet in height, from the top of which a beautiful view of the town is seen, and a vast extent of fertile country. The Island of Walcheren and some of the Dutch steeples were pointed out to me in the distance. The citadel, which now appears to be all covered with grass, is very plainly seen from the top of this steeple, and the number of vessels in the Scheldt add life to the scene. The cathedral is reckoned one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe; the interior is superb, and richly ornamented by the magnificent paintings of Rubens. I observed numerous very splendid marble columns. The altar is executed with marble, and ornamented with a representation of the Assumption. There is also a splendid painting of the Disciples at Emmaus, by Herreyns, portraits of Luther and Calvin, and numerous other celebrated objects, which to attempt to particularize would require one more intimately acquainted with the subject than I can pretend to be. The painted windows are equally elegant.
I next visited St. James's Church, which is a very splendid building, and richly decorated with fine paintings and superb marble columns; the altar is inlaid with black and white marble, and supported by handsome twisted columns, and various groups of sculpture. The pulpit is most elegantly sculptured, and the beautiful specimens of carved oak are deserving of notice, as likewise is the splendour of the painted windows. There is also a fine picture of the Last Supper, by Otto Vennius, one of the Last Judgment, by Willemsen, the Tomb of Rubens, and a painting by him, of our Saviour on his mother's knees, surrounded by a number of figures, all of which are said to be portraits of the painter's wives and family. After seeing these two magnificent churches, I proceeded to the nursery garden of M. Vangeert, which is situated about two English miles from the city; it contains a very good collection of hardy perennial plants, as well as Azaleas and other American shrubs. The hothouses here are about one hundred and fifty feet long, in several divisions, and a good-sized pit for the half-hardy sorts. I here observed the best crop and finest bunches of hothouse grapes that I had previously met with on the continent. I was much indebted to M. Vangeert, jun., for his attention in accompanying me to the various gardens that he considered to be most deserving of notice in the neighbourhood of Antwerp.
We proceeded to the Antwerp Botanic Garden, which is but of limited extent, I think not above an acre of ground in it. There is a green-house placed about the centre of the garden, but its occupants appeared to be of rather distant introduction, and little amongst them of novelty except a very fine specimen of the Araucaria Braziliensis, which was growing in a tub, and then standing out of doors.
There were likewise two or three other small houses for tropical plants, which were in a very flourishing state, particularly those cultivated in the stove.
They have in this garden a tolerably good collection of the Genus Pinus, amongst which is a dwarf sort, named there the Pinus monstrosa, but it appears to be only a variety of the Pinus cembra. It formed a very close bush, not exceeding two feet in height.
The next garden we visited was that of the late M. Jean Veanhal, which, during his time, was much celebrated for rare and good plants. Although there was but a small piece of ground in this garden, yet it contained a good collection, and several very good hothouses, in which were cultivated pine-apples and other tropical plants, which were in a very flourishing state, and the whole neatly kept.
We next proceeded to M. Moen's nursery ground, which is also but of limited extent, but contains a number of good Magnolias, Azaleas, and other hardy plants, as well as many good greenhouse species. In this nursery there is a fine collection of Camellias. M. Moen informed me he had about two hundred seedling varieties and species. I saw here a fine specimen of the Camellia reticulata, about five feet high; M. Moen valued this plant at sixty guineas. There are some pretty good greenhouses in this nursery, also a good collection of pears that were in full bearing, and producing fine crops.
We proceeded next to the seat of M. Caters De-wolfe, which is several miles from Antwerp; the grounds attached to this residence are prettily laid out, particularly a sheet of water, which is amongst the best I have seen; it is formed so as to produce a picturesque effect from several points of view. At a contracted part of it a wooden bridge is constructed across, springing on both sides on elevated well-formed artificial pieces of rockwork. In the pleasure ground are three very pretty curvilinear iron-bar hothouses, erected by Baily, of London, and devoted to the growth of exotic plants and pine-apples, which evidently fully answered in that climate their intended purpose. Here is also a good kitchen garden, with numerous low houses and pits for the growth of the pine, vine and peach, as well as one devoted to orchideous plants, a collection of which was just then forming. The pines and exotic plants in this establishment were all in a very flourishing state, and the gardens in pretty fair keeping.