The boys all laughed at the blunder, and Lynch repeated his pledge not to drink any strong liquors, wine, or beer again. Grossbeck defended his conduct by saying that he had heard a great deal about the light wines of Europe, which people drank like water, and he did not suppose a couple of thimblefuls of it would hurt them.
"Call for vin rouge next time," laughed Blount; "that means red wine, or claret. It isn't much stronger than water."
"No, sir!" ejaculated Lynch, springing up in bed, though with much difficulty; "I shall not call for red wine, or anything of the sort. From this time, henceforth and forevermore, I'm a temperance man. I won't drink anything but water, and only a little of that. I feel cheaper than Napoleon when he landed on the Island of St. Helena."
The party turned in, and in a short time all of them, tired out by the fatigues of the day, were fast asleep. Mr. Fluxion, before half past eleven, had reported all the students in the house. At six o'clock in the morning all hands were turned out, and several squads of them were exploring the city on their own account. But it was not till after breakfast that a systematic excursion was organized. A number of omnibuses and one-horse barouches, or voitures, had been engaged by Mr. Fluxion, and, seated in these, the ship's company proceeded to the Grande Place, which is a large square, with the Hôtel de Ville on one side, and the old Palace, or Broodhuis, on the other side.
The Hôtel de Ville is one of the most splendid municipal palaces in the Low Countries, where these structures are always magnificent specimens of architecture. The spire, of open work, in Gothic style, is three hundred and sixty-four feet high. The vane, which is a gilded copper figure of St. Michael, is seventeen feet high. The building was erected in the fifteenth century.
By the attention of the governor of Antwerp, several officials were in readiness to escort the visitors through the city; and at their beck the doors of public buildings and churches, and the gates of palaces and gardens, were thrown open. The party entered the Hôtel de Ville, and in one of its large rooms an opportunity was afforded for Mr. Mapps to expatiate a little on the city of Brussels.
"Young gentlemen, what is the French name of this city?" asked the professor, as he took the stand occupied by the chief magistrate of the city.
"Bruxelles," responded many of the boys; for they had seen it often enough upon signs and in newspapers to know it.
"Unlike many of the cities of Belgium which we have before visited, Brussels is a growing place. Its population has doubled in twenty years, and now numbers about three hundred thousand. It is situated on both sides of the little River Senne, one hundred and fifty miles from Paris,—which it imitates and resembles in some degree,—and twenty-seven miles from Antwerp. It is built partly on a hill; and the city consists of two portions, called the upper and the lower town, the latter being the older part, and containing all the objects of historic interest. In the upper town are the Park, the king's palace, and the public offices. The streets are irregular, narrow, and crooked; but the city is surrounded by a broad highway, having different names in different parts, as the Boulevard de Waterloo, the Boulevard de Flandre, and the Boulevard d'Anvers.
"The oldest part of the city is in the vicinity of this square—the Grande Place, in which the Counts Egmont and Horn were beheaded by the Duke of Alva. You saw their statues in the square. In this city, in an old palace burned in 1733, Charles V. abdicated in favor of his son Philip II. Here, also, was drawn up that celebrated document called the Request. It was a petition to Margaret of Parma, in favor of the Protestants of the Low Countries, of which you read in Motley. It was presented to her in the Hôtel de Cuylembourg, where a prison now stands. She was somewhat alarmed at the appearance of the petitioners; and one of her courtiers told her, in a whisper, not to be annoyed by the 'gueux,' or beggars. The leader of the confederates, hearing of this, regarded the epithet bestowed upon those who were defending the liberties of their country as an honorable appellation, and the petitioners adopted it as their war-cry. In the evening, some of them appeared in front of the palace with beggars' wallets on their backs, and porringers in their hands, and drank as a toast, 'Success to the Gueux!' This trivial incident proved to be one of the leading events of the revolution which deprived Spain of the Low Countries; for it kindled the enthusiasm of the people, and urged them on in the redemption of their country. In Motley you will find a full history of the 'Beggars.' Alva was so incensed at the turn of this affair, that he levelled to the ground the building in which the confederates met.