"I leave that to you, sir. You seem to be quite at home here," replied Paul.
"We will take a carriage, and we can do up the city in a few hours."
A one-horse barouche was called, and a commissionaire—a kind of guide or interpreter, who assists strangers in doing their business, or in seeing the sights of the city—presented himself to be employed; but Dr. Winstock, who was familiar with the place, declined his services.
"What was that man?" asked Paul, as the carriage drove off to the Rue des Sœurs Noires, where the Dominican Church of St. Paul is located.
"He is a commissionaire, interpreter, or valet de place. Many travellers regard such men as swindlers; but for my own part I have found them very useful. When I first visited Antwerp I employed one. I found him intelligent and gentlemanly, and, so far as I could judge, not disposed to swindle me himself or to let others do so. I paid him five francs a day, and I am sure he saved me more money than I paid him, besides taking me in the easiest and most convenient way to the various points in the city."
"I should think such men would be very necessary, especially to those who cannot speak the language."
"In Amsterdam and Rotterdam I should have been on my beam-ends without them. I never could imagine where they obtained their bad name, unless it was from Englishmen, who are generally afraid of being cheated, and take the alarm before there is any real danger."
The driver stopped before the Church of St. Paul, and the passengers alighted. There was nothing worthy of note in the church; but outside of it, in a kind of garden, one of the most singular and remarkable exhibitions is open to the visitor. It is called "Calvary," and is a representation of the "several stages," as they are termed, in the life of Christ. An artificial mound is raised on the side next to the church edifice, which is covered with a kind of rock-work, in imitation of Mount Calvary. In various parts of the area are placed the statues of saints, angels, patriarchs, and prophets.
On the summit of the mound is represented the crucifixion, with a figure of the Savior on the cross. At the foot of it is the sepulchre, which is claimed to be a perfect copy of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, though travellers who have seen it say it bears no resemblance whatever to the original. In the tomb, on a kind of shelf, rests the crucified Christ, represented by a figure clothed in silk and muslin!
Near the tomb an ideal of Purgatory is exhibited, consisting of wood carvings. The making-up of the scene appears to be a kind of cage, like those one sees in a menagerie, with bars in front of it to prevent the escape of the unhappy mortals temporarily confined there. Within the den are carved and painted several figures of men, in the midst of darting, leaping flames, upon whose faces there is an expression of intense anguish. Doubtless the intention of those who conceived this astounding exhibition was to impress upon the mind of the spectator the sufferings of the unrepentant wicked. It is hardly possible that this effect could ever have been produced upon the minds of sensible men. The spectacle is not only in exceedingly bad taste, but it is positively repulsive, not to say sacrilegious.