LOUVAIN. [BELGIUM.] Continuing on our route to Liège we pass Tirlemont, a thriving town of 12,260 inhabitants, where cloth is extensively manThe church of St. Germain, dating from the 9th century, contains an altar-piece by Wappers. YPRES. early as 1040, but the existing building | cated here, together with his sister, by dates only from the 15th century. Its Andrien Boyens, afterward Pope Adrian principal object of interest is a Holy VI. Family by Quentin Matsys, which hangs in a side chapel back of the high-altar. On its shutters the Death of St. Anne and the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple are painted; the former is beauti-ufactured. fully executed. This picture was carried to Paris during the Revolution. Between the choir and the nave is a richly ornamented Roodloft (1440), in front of which hangs a chandelier of wrought iron, with twelve branches, the work of Quentin Matsys. This church also contains a finely carved wooden pulpit, date 1742, two altarpieces in the choir chapels, by Steurbout, representing the Last Supper and the Martyrdom of St. Erasmus, and in a nave chapel a curious picture by I. van Rillaer, representing a cook, wearing his apron, who was chosen bishop, owing to the miraculous descent of a dove upon his head. The University of Louvain was in the 16th century considered the first in Europe, being then, as now, principally a school of Roman Catholic theology. At that time it was frequented by 6000 students, and had 43 colleges, endowed by pious founders, dependent upon it; the colleges are now reduced to 20, with greatly diminished funds, and the number of pupils is about 600. The Weavers' Hall, erected in 1317, has been appropriated by the University. In St. Gertrude's Church notice the carved oak stalls, with their detached groups and exquisite bas-reliefs; they date from the 15th century, and are considered the finest in Belgium. This church was originally the chapel of the dukes of Brabant. St. Michael's Church contains some good modern paintings by De Keyser, Wappers, and Matthieu. Louvain is now chiefly famous for its beer, of which 200,000 casks are brewed annually, and mostly exported. The Brewers' Guild stands opposite the Hôtel de Ville. Just outside the Mechlin gate stand the remains of an old Castle, called the Château de César, built by the Emperor Arnold in 890, to repel the invasion of the NorThe Emperor Charles V. was edu mans. Landen, the cradle of Pepin, who was originally buried here, Waremme, Fezhe, and Ans, all unimportant places, are passed before reaching Liège, see Route No. 135. ROUTE No. 139. Brussels to Calais, via Courtrai, Poperinghe, and Hazebrouck, by rail. Time, 5 h. 50 m.; fare, 16 fr. 10 c. Leaving Brussels by the Station du Nord, we soon reach Oudenarde, situated on the Scheldt. Population, 6300. Hôtel Pomme d'Or. This town was the birthplace of Margaret, Duchess of Parma, natural daughter of Charles V., and governess of the Netherlands under Philip II. It contains a beautiful Hôtel de Ville of the 16th century, two fine churches-that of St. Walburga containing an Assumption by Crayer-and an ancient tower called Het Saecksen. A female figure with a wreath of immortelles, by Geefs, stands at the entrance of the town, to commemorate the Belgian volunteers killed in Mexico in 1865. Courtrai, see Route No. 133. Ypres contained in the 14th century no less than 200,000 inhabitants, chiefly engaged in the manufacture of linen, at which period no less than 4000 looms were worked. The population is now reduced to 17,600, and thread and thread-lace are the principal articles now manufactured. The Cathedral of St. Martin contains a fine painting attributed to Van Eyck, with the date 1525. The finest building the POPERINGHE. [BELGIUM.] town contains is the town-hall, a Gothic edifice surmounted by a belfry-tower, with frescoes in the great hall by Swerts and Gruffins. The front is ornamented with 44 statues of counts of Flanders down to the time of Charles V. In the Convent of the Pauvres Clercs is the tomb of Jansen, founder of the sect of Jansenists; he was Bishop of Ypres, and died in 1683. MONS. pilgrims, and believed to have worked many miracles. Notice the reredos of the highaltar, in marble, carved by Mone, a native artist (1533). The sacristy of this church was once rich in gold-plate and other votive gifts offered to the Virgin by Charles V., Maximilian I., Henry VIII., and other devotees, but much of it was appropriated by the French during the Revolution. A silver monstrance, presented by Henry The Belgian School of Cavalry is at VIII. after the capture of Tournai, is still Ypres. to be seen. Poperinghe is an uninteresting town of 11,000 inhabitants, carrying on some trade in hemp. At Ooest Cappel is situated the French custom-house. For continuation of this route, see Route No. 133. ROUTE No. 140. Brussels to Paris, via Hal, Mons, and Valenciennes. Time, 9 h. 20 m.; fare, 39 fr. 70 c. Leaving Brussels from the Station du Midi, the railway, after passing Ruysbroeck station, reaches Hal, 7 miles distant. This town, of 7815 inhabitants, contains a rich Gothic church (Notre Dame), with a celebrated black wooden Virgin, resorted to by innumerable A railway runs direct from Hal, via Tournai, to Calais. Time from Brussels, 4 h. 50 m. Mons, a fortified town of 26,900 inhabitants, owes its origin to a stronghold erected here by Julius Cæsar during a campaign against the Gauls. (Hotels, Garin and Royal.) A tower, or beffroi, erected in 1662, occupies the site of Cæsar's castle; the more modern castle to which it is attached now serves as a lunatic asylum. The church of St. Waudru is the principal building the town contains; it dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, and possesses a handsome high-altar with marble bas| reliefs (1556), the work of an Italian artist, and some fine stained glass, also of the 16th century. The Canal de Condé connects Mons with the Scheldt, and facilitates the transport of the large quantities of coal which are produced from the numerous and extensive coal-mines in the vicinity of the town. Query is the Belgian frontier station, and Feignies the French frontier station. For continuation of this route to Paris, see Route No. 133. 523 HOLLAND, OR THE NETHERLANDS. HISTORY. [HOLLAND.] HOLLAND forms an independent state to the northward of Belgium, and lying along the shores of the German Ocean; its average dimensions in the direction of north and south are about one hundred and fifty miles; its mean breadth is about one hundred miles. The area of the provinces at present constituting the kingdom of the Netherlands—that is, including the duchies of Limburg and Luxemburg-is 13,598 square miles. The population, not including colonies, is 3,809,527. The "NETHERLANDS," as the term implies, are low countries, exhibiting an almost perfectly level surface; a great part of the country, indeed, toward the coast, is even lower than the level of the adjacent ocean-in some places as much as forty feet below high-water mark. But the sea is prevented from overflowing the land, partly by natural and partly by artificial means, along the eastern shores of the Zuyder-Zee. The sea is shut out by enormous artificial mounds or dikes, which are constructed chiefly of earth and clay, sloping gradually from the sea, and usually protected in the most exposed parts by a facing of wicker-work, formed of willows interlaced together. Sometimes their bases are faced with masonry, and in some places they are defended by a breastwork of piles, intended to break the force of the The preservation of the dikes in good condition is an object of constant attention with the people of Holland, as it is only by their means that large tracts of country are prevented from inundation. The expenditure of keeping these dikes in repair amounts to a large sum annually. The cost of each dike is defrayed by a tax laid on the surrounding lands. waves. The general aspect of Holland is different from that of any other country in Europe. Its surface presents one grand network of canals, which are there as numerous as roads in any other country, the purposes of which indeed they, for the most part, answer. The facility with which the country may be laid under water contributes materially to its strength in a military point of view. This, indeed, is not a resource to be resorted to except on ex HISTORY. treme occasions; but it was repeatedly made use of in the war of liberation, and also in 1672, when Louis XIV. invaded Holland. It is said that in 1830 every thing was prepared for an inundation. The climate of Holland is colder than the opposite coasts of England in similar latitudes, and the winter is generally severe. The atmosphere is very moist, owing to the abundance of water. The eastern prov. inces are drier and more healthy than those immediately adjacent to the coast. The climate of Holland, indeed, is damp, raw, and cold for eight months of the year; hot and unwholesome for four. In the second century Holland was overrun by the Saxons. In the eighth it was conquered by Charles Martel; and it subsequently formed part of Charlemagne's dominions. For four centuries it was gov, erned by the Dukes of Brabant and Counts of Holland and Flanders. In the latter part of the fourteenth century it passed, by marriage, into the hands of the Dukes of Burgundy, then to the house of Austria; and lastly, in 1548, to the Emperor Charles V. Philip II., jealous of the liberties enjoyed by the Dutch, and for the purpose of extirpating the Reformed faith, which had taken firm root in Holland, dispatched a powerful army under the Duke Alva; but the Dutch, instead of being subdued, were driven into open rebellion, and after a fearful struggle, the independence of the republic was acknowledged by Spain in 1609. Holland now contended with England for the empire of the sea. She successfully resisted the attacks of Louis XIV., and extended her conquests in the east and west. From the time of Louis XIV. down to the Revolution the position of Holland gradually declined (see Motley's "Dutch Republic"). Notwithstanding the policy of Holland had long been peaceful, it could not protect her from being overrun by revolu tionary France. Napoleon constituted her a kingdom for his brother Louis, father of the present emperor. In 1815, after the downfall of Bonaparte, she was united to Belgium by interested parties, and against the wishes of the people. The two nations being totally dissimilar, the union never was cordial, and it was dissolved in 1830. An English writer, speaking of the manners and customs of the natives of Holland, says they are proverbially distinguished by their habits of cleanliness, industry, frugality, and attention to business. Every thing in the aspect of Holland bespeaks this fact. The towns are uniformly clean, regular, and well built; the private dwellings, in which order, economy, and quiet always present the ascendency; and the open country, divided into well-drained and carefully cultivated fields, rich meadows, or productive tracts of garden-land. Drunkenness is rarely met with in Holland, and the general absence of beggars, even in the largest towns, attracts the admiring notice of the stranger. The out-door amusements of the Dutch take their form and coloring from the aspect and climate of their country. During the prolonged severity of the winter season, many sports are performed on the ice; at other periods of the year, fishing is a favorite amusement. The habits of the town population are sedentary; and with the people of town and country alike, and with all ranks and classes, smoking is a taste that is uniformly indulged. Among the fine arts, painting is that which has been most liberally and successfully cultivated. The peasantry of both Holland and Flanders have their peculiar local costume, shown in the wide-spreading breeches of the men and the short jackets of the women. The higher classes, however, are generally attired either in the French or German style. Holland can boast of nothing sublime; but for picturesque foregrounds -for close, compact, snug home scenery, with every thing in harmony, and stamped with one strong peculiar character-Holland is a cabinet picture in which nature and art join to produce one impression, one homogeneous effect. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. its every tint and part is brightly repeated. Then the peculiar character of every article of the household furniture, which the Dutch-built house-mother is scouring on the green before the door so industriously; the Dutch character impressed on every thing Dutch, and intuitively recognized, like the Jewish or Gipsy countenance, wherever it is met with; the people, their dwellings, and all in or about them-their very movements-make this Holland no dull unimpressive land. The Hollander has a decided taste for the romantic. Great amateurs are the Mynheers of the rural districts. Every Dutchman above the necessity of working to-day for the bread of to-morrow has his garden-house (buyteplaats) in the suburbs of his town, and repairs to it on Saturday evening, with his family, to ruralize until Monday over his pipe of tobacco. Dirk Hatteraick, we are told in Guy Mannering, did so. It is the main extravagance of the Dutch middle-class man, and it is often an expensive one. This garden-house is a wooden box, gayly painted, of eight or ten feet square-its name, "My Delight," or "Rural Felicity," or "Sweet Solitude," stuck up in gilt tin letters on the front, and situated usually at the end of a narrow slip of ground, inclosed on three sides by well-trimmed hedges and slimy ditches, and overhanging the canal, which forms the boundary of the garden-plot on its fourth side. The slip of land is laid out in flowerbeds, all the flowers in one bed being generally of one kind and color; and the brilliancy of these large masses of flowers; the white, and green, and paint-work, and the gilding about the garden-houses; and a row of these glittering fairy summer lodges shining in the sun upon the side of the wide canal, and swimming in humid brilliancy in the midst of plots and parThe Dutch cottage, with its glistening terres of splendid flowers, and with the acbrick walls, white-painted wood-work and companiments of gayly dressed ladies at the rails, and its massive roof of thatch, with windows, swiftly passing pleasure - boats the stork clappering to her young on the with bright burnished sides below, and a old-established nest on the top of the gable, whole city population afloat or on foot, enis admirably in place and keeping, just joying themselves in their holiday clothes where it is, at the turn of the canal, shut-form, in truth, a summer-evening scene in by a screen of willow-trees or tall reeds from seeing or being seen beyond the sunny bright of the still calm water, in which which dwells upon you with much delight. Coffee, tea, beer, and native gin, but especially the first, are the favorite drinks. GOVERNMENT, ETC. [HOLLAND.] ARMY AND NAVY, ETC. When we say that there are nearly ten | expenses 130 millions, leaving a profit of 11 millions. Holland also possesses some small islands in the West Indies, with a population of over 41,000. thousand windmills in Holland, it will be The After the fall of Napoleon I., Belgium and Holland were united, under the title of the Kingdom of the Pays-Bas, or Low Countries, and given to William I., Prince of Orange (the younger branch of the House of Nassau), and grandfather to the present sovereign. In 1830 Belgium and Holland were separated. William II., father of William III., died March 17, 1849. William III.-Alexander Paul Frederick Louis was born February 19, 1817, and married on the 18th of June, 1839, to the daughter of the King of Würtemberg. He ascended the throne on the death of his father, March 17, 1849. William III. has two sons - William, Prince of Orange, born at the Hague, September 4, 1840; and Prince Alexander, born at the Hague, August 25, 1851. Army. The army of Holland consists of 61,208 soldiers and 2060 officers, divided into 44,982 infantry, 4506 cavalry, and 11,720 artillery. The colonial army consists of 35,420 men. Navy. The navy in 1876 consisted of 87 steam vessels, armed with 386 cannon; and 18 sailing vessels, armed with 119 cannon. The imports average about 670 millions of florins, and the exports 510 millions. The public debt in 1876 was 922,741,326 florins. The annual budget is in the vicinity of 110 millions of florins. Accounts in Holland are kept in guilders and stivers. 1 guilder, or Dutch florin, =20 stivers 20 cents United States currency. Travelers should provide themselves with Dutch money as soon as they enter Holland. The Custom authorities are particularly civil to American travelers. The English and French languages are spoken in the principal hotels. Travelers are a good deal annoyed by hotel touters and commissionaires on arriving at stations, who are generally a bad lot. Go only to the hotels recommended in your guides. Insist on the cabman producing his printed tariff. The cabs are called vigilantes, and tariff tarief. Omnibuses run to the different stations. Traveling in Holland is nearly as high as in England, which is the most expensive country in Europe. The first-class hotels are all good. Bedrooms cost from 2 to 3 guilders; dinners (at four o'clock), 2 to 24 guilders; service, 1 guilder; tea or coffee, with bread and butter, 15 stivers. Mineral waters are mostly drunk, ordinary water not being considered good. Holland is celebrated for its School of Painting. In addition to the rich collections in the museums of Amsterdam and the Hague, every first-class gallery in Eu The Queen of Holland died last year rope points with pride to its specimens (1877). The colonial possessions of Holland are of great extent, those in the East Indies being three times that of the whole of France, or double the State of Texas, with a population of 24,370,600. The receipts amount to some 141 milli ns of florins, and of the Dutch School, as exhibited in the works of Teniers, Rembrandt, Paul Potter, Gerard Douw, Wouvermans, Jan Steen, Vandervelde, Cuyp, Backhuysen, Breughel, and many others. There are numer ous private collections of these masters in the different cities of Holland. |