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REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND, &c. 133
We at length arrived at Bruflells, the fecond city of Brabant : it is extremely agree-
able, and very populous, as it is the ordinary place of refidence of the governors of the
Low Country, and confequently of a number of men of quality who attend the court 3
on this account it is called Te Nobie. The governor’s palace is the fineft building in
the city, both on account of its fize, and of the fine park which furrounds it, ferving as
an agreeable promenade to all the inhabitants, and delighting the fight by the number
of fountains which it contains. The Prince of Parma is the prefent governor: he has
placed the militia on an excellent footing, re-eflablithing it by great levies made upon
the people, who have not been extremely well pleafed with the meafure. The town-
houfe is a curious {tru€lure: it was erected by an Italian, who hanged himfelf with
vexation, as his epitaph informs us, becaufe he had neglected to place the tower in the
middle. This man performed that office for himfelf which a hangman fhould have
done; for he delerved no better than a cord, for having been deficient’ in a point
which men the moft ignorant of architeture would by no means have neglected. The
churches of Bruffels, like thofe of the Low Country, are very handfome, and kept im
excellent repair, We faw in the collegiate church, called St. Gudule, three miraculous
hofts, on which we were told that fome fpots of blood could be difcovered. We went to
fee the fociety of Beguins, which is a peculiar order in this country: they are clothed in
white when at church ; but they walk through the ftreets in a Jong black cloak, which
covers them from head to foot: they have aifo a little cap on their heads, which forms
a very handfome drefs; and I obferved girls in this religious habit whom I fhould
have loved in preference to many others fhining in gold, and f{parkling with diamonds.
At this time there were eight hundred at Beguinage.——The court of faihionables
here is the fame with the court among us: here all the ladies and cavaliers are to be
met with; but there is this difference, however, that all the ladies are here on one fide,
and the gentlemen on the other. We pafled three days very pleafantly at Bruffells,
and after having feen every thing worthy of obfervation in the city, we {-t out on the
fixteenth day of May by the canal which communicates with Antwerp; but by which
we only went to –——, where we left the boat, for the purpofe of taking coaches to
Malines, which we wifhed to fee before our arrival at Antwerp.
Malines is termed The Beautiful, and not without reafon ; for it appears to be rather
a painted than a real city, the buildings being regular, and the ftreets handfome and
well paved. It is to this parliament, the firft of the Low Country, that every procefs
which is appealed is referred ; and this circumftance renders the city celebrated. This
province is difmembered from the reft of the Low Country, and forms a marquifate by
itfelf. Ali the common people work, as is the cuftom throughout Flanders, at the
manufacture of white lace, which bears this name ; and Beeuinage, which is the largeft
and moft valuable of them all, is only fupported by the labour in which the Beguins
are engaged, and in which they excel. ‘The Beguins are religious girls or women, who
retire to this place as often as they think proper; they have each a little houfe to them-
felves, where they receive the viiits of their relations; there are even fome of them
who take boarders. ‘lhe place is called Beguinage, and the gates are fhut early in the
evening. ‘There is at Malincs a tower remarkable for its height, which commands a
moft extenfive profpeét. From Malines, where we dined, we were to go in the evening
to Antwerp in coaches, which travel every day at a certain hour, and by the molt
charming and beautitul road which | have ever feen.
Antwerp, the capital, and the molt extenfive city of Brabant, and to which one might
give titles {till more refpectable, furpaffes all the cities | have feen, Naples, Rome, and
Venice excepted, not only by the magnificence of its buildings, the pomp of its aa
an
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