Belgium, Volume I by James Emerson Tennent

Bruges a cheap residence -- Tables-d'Hôte, their influence upon society -- Canal from Bruges to Ghent -- Absence of country mansions -- Gardens -- Appearance of GHENT -- M. Grenier and M. de Smet de Naeyer -- The _Conseil de Prud'hommes_, its functions -- Copyright of designs in Belgium -- THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM -- Its importance -- Great value of Belgian flax -- Its cultivation -- Revenue derived from it -- Inferiority of British flax -- Anxiety of the government for the trade in linen -- Hand-spinners -- Spinning by machinery -- _Société de la Lys_ -- Flower gardens -- The Casino -- Export of flowers -- General aspect of the city -- _Its early history_ -- Vast wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted for -- Trading corporations -- Turbulence of the people of Bruges and Ghent -- _Jacques van Artevelde_ -- His death -- Philip van Artevelde -- Charles V. -- His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent -- Latin distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities -- Siege of Ghent, Madame Mondragon -- House of the Arteveldes -- Hôtel de Ville -- The belfry and Roland -- The _Marché de Vendredi_ -- The great cannon of Ghent.

BRUGES has the reputation of being an economical residence for persons of limited fortune, but I have reason to believe it does not fully merit it. I have understood, that at the termination of the war, a large mansion with every appurtenance, was to have been had for twenty-five pounds a year, but the concourse of English, and the influx of strangers, has now placed it, in this respect, pretty much upon a par with other places of the continent.