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THE SPELL OF BELGIUM

THE SPELL SERIES
99

Each volume with one or more colored plates
and many illustrations from original drawings
or special photographs. Octavo, decorative
cover, gilt top, boxed. Per volume, $3.75

By Isabel Anderson

THE SPELL OF BELGIUM
THE SPELL OF JAPAN
THE SPELL OF THE HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS AND THE PHILIPPINES

By Caroline Atwater Mason
THE SPELL OF ITALY
THE SPELL OF SOUTHERN SHORES
THE SPELL OF FRANCE

By Archie Bell

THE SPELL OF CHINA
THE SPELL OF EGYPT
THE SPELL OF THE HOLY LAND

By Keith Clark

THE SPELL OF SPAIN
THE SPELL OF SCOTLAND

By W. D. McCrackan

THE SPELL OF TYROL

THE SPELL OF THE ITALIAN LAKES

By Edward Neville Vose

THE SPELL OF FLANDERS

By Burton E. Stevenson

THE SPELL OF HOLLAND

By Iulia DeW. Addison

THE SPELL OF ENGLAND

By Nathan Haskell Dole

THE SPELL OF SWITZERLAND

By Frank Roy Fraprie

THE SPELL OF THE RHINE

By Andre Hallays (Translated by Frank
Roy Fraprie)
THE SPELL OF ALSACE
THE SPELL OF THE HEART OF
FRANCE

99

THE PAGE COMPANY

53 Beacon Street Boston, Mass.

Grande Place and Belfry, Fumes

(Seepage 2 4Q)

r — i

Spell tf
Belgium

(BY
Isabel Anderson

ILLUSTRATED

f™l

BOSTON

THE PAGE COMPANY

pti

Copyright, \1915, by
The Page Company

All rights reserved

Made in U. S. A.

First Impression. October, 191 5
Second Impression, January, 1916
Third Impression, June, 191 7
Fourth Impression, March, 1919
Fifth Impression, January, 1922

PRINTED BY C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY
BOSTON, MASS., U.S.A.

DEDICATED

WITH AFFECTION TO
MY GODCHILD

CHARLES PELHAM GREENOUGH

MAY HE BE AS BRAVE AS
THE BELGIANS

U43Z

viii Foreword

at Antwerp. This version lias been translated
directly from the Flemish, and is believed to
be unknown to the world, outside of Antwerp
literary circles.

I wish to thank Her Excellency, Madame
Havenith, wife of the Belgian Minister in the
United States, for information, letters and
photographs, and Mrs. Abbot L. Dow, whose
father, General Sanford, was one of the most
popular American Ministers ever in Belgium,
as well as Miss Helen North, who lived for
many years in that beautiful country. I wish,
also, to thank the National Magazine for the use
of a portion of the chapter on Motoring in
Flanders. My thanks are due to Miss Gilman
and Miss Crosby, too, for their kind assistance.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Foreword vii

I. The New Post 1

II. Diplomatic Life 20

III. Brussels Before the War 43

IV. In Days of Knight and Villain . ... 65
V. Battling for a Kingdom 86

VI. Belgian Kings 106

VII. Politics and Plural Voting 126

VIII. Belgium's Workshops 138

IX. Tapestries 158

X. Primitives and Later Painters .... 178

XI. La Jeune Belgique in Letters .... 207

XII. Motoring in Flanders 230

XIII. Legends of Antwerp 255

XIV. In the Walloon Country 331

XV. A Last Word 356

I Synopsis of the War 356

II Letters from the Front .... 369
III American Relief Work .... 411

Bibliography 429

Index 431

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

♦

PAGE

Grande Place and Belfry, Furnes (in full colour) Frontis-
piece. (See page 24-9).

MAP OF BELGIUM 1

The Royal Palace, Brussels 3

Burgomaster Max 8

American Legation, Brussels 20

Library, American Legation, Brussels ... 23
Marie Jose, the Little Princess .... 25

Comtesse de Flandre 28

Palais d'Ursel 32

M. Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice ... 35
A Flemish Kermesse (in full colour) . . . .49

Ysaye s 53

Hougomont 63

Comte de Flandre, Second Son of King Albert. . 70

Ancient Bourse, Antwerp 94

Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels .... 106

Leopold I 108

Leopold II 112

King Albert 119

Queen Elizabeth 122

Baron de Broqueville 137

An Old Lacemaker (in full colour) .... 143

Brussels Point Lace 146

"Since the War Began, Dogs have been of Great

Service in Dragging the Mitrailleuses" . 154

Diana Tapestry 173

David and Goliath Tapestry 176

"L'homme a l' CEuillet." — van Eyck .... 185

xi

xii List of Illustrations

St. Luke Painting the Madonna. — van der Wey-

den 189

Portrait of a Man and His Wife. — Rubens . 197

Charles I and His Family.— van Dyck . . .201

Maurice Maeterlinck 214

Emile Verhaeren 224

Corner of the Courtyard, Plantyn-MoretusMusem,

Antwerp 234

Lac d'Amour, Bruges 238

Count Egmont's Tower, Herzele .... 247
Sand Dunes, Nieuport (in full colour) . . . 248
Cloth Hall, Ypres, after Bombardment . . 253

Spire of the Cathedral, Antwerp .... 262

Cathedral, Antwerp 268

Interior of an old House, Antwerp .... 298
Well of Quentin Matsys, Antwerp . . .313

A Village in the Ardennes (in full colour) . . 332

Prince Henri de Croy 339

General View of Liege 342

Chateau de Waulsort on the Meuse (in full colour) . 346

Rock of Bayard, Dinant 348

Old Houses on the Sambre, Namur .... 354

Citadel, Namur (in full colour) 363

Nieuport (in full colour) 367

Cardinal Mercier 370

The Belgian Army 380

Belgian Refugees 385

The Chateau of Ardenne 393

Crown Prince Leopold, Due de Brabant . . 395

The Belgian Army at La Panne 402

The Harpalyce 421

Madame Vandervelde 424

THE

SPELL OF BELGIUM

CHAPTER I

THE NEW POST

»HE winter which I spent in Belgium
proved a unique niche in my experi-
ence, for it showed me the daily life and
characteristics of a people of an old civilization
as I could never have known them from casual
meetings in the course of ordinary travel.

My husband first heard of his nomination as
Minister to Belgium over the telephone. We
were at Beverly, which was the summer capital
that year, when he was told that his name was
on the list sent from Washington. Although
he had been talked of for the position, still in
a way his appointment came as a surprise, and
a very pleasant one, too, for we had been as-
sured that " Little Paris" was an attractive

post, and that Belgium was especially interest-

l

The Spell of Belgium

ing to diplomats on account of its being the
cockpit of Europe. After receiving this first
notification, L. called at the "Summer White
House" in Beverly, and later went to Washing-
ton for instructions. It was not long before
we were on our way to the new post.

Through a cousin of my husband's who had
married a Belgian, the Comte de Buisseret, Ave
were able to secure a very nice house in Brus-
sels, the Palais d'Assche. As it was being
done over by the owners, I remained in Paris
during the autumn, waiting until the work
should be finished. My husband, of course,
went directly to Brussels, and through his let-
ters I was able to gain some idea of what our
life there was to be. He lived for the time be-
ing in the Legation which had been rented by
the former Minister. Through another cousin,
who had been American Minister there a few
years before, he secured much valuable informa-
tion regarding his new mission. I say new, be-
cause he had been in the Service for twelve
years before this — at first, as Second Secretary
of Legation and afterward of Embassy in Lon-
don; then as First Secretary of Embassy and
Charge d 'Affaires in Eome.

The royal family had not returned to town, so
he was compelled to wait for an opportunity to

The New Post

present his credentials. Finally, however, he
received a notification that the King of the Bel-
gians would grant him a special audience at
eleven o'clock on the eighteenth of November.

The ceremonial proved to be most interesting,
everything perfectly done and very impressive.
Two state carriages of gala, accompanied by
outriders, came to the Legation a few minutes
before eleven, bringing Colonel Derouette, com-
manding officer of the Grenadiers, who was met
at the door by the Secretary of Legation, Mr.
Grant-Smith. L. was escorted to the great
state coach, " which swung on its springs like a
channel-crossing steamer.' '

The steps were folded up, the door closed, the
footmen jumped up behind, and the little pro-
cession of prancing horses in gorgeous harness,
with two outriders on high-steppers, proceeded.
Following this carriage — which, by the way,
was elaborately decorated and gilded, and had
lamps at all four corners — came the second
state carriage with the Secretary and the Mili-
tary Attache.

Passing through the broad, clean streets of
the city, they soon entered the wide square be-
fore the palace. This building, which is almost
entirely new within the last few years, stood
behind parterres of sunken gardens, beyond

The Spell of Belgium

a broad place, with the old park opposite

through which there was a vista with the

i»

House of Parliament at the other end.

The guard of carabineers was turned out as
the procession passed, and their bugles sounded
the salute. The state carriages continued on
through the fast-gathering crowd, crossed the
sunken garden, and entered the porte-cochere
of the palace, where a group of officials stood
at attention. L. was escorted up to the en-
trance and into the great gallery, where were
the major-domo and a line of footmen in royal
red livery.

At the foot of the grand staircase stood two
officers in full uniform, one wearing the delight-
fully old-fashioned, short green embroidered
jacket and the cherry-coloured trousers of the
smart Guides Regiment. When they had been
presented, they turned and led the way up the
great staircase. At the top another aide of the
King, Baron de Moor, a strikingly handsome
man who looked stunning in his uniform and
decorations, met them. Then in continued
procession they passed through great rooms,
which were simple yet splendidly palatial in
style, with fine paintings and frescos, but with
little furniture.

Finally L. came to a room where the King's

The New Post

Master of Ceremonies, Comte Jean de Merode,
came forward, and was presented. He disap-
peared through a door, saying that he would go
and take the King's orders, and returned im-
mediately with the word that His Majesty was
ready.

"The doors were opened a double battant
by servants standing at each side," L. wrote
in his letter describing the audience; "I was
rather taken by surprise, for the room into
which I was being ushered was a vast apart-
ment, and not like the small state rooms in
which on previous occasions I had been intro-
duced for reception by royalty. The officials
took their positions at a distance, in a semi-cir-
cle, so that any conversation could have been
entirely confidential. I advanced, making my
three bows.

"The King is a tall, fine, clean-looking man.
He was dressed in simple military uniform,
wearing but one star. ' '

L. expressed his appreciation for the grant-
ing of the audience and the opportunity it gave
of presenting his letters of credence, as well as
his predecessor's letters of recall, and of con-
veying a message of greeting from the Presi-
dent of the United States with assurances of
the sympathetic interest of the American peo-

6 The Spell of Belgium

pie in Belgium's progress. When the King had
received the letters and handed them to a gen-
tleman-in-waiting, he conversed with my hus-
band in a very low tone, speaking of his visit of
fifteen years ago in America, and of his admira-
tion for the American people and for their great
advances in matters of science and hygiene,
especially of the successful sanitary work which
we had accomplished in Panama.

They talked of the house which we had taken,
and the King said that he had lived in it for
nine years, and that all of his children had been
born there. He expressed his admiration for
President Taft, and said that he very fre-
quently read his speeches and wished to send
a message in return in acknowledgment of the
President's greetings.

When the King indicated that the audience
was over, the party bowed itself backward out
of the room, and the procession re-formed in
the next salon. L. had been notified that im-
mediately after his audience with the King he
would be received by Her Majesty the Queen.
So the procession passed in similar order
through a series of salons and corridors, the
different gentlemen leaving him at the points
where they had met him on his entry, their
places being taken by others of the Queen's

The New Post

entourage. So they came to a smaller but still
handsome suite of apartments, where the
Queen's Master of Ceremonies met them. He
also disappeared through a door to take Her
Majesty's orders, and returned to say that my
husband was to be received at once. As the
room was not so large as that in which the King
had received him, the approach to the Queen
was easier.

"The Queen is petite and charming," he
wrote me; "from what those who escorted me
said, she is looking very much stronger than she
has since a recent serious illness. They all
seem to be delighted at her recovery. She is
exceedingly sweet and gracious, and speaks
with a little manner of shyness. She was very
simply dressed in what I should call a rose chif-
fon with a little scarf of black and white chiffon
over her shoulders. (I hear she is very fond
of pretty clothes.) She asked about the Presi-
dent, and I told her of his health and activities,
and of his trip through the states. Her
Majesty also spoke of the Palais d'Assche and
of their life in it, asked after you, Isabel, and
spoke of my cousin, Caroline de Buisseret. I
tried as best I could to answer her gentle in-
quiries."

During the afternoon L. and his secretary

8 The Spell of Belgium

made visits on the court officials and the chief
members of the Government, leaving cards on
the Queen's ladies-in-waiting and grand-mis-
tresses and on the members of the Cabinet, as
well as on the Governor of Brabant, and on
Burgomaster Max. He was received by the
Papal Nuncio, the Doyen of the Diplomatic
Corps, with much ceremony, and found him to
be a typical, good-looking priest.

Burgomaster Max has had an interesting
career since we met him in Brussels. Before
his day there were two famous burgomasters
who had served their city with special distinc-
tion. The first was Chevalier de Locquenghieu
who, in 1477, had the Willebroeck Canal built,
through which the Prince of Orange made his
entry into town. The second was Baron de
Perch, who was chosen seven times to serve as
burgomaster when the glory of Brussels was
at its height, early in the seventeenth century.
By their side today stands a third — Monsieur
Adolphe Max.

When the German army was approaching the
city it was he who discussed the situation with
the American Minister, Mr. Brand Whitlock,
and with the Spanish Minister, Marquis Villa-
loba, as the King and his Cabinet had already
removed to Antwerp. They all agreed that,

BURGOMASTER MAX.

The New Post

with the troops available, the city could only
hold out for a short time against the Germans,
that many lives would be sacrificed, and art
treasures and historic buildings destroyed.
Brussels must surrender.

Soon after entering the city the German gen-
eral sent for Max. When he came into the
room the general pulled out a revolver and
thumped it down on the table. Looking him
straight in the eye, the burgomaster pulled out
a pen and thumped that down on the table beside
the general's weapon. The challenge of the pen
and the gun — which, I wonder, will prove
stronger in the end?

Under the Germans the life of the city con-
tinued peacefully, although somewhat changed.
The new rulers issued paper money for war
currency. The citizens were expected to pay
their tradesmen with it, and were assured that
it was "just as good as gold." But when
Burgomaster Max offered it to the German
general as payment of the huge indemnity re-
quired of Brussels it was refused, and gold de-
manded instead. Max later had trouble with
the authorities, and as he had made several
speeches to the populace he was sent to a prison
in Germany. The last I heard of him he was
still there.

10 The Spell of Belgium

Not long after my husband's presentation at
Court came the King's name-day, an occasion
for fetes and gala. The streets were gay with
marching soldiers and people in their best
clothes. There was a Te Deum at the church
of St. Gudule, and of course the Diplomatic
Corps went in full dress uniform to do honour
to the King. Their carriages joined in the
procession, while the cavalry deployed about
and escorted the state officials. At the church
doors officers received the arrivals, and as each
Minister passed inside the portal the orders
rang out in the quiet church. There was a
clank of arms as a guard of honour, standing
on each side of the transept aisle, came to
"present arms," and a ruffle of drums.

When the Queen came — the King did not at-
tend— she was met by the Papal Nuncio and
prelates and escorted by priests, while the band
played a solemn march with slow beat of drums.
So she passed up into the chancel, bowing to the
altar and to the diplomats and the Ministers
of State. Then she passed beneath the balda-
chino with the King's mother, the Comtesse de
Flandre, and the little Crown Prince, the Due
de Brabant, who was all in white. About them
knelt the gentlemen- and ladies-in-waiting.
• The priests intoned before the altar, and the

The New Post 11

music took up the beautiful and impressive
service, part of which dates back eight hundred
years. High at one end a choir and orchestra
were in a gallery, and joined the great organ in
filling the vaults with lovely harmonies as the
mass proceeded, while the scent of incense rose
through the soft haze of the interior to the fa-
mous stained-glass windows above.

The Queen sat beneath her canopy at the side
of the high altar with her little court surround-
ing her, the diplomats in their full regalia were
in a group at one side, the Ministers of State in
their uniforms in a group at the other, with the
judges of the court in their scarlet robes which
made bright splashes of colour. The military
music resounded in slow marches and re-echoed
through the spaces where candles only dimly
lighted the shadows.

When they came out of church they noticed
above them, floating in the sky, a great dirigible
balloon, manoeuvering majestically over the city,
silent and impressive. How little did they
think that similar balloons would so soon be
dropping bombs upon their peaceful country!

That evening the Minister of Foreign Affairs
gave a gala dinner in honour of the King's fete-
day, and all the Chiefs of Mission and some
of the court dignitaries attended. Madame

12 The Spell of Belgium

Davignon, wife of the Minister, a handsome and
distinguished woman, received with His Ex-
cellency. The gathering was impressive, and
the diplomatic uniforms were rich with gold
lace and decorations. Madame Davignon pre-
sided at this dinner of men only, the Minister
sitting opposite her at the U-shaped table.
Some plenipotentiaries were accredited to
Paris as well as to Brussels, and came on for
special functions. Although these were mostly
South Americans, they were very fine in their re-
galia, as were also the Turks in their fezzes and
the Persians in their astrakhan hats. After
dinner there was a real " recivimento," when
distinguished people came in to pay their re-
spects to the Minister of Foreign Affairs with-
out invitation, as used to be the custom in
Rome.

A few days after that L. made up a little
party and ran out to Termeire, the de Buisseret
chateau. The motor trip took about an hour
and a half, the car running smoothly and swiftly
between villages and jiggling over the famous
Belgian blocks that pave the towns. The coun-
try was like France, with the ditches on either
side of the road and the rows of trees, and like
Holland, too, with its canals. About the cha-
teau there was an extensive park with game,

The New Post 13

where they hunted in the autumn, and etangs
and bridges and fine old trees.1

After luncheon they visited the lovely chateau
of the Due d'Ursel, where they met the Duchess,
who has been in Paris since the war began, hav-
ing established there the Franco-American
(Euvre des Soldats Beiges. They also met the
charming, old-world Duchess Dowager. From
there they ran along the banks of the Scheldt
to the Pavilion, a most interesting little build-
ing, both in architecture and decoration.

It may be that there were more chateaux in
the south, in the Walloon provinces, but Flan-
ders was by no means lacking in fine old houses.
Melis, the Edmond de Beugherns' place, was
quite enchanting. A long avenue of deep trees
brought one to a stone gateway with the family
arms sculptured above it, and fortified walled
buildings stretching away on either side.
Crossing a garden and a moat, one came to the
entrance of the quaintest little old chateau im-
aginable.

On one side its gray walls dipped straight
down into the moat, while on the other were

i The story of the de Buisseret misfortunes since the war
began has been a sad one, like that of many of the Belgian
aristocracy. Their chateau, which we visited so often, has
been destroyed, Madame de Buisseret has died, and the chil-
dren are scattered.

14 The Spell of Belgium

green lawns and bright-coloured gardens, with
splendid overhanging trees and a still lagoon
with white floating swans. Beyond the deep,
protecting waters were the forests of the park,
with long alleys leading the eye to far-away vis-
tas.

From the bridge above the moat one passed
beneath the old portcullis and the bastion with
its loopholes into a little lop-sided courtyard.
Here the walls were all pinkish and yellow, the
old brickwork breaking through the ochre plas-
ter placed on it in a different generation and
overgrown with ivies and climbing roses. In-
doors the rooms were low and tiny and rilled
with old-fashioned furniture.

Melis was not a great and battlemented
fortress, but a small and homelike place, so
miniature that it seemed as if one might put it
in a pocket. No doubt it really was, as the
family admitted, very cold and damp and un-
comfortable, but on a warm sunny day it ap-
peared quite one's ideal of what a chateau in
Flanders ought to be.

While I was still staying quietly in Paris, I
found much pleasure in reading about the his-
toric old city which I was so soon to see.

Its legends attracted me especially. There
was one, for instance, about Guy, the poor man

The New Post 15

of Anderlecht. His parents were serfs, and he
began his career as a labourer in the fields of a
nobleman who lived near the castle of Brussels.
It happened one day that Guy's fellow-workmen
complained to their master, who provided them
all with their midday meals, that Guy always
took part of his share of the food home to his
parents and consequently was late in beginning
the afternoon work. The master was very in-
dignant and went to the fields himself the next
day to see if it were true, and to thrash the
young man soundly if he did not return on time.
Sure enough, when the moment came to begin
work again, Guy failed to appear. But — in his
place at the plow stood an angel!

It was said that the devil never tried but once
to tempt Guy. That Avas when a rich Brussels
merchant entered into partnership with him,
promising to make his fortune. On his first
journey down the river Senne after this his boat
ran upon a sand-bank. When Guy seized a pole
to push off, his fingers became fastened to it and
he could not release them till he had made a
solemn vow that he would give up forever the
search for wealth. Even during his lifetime
he was regarded as a saint, and pilgrims fell
on their knees before him. When he lay dying
it was said that a heavenly light filled the room.

16 The Spell of Belgium

The oldest church in Brussels, where he used
to pray as a child, was afterwards dedicated to
him, its name being changed from St. Peter to
St. Peter and St. Guy.

It is Michael the Archangel, however, and
not Guy, who is the patron saint of Brussels.
A statue representing him with his foot upon a
dragon was placed on the spire of the Hotel de
Ville by Philip the Good about 1450, and has
stood there resplendent ever since. He sur-
vived even the religious wars of the sixteenth
century, although the mob did not look upon
him with a very indulgent eye.

The castle of Brussels, mentioned in connec-
tion with the legend of Guy of Anderlecht, was
doubtless that built by Duke Charles of Lor-
raine, the grandson of Charlemagne, in 981.
It stood on an island in the river, next to the
church of St. Gery, and is supposed to have been
the first dwelling in this region. The city's
name, "Bruk Sel," means the " manor in the
marsh.' ' One of Duke Charles's daughters
married Count Lambert of Lorraine, who built
a wall about the little town to keep out robber
knights. Seven noble families, of whom the
de Lignes show quarterings today, built houses
of stone near the seven gates, which were
guarded by their retainers. For that reason

The New Post 17

seven is considered Brussels' lucky number.

During the next two centuries many knights
left Brussels for the crusades. Few people
know that it was a little Belgian page, named
Blondel, who sang "A Mon Roi" outside
Richard Cceur de Lion's window when he was
taken prisoner at this time. Under the weak
hand of Count Godfrey the Bearded, in the
twelfth century, the citizens of the town seized
the opportunity to establish for themselves a
position midway between the serfs and the
nobles. In the following century they won still
more privileges — or rather, bought them — of
their duke, John the First, who needed money to
carry on his wars. When he was killed in
battle his successor found the townspeople were
becoming too powerful for his liking, and did
what he could to keep them in hand.

This city on the Senne first sprang into im-
portance about the year 1200, when the great
highroad was built from Bruges to Cologne,
making Brussels a station on the busy trade
route. The town gradually spread on to the
surrounding hills. When the population was
about fifty thousand, in the fourteenth century,
the weaving industry was started. The counts
of Louvain made their homes there, and the
dukes of Burgundy, who united Flanders and

18 The Spell of Belgium

Brabant, frequently held their courts there in
the century following. During the reign of
these powerful dukes the city became so pros-
perous that it was outranked only by Ghent and
Bruges.

Andreas Vesalius, a native of Brussels, born
in 1515, deserves mention, as bis name stands
out in the scientific history of the world. He
is called the "Founder of Human Anatomy,"
because of his discoveries. After studying at
Louvain he became court physician to Charles
V, and a distinguished professor and author.
It is told how once when "Vesalius was dis-
secting, with the consent of his kinsmen, the
body of a Spanish grandee, it was observed that
the heart still gave some feeble palpitations
when divided by the knife. The immediate ef-
fect of this outrage to human feelings was the
denunciation of the anatomist to the Inquisition.
Vesalius escaped the severe treatment of that
tribunal only by the influence of the King, and
by promising to perform a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land." On this voyage he was ship-
wrecked in the Ionian Sea, and was buried on
the island of Zante.

From the beginning of its history Brussels
has been the center of much fierce fighting.
Men — and women, too — have led their armies

The New Post 19

to its attack or defense, and many thousands
have died about its walls. In 1695, Marshal
Villeroi of France bombarded it, reducing the
lower town to ashes. Less than forty years
later Marshal Saxe repeated the performance.
For all that it has continued to grow and pros-
per. Under the Hapsburgs it was made the
capital of the Low Countries, and in 1830 it
was recognized as the capital of the new na-
tion of Belgium.

The last remains of its walls were removed
by the late King, Leopold II, in his effort to
make the city more sanitary. Besides this, he
did much to modernize and beautify it as well.
It became a model little capital,made up of many
communes, forming in all a city about the size
of Boston. The more I read about it, and the
more I learned of the life there, the more eager
I became to see it all for myself, and it was with
joy that I finally received word that we could
move into our new home.

CHAPTER II

DIPLOMATIC LIFE

HE American Legation in Brussels was in
the Quartier Leopold, on one of the
many hills on which the city was built.
It was owned by the Comte d'Assche, not by
our Government, but it had been used as the
American Legation when Mr. Bellamy Storer
was Minister, and after we left it was also the
Legation under Mr. Marburg. Mr. Brand
Whitlock, the present Minister, however, took
another house near by, I understand.

The Palais d'Assche was one of the hand-
somest legations in Brussels, having a park in
front and a pretty garden behind. We moved
into the Legation immediately after my arrival
in Brussels, although the workmen were still in
the house. I describe the Palais d'Assche be-
cause it is so different from our American
homes.

Just within the passage leading to the court-
yard, which was entered through an arch that
could be closed with doors, and down a few

20

Diplomatic Life 21

steps, were the rooms of the concierge and his
wife. To the left of the passage were the
offices and the grand staircase, to the right the
private entrance and my husband's suite. At
the head of the stairs leading to the second
floor, and on the garden side, was the library,
which was made homelike with our books, pic-
tures and rugs. As this room had a huge fire-
place and a big window, giving us all the light
possible, it was really cheerful, and we spent
most of our time in it ; in fact, we always dined
here when we had no guests. I remember espe-
cially these evenings alone when we put out the
lights and enjoyed the moon shining through
the great window, and listened to the church
bell that echoed through the wide chimney.

My bedroom and boudoir were also on this
floor, and opened into one of the great salons.
The bedroom, which had been the present
Queen's sleeping room, was very large, and was
hung in rose-coloured brocade. It contained a
few superb pieces of carved furniture with
brass trimmings and inlaid crowns. I had the
comfort of an open fire in the boudoir; indeed,
I needed its cheeriness, for the sky was always
gray, and we were forced to turn on the lights
even early in the morning.

On the garden side of the house was a long

22 The Spell of Belgium

gallery, into which the dining room broke in
the center. The reception rooms were square
with high ceilings and mostly finished in white
and gold. The house had been partly done
over by a French architect, and the interior
decorations were very handsome. At one end
of the palace, passing up over the legation
offices, was the grand staircase, which was
opened only on special occasions. The heating
was very imperfect, according to American
ideas, for although there was a furnace, the
ceilings were so high that the heat made little
impression.

At the foot of the garden, behind the house,
were the stables and the garage. From the
porte-cochere the drive passed round both sides
down to the stables, and in the center was a
lawn with a screen of shrubbery. There were
some handsome large trees, and several smaller
ones that were trained upon trellises by the side
walls, so that it promised to be a pleasant, shady
place in the summer time.

By dint of much hurry and rush the house
was gotten in order for Christmas Day. The
workmen were in their last entrenchments on
the great stairs on the 23d, and then fortunately
disappeared forever. Our few belongings were
quickly put in place. The tapestries and pic-

Diplomatic Life 23

tures were hung in the salons, and at last the
Christmas tree was lighted.

In Belgium, very little is made of Christmas.
Presents are given on St. Nicholas ' Day, but
their real celebration is at New Year's. We did
our best, however, to make it seem like a New
England Christmas. As a part of our diplo-
matic duties, we gave a reception for the Ameri-
cans in Brussels. About seventy-five came, in-
cluding every sort of person. L. and I received
in the library, where the tree lighted up prettily,
the music in the ballroom was good, and our
guests danced and ate, and I think enjoyed
themselves.

We had our share of servant troubles at the
Legation. At one time we were on the point of
sending away our chef, but be wrote L. a
little note saying that he felt he must leave us
and permit a more " valiant one" to undertake
our large household. As we had already tele-
graphed to England for another, this was not
so unfortunate as it might seem.

At another time our concierge, whom we
thought a model of good behaviour, "ran
amuck," and we had a series of scenes. He
began to talk incoherently in the kitchen, and to
complain because the automobiles went in and
out so often, declaring that the chauffeurs were

24 The Spell of Belgium

in league against him. Then he appeared with
his coat off and rushed ahout the house with a
loaded revolver in each hand, challenging the
men servants to fight. Later, as he would not
come when summoned, my husband took him
by the coat collar and put him out of the house.
After he had been away three days and the pis-
tols had been safely hidden, we decided, for
various reasons, to give him another chance,
and, curiously enough, his conduct was per-
fect all winter.

My first important duty was to call on the
ladies in the diplomatic circle, and I went in
company with Comtesse Clary, the wife of the
Austrian Minister, who was the Doyenne of the
Diplomatic Corps. I wTas indebted to the Com-
tesse de Buisseret for many little points of
etiquette that Europeans and diplomats are ex-
tremely careful about, but which Americans
often do not consider, such as sitting on the
left of your carriage and putting your guest
on the right. It is also polite of the hostess to
ask a distinguished guest to sit on the sofa when
calling, and the manoeuvering for the proper seat
is sometimes as complicated as the Japanese tea
ceremony. A stranger, after speaking to the
hostess, must ask almost at once to be intro-
duced to the other guests. If they are Belgian

ARIE JOSE, THE LITTLE PRINCESS.

Diplomatic Life 25

ladies, the newcomer is supposed to leave cards
within forty-eight hours, and the task of finding
the correct names and addresses is a great
nuisance, for there are endless members of cer-
tain well-known families.

The King and Queen were very popular, even
in those days, and both were young and good
looking. They have three fine children, the two
boys bearing the splendid historic titles of the
Due de Brabant and the Comte de Flandre.
The youngest of the three is the fascinating
little Princess Marie Jose, who is idolized by
the people. His Majesty is the nephew of the
former King Leopold, and the Queen is the
daughter of His Royal Highness, Charles The-
odore, a Bavarian Grand Duke. King Albert,
before he succeeded to the throne, had trav-
eled in America, and he always had very
pleasant things to say of his visit here. His
town residence was the Winter Palace, now
a hospital, which was not very far from the
Legation; the Summer Palace at Laeken, oc-
cupied of late by German officers, is about
half an hour's distance from Brussels by mo-
tor.

My private audience with the Queen was
granted within a week after my arrival in
Brussels. I was told to wear a high-necked

26 The Spell of Belgium

gown with a short train, a hat and no veil — veils
are not worn before royalty. Her Majesty re-
ceived me standing, then asked me to sit on the
sofa with her. I found her very pretty and
sweet. I courtesied and waited for her to
speak — as is customary — and then we talked
upon different subjects for about twenty min-
utes, until she closed the interview.

Of the various functions at Court, the balls
were the most brilliant. The women wore
gowns with rather long trains, quantities of
old lace, and superb jewels, and with the gor-
geous Hungarian uniforms, the endless orders,
and the varied coats of the Chinese, the scene
was dazzling. According to the rank of one's
husband, or according to the length of time he
had been in Brussels as Minister, the wives took
their places in the "circle" which was formed
in the "Salon Bleu," a room for "Serene High-
nesses" and diplomats. The King and Queen
made a tour of the apartment, speaking to the
ladies on one side, the men on the other, as they
do at most court functions. As each person
courtesied to Their Majesties, it was a pretty
sight to see the courtesies follow them down the
line like a slow-moving wave.

After this, all the members of the Diplomatic
Corps who had any of their compatriots to pre-

Diplomatic Life 27

sent, formed another circle in an adjoining
room, where again the King and Queen passed
down the line, and each one of us made our
presentations. Then the royal party and the
diplomats passed in procession through the
dense throng, crossing the ballroom, a great
white and gold hall, to seats on a little raised
dai's to the right of the throne chairs, where
the diplomats watched the dancing, while to the
left the Ministers of State gathered with their
wives. During the evening there were re-
peated processions headed by the King and
Queen, in which the Diplomatic Corps joined,
first to a winter garden, where tea and simple
things were served, then to a supper room all
marble and glass, where the table was mag-
nificent with the famous old gold service.
After our return to the ballroom there was
more dancing. Finally the King and Queen
withdrew, and then the guests were at liberty to
go home.

The royal dinner given for us at the Winter
Palace was delightful. In Belgium every En-
voy used to receive the honour of a dinner, at
which the King took in the Minister's wife on
his arm, and the Minister escorted the Queen.
Their Majesties sat together in the center of
the table, the Minister on the right of the Queen,

28 The Spell of Belgium

the Minister's wife on the left of the King. At
each Court I believe the custom is a little differ-
ent. In Italy they give a retiring Ambassador
a dinner; in Germany the diplomats are all
asked together at one dinner; in Russia the
Czar does not eat in the same room with the
foreign diplomats and the Ministers, I am told ;
and in Japan they give a luncheon, where you
are placed at the same table with Their Majes-
ties, but members of the Diplomatic Corps do
not sit next to the Emperor or Empress, who
have on either side of them some member of
the royal family.

One of the pleasantest occasions of the win-
ter was our reception and dinner with the Com-
tesse de Flandre, the mother of the King. We
passed up the great staircase with the red car-
pets, lined with footmen in red coats and knee
breeches and wearing their many medals, just
as at the King's palace. At the door the
Grand Maitre and the lady-in-waiting received
the guests in a small room of white and gold,
with portraits of the royal family on the walls.
The doors were opened and the Countess en-
tered, and spoke to each person. She was
elderly and dressed in black, and had a very
pleasant, attractive face. The guests, who
numbered about forty, included the Spanish,

COMTESSE DE FLANDRE.

Diplomatic Life 29

French, English and American representatives.
At table, the Grand Maitre sat opposite Her
Royal Highness, the diplomats had the high
seats, and the others down the table were Bel-
gians of different degrees of distinction. We
returned to the reception room at the close of
the dinner, and the Countess asked us all to be
seated, and sat first with one group and then
with another.

Her death occurred, very suddenly, the fol-
lowing autumn, just before our departure for
Japan. For court mourning I was obliged to
buy a crepe bonnet, such as was worn for a long
period by all the diplomats ' wives and many of
the Belgian ladies.

But for the Duke of Fife they wore black for
only four days. Mourning for the Duke of
Luxembourg was for twenty-one days, the first
ten days in black, after that in black and white.
Teas and dinners, however, went on just the
same.

The funeral of the Countess was most impos-
ing. I watched the procession from a house on
the route, but L. went to St. Gudule with the
rest of the Diplomatic Corps. Lines of soldiers
guarded the streets as the procession, headed
by the Garde Civique, passed along in the pour-
ing rain. Following the Garde were troops of

30 The Spell of Belgium

cavalry on fine horses, a military band, and
a number of ecclesiastics and church dignitaries.
The catafalque was borne on a great black and
gold car, drawn by eight black horses decorated
with plumes, and laden with magnificent wreaths
of flowers. The King walked solemnly behind
the funeral car, the Crown Prince of Germany
on his right, and the Crown Prince of Roumania
on his left, with several other lesser royalties
following in their train. After these came the
special Ambassadors, the Cabinet, Senators and
others, in great carriages draped in black, with
coachmen and standing footmen in mourning
liveries. (The only touch of colour was the
brilliant red robes of the Justices as they en-
tered the church.) When the service was over,
the whole funeral train was conveyed in car-
riages to the chapel at Laeken, near the Sum-
mer Palace.

The Comtesse de Flanclre had been very
popular and was greatly missed. She was a
kindly and much beloved old lady, and was
certainly very active in society, going about
everywhere, giving dinners and opening
bazars. She showed especial favour to artists
and musicians, and was herself a talented
musician and etcher of landscapes.

Another ceremony that we saw at St. Gu-

Diplomatic Life 31

dule's occurred after the death of the little
daughter of one of the Ministers of State, when
L. and I attended the Angels' Mass, which was
celebrated in this old church. There was a
great crowd in black, and the music in the im-
mense vault with its solemn, stained-glass win-
dows was most impressive. As the mass pro-
ceeded, all the men in the audience crowded up
towards the altar, and lighted candles were
handed them in turn as they formed in proces-
sion and passed before the catafalque, the Cath-
olics kissing the patten, and others bowing to it,
and then passing in review before the bereaved
family, who sat to one side. This, I believe,
was for the purpose of showing the mourners
who had attended the ceremony, but, as some
one complained, women were not allowed any
credit for being present. The custom of hold-
ing the candles near the face, no doubt, was a
relic of the days when the churches were so dark
that it was only in this manner that people could
be recognized. I believe it was also a common
practice of old to drop an oblation in the plate
as one passed.

To return to more cheerful subjects, we had
the honour of dining with the Duchesse d'Ursel
one evening. The d'Ursels, the de Lignes, and
the de Merodes (Comtesse de Merode, we hear,

32 The Spell of Belgium

was arrested during- the war, as she was the
bearer of important papers) are some of the
great names in Belgium, counting, as they do,
one thousand years of "lignage." Several
members of the d'Ursel family lived in the same
house. The Duchess Dowager received at the
end of one wing, and the younger Duchess
in her salon at the end of another, while the
Comtesse Wolfgang d'Ursel was at home in
still a third. So one made a series of visits
without going out of the main door — quite a
hospitable way of entertaining one's friends.
The old Palais d'Ursel remained alone in that
part of the city which was being rebuilt with
great government structures — for King Leo-
pold promised the old Duke that his historic
residence should be allowed to stand, even if
the other buildings around it had to be torn
down. It is long and low-lying, and mediaeval
in appearance. The dimly lighted rooms,
with their old tapestries and quaint pieces of
antique furniture, were of another age, digni-
fied and quiet. Here we met such old-world
looking people — the men with Eoman noses and
waxed mustachios and elegant manners. The
Duchess' second son was Comte Wolfgang
d'Ursel, a name that suggests the Middle Ages
and a great heroic figure, although in reality he

Diplomatic Life 33

was a small man. I regret to add that he has
been killed in the war.

Our dinner with Prince Charles de Ligne was
also enjoyable. No family of the Belgian no-
bility has a prouder record than this. To name
only a part of their titles, they were barons be-
fore the year 1100 ; they have been marshals and
grand seneschals of Hainault since 1350 ; counts
of the Empire and hereditary constables of
Flanders since the sixteenth century ; and were
made princes of the Spanish Netherlands in the
seventeenth; while "the glorious order of the
Golden Fleece," says Poplimont, in his "Her-
aldry," "has been from its creation an appen-
dage absolute, so to speak, of the house of
Ligne. ' '

Although the palace was so stately, and the
doorkeeper wore a decoration on his livery, and
the footmen were in maroon and shorts, with
showy little gold shoulder-knots, the dinner was
simple and well done, and so like one at home
that it was really delightful. We passed up the
fine staircase, with the balcony opening above
and the plants as in a winter garden, and
through salons in which chairs were arranged
in the formal way that they affect abroad. The
Prince and the Princess received us cordially,
and, after dinner, we went into a small fumoir

34 The Spell of Belgium

in which were hung tapestries that had been in
the family for four centuries.

We were taken one day by the Princesse de
Ligne to visit the palace of the d'Arenbergs in
Brussels, which was the finest in the city next
to the King's. The great staircase was the
most beautiful that I have ever seen — in its pro-
portions and in the splendour of its marbles.
The rooms were palatial, and there were so
many wonderful tapestries and famous pic-
tures! We saw the suite with a private en-
trance for royalties, where the Kaiser's son
Adelbert had been a guest a few days before.
Notwithstanding all this glory the bathrooms
had tubs for which the water had to be heated
by gas in a stove. The old wing of the palace,
which had belonged to Count Egmont in the six-
teenth century, was burned some time ago, and
many of his possessions were destroyed, notably
the desk at which he wrote. The Duchesse
d'Arenberg is the daughter of the Princesse de
Ligne. The Duke is a German, and I have been
told that before the war he removed all their
superb collection to Germany. It is reported
that extraordinary things went on beneath that
roof previous to the invasion.

Among the old nobility of Belgium is a mem-
ber called Comte Vilain XIIII. There is a curi-

M. CARTON DE WIART, MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

Diplomatic Life 35

ous tradition in regard to the origin of this title.
When Louis XIV was in Belgium, during
his Flemish campaign, it was discovered one
evening that there were but thirteen to sit down
at his table. The King was too superstitious
to allow this, so sent out an aide to find some one
to make the fourteenth. Of course only noble-
men sat at the King's table, but as the aide was
unable to find any one of suitable rank he
brought in a wayfarer, or villain. The King at
once ennobled him, calling him Comte Vilain
XIIII, and the title is still written in this way.

Of the many "official" dinners that we at-
tended one was with the Minister of the In-
terior, M. Berryer, who is a brilliant man. We
also dined with Minister of State Beernaert,
one of the wonderful old men of Europe, eighty-
three years old when we were there, but quite
alert and still an able statesman.

Another dinner was given for us by M. Car-
ton de Wiart, the Minister of Justice, and a
writer of much ability. He was a member of
the commission that came over here from Bel-
gium in the autumn of 1914. This dinner was
rather different from others that we had at-
tended, for it was made up of the deputies. It
was quite interesting to meet this entirely dif-
ferent class of men, whom I found to be very in-

36 The Spell of Belgium

telligent. Among the guests was a nice old man,
whom all the deputies of the Right called
" Uncle." There were also dinners, of course,
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other
officials, as well as the diplomats, all of which
I remember with pleasure.

The reception to the foreign ministers at a
quarter-past ten New Year's morning was post-
poned on account of the King's indisposition.
So L. went off to write in the King's and the
Queen's books, which had to be protected by the
crimson-liveried servants against the throng of
people who were struggling to reach them.

Among other functions the balls at the ' ' Con-
cert Noble" were very enjoyable ; the music was
good, and the vast assembly room was hand-
some and not crowded. The lofty suite of
salons made an effective setting for the dancing.
One night when we were there, the entrance was
lined with men in gold and black, and the King
and Queen came in, followed by gentlemen-in-
waiting. They took their seats upon a raised
dais, after walking through the rooms, and
watched the dancing for a time. When supper
was ready everybody stood about, and the King
and Queen talked with different people.

The life of the American Minister in Brussels,
even in time of peace, was by no means all a

Diplomatic Life 37

round of social gaieties. While nothing of the
greatest or most pressing importance came up
in our relations with Belgium, yet there were
questions of commerce and questions of policy
to be kept constantly in mind, and reports to be
made from time to time to the home Govern-
ment, not to speak of countless interruptions
from Americans who, for .one reason or another,
were in need of the kind offices of their repre-
sentative. For instance, according to Belgian
law, vagabonds without money, but who might
be absolutely innocent of crime, could be sent to
the workhouse for two years, and sometimes
American sailors landing at Antwerp would be
left there without a cent. Our kind-hearted
Consul General used his influence to have them
set free; but then what was to be done with
them?

Among our countrymen who came to the Le-
gation, however, were many welcome visitors
and not a few whom we had met in far distant
parts of the world. There was Governor Pack,
of the mountain province in the Philippines.
The last time L. had seen him, he was ruling
supreme among the head-hunting Igorrotes at
Bontoc. With a small handful of brave and re-
sourceful men as lieutenants, he had in a few
years brought those extraordinary aborigines

38 The Spell of Belgium

into such willing subjection that their loyalty
to the American was really devotion. He had
been visiting the families of that company of
wonderful Belgian priests who were doing so
much good in his far-away mountain home —
sons of rich parents, who had taken up the work
in a spirit of pure self-sacrifice.

It is a curious thing that the men of affairs
in Belgium — often some of the Ministers of
State and the captains of industry — who were
broad, up-to-date men, forceful and interesting,
one seldom met socially. Even some of the
King's entourage could not join the Cercle du
Pare, the most exclusive club in Brussels.

I had a reception day every Tuesday, begin-
ning in January, besides which there were vari-
ous times at which we received diplomats
and titled Belgians by themselves. One of the
most interesting figures was the Papal Nuncio,
who came in his robes, with magenta cape and
cap and gloves, wearing his ring outside. The
concierge and a chauffeur waved his motor un-
der the porte-cochere ; two servants opened the
doors a double battant; and L. met him and es-
corted him upstairs, where we had tea and
cakes.

On Washington's birthday we had another
reception for Americans. The chancery was

Diplomatic Life 39

closed, the Stars and Stripes waved in all their
glory over the door, and flowers were arranged
around the bust of Washington in its niche high
between the windows on the main landing of
the staircase. We received about one hundred
and forty guests — men, women, and children of
all ages — in the room at the head of the stairs,
where some of the tapestries were hung. It
was a most democratic assembly — young school-
girls, teachers, most of the regular " colony,' '
American women who had married Belgians —
and they seemed to enjoy the dancing, to Ameri-
can airs. On the table in the dining-room was
a splendid cake of many stories, all flag-be-
decked— every one of the flags was proudly
carried off before the afternoon was over.

For a change from the official routine and the
formal entertainments, we often started out on
a rainy evening and walked the glistening boule-
vards down into the town, so gay with its bril-
liantly lighted shops and restaurants. Having
been duly advised by our Secretary of Legation
of a respectable place to which diplomats
"might" go, we sought it out and had happy
little dinners together, forgetting our troubles
for t*he time.

Pf.rhaps the most delightful day I spent in
Brussels was at Laeken. The Summer Palace

40 The Spell of Belgium

stood on a hill overlooking the city, and was
built of gray stone in Renaissance style. The
greenhouses, which were erected by old King
Leopold, were supposed to be the largest in
the world. One could walk for miles through
covered glass walks, with climbing geraniums
and fuchsias hanging from the roof and helio-
trope filling the air with its perfume.

The place was at its best for the royal garden
party in May. As the invitations said two
o'clock, we had luncheon early and set out at
half after one. Soon we were careering up the
fine avenue du Pare Royal, zigzagging from
one side to the other as different officials gave
"us conflicting directions. Farther on, the road
skirted the splendid park of Laeken, and we
could look out over wide sweeps of lawn with
great masses of trees and artificial waters wind-
ing in and out. Fine vistas led the eye up to
the palace, which stood in a more formal set-
ting of garden and terraces.

At the great gate in front of the palace,
grenadiers in bearskin shakos stood guard, with
uniformed officials and red-coated servants in
gold lace and plumed hats. The palace was
still unfinished, but looked very impressive.
About it were great clumps of rhododendrons
and magnificent lilacs.

Diplomatic Life 41

The carriages stopped at the orangery, which
had a long facade of stone columns and glass.
Alighting, we passed into a perfect wonderland.
To each side of us stretched a wing of a palace
of crystal, with three rows of enormous orange
trees arcading promenades.

Beyond this we passed into the great palm
house, a vast dome with palms so huge that
they seemed to lose themselves in the height of
the rotunda. The people strolling beneath them
looked quite like pygmies in contrast.

All the parterre was laid out with bright-
coloured flowers. In a paved space in the cen-
ter was held the royal circle. When the King
and Queen arrived, the people arranged them-
selves along the sides — the Diplomatic Corps,
the ministry, and prominent Belgians — and a
band played gaily while Their Majesties came
down the line. The scene was really fairylike.

The circle lasted a long time, and we were
beginning to weary of standing, when the royal
party finally set out to make a tour of the green-
houses. The rest of us followed, glad of a
chance to see the wonders of which we had heard
so much — and wonders they were indeed, for
who ever saw before a lovely chapel built en-
tirely of glass?

First we passed through a wide, two-aisled

42 The Spell of Belgium

gallery with a forest of palms above and a rich
display of pink and rose-coloured azaleas be-
low. Then down steps into long, narrow pas-
sageways that were a bower as far as the eye
could reach, gorgeous with climbing geraniums
and lovely cinerarias. These galleries led one
hither and thither, now in one direction, now in
another, till both eye and mind were dazed with
pleasure. We passed through tunnels of
blooming flowers, and there was no end to the
astonishing glory of colour and beauty.

Here and there were little grottoes with mir-
rors, and fountains plashing; then more alleys,
and another great house all aflame with azaleas.
Steps led to the door of a pavilion. Here it was
that King Leopold II had died.

Our progress was not rapid, as the King and
Queen stopped frequently to speak to different
people. But we finally made the tour and re-
turned to the great rotunda, where I felt as if
I were standing in an unreal world, inside a
giant soap-bubble of many colours.

CHAPTER III

BRUSSELS BEFORE THE WAR

^ HE social life of Brussels we found very
■ J8) interesting. That of the Court was sim-
ple but elegant, while that of the aris-
tocracy was old-world and conservative to a de-
gree. Indeed, it was much like that of the
Faubourg in Paris. Outside of royalty and
serene highnesses, every one "in society" was
either a count or a baron. It certainly seemed
strange to an American that not one was with-
out a title.

Another custom which struck one as odd was
that of using titles in letters — they would often
sign themselves "Countess So-ancl-So," or
"Princess X." If a woman belonged to a fine
family she would put "nee" with her maiden
name on her card.

An amusing travesty on titles occurred when
our footman received letters addressed to the
"Chief Cleaner of the Silver." I saw two
cards which were even funnier than this,
though. One bore the man's name and the

43

44 The Spell of Belgium

title, "The Secretary of the Secretary of the
Minister of" — such a department. The other

was a card of a Doctor A , who had inscribed

beneath his name, "Doctor for the Conntess of
B 's stomach.' '

Hospitality generally took the form of after-
noon teas. I have often been to as many as
three or four in a day. They were always very
ceremonial affairs, with all the servants turned
out in style to receive me alone or perhaps two
or three other guests.

During Lent people often received in the
evening. Tea and cake and orangeade were
served, while the guests sat and gossiped. At
this season, we discovered, all the dinners had to
have either fish or meat — not both — as it was a
Eoman Catholic country. Sundays, which are
not Lenten days, gave them an opportunity for
varying the festivities.

Dinners were given occasionally, and were
always very formal and very long — really ban-
quets— made up of. a succession of rich dishes
with a small glass of red or white wine with
every course. The placing of guests at table
was an extremely important matter, for every
one must be seated strictly according to rank.
One does not wonder that there were so few din-
ners, considering the difficulty of finding a

Brussels Before the War 45

group of congenial people who could dine to-
gether without dissatisfaction. Each was
likely to think that he should have been given a
higher place, and to go home feeling insulted in-
stead of happy.

The favourite subjects among the women
were children and the rainy weather ; aside from
gossip there was talk of little else. The men
had no objection to sitting in silence, and were
inclined to consider women who talked as chat-
terboxes. But for all that, they were very
charming and high-bred and delightful to meet.

I should judge the Belgian sense of humour
was not like ours. Many of them had a Latin
wit, but as a race they were rather serious and
conventional. They seemed to consider it bad
form to have what we call a good time; all
their entertainments were formal and dignified.

There was much in their character that was
delightfully mediaeval. People in the highest
position socially would say with perfect sim-
plicity things that sounded very strange to our
ears. A man of high rank and intelligence ex-
plained to me one day that the reason why the
Belgians slept with their windows closed was
that the early morning air was bad for the eyes !
He was quite serious about it and seemed to
think the excuse sufficient.

46 The Spell of Belgium

I believe some of them still imagined that our
country had not reached even the first stages
of civilization. A little gentlewoman whom I
had engaged through a friend to act as secre-
tary courtesied very prettily on being pre-
sented, but wasn't at all sure whether we were
South Americans or not, and inquired rather
anxiously whether I had ever before been away
from my native land. She thought that I
should always be accompanied when out walk-
ing.

I once asked an American lady who had mar-
ried a Belgian what her adopted countrymen
thought of x^mericans. She laughed and told
me what happened when her husband took her
home to his chateau as a bride, many years be-
fore. All the peasants and tradespeople of the
village had turned out to greet them, and while
they were evidently pleased, something in her
appearance seemed to surprise them. Finally
her husband asked some one if there was any-
thing the matter. Very politely the man ex-
plained that since they had heard that their new
countess came from America, they had all ex-
pected her to be black. The Count paused a
moment, glancing at his wife, who was not only
very beautiful but very blonde, and then an-
swered gravely, "Oh, but you must not forget

Brussels Before the War 47

— it is winter now. My wife, she only turns
black in summer!"

Before the war broke down the barriers be-
tween them, the Belgians and Dutch were much
inclined to make fun of each other. The former
said their neighbours were heavy, stupid and
stiff. The Dutch retorted that the Belgians
were so weak they could simply eat them up if
they wished.

Quite the most important social event of the
Brussels year was the Fancy Fair, which was
given for the benefit of some charity. It came
off in February and lasted four days. I had
been asked to help on the flower table, where we
sold not only flowers, real and artificial, but
flower stands, vases, and perfumes. The
shelves and tables were covered with mauve
paper and velvet, and the effect was quite
pretty. The fair was much like ours at home,
and most of the men were afraid to attend.
Some of the diplomats discreetly sent donations
with their cards. The Queen was expected, but
was ill at the last moment and the Comtesse de
Flandre took her place, spending ten dollars at
each table.

During the winter months Belgium sees lit-
tle of the sun. All through April, too, they
tell you, as a matter of course, "It is to rain."

48 The Spell of Belgium

Tha weather is undoubtedly bad. In most
countries the people stand up for their climate
to some extent, but there they have to acknowl-
edge that it is wretched. May can be delight-
ful, as I discovered, with floods of sunshine
everywhere. But even then there were cold,
dreary days, and later in the month the chestnut
trees turned brown and the flowers began to
fade, so the spring is short enough at best.

I found the streets of Brussels always amus-
ing, whether the sun was in or out. There were
sturdy dogs pulling carts laden with shining
brass and copper milk-cans, the occasional
trumpet-call and tramp of soldiers, and the
women selling baskets of flowers, as they do in
Eome. The church bells rang at all hours, for
the clocks did not any two of them agree, and
were forever contradicting each other with their
musical chimes.

As I have said before, Brussels was a model
city, beautiful and well kept. In the center of
the town was the superb Grande Place, second
to none in Europe, with the Hotel de Ville,
which was second only to that in Louvain, the
galleried and much-gilded Maison du Koi, and
the many guild-houses of the archers and skip-
pers and printers and merchants. I am told
that this historic square has been mined by the

A Flemish Kermesse

Brussels Before the War 49

Germans, so that all its treasures of medieval
architecture can be blown up at a moment's no-
tice.

The Grande Place was at its best when there
was a kermesse. Then the windows of the
guild-halls and the long galleries of the Hotel de
Ville — the glory of Brussels — were lined with
people looking down into the square. Flags
streamed from the buildings, and there was
good music, and groups of happy burghers were
drinking their beer at little tables. After dark
there was continuous illumination of the lovely
spire of the Hotel de Ville, with varying col-
oured lights that showed its tracery and de-
sign in beautiful, mysterious relief — an entran-
cing sight.

Not far from the corner of the Hotel stood
the famous little fountain figure of the Manni-
kin, the " First Citizen of Brussels." He
was dressed for the kermesse in his best Sun-
day-go-to-meeting suit, as was proper for the
occasion — a plum-coloured velvet with ruffles
and embroidery, a three-cornered hat with
feathers and cockade, buckled shoes, and white
stockings and gloves.

The Grande Place was the civic center of
Brussels. The Government buildings were
grouped about a park half a mile away, with

50 The Spell of Belgium

the royal palace at one end and the Palais de la
Nation, the House of Parliament, at the other.
Close by, on either side, were grouped the vari-
ous departments and the fine houses provided
for the Ministers by the Government.

The Palais de la Nation was only moderately
impressive. The senate chamber was deco-
rated with frescos, while the " deputies' ' was
bare and plain. Like our two houses in Wash-
ington, the upper was rather dignified, while
the lower was in apparent disorder all the time.
While Parliament was in session huissiers with
their chains of office about their necks were on
guard throughout the building.

One of the points in Brussels most familiar
to me was the Gare du Nord, near the long
public greenhouse and park, where the narrow
shopping street began, in the lower part of the
town. This led to the Bourse, the Place de la
Monnaie, and the Grand Theatre. Then there
was the upper Boulevard with its tram that
climbed the hill from the Gare du Nord, and a
foot and bridle path which led through the
Quartier Leopold — and on for miles to the
Gare du Midi, changing its name with every
block.

There were three good motor roads leading
out of town: one from this boulevard to

Brussels Before the War 51

the avenue Louise continued on through the
Bois ; another extended from the Quartier Leo-
pold to the Musee Congo, while a third led in
the opposite direction, through the lower town
and on to Laeken, where the Summer Palace of
the King was located.

A favourite stroll of mine from the Legation
was through the park near by, between the pal-
ace and the government houses, past the palace
of the Comtesse de Flandre and the Museum, to
the American Club for a cup of afternoon tea.
I sometimes stopped and took a look at the in-
teresting paintings in the Museum — a jumble of
religious pictures, butchers ' shops, and fat
women. The street known as the Montagnc
de la Cour, in this part of the town, was widened
a few years ago by the old King, and no doubt is
more healthy, but its picturesqueness was much
marred by the tearing down of some quaint old
houses which had stood there for genera-
tions.

Before the war Brussels was one of the first
musical cities of Europe. This was not a new
honour for it, however, for as far back as the
fifteenth century the Low Countries led the
world in the art of music. They furnished
choirmasters for the churches of the continent,
and singers for the royal courts. Besides all

52 The Spell of Belgium

this, they founded schools of music and sup-
plied the instruction as well. One of their most
famous composers, Gretry, who lived in the
eighteenth century, wrote many operas which
were very popular in Paris. Much of his life
was spent in the French capital, but when he
died his heart was taken to his native Liege for
burial. One of his songs is supposed to have
inspired the Marseillaise by its vigorous expres-
sion of loyalty to the French king.

Few people, I believe, know that Beethoven's
father was a Belgian. Since the tragedy of
Belgium, the great composer has been taken out
of the German Hall of Fame. His ancestral
town was Louvain.

"Beethoven? From Louvain his fathers spring,
Hence came the exile's dolor in his mien.
Rebukes prophetic in his numbers ring;
And when wild clangors smite his sealed ears,
And loud alarums rung by hands unseen,
It is the tocsin of his town he hears."

Because of their long inheritance of good mu-
sical taste, the public of modern Brussels had
the reputation of being the most difficult to
please of any. Even London and Paris audi-
ences seemed less critical, and a triumph in
Brussels was a triumph indeed. The audience
was usually made up of thoroughly educated

EUGENE YSAYE

Brussels Before the War 53

musicians who went to concerts seriously.
Both Calve and Melba made their debuts there.

But much of Brussels' musical renown wTas
due to the presence there of the two great mas-
ters of the violin — Thompson and Ysaye. The
former is less known in this country than Ysaye,
who has had great success here and is a popular
favourite in England as well. But he himself
considers Thompson his superior, and cer-
tainly the latter is acknowledged to be the great-
est living master of technique.

Both men came from Liege, in the Walloon
country, and both have been head of the violin
department in the Conservatoire in Brussels.
When Ysaye resigned a few years ago, Thomp-
son took his place. (The Conservatoire, by the
way, was subsidized by the Government and was
entirely for the service of the people. The
aristocracy did not send their children there,
employing members of the faculty to come to
their homes instead.) Unlike so many great
men, Ysaye was honoured in his own country,
and appreciated and adored by his own people.
He was especially adored by his pupils, who
considered him a sort of god.

When Thompson played in Boston he was not
appreciated. He admits that he has stage
fright, and when appearing before a large audi-

54 The Spell of Belgium

ence becomes frozen and fails to play at his
best. He is a master of counterpoint, and an
authority on ancient music. Although a fine
teacher, he sometimes becomes sarcastic, and his
pupils do not worship him as Ysaye's do. His
son served in the Belgian army and at last ac-
counts was convalescing from a wound, in an
English hospital.

We attended a wonderful performance of
"Gotterdammerung," which began at half-past
five and lasted all the evening. An American
woman, Madame Walker, sang remarkably well.
The opera was very good, and Friday night was
the fashionable time to attend, when it was gen-
erally crowded.

One morning we went to the "Concours cle
Violons" at the Conservatoire. The playing
was of a high order and the enthusiasm of the
crowded audience tremendous. The judges sat
in one of the stage boxes and the competitions
began at nine, all the pupils playing the same
piece in succession. Each competitor came out
and stood on the stage alone, save for her ac-
companist and her teacher, and played for some
fifteen minutes, facing the jury and the critical
crowd.

Quite the nicest looking of all the contestants
was a little American girl of sixteen, Miss

Brussels Before the War 55

Hildegarde Nash, who seemed very self-pos-
sessed. Her method was so perfect that, while
she had to compete with men, as well as with
other clever little half-grown girls like herself,
she gained a "premier prix avec grand distinc-
tion." We felt qnite proud of her.

Besides the music, there were conferences —
talks by various people on various subjects.
One went to them either by invitation, or by
purchasing tickets ; some were given for charity,
others for mutual benefit.

Before the war broke out there were about
two hundred of our compatriots in the American
colony in Brussels. Most of the older ones had
brought their children there because the schools
were good and quite inexpensive, and both rents
and servants' wages were low. Many of the
younger people were there for the purpose of
studying music.

The life of an American girl studying in any
Continental city is always beset with difficulties.
This was no less true in Brussels, the " Little
Paris" of the Low Countries, than elsewhere.
So that winter I started an American 'Students'
Club. It occupied so much of my time that it
is worth a passing mention here. "We had some
difficulty in finding suitable rooms ; my husband
was much amused because I found some excel-

56 The Spell of Belgium

lent ones over what he insisted was a bar,
though it was really a restaurant. However,
we didn't take them, but a lower suite in a re-
spectable pension with a small writing room,
reading room, tea and music rooms, bath, bed-
room and kitchen.

The club had its opening the first of February,
and during Lent it was crowded. Different
ladies poured tea, and the students sang or re-
cited. The little Boston girl who had won the
prize at the Conservatoire played for us de-
lightfully, as did also Miss Zoellner and others.
Including the students and their friends we
sometimes had a hundred present. In the
spring it was suggested that we should give the
most prominent member of the club an introduc-
tion, so it was voted that Miss Donnan should
have the first concert given for her. She had
quite a lovely high voice, and the affair was very
successful.

Later on the character of the club was some-
what altered. The membership grew and the
treasury swelled, but it became more of an
American woman's club, with dances and bridge
whist. The last I heard it was being restored
more to its original character. I hope it has
been of service to Americans during the war.

Even before this war there was much kindly

Brussels Before the War 57

feeling in Belgium toward Americans, although
during our war with Spain they sympathized
with the Spaniards. (During the Boer War
they were anti-English.) There was an eclipse
of the sun in April, and at the moment of great-
est darkness Baron von der Elst of the Foreign
Office came to express to L. the sympathy of
the Government in the face of the catastrophe
to the Titanic — a catastrophe that we, like the
rest of the world, had been slow to believe pos-
sible. The Baron said that the King was much
concerned, and that they intended to express
their sympathy in Parliament that afternoon.
Indeed, both the Senate and the Chamber of
Deputies passed resolutions of condolence, and
later the King sent his Grand Marshal, Comte
de Merode, to further express his sympathy and
distress.

When spring came, and sunnier weather, I
had many delightful rides on horseback. A fa-
vourite one, which I took several times with the
Due and Duchesse d'Ursel, was out in the Foret
de Soignes, which was quite wonderful with its
damp young green. It covered some ten thou-
sand acres, and had alleys of great trees with
beautiful vistas.

About twelve hundred years ago, they tell
you, a gay and worldly young prince lived in a

58 The Spell of Belgium

castle near the edge of this forest, where he
was fond of hunting. He was so devoted to the
sport, in fact, that he quite neglected the fast
days, and hunted on Fridays as freely as on
Mondays. This impiety could not be permitted,
of course. One day a white stag bearing be-
tween its antlers a cross, appeared to the prince
in a forest glade. The vision so impressed the
young man that he forsook his sport and turned
religious. In time he became Bishop of Liege,
converted Brabant from paganism to Christi-
anity, and was canonized by the Church he had
served so faithfully. The people still believe
that the blessing of St. Hubert rests upon the
Foret de Soignes.

A favourite sport with all classes, but also a
social function, was horse-racing. There was
a lovely miniature racecourse at Boitsfort, just
beyond the 'Pare de la Cambre. We walked
down among the flower beds and under the
shading trees to where the horses were being
paraded and the betting was going on. The
dresses of the women, of whom all sorts and
conditions were crowded together, were quite
remarkable.

The races frequently took place on Sunday
afternoon. There was one at Groenendal, out
on the avenue Louise, through the Pare de la

Brussels Before the War 59

Cambre — the latter very beautiful with its wide
sweeps and vistas, all crowded with the holiday-
making people. We ran by the artificial waters
dotted with little boats, out through the alley
of the Foret de Soignes, where the deep, pleas-
ant woods were all sun and shadow, and filled
with promenaders. From there we went on
past Groenenclal Chateau, along a road that re-
minded one of Rock Creek Park in Washing-
ton, turning at length into the Grande Route,
which leads to Waterloo. This was a great ave-
nue of trees, lined with the burnish of copper
beeches. At last we reached the hippodrome,
the racecourse of Groenendal, and were just in
time to see the great steeple-chase of the year.
The course was unexpectedly pretty, small and
with cozy stands. The international steeple-
chase, ridden by French and Belgian officers in
uniform, was very exciting and well run, and
the whole scene beautiful against the green
background of the forest.

Afterward we walked in the Bois de la Cam-
bre, across the wide lawns with the people sit-
ting about in groups, and into the shade of the
great trees, dipping down into the valleys where
hundreds of children were playing and tumbling
about, and up again across the plateau. Here
in the groves of beech trees were restaurants

60 The Spell of Belgium

with many little tables and crowds of people
listening to the music. Later we motored back
to the avenue Louise, which was the bourgeois
promenade of a Sunday afternoon, and down its
long length to the boulevards and home.

One week-day afternoon in early May we
went to the horse show, which was the last im-
portant spring event. It was held in the great
glass building back of the Palais du Cinquante-
naire, the floor being laid out in a lovely par-
terre with banks of flowers and palms and
blossoming chestnuts. In this setting the
jumps and obstacles were arranged. There
was a water jump in the center, and a great,
terrible, grassy mound on to which the horses
had to jump and from which they had to stride
over a fence back on to the flat again. It was
heart-breaking to watch the tumbles there —
twenty-six took place ; the horses seemed to fear
it more than the men, and showed their nervous-
ness. When we went again we were relieved to
see that it had been removed.

As the show was a great social event, all the
women were in their best, and the men wore
black coats and silk hats. The officers of the
Guides Eegiment were very showy in their
bright uniforms, and there were many French
officers there, too, in the pale blue and red of

Brussels Before the War 61

the Chasseurs. The royal loge had a canopy
and a garden of azaleas. It all made a very
lovely scene.

The King and Queen came in full state to
the Cinquantenaire for the exhibition of the
cadets of the school of riding at Ypres. There
was a tremendous crowd in the huge building,
and the horsemanship was good, though no bet-
ter than one could see at Fort Myer at home.
There were various feats of jumping, of fencing
on horseback, and some musical rides. One
officer jumped his horse over three other horses,
while others took a "burning" hedge.

The entry of the royal cortege was quite fine,
for the gate at the end was opened and a squad-
ron of the Guides came with fanfare of trum-
pets and took up their position opposite the
royal loge. Then followed the five carriages,
with red-coated outriders on prancing horses
leading the way, each one attended by four red-
coated postilions wearing gold tassels on their
caps. There was much waving of handker-
chiefs, and some cheering, when they came in,
but when they left there was more of a demon-
stration, for the ladies in the audience had been
provided with flowers, and as the royal carriage
drove around the arena Their Majesties re-
ceived a shower of blossoms.

62 The Spell of Belgium

This horse show turned out tragically, how-
ever. The great event of another day was the
international military race, run by many
French and Belgian officers. They were started
somewhere out in the country, and after a ten-
mile run entered the arena, heralded by the
blare of trumpets, followed each other over a
series of jumps and passed out of a second gate
for another ten miles across country, returning
finally for more jumps. At some bars just op-
posite our loge young Lieutenant Terlinden, a
son-in-law of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
fell, with his horse on top of him, and never
regained consciousness. His wife was there,
and his mother, and the world of Brussels, look-
ing on. He was a splendid rider, but had a
poor horse.

We often ran out to Waterloo in the open
motor, shooting down the avenue Louise,
through the Bois de la Cambre and the Foret
de Soignes, and finally out on the wide paved
highway to St. Jean and Waterloo. From
there it was a short ride through the straggling
village to the rolling country which made the
battlefield, its center marked by the conical hill
surmounted by its lion. It is reported that the
Germans have melted this lion for ammunition.
Going by this roundabout way, and taking our

Brussels Before the War 63

time, the run was made in about an hour, but it
was a day's journey before motors came into
use.

We passed the rather poor monuments along
the roadside, and La Haye Sainte, with its
broken farmyard walls and buildings, its
muddy, dirty stable with its dung heaps, and
on to the low, insignificant farmhouse of La
Belle Alliance. On the way back we used to
visit the battered walls and farm buildings of
Hougomont, with its yard full of scratching
chickens and scattering pigeons, and its bit of
a chapel. Everywhere were mud and litter, a
few broken bricks showing where the well had
been. The only dignified thing about Hougo-
mont was a bronze tablet placed on its ruined
wall by the English Guards.

I was very much struck by the small area of
the battlefield — all the positions were so near,
and in plain sight of each other — quite different
from the long battle line of to-day. It is hard to
realize that a struggle of such tremendous im-
portance was fought in such a limited space.

It seemed a pity that this most famous of the
scenes of great events should not have been
turned into a government park and preserved.
When we were there the land was being sold off
into lots, and every year the aspect of the battle-

64 The Spell of Belgium

field was changing. But for all that we went
again and again, for the fields were sweet with
spring and flowers in the warm sunshine, and it
was so quiet and peaceful. That is how we
shall remember it, as we saw it a century after
the battle.

CHAPTER IV

IN DAYS OF KNIGHT AND VILLAIN

ANY centuries ago, there was fierce fight-
ing in the glorious Meuse valley, where
history seems to have a fancy for re-
peating itself. Then, as today, Dinant was a
center of events, and it is good to know that
the Belgians are strong and full of courage, as
in the days when Caesar called them ' ' the brav-
est of all the Gauls.' '

When the victorious Roman legions reached
this outpost of Gaul, they found themselves op-
posed by men of two different races — the fisher-
men of the coast and the hunters of the hills
and valleys further inland. In the first shock
of battle, it was only the personal bravery of
Caesar that saved the legionaries from defeat,
and eight years of campaigning were required
before the Roman general could report the
province subdued. The warlike tribes of the
south were well-nigh destroyed. Those, on the
other hand, who lived on the sand dunes or in
hovels raised on piles above the tides, were
more fortunate. Caesar himself with five le-

65

G6 The Spell of Belgium

gions finally reduced these men of the swamps
to merely nominal submission.

Transalpine Gaul was, by its conqueror,
formed into a single province, of which the
land of the Belgae was the northern part, but
under Augustus it was divided into three
provinces, the most distant one named Belgica.
The people of southern Belgica, being nearer
to the Boman civilization of Gaul, lost their
primitive customs, their energy and courage.
The people of the north, less under the influence
of the conquerors, kept their love of independ-
ence, their frugal, industrious habits, added
trade with England to their fisheries as a means
of livelihood, and developed a strong stock, to
which the future growth of the country was
due.

Three hundred years after Caesar's conquest,
the Salian Franks, a confederacy of German
tribes, invaded the country and settled between
the Rhine and the Waal. They were resisted
by most of the Gauls but welcomed by the
Menapians of the Belgic coast.

There was, however, no real bond of union
between the peaceful, hard-working people of
the lowlands and the warlike Franks. The
shore dwellers north of the Rhine formed with
the tribes on the coasts of the German Ocean

In Days of Knight and Villain 67

the Saxon League, which after a time renewed
the warfare between Frank and Saxon, a war-
fare destined to endure till the twentieth cen-
tury and to be waged then as fiercely as in the
fourth. Driven by the Saxons from the coast
districts, the Franks gradually made them-
selves masters of southern Belgica and north-
ern Gaul, and the Romanized people of that sec-
tion were submerged. Finally, toward the end
of the fifth century, Clovis, King of the Franks,
succeeded in extending his rule over the greater
part of Gaul.

At this early date the limits were already
sharply marked out of the two great divisions
of Belgium that have persisted until today —
Flanders and the Walloon country. Flanders
received continual additions from the German
tribes who, worsted in the struggle with Rome,
fled across the Rhine, and became the land of
the Flemings (the "e" at first pronounced
long), or fugitives. Retaining their Teutonic
traits, these kept steadily at their difficult task
of winning comfort and civilization from the
hard conditions in which they were placed.
Even today they cling tenaciously to their
Flemish tongue, which is a variety of Low Ger-
man, differing but little from Dutch.

The Franks of southern Belgica, on the other

68 The Spell of Belgium

hand, like their neighbours in Gaul, became to
all intents and purposes, transformed into
French, and adopted for their language not a
corrupt French, as we understand that term,
but a dialect of the langue d'o'il, the old Ro-
mance tongue which was the speech of Gaul in
that age.

The successors of Clovis had many a strug-
gle with the people of the Low Countries, but
gTadually the Frankish, or Merovingian, kings
yielded to the Roman luxury that surrounded
them and became a race of " do-nothings.' '
Then arose those mayors of the palace, of whom
Pepin of Heristall, the Belgian, was the father
of Charles Martel, the "Hammer" whose vigor-
ous blows crushed the Saracens and drove them
from French soil.

The year 800 found Charlemagne, mightiest
of the Franks, in possession of the Western
Empire. The steady progress of the Nether-
lands was seen in the rise of the towns of
Bruges, Ghent, Courtrai and Antwerp, not alone
as trading centers but as seats of manufacture.
The system of dikes for the protection of the
lowlands from the sea had at that time been
established by the united efforts of all the peo-
ple of the region, who had thereby learned in
some measure the value of cooperation.

In Days of Knight and Villain 69

Christianity, introduced in the reign of ,
Clovis, had gained much power. It is impossi-
ble to overestimate the work of monks and nuns,
whose religious houses were at once schools,
hospitals, book marts and universities. Tour-
nai and Liege were the seats of bishops, who
were even more powerful than the counts who
played such a great part in the history of the
period.

The count was at first only an officer of the
king, not an hereditary noble, and received as
his salary the revenue of the lands which he
held during his term of office. The tenants on
these estates were completely in his power. If
he could muster a sufficient force of armed men
he might even defy the king, and thus retain his
office for a longer time.

About the middle of the ninth century, Bald-
win, a Fleming of great power, who had de-
fended the coast against the Normans, carried
off Judith, daughter of the French king, Charles
the Bald. Much against his will, Charles was
obliged to give his consent to the marriage, and
settled upon Baldwin all the land between the
Scheldt and the Somme. Baldwin, named
Bras-de-fer (of the Iron Arm), was thus the
first Count of Flanders. Some authorities con-
sider this the oldest hereditary title of nobility

70 The Spell of Belgium

in Europe. It is borne today by the second son
of the King.

Other powerful vassals of this period were
the counts of Louvain and Namur. Still
mightier was the Bishop of Liege, who felt him-
self so strong that he even made an attempt —
unsuccessful, however — to seize the domain of
the Count of Louvain.

Under Baldwin II, son of Bras-de-fer, who
married the daughter of Alfred the Great of
England, the cities of Bruges, Ghent, Courtrai
and Ypres were fortified, and thus insured the
opportunity of becoming the great mediaeval
centers of freedom and progress.

After cloth weaving was begun, the first mar-
kets were opened at Ghent, Courtrai and
Bruges. The word kermesse, the Belgian name
for fair or fete, is linked in an interesting way
with these markets, of the Middle Ages. They
were called kerk (church) messe (market), be-
cause held around the church or cathedral, and
only the inconvenient letter k needed to be
dropped out to give the word kermesse.

At first sight, the history of the Netherlands
from about the tenth century down to the nine-
teenth appears a confused and confusing story
of wars and uprisings, of conspiracies and per-
secutions— count against bishop, city against

COMTE DE FLANDRE, SECOND SON OF KING ALBERT.

In Days of Knight and Villain 71

city, nobles and even, in one instance, a king,
against the Emperor. But if we look more
closely, we discern, three great forces at work
through all the turmoil. These were feudalism,
the Crusades, and the rise of the towns, or com-
munes. A fourth influence, the power of the
Church, was closely associated with these, some-
times as a direct impelling force, sometimes as
a guiding or restraining hand, and again bat-
tling for its own temporal power with little more
regard for the well-being of the masses than
was manifested by the lay barons themselves.
After the break-up of the Roman Empire,
when there were no strong central governments
in Europe, when practically the only law was
the will of the strongest, it was inevitable that
a vast number of petty chieftains should gather
about them as many followers as possible, both
in order to protect themselves and to plunder
others. The ablest of these, by waging a con-
tinual warfare, either killed off many of their
rivals and took possession of their lands, or
reduced them to submission and made them
tenants of their own. These tenants held their
land only on condition of furnishing a certain
number of men for their lord's wars and paying
certain taxes, later called "aids," for his sup-
port. When this state of society became finally

72 The Spell of Belgium

organized as the feudal system, the king or em-
peror was the overlord, the counts swore alle-
giance to him, the petty nobles and knights
were tenants in their turn. By the twelfth cen-
tury, the counts and bishops were little kings
in their own domains. They had gradually ac-
quired all the rights of the crown. They coined
money, established markets, acquired the rights
of fishing, hunting, brewing and milling, and
collected the tolls. They were vassals of the
king in little more than name.

Below this landed aristocracy were the two
classes of villains and serfs, who led a miserable
existence, possessing scarcely one of what we
consider the inalienable rights of man. Both
villains and serfs were slaves, bound to the
soil, but the servitude of the latter was hope-
less and irremediable. Serfs must always be
serfs. But the villains had the privilege of
earning their freedom.

When Peter the Hermit, a Walloon of the
province of Liege, made his impassioned ap-
peals to Christendom to rescue the Holy Sepul-
cher from the Saracen, it was Godfrey of Bouil-
lon, another Walloon, who laid aside his titles
and sold his possessions that he might equip
an army for the conquest of the Holy Land.
Godfrey was made "'Advocate" of Jerusalem,

In Days of Knight and Villain 73

and was the first Western ruler of the sacred
city. His brother Baldwin became King of
Edessa, in Mesopotamia, and his descendants
were kings of Jerusalem. Next to Godfrey,
both as knight and leader, stood Count Eobert
of Flanders.

It is told of Philip of Alsace, Count of Flan-
ders, that he challenged and defeated a mighty
Saracen in single combat. The device on his
shield, which Philip bore away as a trophy, was
a black lion on a field of gold. This became the
emblem of Flanders.

But Philip of Alsace was noted not alone for
his prowess in battle; he was an enlightened
ruler for his age. He resigned the privileges
of i l mainmorte ' ' and ' ' half-have. ' ' By i ' main-
morte," if a man died without leaving direct
heirs, his property went to the count. By
"half -have," half of all the property left by
any of his vassals went to the count.

In the year 1200, Baldwin, Count of Hainault
and Flanders, led the fifth crusade. Turning
aside from the road to Jerusalem, he captured
Constantinople, and was crowned Emperor in
St. Sophia. During the fifty years that Bald-
win and his descendants reigned in Constanti-
nople, ships from Flanders brought the luxuries
of the Orient to Western Europe. Many car-

74 The Spell of Belgium

goes of silks and. spices, of linen, damask and
carpets, and other Eastern products, were
landed on the wharves of Ghent and Bruges,
which became the greatest centers of European
commerce.

The influence of the Crusades upon social
progress in Belgium was not less marked than
upon commerce. Shrewd townsmen who fur-
nished their lord with means to equip his fol-
lowers exacted in return a pledge of additional
freedom. While the powerful nobles were in
the Holy Land, moreover, their tenants were
relieved from their demands, and made prog-
ress in all the arts of life.

When, after the death of Charlemagne, the
river Scheldt was made the boundary of
France, to the west of that river lay West
Francia, which became France; to the east
stretched Lotharingia, shortened to Lorraine,
the land of Lothaire, a narrow strip separating
France and Germany. As the various counts
who possessed the Netherlands grew stronger
the Duchy of Lorraine grew weaker. Flanders
especially, under the rule of counts descended
from Baldwin the Iron-Armed, made great
progress — lowlands were protected by dikes,
forests were cleared away, and towns were
built. It was easily the most powerful part of

In Days of Knight and Villain 75

Belgium. The Normans, who for a century had
been the terror of the Netherlands, now visited
Flemish towns to dispose of the booty they had
won upon the sea, and Bruges became the chief
seat of this trade.

The townspeople of this period fared rather
better than those in the rural districts. Many
of the towns had originated as a cluster of peas-
ants ' huts, grouped around a monastery for
protection. The inhabitants were tenants of
the abbot, who in time became one of the power-
ful lords of the land. But the necessary or-
ganization of town life gave the citizens the
habit, to some extent, of working together.
Consequently, when a body of townsmen pre-
sented their plea for more privileges, they were
able to obtain better terms than could be gained
by single peasants pleading separately.

So great was the prosperity of the towns
that, by the year 1066, Flanders was able to
assist William the Conqueror, who had married
Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V. Count of
Flanders, and Flemish knights fought side by
side with the Normans at Hastings. On the
famous Bayeux tapestry — which, however, is
not real tapestry — wrought by Matilda, is pic-
tured the story of the Conquest of England.

Woolen cloths, the work of Flemish weavers,

76 The Spell of Belgium

were already famous throughout Europe, and
were carried by the sailors of the Netherlands
to western and southern ports, with the jewelry,
corn and salt, also produced in Flanders.

But the sturdy people of these thriving towns
were very jealous of the fundamental rights
which had come down to them from their Ger-
man ancestors. A painting by the Belgian
artist, Hennebicq, depicts a landmark in the
history of the Netherlands — Baldwin VI, Count
of Flanders, granting a charter of rights to
the citizens of Grammont, whose representa-
tives stand before him with drawn swords.
Baldwin, a kingly, dignified figure, stands on a
low platform, his left hand resting on his
sheathed sword, while the townsmen before him
swear allegiance in return for the guarantee of
their liberties. The story is this : Count Bald-
win bought the land belonging to one Baron
Gerard, and laid it out as a town, to which the
name Grammont was given, meaning Gerard's
Mont, or hill. To the men of this town the
Count gave, in 1068, the first charter of liberties
ever granted in Europe. Not until 1215 was
England's Magna Charta wrung from King
John.

By the charter were granted " (1) individual
liberty; (2) the right to hold, buy, sell, inherit,

In Days of Knight and Villain 77

or devise property; (3) the privilege of being
judged by a tribunal of ' echevins' (councillors)
elected in accordance with local statutes, of giv-
ing evidence and of being exempt from the ju-
dicial ordeals that still obtained throughout
Belgium." The townsmen were also allowed
the ownership of the neighbouring forest and
the use of the meadows to pasture their cattle.
A single reading of this summary, while it
shows how very elementary were these provi-
sions, yet makes it plain that this was the germ
of those later charters guaranteeing the funda-
mental rights of man.

In the words of an eminent writer, the Bel-
gian commune of this period was essentially "a
confederacy of the inhabitants of a town, living
within the gates, who bound themselves by an
oath to lend advice and a helping hand and to
be true to one another, mutually and individ-
ually. ' ' The most striking prerogatives of this
free association, says the same author, were
"(1) a municipal counting-house ; (2) a common
house, or town hall; (3) a, seal; (4) a belfry
(belfort in Flemish), a lofty tower which con-
tained the town bell, and which ordinarily
served as a prison or a repository for the ar-
chives; and (5) an arsenal."

Besides these communal rights, there were in-

78 The Spell of Belgium

dividual, property and judicial rights guaran-
teed by the charters of the towns, as was
mentioned in connection with the charter of
Grammont. Serfs became freemen. The vex-
atious droit de halle was done away with, by
which all kinds of goods must be sold in a given
place and were subject to heavy duties. From
this came, it is said, those immense holies, most
of which were built before the towns received
their charters. Henceforward, justice was to
be administered by councillors drawn from the
wealthy burghers and "juries" representing
the trade guilds, and fines and penalties were
no longer arbitrary impositions but were fixed
by law.

It was this same Baldwin VI who granted
the charter of Grammont of whom the old
chroniclers wrote: "He might be seen riding
across Flanders with a falcon or hawk on his
wrist; he ordered his bailiffs to carry a white
staff, long and straight, in sign of justice and
clemency ; no one was allowed to go out armed ;
the labourer could sleep without fear with his
doors open, and he could leave his plow in the
fields without apprehension of being robbed."

When the King of France, the nominal over-
lord of the greater part of Flanders, interfered
in their government in 1071, the citizens quickly

In Days of Knight and Villain 79

sprang to arms. Their count had died, and the
King of France chose to the vacant place his
widow, Eichilde, also Countess of Hainault and
Xamur in her own right. The nobility and the
people of the higher grounds submitted to this
French intervention, but the townsmen of the
lowlands rallied to the banner of Eobert the
Frisian, brother of their late count, and inflict-
ing upon those professional soldiers a crushing
defeat, they wrested from the Countess Eichilde
not only Flanders but also Namur and Hai-
nault. This battle has come down to us as the
victory of Cassel, in which "street men"
showed that they could defend their free-
dom.

The Flemish burghers of the twelfth century
have the honour of initiating a mighty forward
step in civilization. In every country of Europe,
up to that time, when one man had wronged an-
other the injured party took justice into his
own hands and punished his enemy himself.
The Church had, by the Truce of Gocl, prohib-
ited these blood feuds on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday of every week, and also on certain holy
days, but Philip of Alsace was the first ruler
who did away with this relic of barbarism and
ordered that henceforth every man should bring
his quarrel for trial to the juries chosen by the

80 The Spell of Belgium

townsmen. The glory of demanding this re-
form belongs, however, to the Flemish burghers.

By 1260, the cities of Flanders had become so
strong that they dared to resist their count, and
passed from his rule to that of the French king,
whose aid they had sought. Forty years later,
they rose against this new master. The towns-
men of Bruges slaughtered the French garri-
son, and the following year won the "battle of
the spurs' ' at Courtrai, after which seven hun-
dred golden spurs were picked up on the field.
Early that morning, twenty thousand artisans
of Bruges, in their working dress and armed
with boar-spears or plowshares set in long
clubs, received on their knees the blessing of the
Church, raised a bit of Flemish soil to their
lips, kissed it, and vowed to die for their coun-
try, then gave battle to sixty thousand of the
steel-clad knights and men-at-arms of France.

A few years later, Brabant compelled its
duke to grant it an assembly which should trans-
act all legal and judicial business, and should
consist of fourteen deputies, four chosen from
the nobles and the other ten from the people.
The towns soon began to join their forces.
Brabant and Flanders formed a sort of union.
But the burghers owed allegiance not to a coun-
try but only to a small bit of a country, each to

In Days of Knight and Villain 81

his own town. Their confederacy was bound
together by self-interest alone. Ghent was
jealous of Bruges, and failed to lend assistance
when the Brugeois rebelled against their count.
For lack of this support the latter were crushed.
We speak of the cities of the Netherlands,
but in the thirteenth century they bore little re-
semblance to the cities of today. They were
walled towns, to be sure, but the walls were
generally ramparts of earth with an outside
covering of thick planking. Within the walls
the better class of people lived in low wooden
dwellings roofed with thatch, the churches and
the houses of the noblemen and the chief citi-
zens were often built of stone, but the poor, we
may imagine, found shelter in rude mud huts.
The "streets" were usually mere crooked cart
tracks, the dumping ground for the rubbish of
the community, in which boards and straw were
thrown down in an effort to bridge the numer-
ous holes and pools of muddy water. In Bruges
and Ghent, as we learn from the ancient records,
the principal streets were paved with stone
from the quarries near the Meuse. The squares
were, perhaps, not unlike the "common" of a
New England village, open grassy places in
which were pumps — the common source of
water supply for the inhabitants — and drinking

82 The Spell of Belgium

troughs for the domestic animals that were al-
lowed to roam through the streets. There was
the ever present danger of fire in cities so
rudely built, and the fires often became great
conflagrations in which whole cities were con-
sumed. What with the bad roads, the black-
ness of the unlighted streets, and the presence
in these towns of many ignorant, riotous work-
men and seamen from foreign ports, we can un-
derstand that the citizen who sallied forth with-
out escort for an evening stroll, having only his
lantern for protection, might well be risking his
life in a dangerous adventure.

Edward III of England now laid claim to the
crown of France. Jacob van Artevelde, the
Brewer of Ghent, rallied the Flemings against
the tyranny of their count, who was supported
by France, and threw off his yoke. Among the
petty jealousies and rivalries of that mediaeval
time, the Great Brewer — so called only because
he was registered in the brewers ' guild — stands
out as the lone statesman of his land. (Van
Artevelde at first belonged to the aristocratic
clothmakers ' guild, and perhaps changed to that
of the brewers in order to ally himself more
closely with the democracy of the city.) His
outlook was broader than the narrow circle of
municipal interests. He endeavoured to unite

In Days of Knight and Villain 83

the cities into one commonwealth, and formed
an alliance with Edward. In his first public
utterance he said, "It is necessary for us to be
friends with England, for without her we can-
not live." He added, "I do not mean that we
should go to war with France. Our course is
to remain neutral."

The combined English and Flemish fleets
gained the great naval victory of Sluys over the
French. The Great Brewer was made ruward,
or conservator of the peace, of Flanders, and
used his almost kingly power to strengthen the
alliance with England and to favour the trade
with that country. But he was too great a man
for his time, and the traders of his native city
were easily stirred by a trumped-up charge that
he was plotting to deliver Flanders to the Black
Prince. He met his death in 1345, at the hands
of a mob, before his own doorway.

The confederacy of Flemish towns still held
together for a while. They assisted Edward in
the siege and capture of Calais, and when he
left them to their own resources, they compelled
their young Count, Louis de Maele, to recognize
their right to govern themselves, and still main-
tained their independence of France. The
wiles of Louis and the fierce hatred between
Gantois and Brugeois once more plunged the

84 The Spell of Belgium

countship into a state of anarchy, and Ghent, in
danger of starvation, turned in despair to
Philip van Artevelde, son of the Great Brewer.
He led his fellow-townsmen against the Count's
forces, and took the town of Bruges. But
Charles VI of France came with a large army
to punish the rebels of Ghent, and in the battle
of Roosbeke, in 1382, completely crushed them.
Philip van Artevelde was among the slain.
Two years later, by the death of Louis de
Maele, Flanders passed to Philip the Bold,
Duke of Burgundy, who had married Louis'
daughter.

In the period between the two Arteveldes,
the Joyous Entry became the bulwark of the
liberties of Brabant and afterward of the whole
country. Duke John III of Brabant summoned
to Louvain, in 1354, representatives of all
the cities of Brabant and Limburg, and, an-
nouncing the marriage of his daughter Johanna
and Wenzel of Luxembourg, asked that they
might be confirmed as rulers of the duchy after
his death. The delegates were shrewd traders.
They granted his request only in consideration
of a corresponding grant on his part of a liberal
charter to Brabant. The Joyous Entry became
the title of the charter because it was not pro-
claimed until Johanna and Wenzel made their

In Days of Knight and Villain 85

entrance into Brussels with great pomp and
ceremony and took a solemn oath to carry out
its provisions. Down to Leopold II every suc-
ceeding ruler was obliged to swear conformity
to this famous document.

CHAPTER V

BATTLING FOE A KINGDOM

^F more interest than Philip the Bold or
John the Fearless is the beautiful Jacque-
line of Bavaria, who was married to
John's nephew, John of Brabant. According to
tradition, Jacqueline, heiress to the counties of
Holland and Hainault, was the most charming
and gifted woman of her day. John, Duke of
Brabant, was in no respect her equal. He sub-
jected her to endless indignities and persecu-
tions, and she at last fled from Brussels to the
court of Henry V of England, where she found
protection.

The assassination of John the Fearless by
followers of the dauphin of France gave Bur-
gundy and Flanders to his son Philip the Good.
It was Philip's ambition to consolidate all the
Belgic provinces under the rule of Burgundy,
and thus to create a strong border state be-
tween France and Germany, and he was not too
scrupulous as to the means he used in attaining
his end. He wrested from the unfortunate

86

Battling for a Kingdom 87

Jacqueline first her county of Hainault, then
the provinces of Holland and Zealand in the
northern Netherlands. He also succeeded to
the duchy of Brabant, and gained by purchase
the duchy of Luxembourg. Having induced the
Emperor to renounce his rights as overlord,
Philip was now the head of an independent state
nearly as large as the modern countries of Hol-
land and Belgium.

It was Philip the Good who summoned the
Grand Council to administer the laws for all
his Belgic territory. He often called together
the States-General, composed of the nobles.
From this was developed in time a parliament,
in which sat representatives of the nobles, the
gentry and the communes, these last being
called the Third Estate. But with this prog-
ress toward consolidation, there was always one
powerful disintegrating force at work — the lack
of any bond of union between the towns. The
jealousies of these little rival states kept them
involved in continual petty warfare, and even
restrained them from offering assistance to one
another in the face of a common danger. A
story drawn from the old chroniclers will fur-
nish a picture of the times.

In 1436, Philip led a large force of Flemings
against the English stronghold of Calais, which

88 The Spell of Belgium

made a stubborn defense, and the besiegers lost
many men in the encounters outside the walls.
As the Dutch fleet, which had been relied upon
to assist Philip by blockading the port, had not
appeared, the English were abundantly sup-
plied with provisions, while their enemies were
almost at the end of their resources. The gar-
rison was in the habit of pasturing its cattle out-
side the ramparts under a strong guard, in de-
fiance of the Flemings. One morning a large
troop of Ghenters threw themselves upon a par-
ticularly fine herd, and had already seized a
part of it, when they found themselves caught
in an English ambuscade and driven with the
animals into the city itself. Their rivals, the
Brugeois, encamped near by, took their time
about offering assistance and were too late to
be of any service. The Duke's following never
interfered in these skirmishes, for which his
permission was never asked.

We catch a glimpse of the splendour of these
Burgundian clays in the contemporary descrip-
tion of the Assembly of Arras, which met, the
year previous to Philip's attempt on Calais, to
conclude a peace between France and England.
Here were ambassadors from England — among
them Henry, Cardinal of Winchester, and Rich-
ard, Earl of Warwick — envoys from Charles

Battling for a Kingdom 89

VII of France, from the Emperor, from the
kings of Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Navarre, Den-
mark and Poland, besides the legate from the
Pope and the chief vassals and friends of Philip
himself. Among the brilliant retinues that ac-
companied and guarded these lords, that of the
Bishop of Liege was singled out for mention.
This prelate, one of the most powerful Belgic
nobles, was surrounded by two hundred gentle-
men dressed in dazzling white costumes and
mounted on white horses. The Duke of Bur-
gundy had a bodyguard composed of one hun-
dred gentlemen and two hundred archers, who
never left his side.

This assembly was one of the largest in the
fifteenth century. Fifty thousand visitors were
entertained and ten thousand horses were taken
care of for some weeks in the city. On the ar-
rival of the French Embassy Philip went to
meet them, accompanied by the Duchess Isa-
bella, who rode in a magnificent litter, followed
by several grandes domes richly dressed and
mounted on beautiful gray palfreys. Before
the sessions of this august council began, a
brilliant tournament was celebrated, in which
a Spaniard, Jean de Marie, was the victor.
Then the lords repaired to the monastery of
Saint- Vaast for their sessions.

90 The Spell of Belgium

It may be added that this assembly was un-
able to make peace between France and Eng-
land, the English refusing to withdraw the
claim of Henry VI to the crown of France, and
the French declining to accept any other terms.

While the great cities of Flanders furnished
by far the larger part of the Duke's soldiery —
it is said that Ghent, Bruges and Ypres could
together have armed 100,000 men, had it been
necessary, without arresting the course of their
industries — they were often a most uncertain
support, as the history of the same siege illus-
trates. After weary weeks of waiting, the
Dutch fleet at last appeared, but was soon dis-
persed by English ships. At this juncture the
Ghenters declared they were going home. In
vain the Duke threatened and then entreated.
Neither tears nor menaces could move them.
"The trumpets sounded, the troops, with wav-
ing banners, marched away. ' ' Scarcely had the
Ghenters disappeared when the other Flemings
followed their example, and the helpless Duke
was forced to bring up the rear with his nobles.

The Order of the Golden Fleece was estab-
lished at Bruges by Philip the Good at the time
of his marriage to Princess Isabella of Portu-
gal. The Golden Fleece suggested the impor-
tance of Bruges as the center of the trade in

Battling for a Kingdom 91

wool, while the story of Jason embodied the
principles of chivalry. The first motto of the
order was changed later to that of the house of
Burgundy — " Je l'ai emprins," (I have under-
taken it). The organization was to consist of
twenty-four knights besides the prince at its
head, who were privileged to be tried only by
the members of the order, thus being protected
against despotic sovereigns as well as against
the laws of their country. Philip II of Spain
was the first to violate this privilege, in the exe-
cution of Counts Egmont and Hoorn. In the
eighteenth century, the order of the Golden
Fleece was divided into two branches, those of
Austria and Spain.

Philip the Good, although a vassal of both
France and the Empire, was from the central
position of his provinces and the number of
rich trading cities that they contained, more
powerful than either the French king or the
Emperor. His son and successor, Charles the
Rash, called "the proudest, most daring and
most unmanageable prince that ever made the
sword the type and the guarantee of great-
ness," seems to have coveted a domain that
should include the whole of ancient Lotharingia,
or the region watered by the Rhine, the Rhone
and the Po, and even to have dreamed of in-

92 The Spell of Belgium

vading Italy. He spent bis reign in a series of
unsuccessful campaigns, in the last of which he
lost his life, and left to his daughter Mary the
heritage of a large state, composed of many
principalities — little states surrounded by en-
emies and with no bond of union among them-
selves.

Louis XI of France at once seized the Duchy
of Burgundy, which was ever afterwards a part
of the French dominion. The County of Bur-
gundy with the Netherlands remained under
Mary's rule. The towns were not slow in re-
asserting their rights and recovering the
privileges that had been wrrested from them by
the Burgundian princes. Mary married Maxi-
milian of Austria, son of the Emperor Fred-
erick III, and at her death, a few years later,
left two children, Philip the Fair and Margaret
of Austria.

Philip espoused Joanna, daughter of Ferdi-
nand and Isabella of Castile and Aragon, and
became the father of Charles V. Then began
that unfortunate connection with Spain which
brought such misery to the Low Countries.
Charles, who not only ruled the Netherlands and
Austria, but was elected Emperor and King of
Spain, governed his provinces of the Low Coun-
tries with despotic sway. At- one time the

Battling for a Kingdom 93

Ghenters incurred his wrath by rising against
the payment of a war tax and even carrying on
secret negotiations with Francis I, Charles's
great rival. Francis basely betrayed them to
Charles, who took possession of the city with a
large army. Their leaders were beheaded,
many citizens were exiled, and the guild chiefs
and members of the council were brought be-
fore the Emperor with halters about their necks
and forced to sue for pardon. Henceforth no
magistrate of Ghent was allowed to appear in
public without wearing the halter. This sign of
submission became the badge of the town, but
in later years it was made of silk and worn as a
decoration. The city lost its privileges and its
great bell, Roland. At this time, too, the enor-
mous citadel, called the Spaniards' Castle, was
erected at Ghent by Charles's orders. The
garrison of this stronghold was often, during
the Spanish occupation of the country, of serv-
ice in suppressing insurrections in Flanders.

The Low Countries had never been more
prosperous than at the accession of Philip II.
With the vast increase in commerce had come
great wealth and unexampled luxury. Ant-
werp, which held the place formerly belonging
to Bruges, was the richest city in Northern Eu-
rope. It was said as much business was done

94 The Spell of Belgium

on the exchange of Antwerp in one month as on
that of Venice in two years. Under the Bur-
gundians music, architecture, painting, lace-
making and tapestry were all brought to great
perfection, and the University of Louvain was
founded. One important advance in govern-
ment under Charles V must be noted. A code
of laws was formed from the customs that had
grown up under the charters of the towns and
the proclamations of the rulers.

Philip II, who had been brought up in Spain,
was a narrow-minded despot and bigoted Cath-
olic, entirely without natural ties binding him
to the Low Countries. He resided in the Neth-
erlands only four years, at the end of that
time making Margaret of Parma, his half-sis-
ter, resident governant. The Ancienne Cour in
Brussels was the seat of her Court. Philip,
resenting the independence of the Belgians and
determined to reduce them to abject submission,
cunningly contrived a scheme of government for
the provinces during his absence which left the
balance of power in the hands of courtiers de-
voted to his service. The convocation of the
States-General was forbidden, and a violent
persecution of heretics was commenced. An
element of terror was added to the situation by
the Spanish garrisons, who ravaged the coast

Battling for a Kingdom 95

provinces to obtain plunder in lieu of their long
delayed pay.

In order to safeguard the rights of the peo-
ple and make peace between them and the King,
a confederation was formed of the most power-
ful nobles, led by the three greatest leaders in
the Low Countries, William the Silent, Prince
of Orange, and Counts Egmont and Hoorn.
The confederates entered Brussels, where de
Brederode, one of their leaders, gave a great
banquet in their honour, at which three hundred
guests were present. After long carousing,
some one told how her advisers had handed
Margaret their petition with the remark, "You
have nothing to fear from such a band of beg-
gars ( tas de Gueux) . ' ' As the leaders were then
trying to decide upon a name for their confed-
eracy, they at once adopted that of Gueux, and
the toast, "Long Live the Gueux,' ' was drunk
with riotous hilarity. Henceforth those wTho
upheld the rights of the people and resisted the
Inquisition were known as Gueux.

Madame Vandervelde made a telling use of
this rallying cry in one of her appeals in this
country for the Belgian refugees. "Again,"
she said, "the Belgian people are beggars, but
they are glorious beggars ! ' '

This was the beginning of the forty years'

96 The Spell of Belgium

struggle for freedom that ended in the division
of the United Netherlands. Philip, bent upon
subjugating the people, replaced the Regent,
Margaret of Parma, by the infamous Duke of
Alva. Backed by an army of Spanish veterans,
the new governor levied ruinous taxes, laid
waste cities and provinces, and carried out all
the horrors of the Inquisition. Counts Egmont
and Hoorn were beheaded in front of the Mai-
son du Eoi in the Grande Place of Brussels, and
other leaders met the same fate. It was Alva's
own boast that during his rule in the Nether-
lands he sent eighteen thousand people to death
by execution.

Such barbarities as those committed at the
capture of Haarlem roused the people to des-
peration. The siege of this place lasted for
seven months, and when it was taken by the
Spaniards the Governor and the other magis-
trates were beheaded, and twelve hundred of
the garrison were either slaughtered or
drowned in the lake. Before Alva's rule was
ended, the northern provinces, chiefly Prot-
estant, had rebelled against the Spanish crown.
When no other resource remained, the intrepid
burghers cut the dikes, as they have done in
Belgium today, and so forced the enemy to re-
tire,

Battling for a Kingdom 97

Philip at last recalled the sanguinary Duke,
and commissioned Requesens to complete his
task. But the conciliatory measures of the new
governor came too late, and the war went on.

After the death of Requesens and before the
arrival of his successor, Don John of Austria,
the mutinous Spanish troops seized the citadels
of Ghent, Antwerp, and Maestricht, and gave
the towns over to pillage and destruction. In
November, 1576, they were joined by other mu-
tineers from Alost, and for three days the
"Spanish Fury" raged in Antwerp. Even in
the Low Countries such carnage and vandalism
had never been known. When it ended the city
was in ruins, and seven thousand of its citizens
had been slain.

A few days later, the delegates from the dif-
ferent provinces, assembled at Ghent, under the
leadership of Orange, issued the famous dec-
laration known as "The Pacification of Ghent.' '
This document proclaimed universal amnesty,
the union of the provinces to expel all foreign-
ers, the suspension of the edicts against heresy,
liberty of worship, and the annulment of all con-
fiscations and judgments of the ten years of
warfare. The people seemed now to have taken
a great stride toward freedom.

The death of Don John in the following year

98 The Spell of Belgium

gave the command of the Spanish forces to
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, one of
the greatest generals of the age.

The Walloons having practically gone over to
the side of Spain, on account of their devotion
to the Catholic religion, William of Orange
saw that it was only the northern provinces
upon which he could really depend, and formed
the ' ' Union of Utrecht. ' ' By this act the states
now constituting the kingdom of Holland were
bound together as a united and independent
whole, each state to enjoy complete freedom of
worship. They were soon joined by the towns
of Antwerp, Ypres, Ghent and Bruges.

After William the Silent was assassinated, in
July, 1584, at the instigation of Philip, the
United Provinces, though bereft of their leader,
still held out against the power of Spain, but
the cities that at first cast in their lot with them,
were one by one reduced by siege, the last to
surrender being Antwerp. In all the conquered
territory the Protestant religion was absolutely
proscribed, more than half the population went
into voluntary exile in England and Holland
rather than renounce their faith, and the coun-
try was left desolate.

A Belgian writer has described the condition
of the land thus: "In vain might vestiges of

Battling for a Kingdom 99

the ancient prosperity of Belgium be sought.
The Belgian ports were blockaded by the cruis-
ers of Holland and Zealand. Persecution and
exile had emptied the workshops. England
gathered in the industry of our ruined cities.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Middelburg in-
herited the commerce of Antwerp and Bruges/ '
At the end of Spanish rule in Belgium, it is
said that, "with a foreign garrison established
on its soil, and the principal part of the revenue
assigned for its maintenance, there would have
been nothing surprising had the Belgian race
finally disappeared from the roll of na-
tions.' '

At last Philip gave the command in the Low
Countries to the Archduke Albert, son of Em-
peror Maximilian II, who was to marry the In-
fanta Isabella, and reign jointly with her over
Burgundy and the Netherlands. Under their
rule the country, from this time called Belgium,
began to recover from the long wars. The
sovereigns ruled with wise protection of com-
merce and manufactures, and strove to build up
the country. They were patrons of art, and by
their influence Rubens was induced to make his
home in Flanders.

Until the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, Spain con-
tinued to hold Belgium, on whose devoted soil

100 The Spell of Belgium

many a battle was fought. Sometimes Dutch
and Spaniards were the combatants, again Bel-
gians fought off the French. Through the
whole second half of the seventeenth century
Belgium was the battlefield on which Europe
strove against the ambition of Louis XIV, and
again it was laid waste.

In the course of these wars the French, in
1695, bombarded Brussels with red-hot bullets.
Sixteen churches and four thousand houses
were burnt down, and the buildings on the
Grande Place suffered greatly.

Once more Belgium changed hands, and this
time it passed under the sway of Austria.
Prince Eugene, the great soldier, was made
Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands,
but was too busy with his campaigns to reside in
the country. His deputy was an able man, un-
der whom business conditions improved and
commerce increased, but he ruled with the iron
hand of an Alva. The citizens of Brussels de-
manded of him the Joyous Entry, and when
he refused to observe the charter, riots broke
out in Brussels, which were put down and pun-
ished with all the rigours of Spanish rule.

Under the Archduchess Marie Elizabeth, the
Emperor's sister, who was Regent in Belgium
for fifteen years, the commerce of the country

Battling for a Kingdom 101

increased to such an extent that the jealousy of
England and Holland was aroused.

The death of the Emperor was followed by
the war of the Austrian Succession, in which
Belgium was again invaded and overrun by
France, and one city after another was taken
by the victorious Marshal Saxe. This great
general was the next governor, and he pro-
ceeded to levy upon the people of Brussels the
most extortionate taxes. The treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle soon put an end to his rule, however,
and restored Belgium to Austria.

It is a relief to read in the pages of Euro-
pean history that for the next thirty-six years
Belgium was peaceful and prosperous under
another Austrian ruler, Prince Charles of Lor-
raine. He was devoted to the interests of the
country, and became so popular that the twenty-
fifth anniversary of his government was cele-
brated by a succession of brilliant fetes in the
different provinces.

The death of Prince Charles was almost im-
mediately followed by that of Maria Theresa
and the accession of Joseph II to her throne,
Full of the new ideas in regard to human rights
with which the eighteenth century was seething,
and truly desirous of improving the condition
of his subjects, he set to work to reform ecclesi-

102 The Spell of Belgium

astical conditions not only, but also the whole
system of civil and judicial administration.
Conscious of the highest aims, Joseph stub-
bornly persevered in his efforts at reform, with
the result that his reign was marked by increas-
ing strife in Belgium, culminating in a revolu-
tion. In 1790 the rebels severed their connec-
tion with Austria and formed a confederacy
called the United Belgian States.

After a short and troubled existence of eleven
months, the new republic was invaded by an
Austrian army, and submitted to Joseph's suc-
cessor, Leopold II, who agreed to restore the
ancient forms of government. But in 1749 the
French Revolutionists, having declared war
against Austria, proceeded to invade Belgium.
Though these new conquerors came in the name
of liberty, they also brought devastation and
tyranny in their wake. The French, however,
held the country until 1814. Napoleon's sway
was despotic, but he carried out the reforms
that Joseph II in vain tried to introduce, and
made the organization of the government prac-
tically what it is today. Perfect freedom of
worship was established, and the control of
education was given to the State. Foreign com-
merce was destroyed, but great advances were
made in agriculture and manufacture.

s*

Battling for a Kingdom 103

As we all know, Napoleon returned from his
banishment to Elba in March, 1815, and the
Congress of Vienna, npon receiving the astound-
ing news, declared that "neither peace nor
truce was possible" with "the common enemy
to the peace of the world.' ' The death grapple
of the campaign that he at once planned was
to come upon Belgian soil.

"At half-past three on the morning of June
15, 1815, Napoleon's outposts crossed the fron-
tier. On the evening of the 15th, Wellington
attended the famous ball in Brussels, the best
remembered social function, perhaps, in his-
tory, at the Duchess of Kichmond's house."
This house has been pulled down, but the guides
still point out the spot. While the dancing was
going on, despatches were brought to the Duke,
and he asked to see the map. On looking at it
he exclaimed, "Napoleon has humbugged me.
He has gained twenty-four hours' march on me.
I must fight him here. ' ' He put his nail on the
map. The scratch that was left was "the first
scar of Waterloo."

"Amongst the dead on the field at Quatre
Bras, were officers who still wore the pumps and
silk stockings of the ball room."

Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought on the
16th, and Wellington's masterly retreat to

104 The Spell of Belgium

Waterloo occupied the following day. Then
came that memorable June 18th, the story of
which thrills us even today. French daring was
matched with British tenacity. Wellington was
perfect master of the situation, and — he knew
Blucher would come. But Napoleon had lost
his grip. This was a day of hard fighting and
terrible losses.

"A little after seven o'clock Napoleon pre-
pared to fling his last card on the iron table of
the battlefield ; he would send forward his bear-
skins, the Old Guard, the final bid for victory."
This, too, was in vain. "The Guard gives
way," was the cry that rose everywhere. The
first column was retreating on La Belle Alli-
ance, the second was being driven across the
road to Brussels. From the woods near Hou-
gomont, down the slopes below La Haye
Sainte, the French fled in wild confusion. "At
the same moment Napoleon saw his whole line
of battle fall to pieces."

"Napoleon in his flight crossed the battlefield
of Quatre Bras. It was still strewn with the
unburied slain, nearly four thousand corpses
stripped quite naked by plunderers; and with
what feelings Napoleon in the darkness of the
night rode through those acres of the slain may
be guessed. He drew rein for a moment in that

Battling for a Kingdom 105

field of the dead, and one who stood near him
records how 'his face was pale as wax and the
tears ran down his cheeks' — and thus across the
useless battlefields of that terrible campaign
Napoleon fled on his way to Paris — and beyond
it to St. Helena."1

i From "The Great Duke."

CHAPTER VI

BELGIAN KINGS

TRYING period of fifteen years followed
the battle of Waterloo. The Congress
of Vienna made Holland and Belgium
one kingdom under the name of the United
Netherlands. But this ill-advised union failed.
The Dutch King, William I, was tyrannical and
tactless, and ruled entirely in the interests of
Holland. Although the population of Belgium
was 1,500,000 more than that of the northern
states of the Netherlands, four-fifths of the
army officers and by far the larger part of the
government officials were Dutch. Belgians
were forced to pay the public debt of Holland,
and the poorer classes, under the weight of in-
tolerable taxes, faced starvation. They had
fought too long for freedom to endure subjuga-
tion. Only a little encouragement was needed
to spur them on to action.

The throng that was assembled in the Brus-
sels Theatre de la Monnaie on the evening of
the 25th of August, 1830, listened for a time

106

Belgian Kings 107

quietly enough to Auber's new opera of "Mu-
sette de Portici." But when the Italian tenor
in a stirring solo made an appeal to his country-
men to rise against foreign tyranny, the excite-
ment of the audience could not be controlled.
Springing to their feet, they caught up the
words of the refrain and sang them over and
over again. They rushed from the opera house
into the street, still singing,

"A mon pays je dots la vie,
II me devra la Hberte!"

The revolution begun in this dramatic fashion
continued until Belgium took its place as a na-
tion among the European powers. The new
Constitution made it one of the freest countries
in the world, with representative government,
freedom of the press, trial by jury, freedom of
education, and complete religious tolerance.
The family of Orange-Nassau was forever ex-
cluded from the throne, and Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg was chosen king.

Although a Protestant, Leopold proved an
excellent king of a Catholic country, by his wis-
dom and prudence tiding the nation over sev-
eral political crises and firmly establishing the
kingdom. While still prince, he had married
Princess Charlotte, heir to the crown of Great

108 The Spell of Belgium

Britain. If she had lived, he would have be-
come Prince Consort of England, but both the
Princess and her only child died the following
year. After assuming the crown of Belgium,
Leopold formed an alliance with France by
marrying Emilie Louise, daughter of Louis
Philippe.

Leopold's eldest child, a boy, died in baby-
hood. The daughter, Charlotte, became the
wife of the unfortunate Maximilian, whom Na-
poleon III sent to establish a monarchy in Mex-
ico during our Civil War. She accompanied
him to Mexico, was crowned Empress at his side,
and when the Mexicans rose against them, re-
turned to Europe to seek aid. Maximilian was
shot in her absence. At the news of his death
she lost her reason, but she always remembers
the fatal date, and shuts herself up in her
chateau near Brussels and refuses to see any
one on that day. She never forgets that she
has been an Empress. In the first days of
her madness she thought she was being poi-
soned, but this fear was finally overcome and
she was persuaded to eat by one of her favourite
ladies-in-waiting.

The third son of Leopold I was Philip, Comte
de Flandre, father of King Albert. Philip died
in 1905. It was the second son, Leopold II, who,

LEOPOLD I.

Belgian Kings 109

in 1865, began a reign of nearly forty-five years.
When only eighteen, he married the Arch-
duchess Marie Henriette of Austria, a woman
of many prejudices and peculiarities, who cared
for little but horses and dogs. She did not ap-
prove of tennis; she objected to Wagner. She
was an invalid for many years, and it is chari-
table to suppose that the King's lack of home
life was accountable for some of the scandals
associated with his name.

Leopold's only son died before he was ten
years old, but there were three daughters —
Louise, who married Duke Philip of Saxe-Co-
burg; Stephanie, who married Crown Prince
Rudolph of Austria; and Clementine, the wife
of Prince Victor Napoleon. The marriage of
Louise was most unfortunate, and she left her
husband, who was said to be unkind to her. She
has married several times since, and has con-
tracted large debts. Stephanie's marriage was
also unhappy, and ended in the mysterious
death of her husband, who either took his own
life or was murdered in his shooting lodge near
Vienna. They had one son, who died in boy-
hood. His death, as well as that of King-
Albert's elder brother, occurred in January,
and it is for that reason that the Belgian royal
family say that January always brings them ill

110 The Spell of Belgium

luck. Stephanie is now the wife of an Austrian
Count, and I have heard that during this war
she has become a nurse on the Austrian side.
Clementine and her husband were living in
Brussels at last accounts, and they have two
sons. The King prevented this marriage for
some years, as he felt it might make complica-
tions with Republican France. While we were
in Belgium, they very kindly received us.

A charming French lady-in-waiting took us
directly into the salon, where we saw a fine col-
lection of Napoleonic relics. The Princess soon
entered. We found her regal, with dark eyes
and blonde hair. She struck us as a clever
woman, with a good deal of power and dash.
After a little while the Prince entered. He was
good looking, of medium size, with dark hair
and moustache and handsome eyes. We had
a very pleasant half hour.

With all the pageantry of Burgundian days,
in a splendid procession of church dignitaries,
troops, and officials of the Government, and sur-
rounded by royalties, Leopold began his reign
with a Joyous Entry into Brussels, and was
duly presented with the keys of the city. The
capital was his immediate care. His first
speech from the throne was upon the subject
of beautifying the city and improving its sani-

Belgian Kings 111

tary condition. It is said, "He found Brussels
a city of brick and left it a city of marble,' ' that
"he found a weak kingdom and left a strong
one. ' '

Belgium had now a sovereign who was strong,
both physically and mentally. He entered the
Senate while still Due de Brabant, and was
soon recognized as a thinker and orator. But
before all else, he was an able man of business.
He had the foresight and breadth of view of a
statesman, with the financial ability and power
to handle men that belong to a captain of in-
dustry. He was interested in the construction
of roads and tramway lines, in the extension of
the canal system, and in measures for restoring
Antwerp and Bruges, and other Belgian towns
to their ancient position as queens of com-
merce.

In every way the King sought to develop the
resources of his realm, and the marvelous pros-
perity of the country before the present war
broke out is proof that he succeeded. In ad-
dressing the delegates of industry and com-
merce, early in his reign, he said, "We have
been the first on the Continent to construct rail-
ways ; let us understand how to prolong them by
lines of navigation. ' ' It was not many years
before Belgian steamship lines were formed.

112 The Spell of Belgium

"Under his rule the army was strengthened, and
if he had been allowed to carry out his plans,
the country would have had at least the nucleus
of a navy. He had new forts built and the army
increased. It was decided that the army was
deficient in numbers and in quality. The lat-
ter defect was owing to a system of recruiting
which allowed any man called to the barracks
by the ballot, who did not wish to serve, to find
a substitute, who for a small sum of money,
would take his place. The law doing away with
substitutes in the army was one of the last
signed by King Leopold before his death.

An early riser and indefatigable worker,
Leopold often summoned his attendants at five
o'clock in the morning and remained at his desk
until evening. All day long, a procession of or-
derlies on bicycles, in swift succession, bore his
orders from the study at Laeken, where he
worked, to his secretary's office in Brussels.

Although in the previous reign the two politi-
cal parties, Clericals and Liberals, had fought
some hard battles, the Liberals continued in
power more or less for twenty years. The
return of the Catholic party was effected in
1884, and although their rule has been bitterly
contested by the Opposition, they have held the
reins of government for thirty years,

LEOPOLD II.

Belgian Kings 113

While still Due de Brabant, Leopold traveled
in Morocco and Tunis, and Algeria and Egypt,
as well as in China. On his return he presented
to the statesmen of Belgium a Grecian stone, on
which he had inscribed, "II faut a la Belgiquc
des Colonies." Ten years later, his dream of
colonization began to be realized.

At the Geographical Congress held in Brus-
sels in September, 1876, which was attended by
representatives from all the great Powers, the
question of the suppression of the slave trade in
Africa was discussed. Leopold wanted to open
Africa to civilization, and records and letters
of the time show that he was apparently quite
sincere in wishing to suppress a traffic of un-
speakable cruelty, carried on by Arabs and
Portuguese adventurers of the worst type.

The King's speech before the Congress con-
tained the following words:

"The Slave Trade, which still exists over a
large part of the African continent, is a plague
spot that every friend of civilization would wish
to see disappear. If we succeed in establishing
stations along the routes followed by the slave
merchants this odious traffic will be wiped out.
The stations, while serving as points for trav-
elers, will powerfully contribute toward the
evangelization of the blacks and toward the in-

114 The Spell of Belgium

troduction to them of commerce and modern in-
dustry."

The most important result of the Conference
was the formation of the International Associa-
tion for the Suppression of the Slave Trade and.
the Opening of Central Africa. Leopold was
made president, and it was due to his energy
and wisdom that Belgium persevered in this un-
dertaking. In answer to his appeal for money
and men, men of good standing applied, and
money poured in from his people — a little came
from other countries — and his private fortune
was freely spent in opening up the Dark Con-
tinent.

When Stanley returned to Europe in 1878,
Leopold's agents met him at Marseilles and se-
cured his services to conduct the work of the
International Association on the Congo. In
five years six expeditions wTere sent out, and
many lives were lost. Stanley planted forty
stations, and established a line of steamers on
the river to connect wTith the caravan route
from the coast. Stations were granted by
chiefs in exchange for guns, coats and other
articles that pleased their fancy.

America was first to recognize the new State.
At the Congress of Berlin, in 1884, it was rec-
ognized by the great Powers, was declared open

Belgian Kings 115

to the commerce of all nations, and the slave
trade was prohibited. Ten years later, the ex-
tinction of the African slave trade was accom-
plished. Baron Dhanis, with a large force of
Belgian troops, conquered the Arab traders,
and completely broke np their iniquitous traffic.
By the decree of 1885 all " vacant " land in
the Congo was declared the property of the
State, but in reality it became the property of
Leopold. Land was considered vacant when not
actually occupied by buildings or cultivated for
foodstuffs. Not until 1892, however, was this
theory made the actual rule of administration.
Before that time, in the words of the distin-
guished Belgian Socialist leader, M. Vander-
velde (whose wife has lately been lecturing in
America in the cause of Belgian Belief), "The
rights of the natives were recognized, not only
over the land they cultivated, and over the land
upon which they had built their habitations, but
also over the forests which form the markets
of their villages; the forests where, from
time immemorial, they and their ancestors
hunted the elephant and the antelope, collected
palm oil and kernels, and gathered rubber either
for the purposes of sale or for home use. Dur-
ing that period the Congo State acted as sov-
ereign and not as merchant. "

116 The Spell of Belgium

To secure rubber now became, however, the
single aim of the man who ruled the Congo.
Three commissioners were appointed to enforce
the-" system"; a governor-general was selected
and district commissioners were chosen. Un-
der these governors of districts were native cap-
tains, or "capitas." The agents in charge of
these capitas were paid according to the amount
of rubber collected, so most of them were un-
scrupulous as to the means used in obtaining
it. The capitas were also paid in proportion to
the quantity of rubber they were able to squeeze
from the natives, and they were so brutal that
often whole villages rose up and killed them..

From travelers, from missionaries, and
finally from the British consul in the Congo
came reports of the cruelties practised on the
natives. In July, 1903, a memorable debate
took place in the Belgian Chamber, in which M.
Vandervelcle and M. Lorand fiercely denounced
the policy of Leopold in the Congo.

M. Vandervelde began by saying he had
never denied the greatness of the effort accom-
plished by some of his compatriots in Africa.
He went on to say that the object of the discus-
sion was solely to learn if the Congo State had
fulfilled its international obligations; that Bel-
gium had put fifteen million francs into the

Belgian Kings 117

Congo railway, had lent thirty-five million
francs to the State ; it had given money and men.
Among other things, he emphasized that the
commercial question was closely and insepara-
bly linked to the question of the treatment of
the natives.

"The Congo State," said M. Lorand, "has
not only become the greatest vendor of ivory
and rubber in the world, but has been enabled
with its surplus revenues to conduct enterprises
in China and elsewhere, to purchase property in
Belgium, and concessions at Hankow."

Though there was no immediate result from
the agitation in the Belgian House, the efforts
of English reformers made it necessary to take
some action in regard to the complaints. Leo-
pold accordingly appointed a Commission of In-
quiry, composed of a Belgian, an Italian and a
Swiss, all able men. They went out to the
Congo, where they examined a multitude of wit-
nesses, and at the end of a year their conclu-
sions were published. In this report they prac-
tically reiterated — though in diplomatic lan-
guage— all the charges of the reformers.

Finally, in 1908, this vast African dependency
was annexed to Belgium, which secured com-
plete parliamentary control over the whole
region. The next year, Prince, now King,

118 The Spell of Belgium

Albert and the Colonial Minister, M. Benkin,
visited the Congo State, entering it from op-
posite sides, and reform work was soon inaugu-
rated. Forced labour was suppressed, pay-
ments to the natives were made in money, and
several zones were opened up to free trade.
The African colony pays its own expenses to-
day, but it contributes little money to Belgium.
King Albert refused to receive an annuity from
its revenues, and that money has been used as a
pension fund for those who have served well in
the Congo.

In the early days many Belgians went to the
Congo to escape debt ; today, they pass examina-
tions, and, if fitted for the positions, are given
good salaries. As the climate is very trying
for whites, and the deadly sleeping sickness still
exists, carried by the tsetse fly, the number of
Belgians there, from latest accounts, is only one
thousand six hundred. This includes over three
hundred priests. No men from the larger coun-
tries of Europe are wanted in the service of the
State, but there are some fifty Swedes, Ameri-
cans, Swiss and Italians among the officials.
The justices of the courts are of mixed na-
tionality, but the most important civil and mili-
tary positions are kept for Belgians.

Boma, the capital of the Congo State, is now

KIN(i ALBERT.

Belgian Kings 119

a flourishing town, with several hundred Euro-
pean houses, a Governor's palace, the Palace of
Justice, and other government buildings, both
Protestant and Catholic churches, a Red Cross
hospital, and a telegraphic service to the in-
terior.

A large part of Leopold's revenue from the
Congo was expended in beautifying Brussels
and doing over both the royal palaces. The
Congo Museum, with its fine park and drives,
the Colonial School, and the Cinquantenaire
Museum, erected to commemorate fifty years of
Belgian nationality, with its splendid Arch of
Triumph, were all built by this means.

Leopold's long reign came to an end in 1909.
His nephew, Prince Baudouin, who should have
succeeded him, died suddenly, so, as women do
not inherit, the crown descended to Baudouin 's
brother Albert. As I have said, Albert's father
was Philip, Comte de Flandre, the younger
brother of Leopold, and his mother was Marie-
Louise-Alexandrine-Caroline, of Hohenzollern-
Sigmaringen.

King Albert was born in his father's palace
in Brussels, on April 8, 1875. He has the best
of French and German blood, that of the Or-
leans and the Saxe-Coburgs. It is said he re-
sembles his grandfather, Leopold I. His sister

120 The Spell of Belgium

Josephine is the wife of Prince Charles of
Hohenzollern, a consin of the Kaiser, and his
other sister, Henriette, married the Due de
Vendoine. Prince Charles, who was fair, with
a pointed beard, was bright and amusing when
we met him ; his wife, although very handsome,
was a little deaf. The Duchesse de Vendome
was distinguished looking, tall and blonde, like
her brother, and the Duke, although rather
short, was most attractive.

Albert's boyhood was spent quietly in study
and outdoor life on his father's estate at Cierg-
non. He went through the usual preparation
for military service under the supervision of
General Jungbluth, then Chief of Staff of the
Belgian army. From the moment he became
heir to the throne, he set to work to prepare him-
self for the high position. He studied political
economy with M. Waxweiler, a distinguished
member of the Liberal party, who was at the
head of the Sociological Institute. That he
might not be one-sided in his opinions, he be-
came the pupil of two Catholic priests, one a
Jesuit of notable courage and fairness, the other
a Dominican friar. And, finally, it was from
Baron Lambremont, one of the greatest of Bel-
gian diplomats, that he learned the difficult art
of dealing with governments.

Belgian Kings 121

Even before the present war, the King's me-
chanical tastes led him to take a deep interest in
the problems of engineering construction, of
shipbuilding and of aviation. While traveling
in this country in 1898, he is said to have studied
American railways under the tutelage of Mr.
James J. Hill, and ten years later, to have gone
to Great Britain incognito in order that he
might become familiar with conditions in the
shipyards there. Finally, he is known as a
skilful and daring chauffeur.

In view of this fact, the well known journalist,
Major Seaman, shortly returned from Belgium,
told me the story was true that King Albert
(accompanied only by his chauffeur) when mo-
toring one clay from one part of the lines to an-
other, noticed that they were taking the road
toward the German trenches. He directed the
man to change his course, but soon found they
were still going in the wrong direction. After
a second order had proved unavailing, the King
shot the chauffeur and himself drove the car to
his destination, thus defeating an attempt to be-
tray him into the hands of the Teutons. The
money given to the traitor by the Germans was
found on his body.

The Brussels Exposition was held the year
after Albert became King. With his usual con-

122 The Spell of Belgium

scientiousness, the King not only attended in-
numerable congresses that were held in Brussels
that year, but personally entertained the dele-
gates at the royal palace ; and, with all this, he
is said to have found time to visit, with the
Queen, every exhibit in every section of the Ex-
position.

Even before the present war, he was known
as "The People's King," and during this war
he has shown himself a man and leader, this
hero King, whose name will be honoured
through the centuries. Queen Elizabeth, too,
has their hearts' devotion. "Queen Elizabeth
is over there with King Albert in the midst of
the fighting troops. From town to town, from
camp to camp, from trench to trench she goes.
She inspires the living, she consoles the dying;
she smiles upon them, she binds up their
wounds. There she is, so gentle, so pitying, in
that Flemish land, that sad Country wrapped in
heavy mist, a gray winding sheet softly falling
over so many rigid shrouds. Queen errant, but
more a Queen than ever has been the consort of
the most puissant King, she symbolizes her
Country, that Country which is so gashed and
wounded, but which will not die. Far from
proud cities and sumptuous palaces, she goes to
the soldiers fallen beneath the leaden rain, and

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Belgian Kings 123

as she passes near them the eyes of the dying
are lifted up to her for a last look, a last
tear."1

The Crown Prince, although only thirteen
years old, is in the Belgian army. The Queen
entered a meek protest against her husband's
taking their son to the front, but he answered,
"I have him with me to teach him how serious
a thing it is to be a King. ' '

In an interview with Mr. Hall — a journalist
whom I met at the Belgian Legation in Wash-
ington,—one of the most striking things King
Albert said was this :

"This Avar was unavoidable. It had been
postponed several times wTithin the last few
years, and if it had not been for England's ef-
forts it would have come at the time of the last
Balkan crisis. Germany had been piling on arm-
ament for years, had been building up a war ma-
chine so perfect and so powerful that at a given
time it was bound to start itself. When you
have built a monster ship, you cannot continue
piling on weight all the time, or the day will
come when the vessel will slip off the ways of
her own accord. This thing has happened in
more than one shipyard.

"When the crisis came I had hopes that the

i Roland de Mares (Le Temps) .

124 The Spell of Belgium

protection of international treaties would be
sufficient to protect Belgium, but in any case
there was no question as to what the Belgian
people would do. The violation of our territory
united every faction, and although we were
taken by surprise we did our best and offered
what resistance we could.' '

Mr. Hall writes: " After the defense of
Liege King Albert took the field with his army
and fought back all the way to Antwerp. He
led both the sorties from Antwerp in person,
and fought with the rear guard that covered
the retreat of his army to the Yser. ' '

The Germans drove the Belgian army from
one position to another until only a strip of Bel-
gium was left. "The King continued to fight
in the bogs and marshes of western Flanders,
still undaunted, still defiant, still calm and
serene. "

An Englishman asked a Belgian soldier if
King Albert was beloved. The answer was,
"No, Monsieur, he is not beloved. . . . Before
the war he was beloved — today he is adored. ' '

Emile Verhaeren wrote in King Albert's
book: "At this moment you are the one King
in the world whose subjects, without exception,
unite in loving and admiring him with all the
strength of their soul. This unique fate is

Belgian Kings 125

yours, sire. No leader of men on earth has had
it in the same degree as you.

i ' In spite of the immensity of the sorrow sur-
rounding you, I think you have a right to re-
joice, the more so as your consort, Her Majesty
the Queen, shares this rare privilege with you.

i ' Sire, your name will be great throughout the
ages to come. You are in such perfect sym-
pathy with your people that you will always be
their symbol. Their courage, their tenacity,
their stifled grief, their pride, their future great-
ness, their immortality all live with you. Our
hearts are yours in their very depths. Being
yourself, you are all of us. And this you will
remain. ' '

CHAPTER VII

POLITICS AND PLURAL VOTING

iELGIAN politics had a peculiar fascina-
ation for me from the first. It began
perhaps with my amazement at their sys-
tem of plural voting, which was different from
anything of which I had ever heard. But the
more I learned of the various issues and parties,
the stronger the spell became. The little coun-
try was working very hard trying to solve its
many problems, and was so fearless and origi-
nal in some of the methods it used that you
could not help but admire its pluck and spirit.

To any casual traveler it must have seemed
that the country was divided against itself. It
had two languages, one based on French, the
other a Low German dialect, and the people
themselves were of two different races. The
Walloons have Latin blood, while the Flemings
are of Teutonic ancestry. In spite of all this,
they lived together in peace for many years, and
during the past year have stood shoulder to
shoulder against their common enemy.

Another extraordinary thing about political

126

Politics and Plural Voting 127

conditions there was, that while ninety-nine per
cent, of the people were Boinan Catholics, So-
cialism flourished. That these two bitterly op-
posed organizations should both grow strong in
the same soil was even more surprising — on the
surface — than the bi-lingual and bi-racial patri-
otism of the country.

"Thanks to Belgium's very advanced capi-
talistic development," said M. Vandervelde in
this connection, "it constitutes a curious labora-
tory of social experiment. ' '

The Clerical party had been in power twenty-
eight years when we were there, and the diplo-
mats rarely came in contact with the members
of any other faction. I do remember seeing a
big Socialist parade, held on the first of May;
it was made up, apparently, of quiet and or-
derly men. On the other hand, the country
seemed to swarm with priests. In addition to
those who lived there, many thousands had come
in a few years before when they left France.

There were practically only two political par-
ties : the Clerical, which was the conservative or
Church party, and the Liberal, which was
closely allied with the Socialists and Democrats.
The members of these last three factions formed
indeed a coalition, or "bloc," which frequently
contrived to check the work of the opposition,

128 The Spell of Belgium

despite the fact that they had but eighty repre-
sentatives to the Clericals ' eighty-six. This
coalition had been gaining steadily for the past
twelve years.

The national assembly was composed of a Sen-
ate and a Chamber of Deputies, both of which
were, in the main, elective. The former had
102 members who served eight years without
pay, except a railroad pass. The lower house
had 166 members who served four years and
received, not only a railroad pass, but $800 a
year besides.

Belgium was divided into nine provinces,
whose governors were appointed by the King,
just as the governors of our territories are ap-
pointed by the President. These provinces
were subdivided into 342 cantons, much like
our counties, and these again into over two thou-
sand communes. Every two years the country
voted in sections for half of each house. A ma-
jority of the five Flemish provinces went Cler-
ical, while the four Walloon districts went Lib-
eral.

Every man old enough to do so was compelled
by law to go to the polls and cast his vote or
votes when election day arrived. If for any
reason he was absolutely unable to go, he must
send a written explanation of his absence.

Politics and Plural Voting 129

Belgium's novel method of voting was
adopted some twenty-odd years ago, as a com-
promise between the existing property qualifica-
tion and the equal suffrage which the Social-
ists were demanding. Like most compromises,
it was not wholly satisfactory to any one. Up
to the time when the war turned the attention
of the people to more important matters than
politics it was the cause of a great deal of con-
troversy. But as conditions stood in 1893, the
system of plural voting was a masterpiece of
diplomacy, for each of the three parties — Cler-
ical, Liberal and Socialist — had its own ideas as
to the sort of persons who should be granted the
ballot, and of course no two agreed as to the
necessary qualifications.

The Clericals wished to have the franchise
granted on the basis of occupation and prop-
erty ; the Liberals thought it should be bestowed
on all who were sufficiently educated to use the
power intelligently; the Socialists, however, in-
sisted upon universal suffrage for men and
women alike, without preference or favour.

The Clericals got their wish outright — prop-
erty and professional rights were recognized
generously. The Liberals also got what they
wanted — a vote for every man with a college
education. The Socialists got half of their de-

130 The Spell of Belgium

mands, which was all that they could reasonably
have expected at a time when votes for women
were not being widely advertised.

But of the three parties, only the first has
shown any measure of satisfaction with the ar-
rangement, for plural voting plays into the
hands of the Church. Indeed, the only hope of
the Clerical party was said to lie in its main-
tenance, while the great hope of the Liberal wing
lay in its overthrow.

Briefly, the system of plural voting is this:
Every male citizen of Belgium who had reached
the age of twenty-five years was qualified to
cast — and by law must cast — one vote. Every
man of thirty-five who had children and paid at
least $1 a year income tax, might cast two
votes, while those without children could get this
second vote if they had real estate amounting to
$400, or $20 a year income from state securities.
Any man who had filled a public position, who
had a profession, or who held a college diploma,
was entitled to a third vote, or to two in addi-
tion to his first manhood suffrage. This third
vote could also be obtained by a property quali-
fication. No one might have more than three
votes in all.

This was the way it would work out in an
individual case : A workman at twenty-five re-

Politics and Plural Voting 131

ceives one vote. He marries, becomes the head
of a family, and at thirty-five receives a second
vote. Then, if he buys a house — even if it is
mortgaged — he gets a third. It can easily be
seen how such a system might encourage thrift
and industry, and even responsible citizenship.

Indeed, on the face of it, this system of plural
voting seems nearly ideal. A writer in the
Contemporary Review seriously advocated its
adoption in England. It has the advantage of
putting the weight of power on the educated
classes, while still giving to every man some
share in the government. Our own "one man,
one vote" appears rather crude and arbitrary
by contrast with this carefully graded elec-
torate.

For all that, it did not work out very well in
practice. The educated upper classes were not
always disinterested, and they were nearly al-
ways conservative. Poor men are naturally
adventurous when they see a chance for gain,
but when comfortable they are more and more
inclined to hang back, reluctant to risk their
present comfort for any hazardous improve-
ment. The story of a young captain of militia
who got separated from his company in a strike
riot and cried — "Where are my men? I am
their leader — I must follow them!" illustrates

132 The Spell of Belgium

this point. There was a lively agitation for
electoral reform while we were there.

At the root of much of the political strife was
the question of schools. Should the Church
share with the State in the education of the chil-
dren, or should the public schools be purely secu-
lar?

The coalition of liberal parties demanded for
every child up to fourteen years of age a com-
pulsory education, which must be followed by
two years of training along some technical line.
They insisted, moreover, that every commune
should be bound to provide adequate schools,
from which both religion and politics must be
barred. Although they never achieved this, the
steady gain of the coalition in recent years has
been attributed to their stand in educational
matters.

The Belgian Constitution provides for two
kinds of schools, State and "free." The latter,
corresponding to private schools in our coun-
try, were not under Government control, and
were, indeed, generally under the manage-
ment of the clergy. Prior to 1878 the Church
had also, step by step, gained a certain amount
of influence in the State schools, but in that year
the Liberals came into power and suppressed
clerical inspection. As a result of this, six

Politics and Plural Voting 133

years later, the Liberals went down to defeat
and did not regain their power. From that time
on, the curriculum of the State schools included
religious instruction, although it was not com-
pulsory.

It seems strange now to remember that only
a very short time ago one of the burning issues
in Belgium was militarism. Then they were
facing much the same question which is before
us today in this country: Should they have a
large standing army, with all the burden of serv-
ice and taxation that it entailed, or should they
try the system in use in Switzerland? There
every man is equipped, and drilled for a short
time each year, but there is only a very small
regular army. The Belgians compromised by
blocking up all the entrances to their country by
means of strong fortifications, with the idea that
no invader would gain enough by crossing their
territory to make it worth the trouble. If they
had had the army too, the story might have had
a somewhat different ending.

The year that we were there, there was much
fear as to the result of the elections. The talk
was such as to make you feel that the end of the
world was at hand if the Clericals failed to win,
and that if they did win, there would surely be
a revolution. Our own papers had greatly ex-

134 The Spell of Belgium

aggerated accounts of the trouble in Brussels
following the elections, with stories of sieges
and revolutions and all kinds of violence. But
although the riots themselves amounted to little,
they were of such significance as a part of the
general social and political unrest throughout
the world that I insert an account of them here.

The general elections were held in Belgium on
Sunday, the second of June, 1913, and resulted
in the maintenance in power of the clerical con-
servative Government. The dissolution had
been brought about by the gradually diminish-
ing majority of the Clericals in Parliament till
they had kept themselves in office by an excess
in the Chamber of Deputies of only six votes.

It was expected that the elections would be
very close, owing to the alliance which had been
formed for this campaign between the two oppo-
sition parties of Liberals and Socialists. It was
the surprise of the election that the returns for
the new Parliament showed a substantial gain
for the party in power. It seemed that the
Clericals had come back from the country with
a majority of sixteen in the Chamber, while in
the Senate their supremacy was also main-
tained.

An explanation of these gains was afterwards
found in the defection of many Liberals at the

Politics and Plural Voting 135

last moment because they feared the alliance
with the Socialists and preferred, after all, as
the lesser of the two evils, the Clerical minis-
try, such as Belgium had prospered under for
nearly thirty years. Liberal officers of the
army could not bear alliance with the anti-
monarchical party, moreover, and the high
finance and commerce — the Liberal bourgeoisie
— feared radical changes.

The defeated parties raised the cry of cor-
ruption, and of the advantage which the plural
vote gave the government forces, since it was
the educated and official classes and the rural
population which benefited by the allowance of
a second or third vote. Afterwards a more
active campaign than ever was waged in favour
of the "one man, one vote" suffrage by those
out of power. Throughout the rural communi-
ties the Clericals developed a well-organized
machine in the "Boerenbonden," or agricultural
syndicates, which might have been subventions
of the Government but were generally in the
hands of the priests.

A more immediate result of the conclusive
character of the elections was that many of the
demonstrations that were feared in case of a
close vote lapsed through lack of heart and of
excuse for agitation. The Government had ex-

136 The Spell of Belgium

pressed a determination to maintain the peace,
and troops were held in readiness in their bar-
racks; civil guards were also ordered under
arms during certain hours of the day when trou-
ble was especially likely, and were bivouacked
in the parks and the courts of public buildings,
as evidence to the people of serious preparations
for the repression of disorder.

There were small riots in Brussels, resulting
in a few wounds and arrests, but these seem to
have been more or less formal, and the work of
the rougher element. In some of the other
cities, especially in the industrial parts of Bel-
gium, and in the Borinage, or colliery district,
there were disorders and strikes more or less
serious. In Liege there was a riot with several
deaths resulting.

But everywhere the result of the election was
accepted more quietly than had been feared.
The leaders of the defeated parties showed self-
control and attempted to restrain their follow-
ing, so that the rioting and strikes were more
the result of the excitement of tlie masses, who
were taking advantage of the excuse which poli-
tics always gives for breaking out into disorder,
than of agitation with any immediate political
effect in view.

The Premier of the continued Government

BARON DE BRO^UEYILLE.

Politics and Plural Voting 137

was Baron de Broqueville, an astute and moder-
ate man. But there were able and fanatic ele-
ments in the Clerical party which it was feared
might try to force legislation, especially in the
matter of education. This would prove such an
aggravation to the more liberal thinkers in the
country as to lead to further disorders.

But when the war broke, all differences of
opinion were forgotten, and every man, Clerical
or Socialist, gave himself without reserve to the
common cause of his country's need. Baron de
Broqueville and M. Vandervelde worked side by
side in the Cabinet. The Government was
moved from Brussels to Antwerp, as the in-
vaders drew near, and on again from Antwerp
to Ostend and later to Havre. But in the nar-
row strip of Belgian soil which still remains,
the King and his Ministers daily share the same
dangers and hardships, and toil for the same
end. For the time at least, party differences
have been forgotten in a cause immeasurably
greater.

CHAPTER VIII

iELGIUM was slightly larger than the
State of Massachusetts, yet she ranked
eighth among the nations in wealth, and
sixth in commerce. Antwerp was one of the
five great ports of the world, with more dock-
room than New York.

Several favouring conditions enabled her to
compete so successfully with her big neighbours.
Rivers and canals gave her inland cities easy
access to the sea. Much of the raw material for
her foundries and factories was to be found
within her own boundaries, while fuel for her
engines was furnished cheaply by her own
mines. Most important, perhaps, labour was
abundant, low of cost, and highly skilled. In
her people really lay Belgium's greatest
strength, for they are hardy and thrifty, and
peculiarly skilled as mechanicians.

They used to say that while France furnished
mankind with their luxuries, Belgium supplied
them with their necessities. But this is not

138

Belgium's Workshops 139

wholly true, for the smaller country is cele-
brated for its exquisite lace and superb tapes-
tries, while the gardens of Ghent raised orchids,
azaleas' and camellias for the flower-markets of
France, Germany, England and even America.

These were the exports of Belgium, in the
order of their importance : coal, iron, steel and
zinc ; firearms ; glass ; cement ; ceramics ; cot-
ton, wool and flax ; furniture and lace.

The centers of the metal, coal and glass in-
dustries were in the Walloon districts, espe-
cially in Charleroi and Liege, while the textile
centers were, for the most part, in Flanders.

The story of how coal was first discovered in
Belgium has been told a thousand times, but
rarely, I think, in America. It seems that in a
village not far from Liege there lived — some
seven hundred years ago — a poor blacksmith
named Houllos. One day he found himself
quite out of money. He could not work to earn
more, because he had no wood to heat his forge.
While he sat bewailing his fate a mysterious
stranger appeared and asked the cause of his
woe. When he had heard the mournful story,
' ' Take a large sack," said he, "and go to the
Mountain of the People, There you must dig
down three feet into the earth. You will find a
black, rocky substance, which you must put into

140 The Spell of Belgium

the sack and bring home. Break it up, and burn
it in your forge." This is the reason why, in
Belgium, coal still bears the name of huille, in
memory of the blacksmith of Liege. Some
think the stranger was an Englishman, since
coal was already in use in London. But tradi-
tion has insisted that ange and not Anglais, is
the proper word, and that Houllos entertained
an angel.

Near Mons are the great mounds of slag
which were begun in the earliest times and look
today not unlike the pyramids of Egypt. What-
ever the origin of the mining industry in Bel-
gium, there is nothing idyllic about the condi-
tions there in modern times. The coal region
of the Borinage is known as Le Pays Noir, and
it certainly deserves the name.

The miners are called Borains, or coal-borers.
"They live both on the earth and in the earth,
delving amid the black deposits of vast primeval
forests. " Owing to their former long hours,
which have been somewhat shortened in late
years, the present generation is dwarfish, the
men often under five feet and the women still
less. Most of them cannot read or write, and
they have little pleasure save what comes from
beer. (More beer was sold per head in Bel-
gium than even in Germany.) Of the hundred

Belgium's Workshops 141

and twenty-five thousand miners in the coun-
try, three-quarters belonged to Hainault.

There are in all over a hundred coal mines in
Belgium, the area of those that were worked
amounting to over ninety thousand acres, and
of those not worked to forty thousand more. A
new coal field has been discovered in the north
but has not been exploited as yet. Although the
home consumption was steadily increasing, and
averaged nearly three tons per capita, large
amounts were exported to France and Holland.
It was sold at a closer margin than in any other
of the mining countries.

Mining was commenced on the out-crops eight
or nine hundred years ago, but it was only when
steam-engines were invented that the miners
were able to reach the deeper parts of the coal
measures, and the yield was greatly increased.

Firearms have been manufactured in Liege
since midway in the fourteenth century. The
first portable arms were the cannon and hand-
gun, both adjusted to very heavy, straight butt-
ends and very difficult to handle. They were
loaded with stones, lead or iron balls. The mus-
ket and arquebus came later, and had match-
locks, an idea suggested by the trigger of the
crossbow.

The first exporters of Liege arms were nail-

142 The Spell of Belgium

dealers, who possessed from immemorial times
commercial relations with the most distant coun-
tries. After the invention of the flint-lock in
the seventeenth century the gun trade made
rapid progress. The number of workmen be-
came enormous. The superiority of Liege arms
was recognized all over the world, and the gun-
workmen received offers of high salaries to in-
duce them to go to France, England, Germany
and Austria. Several of them were engaged to
work at the Royal Manufactory of Arms at
Potsdam. Much of the best work was done at
the worker's own house, and in order to prevent
any decline in the individual skill of the men to
whom Liege owed so much of its fame, the union
of manufacturers of arms created a profes-
sional school of gunnery, where they could be
specially trained. In this way they hoped to
avoid the danger that the facility which ma-
chinery gives the workman would cause him to
lose interest in his hand-work at home, which
requires such varied knowledge and ability.

Cotton spinning was one of the most impor-
tant textile industries. Over a million spindles
were employed, most of them in the two prov-
inces of Hainault and Brabant, and in the city
of Ghent. Most of the cotton came from Amer-
ica and Egypt.

An Old Lace maker

Belgium's Workshops 143

Verviers, in liege, was the center of the wool-
spinning industry. Here again the superior
skill of the artisans established the reputation
of the Belgian article. Most of the wool came
from Australia and the Cape.

For its flax spindles, however, Belgium raised
its own material. The flax of Courtrai was con-
sidered the best in all Europe. More than half
the finished thread was exported to England.
The abundance of this material doubtless led to
the early development of lace-making, for which
the women of the country became so famous.

Flanders claims to be the birthplace of pillow-
lace — dentelles aux fuseaux — and disputes with
Italy the invention of lace generally. In earlier
times drawn or cut work was often confused
with lace, as was embroidery of one sort or an-
other, and for this reason it is difficult to trace
the art definitely back to its beginning. Orna-
mental needlework was done in Old Testament
days, for Isaiah mentions those who "work in
fine flax and weave networks." But real lace-
making — the interweaving of fine threads of
flax, cotton, silk, of silver, gold or hair, to form
a network — did not appear till the time of the
Renaissance, when all the arts of Europe awoke
to life. In a chapel at St. Peter's, in Louvain,
was an altar-piece painted in 1495 by Quentin

144 The Spell of Belgium

Matsys, which showed a girl making lace on a
pillow like those still in nse to this day.

The manufacture of lace began in Brussels
about the year 1400. The city excelled from
the first in the quality of the work done there.
This was due to the fineness of the thread of
Brabant, which the women spun inch by inch
with such painstaking care that it defied compe-
tition. A pound of flax was sometimes trans-
muted into lace worth several thousand dol-
lars.

The lace industry was the only one in Flan-
ders which survived the upheavals of the six-
teenth century. Its prosperity alone tided the
distracted people over their difficulties and
saved them from the ruin which threatened.
The women plodded on at their slow task, hour
after hour, thread after thread, for a pitiful few
cents a day, and never knew that they had saved
their country. "They are generally almost
blind before thirty years of age, ' ' wrote an early
chronicler.

The women of Belgium have always been spe-
cially adept with the needle, and it may be that
the rainy weather so prevalent there had some-
thing to do with the development of this indoor
industry. Certainly lace-making is — or was,
until very recently — practised in all the prov-

Belgium's Workshops 145

inces except Liege, and in some districts it could
be said that every woman, young or old, handled
the bobbins or the needle. It was, indeed, the
national industry.

As a rule, the women worked to order and by
contract, and were paid by the piece. The lace,
when finished, was handed over to the local mid-
dleman, who, in turn, sold it to the contractors
in the cities. The children learned the art from
their mother or — more often — from the nuns in
the various convent schools. They would enter
these schools when six or eight years old, and
often remained there till their marriage. The
nuns did much to keep up the ancient traditions
of the art, and even in their convents in the Far
East today they make a point of teaching the
native children to copy European laces.

There are two kinds of lace, point and pillow.
The former is made with a needle, and its char-
acteristic feature is the "set-off" of the flowers.
The needle laces of Belgium are divided into
Brussels point, Brussels applique, Venice, rose
and Burano points.

Several classes of workers are needed for each
piece — those who make the openwork orna-
ments and the flowers, and those who apply
them on to the background, a very delicate
task. Brussels point is the finest example of

146 The Spell of Belgium

this form of lace, and indeed of any lace made
in Belgium at the present time. The designs
are very elaborate, with the flowers often in
relief. Modern Brussels point is, however,
too frequently an imitation, with flowers sewn
on to a machine-made net that is often rather
coarse, while the application is done by unskilled
fingers.

Of pillow lace there are many kinds, and their
chief characteristic is the outline of the design.
The lace is made on a cushion or pillow which
stands on a frame, with little spools or bobbins
for the threads, and pins for fixing the lace on
the pattern.

The best kinds of pillow lace are duchess,
Mechlin, and Valenciennes. " Valenciennes the
eternal,' ' they called it, because by working
fourteen hours a day for a year you made less
than half a yard. Marie Therese had a dress of
it which took a year to make and cost fourteen
thousand dollars. Considering that the work-
ers received barely a cent an hour, one gets some
idea of the magnitude of the task. The Beguin-
age in Ghent was the headquarters for the man-
ufacture of this lace, but only a few old nuns
remain there now who know the secrets of its
making. Machine-made imitations flood the
market, and the former process is too costly to

BRUSSELS POINT LACE.

Belgium's Workshops 147

make it worth any one's while to master it.

Mechlin is the Flemish name for the town of
Marines, and both words are nsed in connection
with the lace which originated there. Mechlin
is the airiest and most exquisite of laces, but its
very delicacy made it too costly, and since it
could be so easily and cheaply imitated, it is no
longer made by hand. It was constructed in
one piece, with no application, a flat thread form-
ing the flower and giving it almost the appear-
ance of embroidery. Napoleon, who admired it
greatly, cried out when he saw the delicate spire
of Antwerp Cathedral that it was like "la den-
telle de Malines."

In spite of the fact that the art of making lace
had fallen upon hard clays, the lacemakers ' ball
was still an important event of the season when
we were in Brussels. It came in carnival week,
and was the occasion on which the Societe de la
Grande Harmonie received the King and Queen.
It interested me to see how Their Majesties were
welcomed by such a representative body of mid-
dle-class citizens — there was the most genuine
enthusiasm I have ever seen shown towards
royalty.

The Diplomatic Corps had been invited to at-
tend, and we were taken to a platform at the
end of a great room, where the royal chairs were

148 The Spell of Belgium

placed, and chairs in rows for the Corps and the
Court and the Ministers of State. Beyond the
columns which divided the hall into three parts
were arranged the seats for the members of the
society. The center of the floor remained clear,
and here the tableaux and pageants represent-
ing the various stages in the history of lace were
performed. In their pageant the lacemakers all
wore examples of their craft.

One of the prettiest incidents occurred when
the groups of costumed personages separated
and there passed along the length of the ball-
room floor two little children, a boy and a girl,
dressed as a page and a miniature lady-in-wait-
ing. They advanced slowly, and presented to
the King and Queen books which told of the
evening's entertainment. The Queen rose and
apparently questioned the president of the so-
ciety about the little girl who stood so shyly be-
fore her. Then, taking the book, she stooped
down and kissed her. It was very prettily and
naturally done, and caused a round of appreci-
ative applause and cries of "Long live the
Queen ! ' '

Another attractive feature was that of the
tiny children who represented the Flemish lace-
makers, each one wearing the costume of the
trade, They passed in procession before the

Belgium's Workshops 149

Queen and each, with a little courtesy, laid a
bouquet of flowers at her feet.

I was surprised to find that Brussels was the
market for lace from all over the world, and that
foreign laces of every description were copied
there by the skilful dentellieres. This was still
true, in spite of the marked decline which the
industry had shown of late, especially since the
introduction of machinery.

Where a generation ago one hundred and fifty
thousand women were employed, in 1910 there
were barely twenty thousand. Their product
had lost in quality, too, as well as in quantity.
The old nuns who did the wonderful, intricate
stitches, were dying ofT and there were none to
take their places. The pattern-makers, also,
were contenting themselves with easier designs.
Belgium was "speeding up," with the rest of
the world, and the painstaking arts had to suf-
fer. Modern laces are carelessly made, in com-
parison with those of former days, and from
inferior designs.

The wages paid those who still work at the
craft seem low indeed, especially when the long
years of apprenticeship are considered. Ver-
haegen, in statistics collected in 1910, cites a girl
of thirteen who was working ten hours a day,
making in fifty-five hours a meter of Cluny lace

150 The Spell of Belgium

for which she received about fifty cents. Chil-
dren of fourteen were working seventy-two
hours a week for something less than a cent an
hour, and grown women earned little more.
The workers were not organized, and the
middlemen seem to have prospered accord-
ingly.

But the pay was low in all branches of indus-
try, even those which were well organized. An
English writer noted that the rate of wages per
hour for men in Belgium was only about half
that prevailing in Britain, while the cost of liv-
ing was nearly the same. The average earnings
of the breadwinner of the family were about
$165 a year. These facts certainly account for
the development of cooperation.

This movement, which had a great vogue
throughout the country, started in Ghent in
1873. Bread was scarce, and famine prices pre-
vailed. A group of poor weavers conceived the
idea of baking for themselves and their friends
at cost. Their capital consisted of the vast sum
of seventeen dollars and eighteen cents. Their
bakery was in a cellar, and their utensils were
antiquated. They could not afford a dog to de-
liver their wares, which were taken from door
to door in a basket. But this was only the be-
ginning. The "free bakers," as they called

Belgium's Workshops 151

themselves, came to have for their headquarters
one of the finest buildings in Ghent.

A few years later Edouard Anseele, realizing
the power of the new movement, decided that it
should be identified with Socialism for their mu-
tual benefit. To that end was organized the
Vooruit, which has branches all over Belgium,
and in other countries as well.

Instead of returning the profits made on bread
sold at market prices to the purchasers, as had
been originally done, a percentage was retained
for the support of the organization in its various
departments. There was a mutual benefit fund,
for instance : bread was sent to members out of
work; a doctor went to those who were ill; a
trained nurse was at hand to look after the first
baby and to instruct the mother in its care.

When the Church set up rival bakeries, the
Vooruit went farther. It established its first
" maison du peuple," which has since been du-
plicated in many places. Every need of the peo-
ple was supposed to find here its satisfaction.
There was a cafe, with tables in the park, and
lights and music. There were lectures, dances,
debates, concerts, movies. There was a theater
where the actors and the plays were chosen by
the vote of the audience, which, by the way,
strongly favoured their own Maeterlinck. Be-

152 The Spell of Belgium

sides a library and a day nursery, there was a
big department store, and in the same building
were the headquarters for all the allied and
friendly organizations — trade unions, coopera-
tive and socialistic societies, and so on.

One of the most interesting activities of the
Vooruit was the traveling club for children,
bands of whom went from town to town, picking
up recruits as they went, seeing their own land
first, then — this was before the war — crossing
the border into France or Germany, where the
local Vooruits made them welcome. A common
practice was for children of the French and
Flemish parts of the country to be exchanged for
long visits, so that they might have a chance to
learn each other's language.

When the organization, which had always be-
fore refused to sell alcoholic drinks, found itself
bitterly opposed by the liquor interests, espe-
cially in the mining districts, it built breweries
of its own. In this way it was able to give the
working men pure beer at a very low cost.

The Maison du Peuple in Brussels was estab-
lished in 1881, with a capital of about one hun-
dred dollars. It began, like the one in Ghent,
as a bakery, and owned a dog and a small cart
to make deliveries. At last accounts the society
had over ninety dogs. It is amusing to read

Belgium's Workshops 153

that these had their own kitchens, where their
cooking was done, and their bathrooms, where
they were kept clean.

And when one is speaking of the workers of
Belgium, the dogs should not be forgotten, for
the larger breeds were very useful members of
the industrial system. Laundresses, bakers and
vendors used them in distributing their wares,
and they were of great service on the farm.
But perhaps the commonest sight was that of a
dog hitched to a cart filled with shining brass
and copper milk cans. They were all carefully
inspected to see that their harness fitted prop-
erly, and that they were provided with a drink-
ing bowl and with a mat to lie down on when
they were tired.

The Government made a point, indeed, of
seeing that conditions were as comfortable as
possible for the animals. The poor cannot af-
ford to keep a dog simply for a pet ; there are
no scraps from the table to feed him, because no
thrifty housewife leaves any scraps ; he must do
his share and earn his keep like the others.

At a time when France laid a heavy tax on
imported laces, dogs made excellent smugglers.
They were kept for a time on the French side
of the line, petted and well fed ; then they were
sent over into Belgium, where they were allowed

154 The Spell of Belgium

to become thoroughly homesick. Skins of
larger dogs were lined with contraband lace and
tied on to them, and they were headed for home
and set free. Of course they naturally sought
their own firesides, and the lace went with them.
When the ruse was discovered, over forty thou-
sand of them were captured and put to death.

Since the war began, dogs have been of great
service in dragging the mitrailleuses, the light
machine-guns, as well as in helping their mas-
ters carry their household goods to a place of
safety. The police dogs were wonderfully
trained, and have been used by the Eed Cross to
find the wounded in remote places and to carry
first aid.

The same high standards of efficiency by
which Belgian workmen made a national repu-
tation for their various manufactures showed
also in the cultivation of the ground. The whole
western part of the country was one vast mar-
ket-garden, but it was no happy chance of soil
and climate that made it so. Generations of
unbroken toil on the part of a patient, skilful
peasantry, equipped with the most primitive
tools but with a positive genius for their work,
were necessary. So recently as the first half of
the nineteenth century there was a wild stretch
of land west of the Scheldt known as the Pays

Belgium's Workshops 155

de Waes, which was uncultivated and desolate.
Today it is wonderfully fertile, its little truck
farms supporting five hundred people to the
mile.

Flanders as a whole, indeed, had poor soil,
often i ' an almost hopeless blowing sand. ' ' The
method of reclamation usually began with the
planting of oats, rye or broom. This was used
three years for forage and then plowed in, after
which the land became capable of producing
clover. The rotation of crops was worked out
with great care, according to the special needs
of the soil. The Belgian wmeat crop averaged
thirty-seven bushels to the acre in 1913, while
in the same year " up-to-the-minute' ' America
raised only fifteen bushels.

The soil is particularly suited to hemp and
flax, the latter furnishing not only oil but fiber,
of which the British markets bought ten million
dollars' worth annually. Poppies were grown
for oil. Tobacco yielded two tons to the acre,
and white carrots eight hundred bushels.

The Flemish farmer did most of his work by
hand, with no other implement than a spade,
which has been called the national tool. The
population was so large that human labour was
cheaper than animal. In sixteen days a man
could dig up an acre of land as well as a horse

156 The Spell of Belgium

could plow it. A farmer was able to support
himself, his wife and three children, keep a cow
and fatten a hog, on two and a half acres. With
another acre he had a surplus product to carry
to market. A man with a capable wife and chil-
dren could do all the work on six acres and have
time left for outside interests. If he was fortu-
nate enough to have horses they were the pride
of his heart and he kept them always finely
groomed and in the pink of condition.

The women of the country married early,
raised large families, and worked hard. They
were good managers, especially in the Walloon
districts where they often carried on some in-
dustry besides their housekeeping. For centu-
ries their chief employment was making lace.
The Government established schools of house-
keeping, where the girls learned domestic econ-
omy in every branch ; they were sent to market,
for instance, with six cents to buy the materials
for a meal, which they afterwards cooked and
served.

The Government indeed did everything it
could to improve conditions in the country dis-
tricts and to encourage farming. It established
schools of agriculture, with dairy classes for
the girls, and aided in starting cooperative so-
cieties. Its policies were far-seeing and marked

Belgium's Workshops 157

by a really paternal interest, as well they might
have been, for to her sturdy peasants — and
to the peasants' sturdy wives — were due the
foundations of Belgian prosperity.

f

CHAPTER IX

TAPESTEIES

'S we were intensely interested in tapes-
tries we often went to the Museum to
study and admire the most famous set in
Brussels, an early Renaissance series of four
pieces, called Notre Dame du Sablon.

These hangings illustrate an old fourteenth-
century story, which I condense from Hunter's
delightful work on "Tapestries." Beatrix
Stoelkens, a poor woman of Antwerp, was told
by the Virgin in a dream to get from the church
of Notre Dame a little image of the Madonna.
In obedience to the vision she obtained the
statuette and took it to a painter, who decorated
it in gold and colours. After Beatrix had re-
turned it to the church, the Virgin clothed it with
such grace that it inspired devotion in all who
saw it. Then Our Lady appeared a second time
to Beatrix, and directed her to carry the statue
to Brussels. When she attempted to get it, the
warden of the church interfered, but he found
himself unable to move, and Beatrix bore away

158

Tapestries 159

the little Madonna in triumph. She embarked
for Brussels in an empty boat, which stemmed
the current as if piloted by unseen hands. On
arriving at her destination, she was received by
the Duke of Brabant and the magistrates of the
city, and the precious little statue was carried
in procession to the church of Notre Dame du
Sablon.

This set bears the date 1518, when Brussels
was no longer under a Burgundian Duke, but
Charles V was ruler of the Netherlands. The
designer of the set followed the Gothic custom
of representing the story under the forms of his
own day, so, instead of the Duke of Brabant,
Philip the Fair, father of Charles V, is pictured
receiving the Madonna from the hands of Bea-
trix at the wharf, Charles V and his brother
Ferdinand are bearing it in a litter to the
church, and Margaret of Austria, aunt of
Charles, kneels in prayer before the niche where
the sacred image has been placed.

When in New York it always gives us pleasure
to go to the Metropolitan Museum to see the
finest Belgian set in the United States, the
Burgundian Sacraments, woven in the early
fifteenth century. This splendid example of
Gothic workmanship was made in the days when
Philip the Good had brought the power of Bur-

160 The Spell of Belgium

guncly to its zenith. When the great Duke
wanted to have magnificent hangings for the
chamber of his son (who was afterward Charles
the Bold), he ordered a set of tapestries from
the weavers of Bruges. All that remains of
this splendid work of art is now in the New York
Museum — five pieces, which form half of the
original set. The complete series consisted of
two rows of scenes, the upper seven representing
the Origin of the Seven Sacraments, the lower,
the Seven Sacraments as Celebrated in the Fif-
teenth Century. This set shows wonderful
weaving, "with long hatchings that interpret
marvelously the elaborately figured costumes
and damask ground. ' '

There are other exquisite tapestries in Amer-
ica, too, for the Committee of Safety in 1793
imported some American wheat into France,
and when the time came to pay it proffered
assignats. Naturally enough, the Americans
objected, but there was no money. "Then they
offered, and the United States was obliged to
accept in payment, some Beauvais tapestries
and some copies of the Moniteur. ' '

Tapestries required muscular strength, for
the material was heavy, and so men were given
this work in town workshops. The ladies did
the needle, bobbin and pillow work in the castles

Tapestries 161

and convents. True tapestry is always woven
on a loom, and is a combination of artistic de-
sign with skill in weaving.

This tapestry industry was introduced into
Western Europe in the Middle Ages by the
Moors, but we can trace the art of making
woven pictures to much earlier times. The an-
cient Romans had them. Ovid describes the
contest in weaving between Arachne and Pallas,
in which the maiden wrought more beautifully
than the goddess. Pallas in anger struck the
maid, who hanged herself in her rage because
she dared not return the blow. The goddess,
relenting, changed Arachne into a spicier, and
she continues her weaving to this day.

But a much earlier poet has described the
making of tapestry. We read in the Odyssey
that, when the return of Ulysses to his native
land was long delayed, his faithful wife Penel-
ope postponed a decision among the suitors who
importuned her by promising to make a choice
when she had finished weaving the funeral robe
for Laertes, her husband's father. The robe
was never completed, for each night she took out
the work of the day before.

It is a very interesting fact that a Grecian
vase has come down to us on which is a paint-
ing of Penelope and her son Telemachus. Pe-

162 The Spell of Belgium

nelope is seated at wliat the experts say is cer-
tainly a tapestry loom, though somewhat dif-
ferent from those used at a later day.

We have no large pieces done by the Greeks
and the Romans, but many small bands for use
as trimmings of robes. Some of these were
woven by the Greeks as early as the fourth cen-
tury B.C., others were made in Egypt under
Roman rule some centuries later, and are called
Coptic. From these one can trace the series
through the silken Byzantine, Saracenic and
Moorish dress tapestries to the Gothic fabrics
of the fourteenth century.

The Flemish and Burgundian looms were
those of Arras, Brussels, Tournai, Bruges,
Enghien, Oudenarde, Middlebourg, Lille, Ant-
werp, and Delft in Holland. The value of the
tapestry industry to Flanders may be judged
from the fact that Arras, a city of no importance
whatever, from which not a single great artist
had come, led all Europe for about two centu-
ries in tapestry weaving.

Although some fine pieces were woven in the
fourteenth century, as far as known, only two
sets of Arras tapestries of this period are left.
One set is at the cathedral of Angers in -rather
bad condition, for they were not appreciated at
one time, and were used in a greenhouse and cut

Tapestries 163

up as rugs. Fortunately, they have been re-
stored and returned to the cathedral. The
other set of early Arras hangings is to be found
at the cathedral of Tournai, in Belgium. A
piece of this set bore an inscription — which has
fortunately been preserved for us — stating,
" These cloths were made and completed in
Arras by Pierrot Fere in the year one thousand
four hundred two, in December, gracious month.
Will all the saints kindly pray to God for the
soul of Toussaint Prier?" Toussaint Prier, a
canon of the cathedral in 1402, was the donor
of the tapestries.

When Louis XI of France captured Arras, in
1477, and dispersed the weavers, Tournai, Brus-
sels, Oudenarde and Enghien took up the work.
The oldest Brussels tapestries known belong to
the latter part of the fifteenth century. Two
of these sets were painted by Roger van der
Weyden and celebrated the Justice of Trajan
and the Communion of Herkenbald. Some
have tried to prove that other important tapes-
tries were designed by the great primitives, but
Max Rooses assures us the resemblance to their
work comes from the fact that their character-
istics, "careful execution, extreme delicacy of
workmanship, and brilliancy of colour," per-
vaded every branch of art at that period.

164 The Spell of Belgium

Brussels and Oudenarde held the lead
throughout the sixteenth century. The Bru-
xellois wove vast historical compositions to dec-
orate the palaces of kings; the weavers of
Oudenarde produced landscapes, "verdures"
and scenes from peasant life for the homes of
burghers.

Tapestries are at their best as line drawings ;
when more complicated effects are sought "con-
fusion and uncertainty follow." The finest
ever woven were produced during the last half
of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth
centuries, when Gothic tapestries gradually
ceased to be made and Renaissance pieces began
to take their place. During that hundred years,
when the weavers were most skilful and were
still satisfied with line drawings, many of the
finest tapestries combined the characteristics of
both styles.

In the sixteenth century, the weavers had
such marvelous skill, however, that they actually
reproduced the shadow effects of Italian de-
signs. Even such great artists as Raphael and
Michael Angelo drew cartoons, and stories of
ten, twenty or even thirty scenes were woven,
all showing the distinctive characters of Renais-
sance art, They combined breadth of compo-
sition and lively action with the introduction of

Tapestries 165

nude figures and elaborate landscape and archi-
tectural settings. But in trying to copy paint-
ing too closely, they departed from the best tra-
ditions of tapestry technique, and deterioration
was sure to follow in time.

After the desolating wars of the sixteenth
century, when arts and industries revived under
the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, Brussels
weavers set up their looms again, and " Rubens
brought new life into tapestry manufacture.
He supplied the Brussels workshops with four
great series — the History of Decius Mus, des-
tined for some Genoese merchants; the Tri-
umphs and Types of the Eucharist, ordered by
the Infanta Isabella for the convent of the
Clares at Madrid ; the History of the Emperor
Constantine, executed for Louis XIII; and the
History of Achilles, for Charles I. . . . The
Triumphs and Types of the Eucharist are the
most powerful allegories ever created to glorify
the mysteries of the Catholic religion." 1

Jacob Jordaens also designed tapestry car-
toons, but the most popular artist among the
weavers at the end of the seventeenth and in the
eighteenth centuries was David Teniers. He
did not himself make designs, but the manufac-
turers, especially at Oudenarde, borrowed his

i Max Rooses.

166 The Spell of Belgium

subjects, which were drawn largely from peas-
ant and village life.

One reason why we have so few of the really
antique tapestries is that in 1797 the market for
them was so dead — owing to the increasing use
of wall-papers and canvases painted in oils —
that the French decided it would be better to
burn them for the gold and silver they contained.
Accordingly, "One hundred and ninety were
burned. During the French Kevolution, a num-
ber of tapestries that bore feudal emblems were
also burned at the foot of the Tree of Liberty."
At this time, when they were not in fashion,
many rare old hangings were cut up by the inar-
tistic or the ignorant and used as rugs and cur-
tains.

But in recent years, we are told, the Brothers
Braquenie have set up a workshop at Malines,
where they have produced a fine series for the
Hotel de Ville in Brussels, called "Les Serments
et les Metiers de Bruxelles." The cartoons for
this set were made by Willem Geef s, the painter.

As to the material, there is a great difference.
Gothic tapestries are composed of woolen weft
on linen, or woolen on hemp warp, and are often
enriched with gold and silver thread. These
are not used today, as they are considered too
expensive. Since the sixteenth century, Brus-

Tapestries 167

sels, Gobelins, and Mortlake have nsecl a great
deal of silk. In the fifteenth century fifteen or
twenty colours were employed, in the Renais-
sance period, twenty or thirty.

"Both high warp and low warp antedated the
shuttle. In other words, they use bobbins that
travel only part way across instead of shuttles
that travel all the way across. ' ' The high warp
loom was also in use before the treadle. "In
the low warp loom the odd threads of the warp
are attached to a treadle worked with the left
foot, the even threads of the warp to a treadle
worked with the right foot, thus making possi-
ble the manipulation of the warp with the feet
and leaving both hands free to pass the bobbins.
In the high warp loom, that has no treadle, the
warps are manipulated with the left hand while
the right hand passes the bobbins back and
forth. The term high warp means that the
warp is strung vertically, low warp horizon-
tally.' '

Both are woven with the wrong side toward
the weaver. ' ' The wrong side in all real tapes-
tries is just the same as the right side except
for reversal of direction and for the loose
threads. ... In the high warp loom, the outline
of the design is traced on the warp threads with
India ink from tracing paper, and the coloured

168 The Spell of Belgium

cartoon hangs behind the weaver, where he con-
sults it constantly. In the low warp loom, the
coloured cartoon is usually beneath the warp,
and often rolls up with the tapestry as it is com-
pleted.'?1 In the eighteenth century, the low
warp loom was considered better than the haute
lisse, or high warp.

Great care has to be taken in dyeing the
threads of the weft, which are much finer than
those of the warp. Vegetable dyes, such as
cochineal, madder, indigo, etc., must be used,
for permanent colours can never be obtained
with aniline dyes. The old Spanish dyes were
considered the best. In this country, one some-
times gets the fine colours in an old Mexican
serape or a prized Navajo blanket. The wool
that is used to mend old tapestries in the Amer-
ican museums is coloured with dyes made by
Miss Charlotte Pendleton in her workshop near
Washington, which I have visited.

The Arras tapestries have a better and more
attractive texture than any others. " Arras
tapestries are line drawings formed by the com-
bination of horizontal ribs with vertical weft
threads and hatchings. There are no diagonal
or irregular or floating threads, as in em-

i The description of technique is quoted from Hunter's
"Tapestries."

Tapestries 169

broideries and brocades. Nor do any of the
warp threads show, as in twills and damasks.
The surface consists entirely of fine weft threads
that completely interlace the coarser warp
threads in plain weave (over and under alter-
nately), and also completely cover them, so that
only the ribs mark their position — one rib for
each warp thread. Every Arras tapestry is a
rep fabric, the number of ribs eight to twenty-
four to the inch." The finely woven textures
are not always considered the best. i ' The most
marvelous tapestries of the fifteenth century
were comparatively coarse (from eight to twelve
ribs), and of the sixteenth were moderately
coarse (from ten to sixteen)."

Many of the early Gothic tapestries had in-
scriptions woven at the bottom or the top, but
had no borders. It was not until toward the
end of the fifteenth century that they began to
develop these. They first had narrow verdure
edgings, until Raphael introduced compartment
borders in the set of the Gates of the Apostles,
the most famous tapestries of the world. The
most noted cartoons in existence are the designs
for this set, in the Victoria and Albert Museum
at South Kensington. Renaissance borders
were much wider than the Gothic, and were
filled with greens and flowers. At the end of the

170 The Spell of Belgium

seventeenth century the borders took the form
of imitation picture frames.

Gothic verdures are in reality coloured draw-
ings in flat outline of trees and flowers with
birds and animals. Eenaissance verdures have
more heavily shaded leaves and look more true
to nature.

The majority of Gothic tapestries are anony-
mous as regards both maker and designer. With
the Eenaissance began the custom in Brussels
and other Flemish cities of weaving the mark
of the city into the bottom selvage, and the
monogram of the weaver into the side selvage
on the right. This custom was established by a
city ordinance of Brussels in 1528. An edict of
Charles V made it uniform, in 1544, for the
whole of the Netherlands. After another cen-
tury, weavers began to sign their full names or
their initials in Eoman letters, and monograms
were discarded.

When the weavers of Arras took refuge in
other countries, after the capture of that town
by Louis XI, they went by thousands to England
and France. In this way the French looms at
Gobelins, Beauvais, and Aubusson were started,
and those at Mortlake, in England.

As early as the fourteenth century, there was
at least one eminent master weaver in Paris,

Tapestries 171

Nicolas Bataille, in whose factory part of the
remarkable Apocalypse set of the cathedral of
Angers was woven. But even in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, French tapestries were
far from equaling those of Flanders. In 1667,
Colbert "established in the buildings of the
Gobelins the furniture factory of the Crown
under the direction of Charles Lebrun."

The great establishment of "Les Gobelins,"
by the way, has an interesting history. Jean
and Philibert Gobelin built a dyehouse in the
fifteenth century by the little stream of the
Bievre, in the Faubourg, whose waters had pe-
culiar qualities that gave special excellence to
their dyes. The family found dyeing so profit-
able that they were able to become bankers, and
at the beginning of the seventeenth century they
sold the establishment, which, however, still kept
their name. Here Comans and Planche, tapes-
try weavers from Flanders, opened a factory
in 1601. The edict of Henri Quatre by which
they were incorporated gave them important
privileges, but also obliged them to train ap-
prentices and to establish the craft in the prov-
inces.

During the Spanish occupation of the Nether-
lands, many tapestries were taken to Spain,
where the finest in existence today are to be

172 The Spell of Belgium

found. They may be seen in the churches and
draping the balconies over the streets of a fete
day. King Alfonso owns seven miles of gold
and silver thread hangings. But these are only
the remnant of what Spanish royalty formerly
possessed. Charles V, Philip II, and many
others of the ruling house were indefatigable
collectors. The famous Conquest of Tunis, in
twelve pieces, was woven by Willem de Panne-
maker, the most noted of the master-weavers,
for Charles V. The cartoons for this set are in
the Imperial Museum in Vienna and the tapes-
tries in the royal palace in Madrid. "Many
pieces that formerly belonged to the kings of
Spain have been destroyed by fire; others have
been worn out by long and frequent use. For
these tapestries did not remain in a fixed place:
they were hung in halls and apartments on fes-
tive occasions ; they were taken down and rolled
up when they had done service ; they were used
on journeys to furnish the lodgings en route;
they were packed with the campaign-baggage to
garnish the tents; they decorated the jousting
lists and the streets and squares when the sover-
eigns made their entries.' '

Tapestries can also be found in Eussia in
palaces and museums, for Peter the Great sent
for weavers from Flanders. England, too, was

Tapestries 173

dependent npon the Flemings, for the noted
weaver, Philip de Maecht, came from the atelier
of Comans and Planche to become head of the
works at Mortlake.

In 1376, the Court of Savoy ordered many
tapestries from the great manufacturer, Nicolas
Bataille, but later factories were opened in
Italy. About 1455, Renard de Marncourt, an-
other Flemish weaver, made in Rome for Pope
Nicholas V the marvelous set of the Creation of
the World. There were also tapestry works at
Ferrara with prominent Flemings at their head.
Nicholas and Jean Karcher were employed there
by Duke Hercules II. Jean Eoost, of Brussels,
was head of a factory at Florence, in which work
was continued for over two hundred years.
Cardinal Francisco Barberini, after his visit to
France in 1633, when he became interested in the
works of Comans and Planche, started another
factory in Rome. Nicholas Poussin and Pietro
de Cortona supplied designs, the art director
was Jean Francois Romanelli, and the manager
Jacopo della Riviera.

Among our own tapestries, the Diana set of
eight pieces came from the Barberini collection.
The cartoons of these were done by du Breuil.
This series possesses remarkable decorative
qualities and is of great historical importance.

174 The Spell of Belgium

The panels were woven in Brussels at the close
of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, in the ateliers of Jacques
Geubles and Jean Kaes, who were among the
most famous weavers of their time. The mark
of Brussels and Brabant is woven in the bottom
galon of every one of the pieces, and the mono-
grams of the authors, that of Raes in the upper
part and that of Geubles in the lower part, al-
though it is most unusual to find all the panels
signed by the artists collaborating in their pro-
duction. The original linings of these tapes-
tries bore the stamped monogram of Cardinal
Francisco Barberini and also that of Cardinal
Antonio Barberini. In MSS. XLVIII of Vol.
141, preserved in the Barberini library, these
tapestries are mentioned as having been "pre-
sented by the most Christian King Louis XIII
of France to Cardinal Barberini, Legate to
France, 1625."

Cardinal Francisco Barberini, when he visited
the Court of France in 1625, went as Legate of
his uncle, Pope Urbain VIII, to settle upon
terms of peace for Europe. These hangings
then became part of the collection owned by the
princely Barberini of Kome, which in time came
to be renowned and was regarded as one of the
most splendid in the world.

Tapestries 175

The subjects seem to be allegorical represen-
tations of the Loves of Henry of France and
Diana of Poictiers, as has been agreed by some
of the most important authorities who have
studied them, for the faces in the tapestries
show a distinct resemblance to portraits of the
King and his favourite. Engravings of the
heads of Henry and Diana, as can be seen in the
Gazette des Beaux Arts, exhibit striking like-
nesses to those on the woven fabric. In the Ga-
zette there is an illustration which shows the
chateau of Anet, with gardens such as are rep-
resented in the tapestries, with a fountain, and
Diana standing with the crescent in her hair,
her bow in her hand and a quiver at her back,
wearing a costume similar in style and charac-
ter. Montaigion writes of the chateau of Anet,
that the altars were destroyed and the statues
torn from their bases and carried off in pieces,
as is suggested in one panel which represents a
rushing river sweeping away columns and
statues from their foundations. Mythology
teaches that the legendary Diana punished
mothers who deserted their children, and suc-
coured their offspring, as is again suggested in
this same panel of Diana of Poictiers, who did
more, history relates, to bring up the children
of the King than did the Queen. The beautiful

176 The Spell of Belgium

Madame d'Estampes and her coterie did every-
thing in their power to destroy Diana; pas-
quinades and libelous brochures were levied
against her. The dragon in one panel repre-
sents jealousy, spite and vindictiveness in its
flaming eyes, scaly hide and protruding tongue.
Also, in allegorical manner, nothing could better
express the triumph which the King accorded
Diana when he ' ' broke her enemies and humili-
ated them,', than the picture of the King slay-
ing the dragon. The set is full of interesting
detail — there are dogs and hares, nymphs and
satyrs. All the details combine to tell the story,
and in one piece the monarch wears a crown,
which emphasizes the royalty of the lover.

Seven of the tapestries were originally ac-
quired from the Princess Barberini, although
inventories suggested that there were eight in
the full series ; strangely enough, several years
later, the missing one was discovered by another
collector in Amsterdam, but this had had its
border cut off, as would naturally be the case in
a stolen tapestry. We were able to get it, so
that now the set is once more complete after
hundreds of years.

The David and Goliath series is also in our
possession, and is a representative set. These
tapestries illustrate prominent events in the

Tapestries 177

story of David and Goliath, and were made in
Flanders in the second half of the sixteenth cen-
tury. They are in excellent condition, without re-
pair, and possess borders of delicious character.

This set was presented by Cardinal d'Este,
Papal Legate at the Court of Charles IX of
France, to Count Flaminio Mannelli, who was
then his secretary and had filled in various ways
honourable offices at the Court and in the service
of the Dowager Queen Catherine de Medici.

A record of the period shows that about 1587
the hangings were brought to Count Mannelli 's
palace, in the Marche of Italy, where they re-
mained until 1898, when we purchased them
from the Marquis Pianetti of Jesi, who had
come into possession of the set. The six dif-
ferent panels depict literally the scenes de-
scribed in the Bible. The titles are : David be-
fore Saul, the Challenge of Goliath of Gath, the
Battle between Goliath and David, the Behead-
ing of Goliath, the Triumph of David, and the
Madness of Saul.

When we were in Belgium, the home of tapes-
try, I was surprised to find comparatively few
pieces there. Many more, as I have said, are
seen in Italy and Spain, some in France and
England, and a few in America, where we are
beginning to appreciate them.

■?

CHAPTER X

PRIMITIVES AND LATER PAINTERS

N the Low Countries, perhaps more than
JJ in any other part of Europe, has the many-
sided life of the people revealed itself
through the various forms of artistic expres-
sion. Religion, industry, struggles for inde-
pendence, the power of the guilds, the splendour
of the dukes of Burgundy, the landscape, the
homes, the people themselves, all are found in
Belgian art. They were pictured in the deli-
cate tracery of cloistered illuminators, carved in
wood or stone in the old churches, enshrined
within the wooden panels of ancient triptychs,
and woven into the storied tapestries of hall and
castle. They figured in the canvases of the
Renaissance masters, and after the "Dark
Ages ' ' of the Spanish oppression, were revived
in a new race of modern painters, who depicted
the life of the young nation. The true great-
ness, the real charm of Belgium has lain in her
art.

Obviously, the two great periods of Belgian

178

Primitives and Later Painters 179

art were the fifteenth and the seventeenth cen-
turies, but it by no means follows that no other
periods are worthy of our consideration; in-
deed, we cannot understand the school of the
van Eycks without studying the three centuries
preceding the fifteenth. Before the clays of
Hubert van Eyck there were at Bruges masters
of whom he learned, and whose style can hardly
be distinguished from his own. A hundred
years earlier than the van Eycks was the great
age of architecture, when cathedrals and mighty
cloth-halls rose on Flemish plains, and sculp-
ture, stained glass and wrought iron were all
called for to decorate the wonderful structures.
Still earlier, many a patient monk in his cell
traced with loving care those illuminations that
made the beauty of missal and breviary. The
van Eycks and Memling were the lineal de-
scendants of these artists.

Toward the fourteenth century, the exquisite
vignettes of the illuminators displayed marvel-
ous grace and delicacy of execution, cleverness
of design, and great brilliancy of colour. To
quote from a French writer, "In the hands of
the miniature painters of Bruges, gold glistens,
it sparkle's. Their colours, if they are not more
beautiful, are as beautiful as those of nature.
Their flesh tints vie with the freshness of colour

180 The Spell of Belgium

of young girls, just as in their arabesques and
in their frames we think we see currants and
strawberries ripening and breathe the perfume
of flowers.' '

At this time, painters and illuminators were
in some sense rivals. They were enrolled in
separate guilds at Bruges. "The Guild of St.
Luke included painters, saddlers, glass-makers
and mirror-makers; that of St. John illumi-
nators, calligraphers, binders and image-paint-
ers. ' ' Painters were allowed to use oil-colours,
but illuminators were limited to water-colours.
It became the aim of the former to transfer to
their canvases and their wooden panels the same
vividness of colouring that the latter produced
upon vellum. Doubtless many artists were at
work at this problem, which was finally solved
by Hubert van Eyck.

Another important factor in forming the
Flemish school was the influence of the guilds.
In the fourteenth century, the painter was a
craftsman and as rigidly bound by the laws of
his guild as any carpenter or mason. He was
apprenticed to a master for perhaps five years,
during which he was taught the secrets of the
craft. He learned to choose the wood for his
panel and make it ready for use. He mixed the
fine plaster with which to cover the wood, and

Primitives and Later Painters 181

the durability of his picture depended on the
care he used in this and the evenness of the
coating. For every implement with which he
worked, every colour that entered into his pic-
ture, he must depend upon himself. He must
prepare his own oils and varnishes. If he
wished to make a drawing, he often was obliged
to work with the silver-point, and to prepare his
paper himself; if he drew in chalk or charcoal,
he had to make his own selection of mate-
rials.

After the apprenticeship came the years of
wandering, when the young painter could work
for any master he pleased, could travel as far
afield as he chose, and in this way gain experi-
ence and a store of valuable impressions.
When he returned to his home, he was admitted
to the painters 7 guild, provided he could satisfy
its officers that he was competent ; if so, he could
take his position as a master of the craft. Even
then he was not free from the supervision of the
fraternity. His master's oath bound him to
honesty and to do his work "as in the sight of
God." Its officers inspected his materials and
his output, and if either, was found to be below
the standard he was punished. Every contract
must be fulfilled to the letter, and the guild offi-
cers were the arbiters in case of any dispute.

182 The Spell of Belgium

Finally, all his implements were marked with
the sign of the guild.

Pictures of the cities of Flanders in the fif-
teenth century bear witness to their artistic
splendour. Says an English writer of Bruges
at that time, "The squares were adorned with
fountains; its bridges with statues in bronze;
the public buildings and many of the private
houses with statuary and carved work, the
beauty of which was heightened and brought out
by gilding and polychrome; the windows were
rich with storied glass, and the walls of the inte-
riors adorned with paintings in distemper, or
hung with gorgeous tapestry." It was in sur-
roundings such as these and under the stimulus
of competition with his brother craftsmen that
Hubert van Eyck made his great discovery of a
manner of using oil in painting large pieces that
would make it possible to equal the brilliant
colours of the illuminators. The Flemings kept
the secret of the new process so well that it was
not disclosed to Italian artists until toward the
end of the fifteenth century.

But this discovery in technique is not his only
claim to renown. His achievements as a painter
were even greater than his skill as a craftsman.
A high authority says that the beauty of the
Virgin in the Adoration of the Lamb "places it

Primitives and Later Painters 183

in the rank of the Madonnas of Leonardo da
Vinci and of Raphael." This genius of the
Middle Ages and his younger brother have left
Belgium in the famous triptych a lofty compo-
sition in which the marvelous technique that has
wrought the colours together till the surface is
like enamel is combined with beauty of land-
scape and skill in portraiture. In the inscrip-
tion placed upon it we read: '" Hubert van
Eyck, than whom none greater has appeared,
began the work, which Jan his brother, in art
the second, brought to completion. ' '

Almost nothing is known of the life of Hubert
van Eyck. He was born at Maaseyck about the
year 1366, and lived at Bruges with his brother
and their sister Margaret, who was also a
painter. He was made a member of the paint-
ers ' guild of Ghent in 1421, the year in which he
left the service of the powerful lord afterward
known as Philip the Good. Three years later,
Jodocus Vydts, burgomaster of Ghent, and his
wife Isabella gave him an order for an altar-
piece to be placed in their mortuary chapel in
the cathedral. His work was cut short by his
death in 1426. It is impossible to tell how much
was done by his hand and how much by his
brother Jan, but there seems good reason to be-
lieve that Hubert painted the central panels in

184 The Spell of Belgium

the upper row, and that Jan was the artist of
the Adoration panel below these. Through
some strange lack of appreciation in the cus-
todians of this masterpiece, Brussels and Ber-
lin were able to purchase the wings, so that those
we saw at Ghent were only copies.

Hubert van Eyck's body was laid in the chapel
of the Vydts' in the cathedral of St. Bavon, near
his masterpiece, but we are told that his severed
right arm was placed in a reliquary in the ca-
thedral itself. No doubt it was considered a sa-
cred relic ! His epitaph was carved on a shield,
supported by a marble skeleton. The follow-
ing free translation of this quaint old Flemish
verse was made by William B. Scott r1

"Whoe 9er thou art who walkest overhead,

Behold thyself in stone: for I yestreen,

Was seemly and alert like thee: now dead,

Nailed up and earthed, and for the last time green;

The first spring greenness and the last decay

Are hidden here forever from the day.

I, Hubert van Eyck, whom all Bruges* folks hailed

Worthy of lauds, am now with worms engrailed.

My soul, with many pang's by God constrained,

Fled in September, when the corn is wained,

Just fourteen "hundred years and twenty-six

Since Lord Christ did invent the crucifix.

Lovers of Art, pray for me that I gain

God's grace, nor find I've painted, lived, in vain."

i "Gems of Modern Belgian Art."

L'HOMME A L'CEUILLET." — VAN EVCK.

Primitives and Later Painters 185

Jan van Eyck was courtier as well as artist.
As a young man, he was employed by John of
Bavaria, Bishop of Liege, and after the death
of his brother we hear of him as gentleman of
the chamber to Philip the Good, Duke of Bur-
gundy, by whom he was sent on various mis-
sions. One of his journeys was made to Portu-
gal, where he painted the portrait of Princess
Isabella, who afterward became the second wife
of the Duke, and in whose honour the Order of
the Golden Fleece was founded. His famous
picture called "L'homme a rceuillet," was the
portrait of Jean de Roubaix, who accompanied
him to Portugal and arranged the marriage of
the Princess with the great Duke. Jan seems
to have possessed the modesty of true great-
ness, for on more than one of his pictures is
found the motto, "Als Ikh Kan," As I can.
During the latter part of his life he lived at
Bruges, where he died in 1440.

In the midst of his court duties, Jan found
time to go on with the great altar-piece, which
he completed in 1432. A few years later, he
produced what is perhaps his finest religious
painting next to the Adoration, the Madonna of
the Canon van der Paele. This picture repre-
sents the Virgin and Child enthroned in a
stately basilica, probably the cathedral of St.

186 The Spell of Belgium

Donatian at Bruges. In the foreground, on the
right stands St. George, on the left St. Donatian.
On the Virgin's left, upon his knees, is George
van der Paele, Canon of St. Donatian, the donor
of the painting.

This Virgin and St. Donatian by Jan van
Eyck would make one think, says Fromentin,
' 1 that the art of painting had said its last word,
and that from the first hour. And yet, without
changing either theme or method, Mending was
going to say something more."

A tradition cherished by the Flemings has it
that Hans Memling, in the year 1477, dragged
himself, sick and needy, to the gates of St.
John's Hospital in Bruges, where he was ten-
derly nursed back to health, and that, in grati-
tude, he painted for the hospital the pictures
that have ever since been its pride. This may
or may not be true, but a detail in the Marriage
of St. Catherine seems designed to confirm the
legend. It represents a man dropping ex-
hausted in the street, who is then revived by
some cooling drink, and afterward borne to the
hospital. We can not but feel that the artist
is giving us here an incident from his personal
history.

The little we know of Memling's life may be
told in very few words. In 1450, he painted the

Primitives and Later Painters 187

portrait of Isabella, Duchess of Burgundy,
whose likeness Jan van Eyck had journeyed to
Portugal to make twenty-two years before.
After the death of Philip the Good, no doubt he
was court painter to Charles the Rash and in
the year of the latter 's defeat and death at
Nancy took refuge in Bruges. Here he married
and came into possession of some property
through his wife, he painted his greatest works,
and died in 1495.

In the quaint chapter-room of the old hos-
pital, itself dating from the thirteenth century,
Mending's compositions found an appropriate
setting. Here was the great triptych of the
Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, an altar-piece
for the high altar of the church connected with
the hospital; two smaller triptychs, one of the
Three Kings, the other a Pieta ; the portrait of
Mary Moreel, and a diptych ordered by Martin
van Nieuwenhoven, on which is Memling's finest
piece of portraiture, the likeness of the donor.
"The man himself is no very superb specimen
of humanity; he has a bright and pleasant
though rather foolish face; but such as he is
M ending has caught the idea of him, and placed
him visibly and knowably on the panel. ... Its
colouring is unusual and most beautiful. The
textures of the garments are superb, and not

188 The Spell of Belgium

only are the little landscapes seen through the
open windows full of the charm that Memling al-
ways threw into his backgrounds, but the charm
extends to the interior of the room, with its
stained glass windows, paneled walls, looking-
glass and other pieces of furniture. ' ' 1

But the most interesting work by the great
Fleming that the hospital contains is the world-
famed reliquary of St. Ursula. This chest, in
shape like a tiny Gothic chapel, only three feet
long and two feet ten inches high, bears on its
sides in six arched panels the legend of St.
Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins. The
saint and her maidens are seen landing at
Cologne, arriving at Basle, and received in
Borne by the Sovereign Pontiff himself, who
joins them for the return voyage down the
Bhine. They are awaited at Cologne by the
cruel Huns, who shoot them down without
mercy, and, last of all, the saintly princess suf-
fers martyrdom.

This story is told in panels only one foot in
width. The little pictures are crowded with
figures dressed in the sumptuous costumes of
the Court of Burgundy. Genuine landscapes
are introduced in the backgrounds — the city of
Cologne and the scenery along the Bhine are

i Conway.

ST. LUKE PAINTING THE MADONNA. VAN DER WEYDEN.

Primitives and Later Painters 189

pictured from sketches which the artist made
himself. These tiny paintings have the bril-
liant colouring" of the van Eycks and the finish
of detail of the old illuminators. They show
the tenderness, the fancy, the patient industry
of the master. " Gentle, cordial, affectionate,
humble, painstaking as Memling must have been,
his best works are those of the St. Ursula series
type, where his fancy could play about bright
and fairy-like creatures, where no storm nor
the memory of a storm need ever come, where
no clouds darkened the sky, and not even the
brilliant tones of sunset gave forecast of a com-
ing night. ' ' *

Another of the early Flemish masters was
Eoger van der Weyden. His St. Luke Paint-
ing the Madonna, in the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, is considered one of the masterpieces
of that gallery.

As an artist, Roger van der Weyden was the
equal of neither the van Eycks nor Memling,
but he was greater as a master. His art com-
bined the religious symbolism of the Middle
Ages with the new naturalism of Jan van Eyck,
and its effect was wide-spread. The Germans
made his paintings their standard, the Italians
acknowledged his greatness, and the artists

i Conway.

190 The Spell of Belgium

of the Low Countries all formed their style
under his teaching or strove to imitate his
work.

I have never seen a keener and juster analysis
of the art of the Flemish primitives than that
given by Conway, in his "Early Flemish Art-
ists/ ' from which I quote: "Jan van Eyck
was a man of fact, his work is an attempt to
state the uttermost truth about things. ... In
his pictures, light and shade, texture, colour and
outline have about equal stress laid upon them.
In this respect he was one of the most complete
of artists. ' ' Koger van der Weyden ' ' laid chief
stress upon outlines, striving to make them
graceful so far as in him lay. . . . Memling was
formed of milder stuff. ... He was a painter
of fairy tales, not of facts. ... To lose oneself
in a picture of his is to take a pleasant and
healthy rest."

The same critic adds this beautiful charac-
terization of early Flemish art in general:
' ' The paintings of Flanders were not, and were
not intended to be, popular. Flemish artists
did not, like the Italians, paint for the folk, but
for the delight of a small clique of cultured and.
solid individuals. They painted as their em-
ployers worked, with energy, honesty and en-
durance ; they cared not for beauty of the more

Primitives and Later Painters 191

palpable and less enduring kind, but they cared
infinitely for Truth; for her they laboured in
humility, satisfied with the joy of their own
obedience, and then, when they slept and knew
not of it, she came and clothed the children of
their industry with her own unfading garments
of loveliness and life."

Between the glorious past of the van Eycks
and Memling and the brilliant future of Rubens
and Jordaens, stands Quentin Matsys, the
founder of the Antwerp school, who died in
1530. He was the great master of the Gothic-
Renaissance transition, showing the influence of
the Renaissance, while still clinging to Gothic
types. His paintings include religious subjects
and incidents drawn from daily life. His
"women of a goddess-like delicacy with almond
eyes and long slim fingers,' ' lived a mystical life
among transparent, glassy columns and carpets
with exotic embroideries. The men have an air
of distinction. He often leans as far toward
caricature, however, as he does toward senti-
mentality, and there are great contrasts in his
work — grimacing, long-nosed, carousing old
men and lovely women. "None understands as
well as Matsys how to make strong splendours
of colour shine through a thin veil of mist, or
how to paint the tremulous surface of life so

192 The Spell of Belgium

that we see the blood running in the veins.' '
From "Master Quentin's" prime until Ru-
bens brought back to Flanders the results of
his studies in Italy was nearly one hundred
years — years that covered the Spanish oppres-
sion of the Low Countries under Charles V and
Philip II, years that saw Flanders desolated
by the Duke of Alva. But out of the decay of
Flemish art rose Peter Paul Rubens, born in
1577.

John Rubens, the father of the painter, was a
lawyer in Antwerp. As he favoured the Prot-
estants, he found it the safest course, when the
Duke of Alva's reign of terror began, to take
refuge with his family across the border at
Cologne. Here he became the legal adviser of
Anne of Saxony, wife of William the Silent, who
preferred to reside comfortably at Cologne
while he was off fighting the Spaniards.

The result of this association was a scandal
of the most serious nature, and only the efforts
of his forgiving wife and the desire of the house
of Orange to hush up the affair, saved Master
Rubens from the penalty of death, as prescribed
by the German law of that day. His sentence
was commuted to imprisonment for life, but
after two years of close confinement he was per-
mitted to live with his family in Siegen, on con-

Primitives and Later Painters 193

dition of giving himself up again whenever sum-
moned. It was during this time that Peter
Paul, "the most Flemish of all the Flemings,"
was born at Siegen, on German soil.

After the death of John Rubens, his widow
returned with her family to Antwerp, where the
little Peter Paul was sent to a school on the
site of the present Milk Market, until he was
thirteen years old. Then, as he was a bright,
handsome boy, the Countess van Lalaing re-
ceived him as page into her house, where she
held a miniature court. He was in the service
of the Countess only one year, but the training
he gained in that time gave him the courtesy
and ease of manners that made him, in after
years, perfectly at home in the presence of
princes.

In his boyhood Rubens had shown his love of
art by making it his chief amusement to copy
the illustrations in his mother's large family
Bible, and after leaving the Countess van
Lalaing, lie persuaded his mother to let him
study painting. For four years he was the
pupil of Adam van Noort, and afterward of Otto
van Veen, also called Vaenius, after the fashion
of the day. At that time van Veen was the
most noted painter in Antwerp. Two years
more of study, and Rubens was admitted into

194 The Spell of Belgium

the Guild of St. Luke, and the following year
he assisted his master in decorating the city for
the Joyous Entry of the Archdukes Albert and
Isabella.

The young painter's next step was to seek in-
spiration in Italy, and in 1600 he went to Venice
to study Titian and Veronese. Here he copied
old masters, painted portraits, and attracted the
attention of the Duke of Mantua, who became
his patron. In 1603 he was sent to Spain by
the Duke, and took with him many paintings as
a present for Philip III. When he went home
to Flanders in 1608, Albert and Isabella made
him court painter in order that they might keep
him in Antwerp.

Rubens was twice married. His first wife,
Isabella Brant, made. his home happy for seven-
teen years, and is commemorated in several
paintings. Helena Fourment, whom he mar-
ried four years after Isabella's death, was a girl
of sixteen who wTas considered remarkably beau-
tiful, and if we may judge by the use he made of
her as a model, this opinion of her was fully
shared by her husband. Besides the numerous
portraits of her — in every possible position, sit-
ting, standing or walking, handsomely dressed
or nearly nude, alone or with her husband or
children, in her own person or as Bathsheba,

Primitives and Later Painters 195

Dido or Andromeda — she appears in sncli large
compositions as the Garden of Love and the
Judgment of Paris.

The paintings of Rubens have always been
the special pride of Antwerp. The Elevation of
the Cross and the Descent from the Cross were
the treasures of the cathedral. The first was
painted in 1610, soon after his return from Italy,
and the second but little later. There are six
known variants of the Descent from the Cross.
The one in the cathedral is a wonderful com-
position, brilliant in its conception and mar-
velously drawn. "The Elevation is by some
critics considered finer than its companion pic-
ture. The Christ a la Paille, the "Coup de
Lance," the Adoration of the Kings, and the
Last Communion of St. Francis are all in the
Antwerp Museum.

Fromentin, writing of Rubens in 1876, thus
spoke of Malines and works of the great artist
that were treasured there: "There are only
two things that have outlived its past splendour,
some extremely costly sanctuaries and the pic-
tures by Rubens. These pictures are the cele-
brated triptych of the Magi, in St. John's, and
the no less celebrated triptych of the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes, which belongs to the Church
of Notre Dame."

196 The Spell of Belgium

In this connection it is interesting to read
how, when the Germans were shelling Marines
for the second time, early last September, a
Eed Cross worker saved the Adoration of the
Magi. The church had not yet suffered from the
German shells. ' ' This large work, composed of
two side panels and a center piece, being on
panel, was too heavy for two men to handle.
I was first compelled to break into the church,
for everybody had fled from the stricken town,
and after many endeavours to find help, com-
mandeered the only police officer available, two
fine gendarmes and a locksmith. These men,
with the utmost good will, helped us to rig a
tackle over the famous picture, and, after two
or three hours' work, we were rejoiced to see
our exertions crowned with success, for the
three parts of the picture were down, without
the slightest scratch. We commandeered from
a village close by a dray and two horses, lashed
the central piece of the picture between soft
pads of hay and blankets, and sent it under the

care of one of our men into safety at . The

two side panels I took away myself in my own
car."

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, which had
been removed from the church of Notre Dame,
and was found in a corridor of a public gymna-

PORTRAIT OF A MAX AND HIS WIFE. RUBENS.

Primitives and Later Painters 197

sium, lying bare against the wall and without
any protection whatever, was saved in the same
way. The shrine of St. Eombaut, "a very
costly work of silver and gold, about three feet
high and five feet long," was rescued before the'
destruction of the cathedral, and sent to a secret
place of safety. It is a "valuable specimen of
antique goldsmith's work." Many altar fur-
nishings in gold and silver, beautiful laces, and
a number of paintings, among them two more
that are attributed to Eubens, were also in-
cluded among the articles saved.

Rubens was a prolific artist, and his pictures
are to be found in all the great galleries of Eu-
rope, besides a small number in American pri-
vate houses and museums. An interesting ex-
ample of these is the portrait of a man and
his wife, in the collection of Mrs. Eobert D.
Evans of Boston, now in the Museum of Fine
Arts.

Rubens had all the industry, honesty, and bril-
liancy of colour of the great Flemings. He had,
besides, greatness of conception and breadth of
composition. A distinguished English painter
calls him "perhaps the greatest master in the
mechanical part of the art, the best workman
with his tools, that ever exercised a pencil."
His paintings glow with vitality; they depict

198 The Spell of Belgium

natural life in landscapes, in animals, in human
beings. Many of his works are on large can-
vases and depict gross and sensual subjects.
His Madonnas are often unsatisfying; his fig-
ures of Christ seldom bear the impress of the
Godhead; with one or two notable exceptions
the life of the spirit is lacking in his work. One
of these exceptions is the Last Communion of
St. Francis, which was at last accounts in the
Antwerp Museum. The dying saint in the fore-
ground has raised himself on his knees, and is
even stretching toward the officiating priest on
the left. His weak body is supported by a monk
on the right. His face is radiant with spiritual
exaltation and an earnestness of purpose that
would hold even death in check until the holy
wafer has passed his lips. In this picture Ru-
bens has pierced the veil and revealed the things
that cannot be known by the senses. Fromentin
says of it: "When one has made a prolonged
study of this unequalled work in which Rubens is
transfigured, one can no longer look at any-
thing, neither any person, nor other paintings,
not even Rubens himself; for today one must
leave the Museum.' '

But Rubens was the head of a school of paint-
ing— the later Flemish school. His studio was
thronged with young artists, who were assist-

Primitives and Later Painters 199

ants as well as students. With his keenness of
observation directed to a line of business, the
master quickly discovered what each pupil could
do best, and set him at that part of a composi-
tion. In this way Rubens was enabled to pro-
duce the immense number of pictures that bear
his name — thirteen hundred have been cata-
logued. One student would paint nothing but
landscapes, another all the animals, while the
teacher put in the most important parts and
added the finishing touches to the whole. There
was no deceit in this method of working, for the
amount of Rubens ' own work a given piece con-
tained depended upon the price his clients were
willing to pay. The design was always his, but
those who paid the lowest price got nothing but
the design from his hand, while his wealthy pa-
trons who could afford the maximum received
pieces that were entirely his own handiwork,
and between the two extremes there were all
grades of collaboration.

Jacob Jordaens was one of the most famous
of Rubens' pupils. It is said that "they are
of the same family and the same temperament ;
and Rubens stands between Jordaens and van
Dyck. Rubens is gold, van Dyck silver, and
Jordaens blood and fire." The latter was an
indefatigable painter and a rapid worker, often

200 The Spell of Belgium

completing a portrait at a single sitting. He
covered a wide range of subjects, religious, alle-
gorical, landscapes, portraits and animals, and
he succeeded so well that "there are Jordaens
attributed to Eubens and Rubens to Jor-
daens."

Anthony van Dyck was another pupil of the
great master, and the aristocrat of the famous
seventeenth century Flemings. He was only a
boy among boys, quite undistinguished, until
one day chancing to rub against a painting of
his teacher's on which the paint was still wet, he
retouched it so skilfully that it turned out bet-
ter than before. In time he became so formi-
dable a rival, in spite of his youth, that Rubens
sent him off to Italy to study. He came back
in four years, greater than ever. A few years
later, Rubens contrived to have him called to
England as court painter. During the time that
he remained in Flanders he produced several
religious pictures, among them the Raising of
the Cross, at Courtrai, and a Crucifixion, which,
before the war, was in the Cardinal's palace at
Malines. The same Red Cross worker who res-
cued the Rubens from destruction at Malines
also brought away this composition, of which
he says, that it had been cut out of its frame
the day before, rolled up, and stowed away in

Primitives and Later Painters 201

the cellar. But van Dyck's best work was done
in portraiture, and in this he was "nearly the
equal of Titian."

Van Dyck so quickly became a great favourite
of Charles I that he was knighted within three
months after going to England. He painted
the King and Queen many times. The portrait
of Charles I in the Louvre was done at the
height of his skill. He loved to paint kings and
nobles, in velvet and silken garments trimmed
with rare old lace. For ten years he was court
painter in England, and so many of his por-
traits are still in the great houses there that a
family portrait by van Dyck is said to be " tan-
tamount in England to a patent of nobility."
After the execution of Charles, he went to Flan-
ders and to Paris seeking commissions, but his
popularity had waned, and he returned to Eng-
land broken in health and spirit, and died there
in 1641. His body rests in St. Paul's Ca-
thedral.

Van Dyck painted cavaliers, and he himself
belonged to that type. His work is so individ-
ual that it is easily recognized. A charming
adventurer, a popular courtier, he was a fa-
vourite of kings, was feted in foreign countries.
At the close of his life, he is called "a man in
ruins, who until his last hour has the good for-

202 The Spell of Belgium

tune, and this is the most extraordinary thing
about him, to preserve his greatness when he
paints."

The annals of the seventeenth century are
filled with the names of a host of artists of more
or less renown, followers of Rubens and van
Dyck. But "for the Flemish school, the eight-
eenth century is a long entr'acte, during which
the stage, so nobly occupied of old, is sad and
deserted."

The modern Belgian school of art started in
Antwerp after the Revolution of 1830. At first
it corresponded to the romantic movement in
France, of which Delaroche was one of the lead-
ers, but with this difference, that the Belgians
chose their subjects for the most part from the
age-long battle for freedom waged by their
country. The most distinguished of these " ro-
mantic" Belgian artists were Louis Galliat and
Edouard Biefve.

The " historic" and " archaic" schools of
these modern painters included Leys and his
followers, whose work is interesting because
they sought to reproduce the characteristics of
van Eyck and Memling. The frescos in the
Antwerp town hall by Leys, illustrating the
charters and the privileges of that city in olden
times, are called by Max Booses, "monumental

Primitives and Later Painters 203

creations by a great master of the art of paint-
ing." Henri cle Braekeleer had the art of in-
vesting the most prosaic subjects with interest.
He painted the ordinary things of daily life, a
wine-shop, an old man at his printing, in a way
that glorified them.

The insane artist, Wiertz, thought himself the
second Eubens, and produced a number of huge
canvases. The Wiertz Museum had an aston-
ishing collection of the works of this artist —
paintings on every imaginable theme, ranging
from "wild nightmares of the brain" to such
impressive. compositions as the Contest for the
Body of Patroclus, after the manner of Eubens,
and the Triumph of Christ, a sublime work
showing great originality and wonderful power
of execution.

Much remarkably good restoration of paint-
ings has been done by modern Belgian artists.
An amusing story has come to me of an artist
who was employed to touch up a large painting
in an old church. When he presented his bill
the committee in charge refused payment un-
less the details were specified. Whereupon he
presented the items as follows :

To correcting the ten commandments $ 5.12

To embellishing Pontius Pilate and putting new rib-
bons on his hat 3.02

204 The SpeU of Belgium

To putting' new tail on rooster of St. Peter and

mending- his comb 2.20

To repluming and gilding left wing of the Guardian

Angel 5.18

To washing the servant of the High Priest and

patting carmine on his cheeks 5.02

To renewing Heaven, adjusting the Stars and clean-
ing up the moon 7.14

To touching up Purgatory and restoring Lost Souls. 3.06

To brightening up the flames of Hell and putting new
tail on the Devil, mending his left hoof and doing
several odd jobs for the damned 7.17

To rebordering the robes of Herod and adjusting his

wig 4.00

To taking the spots off the son of Tobias 1.30

To cleaning Balaam's Ass and putting new shoe on

him .' 1.70

To putting rings in Sarah's ears 1.71

To putting new stone in David's sling and enlarging

the head of Goliath and extending Saul's legs .... 6.13

To decorating Noah's Ark and putting head on Sheni 4.31

To mending the shirt of the Prodigal Son and clean-
ing- his ear 3.39

$60.45

Belgium has lost none of her interest in ar-
tistic expression. At the Academy in Antwerp,
there were about two thousand art students be-
fore the flrar, and about sixteen thousand in all
Belgium. Perhaps the most noted living paint-
ers at that time were Stevens and Wauters, and
Madame Ronner, who was famous for her pic-

Primitives and Later Painters 205

tures of cats. The studio of Blanc-Grin, in
Brussels, was the center of present-day paint-
ers when we were there.

Belgium has never been so famous for its
sculptors as for its painters. Among the mod-
erns, Jef Lambeaux took high rank, but Con-
stantin Meunier, of Liege, was perhaps the
greatest. "He was par excellence/' says Max
Kooses, "the sculptor of the workman: first of
the Hainault coal-miner, then of the worker of
all trades and countries. . . . He finally arrived
at investing his models with truly classic
beauty. They became the heroes of a grand
drama, now commanding the flames of tall fur-
naces and measuring their strength with the
most terrible of the elements, now cutting the
corn and tying it in sheaves, defying the almost
equally murderous heat of the sun."

In a notice of the Eoyal Academy Exhibition
in London, in May of the present year, we read,
"Almost the only work universally praised in
the press reviews of the opening day is by a
Belgian sculptor, Egide Eombeaux. It is a
statue of more than life size, entitled ' Premier
Morning.' " One critic says, that outside the
charmed circle where Eodin reigns supreme, no
sculpture more remarkable in originality and
poetry of conception has been seen of late years

206 The Spell of Belgium

in a public exhibition. Belgian art has not lost
its vitality. Will it not emerge from its bap-
tism of fire with the consecration of a noble pur-
pose to express the honour, the patriotism, the
self-sacrifice, that have glorified the land?

CHAPTER XI

LA JEUNE BELGIQUE IN LETTERS

^|rnLTHOUGH for many, perhaps most, of
my readers, Belgian literature is summed
up in the one word, Maeterlinck, it is
nevertheless true that the writers of this little
country have been no unworthy spokesmen for
so sturdy and independent a race. Even when
the nation lay stupefied in the relentless grasp
of Spain, among the exiles who sought refuge in
Holland was at least one poet, Vondel, who is
remembered with pride today.

From the earliest days of Belgian fable the
name of the chronicler, Lucius de Tongres, has
come down to us. Like many another monk, he
wrote in his humble cell the annals of the war-
ring tribes. We think of the Nibelungen Lied
as the especial property of Germany, but ' ' The
epic of the Franks belongs to our provinces,"
says the Belgian writer, Potvin, "and the Sieg-
fried of the Nibelungen is called the hero of the
Loiv Countries."

Later, when troubadour and trouvere sang of

207

208 The Spell of Belgium

love and war from Provence to Normandy, there
were minstrels also in the castles of Flanders
and Brabant. Jean Bodel of Arras, in his
"Chansons des Saxons/' sang of resistance to
the power of Charlemagne, and it was the trou-
veres of the Walloon country who first bor-
rowed from the Britons the cycle of the Table
Ronde. The greatest poet of the reign of
Philip of Alsace, at the end of the twelfth cen-
tury, was Chrestien de Troyes, a native of Bra-
bant, whose writings were imitated in England
and Germany.

The "Chambers of Bhetoric," formed in the
sixteenth century to provide entertainment for
the people, exerted so great an influence in pro-
moting a taste for art and literature among Bel-
gians in general that our own Motley could find
nothing with which to compare it except the
power of the press in the nineteenth century.
These chambers were really theatrical guilds,
composed almost entirely of artisans, and they
not only produced plays and recited original
poetry but also arranged pageants and musi-
cal festivals. In 1456, the Adoration of the
Lamb was reproduced as a tableau vivant by
the chamber of rhetoric at Ghent. The l ' Seven
Joys of Mary" was given at Brussels for seven
years, beginning in 1444, and was the best acted

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 209

mystery of that time. Jean Buysbroeck was
called the "Father of Flemish Prose,' ' while
Jean le Bel (a Walloon) started a school of
writers which rivaled that of France.

The treatment these rhetoricians received
from the Spanish sovereigns is sufficient proof
that they were the mouthpiece of the people and
voiced their aspirations for freedom in both
church and state — Charles V was their persecu-
tor, Philip II their executioner.

When the long struggle with Spain ended in
the subjugation of the Spanish Netherlands and
art and literature were stifled in the southern
provinces of the Low Countries, Vondel, the
Fleming, produced in his safe retreat in Hol-
land plays which are worthy of notice today.
About the same time the poet who is known as
"le pere des Flamands, le Vieux Cats," had
many followers, and his works were so popular
that they were called "The Household Bible.' '

Another exile, Jacques van Zevecote, a native
of Ghent, who also emigrated to Holland dur-
ing the Spanish oppression, was a great poet.
His hatred of Spain found expression in these
vigorous lines : —

"The snow will cease to be cold,
The summer deprived of the rays
Of the sun, the clouds will be

210 The Spell of Belgium

Immovable, the huge sand-bills on tbe shore
Leveled, the fire will cease to burn,
Before you will find good faith
In the bosom of a Spaniard."

Under Napoleon the chambers of rhetoric
were revived. In 1809, the cone ours of Ypres
celebrated a "hero of the country." In 1810,
Alost called on Belgian poets to sing "The
Glory of the Belgians." A young poet named
Lesbroussart won the prize in a -fine poem full
of the old national spirit of the race. Jenneval,
the author of the "Brabangonne," the national
anthem, was killed in a battle between the Dutch
and the Belgians outside Antwerp, in the revolu-
tion of 1830.

About 1844 Abbe David, and Willems, a free
thinker, started literary societies, and later fol-
lowed Henri Conscience and Ledeganck. Lede-
ganck was called the Flemish Byron, and an-
other poet, van Beers of Antwerp, was often
compared to Shelley. To the early years of
free Belgium belonged also Charles de Coster,
whom Verhaeren calls "the father of Belgian
literature. ' '

Henri Conscience, the Walter Scott of Flan-
ders, was born in 1812, when Belgium was un-
der the rule of France. His father was a French-
man, his mother a Fleming. He first wrote

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 211

in French, but in 1830 he said, "If ever I gain
the power to write, I shall throw myself head
over ears into Flemish literature." In 1830
he volunteered as a soldier in the army of Bel-
gian patriots.

His first historical romance, "Het Wonder-
Jaar," written in Flemish, is said to have been
"the foundation-stone on which arose the new
Flemish school of literature." His two finest
historical novels, "The Lion of Flanders" and
"The Peasants' War," describe the revolt of
the Flemings against French despotism, for "to
raise Flanders was to him a holy aim." The
net profit to the author from the first of these
books was six francs !

The most artistic work that Conscience ever
did, however, is found in his tales of Flemish
peasant life, one of which, " ' Rikke-Tikke-
Tak,' " says William Sharp, "has not only been
rendered into every European tongue, but
has been paraphrased to such an extent that
variants of it occur, in each instance as an in-
digenous folk-tale, in every land, from Great
Britain in the west to India and even China in
the east." Conscience says of himself, "I
write my books to be read by the people. . . .
I have sketched the Flemish peasant as he ap-
peared to me . . . when, hungry and sick, I en-

212 The Spell of Belgium

joyed hospitality and the tenderest care among
them. ' '

"After a European success ranking only
after that of Scott, Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, and
Hans Andersen, Henri Conscience is still,"
wrote William Sharp in 1896, thirteen years
after the great Fleming's death, "a name of
European repute; is still, in his own country,
held in the highest honour and affection."

The Walloon country provided the historians,
of whom Vanderkindere was one of the ablest.
Charles Potvin, born at Mons in 1818, was a
Walloon journalist and prolific writer on a va-
riety of subjects. He held the position of pro-
fessor of the history of literature at the Eoyal
Museum of Industry in Brussels, was director
of the Revue de Belgique, which he founded,
and was curator of the Wiertz Museum in Brus-
sels. He was poet, writer on political subjects,
historian of art and literature, critic and essay-
ist; "a power in Belgian politics and literature,
a leader of democrats and free-thinkers." In
his long life — he died in 1902 — he produced a
great number of works, among which were "La
Belgique," a poem, the "History of Civiliza-
tion in Belgium," the "History of Literature
in Belgium," and a work on "Belgian National-
ity.

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 213

Camille Lemonnier, of Liege, wrote three or
four novels before 1880. He was a brilliant
writer, who "touched modern society at almost
every point' ' in his books, but will perhaps be
remembered chiefly as the doyen of the little
band of "la jeune Belgique/'

The students at Louvain in 1880, with their
rival magazines, really laid "the foundation of
a literature which is in many respects the most
remarkable of contemporary Europe.'' At the
head stand Maeterlinck and Verhaeren. Ed-
moncl Glesener, a hero of Liege, is well known
for his novels.

In 1887, with the publication of the periodical,
La Pamasse de la Jeune Belgique, began a
renaissance of poetry, which became distinctly
modern Belgian in character. Maurice Warle-
mont (Max Waller) was the generally recog-
nized founder of this paper. Verhaeren and
other noted contributors also wrote for the
Pleiade, which was a famous Parisian periodical
at that time.

Maeterlinck is the best known of these mod-
ern Belgian writers, for many of his plays have
been wTell translated into English, and some
have been produced with great success in this
country. He wrote at first in Flemish, but soon
changed to French. I admire his symbolic and

214 The Spell of Belgium

allegorical language, so mysterious and full of
charm. It is said of his earlier poems that
"they require a key and are not literature but
algebra." Maeterlinck "has the happy faculty
of making people think they think."

Apropos of this mysticism of Maeterlinck's
I may give the bon mot of a witty Frenchman
in regard to the Jeune Ecole Beige. He said
that their ambition was to write obscurely, and
if the first writing seemed easy to understand,
they would scratch it out, and try again. At
the second attempt, if no one could understand
it but the writer — that was still too simple. If
the public could not understand the third, nor
the writer himself, it was quite perfect.

Maurice Maeterlinck was born on August 29,
1862. As a boy, he lived at Oostacker, in Flan-
ders, and was sent to the College of Sainte
Barbe, a Jesuit school, where he studied for
seven years. Among his friends in this college
was Jean Gregoire le Roi, who later became a
well-known poet. Even in those days Maeter-
linck contributed to a literary review, and like
Verhaeren, he studied for the bar. At the age
of twenty-four he went to Paris, where he con-
tinued his friendship with le Roi. Maeterlinck
had a thin, harsh voice, which was much against
him as a lawyer, and he soon gave up that pro-

MAURICE MAETERLINCK.

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 215

fession and turned his entire attention to litera-
ture. He is short, stocky, Flemish in appear-
ance, but is a dreamer, shy, solitary, and moody.

In 1889, his first book of poems, "Serres
Chaudes," was published. After this he re-
turned to Oostacker, and when he was not writ-
ing tended his bees, which have always inter-
ested him.

In reading his earlier poems, I find they are
principally concerned with souls, hothouses, and
hospitals. Some of them have a strange pro-
phetic note, and are also good examples of his
style.1

This is an extract from "The Soul":

"And lo, it seems I am with my mother,
Crossing a field of battle.
They are burying a brother-in-arms at noon,
While the sentinels are snatching a meal."

The same strain is found in this bit from
"The Hospital":

"All the lovely green rushes of the banks are in flames
And a boat full of wounded men is tossing in the moon-
light !
All the king's daughters are out in a boat in the storm !
And the princesses are dying in a field of hemlock !"

Here is another passage. Does it not make
one wonder what its meaning can be!

i Translated by Edward Thomas.

216 The Spell of Belgium

"Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns •?
I have been changed to a hound with one red ear;
I have been in the path of stones and the wood of thorns,
For somebody hid hatred, and hope, and desire, and fear
Under my feet that they follow you night and day."

From 1889 to 1896 Maeterlinck wrote many
poems and eight plays. His first play, "La
Princesse Maleine," was a masterpiece, and is
said to have made an "epoch in the history of
the stage.' ' The author was named the Belgian
Shakespeare. Many of his plays, however,
have a fairy-like and unreal quality, so they
have been termed ' ' bloodless ' ' or unhealthy. A
short synopsis of "La Princesse Maleine" will
give an idea of the plot.

The scene opens at the betrothal banquet of
the young Princess Maleine. The fathers of
the two young people quarrel over the arrange-
ments. The betrothal is broken, and war is de-
clared between their countries. In the attack
on the castle, in the next act, the mother and fa-
ther of the Princess are killed, and she disap-
pears with her nurse into the forest. While
escaping, she hears that her lover is to wed an-
other. She decides then that she will try to ob-
tain a position as her rival's attendant and
learn the truth.

As she is very beautiful, she succeeds in ar-

La Jeune Eelgique in Letters 217

ranging it, and is taken to her rival's castle.
The young Prince discovers Maleine's identity,
and realizes that, after all, she is the only one he
really loves. The mother of the spurned prin-
cess determines to poison Maleine, but the phy-
sician does not make the potion deadly, and as
she sickens slowly, the wicked queen, tired of
waiting for her death, twists a cord of hair
around Maleine's neck and kills her. The scene
of the last act is the cemetery near the castle
where Maleine's funeral is going on. The lover
stabs the Queen in revenge for the girl's mur-
der, and then kills himself. The animals in the
play all appear. The black hound is there, bats
and moles gather about ; swans are seen in the
castle moat, and peacocks among the cypresses ;
owls perch on the crosses, and sheep graze near
the tombstone.

Among Maeterlinck's books of essays the
best known are "The Bee," "The Unknown
Guest," and "Our Eternity." In one of his
essays he writes that he loves the idea of silence
so much that the words of the people in his plays
"often seem no more than swallows flying about
a deep and still lake, whose surface they ruffle
seldom and but for a moment. ' '

Maeterlinck has continued writing poems and
essays as well as plays. The two dramas called

218 The Spell of Belgium

"Palleas" and "Melisande" were put on the
stage in 1893, and were greatly praised. In
1902 appeared "Le Temple Eleven.'' "Le
Tresor des Humbles" was dedicated to Geor-
gette Le Blanc, an actress, who helped him write
it. Later they were married and settled in
Paris. Here he lived a quiet life, writing con-
stantly, and was seen by only a few of his
friends.

"Monna Vanna" was his first play in which
the action was assigned to a definite period. It
was supposed to take place at the end of the
fifteenth century. A few years ago, it was well
given in this country, Mary Garden impersonat-
ing the heroine. Her rendering of the part was
widely discussed. "Sister Beatrice " was also
produced in America, and "Mary Magdalene' '
has been translated into English, as well as
"The Bluebird." The last named was beauti-
fully given in New York, and was superbly
staged and very spectacular. It was so artistic,
so original and mysterious, and unlike anything
that one had ever seen before, you knew at once
that it was the work of Maeterlinck. People
swarmed to see it, people went to hear it read,
and people took it home to read.

Maeterlinck is now over fifty years old, and
is at the height of his popularity. He spends

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 219

the winter at Katcheraa, near Grasse, in the
south of France, the summers at the ancient
Benedictine Abbey of St. Wandrille. During
the war he has been lecturing in behalf of his
native country.

I quote from an address made by him in
Milan: "It is not for me to recall here the
facts which hurled Belgium into the abyss of
glorious distress where she now struggles. She
has been punished, as no nation ever was pun-
ished, for doing her duty as no nation ever did
it. She has saved the world, in the full knowl-
edge that she could not be saved.

"She saved the world by throwing herself
across the path of the barbarian horde, by allow-
ing herself to be trampled to death in order to
give the champions of justice the necessary time,
not to succour her — she was aware that she
could not be succoured in time — but to assemble
troops enough to free Latin civilization from
the greatest danger with which it has ever been
threatened.

1 ' The spectacle of an entire people, great and
humble, rich and poor, savants and unlettered,
sacrificing themselves deliberately for some-
thing which is invisible — that, I declare, has
never been seen before, and I say it without fear
that any one can contradict me by searching

220 The Spell of Belgium

through the history of mankind. They did
what had never been done before, and it is to be
hoped, for the good of mankind,- that no nation
may ever be called npon again to do it. ' '

Among other well-known Belgian authors
Eugene Demolder may be mentioned. In his
historical novel, "Le Jardinier de la Pompa-
dour, ' ' he has made the eighteenth century live
again in pages "vibrant with prismatic col-
ours.'' A charming characteristic of this book
is the exquisite pictures of flowers and woods.
The critic Gilbert quotes a page, of which he
says, "It opens the story like a whiff of per-
fumes, for it symbolizes the charm and the fresh-
ness of rural France in flower."

The works of Leopold Courouble are greatly
enjoyed. He represents the humour of Bra-
baiiQon fiction. As the old painters of Flanders
gave expression to Flemish gaiety in their im-
mortal canvases, so has Courouble concentrated
in "Les Fiangailles de Joseph Kaekebroeck,,
the whole spirit of a race.

Le Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul is
noted as a critic and essayist, and has had five
of his works crowned by the French Academy.
Henri Pirenne, author of "Histoire de la Bel-
gique," is at the head of the list of Belgian his-
torians today. (There have been a number of

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 221

patriotic books written foreshadowing this war.
Balzac wrote "France et Belgique, " and it has
been said that Balzac was the inspiration of the
modern writers of Belgium.)

Gregoire le Roi, Maeterlinck 's friend, is de-
scribed by Bithell as "the poet of retrospec-
tion ' ' — ' ' the hermit bowed down by silver hair,
bending at eventide over the embers of the past,
visited by weird guests draped with legend.' '
It is said "the weft of his verse is torn by trans-
lation, it cannot be grasped, it is wafted through
shadows. ' '

Charles van Lerberghe wrote his play of the
new school, "Les Flaireurs," in 1889, before
Maeterlinck had published anything, but his
work resembles the latter 's somewhat in style.
He was born in 1862, of a Flemish father and a
Walloon mother, which resulted in a sort of dual
personality. Van Lerberghe was "a man for
whom modern life had no more existence than
for a mediaeval recluse,' ' and he passed his hap-
piest years in an old-world village in the Ar-
dennes. He died in 1907, having published be-
sides the play already mentioned, only three
little books of poetry, "Entrevisions,,, "La
Chanson d'Eve," and "Pan" — small but classic.
Maeterlinck speaks of his verse as having a sort
of "lyric silence, a quality of sound such as we

222 The Spell of Belgium

have not heard in our French poetry." The
early poems of Kossetti are suggested by his
work.

' 'If poetry is music van Lerberghe is a poet.
The charm of his verses is unique, " writes
Bithell. Are not these stanzas on "Kain" ex-
quisite 1

"The rain, my sister dear,
The summer rain, warm and clear,
Gently flees, gently flies,
Through the moist atmosphere.

"Her collar of white pearls

Has come undone in the skies.

Blackbirds, sing with all your might,

Dance, magpies !

Among the branches downward pressed,

Dance, flowers, dance, every nest,

All that comes from the skies is blest."

"Fernand Severin, who was lecturer in
French literature at the University of Ghent, is
a poet of great charm. His diction is appar-
ently that of Racine, but in substance he is es-
sentially modern." The following lines, from
the translation by Bithell, will give an idea of
the grace and beauty of his style :

"Her sweet voice was a music in mine ear;
And in the perfume of the atmosphere
Which, in that eve, her shadowy presence shed,
'Sister of mystery,' trembling I said,

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 223

'Too like an angel to be what you seem,
Go not away too soon, beloved dream !' "

Albert Mockel is a fine musician and an excel-
lent critic, as well as a good poet, a combination
which is very rare. He is learned, subtle ?.nd
brilliant. "Chantefable un peu Naive" and
"Clartes" contain musical notations of
rhythms.

I give here part of one of his poems called

THE CHANDELIER

"Jewels, ribbons, naked necks,

And the living- bouquet that the corsage decks;

Women, undulating the soft melody

Of gestures languishing, surrendering —

And the vain, scattered patter of swift words —

Silken vestures floating, faces bright,

Furtive converse, gliding glances, futile kiss

Of eyes that flitting round alight like birds,

And flee, and come again coquettishly;

Laughter, and lying . . . and all flying away

To the strains that spin the frivolous swarm around."

I also give an extract from his "Song of Run-
ning Water," that is quite lovely.

"0 forest! 0 sweet forest, thou invitest me to rest

And linger in thy shade with moss and shavegrass dressed,

Imprisoning me in swoon of soft caresses

That o'er me droop thy dense and leafy tresses."

"Verhaeren is the triumph of the Belgian
race, the greatest of modern poets," writes

224 The Spell of Belgium

Stefan Zweig, who has translated many of his
works. Verhaeren is much admired by the Ger-
mans and Austrians, but is not so well known in
this country, as few of his books have been
translated into English. As Kubens with his
brush depicted carousals and excesses, so did
Verhaeren depict the wildness and madness of
youth with his clever pen.

Emile Verhaeren was born in Flanders at St.
Amand on the Scheldt, the twenty-first of May,
1855. His parents were considered well-to-do
and owned a house and garden of their own on
the edge of the town, overlooking the yellow
cornfields and the wide river. It was here
Emile 's boyhood was spent, watching the peas-
ants sow and reap, and the white sails of the
boats slowly drifting down to the great ocean.
He was blue-eyed and golden-haired in those
days. The people loved him then, and they love
him now. As a boy he was sent to the Jesuit
College of Sainte Barbe, in Ghent, and it was
hoped that he might in time join the order.
There he began writing verses, and there too
he met the poet, Georges Eodenbach, and Mae-
terlinck and Charles van Lerberghe, all of
whom later became famous. Emile refused to
become a priest and he did not wish to enter his
uncle's workshop, so when his courses were fin-

EMILE VERHAEREN

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 225

ished at Sainte Barbe, lie was sent to Lo.uvain to
study law. His student days were wild in the
extreme.

In 1881 he went to Brussels to practice, but
he was not a success as a lawyer. Here he met
artists and authors, and like many poets became
eccentric in his dress. "Les Flamandes" is
the name of his first book. When it was pub-
lished his conservative parents were scandalized
and the critics were very severe, but all had to
admit the primitive vitality and savage strength
of his work. "Les Moines" is his second book.
These sonnets describe the monks and are unlike
his other poems.

As Verhaeren was unbridled in his studies as
well as his follies, he had a severe nervous
breakdown. While convalescing he wrote "Les
Soirs, Les Debacles, Les Flambeaux Noirs,"
which are extraordinary descriptions of his
physical and mental sensations during his ill-
ness.

After he recovered he married and traveled in
Europe and in England. Then for a time he
gave lectures at the Universite Libre in Brus-
sels.

"Les Villes Tentaculaires," which describes
the monster city, is called magnificent. "Les
Aubes" and the "Campagnes Hallucinees"

226 The Spell of Belgium

were published at the same time, and "La
Foule" and "Vers la Mer" in the book entitled
"Les Visages de la Vie" are also fine.

Among Verhaeren's plays, "Le Cloitre" is
taken from his book of poems, called "Les
Moines. " It is peculiar in having no woman in
the cast, but it was well given and proved suc-
cessful. * ' Les Aubes ' ' and ' ' Helene de Sparte ' '
were others of his plays.

The three following poems by this author are
marvelous pieces of description and thoroughly
characteristic of Belgium :

A CORNER OF THE QUAY

"When the wind sulks, and the dune dries,
The old salts with uneasy eyes
Hour after hour peer at the skies.

"All are silent; their hands turning,

A brown juice from their lips they wipe;
Never a sound save, in their pipe,

The dry tobacco burning.

"That storm the almanac announces,

Where is it? They are puzzled.
The sea has smoothed her flounces.

Winter is muzzled.

"The cute ones shake their pate,

And cross their arms, and puff,
But mate by mate they wait,
And think the squall is late,

But coming sure enough.

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 227

"With fingers slow, sedate,

Their finished pipe they fill;
Pursuing, every salt,
Without a minute's halt,

The same idea still.

"A boat sails up the bay,
As tranquil as the day ;
Its keel a long net trails,
Covered with glittering scales.

"Out come the men: Wliat ho?

When will the tempest come'?

With pipe in mouth, still dumb?
With bare foot on sabot,
The salts wait in a row.

"Here they lounge about,
Where all year long the stout

Fishers' dames

Sell, from their wooden frames,
Herrings and anchovies,
And by each stall a stove is,

To warm them with its flames.

"Here they spit together,
Spying out the weather.

Here they yawn and doze;
Backs bent with many a squally

Rubbing it in rows,
Grease the wall.

"And though the almanac

Is wrong about the squall,
The old salts lean their back

Against the wall,
And wait in rows together,
Watching the sea and the weather."

228 The Spell of Belgium

FOGS

"You melancholy fogs of winter roll

Your pestilential sorrow o'er my soul,

And swathe my heart with your long winding sheet,

And drench the livid leaves beneath my feet,

While far away upon the heaven's bounds,

Under the sleeping plain's wet wadding, sounds

A tired, lamenting angelus that dies

With faint, frail echoes in the empty skies,

So lonely, poor, and timid that a rook,

Hid in a hollow archstone's dripping nook,

Hearing it sob, awakens and replies,

Sickening the woeful hush with ghastly cries,

Then suddenly grows silent, in the dread,

That in the belfry tower the bell is dead."

THE OLD MASTERS

"In smoky inns whose loft is reached by ladders,

And with a grimy ceiling splashed by shocks
Of hanging hams, black puddings, onions, bladders,

Rosaries of stuffed game, capons, geese, and cocks,
Around a groaning table sit the gluttons

Before the bleeding viands stuck with forks,
Already loosening their waistcoat buttons,

With wet mouths when from flagons leap the corks-
Teniers, and Brackenburgh, and Brauwer, shaken

With listening to Jan Steen's uproarious wit,
Holding their bellies dithering with bacon,

Wiping their chins, watching the hissing spit.

"Men, women, children, all stuffed full to bursting;

Appetites ravening, and instincts rife,
Furies of stomach, and of throats athirsting,

Debauchery, explosion of rich life,

La Jeune Belgique in Letters 229

In which these master gluttons, never sated,

Too genuine for insipidities,
Pitching- their easels lustily, created
Between two drinking bouts a masterpiece."

Even amid the ruins of their country, Belgian
writers, like the Belgian people, are indomitable.
Verhaeren, from his retreat in London, sends
out words that are a paean of victory, and the
bugle note of "Chantons, Beiges, chantons!"
by another author, is a call to great deeds in the
future.

CHAPTEE XII

MOTORING IN FLANDERS

"0 little towns, obscure and quaint,
Writ on the map in script so faint,

Today in types how large, how red,
On battle scroll your titles spread!"

iRUSSELS is ideally located for the motor-
ist. From it both the Flemish and the
Walloon districts could easily be reached.
To be snre, the towns were paved with the fa-
mous Belgian blocks, but the roads outside the
towns were in excellent condition. One of our
favourite trips was to Antwerp, where wTe went
often, either to meet people landing from steam-
ers from America or to look up boxes shipped
us from home.

A bit aside from the direct route between the
two cities, but well worth going out of one's
way to see, was Louvain. Baedeker speaks of
it as "a dull place with 42,000 inhabitants," but
we found it delightful. It was a pretty old
town, with its richly fretted Hotel de Ville, the

230

Motoring in Flanders 231

finest in Belgium, its university and library, its
impressive church in the center of tjie city, and
the innumerable other gray old churches with
their long sloping roofs. The streets were nar-
row, picturesque and rather dirty. They were
lined with the high walls and closed windows of
convent after convent, and there were huge clus-
ters of monastic buildings on the hills about,
many of these newly built and modern. The
whole town seethed with black-robed priests,
brown-robed, bare-footed monks, and white-
coped nuns.

In the Middle Ages l^ouvain had four times
its present population ; its once famous univer-
sity had diminished in the same proportion.
There was a time when no man might hold pub-
lic office in the Austrian Netherlands who did
not have a degree from the University of Lou-
vain.

Of the two thousand cloth factories which
made the city a hive of industry during the thir-
teen hundreds but little sign remained when we
were there. During the fifteenth century it was
the largest city west of the Alps. The walls
were built at the period of greatest prosperity,
and much of the land which they inclosed had
been turned into gardens, showing how the pop-
ulation had decreased. It was said that how-

232 The Spell of Belgium

ever much outward change there had been, how-
ever, in the Abbey of the White Canons the
spirit of "religious medievalism" was still to
be found, untouched by modern thought.

Southey describes the town hall at Louvain as
an "architectural bijou . . . like a thing of
ivory or filigree designed for a lady's dressing
table." This building seems to have passed
through the war unscathed. But the famous
library of the university, which was one of the
most noted in Europe, containing over a hun-
dred thousand rare manuscripts, was com-
pletely destroyed.

Not far from Brussels, and on the direct road
to Antwerp, is Vilvorde, a small town, chiefly
noted as the scene of the martyrdom of Tyndale,
the famous Englishman who attempted the
translation of the Bible, and for this was im-
prisoned and later burned at the stake by the
Church. His last words were, * ' Lord, open the
King of England's eyes!" It seems as if his
prayer must have been heard, because within a
year — in 1537 — the King ordered the publica-
tion of the Bible and its use in all the churches
of the land.

Halfway between Brussels and Antwerp is
Marines, perhaps better known to us by its Dutch
name of Mechlin. Every house had its maker

Motoring in Flanders 233

of lace; they could be seen on pleasant days
sitting on low stools out of doors among the
flowers, singing as they worked.

The tower of the beautiful old cathedral,
which was erected in 1312, was intended to be
the highest in all Christendom, but was never
completed. Its carillon, however, was second
only to that of Bruges. The church was dedi-
cated to St. Eombaut, who was supposed to have
built it. The story was that in paying his work-
men he never took from his pockets more than
ten cens at a time, and the men, thinking he
must have a large number of the coins upon his
person, murdered him for the booty. To their
disappointment they found he had just one coin,
for the saint, each time he needed money, had
worked a miracle similar to that of Jesus and
the fishes ! A discrepancy of some three or four
hundred years between the time of the good
saint's life and the building of the church is a
trifle confusing. This cathedral has been de-
stroyed.

We set out for a direct trip to Antwerp one
morning at eight, and reached there after a fine
run of an hour and a half through the fair
green country. All along the way the towns
were gaily decorated and beflagged for a holi-
day. The city itself was alive with traffic, while

234 The Spell of Belgium

the river and the canals were crowded with mov-
ing boats.

Just opposite the station was the famous Zoo.
A band concert was going on, and crowds sat
drinking tea or beer beneath the trees, listening
to the music, which was interrupted every once
in a while by the raucous cry of some wild crea-
ture in its cage. All the animals were killed
before the siege of the city in October.

A service was being held in the great cathe-
dral. There was lovely music, and a solemn
light fell on Kubens' great masterpiece. The
church was two hundred and fifty years in
building, and is the largest in the Low Coun-
tries. Fortunately we can still use the present
tense in speaking of Antwerp Cathedral, for it
survived both the bombardment and the con-
flagration that ensued.

Antwerp came into prominence only after
Bruges, Ghent and Ypres entered upon their
long decline. The architectural gem of the city
was the Plantyn-Moretus Museum, once the
printing works of Christopher Plantyn and his
son-in-law Moretus, who did such notable work
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The rooms of the old house had been restored
quite in the old style, so that you felt the quiet,
peaceful atmosphere of other days.

CORNER OF THE COURTYARD, PLANTYN-MORETUS MUSEUM, ANTWERP.

Motoring in Flanders 235

The history of Antwerp goes back some thir-
teen hundred years, but it was not until the
seventeenth century that it gained the right to
be called the richest and most prosperous city
in Europe. After that it, too, like so many of
its sister cities, fell asleep ; but these days were
of brief duration, for in the middle of the nine-
teenth century the Belgian Government bought
the right to use the Scheldt, and it awoke to
new life. When the war broke out it was the
greatest port on the continent, and surpassed
only by London and New York in the world.

Its social life was a striking contrast to that
of Brussels, for it was .strongly Flemish in
thought and feeling, as well as in speech, while
the national capital was like a French city.

Antwerp wTas of great strategic importance,
for the mouth of the Scheldt is opposite the
mouth of the Thames. Napoleon realized this.
"Antwerp might be made a pistol directed at
the heart of England," he said. Indeed, before
it fell into the hands of the Germans a military
expert prophesied that within two months of its
fall the English would be suing for peace. The
city had been made the chief arsenal of Belgium,
and one of the strongest fortresses in Europe.
At the beginning of the attack the suburbs,
which were particularly beautiful, were de-

236 The Spell of Belgium

stroyed and covered with pits and wire entan-
glements by the defenders. Tens of millions of
dollars' worth of property was laid waste, and
nothing gained, for the city was bombarded
from a distance and no infantry attacks were
made.

One summer day we started out in the motor
for Ostend. Out across the flat country,
through forests and fields and villages, we
passed through Termonde where, a few centu-
ries before, they had opened the sluices and
driven back the army of Louis XIV by flooding
the country.

Ghent was our first stopping place. In the
Cathedral of St. Bavon hung the Adoration of
the Lamb, by the van Eycks — the most cele-
brated of Belgium's pictures. A few buildings
still remained which recalled the former glory
of the burghers of Ghent. Among them was
the gray pile of the chateau of the counts of
Flanders, a splendid specimen of the residences
of the great lords in the magnificent Burgun-
dian days. It was built for the purpose of
overawing the headstrong citizens, and had on
one side the moated river and on the other the
square which saw so many tragedies of the In-
quisition.

It is a picturesque city with its network of

Motoring in Flanders 237

canals. Its Beguinage, a religious home for
older women with little means, is a small world
in itself. It consists of a group of houses of
different sizes, each with its own little garden
in front, shut in by high brick walls. Through
the community flows a stream where the
women do their washing from a boat, spread-
ing the linen to dry in an open, park-like space
reserved for that use. The women who live
there belong to a religious order, but are bound
by no vows and are free to leave if they choose.
Their special mission is to nurse the sick, whom
they care for either in their own homes, or in
the Beguinage. Because of its many gardens
Ghent was often called the City of Flowers.
Maeterlinck said of it, "It is the soul of Flan-
ders, at once venerable and young. In its
streets the past and present elbow each other. ' '
This may be due to the fact that while it is an
ancient city, it had before the war experienced a
return of its former prosperity, so that it was,
in comparison with Bruges, for instance, quite
lively and up-to-date. Its great canals gave it
access to the sea and to other cities, and its
various industries were thriving. The story of
Ghent is the usual tumultuous chronicle of
Flemish towns. The weavers who early made
their city famous were an independent lot, not

238 The Spell of Belgium

easily governed against their will. When not
fighting outsiders they were usually struggling
for more rights and privileges for themselves.
During the Middle Ages Ghent's great leader,
van Artevelde, was treated as an equal by Ed-
ward III of England. The belfry was the sym-
bol of their freedom, and it served as a watch-
tower — a necessity in a country where there
are no hills — and to give alarm at the approach
of an enemy. On the great bell, Eoland, is the
inscription: "My name is Roland. When I toll
there is fire. When I ring there is victory in
Flanders. " They tell you now how, shortly
after the Germans entered Belgium, some one
tried to ring the mighty bell and discovered that
it was cracked.

We found the old town of Bruges, which lies
between Ghent and Ostend, more attractive
than we had expected. Indeed it was perhaps
the most interesting town in Belgium, and the
most picturesque. One doesn't easily forget
the squares with their handsome facades, the
ancient Beguinage with its tottering old women,
or the lovely Lac d 'Amour, which was once a
harbour, with its pretty border of flowers and
flotilla of white swans. I remember the walk
through the little street of the "Blind Donkey,' '
below the gilded bridge, to the town hall and the

Motoring in Flanders 239

richly-fretted law court, into the square where
the exquisite Chapel of the Holy Blood was
tucked away in a corner. It dates from 1150,
when it was built to enshrine some drops of the
"Saint Sang" brought, according to the old leg-
end, from the Holy Land by a count of Flan-
ders.

People call Bruges the Venice of the North,
on account of its many picturesque canals, but
here are trees everywhere, and the houses are
of a wholly different style. It is very charm-
ing, really the most fascinating town in Bel-
gium, with its mediaeval buildings and its peo-
ple, who seemed to have a quaintness all their
own. The old women in caps, sitting in their
doorways making lace, looked as if they had
just stepped out of an art gallery.

Bruges gets its name from the Dutch word
for the many bridges which cross the canals in
every direction. These canals connect it with
Ghent and other inland cities and were once im-
portant highways of commerce. In those days
Bruges had a harbour that was large enough to
hold the whole French fleet, but this has long
since been filled in by silt from the river.

The town was so sleepy and quiet, I found it
hard to realize that it had once been one of the
wealthiest, busiest cities in Europe, the com-

240 The Spell of Belgium

mercial center of the whole continent. The fa-
mous Belfry of Bruges was originally built of
wood, nearly a thousand years ago, but near the
end of the thirteenth century it was replaced by
the present tower. Like that of Ghent, it stood
the townsfolk in good stead as a watch-tower
from which they might see the approach of their
warlike and envious neighbours. When Bruges
was not at war with them, she was usually occu-
pied in repelling attacks from foreign invaders.
It seems strange that in spite of her battles,
not only her commerce but her intellectual life
flourished and grew stronger. At one time mer-
chants from seventeen countries lived there,
which must have given the city a very cosmo-
politan air. Laces, tapestries and woolen cloths
were bartered for the treasures of the East and
South and North. Art and letters gave it its
chief renown, however, for Bruges was the home
of Memling, and of the van Eycks. This was
during the Golden Age of the city, in the
reign of Duke Philip the Good, who was himself
a patron of art while his wife was keenly inter-
ested in literature. It was for her that William
Caxton, living at that time in Bruges, made the
translation of his first book, which he later
printed. Glorious old manuscripts were still to
be seen when we were there. In his book,

Motoring in Flanders 241

"Some Old Flemish Towns," George Wharton
Edwards describes his climb into the top of the
belfry — an adventure which we did not under-
take. After treading many nights of stone
steps he reached at last "a leather-covered door
and entered a room floored with plates of lead,
and filled with iron rods, pulleys, and ropes.
. . . Faint, clear, sweetly coming from afar, one
hears the music of the bells subdued, soft, like
harmony from an seolian. But this is from the
lower chamber. Very different will be the im-
pression of the sounds if one is among the bells
when the hour or the quarter is struck. Here,
among the hanging bells is a sort of chamber,
where lives a being who seems the very double
of Caliban, so hairy and wild-looking is he. He
is the watchman, and is forced to pull upon a
rope every seven minutes before the bells sound.
I shall not forget the fright he gave me when
fancying myself alone in the tower I was exam-
ining the carillon, and he thrust his huge red,
hairy face between the two bells under which I
groped, and stood there staring while I froze
with horror, while the bells row upon row, above
and about us, clashed and clanged and boomed,
swinging as if they would the next minute fall
upon us and crush us. Thus he stood in this
turmoil of din and roar and finally wlien it ended

242 The Spell of Belgium

be demanded — in the mousiest squeak of a voice
imaginable, a small fee for beer money.' '
These bell-ringers have appealed to other imagi-
nations, too. Poe might well have had in mind
the Belfry in Bruges when he wrote:

"And the people — all, the people,
They that dwell up in the steeple

All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,

In that muffled undertone,
Feel a glory in so rolling

On the human heart a stone —
They are neither man nor woman —
They are neither brute nor human —

They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls."

In Ostend we found a watering place which
during the last generation has more than
doubled its population and become wealthy and
important. This change was due to the efforts
of the old King, who saw the possibilities of his
sandy sea-coast if pleasure seekers could be in-
duced to come in sufficient numbers. His dream
was to build a road from one end of the shore
to the other which should be one long, continu-
ous summer resort. At tremendous cost of
money and labour strong sea-walls were built
to protect the shifting dunes, and sections of the
road as well. Hotels and casinos and villas

Motoring in Flanders 243

sprang up all along the shore, among them the
villa of the old King himself.

In the time of Charlemagne Ostend was a
fishing village, but only yesterday it was the
Continental ideal of what a bathing place should
be. The Digue, that famous walk by the sea,
was thronged with an endless variety of men
and women, of all nationalities and styles of
raiment. Thousands sat and watched them
drift by. The heavy bathing machines — a city
in themselves — went lumbering into the water,
all so gay in pink and green and blue paint.
Absurd looking old people were wading and
children played everywhere in the sancl. It was
indeed a passing show.

The weather was warm when we were there,
and we saw the place at its best. Each night
we dined inside the glassed-in terrace of the
hotel, with gay people all about us and the
crowds passing up and down, outside. Then we
went over to the Casino, a vast amphitheater
where the orchestra played and throngs sat lis-
tening till the dancing began at half after ten.

In sad contrast to these lively scenes was that
a few months later, just before the Kaiser's
troops entered the town. A mournful proces-
sion of refugees moving to the quay, men with
stolid faces guiding little dog-carts piled high

244 The Spell of Belgium

with luggage, anxious women and weary chil-
dren laden with bundles — all seeking the prom-
ised safety of England.

Every year there was held at Ostend a curious
ceremony which drew excursionists from all cor-
ners of the country to witness. This was the
benediction of the sea, which was performed by
the more intelligent Belgians with all the de-
corum of a religious rite. The ceremony went
back apparently at least to the early sixteenth
century, for it is recorded that after a certain
inundation of the coast the fishermen joined with
ship-owners in contributing the sum of 271
francs to the Church, which was instructed to
use it for the benefit of the fish in the North
Sea. This was no doubt the beginning of the
procession to the shore.

Running inland from Ostend one comes be-
fore long to Eoulers, where there was a train-
ing convent for missionaries. We found the
town an active, commercial place, and drove over
rattling streets to the outskirts and our desti-
nation, the Convent of the Missionary Sisters of
St. Augustine.

The Mother Superior had invited us to visit
them because six of the little sisters were about
to start for the Philippines, some to go to a con-
vent in the Bontoc country among the head-

Motoring in Flanders 245

hunters, where L. had followed the trail on
horseback with the Governor and the Secretary
of War, a short time before. We wanted to
show appreciation of their undertaking, for they
have always spread good reports of the United
States' government of the islands.

The buildings were neither large nor exten-
sive, for the sisterhood is limited and the order
comparatively new. There was an American
flag — rather a queer one, for the little sisters
had made it themselves — hanging with the Bel-
gian flag above the door, and inside there were
decorations of flags and paper flowers and
streamers, all quite sweet and pathetic.

Mother Ursula, a nice looking woman, met us
and conducted us into a room where the forty
little sisters were huddled together, peering at
us out of their headdresses, with the liveliest
curiosity. It was natural enough that they
should be curious, too, for during their two
years of instruction they were never allowed
to go out, and saw very few laymen. At any
rate, their eyes never left us all the time we were
with them. They seemed very docile and obedi-
ent, and were pretty and young, but they were
rather ignorant, although they were taught a
little English besides the native dialect of the
savage places where they were to go, and a little

246 The Spell of Belgium

music. They played and sang for us, so badly
but so touchingly and anxiously — the Old Ken-
tucky Home, in a way to make one cry, and the
Star Spangled Banner — both in English.

Their days were filled with offices of the
Church, with a little recreation in the small gar-
den. When an extra holiday hour was allowed
them for the time we were there, the first thing
they did was to go in procession to the garden
and fall upon their knees before the crucified
Christ. That was evidently their idea of a holi-
day hour.

The Flemish roads themselves were always
interesting, even here where the country was so
level. We passed an endless succession of won-
derfully tilled fields in which the peasants were
working with their primitive implements, and
little red-roofed stone farmhouses with innu-
merable tow-headed children playing about
them. I shall never forget how lovely were the
apple trees about the farmhouses and in the
orchards. They all had white blossoms, and
while we missed the more varied pinks and
mauves which we see at home, the effect was
charming. Every now and then we would catch
a glimpse of a chateau in its park, usually just
beyond a lagoon and with a moat about it. We
traversed the streets of the little towns, so quiet

Motoring in Flanders 247

in spite of the factories that sometimes girdled
them, and wondered how the people lived behind
the quaint facades of their ancient houses.
"We stopped at the little village of Herzele, on
the road to Courtrai, to see its ruined tower,
once the property of Count Egmont, in which
he sustained a siege for six months. It was
quite picturesque, built of slabs of rough gray
stone. Its history reminded us of the great
Flemish primitives, for its first owner was Jean
de Roubaix, the friend of Jan van Eyck.

On another occasion we made a circuit of the
now historic places in the neighbourhood of the
Yser River. . To be sure, they were historic
enough then, but so remote from the lines of
tourist travel that few realized what treasures
they contained. Now, when nearly everything
has been swept away, hordes of people are
waiting eagerly for a chance to see even the
ruins.

At that time Dixmucle had a population of
about a thousand, although it was built for
^thirty thousand. Its deserted Grande Place
was large enough to hold every man, woman and
child in the place — and if they kept quiet I
doubt if you would have noticed them ! In the
church was one of the finest altar screens in Eu-
rope. Because of repeated bombardments Dix-

248 The Spell of Belgium

mude is now completely off the map — church and
all. I wonder what is left of the ancient wind-
mill on its grassy hillock overlooking the town;
it had been there since the Middle Ages.

Nearer the mouth of the Yser was Nieuport,
the "new port" made when the harbour of
Lombaertzyde across the river filled with sand
during a terrific storm in the twelfth century.
Part of the way the road along the embankment
ran just over the sea, and the rest of the time
behind the dunes. It was a quaint old town
with some really fine Gothic buildings, hidden
by its sheltering mounds of sand from the ho-
tels and villas of the beach, which is called
Nieuport-Bains to distinguish the resort from
its moribund neighbour.

This is far from being Nieuport 's first experi-
ence of war. It was destroyed in 1383, after
withstanding nine sieges. A hundred years
later it was successfully defended against the
French, the women and even the children fight-
ing side by side with the men. It was de-
stroyed again in the seventeen hundreds — three
times, in fact. Whether it will rise again, the
world will wait to see. A brave little town
among its gray-green sand dunes, with its an-
cient lighthouse and its empty, echoing square.

A few miles west along the coast was Furnes,

Sand Dunes, Ni en port

Motoring in Flanders 249

whose history begins in the Dark Ages and fin-
ishes— in 1914. It was quite of a piece with
the other dead little towns of the Yser country,
so far as one could see, but distinguished from
them all by its strange celebration, the Proces-
sion of Penance.

This was held every year on the last Sunday
in July, and was one of the last remaining
Christian mysteries. The procession repre-
sented the life of Jesus. It is supposed to have
been instituted by that Count of Flanders who
was also King of Jerusalem, for the purpose of
carrying about the streets of Furnes a splinter
from the Cross, which he had brought back from
the Holy Land.

For a while other mysteries were added, but
it finally began to degenerate until by the seven-
teenth century it had become a sort of burlesque.
A brotherhood was founded to restore it to its
primitive form, but a new motive entered into
it when two soldiers profaned some concen-
trated wafers and had to do penance in public.
In this manner the modern penitential proces-
sion originated.

The procession formed within the church of
Sainte Walburge. Outside, the horses of the
Roman soldiers pranced about while Mary sat
on an ass waiting for the flight to Egypt. Then

250 The Spell of Belgium

slowly forth from the church came the penitents,
robed and cowled in brown, their faces masked,
dragging after them the carts bearing the stable
of Bethlehem, the Holy Sepulcher, the Resurrec-
tion, and the Ascension. Following them came
many rosy-cheeked girls veiled in white.

As the long lines of the procession unfolded
themselves before the spectator there was a gen-
eral impression of a variegated river of gold,
purple and blue. First came chariots repre-
senting Old Testament scenes, followed by the
scourges — War, Pestilence and Famine, a pro-
phetic trio. Then appeared St. John, the Her-
mits and the Shepherds, and the Stable, which
was preceded by an angel and bore Mary and
Joseph seated inside.

When, after various scenes from the story of
the Passion, Jesus passed by, dragging the
cross, with the soldiers and executioners follow-
ing behind, a tense silence fell upon the crowd
of onlookers. Not a sound was heard, save
here and there the low muttering of the men,
women and children kneeling on the pavement,
praying over their rosaries. At every window
along the route were lighted candles. It was
no uncommon sight to see some poor old woman,
carried away by her religious fervour, throw
coins in front of the cross. This was indeed one

Motoring in Flanders 251

of the characteristic incidents of the Furnes
festival.

Following this came the penitents, marching
in close ranks, torches in hand and weighed
down by the heavy crosses that they dragged
along. The men's faces were hidden by their
masks and hoods, the women's by their veils.
All were barefooted.

Every position in the procession was sought
for as eagerly as if it had been a public office.
Some of the principal parts were hereditary in
certain families. They say that the festival as
given the last time was unchanged from its orig-
inal form, centuries ago, thanks to the care of
"La Sodalite," the brotherhood having it in
charge.

Ypres we saved for the last. Poor Ypres !
Eemains of its ancient ramparts still were to
be seen, and moats with lilies floating on their
dark waters, and the vast Grande Place, with
the glorious Cloth Hall occupying one side of
the huge square, rivaled only by that of Brus-
sels. Through the crooked streets of the town,
with their sagging, gabled houses whose upper
stories often projected over the tiny sidewalks,
one caught now and then a glimpse of a quiet
courtyard beyond a vaulted gateway.

In the quotation which follows, Pierre Loti

252 The Spell of Belgium

refers to the " little children" in Ypres. Until
recently their presence there in what eventually
became a deserted city was not explained, nor
indeed specially noticed. But it has been dis-
covered that when the last train left the interior
of Belgium, supposedly for France, just in front
of the advancing Germans, frantic mothers
pushed their children into the already crowded
cars, hoping that some one would care for them
at their destination. This proved to be Ypres,
where for months the motherless little ones wan-
dered about the deserted streets, living in cel-
lars and abandoned houses, the older ones car-
ing for the younger, all living on what they could
pick up in the streets. At last accounts they
were being brought together by the French Gov-
ernment and cared for in a convent until the
war is over, when every effort will be made to
find their parents.

Pierre Loti has written of Ypres as he saw
it not long ago, and it gives us a vivid glimpse
of the city in war times. ' ' The squares around
these tall ruins are filled with soldiers who stand
still, or who move slowly about in silent little
groups a trifle solemnly, as though awaiting
something of which every one knows, but about
which no one speaks. There are also poorly
dressed women with haggard faces, and little

Motoring in Flanders 253

children ; but the lowly civil population is com-
pletely swallowed up in the mass of rough uni-
forms, almost all soiled and earthy, having evi-
dently witnessed many a long battle. The
graceful khaki yellow uniform of the English
and the slender black regimentals of the Bel-
gians mingle with the sky blue military cloaks of
our French soldiers, who make up the majority.
All this taken together results in an almost neu-
tral shade, and two or three red cloaks of Arab
chieftains form a sharp and unexpected contrast
to this universal monotony of a gloomy winter
evening. The thousands of soldiers glance in-
stinctively at these ruins, as they take their
melancholy evening strolls, but usually they re-
main at a distance, leaving both hall and church
in their majestic isolation. . . . And now the
night is almost here, the true night which will
put an end to every trace of life. The crowd of
soldiers retires gradually into the streets, al-
ready dark, but which surely will not be lighted.
Far away a bugle is calling them to their even-
ing meal, in the houses or the barracks where
they sleep insecurely. . . . Now the silhouettes
of the cathedral and the great belfry are all that
are pictured against the sky — like the gesture
of a shattered arm now turned into stone. As
the night gradually closes in on you under the

254 The Spell of Belgium

weight of its clouds, you recall with increasing
vividness the mournful surroundings in the
midst of which Ypres is now lost, the vast,
tenantless plain, now almost black, the muti-
lated roads, over which none would know how
to flee, the fields flooded with water or blanketed
with snow, the lines of trenches, where, alas!
our soldiers are cold and suffering."

CHAPTER XIII

LEGENDS OF ANTWERP
I

Antigon; or, The Giant of Antwerp

'T was a fine night in the year 54 b.c., the
sky clear, the air calm, when a boat — a
sort of raft of basket work covered with
ox hides — was slowly following the ebb of the
Scheldt. A voice was heard from the boat, a
woman's voice, soft and gentle.

"Yes, Atuix, for thee have I passed the
threshold of my father's dwelling. I have
quitted the deep forests of Gaul, my native
country ; for thee have I left all, because of my
love for thee, Atuix, and thy beautiful harp
which sleeps silently by thy side."

Another voice was heard : * ' Oh, Frega, since
the day that thine eyes looked into mine, my
harp has forgotten its sounds and my soul no
longer knows any of the songs whispered by
Ogmius, whom I worshiped in the forests — the
god of the bards, he who is always surrounded

255

256 The Spell of Belgium

by men bound by their ears to chains of gold and
amber which issue from his mouth. "

The boat continued to descend with the tide.
Suddenly the waves were troubled and foaming
as if some water monster was rising to their sur-
face. A breathing, a stifled murmuring, was
heard, like unto the autumn wind rushing
through the branches of an old, decayed forest ;
the bubbling of the waters came nearer, and the
breathing grew stronger. Then by the , pale
rays of the moon's light, rising above the sil-
very clouds, Atuix and Frega beheld with ter-
ror, approaching them and swelling the waves
in his rapid course, a colossal Giant.

The waters of the river reached up to his
broad chest, and formed around him a white
and sparkling belt of foam. From his formida-
ble face flowed a thick beard, and his head was
covered with hair like that of a horse, rough and
black. He looked like those isolated peaks
which are sometimes seen on the borders of the
ocean, with their frowning crests from which
the long, trailing grass hangs dripping in the
waves. The boat suddenly stopped, and
cracked under the hand of the giant. A terri-
ble roaring burst from his hollow chest, and
these words were uttered in a voice of thun-
der;—

Legends of Antwerp 257

"Ah! all! my passengers of the night! — yon
think that the eyes of Antigon are closed to
allow you to pass in the dark ! m Where are my
three oxen to satisfy my hunger this evening?"

Frega clung trembling to Atuix who silently
drew forth his long blade.

The giant continued, "If you wish to speak
to me, then swell out your feeble voices, my
dwarfs."

"Mercy upon us, if thou art the god of this
river," replied Atuix, "and if thou art not a
god, then let a poor bard of Ogmius pass un-
molested."

"0 terrible giant, let us pass in the name of
the great Hesus of Teutates, and of all the
gods."

"Oh, thou dost jest, I think," said the giant
in a ferocious tone. "I laugh at Hesus, seest
thou? and at all thy gods! — and if thou hast
seen them, is their stature no higher than yours,
fine race of weaklings, of whom I could trample
a whole army under my feet? Ah! thy gods, I
should long ere this have taken them from their
heaven for my evening's amusement on the
lonely shore, or to make a repast of, if they were
anything more than vain smoke !"

"Who, then, art thou," said Atuix, "thou who
laughest at the gods?"

258 The Spell of Belgium

"Who am I? — Where is Antigon? Ah! thou
wouldst dissemble with Antigon! — Yes, thou
forgettest the tribute of oxen thou owest me for
passing on my river — thou didst think, favoured
by the darkness, to deceive me, and now thou
wouldst use thy childish tricks ! Ah ! Ah ! ' '
And the giant covered Atuix with his powerful
hand before he could move a limb.

Frega, who had remained motionless with ter-
ror, threw herself on her knees in the boat.
"Mercy, mercy upon Atuix,' ' she exclaimed.
"Oh! mercy! what harm can our passing this
river do to thee, we feeble and without any evil
intention, he loving me and I loving him!
Mercy ! Ah, heavens ! is there, then, no pity in
thy soul?"

The giant interrupted with a terrible sneer:
"Oh! my soul, sayst thou! My soul! Where
hast thou learnt that I have a soul? Who has
ever seen a soul? Oh, I tell thee truly that
there are neither souls nor gods, neither mind,
nor anything but the body, and hunger ! ' '

As he ended the giant pressed the hand of
Atuix between his two iron fingers, the hand
fell into the boat with the glaive it grasped. A
terrible cry was heard accompanied by a fero-
cious laugh. The giant picked up the bloody
hand and threw it into the river. Then, just as

Legends of Antwerp 259

he was about to seize Frega, who had dropped
senseless, Atuix freed from the frightful claws
which pressed him, with the hand which was left
him, picked up the fallen sword and plunged it
to the hilt in the giant's arm. A howl of pain
was repeated by the surrounding echoes.

The moon was just rising brilliant and pure
from her bed of clouds, and her rays played on
the waves, which were scarcely ruffled by the
light breeze. The boat no longer detained
floated adrift. A violent shock aroused Frega !
She rose painfully on her knees and saw at some
distance from her a horrible sight. The furious
giant was crushing the body of Atuix between
his hands. Frega dragged herself to the edge
of the boat, her eyes fixed, her face ashy pale,
she with difficulty stretched out her neck, tried
to advance farther, as if under some invisible
attraction ; an instant she gazed, leaned forward,
her eyes tearless, not a sigh from her bosom;
then she loosened her hold and rolled over into
the river.

A year after this night Caesar had put an end
to Gaulish liberty. The strength, the courage
and the heroic resistance of this great people
whose ancestors had in one of their daring wan-
derings over Europe encamped on the ruins of
Rome, wTas now crushed under the fortune and

260 The Spell of Belgium

genius of the conqueror. By the glare of vast
conflagrations, Belgium, the perpetual focus of
revolt against oppression, was traversed by
three Soman armies, and bridges thrown over
the Scheldt opened the passage to the country of
the Menapians. One day a detached company
of the legion of the vanguard followed the banks
of the river, guided, it is said, by a mysterious
being. Twice the sun had sunk to rest without
their returning. German horsemen sent on
their track towards the middle of the night were
stopped at the sight of a strange spectacle.
Raging flames agitated by the wind were de-
vouring the foundations of a tower which had
protected a castle of colossal proportions. The
ground was lit by the glare of the fire and
strewn with the dead bodies of the Roman sol-
diers. In the midst of them, on a mound of the
dead, was stretched motionless, covered with
wounds, pierced all over by darts, the enormous
body of a giant. From one of his huge arms,
from which the hand was severed, ran on the
ground a rivulet of black blood. Over his head
bent a warrior. After some moments of sus-
pense the eyes of the giant opened. The war-
rior instantly raised himself, parting his long,
flowing hair from off his pale and beautiful face.
Then his ayes suddenly flashed with extraordi-

Legends of Antwerp 261

nary brightness — lie approached near to the
monster's ear, shouting out these words: —

"Antigon! Antigon! I must call loudly, is
it not true? — so that thine ear may catch the
sound? Well, now listen to me, Antigon ! Oh !
thou art not quite dead, thou canst yet under-
stand and remember ! A year has elapsed since
— truly, truly, thy wounds are ghastly and
bleeding and sweet to look upon ! — Yes, it was on
a summer night, two lovers floated together on
the river. Oh ! thy den was not as bright as this
night — Two lovers thou knowest! — two lovers
who only spoke of love, their hearts filled with
gentle thoughts. Look, look, how well one sees
one's shadow here in thy blood. — One of the two
lovers was a bard. Oh! oh! thy dying eyes
flash! Thou didst kill him, and the other—
But where are thy terrible hands, Antigon?
The other, that feeble woman — Thou hearest
me? She lives to avenge him!"

A shudder ran through the giant's body, a
frightful rattle burst from his chest; his teeth
chattered like the clashing of swords, his eyes
rolled once more in their bloody orbits, and then
closed forever. He was dead. Frega knelt on
the ground and prayed. Upon that spot rose
Antwerp. Now Antwerp is the Antwerpen of
the ancient Flemish language, which still pre-

262 The Spell of Belgium

serves its original strength and richness in its
Saxon garb — Antwerpen, in which word the
chroniclers find Hand and Werpen, to throw, in
remembrance of the giant Antigon and the
hands which he threw into the Scheldt.

II

Yvox Bruggermans : A Legend of the Antwerp
Cathedral

When you approach the old Flemish city,
built upon the banks of the Scheldt, in one of
the finest situations of Europe, the first object
which attracts the attention of the traveler
is the great spire of the Cathedral. This
" Heaven-directed " spire is one of the loftiest
and finest in the world. It is a masterpiece of
pyramidal construction, delighting the vision
not more by its vast height than by its exquisite
proportions. It is surmounted by a cross of a
size corresponding with the edifice itself. The
Antwerpians are justly proud of their antique
cathedral, which occupies the first rank among
the monuments of Europe; if time and space
permitted I would give you a sketch of its beau-
ties, but many others before me have described
its elegant marble statuary, chapels, confes-

SPIRE OF THE CATHEDRAL, ANTWERP.

Legends of Antwerp 263

sionals, altars, choirs, and above all the chef-
d'oeuvre of the immortal Rubens. Before the
grand entrance, which so plainly shows the im-
print of time, observe this blue marble stone,
inlaid with several small pieces of brass, scat-
tered promiscuously and seeming to form a mys-
terious design, which irresistibly excites one's
curiosity. This monument marks the historical
and fatal spot where the event occurred which I
am about to relate.

The 22d of October, 1520, was a day of fetes
and rejoicing in all the cities of Flanders, for on
that day a Fleming, Charles V, was crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle. The rich and powerful city of
Antwerp, whose merchants were opulent as
princes, displayed all its luxury and splendour
to honour its new Caesar. The day commenced
with prayers in all the churches and finished
with national games of every description upon
the public squares, and processions of artisans
preceded by the banners of their several pro-
fessions. The streets resounded with songs and
repeated cries of ' ' Vive 1 'Empereur Charles ! ' '
and as the night approached the night became
more dense and noisy, for before the Hotel de
Ville immense casks were placed, which poured
forth floods of wine and beer that helped to in-
crease the enthusiasm of the citizens of the good

264 The SpeU of Belgium

city of Antwerp. But above all sounded the
glorious peals of the silver chimes from the old
cathedral, as if it wished to add its voice in a
hymn of praise to the young Emperor whose
reign commenced under such auspicious circum-
stances.

There were nevertheless in the city many sad
hearts, as upon all such occasions there are
many who cannot participate. At the window
of one of the largest but poorest lodging houses
of the Kamerstraet, known by the sign of a
large Red Lion, stood a young man whose
desponding and sorrowful air contrasted
strongly with the joyful bands that passed un-
der his window. It was evident that he took
no part in the general rejoicing. The room in
which he was, although showing that scrupulous
Flemish neatness, presented an appearance of
extreme poverty. A miserable pine bedstead,
curtains of blue linen, four old chairs, and an
old oak table comprised the furniture of the
room. The whitewashed walls were devoid of
ornament, except the image of the Virgin, be-
fore which burned a small wax candle. Upon
the bed reclined a woman whose pale, wan face,
deep-sunk eyes, livid lips, and forehead covered
with premature wrinkles (she being still young)
wore the marks of serious physical and mental

Legends of Antwerp 265

suffering. The silence which reigned in the
room was broken by the invalid.

"Yvon, my son," said she, "come to me; but
what do I see, tears?"

"Alas, Mother, how can I keep them back!
I cannot help you; the fever has so weakened
me that I am unable to work. Hardly can I lift
a hammer. I could not bear the heat of the
forge. I am as weak as a child."

"My poor child, the fever has paralyzed your
strength as well as mine, but the will of God
be done."

"Amen," responded the son. "It is hard
nevertheless to struggle against sickness and
poverty. If tomorrow we do not satisfy the de-
mands of the landlord we shall be turned into
the street. If I were the only one to suffer!"

"My son, I have seen your father and your
three brothers die with this merciless fever, and
with them perished all my happiness. But in
the midst of my suffering I have always said,
God has given them to us and taken them from
us. Blessed be his name. And in this submis-
sion to his will I have found my only consola-
tion."

The young man sighed but made no reply.
At this moment a tumultuous noise of steps
arose from the street. It was a procession.

266 The Spell of Belgium

The corporations of tanners and joiners were
passing.

"Now come the painters with the image of
St. Luc, and now, oh ! I see the blacksmiths and
lockmakers carrying the banner of St. Eloi. ' '

Poor Yvon looked sorrowfully upon his for-
mer companions, happy in their strength and
health, when suddenly he drew back from the
window and rapidly closed it as if he would shut
out a fatal vision.

"What is it?" exclaimed his mother, alarmed
at his sudden pallor.

"Marie has just passed with her father and
Master Verachter, the rich jeweler of Ziereck-
straet."

The poor mother tenderly caressed him, with-
out speaking. She seemed to fear to encourage
by the least word this sorrow she knew to be
without hope.

Yvon sat a long time at the bedside, his face
hidden in his hands. He recalled his early
days, joyous and without care, his affectionate
father and brothers, the winning voice of his
mother, who instructed them in their early
duties, and the young Marie, the constant com-
panion of his youthful plays, whom one day he
hoped to call his wife. He had nearly served
his apprenticeship at the forge with his father

Legends of Antwerp 267

when this fatal epidemic broke out, to which his
father and brothers fell victims, and he himself
and his mother barely survived. But the
blacksmiths of the city refused to accord him
the right to continue his father's business, as
he had not fully worked out the required time.
That very morning he had heard a neighbour,
who came to visit his mother, say that the hand
of Marie, which had been the secret of all his
efforts and thoughts, had been promised by her
father to the rich jeweler of Ziereckstraet. He
had not believed it, but the sight he saw from
the window confirmed all his fears, and he re-
mained in deep reverie for a long time.

He was startled from it by the sounds of a
violent tempest which had suddenly broken
upon the city. The merciless blast from the
North Sea swept over it, spreading destruction
in its course. Everywhere was heard the fall-
ing of tiles, the crashing of glass from the
broken windows, the uprooting of trees, and the
distant noise from the river, whose swollen
waters were overflowing its banks. Yvon ap-
proached the window; darkness reigned every-
where, the rain fell in torrents, and had extin-
guished all the torches and lights of the streets.

During all this long October night the storm
raged with unabated fury; towards morning it

268 The Spell of Belgium

subsided, and when day broke it bad passed,
leaving all the country inundated. As the dis-
asters of the city were insignificant compared
with those of the country the inhabitants con-
soled themselves with the reflection that others
had been more unfortunate than they. It is
often thus that we console ourselves. Those
who passed in the vicinity of the cathedral saw
with regret that the great cross which sur-
mounted the spire had been struck by the light-
ning, and was so bent that at any instant it
might fall. This cross had cost so much work
and care to place it so high ! The news spread
rapidly, and soon the Grande Place before the
cathedral was crowded.

In those times, when the love of art reigned
supreme, each Flemish city possessed its monu-
ment. Ghent boasted its gigantic belfry, sur-
mounted by its Byzantine dragon brought from
the crusades; Louvain, its Gothic Hotel de
Ville; Bruges, its old parks and public build-
ings ; while Antwerp glorified itself justly in its
cathedral, of which no one dared to contest the
superiority as a work of art and architecture.
All the citizens viewed this sight with consterna-
tion, and asked each other anxiously who would
be the individual bold enough to attempt such a
perilous enterprise. The sound of a trumpet

Legends of Antwerp 269

was heard and two heralds on horseback ap-
peared on the Place. Silence being established,
one of them read with a slow and loud voice the
following proclamation : —

' * To the good citizens of Antwerp ! — We, the
Burgomaster and Aldermen of the city, make
known that we have resolved to give five hun-
dred golden crowns to the person who will re-
establish the iron cross in its ancient position
on the cathedral tower. Five hundred golden
crowns! Citizens ! Whoever desires to ob-
tain this munificent reward will present himself
immediately before the Council now assembled
at the Hotel de Ville.' '

There was a moment of silence. Each one
waited to see who would accept, but no one ad-
vanced. The heralds were about to retire, to
read elsewhere their proclamation, when the
crowd suddenly opened and gave passage to a
young man, who precipitated himself resolutely
towards the Hotel de Ville. Every eye was
turned towards him with curiosity. He was of
extreme beauty, although emaciated, but from
his eyes shone forth manly resolution and
courage. The crowd anxiously waited the re-
sult. A few minutes only had passed when the
heralds reappeared to read a second proclama-
tion : —

270 The Spell of Belgium

' ' To the good citizens of Antwerp ! — We, the
Burgomaster and Aldermen, make known that
Yvon Bruggermans, blacksmith and free citizen,
has engaged before ns this 23d day of October,
1520, to reestablish our iron cross in its position
upon the tower of the cathedral tomorrow with
the aid of God. Consequently, we order all who
may be present to refrain from distracting the
attention of the said Yvon Bruggennans, by
cries, charms, or malicious interventions, but
on the contrary to give him all the assistance
which he may need for the accomplishment of
his work in the name of God and the Holy Vir-
gin. ' '

When the time arrived, Yvon, clothed in his
holiday suit, approached his mother's bed and
with an animation which she had not seen in
him for several months, embraced her and asked
her blessing.

"Where are you going, my son? You are
dressed in your holiday suit, and the fetes are
over. ' '

"I go to look for work, dear Mother/ ' an-
swered he, trying to hide his agitation. ' i I feel
my strength return, and I can no longer bear the
misery of our situation. Take courage, Mother,
I feel the certainty that a better future is before
us,"

Legends of Antwerp 271

"My child, take care to do nothing beyond thy
strength. Think that all the riches of the world
will be nothing to me if I lose thee."

"And you, my Mother, are you not for me the
entire world! I would give my life willingly to
insure your happiness. But time passes ; bless
me, dear Mother."

"May the benediction of God be on thee and
on thy designs, now and forever. Amen," said
his mother gravely with her eyes raised to
heaven, and with her right hand upon the head
of her kneeling son.

After a last embrace, he left with a firm and
resolute step. The most trying proof was past,
and he felt his courage and hope revive. He
soon arrived at the Grande Place, where an im-
mense crowd was assembled. All eyes were
turned upon him with an expression of pity and
regret, and voices murmured in his ear words
of encouragement, sympathy and hope. But
Yvon, avoiding as much as possible every spe-
cies of emotion, advanced without answering,
traversed the crowd, and entered the cathedral.
He approached the altar, which was decorated
as if for a fete, and kneeling, recited with fer-
vour this prayer :

"Lord of Heaven, I risk my life not to gain a
miserable sum of money, but to save my mother ;

272 The Spell of Belgium

preserve me, then, for the love of her, or if it
must be that I die, permit me to accomplish the
work I have undertaken. Father all-powerful,
I place my soul in thy hands. ' '

He then rose and proceeded with a firm step
towards the door of the spiral steps which lead
to the summit of the tower. As he ascended he
saw through the loopholes the crowd increasing,
until all the neighbouring roofs, windows and
balconies were filled ; everywhere a sea of heads.
He arrived at last at the end of the steps.
After having thrown a glance of admiration
over the country, he turned his gaze toward the
city. At his feet he distinguished the sign of
the Red Lion. He thought of his mother, then
turned toward the dwelling of Marie. The re-
membrance of her animated his courage, for on
his success depended the only chance he had of
obtaining her hand, and he prepared himself
to finish the most perilous part of his undertak-
ing. Before him rose this long, perpendicular
spire, the summit of which he must reach with-
out any other means of ascent than the crevices
between the stones. He attached to a strong
rope the brazier and tools which he had brought
to work with, fastened this firmly around his
waist, and after crossing himself devoutly com-
menced his perilous ascent.

Legends of Antwerp 273

The crowd watched him as he slowly mounted.
Deep emotion filled every breast. Not a sound
was heard until he arrived at the summit and
stood immobile at the foot of the cross. Then
burst forth a universal cry of admiration. He
lighted his brazier and actively commenced his
work, attaching firmly to the cross one end of the
rope, of which the other encircled his body. The
multitude saw the great cross rise slowly and
by degrees under the repeated blows of the
hammer, and with every stroke his strength ap-
peared to increase.

Fifteen minutes had hardly passed when cries
of enthusiasm saluted the cross completely re-
stored. His first thought was an aspiration of
gratitude to heaven, the second was for his
mother. Then he thought with an emotion of in-
describable joy of Marie, who would be his, for
her father certainly could not refuse, when he
should have the five hundred golden crowns ob-
tained in such an heroic manner. His happiness
was at its height, and fearing that his emotion
might prove fatal, he crossed himself and pre-
pared to descend, but before doing so he threw a
last glance over the crowd. He saw them sepa-
rate to give passage to a wedding cortege, which
advanced towards the cathedral. Attracted in
spite of himself, he regarded attentively all the

274 The Spell of Belgium

members. He noticed a young girl dressed in
white as a bride leaning on the arm of an old
man. He supported himself at the foot of the
cross and leaned as far as possible to assure
himself of the reality of his fears — his eyes dis-
tended, his face livid, and his whole body trem-
bling with emotion. They glanced upwards to
see the young workman who had raised the cross
— Yvon gave a cry of agony, for this bride was
Marie, and at her side the old jeweler Verachter
of Ziereckstraet ! The shock was too violent for
his spirit exhausted by so many struggles. He
fainted — his hands dropped the support which
held him, he remained an instant immovable —
then fell. But the rope which was around him
remained fixed to the foot of the cross, and he
was for some minutes suspended in space. The
crowd who had seen his fall with terror believed
him saved, but the rope had touched the lighted
brazier, and soon the body of the unfortunate
Yvon fell a disfigured and bleeding mass in the
midst of this brilliant wedding cortege, at the
feet of the bride.

The next day a deputation of magistrates of
the city went to carry to his mother the five hun-
dred golden crowns, the price of the blood of
her son. But the chamber was empty. A coffin
was placed in the middle of the room. Death

Legends of Antwerp 275

had spared the poor mother this great affliction.
Yvon was buried on the spot where he fell, and
the blue stone, with the brass encrusted in the
marble, alone indicates the place where lies the
body of the young blacksmith.

Ill

Frugger the Miser

One evening in the year 1552, the bells of the
numerous churches and chapels of the pious
city of Antwerp were heard calling the faithful
to divine service, to pray for the repose of the
souls of their deceased relatives and friends.
The heavens were obscured by black and angry
clouds; the wind blew in strong gusts, accom-
panied by a drizzling rain. A profound silence
reigned in the obscure streets. As the greater
part of the population were in the churches, one
could easily have traversed half the city without
meeting a living soul, except, perhaps, some
tardy worshiper, hastening to regain lost time
and to arrive at the Salut, before the Tantum
Ergo.

Notwithstanding the importance of the reli-
gious solemnities which were being performed

276 The Spell of Belgium

in all the houses of God, and the detestable
weather which drove every one from the streets,
a man stood motionless before a house in the
rue des Tailleurs de Pierres, enveloped in a dark
cloak. He remained motionless, feeling neither
the wind nor the rain, his eyes fixed on the win-
dows, trying vainly to distinguish the least ray
of light. He was young, with effeminate fea-
tures, and his upper lip was shaded by a light
moustache ; although he endeavoured to conquer
the emotions which agitated him, it was not diffi-
cult to discover by the contraction of his brows,
that bitter thoughts filled him with despair. The
house before which he stood was that of a rich
banker named Friigger. After having stood
there some time, he lost hope of seeing in this
dwelling the wished-for object, and with that,
the courage to remain longer exposed to the in-
clemency of the storm, so he walked slowly
away in the direction of the Scheldt. While he
was in the neighbourhood of the mansion of
Friigger he stopped from time to time and re-
garded it still with the same ardent anxiety
which for more than an hour had characterized
his contemplation. When at last the distance
and the obscurity prevented him from seeing it,
the expression of his countenance became still
more sorrowful.

Legends of Antwerp 277

Letting his head droop upon his chest, he
sighed, "Katharina, thou lovest me no more!
Thou hast forgotten me ! Thou hast abandoned
me ! It is foolish for me to doubt it ! Oh ! now
it is finished ! I wish no longer to live ! Exist-
ence becomes a burden to me. ' '

At the moment he pronounced these words, ex-
pressed with such profound despair, he arrived
at the Canal St. Jean, not far from the river.
At that time, there stood at this place a water
mill. Suddenly the noise of the water pouring
over the wheel attracted his attention, and drew
him from his somber reverie. He raised his
head, his eyes sparkled, the expression of his
features became nearly radiant, his steps were
firmer, and with a species of cruel joy he di-
rected himself towards the canal. It could not
be doubted that the unfortunate young man
wished to put an end to his sufferings, which
he believed would terminate only with his life.
He was already on the banks of the Scheldt.
One step farther and he would have disappeared
in the waves, when suddenly the bells of the city
recommenced their funeral knell.

These lugubrious sounds had a singular ef-
fect upon his spirit. He recoiled with fright,
his thoughts suddenly changed. He was aston-
ished to think he had contemplated committing

278 The Spell of Belgium

a crime to put an end to his troubles. He
turned away and was soon far from the place
where he had so nearly put into execution his
fatal project. A quarter of an hour after, he
was near the church of St. Andre, calmer, but
still despairing.

4 'Ungrateful," he said to himself, "to com-
mit a crime that would have brought affliction
upon the last days, and covered with shame the
white hairs of the worthy old man, your father,
who loves you so tenderly, and has only your-
self in the world. God knows if he would have
survived your suicide, if sorrow would not have
brought him to the grave. And why? For a
woman that you have loved, that you still love
more than words can express ! How do you
know she merits your love? And has she ever
loved you? Foolish to doubt! She still loves
you — Oh, no ! she has lost all interest in you and
treats you as if there never existed the least
sympathetic sentiment between you."

Saying this, he turned, stopped, and appeared
to consider anew whether he should return to
the canal. It was the last attempt of the spirit
of evil upon his heart enfeebled by suffering.
Happily his good angel watched over him and
gave him strength to resist.

After a moment of hesitation he continued his

Legends of Antwerp 279

route, murmuring, "But no, that cannot be;
she cannot have forgotten me, she must love
me yet — Katharina, this angel with looks so
pure, voice so sweet, expression so celestial,
thoughts so candid, she could never deceive me.
For her I would give my life. She cannot aban-
don me thus ; but why does she not let me hear
from her? She must realize that her silence
and this uncertainty make me suffer tor-
ments. "

Thus reasoning, by turns filled with hope and
despair, he gradually approached the principal
entrance of the church. Divine service had long
since commenced. The majestic tones of the or-
gan rang through the vaulted roof, floating over
the heads of the kneeling faithful. He entered
more through curiosity and to distract his grief,
than through piety, or to pray for the souls of
the dead, as he felt that in his distracted state
of mind it would be impossible for him to ele-
vate his thoughts above the earth, and to invoke
God with any other intention than that of seeing
his well beloved.

The church of St. Andre at this period was a
remarkable edifice, built in the Gothic style, and
of an imposing appearance. Its origin was as
follows: In 1519 the Augustinian monks pos-
sessed on this spot a magnificent cloister from

280 The Spell of Belgium

which the street takes its name. Several of
these friars, being suspected of heresy, and of
following the example of their colleague, the fa-
mous monk of Wiirttemberg, were expelled from
the city. The cloister was demolished and sold,
with the exception of the church that the order
was building, which was finished with the au-
thorization of Pope Adrian VI, under the invo-
cation of St. Andre. The spectacle which the
interior of the church presented at this mo-
ment was not calculated to inspire our hero
with less sorrowful thoughts or more consoling
reflections. Everything there spoke of death,
eternity and purgatory. The nave was draped
with black; upon all sides, upon the pillars, on
the altar, on the candelabra, were funeral em-
blems, death's heads and cross bones, and skele-
tons, speaking of punishments and expiations
of the other life. He felt ill at ease in the midst
of all these lugubrious decorations. This colos-
sal edifice, partially lighted by innumerable wax
candles, this compact crowd kneeling on the
marble and buried in prayer, these gigantic col-
umns hidden under the funeral drapings, and,
more than all, the mournful strains of the organ
and the solemn character of the chants, sad-
dened him and filled him with an indefinable
and mysterious fear.

Legends of Antwerp 281

All this only served to recall more vividly his
own situation, and he felt he could no longer en-
dure it. As he advanced towards another door
of the church he noticed in the shade of a pillar
a female who, while appearing to pray with
fervour, watched all his movements and en-
deavoured to attract his attention. Before her
two persons were kneeling, one a young girl with
an angelic countenance, whose elegant figure
was not entirely hidden by the ample folds of
her black silk cloak. He recognized her whose
silence had made him suffer so cruelly. The
other, an old man whose features were strongly
marked with sternness and severity, was the
father of Katharina. The female who had at
first attracted his attention was the servant,
whose eloquent gestures had caused to disap-
pear, as if by enchantment, the sorrow and dis-
couragement of the desolate lover, who thought
no more of leaving the church. Drawing his
cloak around him, so as to conceal as much as
possible his features, he placed himself behind
the persons upon whom all his thoughts were
concentrated, and decided to wait until the close
of the services, hoping he should succeed in
learning something of the inexplicable conduct
of the daughter of the banker. The service was
finished, the last modulations of the organ had

282 The Spell of Belgium

died away, when the old man and his daughter
prepared to leave the church.

The young man followed as near as possible,
without being noticed. Near the door he felt
some one press his arm and at the same instant
put in his hand a letter, which he took without
pronouncing a word. He continued to follow
the three persons instinctively. It was only
after seeing them enter their dwelling and close
the door that he thought of returning home.

ii

To those acquainted, however slightly, with
the history of Antwerp it will be superfluous to
recall the immense prosperity of the city at the
time of our little drama. To give an idea of its
ancient wealth and magnificence, it will suffice
to say that five hundred vessels ascended and
descended the Scheldt daily. The river near
the city was literally covered with ships at an-
chor, waiting their turn to discharge ; they often
extended as far as the village of Hoboken, three
miles from the city, which gave rise to the Flem-
ish saying "Op de Hobooksche hei liggen" (To
remain in the fields of Hoboken). This saying
is used to designate persons who are obliged to
wait a long time for the accomplishment of their
desires. Nearly every nation had its repre-

Legends of Antwerp 283

sentatives in the fine and celebrated city of Ant-
werp, and one of the writers of the time said
that the Antwerpians could study the customs,
language and costumes of all the nations of the
globe without leaving their city. We will not
attempt to explain the causes of this gigantic
prosperity, which caused Antwerp to be the rival
of Genoa and Venice. Its admirable situation,
which still contributes to its prosperity, was one
of the principal reasons. The fairs, like those
of Leipsic and Frankfort, were endowed with
many valuable privileges ; one of these guaran-
teed to its visitors a species of inviolability.
They could not be molested for debt during the
continuance of the fair and while making their
return trip to their homes. It is not astonish-
ing that with the freedom and facility which
foreign merchants enjoyed they preferred Ant-
werp to other cities, and that it attained such a
degree of splendour.

Among the foreign bankers the most noted
was a German named Wolfgang Friigger. He
was descended from the famous Fruggers of
Augsburg, who had representatives in France,
Spain, Italy and Antwerp. They were the rich-
est bankers of Europe, the Rothschilds of the
epoch. He had inherited from his father a sum
of six million crowns, a fabulous amount at that

284 The Spell of Belgium

time. His house had the reputation of contain-
ing more treasures than the palace of a king.
He was called by every one "Frugger the
Rich. " He lived in a very simple, miserly man-
ner.

Frugger had been for a long time connected
with another German banker, immensely rich,
named Hochstetter, whose mode of living dif-
fered essentially from that of the father of
Katharina. He lived in a princely manner in
a palace which he had built in the street that still
bears his name. It appears that notwithstand-
ing the difference in their manner of living,
they agreed marvelously, and visited each other
frequently. Their names were inseparable
upon the Bourse, as all believed that there ex-
isted between the two houses a secret partner-
ship, and why should they not have believed so 1
For when the name of one alone was cited in a
transaction it was soon known that the other
participated in it. When the loan of £152,000
sterling was made to Henry VIII, King of Eng-
land, ostensibly by Frugger alone, it was soon
known that it was an operation of the two
houses. Later, when Hochstetter concluded his
loan of 3,000,000 crowns of gold, to the King of
Portugal, Frugger, which was a mystery for no
one, took part for at least one-half.

Legends of Antwerp 285

Thus it bad been for many years, when sud-
denly without any apparent cause the union of
the rich Germans was interrupted in the most
complete manner. They ceased to visit and be-
came as strangers. Although no one knew the
reason of this sudden change they did not doubt
that Friigger was the cause, as it was known
that Hochstetter had been to visit him and had
not been received. This happened a few days
only before the ceremonies at the church for the
repose of the dead. Friigger had not for several
days appeared at the Bourse, which had filled all
the merchants with astonishment.

in

The same evening of the ceremonies two per-
sons conversed together in one of the salons of
the superb mansion of Hochstetter. One of
them was a man of about sixty years of age, of
a venerable aspect, whose features expressed
mildness and benevolence. This was Hoch-
stetter. Not far from him was seated in a
heavy oaken chair the young man whom we have
followed from the river to the church; he ap-
peared a prey to great despair and tried vainly
to repress his tears. The father was reading
the letter which the servant of Katharina had
given to the lover of her mistress, and from time

286 The Spell of Belgium

to time he stopped to bestow upon his son a re-
gard full of tenderness, but the contents of the
letter were not of a nature to calm his sorrows,
or to give him courage. It ran as follows :

"It is eight long days that I have not seen
you, nor your worthy father, and I have not even
been able to send you any word. Perhaps you
have already accused me of forgetfulness and
ingratitude. If it is thus, ask God to pardon
your unjust suspicions, for never were re-
proaches less merited. If you knew my situa-
tion you would feel only pity for my unhappy
fate, and you would not impute sentiments to
me which are far from my heart. Since the day
your father, my esteemed guardian, came to de-
mand my hand, my father has changed so much
that I can hardly recognize him. Not contented
with forbidding me all communication with you,
he will not even allow me to talk with any one ;
even my own maid is a prisoner like myself.
Not a word from you or your father have I had.
I have only been told you asked my hand in
marriage. When I asked my father for an ex-
planation he answered me that it was not yet
time but that he would give me one later. I can-
not comprehend it — my father who has ap-
peared to love me so tenderly and has always

Legends of Antwerp 287

gratified all my wishes — to treat me suddenly
with so much severity, so much cruelty. What
can I say ? He knows that I love you, and what
adds to my grief is not to be able to tell you
my troubles, and not to see you. He is not
ignorant that I suffer and weep almost con-
tinually. I fear you will ascribe my silence to
other sentiments. He has kept me from your
father and all my friends who could speak to me
of you. He has also changed so much that it as-
tonishes me ; he is always agitated, filled with a
continual fear which it is impossible for me to
understand; he trembles and turns pale at the
slightest noise, speaks of thieves and robbers
as if the city contained them by thousands; in
the evening he dares not retire until he has as-
sured himself that the doors are well fastened.
His long, strange absences, of which I have
formerly spoken to you, become more and more
frequent, and they often last for hours. No one
sees him go out, but he is nowhere to be found.
Then suddenly he appears without any one be-
ing able to say how he has entered. He has for-
bidden me to go to the morning mass as I have
always done, and it was with great reluctance
that he accompanied me to the church of St.
Andre to pray for the repose of the soul of my
deceased mother, whose loss I have never felt

288 The Spell of Belgium

more deeply than now. As I have the hope of
seeing you there, I know not why, I have written
these lines, and confide them to Clara and pray
that she may find means of giving them to you. ' '

This letter did not appear to astonish Hoch-
stetter much, but his discontent was none the
less visible.

"Decidedly he is losing his senses," mur-
mured he, throwing it upon the table. Then,
turning towards his son, "Carl," said he, tak-
ing his hand, ' ' calm yourself, you see that all is
not lost as you feared, and you were wrong to
doubt Katharina. The poor child loves you
more than ever."

"But her father," sighed Carl, "her father.
I avow that his conduct . . . ' '

"But I think I understand it. I have been
connected with him twenty years and I think I
know him well enough to flatter myself that he
had much friendship for us, and that it must
cost him something to sacrifice it for an idea;
but still he shows himself uncivil, refuses to
have any more transactions with me, and when
I visited him to demand an explanation he
would not receive me. He forbids his daughter,
my ward, all communication with us, and for
what? — because I have asked of him her hand

Legends of Antwerp 289

in marriage for my only son, whose fortune is
larger than that of any other in the city! He
has seen this attachment in the games of yonr
infancy and has always approved of it. If I re-
gret one thing it is not the interruption of our
commercial relations, or the loss of his friend-
ship, but the sudden disappointment of the
hopes which this union had made me form for
you. Alas ! do not be discouraged, my son ; you
have not so much to complain of, it appears to
me. The young girl loves you, you cannot
doubt it, and in spite of the severity of her
father she finds means to communicate with you,
and then she says that she does not compre-
hend her father's strange conduct, and gives us
to understand that he must labour under some
aberration of mind. I am sure that when he
is reestablished in health we shall find him
the same old friend and tender father, who will
be pleased to have you for a son-in-law. For
where will he find one more suitable in every re-
spect? Besides, you will be immensely rich."

"If Friigger will not accord me the hand of
Katharina of what use will all the riches of the
earth be to me 1 ' '

"Lover's words! Eiches are always useful;
you will learn that later. He will consent ; but
if he persists in his absurd obstinacy will you

290 The Spell of Belgium

consent to marry her without any dowry, or
even the fortune which belongs to her from her
mother V9

"Instantly, even if she were the daughter of
the most humble artisan. "

"I will make another attempt. I know him
well enough to prophesy that my offers will be
accepted. Console yourself; all will be well."
After this they separated, each to retire to his
apartment.

IV

At the rue des Tailleurs de Pierres, in one of
the rooms of the house of Friigger, took place
almost at the same moment, a scene which, al-
though of another character, still related to
the same subject as the one which had just oc-
curred at the house of Hochstetter.

"My child," said Friigger to his daughter,
"you know that since the death of your mother
I have loved no one but yourself in this world,
and have endeavoured to augment my fortune
only in order to make you the richest heiress of
all the provinces reunited under the scepter of
the Emperor Charles V. You, for whom I have
done so much, for whom I continue to amass
wealth, in order to elevate you so high that mis-
fortune can never reach you, and whom all the

Legends of Antwerp 291

world shall envy; you can do nothing for me?
Why refuse me, who have never refused you the
accomplishment of the slightest desire? Why
refuse me the obedience that every child owes to
its parents, even when they have not done for it
what I have done for you?"

"Father," responded Katharina in a firm
tone, "I have never refused to obey you, and
have always endeavoured to prove by my obedi-
ence that I have not ceased to love and respect
you, which is my wish and duty. ' '

"It is probably with this intention," said the
old man bitterly, "that notwithstanding my ex-
press will you still persist in loving the son of
Hochstetter. ' '

"Oh, Father," interrupted the young girl,
blushing deeply.

"Try not to deny it," answered he with an-
ger. "You love him, you love him madly, in
spite of me or my strict orders, and the obedi-
ence which you declare you owe me."

Katharina was too much agitated to answer
immediately. She hesitated, and then said with
a trembling voice, which grew firmer as she pro-
ceeded :

"I love him more than I can say, more than I
know myself, which renders me incapable of
obeying you, when you require that I shall for-

292 The Spell of Belgium

get him. Can you make me commit a crime?
Is it not you yourself who have taught me from
my most tender youth to esteem and love Hoch-
stetter as your friend, and the friend of my de-
ceased mother, and to consider him as my second
father ? Is it my fault if in obeying you I have
ended by loving his son, the friend of my in-
fancy, the companion of my youthful days, the
only child of my guardian? No, the fault is
yours at first, yours alone, and in commanding
me to change my sentiments you demand an im-
possibility and render me the most unhappy of
all beings ! ' '

"It is true," murmured Friigger, striking his
forehead. "It is my fault, it is my fault. I
have had too much confidence. I have delivered
myself to them bound hand and foot, like an old
fool that I was. But if with an effort you can
satisfy me, render me happy?" questioned he,
raising his voice.

"Bender you happy, Father? I do not un-
derstand you. Why is your interest so great?"

"What interest, child," cried he, with a
frightful expression upon his features, "what
interest ! — You know you are sure of my affec-
tion for you, but I believe, nevertheless, that
sooner than let you persevere in this love I pre-
fer to see you dead. Oh, yes, dead ! Ask of me

Legends of Antwerp 293

all you wish, demand my blood, my life, but I
plead with you, renounce this detested Carl,
whom I hate as my enemy,' ' continued he, seiz-
ing her arm and pressing it with savage energy.
"Renounce him, I pray you; say that you will
love him no more, that you will think of him only
as an enemy — as the enemy of your father."

Katharina burst into tears. "I wish I could
promise what you exact of me, but I feel it im-
possible to keep a promise to forget him."

"Oh! say to me that you will never abandon
me, never leave me alone in my solitary dwell-
ing," pursued the merciless old man, without
appearing to have heard the words of his daugh-
ter ; ' ' say that you will not marry while I live.
You wish not my death, do you ? ' '

"Your death!"

"Yes, my death! Listen! I lost your
mother while you were an infant. It is needless
to say what a terrible blow her loss was to me,
but I have consoled myself with the idea that
you remained to me, and with the hope of finding
in you all her virtues. This hope has not been
deceived. I see in you today my regretted
Anne, with her beauty, all her precious qualities,
and her incessant cares for my happiness. If in
losing you I lose a second time all that is dear
to me I shall not survive it. ' '

294 The Spell of Belgium

1 t Father, I pray you. ' '

* ' Oh, I know what you wish to say, that your
husband would be my friend, would prove a
most tender and respectful son; perhaps even
through pity he would consent to leave you with
me ; but the idea alone of knowing that when he
wished he could take you from me would em-
bitter my life. And now," said he, perceiving
with joy that his words had made a profound
impression upon the young girl, "Katharina, I
appeal to your heart. Will you abandon the
poor old man who lives only by you and for
you! Can you reduce to despair and fill with
bitterness the few days which yet remain to me?
Would you kill me slowly and force me to curse
in my last moments, my only daughter, whose
abandonment will have caused my death !"

' ' Never, oh, never ! ' ' she cried, throwing her-
self in tears upon his breast. "Pardon me, my
poor father."

"Thus you will remain! Always! You will
never think of marrying while I live ? ' '

"Never."

' i Oh, I knew it, ' ' cried he, embracing her. * ' I
knew I should recover my daughter ! The con-
viction that you have assured the happiness of
your father will soften the bitterness of your
regrets."

Legends of Antwerp 295

She fell upon her knees sobbing, a prey to
an indescribable emotion. He placed his hand
npon her head, and raising his eyes to heaven
said with an inspired air :

' ' God, who has promised long and prosperous
days in this life, and in the other eternal felicity,
to children who love and obey their parents,
may he bless thee as I bless thee, and render
thee tenfold the joy which I feel at this moment,
at thy filial piety. ' '

Eaising the weeping Katharina he rang a bell
placed upon a table near him. Her servant ap-
peared. Katharina embraced him anew, and
left the room, supported by the maid.

Friigger waited until he heard her enter her
apartment. Then he closed the door. A smile
of satisfaction played around the corners of his
mouth, and a look of triumph lightened his fea-
tures. He remained at first motionless and si-
lent. Little by little the air of contentment dis-
appeared and gave place to one of anxiety. His
face contracted ; he rose and commenced to walk
back and forth in the room.

"If she should change her ideas, retract the
promise that I have extorted from her; if she

296 The Spell of Belgium

should force me to consent to her marriage, or
worse still, marry without it, what could I do
then! — Oppose her design? — Impossible! —
Here," said he, taking from an escritoire a
parchment covered with several seals, "here is
this abhorred writing signed by the hand of my
wife, which exacts that when my daughter at-
tains the age of twenty-five years — or sooner, if
she wishes to marry — that I shall give her half
of my fortune, and to complete the misfortune,
confides to Hochstetter the guardianship of my
child ! Ah ! my wife knew well what she did in
making this will! She knew me, and was not
ignorant that this gold, these bonds, these treas-
ures, wTere my life, and that I would give my
soul to preserve them, and would willingly sac-
rifice my eternal salvation rather than be sepa-
rated from them. Part with them? Maledic-
tion ! Another to possess and have in his power
these riches, fruits of so many days of anxiety
and nights filled with anguish — of so many un-
fortunate speculations ! — Another to manage
this wealth so laboriously amassed — to have
the right to dispose of my money, to squander
it perhaps, for I know these Hochstetters ; they
live like princes and entertain all the nobles of
the land. — Grand Dieu! Not to be able to re-
joice daily over the sight of these riches; to

Legends of Antwerp 297

part with half. Never ! that shall never be ! I !
— Yes! I will sooner kill the unfortunate
child."

In exclaiming thus, the expression of his face
was so terrible that it was almost fiendish.
The violence of his emotions was so powerful
that he was himself startled by their intensity.
After a few moments of reflection he became
more calm.

' 1 1 am wrong to agitate myself thus ; she will
not marry ; she has promised it ; and then have
I not the testament in my own hands? But
Hochstetter knows it ; he possesses proofs of its
existence. I fear he has a copy of it. Oh ! he
knows very well what he has done ! My daugh-
ter, the wife of his son — le miserable! To
abuse thus my friendship, my confidence; that
calls for revenge. But no, I have merited it ; it
is my fault. She loves the son and respects the
father more than she does me. I could cry with
rage."

Pronouncing these words with ferocity he fell
back upon his seat, somber and discouraged,
and remained plunged in thought.

VI

A half hour later, when he judged that all
were wrapped in slumber he rose, took from a

298 The Spell of Belgium

secret compartment of his escritoire a little key,
lighted a dark lantern, and left the room. After
having assured himself that there was no fear of
meeting any one, he advanced softly and de-
scended the staircase. Arriving in the spacious
corridor, he first went to the street door to as-
sure himself that it was solidly fastened, re-
turned, opened another door at the end of the
corridor, and descended the stairs which led into
the cellar. The dwelling of the miser was very
large; the cellars extended under the street,
forming a species of labyrinth. His father had
constructed them upon a vast scale in order that
they might serve as storehouses in times of trou-
ble. Friigger went through them with a sure
step which proved sufficiently that all the nooks
and corners were familiar to him. After hav-
ing traversed several of these subterranean
chambers, he stopped suddenly before one of the
last, and listened attentively, to assure himself
that the same silence continued to reign, and
that no one would come to interrupt him. As
all remained tranquil he advanced towards one
of the angles of the vault. This angle differed
in* no respect from the others ; the walls were as
damp and as dark, but hardly had Friigger in-
troduced the little key into an imperceptible
opening, which no one but himself could dis-

Legends of Antwerp 299

tmguish, when a solid iron door turned upon
its hinges, opened, and permitted him to pass
into another vault of which no one would have
suspected the existence. After having listened
anxiously and persuaded himself that no one
watched him, he entered ; the massive door shut
behind him with a loud clang that sounded
through the subterranean apartments. A sec-
ond after the silence of death reigned through-
out the dwelling.

The next day Hochstetter presented himself
at the house. He had come for the last time to
ask the hand of Katharina for his son. Know-
ing his friend for so many years he had dis-
covered, notwithstanding Friigger's efforts to
hide it, the inexorable passion which tyrannized
over him, but he would never have believed that
the miser would be dominated by this passion
to such an extent as to cause the unhappiness
of these two children. Seeing that this demon
of avarice gained upon him every day he had
come to propose the union of Katharina and his
son, upon such terms as would be exceedingly
gratifying to the old man. He would take his
daughter without obliging him to part with the
slightest portion of his colossal fortune, not
even the heritage left her by her mother. He
felt almost certain that his old friend would

300 The Spell of Belgium

hasten to consent as soon as he made known his
intentions.

But Friigger could not be found. The serv-
ants, who for a long time had become accus-
tomed to the prolonged absences of their mas-
ter, at first were not anxious. They begged
Hochstetter to return later in the day, which he
did, but still no news of Priigger. As his dis-
appearances had never lasted so long, when
the whole day had passed, anxiety was at its
height. On returning the third time, he in-
sisted upon seeing Katharina. Their anxiety
overcame their respect for the severe orders of
their master, and they conducted him to her
presence. The young girl was happy to see her
old friend ; grief had rendered her incapable of
taking the necessary measures of searching for
her father, which Hochstetter willingly under-
took. He performed this task conscientiously,
and did all that was possible to be done, sparing
neither trouble nor expense to discover the re-
treat of his friend. He sent couriers to Ger-
many, Holland, Italy, and to all the great com-
mercial cities with which Friigger had had bus-
iness connections — but in vain. No one had
seen the rich German. No one could give any
information of him.

Another circumstance astonished Hochstetter.

Legends of Antwerp 301

He knew that the fortune of Friigger was one
of the most colossal of this period, and even if
he had not known' it, his books, kept with the
most scrupulous neatness and exactitude, were
there to prove that, far from diminishing, it
had increased considerably ; but then, in making
the inventory of what he really possessed, they
found only a quarter of what was expected.
This circumstance caused much remark from
the Antwerp merchants and the members of his
family who came to Antwerp to convince them-
selves of the truth of such an incredible event.
It was rumoured at the Bourse that Friigger the
Rich had fled, or committed suicide perhaps, on
account of the enormous losses that he had sus-
tained, and that his fortune had diminished in
an alarming manner. But Hochstetter knew
too well the fortune and the speculations of
Friigger to put any faith in these rumours.
The only certainty was that he had disappeared
and with him the greatest part of his riches,
and that Katharina had become an orphan suf-
ficiently rich but much below what she could
have one day hoped for.

A little more than a year after the disappear-
ance of Friigger the two lovers were married
in the church of St. Andre. Long, very long,
the miser's fate remained an inexplicable mys-

302 The Spell of Belgium

tery, and would have perhaps so remained for-
ever, if, as frequently happens, accident had
not explained the enigma. After the marriage
Carl and Katharina went to live in the sump-
tuous mansion of her husband, and the house
of Friigger was more or less abandoned. Hoch-
stetter had been dead many years when their
eldest son was about to be married, and as the
house of Friigger formed a part of his dowry
they resolved to repair and alter it, and make it
worthy of receiving the young couple. One day
while the workmen were excavating in the gar-
den they came to anounce to Carl that they had
found a few feet under the earth a vault of
which no one knew the existence. It contained
bars of gold and silver, coins of all countries,
precious stones, and especially diamonds of in-
calculable value. On the floor lay a skeleton.
From the pieces of clothing that still covered it
it was recognized as that of "Friigger the
Miser." In searching further they discovered
a heavy iron door, communicating with the
other cellars, and so artistically concealed in
the walls that it was impossible to suspect its
existence.

To open it, they were obliged to demolish it
completely. A very small key was found on the
other side of the door, still remaining in the

Legends of Antwerp 303

lock. There was the explanation of his frequent
absences and of the final disappearance of the
old man. In his eagerness to enjoy the sight
of his treasures, he had forgotten to take out
the key upon entering his sanctuary; the door
had closed upon him and he had remained alone
with his gold, and starved in the midst of riches
vast enough to have bought a realm.

IV

The Blacksmith of Antwerp

They were seated in a rich and shady
arbour, over which creeping vines wandered
in every variety of curve, suspending large
clusters of precious fruits, while the atmos-
phere was laden with the mellow fragrance
of the gorgeous plants which grew in wild,
untutored luxuriance about the shady re-
treat. The fading light of day yet lingered,
and gave a rosy hue to the face of the
maid who sat therein, as she regarded with
mournful tenderness the youth seated at her
side.

"Nay, Quentin," said she, "say not so, it is
duty which prompts me to say it must not be.

304 The Spell of Belgium

Had I not affection for my father, do yon believe
I would act contrary to my own desires ? would
I cause you unhappiness?"

"Is this your love?" said the other, with a
tone of fretfulness. "Methinks it cannot be a
very ardent flame when it is so easily extin-
guished by the perverse and obstinate tyranny
of a—"

"Stay your words," interrupted the girl, as
she laid her delicate hand tenderly on his lips.
"You will respect the father if you love the
child." The noble mind of the youth was
struck with the reproof, and although opposed
to his desires her filial reply expressed such
purity and excellence, that he instantly made
reparation.

"Forgive me, dearest," he entreated. "I
spoke hastily and unworthily. But your words
have crazed my soul, which builds its happiness
on the possession of you. If it may not be
that I shall be your husband, oh! promise me
that no other shall."

" I would fain do so," sighed the afflicted
girl, "but if my father commands, can I dis-
obey? I have had no mother's care since child-
hood, but I have scarce felt the loss. My father
has thrown off the coldness of a man and been
a very woman in his affection for me. Shall

Legends of Antwerp 305

I repay his kindness with ingratitude? Alas!
Quentin, if he tells me to love another, I can-
not do so ; but if he bids me wed, Quentin, you
would not censure me?" The expiring rays
of the setting sun fell on her features as she
earnestly gazed upon her lover.

"Ah!" cried the youth, with a sudden start,
as he struck his hand upon his brow, "why that
blush, that agitation? Deceive me not, Elzia,
you are not supposing a case. This has al-
ready happened; I see it all; your father has
selected a bridegroom for you."

The maid sank her head upon his bosom,
and through her struggling tears she sobbed,

I I Quentin, thou hast said it. ' '

Desperate was the conflict in the bosom of
the youth as he sat like one in a trance, his
eyes fixed on hers, which, like the sun break-
ing through clouds of the passing storm,
gleamed from under their dripping lashes.
Soon he saw the rainbow of hope.

"Who is my rival?" he asked with a voice
scarcely audible.

"Van Deg," she answered sorrowfully.

"Do you love him, Elzia?"

"How can you ask?"

"Will you marry him?"

"My father's happiness is dearer to me than

306 The Spell of Belgium

my own. Think you I would wantonly sacri-
fice it?"

i ' But why van Deg ? ' '

"Because he excels in my father's art."

"Alas!" cried the despairing lover, "why
am I not a painter ? ' '

The bed of Quentin was one of thorns that
night, as he threw himself upon it and yielded
to his agony of thought. How vainly, yet how
ardently had he loved, how industriously had he
laboured to procure her affection. Just when
he had achieved the victory over her confiding
heart, all that he struggled for was lost — no,
not lost — he could bear the thoughts of her
death, he could weep over her grave, he could
care for the flowers above it, but to think that
the prize must be torn from him to be given
to another's embrace, there was madness in it.
And then van Deg, that rough, haughty, dis-
tant man ! how unworthy he to possess a jewel
of such value, how unfit to care for such a tender
plant, how unsuitable his unsocial spirit for the
angel who needed some congenial soul to insure
her happiness.

"Will she not droop and die in that cold
atmosphere with him?" he asked himself, as
at length exhausted nature yielded to weari-
ness and he fell asleep.

Legends of Antwerp 307

The mind, however, yielded not to the fatigue
of the body ; on the contrary it seemed to have
more abundant vitality. Quentin dreamed he
was in the street. The bells rang, the people
shouted, and gay equipages passed by. It was
a day of public rejoicing, for Elzia, the daughter
of Algini, was to wed van Deg, the nation's
favourite, the celebrated painter. People re-
counted the scenes he had delineated and
lauded the artist to the skies. Quentin trem-
bled and the cold perspiration gathered on his
forehead as the nuptial cavalcade approached.
They halted at the chapel and the groom con-
ducted the bride all pale and trembling up the
aisle to the altar. As the father was about giv-
ing his daughter away, Quentin rushed up and
seized her; she shrieked and fell dead in his
embrace. Her relatives and the priest all
gazed in horror ! Quentin raised his eyes, saw
the misery in their countenances, and as his
face fell upon the bosom of his lovely burden
he expired — and at that moment awoke.

Still the people were before his eyes, fresh
in his recollection as if he had beheld the awful
scenes by the noonday sun. Impelled by an un-
accountable impulse he arose and lighted his
lamp, and taking a coal from the extinguished
embers in his chimney, he commenced a pic-

308 The Spell of Belgium

ture of tins scene upon the wall. He drew each
face, recoiling in surprise at the perfect resem-
blance to the individuals. As he finished the
outline he beheld in it a faithful transfer of his
dream, wanting nothing but colour. A thou-
sand thoughts darted through his brain. He
flung himself on his bed, and when he next
awoke the rays of the sun had gilded his apart-
ment. His first object was to seek the mural
picture, and he trembled lest it had all been a
dream, but there it stood as if executed by a
magic power.

"If this is the result of an effort with char-
coal, " cried he, striking his breast in a delirium
of joy, "what might I not effect with other
means? What might be my reward V9

As daylight sought its slumbers in the bosom
of night the lovers met again. "I'm doing
wrong,7' murmured Elzia, "in meeting you,
since I am an affianced bride. This night must
be our last. It is a sad thing to part with those
we love; yet I act as virtue dictates, and we
must meet no more, as — "

"Say not that we shall meet no more as
lovers; say that we shall meet no more; for,
Elzia, could we meet but to love, to upbraid
fate which so cruelly divides us?"

"I must away," said the girl; "if Quentin's

Legends of Antwerp

309

affection is pure he will condemn me for linger-

Farewell, then, sweetest. If I lose thee I
will wander to some distant clime and strive
to bury my regrets in new cares and new com-
panions.^

He imprinted a kiss upon her willing lips.
He watched her retiring form as it appeared and
disappeared amid the foliage at intervals until
it was finally lost to his anxious view; then he
turned slowly and sadly away.

Never did father love his daughter with more
fondness than Algini his child Elzia. Her good
was his great aim. He was an enthusiast in
the art of the pencil, and deemed that one of that
profession would be most worthy of his child.
The two passions of his soul mingled in such
a manner that they became one. He considered
the canvas a lasting monument to genius, and
that he would best secure his daughter's hap-
piness by uniting her to one who would be
alive to all posterity in his works. Algini had
therefore selected van Deg, as he was the boast
of his country, and the figures of his creation
wanted nothing but motion to make them the
exact counterpart of the living originals. Be-
sides, he was wealthy and would add to the
riches of the family. Finally, his daughter

310 The Spell of Belgium

was not old enough now to judge for herself,
and though she had confessed that she was
prejudiced against her proposed husband, a
few years of connubial intercourse would over-
come that, and she would ultimately be benefited.
Just as the father was at this point of re-
flection a letter carrier entered the apartment
and handed him a letter, saying he would wait
without for an answer, that he had been bound
by oath not to disclose who had commissioned
him to deliver this communication. Algini was
astonished at these words, and as soon as the
man retired broke the seal and read. .

"If the parent consulted the daughter's hap-
piness would he not find out from her whether
she loves another? I think she does. May it
not be a mistake for van Deg to possess the
fair being? May her marriage to the man of
your choice not hurry her to another world?
Her obedience causes her to submit. I lay
claim to her affections, but do not pretend to
alter your determination. You have the repu-
tation of patronizing merit as it appears in
painting. Defer the nuptials to this day twelve
month, and let van Deg on that day place his
chef d'ceuvre an the left of the altar. If the
one which appears on the right does not tell

Legends of Antwerp 311

of a more skilful master I abide the result. If
it does, then it is fair to leave your daughter
the privilege of choosing her husband."

The father was delighted with the proposal,
and agreed to the trial of skill in his favourite
pursuit. He accordingly returned word of his
acceptance of the terms and notified van Deg
thereof.

A year passed away, during which the lovers
never met. Elzia had lost sight of Quentin,
and in answer to her inquiries concerning him,
all that she had been able to learn was that
shortly after their last interview he had left
the city and had gone no one knew whither.

The wedding day arrived. Elzia kept a smil-
ing face, although her soul was weighed down
by grief.

The chapel was thronged with people anxious
to view the ceremony, and as the bride, richly
clad, was led to the altar by her father the latter
announced that her hand was to be bestowed on
the artist whose skill was to be determined by
the merit of* the pictures which stood veiled on
either side of the altar. At the proclamation
van Deg glanced triumphantly around, and
striding to the picture he had painted, un-
curtained it to their view. A burst of applause

312 The Spell of Belgium

rose from the audience as lie did so, and wel'!
merited was the cry of approval. The paint-
ing was of the chapel and the company as-
sembled for the marriage. There was the priest
all but breathing, while the bride and groom
and their friends appeared as if in the full
flush of joy.

Algini was about to speak in rapture of the
performance when suddenly the other curtain
was drawn aside and a cry of horror burst
from the multitude as they pressed forward to
behold it better. Van Deg gazed in breathless
wonder and Algini uttered a wild shriek of de-
spair— ' ' My daughter ! ' '

The picture represented Quentin's dream;
each face in it was easy to recognize, except that
of the youth, which was buried in the bosom of
the bride. But before they had fully scanned
it, it was thrust aside and another appeared in
its place. This represented a lonely arbour in
which Algini in his old age dangled a beautiful
infant which bore a likeness to Elzia, who sat
on an opposite seat with her head resting on the
bosom of a young man, whose arm encircled her
waist.

Every one was charmed and delighted beyond
measure, and as they beheld the youth, every
tongue cried, "The Blacksmith!"

;: f

1:

^ \ : 1 it f - K,

' * '* ' •(. . -It

iM1

iH

pi

|

t^ 1,PS\-f

WELL OP QUENTIN MATSYS, ANTWERP.

Legends of Antwerp 313

"Blacksmith no more," said Quentin, step-
ping from behind the canvas, "but the artist
who demands his reward."

It is unnecessary to say more than that genius
was rewarded, and to the happy husband
Quentin Matsys, the Blacksmith of Antwerp,
the world owes some of the finest relics of art.

THE MILK GIRL

Long, very long before the city of Ant-
werp had attained the extent which it now
has, the milk-women, who supplied the city
with this indispensable liquid, met every morn-
ing in a public square, which was soon desig-
nated by the name of " March e-au-Lait" (Milk
Market). These women, like all business peo-
ple at that time, belonged to a corporation
which had its rules, rights and privileges.
They were too proud to serve the "bourgeois"
upon the steps of his door, so each servant was
obliged to go to their stands to buy milk.

The pump now situated in the Milk Market
is a very pretty monument. It is surmounted
by a carved statuette representing a milk-

314 The Spell of Belgium

woman, with the peculiar brass milk can of the
country upon her head. It is the history of this
statuette which we propose to relate.

There still exists on the Milk Market an old
house, which is, one would say, in nearly the
same condition that it was three hundred years
ago. Like all the houses of that period (which
are so faithfully represented in the admirable
paintings of the celebrated artist, Baron Leys)
the front is of wood, ornamented with carving
in the Gothic style, one story projecting over
the other, and surmounted by a triangular
gable. One would think it had not undergone
the slightest alteration since the day it was
built. The same small iron knocker hangs upon
the old oaken door. There is not the slightest
doubt that the same stone forms the threshold,
it is so worn and polished; it was formerly a
square but has now become nearly a cylinder.
The whole aspect of the house is so little
changed, that if the first person who dwelt in
it should come back to earth today he would
easily recognize it. The interior as well as the
exterior is unaltered. There are the same
straight somber stairs, the same large fire-
places, and gilded leather upon the principal
room. Not a stone has been replaced, not a
piece of wood removed. The repairs which

Legends of Antwerp 315

must have been made in the course of three
hundred years, have only served to retain every-
thing in its original state. But what is still
more singular, the individuals who have suc-
cessively occupied this house, and their num-
ber must have been considerable, all resembled
each other, in their manners and morals. Was
it accident, predestination, or the unvarying
aspect of the house, continually making the
same impression upon its inhabitants, which
finally made them nearly identical beings?

The present inhabitant is a basket maker, as
was the first, three centuries ago, and as have
been all those who have occupied the house be-
tween these two periods. They were from the
first to the last, people whose ideas were at
least half a century behind the times. If we
should search the history of this antique dwell-
ing, we should probably find that the biography
of one would answer for all. The basket maker
who occupied this house in 1530 was named
Klaes Dewis — his wife Gertrude. They were,
as we have said, at least half a century behind,
in their manners, opinions and dress. His
neighbours called him the man of the good old
times. Although possessed of a moderate for-
tune and without children, he was such a miser
that he would, as the Flemish saying is, " split

316 The Spell of Belgium

a match in four pieces," which is certainly the
height of meanness.

A young peasant girl, fresh and blonde, with
large blue eyes, and picturesque costume, came
every morning and placed herself before his
house, to sell the milk which she brought in a
fine brass can, polished like a mirror. The cus-
tom of seeing her a few hours every day had
gradually caused an affection between her and
this worthy couple ; although in part based upon
personal interest, still it was deep. As the
basket maker sometimes said, he had for Lyntje,
(which was the name of the pretty peasant), a
paternal love, and as for Gertrude, his wife, she
said she loved her as she would a daughter.

When the weather was bad, if it rained or
snowed, Dewis could not display his baskets,
which were usually installed at the door, con-
sequently Lyntje occupied their place and was
sheltered from the elements. When it was cold,
she came from time to time to warm herself in
the kitchen. The milk girl was touched by
these delicate attentions, and showed it by giv-
ing good measure to Mother Dewis, who for one
Hard had often more milk than her neighbours
for two. These agreeable relations had ex-
isted for several years, when suddenly an un-
foreseen event terminated them.

Legends of Antwerp 317

One morning in the month of August, 1530,
Dewis did not see the young peasant arrive at
her accustomed hour. He waited until the mid-
dle of the day before he put his baskets out, as
it threatened to rain. Such a thing had not
happened since the day he first made her ac-
quaintance. Mother Dewis was so affected that
she forgot to buy milk of another. This gave
her husband an opportunity of saying that the
use of milk was only a luxurious habit. But it
made no impression upon his better half, to
whom the absence of Lyntje was a cause of
great inquietude.

"Can she be sick?" she asked him with
anxiety. But then she recalled her robust con-
stitution, her rosy cheeks, and dismissed that
thought as impossible.

The next day no Lyntje. This was extremely
grave, and their anxiety was at its height. The
basket maker was on the point of going out of
the city (which he had not done for perhaps
twenty years) to the village where Lyntje lived.
He would have executed this design if his wife
had not observed to him, that he would gravely
compromise the soles of his shoes. This judi-
cious remark caused him to postpone his ex-
cursion until the next day. The next morning
a countryman came to inform them of the death

318 The Spell of Belgium

of Lyntje. The poor girl had been taken ill and
died the same night. Before dying, she had
remembered her friends in the city, and had
expressed the desire that some one would carry
them the fatal news. The basket maker and his
wife, smitten in their dearest affection, wish-
ing to do something for the repose of her sonl,
formed the resolution that they would never
again use milk !

ii

Several weeks had passed since the death of
the generous milk girl, and her old friends had
not been able to recover the calm of their former
life. They seemed on the contrary to become
more melancholy as the days and weeks wore
on after that unfortunate event. Instead of
taking the air upon their doorsteps and con-
versing with their neighbours, as they had been
in the habit of doing, they never sat there now,
and had become nearly invisible. They went
regularly every morning to the cathedral, where
as exemplary Christians, they attended the first
mass. Then they had such a depressed air, the
expression of their faces showed a grief so bit-
ter, that not an inhabitant of the market dared
to speak to them. When, however, one bolder
than the others ventured to question them, he

Legends of Antwerp 319

obtained only a few syllables in response. The
neighbours, who all felt a great sympathy for
them, would have been glad to console them.
They did not know what to think of such sin-
gular conduct, so contrary to all their hab-
its.

" I cannot believe that grief alone, for a friend
like Lyntje, could affect them to such a point,"
said Mynheer Schuermans, the plumber, one
day to his friend, Mynheer Dorekens, the baker
upon the corner, who in the morning came to
chat with one or the other of his neighbours
while his last oven of bread was baking.

' 'It is true that they lost something," re-
sponded he, "because my wife says so, and she
is incapable of telling a falsehood. You know,
neighbour, Mother Dewis had more milk for
her Hard than we for two."

"And have you noticed," said the wife of
Schuermans, joining in the conversation held
before her door, "that Dewis completely neg-
lects his business? Only yesterday he forgot
to put out his baskets when he returned from
the cathedral. They have not opened their door
during the day. It is thirty years since we
have lived upon the market, and I cannot re-
member such a thing to have happened. If it
had rained — but such superb weather. Is their

320 The Spell of Belgium

business in a bad state 1 I do not think so. He
has money."

1 1 What can it be ! ' ' said all three.

At the same instant the basket maker's door
slowly opened, and he came out with so much
gravity, even solemnity, that the neighbours
were struck with astonishment and suddenly
ceased their conversation. There was reason
for it. It was the middle of the week, notwith-
standing which he had on his Sunday suit, which
at this time never occurred except upon impor-
tant occasions. To the friendly nocl of his
neighbours he responded by a silent and melan-
choly salutation, and advanced with slow and
measured steps in the direction of a very fine
mansion situated near the cathedral. They
watched him until he had reached the mansion.

"Myn Gott! what does that mean?" gasped
the plumber, leaning towards Dorekens, who
was stupefied like himself. "I hope he is not
going to knock at that door. That will be" —
but before he had time to finish his sentence,
Dewis already had the knocker in his hand, and
let it fall heavily. The blow made the attentive
neighbours shudder, and had the same effect
upon their nervous systems as an electric shock.

"May all the saints come to aid us!" cried
Schuermans. ' i How will this end ? ' '

Legends of Antwerp 321

"Has Gertrude had an attack of apoplexy V9
exclaimed his wife. "Then," — But, before she
could finish, the door in question had been
opened, and the basket maker had entered.

In order to understand the astonishment of
the neighbours, it will suffice to say that the
mansion which Dewis had so audaciously en-
tered was the residence of the archbishop. As
it was generally understood that a person must
be in an excessively critical position before dar-
ing to address this high ecclesiastical function-
ary, one will easily understand the impression
upon the neighbours of such an important act
upon the part of the basket maker, who was
generally known as rather a timid man. We
will leave them for a moment discussing their
opinions, to follow Dewis, but before all, we
must make known to the reader the reasons
which had induced the basket maker to take such
an important step.

in

It was hardly three days after the death of
Lyntje, when one night they were awakened by
a strange noise, occasioned it seemed to them by
some one who had opened the door of their
dwelling. They listened attentively. Nothing !
The clock of the cathedral was just striking.

322 The Spell of Belgium

They counted the strokes. As Dewis was pre-
paring to rise, he heard the cry of the watch-
man, "Midnight, and all is well," which con-
vinced him that he was deceived. An instant
after, however, he thought he heard the noise
of some one slowly ascending the stairs which
led to his room. He sat up in bed, listened with
anxiety, and tried to find an explanation for
these sinister and incomprehensible sounds.
They became more and more distinct, and ap-
proached nearer the door.

"Who is there?" cried Dewis, with a voice
choking with fear.

No answer. A cold perspiration covered his
body, his teeth chattered, his eyes were dis-
tended, as he tried to pierce the darkness. Sud-
denly it seemed to him that his door opened.
He had no strength to cry out, but waited more
dead than alive. An icy wind penetrated the
room, agitated the curtains and swept across
the face of Dewis. Sighs and sobs commenced.
What was it? Had it a form, a body? Was it
a human being? Dewis knew not, although he
heard only too well the groans and sobs and be-
lieved he distinguished steps, but he saw noth-
ing, heard not a word, not a syllable. Never-
theless the strange intruder, the spirit or ghost,
continued to moan. It advanced towards the

Legends of Antwerp 323

bed, approached so near that the sobs sounded
almost in the ear of the terrified basket maker.
Then slowly it departed. Dewis heard it go out
by another door beside his bed and enter an ad-
joining room, where it continued to lament.

"Now what was this? An apparition, a spec-
ter, or simply the effect of an hallucination? "
he asked himself. Again he heard the same
noises as before. This time they resounded
above him in the attic, then ceased, and at last
the house became silent. It will be superfluous
to say that after the departure of his frightful
guest, he was in a pitiable state. He did not
dare to rise, and he could not sleep. The ris-
ing sun found him terrified and overcome. As
to his wife, she had immediately after the first
noise gone to sleep again. When her husband
related to her what he had heard she appeared
incredulous, and did all in her power to soothe
and quiet him. She succeeded in partly con-
vincing him that what he believed to have heard
was the result of tired and excited nerves.

But when the following night at the same
hour the groans recommenced, he had the pres-
ence of mind to awaken her. They both lis-
tened attentively. Like the preceding night,
the same sighs and sobs were heard, first softly,
then they seemed to enter the chamber, going

324 The Spell of Belgium

out at the second door and finishing in the
attic. This time there was no doubting that
the apparition was real. What was to be done ?
The basket maker was a member of the society
instituted at the cathedral to perform rites for
the repose of souls, which gave him the privilege
of joining in the processions, covered with a
mantle of black silk. He had ever been ani-
mated with the laudable desire of delivering
souls from purgatory, and did not for a single
instant doubt that this was some poor soul in
trouble, who had come to recommend himself to
his powerful intervention.

But whose soul was this, and what body had
it animated in this world? The soul of Lyntje!
That could not be. They prayed every day for
her, and had resolved to use no more milk, for
the repose of the soul of this very regretted
friend.

We have said before that they attended regu-
larly every morning the first mass in the ca-
thedral. In consequence of these reflections,
they resolved hereafter to hear two masses a
day, the second for the soul in trouble which had
chosen their dwelling to manifest its desire to
be delivered from purgatory. They had a firm
belief in the efficacy of prayer, but unfortunately
the masses failed to have any good result. The

Legends of Antwerp 325

apparition returned every night, the sighs and
groans increased in violence. At first, they
were not discouraged, but soon lost confidence
in their prayers, and with that, courage. They
slept no more and during the days conversed
only of the incredible events of the nights, and
to complete their sorrow, they dared not speak
of it to any one for fear of being called super-
stitious or visionary. It was not astonishing,
then, that the neighbours noticed a great change
in the habits of Dewis. Both he and Gertrude
became more melancholy and grew thin and pale.
Their shop remained shut for days in succession.
At last they concluded they could no longer en-
dure this state of things, and accordingly Dewis
told his wife that he was going to the arch-
bishop to tell him of the affair, notwithstanding
the gossip such a step would give rise to. Far
from opposing, she applauded his design. And
this is the reason why the basket maker had
dared dress himself up in his best suit to make
this visit, so well calculated to astonish his
neighbours.

Admitted to the presence of this worthy ec-
clesiastic, he informed him fully of the grave
motives which had forced him to take this step.
He spoke to him of the remedies employed — the
sprinkling of holy water, prayers repeated with

326 The Spell of Belgium

fervour, and long masses. He did not hide from
him that all this had been of no avail, which had
occasioned in himself and wife a certain lack of
confidence in their pious practices. In conclu-
sion, he explained the nature of their relations
with the deceased milk girl.

The high dignitary listened with patience to
the explanations and griefs of the basket maker,
and when he had finished made him a little ser-
mon upon his lack of faith in prayers and
masses. He promised to come to his house
that evening, to see or at least to hear the spec-
ter, to exorcise it, and to deliver the house from
the obnoxious visitor. His words filled the
basket maker with great joy, and if he had not
been forbidden, he would have cried aloud in
the street that the archbishop was to honour
him with a visit that evening. Thus on return-
ing before his neighbours his looks evinced so
much joy and pride that Schuermans and his
wife, also Dorekens, were perhaps more puzzled
than they were an hour before at his profound
sorrow.

The archbishop came in the evening to the
dwelling of Dewis, and remained very late at
night. What did he? What saw he? What
was his opinion of the specter, and in what
category of phantoms did he place it? Did his

Legends of Antwerp

prayers dissipate it? These are questions
which it is impossible for us to answer, as no
one ever knew what transpired. But tradition
says that from that night the house of the bas-
ket maker was no more troubled, and every-
thing resumed its customary appearance.
They contented themselves with their morning
mass, as formerly, and held their usual con-
versations with their neighbours at the door.

IV

But a few days hardly had passed after the
visit of the archbishop when one morning the
Milk Market was in great commotion, all the in-
habitants formed in groups, men and women
talking and gesticulating with vehemence.

' 'Have you seen it? Have you heard it?
What will become of us?" Such were the in-
terrogations which were heard from all. The
answers appeared to satisfy no one and only
served to increase the general agitation. The
milk girls mixed with the groups, neglecting
their business to listen with astonishment to the
interesting explanations of Schuermans and his
friends. It must have been something very
grave, for the inhabitants of the neighbouring
streets came in crowds to learn the cause of the
disturbance. The sighs and groans which had

The Spell of Belgium

so long troubled the old basket maker and his
wife had been driven from the dwelling of
Dewis. Immediately after midnight the spec-
ter had promenaded back and forth in the
streets, and each time that it passed, had
stopped before the door of its friends, and had
filled the air with its lamentations. It com-
plained now in a more distinct manner, and
cried frequently : —

"Half water! Half milk! Small measure!
I have lost my soul ! ' '

It was this the plumber heard, and his wTife,
and the baker and others. But no one except
Dewis could explain these exclamations. He
could be silent no longer. He called Schuer-
mans and a few others, and confided to them
the secret of what had happened to him. They
all agreed that it was the soul of Lyntje alone
which troubled the repose of the inhabitants.
If it was not, why had it always showed a
marked predilection for the house of Dewis?
They now recollected that they had often had
suspicions of the colour of the liquid which
Lyntje sold, and many housekeepers had com-
plained of the smallness of her measure, wThich
applied so well to the words of the ghost : —

1 ' Half water ! Half milk ! Small measure ! ' '

The following night the same cries and lam-

Legends of Antwerp 329

entations were heard. There was no more
sleep for those that dwelt on the Milk Market.
Many of the inhabitants decided to move im-
mediately rather than continue to reside in a
street visited by specters and phantoms. They
foresaw the time when the market would pre-
sent the appearance of an abandoned village —
when, happily, the plumber Schuermans had a
brilliant idea. He proposed to place upon the
middle of the market a monument representing
the material form of the soul of Lyntje.

' 'It was," he said, "a sure remedy against
invasions of specters, and had been proved suc-
cessful many times." He went on to explain
the virtue of this remedy. * ' Specters, it is well
known, are souls which some crime or sin obliges
to wander over the earth until they can find
some one who will replace them in this world.
A statue serves perfectly well as a representa-
tive, and consequently produces the same ef-
fect."

Dewis then made known to them that the
archbishop had counseled him to erect a statue
of the Holy Virgin. After long deliberations it
was resolved that they would place two statues
at the expense of the neighbourhood. Before
the end of the week they set up both. The
statuette of Lyntje was placed over a well at the

330 The Spell of Belgium

north of the market, that of the Virgin at the
south, near the dwelling of Dewis. It is useless
to add that from that day they have had no more
trouble with specters.

The legend explains the origin of the two
images which are still to be seen at the ' ' Marche
au Lait." Several years ago, when wells were
replaced by pumps, they put the statuette of
the Milk Girl upon the top of the pump. It is a
veritable work of art, a jewel. We regret that
the name of the sculptor is unknown to us.

CHAPTER XIV

IN THE WALLOON COUNTKY

|HE line of the old Flemish principality

r/ ran from Antwerp southwest to Courtrai,
but today the line that divides the French
and the Flemish speaking Belgians runs due
east and west, from Vise to Courtrai, with
Brussels midway in its course.

North of the line are the fertile plains and
gardens, the busy cities and the factories, of
Flanders. Through them flows the Scheldt, the
river of commerce.

South of the line are the mines and the moun-
tains, the foundries and the forests, of Namur,
Liege, Hainault, and the Ardennes. This is the
Walloon country, through which runs the Meuse,
the river of romance.

In the north live the stolid, easy-going, devout
Flemish peasantry, while in the south are the
lively, energetic, enterprising Walloons. They
are a larger people physically than their neigh-
bours, more heavily built, and of darker colour-
ing, for there is a strain of Spanish blood in

331

332 The Spell of Belgium

their ancestry. Many Walloons came to Amer-
ica in the seventeenth century, and we have had
few immigrants of better stock. Showalter
says that the women are " famed for their in-
dustry, thrift, cleanliness, capacity for hard
work, and cheerfulness whatever their lot."

The country of the Meuse and the Sambre
is by far the loveliest part of Belgium. It
abounds in myths and legends suited to the wild,
romantic scenery of its hills and valleys. It
abounds also in the villas and chateaux of the
Belgian noblesse and haute bourgeoisie. The
wealthy people of the cities delighted in their
summers among the mountains of the Ardennes,
while many families of ancient lineage but
lesser fortunes lived the year round in their old-
world houses.

Some of the chateaux were of exceptional
beauty. Our trip to Belceil, the seat of the de
Ligne family, will never be forgotten, for it
was the finest chateau in Belgium. His High-
ness the Prince de Ligne had asked us out to
luncheon, and we started about nine, motoring
out toward Hal and Enghien.

It was a bright, sunny day, and the country
rolled away on every side, checkered with its
crops in varying stages of ripeness into fields
of green and orange and lemon and brown. The

A Village in the Ardennes

In the Walloon Country 333

roadside was flecked with red poppies and blue
cornflowers, and quaint farmhouses dotted the
landscape. We passed deep forests, too, with
glimpses of old chateaux through the vistas.

At Hal there was a lovely old church, with a
Virgin famous for miracles. We stopped and
went in; choir boys were singing antiphonally,
and there was a sweet smell of incense and a
soft, religious light.

At Enghien there was a chateau which was
favoured with a fairy protectrice, no less than
Melusine, so famous in song and story. Long,
long ago she married a mortal, Comte Raymond
de Foret, and raised for him a castle which she
never ceased to guard. Always before the
death of a member of the family "la fee Melu-
sine apparait sur la terrasse du chateau." The
Luxembourg's and other noble families changed
their pedigrees in order that they might claim
descent from fairy Melusine.

Of lower degree but even greater service were
the fairies who dwelt aforetimes in a cave at
Arquenne. The good folk of the neighbourhood
used to leave their soiled linen there of an eve-
ning, with some food. In the morning they
would return to find that the "little people"
had done their work and left the clothes all clean
and white.

334 The Spell of Belgium

After passing numberless quaint and pic-
turesque villages we came at length to the gates
of the park behind which stood the chateau of
Belceil, with its courtyard and inclosing wings.
We followed the road lined with orange trees
and crossed a bridge over the moat into the
broad court with the facade of the house on
three sides. Footmen lined the steps as Ave
mounted into the cool vestibule, from which we
passed through various rooms into the hand-
some salons.

The house was a museum of valuable and his-
toric things — potiches, curios and rare furni-
ture. On the walls were great pictures repre-
senting scenes in the story of the de Lignes, and
presentation portraits of kings and queens.

Through the windows we could see the wide
moat outside, and the English garden opposite
with its beds of brilliant flowers and its back-
ground of trees and foliage. Soon after lunch-
eon we went out into the sunny glare and the
great heat of the open terraces, and crossed into
the cool alleys of the French garden.

A great lagoon opposite the main terrace was
continued in a vista through the forest off to the
horizon, broken by a monumental sculpture
which was reflected in the water. The wood
was divided formally by alleys leading to some

In the Walloon Country 335

architectural or natural detail, and open glades
were arranged with pools, while a little riv-
ulet, made artificially natural, went winding
through the woods with a pretty path along-
side.

The Prince permitted the greater part of the
garden and park to be used by the people of his
little town, but Belceil was so out of the way
that strangers never went there. I use the past
tense, because the chateau has been razed to
the ground since the war began. I also learn
that two members of the de Ligne family have
been killed.

In order to carry out our plans we had to
leave Belceil in the heat of the early afternoon.
Motoring out again across the rolling land-
scape we came to Mons, passing on the way
through some of the de Croy properties and
forests. This region is the great coal-mining
district, the Borinage, and the beauty of the
scenery is rather spoiled by the huge, conical
mountains of the detritus which is brought out
of the mines, and by the black, sooty look of
things.

Mons was a dull, quiet old town, rather pic-
turesque in its way, with its old church and
belfry crowning the hill. As we came out of
the church the chime of bells in the tower musi-

336 The Spell of Belgium

cally rang the hour, sounding sweetly in the
sleepy silence of the place. The stillness has
since been broken by other sounds than those,
for Mons figured largely in the battle of the
Meuse.

From there we were off once more to visit
the ruins of the old chateau of Havre, once the
stronghold and residence of the de Croy family.
It rose high out of a stagnant moat, all gray and
pinkish, with irregular architecture and a tall
tower with a bulbous top. From this rose the
cross of Lorraine, for the de Croys quartered
their arms with this great family. The
chateau was quite stately and magnificent, and
its courtyard, all grass-grown, must have seen
fine sights in its day.

' Not far from Mons is Binche, a town cele-
brated for its carnival held on Mardi-Gras—
the festival of the Dancing Gilles. In spite of
the fact that it has always been a source of
much pride to the Belgians, its only unique
feature was that of the Gilles, which distin-
guished it from other carnivals.

These Gilles, or dancing men, were charac-
terized by their headdress and humps. The
former was most striking and elaborate, resem-
bling in shape the old top-hat of our great-
grandfathers, and surmounted with magnificent

In the Walloon Country 337

ostrich feathers three or four feet long, giving
the wearers the stature of giants. From each
hat, besides, flowed wide, variegated ribbons.
The trousers of a Gille were bedecked with
trimmings of real lace, and ribbons matching
those on the hat. About the waist was a silk
belt from which hung small bells. Each Gille
wore a mask.

The entire outfit cost from forty to fifty dol-
lars, which was a large sum for the peasant
youths who were generally chosen by the carni-
val committee. But the honour of being a Gille
was so great, since only good dancers could be
selected, and carried with it such prestige
among the local damsels, that the young men
were only too pleased to make the necessary
financial sacrifice.

On the afternoon of Mardi-Gras the Gilles, in
full uniform and preceded by the local brass
bands and musical clubs, appeared in procession
and marched, two hundred strong, to the
Grande Place, dancing to the music of the band.
At every few steps they stopped, bending this
way and that to make the bells at their waist
ring more effectively. Their streamers floated
to and fro with every motion, enveloping them
in a rainbow of ribbon. The simultaneous ring-
ing of bells and thumping of wooden sabots on

338 The Spell of Belgium

the cobblestones sounded like the echo of a cav-
alry charge.

Each Gille had a straw basket hanging from
one side of his belt and filled with oranges, with
which he bombarded the spectators as he
danced along, men appointed for the purpose
following close behind to see that the baskets
were kept filled. A general battle of oranges
between Gilles and carnival merrymakers en-
sued, lasting till the procession reached the town
hall. In front of this, on a platform, sat the
mayor and his officials, and here the Gilles
terminated the day's festivities by a sort of war
dance which gave them a chance to show what
they could do.

The public joined in the fun, and soon thou-
sands of persons — men, women and children —
were gaily waltzing around the Grande Place.
The sight of an entire population in carnival
costume and masked, dancing in the open air
to the music of the bands, was not one to be
easily forgotten. The sport continued till late
evening, when it was brought to an end by the
mayor, who formally awarded a gold medal to
the Gille who had proved himself the most ex-
pert dancer of them all.

From Binche we motored on again, calling on
Prince Henri de Croy's cousins who lived in

PRINCE HENRI DE CROY.

In the Walloon Country 339

the chateau of Le Roeulx, where Prince Henri
himself had been born and brought up. Part
of this house dates from 1100 a.d., and after its
destruction in succeeding wars was rebuilt and
added to repeatedly. For six centuries the de
Croys have lived there without a break.

In passing through a small town one came
suddenly on its gate and saw the wide-standing
fagade of the chateau facing across the terraces
of the park. Inside there was a Gothic vesti-
bule, and the rooms stretching into the wings
were old-fashioned and interesting, some of
them with old Chinese paper on the walls.
On the rear side, towards the park, the ground
fell away abruptly, so that the building seemed
to stand very high, and one looked out over the
tops of the trees of the forest. The living room
was, strangely enough, at the top of the house,
and was approached by a great double stairway
with very old carved balustrades and panel;
ing.

Of still a different type was Ophem, the seat
of the de Grunne family. The chateau was
very quaint and pretty, an old monastery with
a simple, vine-covered facade surrounding a
little flower-bordered and parterred garden
with a high balustraded wall at one side, shaded
by overhanging trees. The front had been

340 The Spell of Belgium

added at a later time and was quite rococo in
style, with many heavy moldings. This looked
out over a terrace with a bit of park sloping
down to a lagoon. Flowers in formal beds and
rows gave colour everywhere. Near by was a
dear little chapel with a statue in a niche out-
side ; we were told that the niche had been de-
signed by the Comtesse de Flandre.

After tea we set off for home, scooting down
towards Wavre and Perwez, through the land
of Brabant. From the broken, hilly country
we dropped gradually back among the rolling
fields once more, all aglow with their crops,
through the tree-lined avenues of the Foret de
Soignes, and so into Brussels.

The chateau life was not one of gaiety — in
fact, I think perhaps most of us would have con-
sidered it rather dull. There was some riding
on horseback, walking, and a little tennis, but
on the whole not very much outdoor exercise.
Some one has said that "they raised the habit
of doing nothing in the open air to the level of
a science.' '

The chief interest of the men was shooting
and hunting. On many of the properties the
game was carefully preserved. When the
season opened, chateau life became for the time
quite gay, with dejeuners de chasse and diners

In the Walloon Country 341

de cliasse, lively reunions of the fashionable
set. They hunted foxes and hares, and a few
kept packs of hounds. Over the border in the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg;, where some Bel-
gians held property, the wild boar was occa-
sionally hunted.

As the Belgians are nearly all musical, the
children of the family were taught to play va-
rious instruments, and the evenings were
passed pleasantly enough, some member of the
group singing while others played the piano,
'cello, or violin.

In the Ardennes country the houses were
often near enough for frequent calls and visits,
made in the late afternoon when all would as-
semble round the tea table. The quiet days
were rarely broken by even the smallest excite-
ment. These families certainly passed from
one extreme to the other during the early
months of the war.

Another motor trip took us somewhat farther
afield, by Liege and Spa into the Ardennes, and
back through Dinant and Namur. This is the
Belgium of the Middle Ages, of Emperor
Charlemagne and all his kin, of wars, and of
wonders without end. Even its once famous
watering place we found a thing of the past and

342 The Spell of Belgium

not out of harmony with the legendary land
round about.

Liege is the capital of the Walloon district,
and with its dozen strong fortresses was, with
Namur, considered the chief defense of the
Meuse valley. Namur was supposed to block
the road between France and Brussels, while
Liege was to fend off Germany from the Bel-
gian capital. It commands all the roads from
Germany, indeed it was the door to Belgium
which, once forced open, left the whole country
at the mercy of the invaders. In ten days from
its fall, the government officials removed from
Brussels to Antwerp, later to Ostend, and finally
to Havre. In a fortnight the Germans had
hewn their way to Charleroi. Liege as we saw
it had about two hundred thousand inhabitants,
and was beautifully placed on a high bluff over-
looking the river, with hills and fertile valleys
surrounding it.

Not far from there is the ancient little town
of Jupille, which they say is haunted by the
shade of Pepin the Short, who lived there long
ago. They still showed one the ruins of an old
mill at the lower end of the village where
Pepin's wife, Bertha of the Big Foot, took
refuge from her irate lord on the occasion of
some misunderstanding between them.

In the Walloon Country

This Bertha was the mother of the great
Charlemagne and lived to a ripe old age, coming-
down to us as the heroine of many legends. It
is claimed that her famous son was born in this
same village of Jupille, although this is much
disputed. The author of "La Meuse Beige"
suggests that the Emperor may have been born
in a carriage or at some village inn, for "Pepin
his father constantly found himself on the high
roads about 742, and Bertha his mother was
obliged, like the honest woman she was, to go
from one place to another to meet her lord. ' '

At Liege we crossed the river, with its pretty
embankments and bridges, into the more hilly
country, climbing up winding roads that fol-
lowed the ravines and streams, into higher
places where the air was fresh and fragrant.
Some of the towns through which we passed
had a really Alpine look. Finally we turned
into the long avenue which led us into Spa.

This pretty town, so famous as the first
watering place in Europe, and for a long time
the most fashionable, was deadly quiet that
warm summer afternoon. On the terraces of
the casino there was not a soul to be seen, and
only two or three forlorn-looking drinkers at
the spring-house. Even the promenades were
empty.

344 The Spell of Belgium

We thought it might be the hour when people
were resting, so later we fared forth to see the
gaieties of which we had heard so much. This
time we found half a dozen others walking aim-
lessly up and down the streets. At dinner,
silence reigned. In the evening we tried our
best to cheer up, and went to the casino where a
few persons were scattered about the audi-
torium listening to music. This seemed to be
the height of the season at Spa, whose name has
come into our language as a synonym for gaiety
and relaxation.

So we got away next morning and ran up a
long, steep, splendid road on to fine rolling up-
lands that waved away like the Bohemian High-
lands, with lovely views in the blue distance.
We were some fifteen hundred feet up, and the
air was very refreshing as we sped along.
Now and then we dipped again into valleys with
wooded slopes and ravines with palisades. We
were in the real Ardennes country, the famous
"Forest of Arden" of "As You Like It," which
was sung by Ariosto a century or so before that.

In this region was the church of St. Hubert,
to which peasants made Christian pilgrimage.
Under the choir was a crypt where they knelt.
A thread from the stole of the ancient saint was
said to have had the power to cure hydropho-

In the Walloon Country 345

bia, if aided by cauterization. But more easily,
4 ' one may prevent hydrophobia by carrying on
the finger a ring or wearing a medal which has
touched the relics of the saint; also by eating
or making one's animals eat the blessed bread
of St. Hubert." This bread is given chiefly to
dogs, I believe.

We ran by picturesque La Roches and Roche-
fort, with fine smooth roads following the beds
of little rivers in the valleys and climbing in
zigzags the low mountains till we came, about
one o'clock, to Han. Here we went at once, of
course, to the Grottes de Han, which were very
popular with tourists. It was an experience
worth having. We passed through endless pas-
sages, grotesque and beautiful with stalactites
and stalagmites, the varied effects well lighted
by electricity. The finest thing, most terrible
and impressive, was the Salle du Dome, where
the black shadows were lost in the immensity
of the vault. It is a cavern four hundred feet
high and more than that in breadth, with a sort
of mountain of broken boulders up which winds
a path into the dusky gloom and blackness of
the upper regions. But I must say it was more
suggestive of the lower regions than the upper,
especially when a guide with a flaring torch
climbed and climbed, disappearing behind cliffs

346 The Spell of Belgium

of darkness and reappearing on precipices till he
stood at last, a tiny figure far above us, in Sa-
tan's Pulpit, and lighted a fire that seemed to
burn in another world.

Later we came to the banks of the subter-
ranean river that flows through the mountain,
and got into boats. As we floated down, the
vaults reechoed the singing of our fellow-
travelers. But presently we saw ahead of us
the light of clay, peering in through the end of
the cave, and slipped out — into the rain.

The car met us there, so we were able to get
away again quickly. Off once more over the
fine roadways, we passed Ciergnon, the summer
chateau of the King, on its high bluff over-
looking the vast landscape. Through more
broken country we came down into the valley
of the Meuse at Dinant, then one of the most
picturesque places in Europe. Its palisades
and striking cliff formations were crowned with
ruined castles, like a miniature Khine. The
city has since been destroyed.

The abbey of Waulsort, which became a cha-
teau, was at one bend of the river. According
to tradition, it was founded by Count Eilbert in
the reign of Louis IV — about the middle of the
tenth century. The Count went one day to a
fair in Picardie, and there he saw a horse which

Chateau de Waul sort on the Meuse

In the Walloon Country 347

was much to his liking. He had no money with
him, but offered the priest who owned the ani-
mal his beautiful graven beryl as a pledge till
he could send home for funds. The priest ac-
cepted the offer and gave him the horse, but
when the Count returned with the money he de-
nied that he had the jewel or had so much as
seen the Count before in all his life. In a fury
Eilbert collected his men-at-arms and attacked
the city where dwelt the forgetful cleric, sack-
ing and destroying it, even to the church. Then
his anger cooled, and he regretted his hasty
vengeance. As a sign of penitence he not only
rebuilt the church, but erected the abbey also.

Just down the river from Waul sort is the
cave of Freya, near a chateau of the same name.
The cavern is not large but is very beautiful,
with shining white stalactites, pointed columns
piercing lofty vaults, and jeweled cascades.
One of its chambers has an opening in the roof
which lets in the daylight. Some young men
who were anxious to avoid the conscription of
the Empire are said to have let themselves
down into this cave by means of ropes. They
lived there for some time, cooking by a small
fire whose smoke blackened the walls of the
cave, as you can still see. They were contented
to stay quite close to this one room, without

348 The Spell of Belgium

much exploration, and it remained for a dog to
really discover what lay beyond.

The dog was a small one, and in chasing a
fox he followed it through a hole in the earth
and into the farther depths of the cave. Hear-
ing his barks reechoing weirdly, the hunters
enlarged the opening which he had found and
followed him into the series of halls and gal-
leries which make up the cavern. On the walls
are traces of pagan ceremonies which lead
scholars to believe that the place was used in
ancient times for the worship of the goddess
Freya, who was the patron of love and liberty
in the Scandinavian mythology.

Speeding along the river toward Dinant we
came to the famous Bock of Bayard, a tall pin-
nacle split off from the main cliff, with the road
passing through a narrow gorge between. It
has been renowned since the days of Charle-
magne, when Bayard, the enchanted horse, with
the four sons of Aymon clinging to his back,
leaped across the chasm in mad flight from the
vengeance of the Emperor. As one of the
brothers was no less than sixteen feet in height,
and the other three nearly as tall, it was really
something of an achievement.

But Bayard was a very remarkable animal.
The sons of Aymon had received him as a gift

ROCK OF BAYARD, DINANT

In the Walloon Country 349

from their cousin Maugis, along with an excel-
lent sword named Flamberge, whose very wind
would cut off a man's head. It seems that this
Maugis had heard of a wonderful steed reared
on an island in the Meuse and kept there by a
giant named Rouart. So he went over and
called on the giant, telling him stories till he
fell fast asleep. Then he set out to find the
horse, which he soon discovered in a cavern
stable guarded by a dragon. With no other
weapon than a fork, Maugis slew the monster.
When Bayard came forward to see what was
going on, the young man asked politely if he
might mount him. As the horse made no ob-
jection, Maugis mounted and rode him down to
his boat.

After many adventures, Bayard and the four
sons of Aymon were all captured by Charle-
magne, who pardoned the young men on condi-
tion that the eldest should make a pilgrimage
beyond the seas and free his horse before he
went.

But the older brother was hardly out of sight
when the Emperor ordered Bayard brought to
a bridge across the Meuse for his inspection.
"Ah, Bayard,' ' said he, "you have plagued me
many times, but I have you now!" With that
he had a great stone fastened about the horse's

350 The Spell of Belgium

neck and the animal thrown into the river.
When he saw that Bayard sank to the bottom
he cried out, "I have nothing more to ask.
Finally he is destroyed !" But Charlemagne
rejoiced too soon, for the horse struck off the
weight, rose to the surface, and set out for
shore. There he shook himself, gave a loud
neigh, and was off at top speed for the shelter-
ing depths of the forests of the Ardennes,
where, they tell you, he still lives to this day.

Of Dinant so much has been written that
there is little new to be said. In the Middle
Ages it was famous for the work of its brass
and copper smiths, and for its cakes. These
were made of a sort of gingerbread and wTere
often celebrated in song. One rime tells of the
plight of the bakers who, in their anxiety to
entertain properly the governor of their prov-
ince, made in his honour a cake so large that
the biggest oven in town was a foot too small
to hold it.

Because of its odd Latin inscription, the
bridge of Dinant has also been much sung.
Says one of the ditties :

"Although the bridge of Dinant is a fine bridge of stone,
Its beautiful inscription is finer still, I own.

"Tis writ in perfect Latin, so read and do not jeer:

'Hie pons confectus est' — it was built, you see, right
here!"

In the Walloon Country 351

All around Dinant it is a storied land. There
was, for instance, the cow of Ciney, who made
quite a stir in her day. It happened in the year
of our Lord 1274, when the counts of Luxem-
bourg and Namur were holding tournament at
Andenne, and all the knights for leagues around
had come flocking to show their prowess in feats
of arms. Into the throngs gathered to watch
the spectacle came a peasant, leading behind
him the cow of cows. i ' He knew that after the
heroic strife the contestants were accustomed
to eat largely, and however much their glory,
nothing was so comforting as a quarter of roast
beef. Consequently he brought to sell to the
butchers of Andenne a cow, superb and without
faults, save for a slight blemish which did not
in the least detract from the savour of the
meat — she was not really the property of the
young man, for he had stolen her.,,

The cow belonged by rights to a good bour-
geois of Ciney whose name was Rigaud. As
it happened, he was in the crowTd and recognized
his property. Finding near him the sheriff of
his town he stated his case and demanded in-
stant justice on the robber. Now the sheriff
was out of his own province, and had no au-
thority to act. So he engaged the young man
in conversation and led him artfully out of

352 The Spell of Belgium

Andenne till they had crossed the boundaries
of his own territory. Once there it was, of
course, a very simple matter to seize him and
hang him by the neck till he was dead.

But the matter did not end there, in spite of
the good sheriff's precautions. The peasant
was not a native of either Ciney or Andenne,
but of the village of Jallet. His fellow vil-
lagers considered themselves affronted, and
complained to their overlord. He was more
than affronted — he was positively outraged.
Summoning his vassals he set forth to Ciney
for the purpose of sending to its long rest the
soul of the sheriff thereof. Ciney, however,
closed its gates and sent to its brother towns
for aid. Jallet likewise called upon its friends
and laid siege to Ciney. The Duke of Brabant
became involved in the war that followed, along
with the counts of Flanders, Namur and Luxem-
bourg. The Marshal of Liege invaded the Ar-
dennes with fire and flame.

Presumably the cow of Ciney returned to her
master's home on the night of her abductor's
death. But for more than two years the war
on her behalf was waged, and fifteen or twenty
thousand men were killed. At last the King of
France was called in to settle the dispute, and
the weary disputants accepted his verdict thank-

In the Walloon Country 353

fully enough. It was to the effect that each
side heing equally to blame, they must bear
their own losses and leave things as they were
before the war — so far as they could. Thus
ended "la guerre de la vache de Ciney."

Beyond Dinant lies the little village of Bou-
vignes, whose ruined tower of Creve-Cceur has
its story, too. In the sixteenth century the
French laid siege to the place, which was an
important town at that time. Among its de-
fenders were three men of Namur whose beau-
tiful wives had followed them to the front,
fighting always at their sides like Amazons.
When they saw their lords fall dying before
them and realized that the enemy was making
the last assault, they climbed to the top of the
tower and, joining hands, threw themselves
upon the rocks below.

There have been forts in Namur since Roman
days, and perhaps before that. A year ago
there were nine, for the city with its thirty
thousand inhabitants stands at the junction of
the two rivers, Sambre and Meuse. Namur
was the door to France, and the nine forts were
its bolts and bars. On the 22d of August the
Germans attacked it, and the next day the
French, who had come to its defense, were
forced to withdraw, defeated.

354 The Spell of Belgium

Namur as we saw it was a busy and pros-
perous town. The Sarnbre is a water route to
the Borinage, and the Meuse a financial asset
to any city. Its streets were wide, with many
parks. One feature made it specially attrac-
tive— on the lamp-posts hung circular baskets
just beneath the light, filled with flowers and
hanging vines.

Not far from Namur is the old hermitage of
St. Hubert, clinging to a rocky cliff. There, in
the Middle Ages, it was customary to illustrate
Bible stories by the use of marionettes, small
wooden figures which moved about the stage
at the will of the monks. They were capable
of acting out before the eyes of the marveling
country folk the story of the Passion, of the
cock that crowed thrice, and the penitence of
Peter, stirring sluggish imaginations to re-
newed devotion. "At the right, against the
wall, you see a table. There, you should re-
member, rested the scaffolding in the midst of
which was played the Passion. From the open-
ing below, the man of God pulled the strings
of the machine. . . . The man of God was the
hermit, at once the author of the actors and of
the piece, and impressario of the troop which he
had made with his own hands."

Such was the Walloon country, as we saw it

In the Walloon Country 355

in our journeyings. It was our last trip in
Belgium, for my husband received word that
he had been named Ambassador to Japan. So
we packed up our things and sadly said good-by
to all the friends who had been so kind to us.
Little did we think that there was soon to be
war, and that many of them we should never see
again.

But Belgium has been through many wars be-
fore this, many sieges and sackings and burn-
ings, so we can feel sure that the spell of its
enchantment will survive the gray wave of sol-
diers which has swept across the land during
these last sad months.

CHAPTER XV

A LAST WORD

I

Synopsis of the War

Last night, when the half moon was golden and the white
stars very high, I saw the souls of the killed passing. They
came riding through the dark, some on gray horses, some
on black; they came inarching, white-faced; hundreds, thou-
sands, tens of thousands.

The night smelled sweet, the breeze rustled, the stream
murmured; and past me on the air the souls of the killed
came marching. They seemed of one great company, no
longer enemies.

John Galsworthy.

(IE were in America when the war broke

out. It was as unexpected to me as an
earthquake, notwithstanding the warn-
ing I had when we were, in Brussels. Not know-
ing the situation then — that war was bound to
come — I remember my interest in the excite-
ment of several diplomats who dined with us
one evening. They knew that trouble was
brewing among the European nations. They
could see the spark from the fuse of the bomb

356

A Last Word 357

that was to throw all Europe into war. The
bomb at last exploded, but not until June 28,
1914. The Servians in revenge for Austrian
oppression killed the Archduke Franz Ferdi-
nand, heir to the Austrian throne, when he and
his wife were in Sarajevo, Servia, on an official
visit.

Two of the principal events leading up to
tliis situation were the assassination of King
Alexander of Servia, son of King Milan and
Queen Draga, in June, 1903, and the occupation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria in 1908.

Under King Peter, Alexander's successor,
Eussian dominance over Servian affairs grew
stronger.

When the heir to the Austrian throne was
murdered the German Emperor sent a telegram
to the Czar which read : —

"The unscrupulous agitation which has gone on for years
in Servia has led to the revolting crime of which Archduke
Francis Ferdinand was the victim. Undoubtedly you will
agree with me that we two, you and I, as well as all sov-
ereigns, have a common interest in insisting that all those
morally responsible for this terrible murder shall suffer de-
served punishment."

The Servian and Austrian governments
could not come to an understanding, and Aus-
tria declared war on Servia.

358 The Spell of Belgium

In answer to the Kaiser's telegram the Czar
replied : —

"A disgraceful war has been declared on a weak nation.
The indignation at this, which I fully share, is immense in
Russia. I foresee that soon I cannot withstand the pres-
sure that is being brought to bear upon me, and that I shall
be forced to adopt measures which will lead to war."

So it developed that Russia backed up Servia,
and Germany backed up Austria.1

Germany needed to expand her territory and
commerce and was thoroughly prepared for
war. At that time Germany, Austria and Italy
were in a Triple Alliance; Bussia, France and
England a Triple Entente ; Italy refused to aid
Germany and Austria, however, because she
was not bound by her treaty to do so in an
offensive war. She was humorously classed
with Greece and Eoumania in "the triple at-
tendre," but on May 22, 1915, she joined the
Allies, declaring war on Austria.

One of Germany's excuses in entering upon

i The best authorities, of course, on the causes of the war
are:

The English White Paper
The German White Book
The Belgian Gray Book
The Russian Yellow Book
The Austrian Red Book
The French Yellow Book

A Last Word 359

the war was to keep the "barbarian Russians' '
out of Europe, but curiously, at this time King
Albert received an ultimatum from the Kaiser
demanding that the German army should be
given the right of way through Belgium. The
King replied that the Kaiser must respect the
independence and neutrality of Belgium, and
refused to let the Germans pass through the
country. A second ultimatum was delivered,
which demanded that a reply be given within
seven hours. If within this time no answer
was returned, or an answer unfavourable to
Germany, war would be declared.

On August 2d the Germans entered the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg. On the 3d they entered
Belgium.

The statement made by the Imperial Chan-
cellor von Bethman-Hollweg in the Reichstag
on August 4th acknowledges the violation of
Belgium : x

"We were compelled to over-ride the just
protests of the Luxembourg and Belgian gov-
ernments. Our troops have occupied Luxem-
bourg and perhaps are already on Belgian soil.
Gentlemen, that is a breach of international
law. It is true that the French Government has
declared at Brussels that France is willing to

i From the German White Book.

360 The Spell of Belgium

respect the neutrality of Belgium so long as her
opponent respects it. France could wait, but
we could not. The wrong — I speak frankly —
that we are committing we will endeavour to
make good as soon as our military goal has
been reached."

The Germans motored into Belgium by three
different roads. Fifteen hundred picked sol-
diers came in advance in one hundred and fifty
automobiles. The army followed at such speed
that their commissariat could not keep up with
them, and they did not even wait for their heavy
siege guns. They expected to live on the
country, and so some straggling parties of Ger-
man soldiers were captured by peasants with an
offer of food.

The charming little border town of Vise was
the first to be destroyed by the Germans.
"This district contains a large population of
gun-makers familiar with the use of firearms
and unfamiliar with the ways of warfare, and
it seems proven that several citizens of Vise
did take part in the hostilities and that they
fired at the enemy. The Germans retaliated
with ruthless severity." x

Among the weaknesses in the defense of

i From "How Belgium Saved Europe," by Dr. Charles
Sarolea — as is much of the following.

A Last Word 361

Liege were the lack of sufficient soldiers to man
the forts, and the long distances between the
different fortresses, as well as the lack of sup-
port by rifle entrenchments. The fortresses
did not prove impregnable because they were
built to withstand a horizontal fire, while the
German howitzers dropped shells from above.
The three German army corps under General
von Emmich made attack after attack. On the
third day they lost twenty-five thousand men,
some of the crack regiments from Berlin suf-
fering heavily. The forts held out long after
the town was occupied by the Germans for the
reason that they were built to defend the river
approaches rather than the town, and until Au-
gust 5th the Germans were unable to cross the
Meuse.

It was difficult for the Germans to get the
proper range for their big guns, and the story
is told that a German soldier with a white flag
of truce walked towards a fort in order to get
the correct distance. His white flag was re-
spected until he arrived at a spot where he sig-
naled back to his comrades. It is needless to
say that he was then killed. From the moment
when the Germans were able to get the proper
range with their heavy siege artillery, the fate
of Liege was sealed. Toward the end of Au-

362 The Spell of Belgium

gust, all the forts were occupied by the Ger-
mans.

i 'The resistance of Liege is not only one of
the most magnificent achievements in military
annals ; — it is also one of the decisive events in
the world's history."

It has already been the inspiration of much
poetry and prose. The following extract is
taken from the poem called,

"HOW LIEGE HELD THE ROAD" 1

We were pounding at the anvils when they pounded at our

gate;
"Open," cried the German squadrons; "let us pass, or meet

your fate!
We are millions; dare deny us and Liege is but a name."
But we chose to die in honour than to buy our lives in

shame.
So we banked our eager fires, and we laid aside the sledge,
Reeking only that our sires had endowed us with the

pledge
To maintain an ally's honour, to uphold the Belgian code,
And we answered with our cannon, that liege would hold

THE ROAD !

Here are a few of Verhaeren's remarks on
the fall of Liege :

"It is true that for the moment our factories
are silenced and seemingly dead, but as soon

i From the volume of poems entitled "The Song of the Guns,"
by Herbert Kaufman.

Citadel, Namur

A Last Word 363

as the war is over they will awake again like
sleeping monsters. We were a little too snre
of the tomorrow. War in our eyes was other
people's business. It has come to us, formi-
dable and terrible, at a moment when we did not
look for it; like a mountain whose crumbling
rocks are falling upon us to crush us William's
army has come upon us. Our numbers were
small and we stood alone. We were attacked
with disloyalty and betrayal. We hastily raised
our forces at Liege in old forts. All that was
done in a day, in an hour, in a moment, and
at once we became the marvel of the world.
The fate of the Spartans was like that of the
Liegeois. Today, as then, a handful of men
saved the world. We should have only room
in our hearts for pride. Tears dishonour us."

Namur, another great stronghold of Belgium,
was bombarded on August 21st, and thirty-six
hours later the Germans entered the town.
When the forts were destroyed only twelve thou-
sand out of the twenty-six thousand Belgian
soldiers were left. Ammunition was so scarce
in this region that the Civic Guard had to give
up their weapons to the remaining Belgian
troops. The French and the British as well
suffered a terrible defeat at Charleroi August

364 The Spell of Belgium

22d, and were obliged to retire. Fighting all
the way, they made their masterly retreat
through Mons into France by way of St.
Quentin.

Between the fifth and twentieth of August the
poor wounded and dying soldiers were brought
into Brussels. When the crowd in the streets
shrieked and howled "Vive la Belgique!" the
wounded tried to wave their arms (those who
had them), and show some sign of appreciation.
Houses were opened and prepared by the Red
Cross Society to receive them. The refugees
as well, from Charleroi and Liege, and from the
districts where the fighting was going on, rushed
to Brussels for protection, but the Germans
were close behind and entered the city on Au-
gust 20th without firing a shot.

At the beginning of the war hardly any food
was to be had in Brussels and other Belgian
towns, and what could be bought went up to
very high prices. Flour cost fifty cents a
pound, and bread one franc for two pounds.
Salt was not obtainable.

Adolphe Max, the Burgomaster of Brussels,
was forced to take charge of all supplies. The
city fed the Germans for eight days without
pay. After this period the Mayor refused to
furnish food longer without compensation.

A Last Word 365

Then field kitchens were established in several
prominent squares — in the Grande Place, be-
fore the Palais de Justice, and in front of the
King's palace — where the beautiful trees of the
park were cut down for firewood. The mu-
seums and hotels were turned into sleeping
places for officers and men. The Palais de
Justice was made not only a kitchen but also
a bath house. The railway stations, too, were
used for this purpose.

No carriages or bicycles were allowed to
leave Brussels. The people lived in constant
terror from German aeroplanes that were flying
overhead. After the Germans occupied the city
no one dared to speak English.

The Germans thought that Belgian weapons
were hidden in the ponds, and so they drained
them, and carted away the fish to be eaten by
themselves. Fish and bread could not be
bought by the people, even if they offered to
pay for them.

Every day fresh troops and aeroplanes and
ammunition passed through or over Brussels.
Cartloads and trainloads of dead Germans were
brought night and day to the Gare du Luxem-
bourg to be shipped on to the Fatherland. The
moaning of the wounded and the dying was piti-
ful.

366 The Spell of Belgium

Non-combatants of all nations fighting the
Germans were taken prisoners and sent to Ger-
many. All women between the ages of fifteen
and forty were kept nnder German gnard ; those
over forty were told to report every few days
to the German authorities.

Villages like Hofstade and Sempst were
taken and retaken again and again. Dinant
and Termonde fell within a week after the oc-
cupation of Brussels. The bombardment of
Marines lasted three weeks. Termonde changed
hands twice, Malines three times.

The siege of Antwerp began the 26th and
lasted several days. The Zeppelin raid before
the bombardment was most terrible, but the
Germans did not accomplish their purpose of
striking the palace and killing the royal family.
After this, the Queen went to England for a
time with her children, returning later, but the
King remained in Antwerp and led the de-
fense.

The small Belgian force had at least kept the
Germans out of Antwerp until the valuable oil
tanks had been destroyed, as well as the ships
in the harbour and the precious stores of rub-
ber from the Congo. The English marines ap-
peared toward the last, and gave some assist-
ance, but the city was finally captured by the

Nieuport

A Last Word 367

Germans, before whom, on September 5th, the
Belgian army retired to La Panne. Ostend
was occupied by the Germans the 16th of Octo-
ber. Severe fighting took place at Nienport
the 23d, and Westende and Middelkerke were
destroyed. Dixmude fell November 11th. Be-
tween the 12th and the 15th, 100,000 Germans
were killed, and the Yser Canal flowed with
human blood.

November 18th, Flanders, as in days of old,
was flooded from the sea-coast almost to Ypres,
drowning out the enemy. In December, activi-
ties were renewed along the Yser, but the
trenches about Ypres, "the key to the coast
campaign," were only captured February 15th.
Ypres at last fell in May, after repeated at-
tacks.

The exodus of a bleeding race was one of
the saddest sights in history. The Belgians
literally swarmed into Holland, where they are
cared for in camps even today. The reason
of this exodus to England and Holland is found
in the treatment of the Belgians by the invad-
ers. I will not go into the subject of atrocities,
but simply give an extract from the report of
the Commission of Inquiry on the Violation of
the Rules of International Law, and the Laws
and Customs of War.

368 The Spell of Belgium

"From the total mass of evidence received by
us we are able to deduct and prove absolutely
true the following conclusions. . . .

' ' I. The first was the barbarous device of com-
pelling bodies of citizens, old and young, male
and female, to march in front of German troops
in order to shield them from the fire of the
Allies.

"II. The second was the imprisonment, either
under the title of ' Hostages,' or on other pre-
texts, of individuals, families, or groups of peo-
ple, who were arrested at hazard and for no
good reason, shut up without air, without sani-
tary precautions, and without food, in churches,
barns and stables, and carried off to Germany,
where they were kept under conditions which
made hygiene and decency impossible.

"III. The third series of acts consists of
wholesale murders of civilians and of the sack
and burning of dwelling houses; concerning
these incidents the light of evidence grows daily
stronger. ' '

These men were in command when the atroci-
ties were perpetrated: The Governor-General
of Belgium was Field Marshal Baron von der
Goltz; von Buelow was in command of Namur
and Liege ; von Boehn was in command at Ter-
monde. Others in this list were von Emmich,

A Last Word 369

von Nieker, von Luetwitz, and Major Dieck-
mann.

But the Belgians are a brave people and they
are used to misfortune, so we may believe that
though seemingly conquered, they will finally be
triumphant. Long live the Belgians! Long
live their King !

ii

Lettees fkom the Front

I insert a few extracts from letters written
by reliable people about Belgium, or by Bel-
gians during the war, in order to show the true
state of affairs. Most of them were written
in French and have been translated. With the
exception of the Cardinal's letter,1 none of them
have been published.

Extract from a letter from Brussels in Au-
gust, 1914.

' 'We are living in suspense now, as the Ger-
mans are getting very strict and angry. Boys
and young men leave daily to join the army, and
the different ways of crossing the frontier are

i Xote: — I have heard the spreading of the Cardinal's letter
by Mme. Carton de Wiart was one of the reasons of her ar-
rest, trial and imprisonment.

370 The Spell of Belgium

very amusing. The Germans have forbidden
the letter by the Cardinal of Marines to be read
in the churches, but needless to say, we all have
it."

Extract from the Pastoral Letter of His
Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of
Malines, Belgium:

"My very dear brethren:

"It was in Eome itself that I received the
tidings — stroke after stroke — of the partial de-
struction of the Cathedral Church of Louvain,
next of the burning of the library and of the
scientific installations of our great university,
and of the devastation of the city, and next of
the wholesale shooting of the citizens and of
tortures inflicted upon women and children and
upon unarmed and undefended men.

"And, while I was still under the shock of
these calamities, the telegraph brought us news
of the bombardment of our beautiful metropoli-
tan church, of the church of Notre Dame au
dela Dyle, of the episcopal palace, and of a
great part of our dear city of Malines. . . .

"I craved courage and light, and sought them
in such thoughts as these ; a disaster has visited
the world, and our beloved little Belgium, a

CARDINAL MEROTER.

A Last Word 371

nation so faithful in the great mass of her popu-
lation to God, so upright in her patriotism, so
noble in her King and Government, is the first
sufferer. She bleeds; her sons are stricken
down within her fortresses and upon her fields,
in defense of her rights and her territory.

"Soon there will not be one Belgian family
not in mourning. Why all this sorrow, my God 1
Lord, Lord, hast Thou forsaken us! . . .

"When, immediately upon my return from
Eome, I went to Havre to greet our Belgian,
French and English wounded; when, later, at
Malines, at Louvain, at Antwerp, it was given
to me to take the hand of those brave fellows
who carried a bullet in their flesh, a wound on
their forehead, because they had marched to the
attack of the enemy or borne the shock of this
onslaught, it was a word of gratitude that rose
to my lips. '0 valiant friends,' I said, 'it was
for us, it was for each one of us, it was for
me, that you risked your lives and are now in
pain. I am moved to tell you of my respect,
of my thankfulness, to assure you that the whole
nation knows how much she is in debt to you.'

"For, in truth, our soldiers are all saviours.
A first time, at Liege, they saved France; a
second time, in Flanders, they arrested the ad-
vance of the enemy upon Calais. France and

372 The Spell of Belgium

England know it, and Belgium stands before
the entire world a nation of heroes.

' ' Never before in my life did I feel so proud
to be a Belgian as when, on the platform of
French stations, and halting awhile in Paris,
and visiting London, I witnessed the enthusi-
astic admiration our Allies feel for the heroism
of our army. . . .

"I have traversed the greater part of the dis-
tricts most terribly devastated in my diocese,
and the ruins I beheld and the ashes, were more
dreadful than I, prepared by the saddest of
forebodings, could have imagined.

"Other parts of my diocese, which I have not
had time to visit, have in a like manner, been
laid waste. Churches, schools, asylums, hos-
pitals, convents in great numbers are in ruins.
Entire villages have all but disappeared. At
Werchter Wackerzeel, for instance, out of three
hundred and eighty homes one hundred and
thirty remain. At Tremeloo, two-thirds of the
village is overthrown. At Beuken, out of one
hundred houses twenty are standing. At Schaf-
fen, one hundred and eighty-nine houses out of
two hundred are destroyed; eleven still stand.
At Louvain, a third of the buildings are down,
one thousand and seventy-four dwellings have
disappeared. On the town land and in the sub-

A Last Word 373

urbs, one thousand six hundred and twenty-
three houses have been burned.

"In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in
my thoughts, the magnificent church of St.
Peter will never recover its former splendour.
The ancient college of St. Ives, the art schools,
the consular and commercial schools of the Uni-
versity, the old markets, our rich library with
its collections, its unique and unpublished manu-
scripts, its archives, its gallery of great por-
traits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, profes-
sors, dating from the time of its foundation,
which preserved for its masters and students
alike a noble tradition, and was an incitement
to their studies — all this accumulation of intel-
lectual, of historic and artistic riches, the fruit
of the labour of five centuries — all is in the
dust. . . .

" Thousands of Belgian citizens have been de-
ported to the prisons of Germany, to Munster-
lagen, to Celle, to Magdeburg. At Munster-
lagen alone, three thousand one hundred civil
prisoners were numbered. History will tell of
the physical and mental torments of their long
martyrdom.

" Hundreds of innocent men were shot. I
possess no complete necrology ; but I know there
were ninety-one shot at Aerschot and that therey

374 The Spell of Belgium

under pain of death, their fellow citizens were
compelled to dig their graves. In the Louvain
group of communes one hundred and seventy-
six persons, men and women, old men and suck-
lings, rich and poor, in health and sickness, were
shot or burned. . . .

"We can neither number our dead nor com-
pute the measure of our ruins. And what would
it be if we turned our sad steps toward Liege,
Namur, Audennes, Dinant, Tamines, Charleroi,
and elsewhere! Families hitherto living at
ease, now in bitter want ; all commerce at an end,
all careers ruined, industry at a standstill ; thou-
sands upon thousands of working men without
employment; working men, shop girls, humble
servants, without means of earning their bread,
and poor souls forlorn on the bed of sickness
and fever, crying, '0 Lord, how long, how long?'

"Thirteen ecclesiastics have been shot in the
diocese of Malines. There were, to my own
actual personal knowledge, more than thirty in
the diocese of Namur, Tournai, and Liege. . . .

"On the 19th of April, 1839, a treaty was
signed in London by King Leopold, in the name
of Belgium, on the one part, and by the Emperor
of Austria, the King of France, the Queen of
England, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor
of Russia on the other: and its seventh article

A Last Word 375

decreed that Belgium should form a separate
and perpetually neutral state, and should be
held to the observance of this neutrality in re-
gard to all other states. The co-signers prom-
ised, for themselves and their successors, upon
their oath, to fulfil and observe that treaty in
every point and every article without contra-
vention or tolerance of contravention. Belgium
was thus bound in honour to defend her own
independence. She kept her oath. The other
Powers were bound to respect and to protect
her neutrality. Germany violated her oath,
England kept hers. . . .

"Accept, my dearest brethren, my wishes and
prayers for you and for the happiness of your
families, and receive, I pray you, my paternal
benediction.

"D. J. Cardinal Merrier,
"Archbishop of M alines."

Here is a letter from a soldier at the front
to his parents :

"Tirlemont, 8 August, 1914.
"My dear Parents :

"Here I am at Tirlemont, where we are oc-
cupied'in reforming our scattered regiment!
Many are killed and injured, some are taken,
others lost. It is a terrible mix-up, and it will

376 The Spell of Belgium

take a long time to get it straightened out, and
I am profiting by this moment to write you and
let you know what has happened in the last few
days.

"We had been fighting all day Wednesday,
and when evening came on we were told to dis-
lodge a troop that occupied the space between
the two forts. They gave us the message very
simply: 'It is death, but it must be done.'
Nothing more. We were under fire all night.
We kill without seeing any one. The bullets
whistle, a shrapnel explodes five meters from us,
we have several killed, and we stay under this
rain of bullets and it is awful.

"I could not tell you my impressions. I re-
cited about one hundred vows ; I wondered what
it felt like to be in heaven, because I was cer-
tain that every moment would be my last.

"The Germans advanced more and more, and
we retreated, surrounded on all sides, and at
four in the morning out of one hundred and
sixty in our company only seventeen remained ;
all are not dead; there are injured and pris-
oners. We shall return under fire if this keeps
up. I will take my part in it ; I am ready and
prepared, and know that if I die I shall do
so with confidence. Do not think that it is
with despair that I shall die; it is with the ut-

A Last Word 377

most resignation. Do not cry or be sad. I re-
sign myself to my fate, and I ask you to take
things in this way also. Adieu, with all my
heart. It is perhaps only for a short while, and
I shall wait for you above. Much love to the
family. I am in good health but very tired.
Thousands of affectionate kisses. I have had
my photograph taken and they will send you the
proof. For my part, I take care to keep your
photographs on me, and every day, after look-
ing at them, it gives me fresh courage. Adieu. ' '

I give next a letter from the Mother Superior
of a convent at Liege, written the night after
Liege had been attacked :

"In the morning the sound of cannon again
shook the chapel.

"The sisters were told to go and get their
bundles, and in five minutes to be at the gate,
where they would each receive five francs and
their papers, and then they were told to run to
the station. They did, through the rain, and
to the accompaniment of the whistle and whine
of German bullets. The Germans were on the
heights, and were approaching every minute.
The younger sisters helped those who were ill
or old. Arriving near the station two sick ones
were obliged to go to bed in another convent,

378 The Spell of Belgium

and the others installed themselves in the cellars
and small hallways. An immense explosion oc-
curred— it was only a bridge they were blowing
up, but the garden was filled with broken pieces
of iron and steel. Eighteen sisters got into a
train filled with wounded and arrived at Brus-
sels at midnight, nearly dead from fright.

"They went up the Boulevard Botanique,
where they found an ambulance wagon, which
took them to the Mother's house. The General
Superior came to open the door for them, with
her white apron and her arm band of the Eed
Cross. They slept in beds prepared for the
wounded, and the next day they were sent to
different institutions.

"People knew nothing but false news, given
out by the Germans. We had no news for three
weeks, so I didn't even know a new Pope had
been elected." x

This letter is from a Belgian nun:

August.
"My sister Catherine, not being able to get
away from Brieux, was obliged to stay there

i The young English lady who took this letter to Roehampton
was made a prisoner, from nine in the morning until four in
the afternoon. Although she had to show the letter, the Ger-
man officials let her go, as it was unimportant, but her hus-
band was taken prisoner. They asked him his age, and told
him that they needed soldiers, and that he might be of use
to them.

A Last Word 379

thirteen days, and it was the priest that brought
her back to Bosel in tram and cart. He will
go back there and show the soldiers the retreat.
The Eeverend Father von Volkson stayed in
Malines till the last, and quietly kept on reciting
his mass while they were bombarding the city.
He was in civilian dress: but we don't know
where he is now. Have you heard that the
Eeverend Mother of Tournai had her arm lacer-
ated by a bullet, which then went and hit Mother

de B , who was standing behind her, in the

region of the heart, and both of them died, hit
by the same bullet? They were going into the
loft to see from which direction the Germans
were advancing to take possession of the city.

" It is a just war, for God and country. It is
this that gives the King and our soldiers super-
human strength. As soon as it was known that
Germany was going to insult Belgium, thou-
sands of men offered themselves to fight, and
the priests accompanied these brave men to give
them spiritual help and encouragement. ' '

"Ostend — end of October.
" During the week of the 31st of October the
Belgians resisted the attacks of the enemy, and
the King had the dangerous honour of com-
manding the Allies' left wing while they put

380 The Spell of Belgium

up a terrific fight to defend Calais, which was
the principal prize of this terrific straggle. For
six days our Belgians stood the fire of 250,000
Germans, who were afterwards reinforced by
100,000 others. With these forces the enemy
had to pass the Yser, which was filled with
bodies. Although the fight seemed ended, 'the
Belgians' — to quote Caesar — 'continued to dis-
pute the mastery of the last parcel of their ter-
ritory. With a rage bordering on grief they
thought they would have to capitulate immedi-
ately.? The Belgians lost 10,000 men. They
attacked again, and the enemy was forced to
repass the Yser red with blood, and they were
chased ten miles towards the north.

"But still, though we have lost so many, we
have not lost courage. In the midst of our
ruined cities and our burnt and ruined crops,
higher than our burnt towers, higher than the
cruel deeds, stands our hope, and higher than
the ignominy our proud independence, our love
for the King and our land. Not for one in-
stant has the Belgian spirit regretted the call
of honour that has caused us such calamities,
and tomorrow she would still refuse, even at
the same price and at the cost of the same
martyrdom !

"Sir Edward Grey saluted the Comte de

A Last Word 381

Lalaing (Minister Plenipotentiary at London)
with the title of Ambassador, of which Belgium
is worthy.

"If you could only hear our injured and
wounded speak of the King. When an officer
fell the King took his place, crying out, 'Come,
my children, shoot now, like this, all together.'
And you should see how they killed their ene-
mies ! Today is the fete-day of our poor little
Queen; what an anniversary! At the Palace
Hotel they give the wounded wine in her honour,
and they sing the 'Brabangonne,' and 'Vers
PAvenir.' "

I give two verses of the "Brabanconne?;: —

"Fled the years of servile shame,

Belgium, 'tis thine hour at last,
Wear again thy ancient name,

Spread thy banner on the blast.
Sovereign people, in thy might

Steadfast yet and valiant be,
On thy ancient standard write —

Land and Law and Liberty!

"Belgium, Mother, hear us vow,

Never will our love abate,
Thou our hope, our refuge thou,

Hearts and blood are consecrate,
Grave, we pray, upon thy shield

This device eternally,
Weal or woe, at home, a-field,

Land and law and liberty."

382 The Spell of Belgium

From Countess :

' ' Bkussels — October.

"Food is easy to get if not plentiful and the
bread eatable in Brussels. V. got out of Bel-
gium this time without being caught. We are
full of hope. We are well and busy. Every
one is trying to help those in need. There is
much to do. Those who still remain here see
each other often. We meet at each other's
houses for "tea and bring information. A. was
wounded in the head and has been taken
prisoner. Mr. Whitlock's untiring devotion to
his work is more than appreciated by every
class. He is just the man for the place. The
Spanish Minister is a great help. We have had
no letter since August. I knit madly to keep
calm. I hope the day may come when I may
say all that is in my heart. It is a suffocating
feeling to have a foreign occupation. We have
such a time getting the papers. One sheet ap-
pears a day, and all we want to know is care-
fully left out by the Germans.' '

In October there comes a moan from Luxem-
bourg.

A Last Word 383

' i Luxembourg.
"We are crying for flour. Nothing sent
from America can reach Luxembourg. The
railways are destroyed by dynamite, toutes
les routes ravagees; not one way of communi-
cation at present. The rich as well as the
poor are dying of hunger and cold. All the
horrors of our enemies are, alas! quite true.
We are ruined, our money gone, the villa burnt.
Tears are dropping on the letter as I
write. This letter which may never reach
you. ' '

"October.
"My good Mother,

"I have thought of you very often since it
has pleased God to visit upon us the horrors of
war. What damages have been caused by the
Germans in our country ! At Dinant Mr. Was-
sege has been shot with his two sons because he
did not want to open the safe of the bank
or give the combination. Seventy-five other
civilians had the same fate, also hundreds of
little children. The horrors the Germans have
committed here are fit for Turks or savages ; I
could state hundreds of cases. In Antwerp two
beautiful estates, which were situated near the
forts, belonging to well-known German society

384 The Spell of Belgium

people, were found to have underground pas-
sages leading to the fortresses. By chance,
barrels were found containing German uni-
forms for those we have received with so much
kindness, to put on when the German soldiers
occupy the city, as was seen in Verviers. In
several houses in Antwerp wireless plants were
discovered. In Antwerp hundreds of spies
were found, who dressed in all manner of cloth-
ing, as nuns, priests, and nurses.

"They are taking the civilians away to serve
as soldiers in the German army, or to gather
their crops. In Namur they have started to
write down the births, deaths, and marriages,
and the people must take German names, or be
shot.

"Eight thousand people fleeing from Louvain
were forced to march a great distance by the
Germans, eight in a line, and they had to keep
their hands in the air all the time. They had

to fasten Helen P 's baby on her back — she is

the niece of Mother V. E so that she could

walk in this way. Our soldiers often have Com-
munion, and are full of courage and confidence.
They love the King, who shows himself full of
courage. He marches at the head of his troops,
and after a battle shakes hands with the sol-
diers; we can be proud of him.

A Last Word 385

"A magistrate on his way back to Brussels
was given a letter to deliver. He told a friend
on the train he had the letter on his person, but
did not know where to hide it. His friend said
he was doing a very dangerous thing, for if
the letter was found on him he would be shot.
He also said: 'You must read it, then tear it
up, and transmit the news orally.' This he
did. Later the train was surrounded by Ger-
mans, who announced that no one was to de-
scend, and that it was forbidden to carry letters,
and in consequence every one was going to be
searched. Terrible fright! Of the people
carrying letters, one managed to eat his, when
he found that it could not be hidden and he was
not able to throw it away. . . . The magistrate
presented himself at six-thirty at the proper
place, and recited the contents of the letter and
told the story of his trip. ' '

' ' London — November.
"As for the Belgian refugees, it is getting to
be a great problem what to do with them.
There are thousands and thousands like droves
of frightened sheep, not a particle of clothing
but what they stand up in, and not a penny in
the world. You just cannot realize it unless
you see them. Ladies and gentlemen of fine

386 The Spell of Belgium

position and peasants all together, and all help-
less and homeless.

"It seems so horrible to think that our only
thought is to kill, and that we rejoice when
the enemy has lost men. I hardly dare think
of it. It seems as though we had all gone
mad.

"The King Albert Hospital is working well,
and three more Belgian hospitals have had to
be opened. They now all work under military
authority, and so they do not need our assist-
ance any more, I mean, in the way of our being
there daily.

"Mrs. B and I have now put our hearts

and energies into a Maternity Home for Bel-
gians, that is, we have two, one for ladies and
one for working women. They are both such
sweet, pretty homes, that it really must help
them to forget the cruelties of being far from
their husbands and homes. They nearly all call
their sons Albert, and the daughters either
Elizabeth or Alberta.

"The streets and shops are filled with Bel-
gians, one hears French in busses, everywhere
in fact. One often hears Flemish too. I was
surprised when I first heard it, for it sounded
so like German. L'Echo Beige, a Flemish

A Last Word 387

paper published in London, has on the first
page: 'Voor God en Vaderland' — 'Four
Dieu et Patrie.' A great many papers are
published here for the Belgians and French.
There are innumerable appeals, many for Bel-
gium, such as: Belgian Eelief Fund, the
Belgian Soldiers Fund, and so forth.

"Limericks are very common among the sol-
diers and are very good. Here is one about a
Belgian girl. Please remember that Ypres is
called Wipers by Tommy Atkins.

"There was a young lady of Ypres,
Who was hit in the cheek by two snipers,
The tunes that she played
Through the holes that they made,
Beat the Argyle and Sutherland pipers."

"The shop windows are full of war games,
such as: 'Storming the Citadel '— ' Kill Kiel'
— and the 'Dreadnaught game.'

"Tommy gives the bombs such amusing
names, ' Black Marias,' ' Aunt Sally's Nephews,'
and 'Eagle Eggs.' The German trench mo-
tor is called 'The Undertaker.' The anti-air-
craft gun is nicknamed 'Archibald' and the Ger-
man howitzer which emits a thick white smoke
is called ' The Woolly Bear. ' He calls these pic-
turesque names 'Slanguage.' "

388 The Spell of Belgium

' ' Beussels — November.

"We are passing horrible hours. You can-
not imagine what it has been the last three
months. Everywhere misery, crepe and ruin.
To add to the horror of the situation, famine
has arrived. Most of our friends have had
their chateaux pillaged. The buildings even
are often destroyed. Our friends arrive in the
night on foot, with all that they own on their
backs and their children following them. They
often walk miles before finding a roof to shelter
them, for many villages are burnt to the ground,
deserted, and many of the people shot. C'est
affreux!

"Henri has won two galons for his bravery
in battle. The last news we have of him is
good. Dieu merci. Jean has been slightly
wounded. What a relief to have him safe for
the moment in a hospital. George de Ligne,
Henri d'Oultremont, tues, Guy Keynteins
blesse. Two of the Cornet Counts have been
taken from their chateau, which was burned,
and no one knows what has become of them.
Every day the Germans are more brutal and
more hateful. They are worse than they are
depicted.

"We are indeed grateful to the American

A Last Word 389

Minister. He is intelligent, active and kind,
as well as a charming man.

"It is difficult to get the food distributed in
the villages, for there are no means of con-
veyance, except motors run by twenty-four
young Americans. They are doing fine work
and are a great help. The d'Assches, de
Merodes, Beeckmans and de Beughems are
here."

A letter from Switzerland reads :

' ' November.
"I have been at a camp of French and Bel-
gian soldiers in Germany, nearly fifteen thou-
sand of them, all without blankets. They dig
holes in the ground and get into them, and then
spread their coats over the top in order to sleep
and keep warm."

A letter from a cousin at a hospital in France
says, "Today seventy French soldiers were
brought in, all with their right hands gone."

6 ' Brussels — end of December.
"The weather is awful, the fighting in the
North has been again very violent. We have
little wool to knit with. We need flannel too
for the soldiers. It is freezing. We are try-
ing to get warm clothes to the soldiers. We are

390 The Spell of Belgium

having a snowstorm such as has not been seen
for twenty years, in fact one might be in Amer-
ica. The snow has lasted five days. Every-
thing is all frozen and one slips and the trams
are all crowded. Hospital things are particu-
larly necessary.

"My husband asked a German, an old friend
of his, if it was possible for me to take clothes
to the English prisoners here. He was refused.
No one has been able to help the poor English,
and God only knows how they are being treated
by these brutes. We have been able to help
the French prisoners."

"February.

"I saw at Ostend an old woman of ninety,
who had walked from Waterloo. I do not like
to write much, as it is safer not to do so. The
money that was sent will go at once to a woman
with five children, whose husband was wounded.
I have been taking care of him at the hospital.
He is well again and leaves today for the front.
The wounded try to get well as quickly as pos-
sible, as they want to return to the front.

"My villa a Dumber gen pres de Heyst sur
mer is occupied by the Germans. My maid
was left in charge. The Germans ordered her
to give them our clothes. I hear my house is a

A Last Word 391

house de debaiiche et d'orgie. La femme de
chambre a ete molestee par un soldat ivre.
When the old gardener and his wife tried to in-
terfere, the soldiers said if they did, they would
shoot them. Oh, when will this cease and the
world know the truth! Cette abominable race!
My heart is broken.''

"The Hague, Feb. 22, 1915.

"My uncle and aunt are in Anjoux. Think
of the life they lead, constantly struggling
against all sorts of plunder, the worst elements
of the population now having free play. An-
archy is uppermost in many places. . . . They
have no respect for anything. What ruin on all
sides, and to think that our poor little country
was always so hospitable to those Germans !

"As to the Eoyal family: I know the Queen
never leaves La Panne (the last Belgian village).
Every day she is with the wounded and goes
very near the trenches. She is admirable in
her courage and strength, and I know she suf-
fers terribly from the conduct of her compatriots
(she is Bavarian), but in justice I must say that
the Bavarians have everywhere behaved better
than the others. The Prussians have been ter-
rible. The old Princesse de Ligne, widow of
Prince Edward, who is the Mother of the Coun-

392 The Spell of Belgium

cillor of our Legation here in The Hague, ar-
rived here in October. She stayed one month
and a half at the Chateau de la Neuville, near
Liege, and under German dominion. Although
speaking German perfectly, as she is Austrian
by birth, she had a great deal to suffer. A Ger-
man colonel with his revolver in his hand fol-
lowed her all over the house and made her show
him everything. (The same thing happened to
the Comtesse de Merode at the Chateau de
Waterloo ; everything was opened, searched, and
in part plundered.) The Princesse de Ligne re-
plied to one officer that a certain old salver of
repousse silver was not for sale, when he wished
to buy it. The next day that and other pieces
of silver were gone. At Conjoux they passed
days of anguish during the burning of Dinant.
There was a battle in the wood back of the little
house where we had so often had tea.

4 'The plundering of Dinant was most terrible,
and what has been told of the horrors of that
time is not at all exaggerated. Up to the present
time they have exhumed 981 bodies of civilians,
of which one hundred are children between three
months and ten years. All this is official.
There have, of course, been exaggerations, but
how many horrors are still unknown!

i i There were just such massacres at Audennes,

A Last Word 393

Vise, Louvain, Aerschot and Termonde, not
to speak of the smaller villages, and J. told me
when he passed through here to join the army
that in going through Dinant between Aisny
and Philippeville there was not one village that
had not been completely destroyed. At Lieg-
non (the station where one leaves the train in
going to Conjoux) they imprisoned 900 peasants
in a church for seventeen days. No one was
allowed to go in. Two women were confined and
were unable to have a doctor. The cure of
Lorinnes, near Conjoux, had his lungs pulled out
on each side with the hooks that are used for the
tires of motor cars. I could go on telling you of
just such incidents for pages and pages.

"The Chateau of Ardenne, which had become
the property of the State through the gift of
Leopold II, has been completely emptied.
There is not one piece of furniture left, nor a
frame, nor a picture; everything is gone, and
this is the case in many chateaux.

"At Ghent my family have suffered a great
deal from the presence of the enemy in their
homes. I have already told you of their install-
ing the passport office in our grandfather's
drawing room ; you remember the one where the
picture hung and the chests that belonged to
Marie Antoinette. You may imagine the filth,

394 The Spell of Belgium

and they insisted on putting in gas, saying it was
so dark they could not see. It is true it was
dark, but they had no right to ruin everything.
It is curious that our grandfather still has
papers giving an account of the Cossacks' so-
journ in 1814. In the very same house, a Prus-
sian colonel was lodger. According to these
papers, there were far fewer injuries and com-
plaints than in 1914 against the Germans. At
Laeken, in the royal chateau, the Germans held
a veritable orgy and ruined everything; such
dirt; and horrors so ignoble that I dare not
describe it further. The fact is that everything
in that beautiful chateau is in a deplorable con-
dition.

"The Germans hope to demoralize us by cir-
culating false reports. Every day despatches
from the Kaiser announcing their victories are
posted on the walls of the towns; this also to
encourage their troops. The soldiers arriving
in Ghent think they are within a few miles of
London. The people have naturally taken a
mischievous delight in undeceiving them and
telling them they were by no means near London,
but near the Yser. They actually wept, for the
Yser is their nightmare, and with reason. That
is easily understood. They do not advance;
quite the contrary.

CROWN PRINCE LEOPOLD, DUG DE BRABANT.

A Last Word 395

"The King and Queen are still at La Panne.
Little Prince Leopold, thirteen years old, is
with them now. The other day all three on
horseback reviewed the new recruits on the
beach; all the time the German aeroplanes were
throwing bombs.

"We have a new army of 200,000 men, and it
increases every day. The spirit of the troops is
excellent. The other day the Queen went with
little Prince Leopold as far as the second line of
trenches to see the soldiers. It was near Nieu-
port. She sat down amongst them, and after
she left the soldiers made a little sanctuary of
the spot where she had sat. Our sovereigns are
adored by their troops, and they well deserve it.
Nothing matters to them — neither suffering,
fatigue, clanger nor money, for they are won-
derfully generous. Nearly all the Relief Soci-
eties for Eefugees in Belgium, here in Holland,
in England, and in France have had gifts from
them, and in some cases they have been con-
siderable. It is thought now that the barbarity
of the Germans and their cruelty has ceased
since they have been stopped at the Yser, but this
is not so. Naturally massacres are less system-
atic than during the first three months of the
war, but there are constantly peasants and civil-
ians shot and priests sent to Germany. At

396 The Spell of Belgium

Cortemarch (near Eoulers) they sent the cure
and the vicar to Germany because they accused
the village of having had a spy. This they
posted themselves in all the Flemish towns.
The number of people who have had to pay ran-
som for one or another soi-disant reason is
countless. Our cousin, living at Wielt, has been
imprisoned and forced to pay one thousand
marks fine for daring to lift his voice feebly
against the requisitions, without even payment
by note, that were levied on the farmers.

"The Germans have now forbidden disinter-
ment of the bodies, as the proof of their cruelty
was too obvious. At the time of the flight of
our poor population here the little children, see-
ing the Dutch soldiers dressed in gray, took them
for Germans, and lifted up their little arms as
these latter had obliged them to do. There are
still in Holland 250,000 poor refugees. They
are nearly all settled in camps of wood which in
the beginning were very bad, but are improving
now every day. After the taking of Antwerp
there were one million here for one or two
months.

"My brothers are well, thank God. — Pray. —
Let us pray together if you will, for all. God
will hear us and will give us the joy of acclaim-
ing our King in Brussels when he reenters at

A Last Word 397

the head of his army. It is the goal and dream
of all the Belgians. It will be a day of wild and
mad delirium. It gives me the shivers even to
dream of it. ' '

From the son of Dr. Depage to his mother
while she was lecturing in America : —

"April.

' ' La Panne 1 has changed a great deal these
last few weeks. The tourist that would come
here would think himself in an exhibition, just
before opening clay.

"On all sides one sees tents that spring from
the ground. The floors would make fine skating
rinks wlien the war is over.

"Truly the medical career is full of surprises,
and I sometimes ask myself if my father, who as
a youngster poached in the Foret de Soignes,
ever thought or even dreamed that he would one
day be not only a great doctor, but a superior
officer in the Belgian army.

' i Life is a strange thing, Mother dearie, but I
think that it can be very beautiful, if one under-
stands it, — and also very sad.

"As to the war, the wounded are taking the
illusion from us that we are having a vacation
at the seaside.

i The Belgian army retired from Antwerp to La Panne.

398 The SpeU of Belgium

i i The weather has been so beautiful since the
first day of spring that one is sometimes sur-
prised not to see parasols of flaming colours, and
the silhouettes of pretty women walking on the
beach, or to see happy children building forts,
which the incoming tide soon destroys. Alas!
are we not all big children, we Belgians, that re-
sist the incoming tide, and our forts no better
or stronger? But I think the tide is high now,
and soon it will go down.

"As to Y. P I think that we must give up

all hope of seeing him again. We thought for a
while he was a prisoner, but though we tried to
find him we could not. And then, he would have
let his mother have news from him, don't you
think? — since the 22d of October.

"We must not think of him now, we must re-
main courageous and keep on hoping.

"After the war, it will be time to count the
spaces in our ranks, and I fear there will be
many. My comrade was killed in our first
bayonet charge. (You know we fight as much
as possible in pairs.) I was about to kill a Ger-
man when the man begged so pleadingly for
his life, saying he had a wife and children,
that I faltered for a moment — in that mo-
ment he half turned and quickly killed my com-
rade.''

A Last Word 399

"Brussels — end of April.

"Everybody here deprives himself to help the
more unfortunate. Thanks to America the
famine has been averted. The American Minis-
ter is adored and blessed by all. He is so simple
and modest that he doesn't like manifestations
of thanks, but after the war we hope to show
our appreciation. The d'Assches, Woelmonts,
Pierre van der Straten and other faithful ones
remain here until the day of deliverance. The
Germans, after they have massacred and pil-
laged, now remain more quiet. They are
ashamed, with reason, of their infamous doings,
and I think the cruelties are past. But how does
one know with barbarians ! We are waiting for
the Roumanians and the Greeks, and the Italians
to enter on our side. The whole world wants to
get all and risk nothing. I am writing to ask
you if the singers in New York will not be able
to organize something for the benefit of their
dear brothers and sisters here. No music is
possible. Professors and artists die from
hunger. . . .

"I want to tell you that my little Marie is go-
ing to make her first communion privately. It
is a sweet consolation for me to prepare her.
She is so simple and religious that I believe her
prayers must be acceptable to the Lord. She is

400 The Spell of Belgium

very young, only just seven; but as you know,
Pope Pius Tenth wished that children should
take their first communion at that age. In these
grave days we wanted her to receive this great
favour that she may unite her innocent prayers
with ours in order that the Lord may hear us the
better."

"London, May 1, 1915.

"It is very wearisome waiting to be sent to
La Panne — but the shelling of Dunkirk does
not bode well for our speedy departure. We
simply have to wait from day to day, ready
to start at short notice. The American Eed
Cross doctors and nurses — of the two new
units, just arrived from America — are wait-
ing also in London. The rules are stricter and
stricter for leaving England. ... No one may
now leave for nursing without having been
definitely engaged in a hospital over there.
People are often turned back from Dover in
spite of passports which are apparently per-
fectly correct.

"You see La Panne is at present under shell
fire — the King and Queen have been headquar-
tering there, an added reason for the Germans
to try to demolish it. But I hear that just now

A Last Word 401

they have been too near La Panne to be able to
get so short a range, and Dunkirk as you know
has been the victim. Many hospitals there are
being evacuated. ... In the meantime I have
been rather enjoying some free time here in
London. I was busy for a while getting my
new uniforms for La Panne — and odds and
ends necessary for the 'war zone.' The uni-
form is of dark blue, and we wear caps with
a long white veil behind. In order to get my
certificate I had to take an oral medical ex-
amination— in French — before five Belgian
doctors. A very trying ordeal, for it was
really a stiff examination, with questions which
are asked of trained nurses in their third
year. But I got through somehow, and am now
the proud possessor of a certificate giving me
'le droit de me mettre an service de la Croix
Rouge de Belgique en qualite d'infirmiere'
signed by all the doctors.

"All the food for La Panne is sent out from
London on Monday of each week by the Admir-
alty boat. They send only once a week, as it is
necessary for supplies to be watched and es-
corted all the way — otherwise they get stolen.
One clay we saw a lot packed up all ready to
start — some friends of Mother's have charge of
the whole fund, and also of the refugee fund

402 The Spell of Belgium

which distributes food all over London and
neighbourhood. They have been very nice to
me, and offered me a job to drive a motor-van
for them, carrying food to Belgian hostels and
families. I went out with another girl once or
twice, but have had no time yet to do anything
regularly. . . . We are told that chey are very
much in need of ether at La Panne — and I want
to send out some with the money which has been
given me. But this last week or two nothing
could be sent — fortunately there is a reserve sup-
ply of food at La Panne and another in Dunkirk,
so it has not mattered much. . . . Since I came
from Paignton I have been staying at the Nurses '
Hostel in Francis Street, off Tottenham Court
Eoad, with Nurse Walsh and Nurse Scott. It is
very big and comfortable — and very cheap — well
known all over the world. And nurses are pour-
ing in almost daily from Canada and Australia.
It is quite an experience staying there, and I
slept in a cubicle the first three nights to see what
it was like !

"One day we went to an exhibition by the
Women's Signaling Corps. Women and girls
are learning flag-signaling, and they are also
to take up bicycle despatch-riding, telegraphy,
etc. The idea is of course to free men for the
front. Miss D , who is the chief officer of

A Last Word 403

the women police, and a remarkable woman,
came to dinner with us last week. They have
been enrolled with the aim of providing a body
of trained women for the service of the pub-
lic.

"I inclose you a copy of a letter from Lieu-
tenant X , who was in command of two com-
panies of Gurkhas at the fight at Neuve Cha-
pelle. It was written to his family on his
twenty-eighth birthday. ' '

The letter from Lieutenant X follows :

< 'March 15, 1915.

"I ought to consider myself lucky to see an-
other 15th of March, after the last five days. It
has been absolute hell, but anyhow we won
ground and killed more than we lost. The best
way of telling you will be to quote my diary
again.

"March 9th we spent in billets very cold,
frosty and snow showers. Marched off at 11.30
p. m. for the Neuve Chapelle front, so we got no
sleep that night.

"March 10th. Arrived in a trench line at
about 3 a. m. after a march full of checks, owing
to the crowded roads. The action about to take
place was not a small one, but one by a front of
three divisions, of which we were the center one.

404 The Spell of Belgium

At 4.30 a. m. punctually, 480 guns opened fire
and never I should think in history has there
been such a bombardment. Our guns blazed
away — the country behind was a mass of gun
flashes — and in front of us a mass of smoke and
shell bursts. There was not a second in which
you could say, there is no gun firing — it was a
continuous rattle and roar, and you could not
hear yourself speak. We had to lie very low in
our trench and there were several short bursts
of our own shell going overhead ; in fact I picked
up two shrapnel bullets on my right hand side,
and the base of a fuse on my left hand side.
According to arrangements, at 8 a. m. our guns
increased their range, and our first attacking line
advanced under the enemy's trenches. The first
and second lines reached the enemy's trenches
with very little loss comparatively, as the enemy
were quite disorganized by our shelling. They
passed over two lines of trenches and reached an
old trench line dug in the early days of the war
— called the Smith-Dorrien line — about 1,200
yards beyond. I followed close behind, and
Major B came last — we had about 96 casu-
alties in the first advance. We all reached the
Smith-Dorrien line with the Germans in full re-
treat, our guns firing shrapnel on them. At this
point we could have advanced still further, but

A Last Word 405

that for one thing our guns were still dropping
shells just in front of us, and for another the
division on our left had not advanced sufficiently
to support us. My double company only got
about thirty prisoners and two machine guns.
We immediately started digging ourselves in
against an expected counter-attack. Some snip-
ers from a trench on our right troubled us for
some time ; the regiment on our right had some-
how advanced beyond the trench without killing
its occupants. ... At dark another brigade
passed through us and advanced towards a wood
1,000 yards in front of us, and entrenched them-
selves 250 yards in our front. Maxim and rifle
fire was opened on them by the enemy from the
edge of the wood, but they did not suffer very
heavily.

"March 11th. The entrenched line ahead of
us was held all day. We got heavily shelled all
day — the heaviest shells dropped behind, Jack
Johnsons and Woolly Bears, while we had shrap-
nel, bombs and nasty double-acting shells which
burst first with white smoke, and fifty yards
further on with black smoke. We also got a
good share of a shell which gave out the most

beastly-smelling gases. Major B was

wounded in the head by a bomb which burst on
our parapet within a foot of my head, blowing a

406 The Spell of Belgium

large hole in the parapet and covering me with
earth. The explosion of it, so close, instead of
deafening me seemed to clear a passage through
my head from ear to ear, and I went through all
the processes of death. It seemed to me I was a
goner, and it was some seconds before I realized
I was alive and unhurt. The brigade in our
front was ordered to retire in the night, and we
were told to hold their evacuated trench with
pickets. I sent out a picket from my double
company — they remained out until 5 a. m., when
I was ordered to withdraw them.

" March 12th. They had only just come in
when the Germans were seen advancing, and a
fearful fusillade of rifle fire from our trenches
began. After a time the firing slackened and
dawn came, when in front of us were lines of
dead Germans. We counted about one hundred
in our immediate front — there were lots more
to right and left, and the trench just evacuated in
our front was thick with them. We had some
very useful pistols with us, which fire a big
cartridge and light up the ground in front. I
fired fifteen rounds with mine to enable my men
to see to fire. Only a few live Germans re-
mained in the trench to our front, and these a
British regiment turned out in an attack at 1
p. m. Their first line advanced through us, but

A Last Word 407

suffered rather heavily from fire from a trench
to our left front. Their second line was about
to advance, and the officer in command of it
jumped up close by me and shouted ' Second
line advance/ when he dropped, shot through
the head. The third line never advanced. On

our right the Gurkhas advanced to the front

trench and suddenly white flags began to ap-
pear, and after some difficulty we got our men
to stop firing, and a few of the Gurkhas began
sending prisoners back. In a moment both sides
were standing up out of the trenches, on our side
we were waving to the Germans to come in, and
on their side they were waving flags and calling
for us to go and fetch them — but this wTe could
not do, as they continued to fire and we could

not trust them. But the Gurkhas collected

a lot on the right and more followed, many of
them wounded, and came into our lines. About
a hundred came like this, I should think. Many
more would have liked to come from further to
the left, but it was difficult to arrange, as they
kept firing and at the same time did not trust us
sufficiently to leave cover. However we got a
fair bag.

"March 13th. All to-day and yesterday too
we had absolute hell from enemies ' artillery.
All day we lay flat against the front parapet in

408 The Spell of Belgium

fear and trembling — we were very crowded in
our trench as a British regiment was there too,
and such crowding added of course to the casual-
ties. The shells dropped all round us — many
dropped close in front and behind, putting the
fear of God into us. All this time our artillery
was firing too and the noise was terrific. The
men behaved absolutely splendidly and did not
move from their places. At 5 p. m. we got news
that we were to be relieved — we were pleased
and the men bucked up at once and started chat-
tering away. We hoped to go out at dusk, but
were disappointed, as a message came to say a
German counter-attack was expected, and we
must remain for the time being. However I got
away about 8 p. m., and reported to the Colonel,
who told me to march off to billets. Off I went
with my men and myself, all as happy as could
be, but I only got as far as our brigade head-
quarters a mile away, when the General said, he

was very sorry but the and Gurkhas

had to stay in reserve to the brigade who had re-
lieved us. This was a bit fat after five days and
nights without any wink of sleep for any one ; for
we had to work all night at improving our trench
and repairing it where shells had damaged it,
digging graves for killed, seeing to wounded go-
ing back; and in the day it was impossible to

A Last Word 409

sleep for the noise, and casualties occurring now
and then, and the fear of a German attack. How-
ever there was nothing for it, so I explained the
situation to my men, who I must say took it very
well. I almost cried for pity at their disap-
pointment, for they were all dead tired : in fact
none of us could walk in a straight line, and they
were looking forward to a good sleep and some
decent food again. However they turned and
marched forward again, but no sooner had I ar-
rived than a staff officer of the other brigade

came and said the and Gurkhas were

no longer required — so about turn again and
back we went at a snail's pace. I halted at one
place for water, as the men had been rather short
of water the whole time, and I gave them an
hour's sleep by the roadside at another point.

" March 14th. It was about four miles to our
billets and we got in just at dawn — our billets are

near to L . After some food they started to

get some rest, but at 12 noon we had to change to
another house half a mile away. Poor fellows,
they have had a time, but the whole regiment has
behaved splendidly and they are as cheerful as
ever. Many acts of individual bravery were per-
formed. During the attack there was a house
full of Germans, but the difficulty was to get them
out. One of our fellows went in and called upon

410 The Spell of Belgium

all of them to surrender — and lie brought
out nine of them. On another occasion some
of our men had to bring up ammunition along a
nullah which was swept by machine-gun fire.
One of the men was wounded, but another com-
ing up behind stopped, put down the ammunition
box he was carrying and dressed the wound, re-
maining under fire till he was killed. A Jack
Jolmson burst near one of our machine guns and
buried every man except one, who was only
buried up to the waist. He got out and dug out
the others, and all were saved. Poor Major

F was shot through the head during the

German counter-attack and killed. In my own

double company I had Major D wounded,

30 men wounded, and 9 killed. Our regimental
casualties were 1 British officer killed, 2 Gurkha
officers killed, and 39 rank and file killed, 3

British officers (Major B , Major T and

Captain S ) wounded, not seriously; 2

Gurkha officers and 170 rank and file wounded,
35 missing, probably killed or wounded. Losses
in the other four regiments in the brigade were
much the same. A great many of the Germans
against us were found to have bullets on them
with the tips snicked off with cutters, making
them act like dum-dum bullets — in fact three
were shot for this on the spot. Several of

A Last Word 411

our wounded showed dum-dum wounds. . . .
"You noticed perhaps that Sir John French's
despatches, after the recent fighting, thanked the
Worcesters 'a second time' — and everybody
does not know that the first time was at Mons.
Towards the end of that battle, Sir Douglas Haig
came and said he thought they couldn't pos-
sibly hold on any longer. General French
agreed reluctantly, and gave the order for a
general retreat. But immediately Sir Douglas

Haig came back in haste to report that the

Worcesters were still holding on, and the Gen-
eral said, 'Then let us all hold on a little longer.'
The tide turned and the Germans retreated —
and so it was that a plain little company of "Wor-
cesters saved Europe! Three separate times
General French started to go and thank the Wor-
cesters, and three times he had to turn back —
he couldn't speak for the choke in his

throat.

in

Amekican Relief Work

At first there was some discussion as to the
advisability of America's feeding the Belgians.
International law told us that it was the duty

412 The Spell of Belgium

of the army occupying foreign territory to feed
the civilian population. English soldiers felt
that by importing foodstuffs into Belgium,
America was helping the Germans. But Ger-
many was unwilling to take upon herself this
additional load, and some one had to do it.
While the discussion was going on, seven mil-
lion people were beginning to starve. "The
hungry stomach knows no politics, and when a
man is drowning, pull him out and not ascer-
tain who threw him in." So America came to
the rescue.

After the destruction of Louvain a committee
was formed in New York to collect funds for
the Belgians, headed by Mr. de Forrest. His
Excellency, Mr. Emmanuel Havenith, and His
Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, at once started a
general movement, thinking that a compara-
tively small sum would be needed. The Millers'
Relief Committee, headed by Mr. Edgar in
Minneapolis, was among the first to respond.
My husband started the New England committee
at that time.

Later, Mr. Whitlock informed Mr. Page, our
Ambassador in London, of the great devasta-
tion in Belgium, as a result of which millions of
people were on the verge of starvation. So a
commission of Americans was formed in Enff-

A Last Word 413

land, headed by Mr. Hoover. They sent Mr. Lin-
don W. Bates over here to organize committees
throughout the United States. The British and
Belgian governments promised to help, as well
as the Spanish, and Germany gave permission
for foodstuffs to be distributed to non-combat-
ants in Belgium. The Spanish and American
Ministers in Brussels, and their committees in
other towns in Belgium, had charge of the dis-
tribution.1

This Commission perfected a wonderful sys-
tem of shipping and of giving out the supplies.
Everything was issued from the principal and
branch stations of the Commission in Belgium
into the hands of the "Commission Nationale
Comite de Secours," a well-organized Belgian
association.

The appeal to the governors of states and
to the Rockefeller Foundation met with the most
generous response. The American railways and
express companies for a time gave free trans-
portation, and then cooperated to ship at rea-
sonable prices. The Rockefeller Foundation
also undertook to furnish free ocean transporta-
tion, and chartered the first ship that sailed
from America with food for the Belgians, the

1 1 am indebted to the official bulletin of the Commission for
Relief in Belgium for much of the following material.

414 The Spell of Belgium

Maesapequa, which left here November 4th and
reached Eotterdam the 18th. The Foundation
also contributed foodstuffs.

Throughout the winter everybody knitted
madly. The unemployed were set to work at
small pay making garments, and people literally
took their clothes off their backs to send. Plays,
concerts, lectures, moving picture shows and
rummage sales took in money which was later
turned into food.

The way in which this food was put up was
original and quite American. Boxes were filled
with nourishing food suited to the needs of three
classes of refugees — infants, convalescents, and
adults.

"A package for infants and young children
should include thirty pounds of evaporated, un-
sweetened milk; about two pounds of milk
sugar, five pounds of barley flour, five pounds
of cornmeal, five pounds of oatmeal, and two
ounces of salt. This will sustain from two hun-
dred to two hundred and fifty infants or young
children for one day.

"For packages for convalescents the follow-
ing is recommended : Fifteen pounds of evapo-
rated milk, fifteen pounds of malted milk; one
pound can of olive or cottonseed oil ; two pounds
of canned chicken, five pounds of brown rice,

A Last Word 415

seven pounds of whole wheat or white flour,
three pounds of sugar, two pounds of tea, and
six ounces of salt. It is estimated that this will
sustain from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty convalescents for one day.

"A package for well adults should contain:
Five pounds of canned baked beans, eight
pounds of dried lentils, peas or beans, five
pounds of canned salmon, five pounds of oat-
meal, five pounds of cornmeal, fifteen pounds of
whole wheat or white flour, two pounds of sugar
and six ounces of salt. This will furnish a sus-
taining ration for fifty adults for one day."

"Not one mouthful has gone down a German
throat yet, nor do I believe it ever will," wrote
Mr. Hoover; "we have had nothing but help
from the Germans in the distribution of Ameri-
can foodstuffs in Belgium. Belgium raises less
than forty per cent, of its own food. The war
struck it in the midst of the harvest, and Bel-
gium had made no provision to feed itself in time
of trouble. The minimum monthly require-
ments of the Belgian population are sixty thou-
sand tons of grain, fifteen thousand tons of
maize, three thousand tons of rice and peas, at
a cost of four or five million dollars."

There was no milk for thirty thousand babies
at the end of November. The cows had all been

416 The Spell of Belgium

killed or taken by the Germans for the army.
The starving mothers could give little nour-
ishment to their infants, and the supply of
condensed milk was quickly used up. This pic-
ture was brought by an American from Bel-
gium:

"I stood one morning by the back door of a
German cook camp, watching a group of Bel-
gian women grubbing through the trash heap
piled up behind the camp. All these women
carried babies. 'What are they doing V I asked
a German sergeant with whom I had struck up
an acquaintance. ' Scraping our condensed milk
cans/ he said. 'It is the only way to get milk
for their babies. I have seen them run their
fingers round a can which looked as bright as a
new coin, and hold them into the babies ' mouths
to suck. ' '

Six thousand meals a day were served in
Brussels alone in the autumn. In some places
one large baker's bun a day was all that was
issued by the authorities; in other places, one
bowl of cabbage soup. By April there were
forty-seven soup kitchens in Brussels.

A shipload of food meant one day's rations
for the Belgians. When the first ship arrived
at the Hook of Holland, the city of Rotterdam
rejoiced. While the unpacking went on,

A Last Word 417

speeches were made and banquets held, and
American national airs were played. The
cargo of the ship was put into canal barges,
which by German permission were allowed to
make their way to the different towns.

To show how quickly the food is distributed
— in three hours sixty thousand people received
bread. Three hundred and sixty sacks of
American flour arriving at Verviers was dis-
tributed in the form of bread the following
morning. According to the system of the Com-
mission, each person receives three cards.
"One is kept at the office, the other two are
given to the applicant. One of these he keeps
and presents each day for his quota of rations,
i. e., bread. The other he gives to his baker.
With this card the baker makes application to
the storehouse for the necessary flour to cover
the demand of the bread card. The bread card
calls for 325 grams of bread; the baker's card
for 250 grams of flour. When there are not
full rations to be had, the applicant gets the per-
centage available. This applies to every one,
rich and poor alike."

Thanks to the efficient work of the Commis-
sion, fully seventy-five per cent, of the Belgians
receiving food were able to pay for it. This was
due to the clever financiering of Mr. Hoover

418 The Spell of Belgium

and his committee, who managed, by an ingen-
ious method, to raise the depreciated paper cur-
rency to par value.

Putting gift and purchase cargoes together
there were delivered in a single month, " twenty-
five thousand tons of wheat, thirty thousand
tons of flour, eleven thousand tons of maize, fif-
teen hundred tons of rice, five hundred and
forty-six tons of peas, four thousand tons of
beans, one hundred and seven tons of potatoes,
one hundred and twelve tons of salt, with
thirty-six hundred tons of sundries.' '

In the spring Antwerp and Brussels were
feeding about two hundred and eighty thou-
sand people twice a day. At least four million
people are getting their food through the Na-
tional Commission. Those who can pay for it
do so. Food is given in the bread line to those
who cannot pay. At first only workmen ap-
peared in the line, then small shopkeepers, and
later professional men.

West of the road from Antwerp to Mons the
people are being fed. East of the road the
Germans did not permit it during the winter.
In April, however, it was arranged that the
Commission should also feed Northern France.
In June General von Bissing permitted the Com-
mission to furnish grain for seed, to be planted

A Last Word 419

and harvested by Belgian peasants for their own
use. The report of the Commission for the
first year of the war showed that for the peo-
ple of Belgium and the 2,500,000 French people
hemmed in behind the German battle front, an
expenditure of $10,000,000 a month was re-
quired.

The despatch of a shipload of food every other
day from America during the winter constituted
the largest commissary that the world has ever
seen. "The Fleet of Mercy is constantly mak-
ing voyages.' ' Every cent collected in America
for the purchase of food was spent in America.
It is said that up to May 1st the United States
made gifts amounting to about six million dol-
lars. The American Eelief Commission today
has branches not only in the United States,
Canada and Holland, but also in London and
Belgium and France. From sixteen American
seaports food has been sent direct to Belgium.
Forty-eight States, the District of Columbia and
Hawaii, organized Belgian Eelief Committees,
and endless sub-committees. Thirty-seven of
the States of the Union are represented by the
women's section.

Queen Elizabeth, now called the "Wandering
Queen," sent this letter to thank the women of
this Commission:

420 The Spell of Belgium

"It gives me great pleasure to accept the in-
vitation which has been transmitted to me to
become a patroness of the Women's Section of
the American Commission for Relief in Bel-
gium. I wish to extend to the women of
America the deep gratitude of the women of
Belgium for the work which they are doing for
my people. The food which your country is
daily providing to our women and children
comes like a ray of sunshine in the darkest hour
in Belgium's history. The Belgian women
have fought a brave fight, and are still fighting
for the common cause of human liberty, so dear
to every American woman's heart.

' ' Elizabeth. ' '

By May 1st the New York Belgian Fund
amounted to more than a million dollars. Cali-
fornia raised over a hundred thousand in a day.
Chicago has been conspicuous with large gifts.
Kansas sent a great quantity of flour, and Mr.
Wanamaker of Philadelphia shipped cargoes
worth half a million dollars.

The New England Committee believes that
its results up to May first are substantially as
follows: Cash collected, $300,000; value of
goods collected, $100,000 ; money sent from New
England direct to New York, $50,000 ; and goods

A Last Word 421

sent to New York, about $50,000. The Kermesse
Flamande cleared $15,000, and Madame Van-
dervelde 's meetings raised about $14,000 in Bos-
ton alone. Three ship-loads of food and cloth-
ing left Boston harbour.

The Harpalyce was the first and largest of
the ships. She sailed on January 7th, reaching
Eotterdam the 23d. On April 10th, while on
another voyage, she was torpedoed in the North
Sea. She carried a crew of fifty-three men,
twenty-six of whom were drowned, among them
the captain, whom we knew personally.

The work of Madame Vandervelde while she
was in this country deserves special mention.
She is an English woman, the wife of Emile
Vandervelde, the leader of the Socialists in Bel-
gium. He had several times been offered a
place in the Cabinet but had refused. When the
war broke out, however, feeling that he could
be of real service to his country, he became one
of the Ministers of State. He came with the
Minister of Justice, Monsieur Carton de Wiart,
an old friend of ours, and several others, as
one of a commission sent to America in the
autumn of 1914. Madame Vandervelde fol-
lowed shortly to make a lecture tour in the
United States. We found her a charming and
well-educated woman, and a speaker of unusual

422 The Spell of Belgium

power. She came to this country in a spirit of
splendid patriotism for the sake of helping Bel-
gium.

Before the food question became urgent, she
asked for money to help the Belgian refugees
return to their homes. But this did not seem
wise, as we shall see from a report quoted be-
low, so the money that she collected was turned
into food.

' 'For example, the towns Waelhem, Malines,
Duffel, and Lierre, are reduced practically to
ruins and are certainly not in a condition to
receive back more than one-third of their or-
dinary population. There is, moreover, a smell
of decay in the air, which probably proceeds from
corpses buried in the ruins, which may, at any
time, breed a pestilence. To send people back
to their homes when those homes no longer ex-
ist, I believe to be cruel. Vise and T amines
and, I suppose, ten or a dozen other small towns
in Belgium, are practically in the same condi-
tion as those I visited, desolate and uninhabita-
ble, half of their houses wrecked, many scat-
tered and isolated farmhouses practically de-
stroyed, and a considerable portion of the land
under cultivation laid waste, either by military
operations or by inundation for defense.

" There is no work. The factories are closed

A Last Word 423

because they have no raw material, coal, or pe-
trol, and because they have no markets. And
yet war taxes are falling with hideous pressure
upon a people whose hands are empty, whose
workshops are closed, whose fields are idle,
whose cattle have been taken.' '

In one of her lectures Madame Vandervelde
said: "The sight of the poor refugees stream-
ing into Antwerp from Louvain and Marines,
women with babies in their arms, older children
clinging to their skirts, men wheeling their de-
crepit fathers in wheelbarrows or helping along
a crippled brother or son, is more pitiful than
any words can express.' '

From the reports in the daily papers, Madame
Vandervelde said, one knows little of the over-
whelming nature of the tragedy. She told
many interesting stories of the land which had
been ravaged by the horrors of war, and the
murderous raids of the Zeppelins.

Her mission was not a political one ; it was a
plea for help. She arrived in September, bring-
ing good letters of introduction. Wherever she
spoke — in private houses on Long Island, at
Beverly, Mass., or Dublin, New Hampshire, or
in cities — she was so attractive, and her appeal
was so pathetic, that people wept and opened
their pocketbooks. In the big cities of Canada

424 The Spell of Belgium

she spoke in halls and churches, and was most
enthusiastically received. From Syracuse she
went to Chicago, also to St. Paul and Minne-
apolis, starting committees where they did not
already exist. At Chicago, Philadelphia and
Boston she was especially successful in raising
money. She was present at the sailing of sev-
eral of the food ships, when hundreds of peo-
ple crowded the docks, speeches were made, and
patriotic music played.

Three thousand people attended the mass
meeting at Tremont Temple, in Boston, and over
a thousand were turned away. She went to
Providence and then to New Haven, where she
was introduced by ex-President Taft. She was
introduced in Boston by Bishop Lawrence, and
in Baltimore by Cardinal Gibbons. A large
meeting was held for her in Cooper Union Hall
in New York. During her stay in Washing-
ton she visited the Belgian Minister and his
wife. Where committees were already started,
she turned over the money she made to them.
She sailed for Europe on the third of April,
having raised about three hundred thousand
dollars.

Her last lecture before sailing contained
these words: "We, the Allies, do not want
peace. We appreciate the well meaning, high

MADAME VANDERVELDE,

A Last Word 425

minded, noble Americans who are planning a
conference at your national capital whereby the
neutral nations shall decide on some peace plan
to be submitted to the belligerent nations with-
out armistice, but we cannot hear of peace at
this or any other time until Prussian army
caste has been wiped from the face of Europe.
We want peace, but only peace with honour, and
lasting peace. Peace now, before militarism
has been conquered, will not be lasting peace.
At the most, it would only be for five or six
years, until Prussian militarism could recon-
struct itself, and then the whole reign of terror
for all Europe would begin again. We can
scarcely understand an attitude that would even
suggest peace at this time. Such an attitude is
embarrassing. "

Just as Madame Vendervelde left the country,
Madame Depage arrived to take her place. She
had had experience in the Balkan War, when
she accompanied her husband to Constantinople
and acted as an auxiliary nurse. She directed
the equipment of the hospital and within a very
short time had turned the building into one of
the best military hospitals in Europe. During
the present war she has aided in the establish-
ment of a large number of military hospitals,
not only in Brussels but also in other Belgian

426 The Spell of Belgium

cities. When Brussels was taken the Germans
seized the hospitals and devoted them to their
own uses. The Governor-General of Belgium
issued a decree breaking up the organization of
the Belgian Eed Cross. All the funds were
seized, and the archives were handed over to a
German officer, who was appointed to carry on
the work. It is said that forty thousand dol-
lars' worth of Red Cross supplies was taken
over. As the National Belgian Headquarters
of the Eed Cross were in Brussels, the heads of
the organization were temporarily cut off from
the army.

Dr. Depage stayed with the King while his
wife remained in the capital until she received
word from him that she was needed at the
front. She made her way to Holland, then to
England, and then to Calais. Her husband was
at that time in charge of the Gendarme Ambu-
lance. He gave her some orderlies and told her
to proceed to La Panne and select a site for a
military hospital. She found an empty hotel,
and had things ready with three hundred beds
when the Doctor arrived from Calais to take
charge. Now there are a thousand beds, and
he has a large corps of assistants.

As Belgium was not receiving American Red
Cross supplies, for the simple reason that it

A Last Word 427

seemed impossible to reach their headquarters,
Madame Depage came to this country to solve
the difficulty. She was here only a short time,
but obtained a hundred thousand dollars by her
lectures. Our American Red Cross had pre-
viously contributed thirty thousand dollars
through the Belgian Eelief Commission, and
gave Madame Depage thirteen thousand more,
besides promising six surgeons and twenty-four
nurses to Belgium, furnishing two field hospi-
tals and paying for their maintenance for six
months. The total gifts of the American Red
Cross organization have amounted to about
$100,000. Fortunately the money that Madame
Depage raised was deposited here, for this
brave, executive woman went down on the
Lusitania.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, Grant: Belgium: Its Cities

Ames, F. T.: Between the Lines in Belgium

Boulger, D. C. : Belgium of the Belgians

— Belgian Life in Town and Country

Bumpus, T. F. : Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium

Bithell, J.: Contemporaneous Belgian Poetry

Bode, W. : Great Masters

Claflin, W. H. : Holland and Belgium

Conway, W. M. : Early Flemish Artists

Crowe and Cavalcaselle : Flemish Painters

Delepierre, Octave: History of Flemish Literature

Davis, R. H.: With the Allies

Edwards, G. W.: Old Flemish Towns

Ensor, R. C. K. : Belgium

Fromentin, Eugene: Les maitres d'autrefois

Gilbert, Eugene: France et Belgique

Griffis, W. E.: Belgium the Land of Art

Holland, Clive: Belgians at Home

Hunter, G. L. : Tapestries

Huet, C. B.: Land of Rubens

Hymans, Louis: Bruxelles a travers les ages

Jourdain, M.: Old Lace

Kauffman, R. W. : In a Moment of Time

Mac Donnell, J. de C. : Belgium, Her Kings and People

— King Leopold II

— Albert, King of the Belgians
Omond, G. W. T.: Belgium
Poplimont — : Heraldry

Potvin, Charles : Nos premiers siecles litteraires
Powell, E. A.: Fighting in Flanders

429

430 Bibliography

Pamphlets :

Washington and Columbia Printing Co. : Facts About Bel-
gium

Belgian Government: Diplomatic Correspondence respect-
ing the War

German Commanders in Belgium: Why Belgium Was Dev-
astated

Commission on International Law: Reports
Booses, Max: Art in Flanders
Rea, Hope: Great Masters (Rubens)
Rice, W. G. : Carillons of Belgium and Holland
Southey, Robert: Netherlands in 1815
Stevenson, R. L. : An Inland Voyage
Scott, W. B. : Gems of Modern Painters
Singleton, Esther: Art of the Belgian Galleries
Sharp, William: La jeune Belgique
Smith, E. Gilliat: Story of Brussels
Sarolea, Dr. Charles: How Belgium Saved Europe
Thompson — : The Belgian Renascence
Valentiner, W. R. : The Art of the Low Countries
Wauters, A. J. : La peinture flamande
Zweig, Stefan: Emile Verhaeren

INDEX

Adelbert (Prince), 34

Adoration of the Lamb, the,
182, 184, 236

Adoration of the Magi, 195,
196

Aerschot, 373, 393

Africa, 113, 116

Aisny, 393

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 101

Albert, Archduke, 99

Alfred the Great, 70

Algini, 307-313

Alost, 97, 210

Alva, Duke of, 96, 192

American Club, 51
Students' Club, 55-6

Ancienne Cour, 94

Andenne, 351, 352

Angel's Mass, 30

Angers, 162, 171

Anseele, Edouard, 151

Antwerp, 8, 37, 68, 94, 97, 98,
99, 111, 124, 137, 138,
162, 202, 230, 233-236,
282-283, 331, 342, 366,
371, 383, 384, 418, 423
Academy, 204
Cathedral, 147, 234, 262
Museum, 189, 195

Antwerp, Legends of, 255

431

Antigon, 255-262

Yvon Bruggermans, 262-

275
Friigger the Miser, 275-303
The Blacksmith of Ant-
werp, 303-313
The Milk Girl, 313-330
Apocalypse (tapestries), 171
Archdukes Albert and Isa-
bella, 165, 194
Ardennes, the, 331, 332, 341,

344
Arenberg, Due d', 34
Duchesse d', 34
(family), 34
Arquenne, 333
Arras, 162, 170
Assembly of, 88
Tapestries, 168, 169
Artevelde, Jacob van (the
Brewer of Ghent), 82,
83, 238
Philip van, 84
Assche, Comte d', 20
Palais d', 2, 7, 20
(family), 389, 399
Aubusson, 170
Audennes, 374, 392
Augustus, 66
Austrian Succession, war of,

101
Aymon, sons of, 348

432

Inde:

B

"Boerenbonden," 135
Boitsfort, 58

Baldwin (Bras-de-fer) , 69, 74

Bom a, 118

Second, 70

Borinage, the, 140, 335

King of Edessa, 73

Bosel, 379

Count of Hainault and

Bouvignes, 353

Flanders, 73

'"Brabaneonne," the, 210,

381

Fifth, Count of Flanders,

Brabant, 18, 58, 80, 84,

87,

75

142

Sixth, Count of Flanders,

Governor of, 8

70, 78

Braekeleer, Henri de, 203

Bataille, Nicolas, 171, 173

Brant, Isabella, 194

Bates, Mr. Lindon W., 412

Braquenie, Brothers, 166

Baudouin, Prince, 119

Brederode, de, 95

Bavaria, John of, 185

Breuil, du, 173

Bayard, 348-350

Brieux, 378

Rock of, 348

Broqueville, Baron de, 137

Beauvais, 170

Bruges, 17, 18, 68, 70, 74

, 75,

Beeckmans (the), 389

80, 81, 84, 90, 93, 98

, 99,

Beernaert, Minister of State,

111, 162, 180, 185,

187,

35

238-242

Beers, van, 210

Belfry of, 240

Beethoven, 52

Brussels, 2, 8, 9, 12, 16

17,

Beguinage

85, 100, 119, 162,

163,

in Ghent, 146, 237

164, 230, 331, 342,

356,

in Bruges, 238

364-365, 378, 382,

388,

Belgica, 66, 67

389, 416, 418

Bel, Jean le, 209

life in, 43-64

Beloeil, 332, 334-335

Buelow, von, 368

Berryer, M., 35

Buisseret, Comte de, 2

Beughems, de (the), 13, 389

Caroline de, 7, 24

Beuken, 372

Burgundian Sacraments,

159,

Biefve, Edouard, 202

189

Black Prince, 83

Burgundy, dukes of, 18, 89

Blanc-Grin, 204

(county of), 92, 99

Blondel, 17

(duchy of), 86, 92

Bliicher, 104

C

Bodel, Jean, 208

Boehn, von, 368

Caesar, 65, 259

Index

433

Calais, 83, 87, 83, 371,

380,

Clementine, 109, 110

426

Clericals (political party),

Calve, 53

112, 127-130, 133-135,

Cambre, Pare de la, 58, 59

137

Bois de la, 62

Clovis, King of the Franks,

Cassel, victory of, 79

67, 68, 69

Cats, le Vieux, 209

Colbert, 171

Caxton, William, 240

Cologne, 17

Cercle du Pare, 38

Comans and Planche, 171, 173

"Chambers of Rhetoric,"

208

Commission for Relief in Bel-

"Chansons des Saxons,"

208

gium, the (American),

Charlemagne, 16, 68, 74,

243,

412, 420

341, 343, 348, 349, 350

Congo State, the, 114-119

Charleroi, 139, 342, 363,

374

Museum, 51, 119

Charles V, 18, 92, 93, 94,

159,

Congress of Vienna, 103, 106

209, 263

Conjoux, 392, 393

Charles the Rash, 91,

160,

Conscience, Henri, 210-212

170, 172, 187

Conservatoire, the, 53

Prince, of Lorraine, 101

Constitution (Belgian), 107

the Sixth (of France)

84

Cortemarch, 396

the Seventh (of France),

Coster, Charles de, 210

89

Courouble, Leopold, 220

Prince, of HohenzoUern,

Courtrai, 68, 70, 80, 143, 247,

120

331

the Bald, 69

Creve-Coeur, 353

Charles Theodore (of

Ba-

Cross, Descent from the, 195

varia) , 25

Elevation of, 195

Charlotte, Princess, 108

Crown Prince (of Belgium),

(Empress), 108

123

Chasseurs, 61

Crown Prince (of Germany),

Christianity, 58, 69

30

Church, the, 71, 79, 130,

132,

(of Roumania), 30

151

Cro}^, Prince Henri de, 338,

Ciergnon, 120, 346

339

Ciney, cow of, 351-353

(family), 335, 336, 339

Cinquantenaire, the, 61

Crusades, 71, 74

Palais du, 60

Museum, 119

D

Clary, Comtesse, 24

David, Abbe, 210

434

Index

David and Goliath (tapes-
tries), 176

Davignon, Madame, 12

Deg, van, 305-313

Democrats (political party),
127

Demolder, Eugene, 220

Depage, Dr., 397, 426
Madame, 425, 426, 427

Derouette, Colonel, 3

Dhanis, Baron, 115

Diana (tapestries), 173-176

Dieckmann, Major, 369

Digue, the, 243

Dinant, 65, 341, 346, 350, 366,
374, 383, 392, 393

Dixmude, 247, 367

Donnan, Miss, 56

Duffel, 422

Dunkirk, 400, 401, 402

Dyck, Anthony van, 199-201

Edwards, George Wharton,

241
Egmont, Count, 34, 91, 95, 96,

247
Eilbert, Count, 346-347
Elst, Baron von der, 57
Emilie Louise, 108
Emmich, von, 368
Enghien, 162, 163, 332, 333
Eugene, Prince, 100
Eyck, Jan van, 183-186, 187,
189, 190
Hubert, 179, 180, 182, 183-

186
Margaret, 183
Eycks, the, 179, 189, 191, 240

Fancy Fair, the, 47
Farnese, Alexander, Prince of

Parma, 98
Ferdinand and Isabella, 92
Flamberge, 349
Flanders, 13, 14, 18, 33, 67,

73, 74, 75, 76
Flanders, Count of, 69
Robert, Count of, 73
(Counts of), 352
Flandre, Comtesse de, 10, 28,
29, 30, 47, 340
Comte de, 25
Philip, 108, 119
Flemings, 67, 126
Foret, Comte Raymond de,

333
Fourment, Helena, 194
Francis I, 93
Franks, 66, 67, 68

Salian, 66
French, General, 410, 411
Freya, cave of, 347
Friigger, 275-303
Fumes, 248

Procession of Penance at,
249-251

Galliat, Louis, 202

Galsworthy, John (quoted),
356

Garde Civique, 29

Gates of the Apostles (tapes-
try), 169

Gaul, 66, 67, 68

Index

435

Gauls, the, 65, 66

H

Geographical Congress, 113
Gerard, Baron, 76

Haarlem, 96

Geubles, Jacques, 174

Hainault, 33, 79, 87, 141,
331

142,

Ghent, 18, 68, 70, 74, 81, 84,

90, 93, 97, 98, 139, 142,

Hal, 332, 333

150, 236-238, 239, 393,

Han, 345

394

Grottes de, 345-346

"Pacification of ,"

Hall, Mr., 123

97

Hapsburgs, the, 19

Gilles, Dancing, 336-338

Havre, 137, 342, 371

Glesener, Edmond, 213

Havre, 336

Gobelins (Jean and Philip),

Hennebicq, 76

167, 170, 171

Henry, Cardinal of Winches-

Godfrey of Bouillon ("Advo-

ter, 88

cate" of Jerusalem), 72,

Herzele, 247

73

Hill, Mr. James J., 121

Godfrey the Bearded, Count,

Hoboken, 282

17

Hochstetter, 284-303

Golden Fleece, Order of, 90,

Hofstade, 366

91, 185

Holland, 12, 87, 98

Goltz, Baron von der, 368

Holy Blood, chapel of, 239

Grammont, 76, 78

Hoorn, Count, 91, 95, 96

Grand Council, 87

Hoover, Mr., 412, 417

Grande Harmonie, Societe de

Hotel de Ville (Brussels)

, 16,

la, 147

48, 49, 166

Grande Place (Brussels), 48-

Hougomont, 63, 104

49, 96, 100, 365

Houllos, 139

(Ypres), 251

Hubert, St., 58, 345

Grant-Smith, 3

Grenadiers, 3

I

Gretry, 52

Inquisition, 18, 96, 236

Groenendal, 58, 59

International Association

for

Chateau, 59

the Suppression of

the

Grunne, de, 339

Slave Trade and

the

Gueux, the, 95

Opening of Central

Af-

Guides Regiment, 4, 60, 61

rica, 114

Guy (of Anderlecht), 14, 15,

Isabella, Duchess (of Bur-

16

gundy), 89

436

Index

Princess (of Portugal), 90,

185
Infanta, 99, 165

Jacqueline of Bavaria, 86, 87

Jallet, 352

Jenneval, 210

Joanna, 92

Johanna, 84

John the First, 17

the Fearless, 86

Don, of Austria, 97
Jordaens, Jacob, 165, 191,

199, 200
Josephine (Princess), 119
Joseph II, 101, 102
Joyous Entry, the, 84, 100,

110, 194
Judith, 69

Jungbluth, General, 120
Jupille, 342, 343

Karcher, Nicholas and Jean,

173
King Albert Hospital, 386
King of the Belgians, 3, 5, 6,
8, 10, 25, 26, 27, 30, 41,
42, 57, 61, 117-125, 137,
147, 371, 381, 384, 395,
396, 400

La Belle Alliance, 63, 104
Lac d' Amour, 238

Laeken, 25, 30, 39, 40, 4*,

42, 51, 112, 394
La Haye Sainte, 63, 104
Lalaing, Comte de, 380
Lalaing, Countess van, 193
Lambeaux, Jef, 205
Lambremont, Baron, 120
La Panne, 367, 391, 395, 397,

400, 401, 402, 426
"La Princesse Maleine," 216
La Roches, 345
Last Communion of St. Fran-
cis, 198
L'Echo Beige, 386
Ledeganck, 210
Legation, 2, 3, 20
Lemonnier, Camille, 213
Leopold I (Prince, of Saxe-

Coburg), 107, 108, 374
Leopold II, King, 19, 25, 32,

39, 42, 51, 85, 108-114,

242
Prince, 395
of Austria, 102
Le Pays jSToir, 140
Lerberghe, Charles van, 221,

222, 224
Le Roeulx, 339
Lesbroussart, 210
Leys, 202
Liberals (political party),

112, 127, 129, 132-134
Liege, 52, 69, 124, 136, 139,

141-144, 331, 341, 342,

343, 361-363, 371, 374,

377, 392
Bishop of, 58, 70, 89
Marshal of, 352
Lierre, 422

Index

437

Ligne, Prince Charles de, 32,
33, 332
Princesse, 33, 34, 391, 392
Prince George de, 388
(family), 16, 31, 33, 332,

334, 335
Prince Edward, 391
Ligny, 103
Lilk, 162
Limburg, 84

Locquenghieu, Chevalier de, 8
Lombaertzyde, 248
Lorand, M., 116, 117
Lorinnes, Cure of, 393
Lorraine (Lotharingia), 74,
91
Count Lambert of, 16
Duke Charles of, 16
Prince Charles of, 101
Loti, Pierre, 251
Louis XIV, 34, 100
Louis XI of France, 92
Louise, 109

Louvain, 18, 52, 84, 230-232,
371, 372, 373, 374, 384,
393, 423
Counts of, 70
Louvain, University of, 94,
231, 373
Hotel de Ville, 230, 232
Cathedral, 370
Lovenjoul, Vicomte de Spoel-

berch, de, 220
Low Countries, 51, 68, 92, 93,

97
Luetwitz, von, 369
Luxembourg, 87, 341, 383
Duke of, 29
Counts of, 351, 352, 359

M

Maecht, Philip de, 173

Maele, Louis de, 83, 84

Maestricht, 97

Maeterlinck, 152, 207, 213-
219, 224, 237

Maison du Peuple, 152

Maison du Roi, 46, 96

Malines (Mechlin), 147, 195,
196, 200, 232-233, 366,
370, 371, 374, 422, 423
Cathedral, 233

Mannikin, the, 49

Marburg, Mr., 20

Margaret of Austria, 92, 159
of Parma, 94-96

Marie Elizabeth, Archduchess,
100

Marie Henriette, Archduchess,
109

Marie Jose, Princess, 25

Marie - Louise - Alexan-
drine-Caroline, 119

Marie, Jean de, 89

Marncourt, Renard de, 173

Marriage of St. Catherine,
186, 187

Martel, Charles, 68

Mary (of Burgundy), 92

Matilda, 75

Matsys, Quentin, 144, 191,
(Blacksmith of Ant-
werp), 303-313

Maugis, 349

Max, Burgomaster, 8, 9, 364

Maximilian of Austria, 92
Second, 99

438

Index

Maximilian of Austria (Em-
peror), 108
Melba, 53
Melis, 13, 14
Melusine, 333
Memling, Hans, 179, 186-189,

190, 191, 240
Menapians, 66
Mercier, Cardinal, 370, 375
Merode, Comte Jean de, 5
Comtesse, 31, 392
(family), 389
Meunier, Constantin, 205
Meuse (river), 331, 332, 349,
353, 361
Valley, 65, 346
Michael the Archangel, 16
Middelkerke, 367
Middlebourg, 162
Minister, American, 2, 8, 388,

399
Minister of Foreign Affairs,

11, 12
Minister, Spanish, 8, 382
Miraculous Draught of Fishes,

195, 196
Mockel, Albert, 223
Monnaie, Place de la, 50
Mons, 140, 335-336, 364, 411,

418
Moor, Baron de, 4
Mortlake, 167, 170, 173
"Musette de Portici," 107

N

Kamur, 79, 331, 341, 342, 353-
354, 363, 374, 384
Counts of, 70, 351, 352

Napoleon, 102-105, 147
Napoleon III, 108
Nash, Miss Hildegarde, 55
Netherlands, 68, 70, 74, 75,
92, 94, 99, 170, 171

Austrian, 100, 231

United, 106
Neuve Chapelle, 403
Nibelungen Lied, 207
Nieker, von, 369
Nieuport, 248, 367, 395
Nieuport-Bains, 248
Nieuwenhoven, Martin van,

187
Noort, Adam van, 193
Normans, 69, 75
Notre Dame du Sablon, 158

Church of, 158 ^Malines),
195, 196, 370

CEuvre des Soldats Beiges,

Franco- American, 13
Ophem, 339
Orange, Prince of, 8

(William the Silent), U5>

97, 98
Nassau, family of, 107
House of, 192
Ostend, 137, 236, 242-244,

342, 367, 379, 390
Oudenarde, 162, 163, 164, 165

Pack, Governor, 37

Index

439

Paele, Canon van de, 185,

Q

186

Madonna of, 185-6
Palais de Justice, 365
Palais de la Nation, 50
Pannemaker, YYillem de, 172
Papal Nuncio, 8, 10, 38
Parnasse de la Jeune Bel-

Quartier Leopold, 20, 50, 51

Quatre Bras, 103, 104

Queen, the (of the Belgians),
6, 7, 10, 11, 25, 26, 27,
41, 42, 47, 61, 122, 123,
125, 147, 148, 381, 391,

gique, la, 213
Pendleton, Miss Charlotte,

395, 400, 419

168

Penelope, 161

R

Pepin of Heristall, 68

the Short, 342

Perch, Baron de, 8

Raes, Jean, 174

Perwez, 340

Red Cross, American, 400,

Peter the Hermit, 72

426, 427

Philip of Alsace (Count of

Renkin, M., 117

Flanders), 73, 79, 208

Requesens, 97

the Bold, Duke of Bur-

Revue de Belgique, 212

gundy, 84, 86

Rhine, 66, 67

the Good, 16, 86, 87, 88,

Richard, Earl of Warwick, 88

89, 90, 91, 159, 183,

Richilde, Countess of Hain-

185, 187, 240

ault and Namur, 79

Second, of Spain, 91, 93, 94,

Robert the Frisian, 79

96, 97, 98, 99, 172, 209

Rochefort, 345

the Fair, 92, 159

Rodenbach, Georges, 224

Philip, Duke, of Saxe-Coburg,

Roi, Jean Gregoire le, 214,

109

221

Philippeville, 393

Roland (bell), 93, 238

Picardie, 348

Rombeaux, Egide, 205

Pirenne, Henri, 220

Ronner, Madame, 204

Plantyn-Moretus Museum, 234

Roosbeke, battle of, 84

Plantyn, Christopher, 234

Rooses, Max, 163, 202, 205

Pleiade, 213

Roost, Jean, 173

Poe, 242

Rouart, 349

Poplimont (quoted), 33

Roubaix, Jean de, 185, 247

Potvin, Charles, 207, 212

Roulers, 244

Prier, Toussaint, 163

Convent at, 244-246

440

Index

Rubens, Peter Paul, 99, 191-

199, 200
John, 192
Rudolph, Crown Prince, of

Austria, 109
Ruysbroeck, 209

Sainte Barbe, College of, 214,

224
Saint- Vaast, monastery of, 89
"Salon Bleu," 26
Sambre (river), 332, 353, 354
Saxe, Marshal, 19, 101
Saxon League, 67
Saxony, Anne of, 192
Schaffen, 372
Scheldt, the, 13, 69, 74, 235,

255, 331
Scott, William B., 184
Seaman, Major, 121
Sempst, 366
Senne, the, 15, 17
Severin, Fernand, 222
Sluys, victory of, 83
Socialism, 127, 151
Socialists (political party),

127, 129, 135, 137
Soignes, Foret de, 57, 58, 59,

340, 397
Somme, the, 69
Spa, 341, 343-344
Spaniards' Castle, 93
"Spanish Fury," 97
Spanish Netherlands, 33
St. Andre, church of, 279
St. Gery, church of, 16

St. Gudule, church of, 10, 29,
30

St. Hubert, church of, 344
hermitage of, 354

St. Ives, college of, 373

St. Jean, 62

St. John's Hospital ( Bruges ) ,
186

St. Peter and St. Guy, church
of, 16

St. Peter, church of (Lou-
vain), 143, 373

St. Quentin, 364

Stanley, 114

States-General, 87, 94

Stephanie, 109, 110

Stevens, 204

Stoelkens, Beatrix, 158

Storer, Mr. Bellamy, 20

Straten, Pierre van der, 399

Tamines, 374, 422
Teniers, David, 165
Terlinden, Lieutenant, 62
Termeire, 12
Termonde, 236, 366, 393
Theatre de la Monnaie, 106
Third Estate, 87
Thompson, 53-54
Tirlemont, 375
Tongres, Lucius de, 207
Tournai, 69, 162, 163, 374,

379
Tremeloo, 372
"Triumphs and Types of the

Eucharist," 165
Troyes, Crestien de, 208

Index

441

Truce of God, the, 79
Tyndale, 232

U

United Belgian States, 102

Ursel, Due d', 13, 57
Comte Wolfgang d', 32
Comtesse Wolfgang d', 32
Duchesse, 13, 31, 32, 57
Duchess Dowager, 13, 32
family, 31, 32
Palais, 32

Ursula, St., 188-9
Mother, 245

Utrecht, Union of, 98
peace of, 99

Vanderkindere, 212
Vandervelde, M., 115, 116,
127, 137

Madame, 95, 421, 423, 425
Veen, Otto van, 193
Vendome, Due de, 120

Henriette, 120
Verhaeren, Emile, 124, 210,

213, 223-229, 362
Verviers, 143, 384
Vesalius, Andreas, 18
Victor Napoleon, Prince, 109
Vilain XIIII, Comte, 34, 35
Villaloba, Marquis, 8
Villeroi, Marshal, 19
Vilvorde, 232
Vise, 331, 360, 393, 422
Volkson, Father von, 379
Vondel, -209

Vooruit, the, 151-2
Vydts, Jodocus, 183, 184

W

Waal, 66
Waelhem, 422
Walker, Madame, 54
Walloon (Provinces), 13, 67,
139

(individuals), 72

(people), 98, 126, 331, 332
Warlemont, Maurice, 213
Waterloo, 59, 62-64, 103, 104,

106
Waulsort, 346, 347
Wauters, 204
Wavre, 340
Waxweiler, M., 120
Wellington (Duke of), 103,

104
Wenzel of Luxembourg, 84
Werchter Wackerzeel, 372
Westende, 367
Weyden, Roger van der, 163,

189, 190
Whitlock, Mr. Brand, 8, 20,

382, 412
Wiart, M. Carton de, 35, 421,

Madame, 369
Wielt, 396
Wiertz, 203

Museum, 203, 212
Willebroeck Canal, 8
Willems, 210
William the Conqueror, 75

First, 106
Woelmonts (the), 399

442 Index

Y

Z

Ypres, 61, 70, 90, 98, 210, 251-

Zealand, 87

254, 367, 387

Zevecote, Jacques van, 209

Ysaye, 53-54

Zoellner, Miss, 56

Yser, the, 124, 247, 248, 249,

Zweig, Stefan, 224

367, 380, 394

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Andersont Isabel Weld (Perkins) Mrs*
The spell of Belgium* by Isabel

Anderson ••• Boston, The Page company,

1915.

ixf xv-xvi, 442 p. col. front.,

plates (part col* ) ports., fold. map.

21 cm. (The spell series)

13432

i

MBNU

•

09 DEC 80

1509758 NEDDbp

15-22269

DH 433.A6