Spiers: Memoranda of an autumn tour in 1836
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CONT AUG. 13. SAT.
the hand book the detail of much of what we saw. But still I will record that in the principal church we saw the funeral of the burgomaster, to which the mourners dropped in one by one. A set of charity schoolgirls in white caps, lilac gowns pink aprons & green kerchiefs show the gay taste that even charity is possessed of here – & in their devotional position a pretty group did they form for a picture. A statue of St Ambroise by the side of Vandyk’s resurrection shews that it is permitted to a saint to be a courtier. So worldly polite a bearing I have not seen excelled. Hondinguyts Godts tempel we noticed over many church doors, there seems little difficulty in translating it. Neither was there in the notice we frequently saw posted up “verboten est der p-- ste which any English man would comprehend. –
The architecture of this town does not resemble Antwerp, the gables being devoid of the pyrimidical step form.
It would not have been my custom to leave a place so celebrated as Mecklin without purchasing some of its lace & a cap with lappets I fixed on which I hope to see my dear sister Kate wear. – Some Gingerbread which it is famed for also & some nice mulberries bought we & did eat. –
We entered Brussels by a barriere where our bag was scrutinised & soon perceived the struggle between the Brabant & modern French architecture. I seem to enjoy the old style so much more than the modern that the Hotel de Ville whose tower we ascended, the cathedral whose painted windows we much admired, the Hotel d’Arembourg pleased me more perhaps than even the palace of the Prince d‘Orange which is the most beautiful petite palace I know, whose inlaid & polished floors deserve the lint slipper covering one is subjected to, the Chambres of Congress which have 2 good rooms for the purposes intended viz for the 57 peers & 102 commons. The galleries for the public are very [word missing]
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