Spiers: Memoranda of an autumn tour in 1836

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CONT. AUG. 15 MON.

wait taking it in his arms & nursing it as if it were his own son. 24 miles.

AUG. 16. TUES. We left our inn of "L'Ouvrier Belge" before daybreak. The enterprising talent of our country man M. Cockerill who has several manufactories in this part of the country, is everywhere apparent. It must have proved of incalculable service to this nation, for he has called into existence as it were sources of wealth not only to himself but to others, of luxuries, of comfort & of such improvements in manufacturing as are calculated to raise a nation high in the scale of ?civilatoire, besides affording employment to an immense portion of poor population. Yet so senseless were these Braves Belges at the time of the revolution & division of the Netherlands in 1831, that although indebted to him for support & for many other blessings, because the king of Holland was connected with their benefactor, the workmen were on the point of burning his establishments to the ground; some were actually destroyed & it required the utmost exertion of M Cockerill to save the others from destruction.

The walk by the riverside or rather on the terrace above the river continued to present the same or I may say a variety of the same picturesque scenery which we so much enjoyed last evening. We stayed often to pick blackberries from the hedges & gather flowers that grew everywhere in profusion, sometimes lying down when the invitation of a bit of extraordinary beauty tempted us, sometimes climbing a little way up the red & white & green & dun & black cliffs to get a still finer view. Most charmingly too were the strata of rock diversified in shape as well as color. At length the valley opened still having its hills of a considerable height, but farther removed from each other as if for the purpose of shewing to greater advantage "the dark & ancient fortified town of Huy with its walls & massy fortress looking grimly yet majestically down the river. Below the citadel stands a venerable cathedral & still below the river with its grey stone bridge. And in its town is a most comfortable little inn (the Poste) - and its cathedral has a roof

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