74 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



me a huge baboon from the coast of Africa. This apparently half- 

 reasoning brute would lay hold of a broom-staff, and manage to bring 

 within his reach a crust of bread which had purposely been placed 

 beyond the range of his chain. As the time of our departure for 

 Bruges was close at hand, I thanked Monsieur Kats for his civilities 

 to me, and then I bade him farewell. 



" What is it that makes the Catholic town of Bruges so attractive 

 to English families, many of whom have so unfavourable an opinion 

 of the faith of their ancestors ? 



* Will the stork intending rest, 



On the billows build its nest ? 

 Does the bee derive its store 



From the bleak and barren shore ? ' 



No ! Bruges, then, must have that within it which can afford the 

 comfort and convenience denied to these good families in their own 

 country ; otherwise they would never think of leaving Old England, 

 to take up a permanent abode in this place. To me Bruges has 

 charms inexhaustible ; and did my habits allow me to prefer streets 

 to woods and green fields, I could retire to Bruges and there end my 

 days.* Our second Charles was fond of Bruges. He became a 

 member of its ancient society of archers, which still flourishes in its 

 pristine vigour ; and you may see the portrait of this regal profligate 

 in the hall of the establishment, which you enter from the Rue des 

 Carmes. In the same street is the renowned convent of English 

 nuns, under the spiritual direction of the patriot Abbe* de Foere, 

 whose charities and talents are an honour to Belgium, and of vast 

 advantage to the inhabitants of this fine old city. Would that some 

 of the boarding-schools in our own country could turn to their 

 profit the example of the watchful ladies in this holy establishment. 

 Difference in faith need be no obstacle to scholastic arrangements. 



* Southey, who visited it in 1815, says in a letter to his friend Rickman, 

 " Bruges is without exception the most striking place I ever visited, though it 

 derives nothing from situation. It seems to have remained in the same state for 

 above two hundred years : nothing has been added, and hardly anything gone 

 to decay. The air of antiquity and perfect preservation is such, that it carries you 

 back to the age of the Tudors or of Froissart." [ED.] 



