MALINES, OR MECHLIN. 285 



Chateau was famous in the seventh century; and it is 

 affirmed that, about the same period, St. Amand and 

 St. Eloi arrived in the country, and introduced Chris- 

 tianity among the people. 



Charlemagne constructed a fleet at Grand; and it is 

 confidently believed that the waters of the ocean once 

 flowed up by a natural estuary to the very heart of the 

 town. In the year 1053, the city was surrounded by 

 walls; but its increasing wealth and importance soon 

 extended it beyond this arbitrary artificial boundary. 

 The epoch of its greatest prosperity was towards the 

 middle of the fourteenth century, under the administra- 

 tion of Jacques Artevelde, a wealthy and enterprising 

 brewer, who is immortalised in the pages of Froissart. 

 In the reign of Charles V., Grand was larger than Paris; 

 but from this period it has gradually declined both in 

 wealth and political importance. 



jfftalines, or 



The river Dyle runs through the town of Malines. 

 There are a few trout in this part of the water; but they 

 are only to be caught either with red-worm or minnow. 

 Pike, perch, bream, bleak, gudgeon, roach, eels, etc. etc., 

 abound in this locality ; and these kind of fish form the 

 staple articles of sport for the native angler. The river 

 passes through a pretty, fertile country, both above and 

 below the town; and the British sportsman will find a 

 few hours' ramble along the banks of the Dyle, an agree- 

 able and pleasant recreation. 



Malines is but a dull and melancholy place; and, 

 unfortunately, all the more prominent historical incidents 

 connected with it are of a saddening description. As a 

 city, it has drunk deep of the waters of affliction ; and 



