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most famous amongst which is a " Descent from the Cross." The ironwork of 

 the fountain in front of the west door was executed by the Antwerp blacksmith, 

 Quentin Matsys. The museum contains a most valuable collection of paintings, 

 for the most part by Flemish masters. Art is still honoured in the city of Eubens, 

 and the academy attached to the museum is frequented by 1,700 students. 



As a place of commerce Antwerp has taken an extraordinary development 

 since the middle of the nineteenth century, and, next to Hamburg, it is now the 

 most important maritime city of continental Europe. Nine-tenths of the maritime 

 trade of Belgium pass through it, and a list enumerating the exports and imports 

 would be as lengthy as one detailing the trade of the whole country. The docks 

 cover an area of 99 acres, besides which the Schelde, bordered by fine quays, offers 

 a secure roadstead to hundreds of vessels. Steamers place Antwerp in regular 

 communication with many ports of Europe and America, and yet, curiously 

 enough, that flourishing commercial port has hardly any vessels of its own.* 



It is but rarely that a great fortress carries on a flourishing commerce, and if 

 Antwerp is an exception, this is solely due to its remarkably favourable position 

 for defence, as well as for the carrying on of maritime trade. The facility with 

 which the environs of the town can be inundated, the advantages presented by the 

 Lower Schelde as a base of operations, and the numerous natural high-roads which 

 converge upon the town explain how military engineers came to select it as the 

 great central stronghold of all Belgium. Amongst the forts on the Schelde 

 below Antwerp, those of Marie and St, Philippe are the most interesting. They 

 were built in 1584 by the Duke of Parma, and the stockades and bridges which 

 ultimately separated the beleaguered citizens from their friends in Zealand rose 

 between them. 



The Western Maritime Region. — Bruges, or Brugge (45,097 inhabitants), 

 the capital of West Flanders, had attained celebrity long before Ghent and 

 Antwerp, and its name figures in the most ancient Spanish portulanos in exist- 

 ence. At one time its port was crowded with vessels, and twenty nations main- 

 tained factories there. It was at Bruges that insurance societies were first 

 founded, and the institution of the Bourse was named after one of its citizens, 

 Van den Beursen, in front of whose house the merchants used to congregate to 

 discuss the state of the market. The first Bourse, or Exchange, however, was 

 built at Antwerp. Bruges was famous for its cloths and jewellery, no less than 

 for the beauty of its women : — 



"Formosis Brugga puellis gaudet." 



The old paintings by Memling convey some notion of the luxury in dress 

 which the citizens of Bruges permitted themselves when in the height of their 

 prosperity. 



* Commerce of Antwerp, 1876 : — 



By Land and Canal. By Sea. 



Imports £3,308,480 £38,915,480 



Exports £3,163,200 £10,162,680 



Transit £7,288,400 



38 sea-going vessels, of 39,37-5 tons, belonged to the port. 

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