OSTEND. 19 



OsTEND. 



Aug. 10. — We made far Ostend, and entered the harbour 

 early in the forenoon. The piers are wholly formed of huge 

 piles and cross-beams of timber. The light-house is a lofty 

 narrow tower ; it is evidently recent ; we concluded that 

 it must be a work of Napoleon, and our conjecture proved 

 right. On landing, we went directly to the Custom- 

 house ; and our portmanteaus having been slightly examin- 

 ed, we proceeded to the Rose Inn, kept by Nicholson an 

 Englishman. It was Sunday ; but it did not resemble the 

 Sabbath-day of Scotland. Many shops were open ; and 

 soon after mid-day, the sounds of fiddling, singing and 

 dancing assailed our ears. As we advanced towards the 

 Church, a Madonna, attired in a red silk robe and a white 

 veil, with a burning lamp placed before her, forcibly remind- 

 ed us that we had now entered a Roman Catholic country. 

 Within the church, about a hundred children were assem- 

 bled, the boys ranged on one side, the girls on the other ; 

 while a priest walked up and down the centre, catechizing 

 his youthful audience in Flemish, and exhorting them with 

 great apparent earnestness. We had been accustomed in 

 the old city of Edinburgh to see the gables of houses pre- 

 sented to the street, which is the common mode here ; but 

 almost every thing else wore a foreign aspect. The sign- 

 boards bore Flemish and French inscriptions, excepting 

 that here and there, since the peace, some awkward at- 

 tempts had been made at English, particularly by the 

 keepers of low taverns likely to be frequented by our sail- 

 ors *. It was to be expected that a shore separated from 

 England merely by the Channel, should afford the same 



* Over one door was painted, " Spiritual liquors." Over another, " All 

 sortes of drinking sold here." And over a third, " Here sold all mens 

 drink.'* 



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