BRUGES. 23 



and }x>tatoes. Buckwheat, or sarassin, (Polygonum Fago- 

 pyrum), it may be observed, is here extensively cultivated ; 

 and on inquiry, we learned, that it is valued, not merely for 

 feeding poultry with the grain as with us, but for the sake 

 of the flour, which is very white, and is often mixed with 

 the flour of wheat and rye for the use of the people. Wil- 

 low pollards are common, and coppices of alder. Near to 

 Bruges, elms (Ulmus campestris and suberosa) planted by 

 the sides of the canal, have attained considerable size. We 

 saw, in passing, only one country seat, consisting of a neat 

 house, with considerable ornamental grounds. We found 

 large sloops and several brigs lying at the quay of Bruges, 

 which did not fail to remind us of the former commercial 

 importance of the place. We took up our abode at the 

 hotel called Fleur de Bled, kept by M. Sobrie, and which 

 proved a very good inn ; it being true, as stated in the land- 

 lord's engraved English card, that the guests are " waited 

 with the greatest nimbleness and zeal." To this hotel did 

 Louis XVIII. retire, when* obliged to abandon Lisle, in 

 the end of March 1815. 



Bruges. 

 Aug. 12. — Early in the morning, we took a walk through 

 this ancient, large, but now comparatively deserted city. 

 From the total absence of bustle in the streets, we could 

 scarcely bring ourselves to believe that the city which we 

 now perambulated was once the emporium of the North of 

 Europe, and ranked above London. 



Green-Market. 



We first examined the culinary vegetables brought in 

 from the country in hampers for sale. There was little 

 deserving of notice, unless perhaps a kind of red kidney 

 potato, which appeared to be an early variety, having al- 

 ready (12th August) the spotted appearance of maturity, 



