GHENT. 69 



a pleasant promenade along the banks of a canal was fre- 

 quented by numbers of well-dressed people. In returning 

 to our hotel by the Place d'Armcs, we found this extensive 

 square filled with rope-dancers, tumblers, Merry-Andrews, 

 and gaping crowds, — and the theatre open ; forming alto- 

 gether a striking contrast with the decency observed on the 

 Sunday evening in our northern capital, where the per- 

 formance even of sacred music in private parties never fails 

 to give offence to the public, and has been known to call 

 forth the reprehension of the civil magistrate. It ought, 

 however, to be remarked, that the Church of Rome pays 

 attention rather to the natural than to the artificial day, and 

 that the sacred day is regarded as elapsed before these even- 

 ing sports commence. 



Beggars. 

 Multitudes of mendicants, male and female, young and 

 old, assailed us wherever we went ; some with a doleful 

 " Ah ! myn Heer," others with a flippant " Pour Tamour 

 de Bon Dieu." We had seen a few beggars at Bruges; 

 but at Ghent they swarm. They seem here to appor- 

 tion among themselves certain walks ; for the Basilisco 

 (or Great Cannon of hammered iron, 16 feet long, placed 

 in one of the streets) did not afford us a more certain 

 index for distinguishing the lanes leading to our hotel, 

 than did the well known tones of our ragged friends, 

 who never failed to greet us with importunate saluta- 

 tions. Having a general recollection of the very diffe- 

 rent account given by Mr Trotter *, when he visited 

 Ghent as the attendant of Mr Fox, during the short peace 

 of 1802, our surprise was perhaps greater than it other- 



* Memoirs of the Latter Days of Mr Fox, p. 83, &c. where, speaking of 

 Ghent, he says, " There is here no miserable mansion, no wretched family, 

 to distress the feelings or shock the eye," &c. 



