xlviii 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



In Ghent, too, is the Beguinage ; a conven- 

 tion of females who assemble for public prayer 

 every day in a handsome church belonging to 

 the establishment. They are not recluses, nor 

 under the observance of perpetual vows. It is 

 a kind of partial retirement for them from the 

 disgust or fascinations of a cheating world. 

 They pass their time in doing good works and 

 in holy prayer ; far removed from the caustic 

 gossip of the tea-table, or from the dissipations 

 of nocturnal gadding. It was a Beguine who 

 attended Corporal Trim so charitably, after he 

 had got wounded in the knee at the battle of 

 Lauden. 



But it is time to travel onwards. Were I to 

 tarry long in the different abodes of art and 

 science in this interesting country, I should 

 terrify the reader by the apparition of two 

 large volumes at least : whereas, it is only my 

 intention to present him with one of small 

 extent, like the song of the stormcock in the 

 month of December. 



I must skip from Ghent to Aix la Chapelle, 

 and just remark as I am going on, that the 

 valley of the Meuse on a fine warm day in July, 

 appears as rich, and beautiful, and romantic, 



