18 
mother, with four breafts, on which hang 
four infants, to mark the four feafons, to 
whom fhe fucceifively gives fuck,” (I ule 
the words of the delcription) ; there is 
not need of any thing more_in my opinion 
to {poil the fineft piece. 
In going*through the ftreets of Ant- 
werp we pafs by the houfe of Chriftooher 
Plantin. It is the property of the Mo- 
reties, his defcendants and fucceflors. The 
court is adorned with the buits of Juftus 
Lipfius, and other learned men, who fup- 
ported the honours of this howe. An 
amateur of fine printing is inclined to ve- 
nerate the memory of the feunder of this 
eftablifhment and of thofe who continue it. 
The library of the central fehooi, any 
more than the botanic gardens, has no- 
thing remarkable; they are, however, 
furnifhed, as is the chemical laboratory, 
with al] that is neceffary. The profeffor 
of chemiitry has, m the tenth year, one- 
and thirty hearers. The botanic garden 
was originally that ef a religious houfe. 
There are in thefe old gardens pear trees, 
pruned as efpaliers; the trunk of whichisas 
large as an oak fixty years of age, and the 
branches of which fuily cover 100 fquare 
feet of wall, 
‘There are depofited, in the archives of 
the town-hall, valuable monuments of the 
hifory of Antwerp; among the ret a 
‘qaap of the courfe of the Scheldt from 
Antwerp to Flufhing. Its-date is rogo. 
Tt is drawn on parchment, and coloured,, 
In the fame archives there is a curicfity 
which one would net expect to meet with 
there; it is a {mall folio volume, printed 
at China, with types as well as plates cut 
in wood, upon Chinefe paper. It con- 
tains elementary differtations on aftrono- . 
iy, written in Latin, by Father Verbieft, 
a Jefuit. Ifmy recolicétion be correct, 
the date of the infpreflion is 16638. 
The workhoufe, which has exiited only 
fince the month Fioreal or PratriaLin the 
aoth year, is in a very gvad fkate. Tet 
was the more necefiary here; as in confe- 
quence ‘of the great population of Ant- 
werp, many families live only by the la- 
bour of their head; and, if he aie, or if 
the fource of their imcome fvffer the 
_ deat interruption in its courfe, they fall 
into wretchednefs. What a difference be. 
tween the fight of troublefome frighttal 
beggars, whole appearance difgults the 
traveller as he waiks through a rich com- 
mercial town, and the fight of men, wo- 
men, and children, (poor, indeed; but 
decently clothed!) colleéted together in 
an healthy place; employed in labours 
that refcue them from ennui, and from 
An Account of the prefent State of Antwer6. 
a8 are the iron bediteads. 
PPeb. ty” 
criminal combinations; ranging them- 
feives, at the found of the dinner-bell, 
round two long tables; and, after a prayer, 
fitting down to a meai, which they have 
lawfully earned; and at the end of the 
day retiring to their apartments ; their 
bodies fed and clothed, and their minds 
calm and tranquil. 
_ In the work-houfe of the poor girls, 
who make lace, they are almoft all de- 
formed. This is imputed to the nature 
of the Jabour; which requires as brifk and 
active a movement of the Icft hand as of 
the right. But the imputation is contra. 
disied by what we fee in other lace thops. 
Two caufes proiuce the deformed thape of 
thefe children; the one is the bad con- 
ftrudlion af the bais on which the lace 
cufhion relis, for they do net place it on 
the knees: the feet of the children muit 
remain fixed on the bafs to keep it fieady : 
their knees are raifed too high, and they 
cannet change the pofition of their legs. 
The other daule is, the cufiom of making 
them wear large whalebone flays; a cul- 
tom particularly unhealthy in an alms- 
houfe; where they cannot change. their 
fiays for new ones often enough to fuit 
their growth. The fame flays ferve for 
eighteen months or two years; at firlt 
they are too wide and large; afterwards 
they become too ftrait and fhort; and 
they are never in a juii proportion to their 
fize for more than two or three months of 
their wear, 
The reality of the two caufes which I 
affign for tbe ill fhepe of the orphans of 
Antwerp is-proved, as is the falfhood of 
the charge brought againft the nature of 
the labour, by the examination of other 
work-houfes. At Ghent and at Lifle, 
where the fuppcrt of the cufhion is dif- 
ferently conftracted, and the ule of Rays 
is banifhed, we fee the girls as well fhaped 
as when they enter. Whaat is furprifing is, 
to hear the miitrefies of thefe houfes ad- 
vance each two contradictory aflertions 5 
the one that it is impofible to lay afide 
the ule of whalebone itays; the other, 
that if is impoffible to ufe them, 
in the houfe for orphan girls, and in 
that for orphan boys, fome of the bed-’ 
teads are made of iron; fome of wood. 
Thefe confit of four bediteads joined to- 
gether. They are not fo difficult to move 
If one of the 
children lying in thefe four beds is refilets, 
the others are difturbed. . This inconve- 
hience 1s greater in proportion to the num, 
ber of children who fleep in each bed. 
The girls lie two by two; the boys, fome- 
times two, fometimes four, in the fame 
. ped, 
