SCHOOLS OF LAW.

81

and corporals, and are in some degree under their control. The lowest age of admission is ten, and by seventeen or eighteen, a number of well-educated youths are sent out into all the active and useful departments of life. Some, however, remain at the colleges till twenty or twenty

two.

The church, both here and in France, has seminaries of its own, and in the present depressed state of the ecclesiastical finances, no superfluous learning can be afforded.

The study of the law, after leaving college, is requisite for one who would follow it as a profession. It is also deemed here, as in Scotland, an elegant and almost necessary accomplishment for a gentleman, and the school of law at Brussels naturally holds the first rank in reputation.

Of the schools of medicine and the fine arts, I shall say nothing at present; but shall here conclude this letter, in which I have more than enough trespassed on your patience.

I am,

Your's, &c.

Ꮐ

LETTER VI.

MY DEAR SIR,

CHANGE of scene is necessary for happiness, and after residing long enough in a town to become familiarised with the principal objects, the mind feels prompted to go on. This induced me and my companion to take places in the Diligence for Brussels, and so at 11 o'clock we set out.

Good fortune placed me directly opposite an elegantly dressed handsome young lady, going on a visit to Brussels; her femme de chambre had the place next to her, my companion sat next to me, and two Flemish gentlemen occupied the corners. There were no outside places, and the inside fare for thirty miles was seven francs.

The road as usual was paved like the streets of London; a row of trees was on each side between the pavement and the ditch; the country on each side was a dead

ROAD TO BRUSSELS.

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flat highly cultivated, and covered with the richest crops, without hedges, but richly adorned with trees. Few or no cattle were to be seen by the way. The soil is here too valuable, and they may be reared cheaper elsewhere. We had considerable amusement from the number of boys who came near the 'coach to obtain money by their amusing gestures, and by the declaration of their politics. Experience has taught them who are their best friends, and "vive England," "vive Angleterre,” are ventured as a speculation, which seldom fails to bring a rich return. In other parts of the road, parties approach and throw roses into the coach, and join in songs of victory, to commemorate the valour of our armies. "Vive Lord Wellington et cela pour Napoleon," drawing at the same time the finger across the throat, is another artifice they successfully employ.

The Flemings are merciful to their horses, and conducteur and postilion reckon four miles an hour quite speed enough. We came to a little elevation of ground, which the Flemings called a " Colline," and one of them a" Montagne." Montagne." As

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FEMALE MANNERS.

near as I could judge, it might be a rise of twelve or sixteen feet in a quarter of a mile. It was however deemed sufficient reason for conducteur, postilion, and passengers, to get down and walk. We changed horses twice, and were on the road till half past seven in the evening.

Travelling by the public conveyances of the country, and dining at a table d'hote, is the only way to see the natives and their manners without any disguise. A man may travel in his own carriage, and dine in his own chambers, from Calais to Constantinople, and come back none the wiser. If he do so, he will have little society, and that is not very likely to familiarise with him, as if one of themselves. Whoever mingles with the Flemings will find them an amiable, polite, kind-hearted people; and it will be his own fault, if he do not obtain their friendship and good-will.

I have already given you a hint of the female manners, in the little anecdote of the lady in the barge from Bruges to Ghent. In the Diligence for Brussels, the young lady who with her femme de chambre was going thither, told us she was about to be

married in four months to a gentleman in Ghent. This did not prevent my companion, who knew the manners of the country, from paying his addresses to her in the coach, and before they had gone many miles, every thing was arranged. The bargain was fixed by kissing her hand and lips. They parted when the coach arrived at Brussels, and I suppose have never since met.

We found the Wellington hotel, looking into the park, superior in accommodation to any in which we had been. On the one side we look down on the ramparts, and the country around, which here varying in its surface from the usual flatness, presents agreeable prospects. The houses round the park have a fine appearance, like those of the better part of Piccadilly. The glass of the windows is however miserably bad and uneven. It is so in France. This is the only part of Brussels that is very agreeable, for in the lower part of the town the streets are narrow, ill-paved, and dirty. They also wind to and fro in such a manner, that without a guide you can never find the way.