The change in the national character is so evident, immediately on crossing into Belgium, as to occasion surprise.  The region was, at no remote period, all Flanders.  The same language is still spoken, the same religion professed in both countries, and yet a certain secret moral influence appears to have extended itself from the capital of each country, until they have met on the frontier, where both have been arrested within their proper geographical limits.  We had come into this village on a gallop, driven with the lighthearted etourderie of French vanity, and we left it gravely, under the guidance of postilions who philosophically smoked, as their cattle trotted along like elephants.

It was quite late when we reached Mons, where we found a good house, of unexceptionable neatness:  of course we were in no haste to quit it the next day.  The distance to Brussels was so short that we took it leisurely, reaching the Hotel de l’Europe at three.  It was a fete, on account of the anniversary of the arrival of Leopold, who had now reigned just a twelvemonth.  He passed our window, while we were still at table, on his way to the theatre.  The royal cortege was not very brilliant, consisting of four carriages, each drawn by two horses, which, by the way, are quite enough for any coachman to manage, in descending the formidable hill that leads from the great square.

You have now been with me three times, in Brussels, and I shall not go over the old ground again.  We revisited some of the more prominent places of interest, and went to a few others that were neglected on former occasions.  Among the rest we took a look at the public picture-gallery, which greatly disappointed us.  The Flemish school naturally awakened our expectations, but a fine Gerard Douw and a few other old paintings were all that struck us, and as a whole, we gave a preference to the paintings of the present day.

The King appears to be personally popular, even those who have no faith in the duration of the present order of things, and who politically are his opponents, speaking well of him.  The town has but few strangers, though the presence of a court renders it a little more gay than it was last year.  The aspect of everything is gloomy, for the country may be again engaged in a war of existence, in a week.  Many still think the affair will end in a partition; France, Prussia, and Holland getting the principal shares.  I make no doubt that everybody will profit more by the change than they who brought it about.

LETTER IX.

Malines.—­Its Collection of Pictures.—­Antwerp.—­The Cathedral.—­A Flemish Quack.—­Flemish Names.—­The Picture Gallery at Antwerp.—­Mr. Wapper’s Carvings in Wood.—­Mr. Van Lankeren’s Pictures.—­The Boulevards at Brussels.—­Royal Abodes.—­Palace of the Prince of Orange.—­Prince Auguste d’Ahremberg’s Gallery of Pictures.—­English Ridicule of America.