From the palace of the Prince of Orange we went to the house of Prince Auguste d’Ahremberg, to see his collection.  This is one of the best private galleries in Europe, though not particularly large.  It is rich in the works of Teniers,[19] Woovermans, Both, Cuyp, Potter, Rembrandt, and the other masters of the country.  Among others is a first-rate Gerard Douw (another New York name).

[Footnote 19:  One hears of occasionally discovering good pictures in the streets, an event that actually once occurred to the writer.  Shortly after the revolution of 1830, in passing through the Carrousel, he bought a female portrait, that was covered with dirt, but not materially injured.  Finding it beautifully painted, curiosity led him to question the man who had sold it.  This person affirmed that it was a portrait of the wife of David Teniers painted by himself.  He was not believed, of course, and the thing was forgotten, until two picture-dealers, who accidentally saw it, at different times, affirmed that it was by Teniers, though neither knew the original of the likeness.  On examining the catalogues, the writer found that such a picture had existed in Paris, before the revolution, and that it was now lost.  But this picture was square, while that was oval and much larger.  The dealer was questioned again, on the appearance of the picture, without giving him any clue to the object, and he explained the matter at once, by saying that it had once been oval, but the canvass getting an injury, he had reduced it to its present form.  Since then, an engraving has been discovered that scarce leaves a doubt as to the originality of the portrait.]

I passed the evening at the house of an English gentleman, where the master of the last-named gallery was one of the company.  A guest, a Sir ——­, amused me by the peculiarly British manner in which he conveyed a few remarks on America.  Speaking of a countrywoman of ours, who had lately been at Brussels, he said that she called standing up to dance, “taking the floor,” and he was curious to know if it were a usual form of expression with us.  I had to tell him, we said a horse “took the track,” in racing, and as this lady came from a racing region, she might have used it, con amore, especially in the gallopade.  Capt. ——­, of the navy, once called out to the ladies of a quadrille to “shove off,” when he thought the music had got the start of them; and it is lucky that this Sir ——­ did not hear him, or he would have set it down at once as an Americanism.  These people are constantly on the hunt for something peculiar and ridiculous in Americans, and make no allowance for difference in station, provincialisms, or traits of character.  Heaven knows that we are not so very original as to be thus ruthlessly robbed of any little individuality we may happen to possess.

LETTER X.

School System in America.—­American Maps.—­Leave Brussels.—­Louvain.—­Quarantine.—­Liege.—­The Soleil d’Or.—­King Leopold and Brother.—­Royal Intermarriages.—­Environs of Liege.—­The Cathedral and the Church of St. Jacques.—­Ceremonies of Catholic Worship.—­Churches of Europe.—­Taverns of America.—­Prayer in the Fields.—­Scott’s error as regards the Language spoken in Liege.—­Women of Liege.—­Illumination in honour of the King.