and the facility of access to it, which he allows, equally proves his urbanity to strangers, and his enthusiasm as a connoisseur. So courteous a display of this private collection goes far towards redeeming for his native city the character it loses by the defects of its public gallery.

The first objects that struck my eyes on entering the rooms were portraits of Rubens, Elizabeth Brants his first wife, Helen Forman his second wife, and Philip his brother: all by the hand of that universal painter, and in the best possible condition, they beam with the warm and mellow nature of his lively brilliant pencil. A Penitent Magdalen; and Jesus Martha and Mary, are interesting productions of the same master. There is also his Fall of the Angels, in which the multiplicity of figures, the variety of attitudes, and the diversity of physiognomical expression, bear astonishing testimony to the freedom of his manner, and the fertility of his imagination. The above pictures, however, are within, or very little exceed, the cabinet size; and it was not on the smaller scale of design that he exhibited his highest excellence. Having seen his chef-d'œuvre, the Descent from the Cross, in Antwerp Cathedral, and nearly all his best pictures, I derive peculiar pleasure from a knowledge, that my own humble but heartfelt admiration of Rubens as a painter, with all his faults, can support itself on the opinion of no less competent a judge of Art than the late Sir Joshua Reynolds. "It is only in large compositions (says that excellent critic) that the powers of Rubens seem to have room to expand themselves. They really increase in proportion to the size of the canvas on which they are to be displayed. His superiority is not seen in easel pictures, nor even in detached parts of his greater

works; which are seldom eminently beautiful. It does not lie in an attitude, or in any peculiar expression, but in the general effect; in the Genius which pervades and illuminates the whole."

Among the portraits are that of Alexander Scalia, one of the finest of Vandyck's; and a superb head of Rembrandt, with his dog, painted by himself.-The Virgin and Christ present an exquisite specimen of the soft outline, the delicate touch, the simple and pure grace of Correggio.-Mr. Schamp has the most exquisite little Teniers that I ever remember to have seen; Peasants, regaling and recreating themselves near the door of a cabaret, occupy the foreground of this picture, whose distances offer a charming prospect of country enriched with chateaus and backed by mountains.-Diana in the Bath by the elder Mieris, is a jewel of the highest finish and loveliest colouring.-A Magdalen by Gerard Douw, though not a subject exactly in his way, is replete with the beauty and lustre of his elaborate pencil. A Lady looking at herself in a glass, by Metzu, is a sweetly coloured picture; full of delicacy and graceful expression. The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Bassano; the Flagellation of Christ, by Titian; St. Peter repentant, a joint production of Rubens and Velvet Breughel; the figures by the former, the landscape by the latter; a Dutch river-view by Ruysdaal; Passage of a river by Berchem; Interior of a Farm-house, with a set of smoakers, an ad

"Genius (observes the same judicious and elegant writer, enforcing an argumentative position which he takes in one of his celebrated “Discourses") is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are out of the reach of the rules of Art; a power which no precept can teach, and which no industry can acquire."-p. 203.

mirable effort of art by the highly gifted but lowminded Adrian Ostade; a beautifully painted group of Peasants, by the less offensive though less effective pencil of the meritorious Dusart; a choice paysage with figures and horses by Wouvermans, and a landscape by Wynants, are also among those which appeared particularly deserving of notice in this valuable collection.

I visited the Beguinage, which is said to be the finest in all the Catholic Netherlands. This institution derives its name from the Princess Begga, a Saint of the Romish Calendar, and sister of St. Gertrude, both of whom their father Pepin, Duke of Brabant, permitted to lead, as the Hagiographers phrase it, a spiritual life. Gertrude lived in permanent virginity. But Begga married Ansigisus, a Count of the Roman Empire; and at his death converted his palace at Antwerp into a religious house. In memory and after the example of which, in the year 666, among other orders of monachism, the congregation of Beguines was instituted, not as one subject to claustral confinement, yet as a regular community of devoted and faithful daughters of Holy Church, and under directresses elected among themselves, for the maintenance of morals and discipline, with endowments of land, houses, &c. confirmed to them by rescripts of the Roman Pontiffs.*

The Beguinage at Ghent is situated near the Porte-deBruges, close to the site of the old ramparts, and forms a neat little town of itself, surrounded by a high wall, and entered through an ancient gateway, decorated with a statue of St. Elizabeth, to whom it is dedicated. The interior is arranged in streets, with here and there an open

* Vide Sanderus Tom. III. p. 230.

grass plat, laid out in spruce and formal stile, especially before the chapel, and the schools of the society. The whole establishment is divided into eighteen couvents, or distinct houses, each enclosed with a wall, and having its little garden in front. Their chapel, or rather their church, is a neat, and in some respects a handsome building, decorated with the usual sculptural and pictorial helps to Catholic devotion, including the Deiparæ statua, "adorned with gems and gold." The dress of the sisterhood is a black russet gown, with white cap and scapulary, like that of the Sœurs de la Charitè in France. On their heads they place an oblong piece of starched linen, remarkably white, which gives them a singular appearance when assembled together on their knees in the church: and this peculiarity is rendered still more striking, when at the commencement of Mass the Beguines with one accord and with great adroitness let down the stiff folds of these table-cloth-like veils, so as completely to hide their faces and nearly the whole of their persons. Each separate convent is the counter-part of another, a little larger or a little smaller size being the only apparent difference. I knocked at the door of one, which was opened to me by two younger members of the congregation. On my requesting permission to see their dwelling, they conducted me into a small parlour; where I was soon visited by an elderly lady, who after the customary exchange of salutations, shewed me some pictures on the walls of the apartment; and on my happening to recognize among them the Finding of Moses, and Christ discoursing with the Woman of Samaria, she observed-Monsieur est bien instruit. It was this discovery perhaps which immediately afterwards led La Sœur to ask-N'etes vous pas Catholique ?—Non,

Madame.-Ah! she replied, with some little falling of the countenance, vous ne croyez donc pas les mystéres de la Foi Chretienne.-J'espère qu'oui, Madame, I answered; you see before you an unworthy member of the Protestant Church. But, rejoined the good Beguine, with much earnestness of manner-Protestants do not believe in the Divinity and Atonement of our Blessed Saviour. Pardonnez moi, rejoined her catechumen-Protestants do believe in the Divinity of their Redeemer, and also in the other great scriptural doctrine, that of the Trinity. These are fundamental tenets of the Church of England.Do you not then speak of the Catholic Church of England? said the lady.-Yes, but not the Roman Catholic: for example, we do not pray to the Virgin Mary, nor to Saints, nor have we any thing to do with the Pope.—Ah, je le vois, exclaimed the Beguine, votre religion est—and she shook her head, with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. I filled up the interval by saying-Vous allez dire, Madame, une hérésie.-Mais oui, returned the holy sister, resuming a faint smile of politeness as she made the acknowledgment, and going on—en vérité vous êtes— then another pause ensued, as if her charitable nature was struggling with her exclusive faith-vous êtes, Anglais : which three last words I thus to myself interpreted-go your way; yours is a nation of heretics, yet it is to be hoped you are not such children of perdition, but that our Holy Lord the Pope may by means of his faithful Missionaries be enabled to number you among his subjects at last.

This path to polemics was neither prudent nor agreeable to be pursued a step further. I therefore repeated my request to see the house under her superintendance;