Among town halls, most of which date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may be mentioned those of Ratisbon (Regensburg), Münster and Hildesheim, Halberstadt, +Brunswick+, Lübeck, and Bremen--the last two of brick. These, and the city gates, such as the +Spahlenthor+ at Basle (Switzerland) and others at Lübeck and Wismar, are generally very picturesque edifices. Many fine guildhalls were also built during the last two centuries of the Gothic style; and dwelling-houses of the same period, of quaint and effective design, with stepped or traceried gables, lofty roofs, openwork balconies and corner turrets, are to be found in many cities. Nuremberg is especially rich in these. +THE NETHERLANDS+, as might be expected from their position, underwent the influences of both France and Germany. During the thirteenth century, largely through the intimate monastic relations between Tournay and Noyon, the French influence became paramount in what is now Belgium, while Holland remained more strongly German in style. Of the two countries Belgium developed by far the most interesting architecture. Some of its cathedrals, notably those of Tournay, Antwerp, Brussels, Malines (Mechlin), Mons and Louvain, rank high among structures of their class, both in scale and in artistic treatment. The Flemish town halls and guildhalls merit particular attention for their size and richness, exemplifying in a worthy manner the wealth, prosperity, and independence of the weavers and merchants of Antwerp, Ypres, Ghent (Gand), Louvain, and other cities in the fifteenth century. +CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES.+ The earliest purely Gothic edifice in Belgium was the choir of +Ste. Gudule+ (1225) at Brussels, followed in 1242 by the choir and transepts of +Tournay+, designed with pointed vaults, side chapels, and a complete _chevet_. The transept-ends are round, as at Noyon. It was surpassed in splendor by the +Cathedral+ of +Antwerp+ (1352-1422), remarkable for its seven-aisled nave and narrow transepts. It covers some 70,000 square feet, but its great size is not as effective internally as it should be, owing to the poverty of the details and the lack of finely felt proportion in the various parts. The late west front (1422-1518) displays the florid taste of the wealthy Flemish burgher population of that period, but is so rich and elegant, especially its lofty and slender north spire, that its over-decoration is pardonable. The cathedral of +St. Rombaut+ at Malines (choir, 1366; nave, 1454-64) is a more satisfactory church, though smaller and with its western towers incomplete. The cathedral of +Louvain+ belongs to the same period (1373-1433). +St. Wandru+ at Mons (1450-1528) and +St. Jacques+ at Liège (1522-58) are interesting parish churches of the first rank, remarkable especially for the use of color in their internal decoration, for their late tracery and ribbed vaulting, and for the absence of Renaissance details at that late period.