The exquisitely fine thread which is made in Hainault and Brabant for the purpose of being worked into lace, has occasionally attained a value almost incredible. A thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no unusual price for it by the pound, but some has actually been spun by hand of so exquisite a texture, as to be sold at the rate of ten thousand francs, or upwards of £400, for a single pound weight. Schools have been established to teach both the netting of the lace and drawing of designs by which to work it, and the trade, at the present moment, is stated to be in a more flourishing condition than it has been ever known before, even in the most palmy days of the Netherlands. CHAPTER II. GHENT. Bruges a cheap residence--Tables-d’Hôte, their influence upon society--Canal from Bruges to Ghent--Absence of country mansions--Gardens--Appearance of GHENT--M. Grenier and M. de Smet de Naeyer--The _Conseil de Prud’hommes_, its functions--Copyright of designs in Belgium--THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM--Its importance--Great value of Belgian flax--Its cultivation--Revenue derived from it--Inferiority of British flax--Anxiety of the government for the trade in linen--Hand-spinners--Spinning by machinery--_Société de la Lys_--Flower gardens--The Casino--Export of flowers--General aspect of the city--_Its early history_--Vast wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted for--Trading corporations--Turbulence of the people of Bruges and Ghent--_Jacques van Artevelde_--His death--Philip van Artevelde--Charles V.--His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent--Latin distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities--Siege of Ghent, Madame Mondragon--House of the Arteveldes--Hôtel de Ville--The belfry and Roland--The _Marché de Vendredi_--The great cannon of Ghent. BRUGES has the reputation of being an economical residence for persons of limited fortune, but I have reason to believe it does not fully merit it. I have understood, that at the termination of the war, a large mansion with every appurtenance, was to have been had for twenty-five pounds a year, but the concourse of English, and the influx of strangers, has now placed it, in this respect, pretty much upon a par with other places of the continent.