In the _Hôtel de Ville_, one of the enormous edifices of the period, in Moresco gothic architecture, the celebrated declaration, called “the Pacification of Ghent,” by which the states of the Netherlands formed their federation to resist the tyrannous bigotry of Philip II, was signed by the representatives of Holland and Belgium in 1576. Close by it stands the belfry from which Charles V directed the removal of the pride of the burghers, their ponderous bell _Roland_, which, by turns, sounded the tocsin of revolt, or chimed in the carillon of loyalty; the tradition says it was of such dimensions as to weigh six tons, and was encircled by an inscription:-- Mynen naem is Roland--als ick clippe dan is’t brandt Al sick luyde, dan is’t _storm in Vlaenderlande_. “_When I ring, there is fire; when I toll, there is a tempest in Flanders._” And many a stormy reveille it must have pealed over the hive of turbulent craftsmen who swarmed around its base. Not far from the belfry, is the Friday market (_Marché de Vendredi_), “the forum” of ancient Ghent, where all its municipal ceremonies were solemnized, and all its popular assemblies were convened, to the tolling of their favourite bell; in which, also, the Counts of Flanders took the oath of inauguration, on their accession to the sovereignty. It was here that John Lyon convened his guild of watermen, and persuaded them to assume the old symbol of revolt, the white hood, in order to resist the exactions of Louis le Mael; and it was here that John Breydel, another fiery demagogue, marshalled his band of “lion’s claws” in 1300, and led them to the “Battle of the Spurs” at Courtrai; and it was here that Jacques van Artevelde, at the head of his “trades’ union,” was proclaimed Ruwaert of Flanders. It was here that the commotions, so quaintly detailed by Froissart, took place between the fullers and the weavers, on Black Monday, in 1345, when the latter were expelled from Ghent, after leaving fifteen hundred of their number dead in the streets; and it was here that, in later times, the ferocious Duke of Alva lit the flames of the inquisition, and consumed the contumacious protestants of the Low Countries. In Ghent, almost every great event in the chronicles of the old city is, more or less, identified with the Marché de Vendredi. In the centre of its square, the citizens, in 1600, erected a column to the memory of Charles V, which was levelled by the French republicans in 1794, in order to plant the tree of liberty on its foundation.