Scenery around Louvain--_The Belgian railroad system_--Peculiar adaptation of the country--Policy of Government interference in their construction--The average cost per mile--Causes of the difference in outlay between Belgium and England--Cheap rates of travelling in Belgium--_Accidents_--Success not yet decided--Louvain--Its extent--THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN--Its former fame--Its present condition--The bierre de Louvain--_The great brewery_--Its processes--Amazing consumption of beer in Belgium--Its different characters--_The Hôtel de Ville_--Its pictures--Gallery of M. Vanderschreick--The collegiate church of St. Pierre--_Legend of Saint Margaret of Louvain_--Tomb of Justus Lipsius--Flight of the “brave Belges,” at Louvain in 1832--Singular change in the character of the people for courage--The present soldiery--_Terveuren_--The park and palace of the Prince of Orange--_The Forest of Soigné_--WATERLOO--The Belgic Lion--Its injury to the field--Irish anecdote--Bravery of the Irish troops at Waterloo--_Hougemont_--The orchard--Relics of the fight--The Duke of Wellington’s estate--No monument to him on the field--The Duke of Marlborough--La Belle Alliance--_Quatre Bras_--The woods cut down--Beautiful scenery of the Meuse and the Sambre--NAMUR--My Uncle Toby--The citadel--Don John of Austria--The cathedral--_The church of St. Loup_--The trade in cutlery--THE DESCENT OF THE MEUSE--Its beauty and its wealth--Andennes--_History of Mr. Cockerill_--His influence on the manufactures of Belgium--_His print-works at Andennes_--Ruined by the revolution--_The manufacture of paper in Belgium_--Huy. THE route from Mechlin to Louvain, which we passed this morning, is the first of the line of railroads on which we have perceived any striking inequality of surface; numerous cuttings and embankments occurring as it approaches the latter town. Beyond it the alluvial and sandy plains disappear, and the country assumes the usual hilly and diversified appearance, so much so, that before arriving at Tirlemont, it passes under a tunnel of nearly a thousand yards in length. The scenery, too, along the banks of the Dyle, is most rich and diversified, Louvain, itself, being seated on the skirts of a forest, which has evidently been a portion of that of Soigné, at some distant period. Fuel must be here pretty abundant, not only wood being plentiful, and coal at no great distance, but, in the sunk land, I observed a stratum of turf, under the sandy surface, which had been worked in large quantities, and stacked along the side of the road.