hall, I could almost fancy the deep-toned portraits of _ci-devant_ Van Voldens, in their sombre velvet suits and stiff ruffs, actually embued with life, and frowning on my intrusion; or fixing them on the door of the chapel, I would conjure up figures of warriors, _bourgmestres_, or damsels clad all in white, raising the tapestry, and----but then old Bal, getting up from his place before the fire to scratch himself, or the voice of the sentry in the outer court solemnly proclaiming “All’s well,” would suddenly recall me from my reverie to a consciousness that it was bed-time; and so to bed I hied me, to sleep as well as the eternal frog-concert would allow. Such was the general tenor of our life at Strytem, varied a little at times by circumstances to be related as they occurred, and sometimes disturbed for a moment by reports of hostile movements, or the low murmurs of a distant cannonade. This last, however, was heard so frequently, without being followed by any consequences, that we got accustomed to, and finally disregarded, it. Subsequently we found that it proceeded from the practice and exercising of the Belgic artillery at Mons, or somewhere in that direction. My rides, after a time, brought me somewhat acquainted with the neighbouring country, but only by slow degrees, for surely never was reconnaissance of any country more difficult,--it was a perfect labyrinth. In the immediate neighbourhood of Strytem the ground arose in a succession of round-topped hills, of no very great height, and all very much alike. Of these, the summits, and frequently the slopes, were clothed with woods of oak, ash, beech, &c. &c., intermixed with coppice of the finest hazel I ever saw, thus forming a number of little valleys running into each other, but all, from the profusion of wood and the overlapping (if I may use the term) of the flanks of the hills, presenting an appearance of the most perfect seclusion. Amongst these woods were scattered large tracts of cultivated ground, laid out in fields of wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, hops, clover, &c. &c., frequently here enclosed by thick and lofty hedges; quite in the bottoms, and lying along a small stream of water, which ran through almost every one of these little valleys, were meadows of the liveliest verdure, whilst rows of magnificent elms fringed the banks and overshadowed the rippling waters of the rivulets. Villages and detached farms were of constant recurrence, and in all directions one saw the modest spires of the village churches rising above the massed and verdant foliage. Although these woods were, generally speaking, of no great extent--perhaps only a few acres--yet were there some of such extent as to entitle this to the appellation of a woody, or even forest, country. The Bois de Liederkerke, for instance, commenced near the village of Paemêle, and extended no less than four miles in the direction of Assche; everywhere two or three