The buildings now erected in no way resembled the sumptuous palaces and stately guild halls of bygone days, but some of them are sufficiently picturesque. Take, for instance, the Carthusian Convent in the _rue du Vieux Bourg_, with its seven gables, and mullioned windows, and beautiful Gothic doorway surmounted by three niches, with statues of saints in the style of the Renaissance--it has recently been restored, and is now the _local_ of a workmen's club, the _Gilde van Ambachten_; or the Leper Hospital, at the end of the _Marché au fil_; or the Pest House on the Grand Canal adjoining the thirteenth-century Hospice of _Notre Dame de la Poterie_ and there are a host of others equally interesting, and above all and everywhere the little _Godshuisen_ with their quaint gables, and blinking windows, and picturesque doorways, often with a niche above them and the image of a saint. They are not the least beautiful feature in the architecture of this beautiful city, and the number of them is legion. Some are large enough to afford accommodation for thirty or forty inmates. These are generally built round a courtyard laid out as a garden. In others again there is only room for six or seven persons. Some are for women only, some for men, some for married couples; each _Godshuis_ has its little oratory; all of them are comfortable and clean, and all are picturesque. [Illustration: GODSHUIS, QUAI DES MARBRIERS] The inmates are left very much to themselves, the oldest inhabitant generally acting as superior. Each inmate or married couple, as the case may be, in addition to his or their apartment, receives a monthly pension varying in amount from house to house, but in no case very large. Many of the inhabitants, however, are able to do a little work, others, perhaps, have children who are in a position to contribute to their support. Your true Fleming is rarely lacking in filial piety--it is one of the most pleasing characteristics of the race--and thus these old people are able to rub along, not perhaps in affluence, but for all that with a good roof over their heads, without enduring the pangs of hunger, and, no small boon, in the enjoyment of their liberty. Thus was Bruges transformed in the seventeenth century, thus did she become what she still is--a vast conglomeration of religious houses and charitable institutions, a city of nuns and friars. The _évêché_ had taken the place of the Court, the monk of the merchant; commerce had fled, and charity was doing what she could to supply its place.