The beautiful groined archway which pierces the _Maison de l'ancien Greffe_ leads to a region where there are exquisite views: from the centre of the Great Fishmarket, the backs of the buildings of which we have just been speaking--they are no less fascinating than their façades; and from the _Pont de l'âne Aveugle_ the loveliness of the Roya, and the façade of the _Palais du Franc_ where, in the great council chamber, is Lancelot Blondeel's famous chimney-piece. The approach to this building is through the _Palais de Justice_ in the _Place du Bourg_. Bearing to the right through the Little Fishmarket, most picturesque, we presently reach the _Marché aux Herbes_, the _Quai de Rosaire_ and the _Dyver_, where the scenery is no less charming. The great red house on the further bank of the Roya is the house where Malvenda hid the Holy Blood, and the majestic spire in the distance the spire of _Notre Dame_. Almost at the end of the _Dyver_ there is a little street called the _rue de Groeninghe_, which branches off the main thoroughfare between two walled gardens. That on the left is the site of the ancient abbey of Eeckhout, a very peaceful place, where in summer-time there are roses in abundance and old-world herbs and flowers, and, on a crumbling wall, snap-dragon. The gabled house hard-by, with a little Gothic window, was formerly the residence of the provosts of Notre Dame; the picturesque group of buildings in the distance, which, amid thick foliage, cluster round its spire, is the old palace of Louis of Gruthuise; the garden beyond the narrow stream, the garden of the nuns of St. André. Let the traveller linger awhile in this tranquil spot and, if he will, for twopence half-penny, refresh himself with a beautiful bunch of roses. Continuing his walk along the _rue de Groeninghe_ the tourist will presently see a wrought-iron grill at the end of an _impasse_ which gives on the river. Let him approach it and look through the railings. Here there is a nook which strangers rarely find; many who have lived in the city for years do not know of it, and yet it is perhaps the most beautiful of all the beautiful spots in Bruges. To discover this priceless jewel is the main object of our journey. Here the Roya is often a rushing torrent. On one side of the stream, rising clean out of the water, is the oldest wing of the _Gruthuise_; on the other a walled garden with lofty trees spreading their branches over the river which, to the right, disappears beneath an archway piercing an old house, once part of the palace; in the near background, immediately facing the grill, is the choir of Notre Dame with its grove of flying buttresses, and beyond, towering high above all, the majesty of its steeple--the grandest and the fairest thing in brick or stone which the genius of man has yet created. It was from this lovely spot, or rather a few yards higher up stream, that Mr. Railton took the beautiful sketch of the _Hôtel Gruthuise_ which appears on p. 287.