of the castle of Loevestein. They were soon after besieged by an overwhelming force of Spaniards, who carried the fort by storm. The gallant butcher made a desperate resistance with a two-handed sword: he retreated gradually to a chamber where he had caused a quantity of powder to be deposited, and when he found his enemies pressing hard upon him, and his strength ebbing fast, he set fire to the gunpowder and perished with friends and foes. The Spaniards picked up the mangled limbs of the hero among the ruins, and nailed them to the gallows at Bois-le-duc. 1. BOMMEL. Inn, Hof van Guelderland. Its fortifications were destroyed in 1629. The island of Bommel, between the Waal and the Meuse, which here unite their waters, is defended at one end by Fort St. André, and at the other by Fort Loevestein. 7. Thiel, a pretty town of 3500 inhabitants, and birth-place of General Chassé, the defender of Antwerp citadel. 1. NYMEGEN. In Route V. p. 64. In the height of summer, when travellers are numerous, much bustle and confusion attend the arrival of a Rhenish steamer at its place of destination. The inns soon overflow with guests; it often becomes necessary to go from one to another in search of a bed; and it is sometimes difficult to procure accommodation of any kind. It is better, therefore, for ladies to avoid the scramble, and to send on some one to secure rooms before they or the baggage move out of the steamer. Those who are successful have, on the whole, little cause for congratulation; as the accommodation in the inns at Nymegen is not good, and the charges are high. It sometimes happens that the steam-boat does not reach Nymegen until the gates are shut; in which case the passengers are compelled to pass the night on board. Nymegen being a frontier town and a fortress, passports are demanded from strangers as they quit the steamer, and must be visé here. The traveller who intends to proceed, either by land or water, early in the morning, should take special care to have his passport visé, and returned into his own keeping, over night. A diligence sets out every day for Cologne, after the steamer from Rotterdam has arrived; so that passengers who do not wish to stop here for the night, may proceed without delay, by way of Cleves and Crefeld on the left bank of the Rhine, a journey of about 18 hours, and a distance of about 88 miles. See Route XXXV. The voyage from Nymegen to Cologne by water, about 125 miles, is described in Route XXXIV. THE LEK FROM ROTTERDAM TO ARNHEIM. The steamer takes this course only once or twice a week; and the water in the Lek is often so low as to preclude the passage of a steamer altogether. r. Lekker Kerk. r. Krimpen. r. SCHOONHOVEN, about 20 miles above Rotterdam, is famous for its salmon fisheries. One Albert Beiling, during the wars of the Hoekschen and Kabiljauschen (Hooks and Codfish), defended the castle of Schoonhoven against the forces of Jacqueline of Bavaria. Being at length compelled to surrender, he was condemned by his enemies to be buried alive. He heard his sentence unmoved, and asked for no mitigation of it; but he begged a respite of one month, to enable him to take leave of his wife and children at Gouda. At the expiration of the time he reappeared to suffer his doom with all the fortitude of the Roman Regulus. Nieuwport, about a mile from Schoonhoven. r. Vreeswyk. Here carriages are in readiness to convey passengers, for 70 cents, to Utrecht, in time to meet the diligence going to Amsterdam. 7. Vianen is said to be the Fanum Dianæ of Ptolemy. Between Vianen and Kuilenburg there are sluices in the banks of the river, designed solely for laying the country under water in case of foreign invasion. If they were opened, the inundation would at once spread as far south as the Waal, as far as Dort to the West, and to the Noort in an opposite direction. A military inundation of this kind is a mode of defence peculiar to Holland. It effectually cuts off the means of approach from an army either by land or water; it covers both roads and canals, leaving an enemy in ignorance of their direction and course; and, while it is deep enough to check the march of troops or cannon, it is so interrupted by shallows and dykes as to render its navigation by boats equally impracticable. 1. Kuilenburg. Inns: Rose, Vergulde Hooft. A town of 3000 inhabitants, formerly a place of refuge for debtors. r. Wyk by Duurstede, supposed to be the Batavodurum of the Romans. The branch of the Rhine, which alone retains that name to the sea, here sepa | rates from the Lek, and flows past Utrecht and Leyden to Catwyk, where it is now discharged into the ocean by means of sluice gates, instead of losing itself in the sand, as was previously the case. - Route II. r. Eck and Wiel, near Amerongen. Amerongen itself is situated at a little distance from the river. r. Rheenen. r. Wageningen, 14 miles from Arnheim. Route V. p. 64. Hecteren. r. ARNHEIM. Route VI. 1. Huissen. "Near Tollhuis the army of Louis XIV. crossed the Rhine, 1672, an exploit much vaunted by the French poets and historians of the time, though little risk was incurred but that of drowning, as there were very few, if any, Dutch troops immediately on the spot to oppose the passage." J. W. C. The river was not entirely fordable, and many regi.. ments had to swim across. PANNERDEN. Here the Waal first branches out from the main trunk of the Rhine, which above this spot flows in one undivided stream. The voyage to Cologne is described in Route XXXIV. Note. The two projects of draining the Lake of Haarlem, and constructing a Railroad from Amsterdam to Arnheim, were formally brought before the Dutch States General in March, 1838. 77 SECTION II. BELGIUM. 16. Passports. INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION. 17. Money. 18. Posting.-19. Other Modes of travelling: Diligences,-Hired Carriages, - ·Barrières, Roads.-20. Railroads.-21. Inns. .-22. General View of Belgium.-23. Belgian Cities and Architec24. Chimes (Carillons).—25. Works of Art: Schools of Van Eyck and Rubens. ture. XXV. Brussels to Aix-la Chapelle by Wa nant to Hans sur Lesse, St. Hubert, XXXII. Brussels to Paris by Cambray XXXIII. Brussels to Paris by * An asterisk marks the lines of the Belgian railroads. 177 178 16. FASSPOrts. THE Belgian minister in London issues passports only to Belgian subjects, but will countersign other passports, except the Dutch. A passport may readily be obtained from the Belgian consul in London (between the hours of 12 and 4 only), upon payment of 5 shillings. Excepting in the frontier towns, and at Brussels, the capital, passports are now seldom required by the police in Belgium. The under-functionaries of the Belgian police offices often display in their conduct instances of insolence, dilatoriness, and neglect of their duties, very annoying to the traveller, and which contrast singularly with the invariable politeness and punctuality of similar officers in Prussia and Austria. The mode of passing from Belgium into Holland, and vice versâ, until the disputes between the two countries are adjusted, is explained at the beginning of Route XVIII. 17. MONEY. The Dutch coinage, introduced during the reign of the King of Holland, has been getting into disuse since the separation of the two kingdoms; and, though much of it remains in circulation, the coins which Leopold has struck are similar to the French in name and value. Accounts are in some places still kept in guilders and stivers; but French money is so generally current, that a traveller who confines himself to Belgium need provide himself with no other. Dutch Money. See § 1., under the head of HOLLAND. Two Belgian or French leagues make a post (equal to nearly 5 miles English, or about 1 German mile). The precise length of the lieue de poste is 3,898 metres 4,263 yards English 2.412 English miles. = Posting in Belgium is arranged nearly upon the same footing as in France. The following tariff is extracted from the last "Livre de Poste," published at Brussels: postillion The charge for each horse per post is 1 fr. 50 centimes, or 30 sous. The charge 75 centimes, or 15 sous. It is usual to give at least 1 franc per post to the postilion; indeed, it is customary with English travellers to allow him 2 francs, or 40 sous, per post. He may, however, be restricted to the sum fixed by the tariff, when he has conducted himself improperly. To make a constant practice of giving the French and Belgian postboys 40 sous apiece appears a gratuitous piece of extravagance. Our countrymen who do this can hardly be aware that they are paying at the rate of 4d. a mile (English), in a country where the necessaries of life are far cheaper than in England while at home the customary rate of payment for a postilion is only 3d. a mile. This extravagant remuneration is, besides, contrary to the express injunction of the French "Livre de poste," which says, p. 37. "Les voyageurs conservent donc la faculté de restreindre le prix des guides à 75 centimes, à titre de punition; et ils seront invités par les maîtres de poste, et dans l'intérêt du service, à ne jamais depasser la retribution de 1 fr. 50 centimes par poste." The posting regulations allot one horse to each person in a carriage; but allow the traveller, at his option, either to take the full complement of horses, at the rate of 30 sous each, or to take 2 or 3 at 30 sous, and to pay for the rest at 20 sous, without taking them. Thus a party of 4 persons in a light britzka may be drawn by 2 horses, paying 2 francs extra for the 2 persons above the number of horses. Where the carriage is so light as not to require as many horses as there are passengers, it is, of course, a saving of 10 sous a post for each horse, to dispense with them. 66 In Belgium, and by a recent law in France also, one postilion may drive 4 horses, 'aux grandes guides; where 3 horses are required, they may be harnessed one in front of the others, or à l'arbalète. In France, 3 horses must be yoked abreast; and for this purpose, shafts must be put to the carriage, except on the road from Calais to the Belgian frontier, where this rule is not now enforced, and there is no difficulty in travelling with 3 horses and a pole, as in Belgium and Germany. Tariff for Belgium, France, Piedmont, Savoy, and Part of Switzerland; allowing 30 Sous for each Horse, and 40 Sous for each Postilion, per Post. 111122221884 5 0 6 10 8 0 f. s. 4 15 9 10 11 6 5 8 2 10 11 17 7 10 9 15 12 14 4 5 8 15 11 7 14 16 11 2 10 O 13 O 16 24 11 5 14 12 18 24 12 10 16 5 20 13 15 17 17 22 22 3 15 O 19 10 24 O 19 0 O 26 0 0 28 10 32 10 36 5 40 35 15 39 17 44 30 0 34 10 39 0 43 10 48 32 10 37 7 42 5 47 2 52 3 17 10 22 15 28 0 33 4 35 10 40 45 10 7 30 O 35 12 37 10 43 48 15 54 7 60 0 32 0 38 0 40 0 46 0 52 O 58 0 64 f.s. f. S. f. S. 19 10 21 15 24 0 22 15 25 7 28 26 0 29 0 32 29 5 32 12 36 The above table supposes that the full quota of horses are attached to the carriage: the following table is drawn up for cases in which some of the horses are dispensed with, and 20 sous paid instead. |