The Henson Journals

[394]

Monday, August 18th, 1913. Brussels.

We determined to devote the day to an expedition to Malines. A convenient train carried us thither in about half an hour. We found the city gaily bedizened with flags & other more elaborate decorations arranged in honour of the King, who had visited the place yesterday. This, perhaps, was regrettable as the true aspect of the City was obscured. We walked from the station to St Romuald's Cathedral, of which the lofty & splendid tower dominates everything in Mechlin. The exterior of this church is very noble & pleasing: but the interior, disfigured with much tasteless statuary, was disappointing. Workmen were busy in the south transept, which was consequently shut off from the rest of the cathedral, & barred to the public. This was the more annoying as Vandyck's "Crucifixion" was placed above an altar in this transept. Happily we fell in with a friendly ecclesiastic, who caused us to enter within the enclosure, & bade the workmen draw the curtain from the picture. So we were able to see the masterpiece very comfortably. It is noteworthy that our guide did not wait for a gratuity: but disappeared as soon as he had rendered his service. We, then, walked across the Grand Place, which is uncommonly interesting & dignified, & visited the little exhibition, which the King had opened yesterday, in the restored wing of the Cloth Hall, which is to be devoted [395] to the prosaic utility of a Post Office. The building has been restored very thoroughly, & presents the aspect of a fine late Gothic mansion. Continuing our walk we came to two very interesting buildings facing one another across a narrow street, once the palaces of two famous ladies, Margaret of York, & Margaret of Austria. Returning to the Grand Place we lunched cheaply & sufficiently at an unpretentious Restaurant: & then chartered a carriage, & for two hours were driven about the city. In this way we visited easily & pleasantly all the note–worthy features – the House of the Salmon, Lepelaer, the Maison des Diables, & Paradise, fine old houses with handsome faҫades; the Porte de Bruxelles, a massive stone gateway, sole survivor of the gates of the medieval city; Notre Dame au delà de la Dyle, a fine church mainly notable now for Rubens' 'Miraculous Draught of fishes' in a chapel at the east end: and St Jean, also possessed of a great Rubens, 'The Adoration of the Magi'. Then we returned to the railway station, & took train to Brussels, arriving in the Hotel about 4.30 p.m. Save for an expenditure of 15 francs on an infinitesimal lace handkerchief, coveted by Ella, we had not been excessively extravagant. Our total spending for the day amounted to 33 francs 85 cents. We had enriched our knowledge of Belgium by making acquaintance with an extremely interesting City.

[396]

After tea we strolled into the City in order to refresh our recollections thereof. We walked into the Grand Place, and looked for an inscription cut in the pavement before the Maison du Roi. This inscription associating together the names of Egmont & Horn and that of the Spanish Anarchist Ferar [sic] , as if all these were representatives of one & the same cause, had arrested our attention when we were in Brussels two years ago. But the inscription has been removed, & in its place has been set up in French & Flemish, on the posts of the central doorway of the Maison du Roi, the following much–bowdlerized inscription:–

Devant cet édifice │ furent décapités │ le 5 juin 1568 │ les comtes │ d'Egmont et de Hornes │ victimes │ du Despotisme et │de l'Intolérance de │Philippe II. │

This inscription omits all mention of the modern Anarchist; and avoids all allusion to the Church. The former inscription had declared that 'ce marbre fut dedié par le comité internationale institué pour commémorer la mort héroique de Francesco Ferrer fusillé a Montjuich [sic] pour la même cause en 1909'. The cause referred to as that for which Egmont & Horne had laid down their lives was oddly said to be 'la liberté de conscience', certainly the last object for which those excellent & unfortunate noblemen cared anything! It would be interesting to know what the international committee think of the revised inscription: & how the process of revision has been effected.

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