Bruges and West Flanders | Page 7

flourished there,
and at present there are no less than forty-five of these establishments.
Probably one of the most interesting to English people is the Couvent
des Dames Anglaises, which was founded in 1629 by the English
Augustinian Nuns of Ste. Monica's Convent at Louvain. Its chapel,
with a fine dome of the eighteenth century, contains a beautiful altar
built of marbles brought from Egypt, Greece, and Persia; and amongst
its possessions is the rosary of Catherine of Braganza (Queen of
Charles II. of England), who died at Bruges.
And then there is the Béguinage. There are Béguinages at Amsterdam
and Breda, but with this exception of Holland, Belgium is now the only
country in Europe where these societies, the origin of whose name is
uncertain, are to be found. They consist of spinsters or widows, who,
though bound by a few conventual oaths during their connection with
the society, may return to the world. On entering each sister pays a sum
of money to the general funds, and at first lives for a time along with
other novices. At the end of this term of probation they are at liberty to
occupy one of the small dwellings within the precincts of the
Béguinage, and keep house for themselves. They spend their time in
sewing, making lace, educating poor children, visiting the sick, or any
form of good works for which they may have a taste. They are under a
Mother Superior, the 'Grande Dame,' appointed by the Bishop of the
diocese, and must attend the services in the church of their Béguinage.
Thus the Béguine, living generally in a house of her own, and free to
reenter the world, occupies a different position from the nuns of the
better-known Orders, though so long as she remains a member of her
society she is bound by the vows of chastity and obedience to her
ecclesiastical superiors.
[Illustration: BRUGES. The Béguinage.]
The Béguinage at Bruges, founded in the thirteenth century, is situated
near the Minnewater, or Lac d'Amour, which every visitor is taken to
see. This sheet of placid water, bordered by trees, which was a harbour
in the busy times, is one of the prettiest bits of Bruges; and they say

that if you go there at midnight, and stand upon the bridge which
crosses it on the south, any wish which you may form will certainly
come to pass. It is better to go alone, for strict silence is necessary to
insure the working of this charm. A bridge over the water which runs
from the Lac d'Amour leads through a gateway into the Béguinage,
where a circle of small houses--whitewashed, with stepped gables, and
green woodwork on the windows--surrounds a lawn planted with tall
trees. There is a view of the spire of Notre Dame beyond the roofs, a
favourite subject for the painters who come here in numbers on summer
afternoons. The Church of Ste. Elizabeth, an unpretentious building,
stands on one side of the lawn; and within it, many times a day, the
Sisters may be seen on their knees repeating the Offices of the Church.
When the service is finished they rise, remove their white
head-coverings, and return demurely to their quaint little homes.
Bruges has, needless to say, many churches, but nothing which can be
compared to the magnificent Cathedral of Antwerp, to the imposing
front of Ste. Gudule at Brussels, or to the huge mass which forms such
a conspicuous landmark for several leagues round Malines. Still, some
of the churches are not without interest: the Cathedral of St. Sauveur,
where the stalls of the Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece,
which was founded at Bruges, are to be seen in the choir, and over one
of them the arms of Edward IV. of England; the curious little Church of
Jerusalem, with its 'Holy Sepulchre,' an exact copy of the traditionary
grave in Palestine--a dark vault, entered by a passage so low that one
must crawl through it, and where a light burns before a figure which
lies there wrapped in a linen cloth; and the Church of Notre Dame,
which contains some treasures, such as a lovely white marble statue of
the Virgin and Child, from the chisel of Michael Angelo; the tombs of
Charles the Bold of Burgundy and his daughter--the 'Gentle Mary,'
whose untimely death at Bruges in 1482, after a short married life,
saved her from witnessing the misfortunes which clouded the last years
of her husband, the Archduke Maximilian; and a portion of the Holy
Cross, which came to Bruges in the fifteenth century. The story goes
that a rich merchant, a Dutchman from Dordrecht, Schoutteeten by
name, who lived at Bruges, was travelling through Syria in the year
1380. One day, when journeying with a caravan,