Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents | Page 3

change horses, I closed my eyes
upon the whole scene, and was transported immediately to some
Grecian solitude, where Theocritus and his shepherds were filling the
air with melody. To one so far gone in poetic antiquity, Ghent is not the
most likely place to recall his attention; and I know nothing more about
it, than that it is a large, ill-paved, dismal-looking city, with a decent
proportion of convents and chapels, stuffed with monuments, brazen
gates, and glittering marbles. In the great church were two or three
pictures by Rubens, mechanically excellent, but these realities were not
designed in so graceful a manner as to divert my attention from the
mere descriptions Pausanias gives us of the works of Grecian artists,
and I would at any time fall asleep in a Flemish cathedral, for a vision
of the temple of Olympian Jupiter. But I think I hear, at this moment,
some grave and respectable personage chiding me for such levities, and
saying, "Really, Sir, you had better stay at home, and dream in your
great chair, than give yourself the trouble of going post through Europe,
in search of inspiring places to fall asleep. If Flanders and Holland are
to be dreamed over at this rate, you had better take ship at once, and
doze all the way to Italy." Upon my word, I should not have much
objection to that scheme; and, if some cabalist would but transport me
in an instant to the summit of AEtna, any body might slop through the
Low Countries that pleased.
Being, however, so far advanced, there was no retracting; and as it is
now three or four years since I have almost abandoned the hopes of
discovering a necromancer, I resolved to journey along with Quiet and
Content for my companions. These two comfortable deities have, I
believe, taken Flanders under their especial protection; every step one
advances discovering some new proof of their influence. The neatness
of the houses, and the universal cleanliness of the villages, show
plainly that their inhabitants live in ease and good humour. All is still

and peaceful in these fertile lowlands: the eye meets nothing but round,
unmeaning faces at every door, and harmless stupidity smiling at every
window. The beasts, as placid as their masters, graze on without any
disturbance; and I scarcely recollect to have heard one grunting swine
or snarling mastiff during my whole progress. Before every village is a
wealthy dunghill, not at all offensive, because but seldom disturbed;
and there they bask in the sun, and wallow at their ease, till the hour of
death and bacon arrives, when capacious paunches await them. If I may
judge from the healthy looks and reposed complexions of the Flemings,
they have every reason to expect a peaceful tomb.
But it is high time to leave our swinish moralities behind us, and to jog
on towards Antwerp. More rich pastures, more ample fields of grain,
more flourishing willows!--a boundless plain before this city, dotted
with cows and flowers, from whence its spires and quaint roofs are seen
to advantage. The pale colours of the sky, and a few gleams of watery
sunshine, gave a true Flemish cast to the scenery, and everything
appeared so consistent, that I had not a shadow of pretence to think
myself asleep.
After crossing a broad, noble river, edged on one side by beds of osiers
beautifully green, and on the other by gates and turrets preposterously
ugly, we came through several streets of lofty houses to our inn. Its
situation in the "Place de Mer," a vast open space surrounded by
buildings above buildings, and roof above roof, has something striking
and singular. A tall gilt crucifix of bronze, sculptured by some famous
artist, adds to its splendour; and the tops of some tufted trees, seen
above a line of magnificent hotels, have no bad effect in the
perspective.
It was almost dusk when we arrived; and as I am very partial to new
objects discovered by this dubious visionary light, I went immediately
a-rambling. Not a sound disturbed my meditations; there were no
groups of squabbling children or talkative old women. The whole town
seemed retired into their inmost chambers; and I kept winding and
turning about, from street to street, and from alley to alley, without
meeting a single inhabitant. Now and then, indeed, one or two women

in long cloaks and mantles glided about at a distance; but their dress
was so shroud-like, and their whole appearance so ghostly, that I was
more than half afraid to accost them. As the night approached, the
ranges of buildings grew more and more dim, and the silence which
reigned amongst them more awful. The canals, which in some places
intersect the streets, were likewise in perfect solitude, and