Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1856-08-30
From Blackwood,s Magazrpe.1

From Blackwoods MagazIqe.I
Winter Sketches; ; or, Leaves from n Journal.
GHENT.
Charles Y. said that he could put the whole of
Paris into his Gand. Client, or Gand. remains
much where it was when this boast was made and
from this circumstance we may proximately meas
ure the then area of Paris. The public buildings
Of Ghent not so remarkable in their wav as
the private, those palaiial houses which are rehec
ted in the canals. Gable rises above gable, and
each gable is characterized by a head and face of
its own. Some are coxcombicaI some are preten-
tioqs, some are handsome, none very ugly. A
town made of houses of this nature looks like a
crowd of people standing round the market place,
if house may be compared to the animal that
inhabts it. Each house has its personality, where
as the regular drilled houses cf London or Edin-
burgh 1.-THE New Town. resemble lines of soldiers
whom discipline has made as one man, and who
are chosen from one height. There is power and
unity in these, picuresqueness in those. Thus few
towns are more picturesque than Ghent. Its mar
ket place especially reminds one of town-sccnes
on the stage; probably some of the first paint
ed from these old Flemish towns. We like the
idea of naming hotel after famous man, and
therefore make ourselves at home at the sign of
Count Egmont. We have offer been astonshed
at the barrennesS of invention shown in naming
hotels. In some places the New Inn exhaustS the
imagination, it never striking the person naming
that the inn will be old, ifit is worth any
thing at all. We find that the Count Egmont 1o-
tel is small but excellent; it reminds of Goethe'S
beautiful play. As the name of Egmont, so is the
house of Philip Van Artevelde religously com
memorated in Client; and Client is now preserved
from destruction, or reserved for natural DEATH
by being removed from the immediate line of traf
6c. The inside of Ghent Cathedral is sumptuous
in black and white marble; but the white conquers
the black, the light the shadow. 1t has sometimes
struck US that the Roman Catholic religion asserts
SO strong an empire over the heart of man, because
it takes to itself the lights well as the shadows
of his destnes. The joys of the Carnival are as
as much Fart of it as the notifications of Pas
sion-week. We not raising the question of
truth flsehood, but merely of what is best suit
ed to obtain a hold over human nature. In
many of the most beautiful Continental church
es, the taste of the Renaissance period shows
itself in degradation similar to- that produced
by the period of church-wardeRs' Gothic with
US. Grecian architecture is introduced in the
lower part of the church; but itseems that there
is line beyond which false taste cannot mount,
all above Is chaste and early Gothic 1t reminds
one of the trees in park browsed into level for
malty exactly at the height to which the cattle can
stretch, At the same time, we must allow that
the sumptuousness of the material is set-off
against the mistake in the design. We get to the
cathedral with difficulty, the frost is beginning
to break up, and the round stones with which the
streets are paved, are glazed with frozen ran A
priest Is seen, not heard, performing mass. His
back is turned to the people, and is picture in it
SELF These pictorial priests backs are the adver-
tisiug vans of the Holy Church. The Palais de
Justice which we reach with still greater Difficult
ty, for the ice is in some places a slope, is a
building which looks purposeless now, but reminds
one of the times of Ghent described by Schiller
Dio uppngen Center die in sammt und seide stOlzren'
q the luxurious men of Ghent who strut in velvet
and silk" The houses of Client still remain haunt
ed by remembrances, no doubt, of prlncely hospit-
aty, but its grand burghers are" with the saints
we trust" The gables Of the houses are the most
striking feature of Ghent The architecture in
some appears like stone festoons hanging on poles;
this we should suppose the offspring of the Rem
aissance. The gable of an elder date is cut into
steps, so as to resemble a transverse section of
pyra MD; and this kind of gable is very common
throughout all the old towns of Belgium, Holland,
and the nelghbOring parts of Germrny.
MECHLIN.
We have FIVE hours to spend at Mechn, chiefly
in darkness. The church is lighted, but the mass
es are over. Lights and incense are there, and
people at private prayer. But still more i'm
pressive is the scene without. the tower rises like
a perpendicular mountain of stone. Its form is
clearly dscerned in the moonlight, grand, massive
and uniform, preserving its breadth to the top the
details are. not seen in the darkness. High over
the housetops of men rises the temple of the most
y ACrrO,G Il Dot so sacred, it would seem to en-
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