Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-10

400 feet long and $50 fste nigh. The APP
parcut altitude IL greatly lessened, how
ever. by the great height OF the cathe-
dral spire. 4c2 feet. The two ailegorical
figures on the front, representing WIS
| dom and Justice. refer. / suppose, not
| TO what IL TO be found Within, put
what ought TO be.
These two buildings. the cathedral and
the City Hall, form two sides Of the
square But they. although the
| largest, are only a beginning. on one
OF the corners nearest the cathedral y
an old house with the steep roof going
up In steps just as we see them I'm
Dutch picturcs--a building curious
enough to attract attention for its own
! sake anywhere outside the Netherlands,
but more likely TO receive particular no.
ticc after you read the inscription on
the marble plate set In the wall, an
nouncing that In this house David Te-
niers was born. On the opposite side
IL another house, not likely to be over
looked. The plate upon 1t says that
Il was the birthplace OF A. Van Dyck.
on the north side is the Guild Hall OF
the Archers, dating from 1913; and near
By Is the Hall Of the Coopers, built In
1879. On the southeast corner Is the
House Of the Tailors. rebuilt in 1914, after
the sacking Of the city by the Spaniards
And across the way is the Hall of the
Carpenters. built In 16i6.
A LOVE STORY IN IRON.
A square that was the birthplace OF
Teniers and Van Dyck, with cathedral
500 years old, and no building In 1t as
young as the oldest house In New York,
must be its own excuse for my lettering
in 1t so long. There Is one more corner
in II for me TO call attention TO before
we leave IT, That is the corner in which
Is the Teniers house Almost in front
OF that house, and a dozen feet out from
the sidewalk, is the love story of Quin-
ten Matsys, worked out In fanciful
shapes OF iron. Under the beautiful
wrought-iron canopy is deep well that
was a favorite watering place in Ant
werp when Matsys was a boy; but 1t had
no canopy then. Matsys became a black
smith, and In due course he fell in love
with tho daughter of distinguished
artist. His passion was reciprocated, but
the stern parent would not hear of his
daughters marrying blacksmith. SO
Matsys gave up the forge and took 10
studying art, and soon became a distin-
guished painter himself, and, OF course,
married the girl; and years afterward.
so many years that the romance was
all forgotten. he made the handsome
canopy for the old well, to show that he
was still as good at blacksmithing
as he was at painting He is buried close
beside the cathedral tower. and his tomb
stone. which has been removed to the
museum, says in curious, old Latin. that
Love converted an ironsmith into an
Apelles."
Three minutes walk from the Grand
Place is the Plantin-Moretus printing
office. that for several centuries was
the greatest printing office in the world.
Even now. though its old wooden presses
have long stood idle j doubt whether
there is as luxurious a printing estab-
lishment anywhere. The business was
carried on in this same building from
1855 to 1876 and Christopher Plantin and
his son-in-law Moretus and their descend
ants lived under the same roof that shell
tered their presses Well they might, in
such n place. studded with its ninety
family portraits fourteen of them by
Rubens and two by Van Dyck with it's
working rooms hung with Flemish tapes
try. and with its solid old chairs of oak
and its tables of tortiseshells. The
building, with its contents. was bought
by the city of Antwerp in 1875. and stands
just as it has been for centuries. being
known now by the inappropriate name of
the "Plantin- Moretus Museum"
That nearly exhausts the sights of
Antwerp, but not quite. The museum
is still left full of excellent pictures.
SO is the Steen. one of the few remain
ing relics of what they consider here the
really old town, dating from the ninth
or tenth century. Both Of these places
are too good to be dismissed with the
few words that / could give them here.
Like the cathedral and the printing.
office, must keep them in reserve. There
are other curious churches. and many
pleasant drives in city and suburb.
designed to give merely a glance at the
place and it's shows. and then tell the
history of the old town in few lines
for it has very unusual history. But
there is stumbling block In the way.
The history of Antwerp I dug out of
very bad French one night at the theatre,
and the two are somehow associated in
my mind. / cannot get on to the history
without pausing a moment at the thea
tres-at all events at the Palais Indien.
AN ANTWERP HIGH CLASS
THEATRE.
The Englishman who was afraid the
Cathedral spire might fall on him sug-
gested to me one evening that we go TO
the theatre together. and | was quite
willing. But theatres in midsummer are
treacherous things and likely to be closed,
so we asked the landlord whether any
were open.
There are several" he answered, but
hardly Of the kind you would care to go
to. The only high-class theatre open at
present Is the Palais Indien."
That was precisely what We wanted
something high class. We knew the
street-car that would carry us to it, and
in ten minutes we were there. II was S:l5,
and the performance was advertised TO
begin at 8.
There was a big door and inside big
hail. with just enough light TO show a
stage at the further end, with two long
rows of tables and chairs And on one
side. near the door, bar, with some
young women of the kind denominated
fairies" lowering about it, waiting pa
tiently for customers.
We scented a beer garden at once. but
before we could retire gracefully up went
the lights and out to us came one of the
young women and invited us in good Eng
lish to enter. We sat down at one of the
tables and the cheerful young woman
explained that as there was no charge for
admission we were expected to buy some
thing TO drink or smoke. We were at
that time the only persons In the place
besides the young woman. but two more
men dropped In later, to be so besieged
by the waiter girls and surrounded by
them and talked 10 that we concluded
they were the owners or managers of the
place. Within the next half hour several
girls probably mattresses in stage
clothes) sang French songs on the stage.
and we gave them what little encourage
ment we could in the way of applause
But that was only hollow mockery. for
we were almost alone in a hall large
enough TO hold 1900 or 5000 people.