their words to the nature of the fubject: hence a peculiar characteriftic of their language, which, if I may prefume to form an opinion on the little knowledge I was able to acquire of it during my abode in this country, is the moft fimple and expreffive in the world. the men. The fair fex are never introduced as a topic of converfation; nay, they even pafs in the ftreets without obtaining the smallest notice from The places they are known to frequent are deemed facred and inacceffible; and a man would feel himself affronted, who fhould be accufed of having remarked or faluted a woman in public. Europeans, I know, confider thefe eastern manners as the refult of gloomy jealoufy; but I rather regard them as the confequences of a punctilious delicacy relative to the point of honour in the fex, who, according to the maxims of Afia, are not fuppofed to have any acquaintance with men, except in the perfon of one individual. The women, nevertheless, contrive to pass the time agreeably by themfelves; and as the fole object of their parties is amufement, little affected by any ingredient that can give occafion to latent difguft, they probably experience more real gaiety of heart than the fair European, who, in the midst of her crowded and promifcucus affemblies, is often liable to be difturbed by envy, jealoufy, and refentment. With a mind eafy and unembarraffed, the Afiatic seems to move in a sphere which affords a finer relish for the fociety and enjoyment of her companions. She receives the vifits of her friends in her own apartments, while the garden, the bath, and the tomb, are the places of her public refort. This oriental custom of frequenting the tombs is a strong proof of female fenfibility; the mind being nicely fufceptible of impreffions, but at the lame time endowed with a pe culiar verfatility of reflection, has ftamped its own image on this kind of affembly. Upon their arrival at the grave of a deceased friend, they give full vent to the forrow and anguifh of their bofoms; afterwards they gradually enter into converfation, which takes a ferious, gay. or even ludicrous turn, according to their different characters. After all, a good heart may here find relief; and many, I have no doubt, profit by the leffons of moral instruction they receive at the grave, however extraordinary the custom itself may appear to ftrangers. DESCRIPTION of the CITY of (With a View elegantly engraved.) Tgreat folemnity, declared the HE French having, with Scheldt open, an event which may prove of confiderable importance to feveral of the mercantile countries of Europe,-we have this month prefented our fair readers with a view and defcription of the cele brated city fituated on its banks, and which formerly derived opulence and fplendor. from the navigation of that river. The city of Antwerp is the capital of the marquifate of the fame name, in the country which fome time fince was the Auftrian Netherlands. It ftands on the east bank of the Scheldt, in a low and fenny ground, and is furrounded by the province of Brabant. The city is built in the form of a cref- ` cent on the river, which is here twenty feet deep, and four hundred yards in breadth, fo that veffels of burthen can come up to the quay; and canals are cut through the town from the river, up which small velfels may be brought to the very doors of the houses. The The city is furrounded with a fine wall, planted on each fide of it with rows of trees, and walks between them wide enough for two coaches to go abreast. Antwerp contains twenty-two public fquares, two hundred-and-twelve streets, all ftraight, broad, and the houfes built high; the antiquity of which even adds to their beauty, as fhowing what the city was at its firft erection. Most of the houfes have court-yards or areas within, and gardens behind. The principal ftreet in Antwerp is called Mere; it is well paved, and fo broad that fix coaches may go abreaft in it; and the houses are generally of freeftone. At the head of the Mere is a fine brafs crucifix, thirty-three feet high, on a marble pedestal, which was erected in the year 1633. Adjoining to this ftreet is the exchange for merchants, from which Sir Thomas Gresham took the model of the Royal Exchange he erected in London, and the burghers of Amfterdam that of theirs, built in the latter city. The exchange of Antwerp has four fpacious gates oppofite to one another, and always open. The walks round it are fupported by forty-three pillars of blue marble, all engraved, but not two of them alike. This exchange is one hundred and eighty feet long, and one hundred and forty broad. Underneath are vaults or magazines well stored with merchants' goods, and above is an academy for painting, Iculpture, architecture, and the mathematics. Upwards of two hundred years ago, Antwerp was one of the most flourishing mercantile cities in Europe, ships of very confiderable burthen coming up to its quays on the banks of the Scheldt, as they do on the Thames at London. But when the feven united provinces of Holland were declared a free ftate, and the navigation of the Scheldt yieded to them by Spain, they built Fort Lillo, about feven miles below Antwerp, and on the narrowest part of the river, to hin der all fhips from coming up, except fuch as paid them cuftom. And ar Flushing, in the province of Zealand, is fituated at the mouth of the river, the Dutch took effectual care to render the navigation that way impracticable; fo that now the trade has removed from Antwerp to Amfterdam. The lofs of their trade caufed the merchants of Antwerp to apply themselves to jewelling, painting, and banking; all which, partcularly the latter, they have continued to the prefent time, in the greatest perfection; for bills of exchange may be negotiated here for any fum, and to any part of Europe. On the Scheldt, about fix miles below Antwerp, is Fort St. Mary. The great market-place, in which ftands the town-houfe, is very ipacious, and the fcene of all public executions. The town-house is a very grand piece of architecture, a large ftructure of free-flone, with a fine frontispiece, decorated with a variety of itatues, a cupola, and an eagle at top. The house of the Hans towns, for the convenience of the merchauts from the Baltic, called, by the Fleming, Ealterlings, which was built when the trade of Antwerp flourished, viz. in the year 1568, is a fquare bung of ftone, two hundred and thirty feet long, with magazines in the upper parts for dry goods, and cellars below for wet. In the mid le ftory, which has a gallery quite round the quare, are three hundred lodgingrooms for merchants. But this eaifice is now turned into a horfe-barrack, the cellars of which ferve for ftables, and the rooms above for hay-lofts. Antwerp has feven gates, from each of which runs a long treet, terminating at the cathedral, about the middle of the city. Thefe gates were, feveral of them, defigned by the famous painter and architect 3 I 2 fir Peter Paul Rubens, who was a | affumption of the Virgin, on the native of Antwerp, and interred in St. James's church. great altar, was painted by Rubens, and by him called his mafter-piece : round it are fix ftatues of alabaster, which reprefent the founders of the chapel. Some years ago, this church was very much damaged, and the marble galleries beaten down, by lightning; but it has fince been repaired, and is now much higher by the galleries being removed. The Jefuits' college alfo, with the library, are worth feeing. Among the nunneries in this city, is an Englifh one of the order of St. Therefa. The nuns of it wear no linen, eat no flesh, and lie upon ftraw. The grates are fo difmal that they give it the appearance of a prifon. The citadel, which is reckoned one of the strongest in Eufope, is very regular, being an exact pentagon. No city in all the Netherlands has fo many churches, and fuch fine ftructures as thofe of Antwerp, which is the fee of a bishop, and a fuffragan to the archbishop of Mechlin. The cathedral, which is alfo a parochial church, is a very grand pile, being upwards of 500 feet long, two hundred and thirty broad, and three hundred and fixty high. The emperor Charles V. at his public entry into Antwerp, faid, that it ought to be put in a cafe, and fhewn only once a year as a rarity. Its fpire is four hundred and fixty-fix feet high, the cross at top one hundred and fifty one, the diameter of the clock thirty feet, and the circumference ninety. In its belfry are thirty-three great bells and two chimes. This It ftands on the fouth fide of is a curious piece of workmanship, Antwerp, on the banks of the and arched at top like an imperial Scheldt, and commands the town, crown. The three principal doors the river, and the neighbouring of this cathedral are enchafed with country. The erecting this fortreis marble, and gilt. The altars in it by order of Philip II. of Spain, was are adorned with fine paintings, fome the first check given to the trade of which are by Rubens. The pic- and greatness of this city, which ture which reprefents the taking before was a free port. Among the down of our Saviour from the croft, many privileges granted this city by in which the figures are all as large its princes, one is, that any perfon as life, is efteemed a mafter-piece. born in Antwerp is a citizen, though Here are four other parish church-both father and mother be foreignes, St. George, St. James which is ers. alfo a collegiate church, St. Andrew, and St. Walburge; befides twenty-five colleges, nunneries, and other religious foundations. Amongft thefe, the Jefuits' church is esteemed one of the fineft in Europe. Its pavement is all of white marble, and the galleries are fupported by fiftyfix marble columps. The great altar is compofed of the fame materials, intermixed with jafper, por phyry, and gold; and on the ceiling are thirty-eight pictures from the history of the New Teflament, by Rubens. The chapel of the Virgin, contiguous to it, is ftill more maguificent. The picture of the The jurisdiction or territory of Antwerp includes the following cities and noted towns, viz. Liere, Herental, Hoogitrate, Turnhout, and Geel; befides which, are many confiderable villages and boroughs, called liberties, namely Mol, Arendonk, Borgerhout, &c. Antwerp is governed by nine perfons, taken out of the nobility; and as many are nominated by the prefeêts, or mafters of the streets, who, together with eighteen of the principal citizens, make thirty-fix This city lies 36 miles N. of Bruffels, and at the fame distance N. E. of Ghent, POETI |