s prosperous. The King and Queen were popular,
indeed beloved; all seemed to be going well with the people. Although
Belgium was not a military power such as its great neighbors to the
north, the east, and the south, its army played an important part in the
lives of the people, and the strategical position which the country held
filled in the map the ever present question of "balance"; the never
absent possibility of the occasion arising when the army would be called
upon to defend the neutrality of the little country. But they never
dreamed that it would come so soon.... One might close with the words of
the great Flemish song of the poet Ledeganck:

"Thou art no more,
The towns of yore:
The proud-necked, world-famed towns,
The doughty lion's lair;"

(Written in 1846.)

[THE AUTHOR]
Greenwich, Conn.
April, 1916.

Contents

PAGE

MALINES, AND SOME OF THE VANISHED TOWERS 17

SOME CARILLONS OF FLANDERS 41

DIXMUDE 55

YPRES 65

COMMINES 85

BERGUES 93

NIEUPORT 99

ALOST 111

COURTRAI 119

TERMONDE (DENDERMONDE) 133

LOUVAIN 147

DOUAI 157

OUDENAARDE 163

FURNES 171

THE ARTISTS OF MALINES 181

A WORD ABOUT THE BELGIANS 199

List of Illustrations

The Great Cloth Hall: Ypres _Frontispiece_

Title page decoration

PAGE

The Tower of St. Rombauld: Malines 18

Malines: A Quaint Back Street 22

Porte de Bruxelles: Malines 26

The Beguinage: Dixmude 34

Detail of the Chimes in the Belfry of St. Nicholas: Dixmude 42

The Belfry: Bergues 46

The Old Porte Marechale: Bruges 50

The Anci