churches, and the gates of palaces and
gardens, were thrown open. The party entered the Hotel de Ville, and in
one of its large rooms an opportunity was afforded for Mr. Mapps to
expatiate a little on the city of Brussels.

"Young gentlemen, what is the French name of this city?" asked the
professor, as he took the stand occupied by the chief magistrate of the
city.

"Bruxelles," responded many of the boys; for they had seen it often
enough upon signs and in newspapers to know it.

"Unlike many of the cities of Belgium which we have before visited,
Brussels is a growing place. Its population has doubled in twenty years,
and now numbers about three hundred thousand. It is situated on both
sides of the little River Senne, one hundred and fifty miles from
Paris,--which it imitates and resembles in some degree,--and
twenty-seven miles from Antwerp. It is built partly on a hill; and the
city consists of two portions, called the upper and the lower town, the
latter being the older part, and containing all the objects of historic
interest. In the upper town are the Park, the king's palace, and the
public offices. The streets are irregular, narrow, and crooked; but the
city is surrounded by a broad highway, having different names in
different parts, as the _Boulevard de Waterloo_, the _Boulevard de
Flandre_, and the _Boulevard d'Anvers_.

"The oldest part of the city is in the vicinity of this square--the
_Grande Place_, in which the Counts Egmont and Horn were beheaded by the
Duke of Alva. You saw their statues in the square. In this city, in an
old palace burned in 1733, Charles V. abdicated in favor of his son
Philip II. Here, also, was drawn up that celebrated document called the
Request. It was a petition to Margaret of Parma, in favor of the
Protestants of the Low Countries, of which you read in Motley. It was
presented to her in the Hotel de Cuylembourg, where a prison now stands.
She was somewhat alarmed at the appearance of the petitioners; and one
of her courtiers told her, in a whisper, not to be annoyed by the
'_gueux_,' or beggars. The leader of the confederates, hearing of this,
regarded the epithet bestowed upon those who were defending the
liberties of their country as an honorable appellation, and the
petitioners adopted it as their war-cry. In the evening, some of them
appeared in front of the palace with beggars' wallets on their backs,
and porringers in their hands, and drank as a toast, 'Success to the