The surrounding country is fruitful; many of its villages contain
cottages of clay, which I did not expect to see in so opulent a
province; they are indeed spacious, and the interior is kept very neat.
The general appearance of the people here is much more in their favour
than at Liege.

Tirlemont contains manufactures of flannels, stockings, and cloth. The
_cotton trade_, formerly the great staple of the Netherlands, has of
late years been greatly on the decline.

* * * * *

CHAP. XVII.

Although the present population of the Netherlands bears no proportion
to that which it formerly maintained, yet it is still very considerable,
and exceeds that of any country in Europe, Holland only excepted; being
202 persons to each square mile (see ch. xi. for the population of
Switzerland, &c.) The decrease in the number of inhabitants in these
provinces is chiefly to be attributed to the religious persecutions
which compelled thousands of industrious families to emigrate.

This depopulation is very perceptible in many of the cities I passed
through, which are capable of containing double their present number of
inhabitants, and is nowhere more striking than at Louvain, where the
present population does not exceed 25,000, and where formerly there were
4000 manufactories of cloth, which supported 15,000 labourers. This
city is surrounded with an ancient wall of brick, which, as well as its
numerous towers, presents a half mined appearance. Many of the public
buildings of Louvain indicate its former opulence. The town-house is
considered as a model of Gothic architecture, and the cathedral of St.
Peter is a stately building. The portal of the _Collegium Falconis_
presents a specimen of Grecian architecture, which is much admired for
the simplicity. The _University of Louvain_ was formerly of great
celebrity, and no person could exercise any public authority in the
Austrian Netherlands, without having graduated here. This regulation,
however beneficially intended, only produced the effect of raising
extremely the expence of the different diplomas, without being attended
with any advantage, except to the funds of the university. In the
present unsettled state of the _Netherlands_, it cannot be expected that
the seats of learning should be as much frequented, as they probably
will be when their new sovereign shall have had leisure to turn his
attention to the important subject of _public educa