Belgium: The Land of Art; Its History, Legends, Industry and Modern Expansion. New Edition. Revised and Enlarged

This little book, written after four journeys through the Netherlands between France and Germany, is intended to please the reader at home and the traveler a means of enjoying what he sees. It also shows how numerous and important the points of contact between American and Belgian history are. No other country has a richer history or richer art than Belgium. In none of them did the pious, industrious, patriotic and gifted sons tell the story of their country in a more attractive way. In pen and in print, on canvas, in wall painting, in sculpture, in monuments of bronze and marble, in fireplaces and wood carvings, the story can be read as in an illuminated missal. Bell towers, town halls, churches, guild houses all have their own charm. The author told in general terms the history of the wild, Roman, Frankish, feudal, crusading, medieval, renaissance and modern Belgian lands, as well as people who until 1830 were masters, but rich in local freedoms, despite many tyrants and oppressors. One of the wonders of history is that a bilingual people belonging to two different ethnic groups, Celtic and Teutonic, successively submitted to Rome, Germany, Burgundian and Bourbon France, Spain, Austria and the French revolutionaries, Napoleon, and Holland should, finally, in 1830 year to win unity, freedom and sovereignty.