place, and saw certain sights. The Park is very pretty, and all the
buildings round about it have an air of neatness--almost of stateliness.
The houses are tall, the streets spacious, and the roads extremely
clean. In the Park is a little theatre, a cafe somewhat ruinous, a
little palace for the king of this little kingdom, some smart public
buildings (with S. P. Q. B. emblazoned on them, at which pompous
inscription one cannot help laughing), and other rows of houses somewhat
resembling a little Rue de Rivoli. Whether from my own natural greatness
and magnanimity, or from that handsome share of national conceit that
every Englishman possesses, my impressions of this city are certainly
anything but respectful. It has an absurd kind of Lilliput look with it.
There are soldiers, just as in Paris, better dressed, and doing a vast
deal of drumming and bustle; and yet, somehow, far from being frightened
at them, I feel inclined to laugh in their faces. There are little
Ministers, who work at their little bureaux; and to read the journals,
how fierce they are! A great thundering Times could hardly talk more
big. One reads about the rascally Ministers, the miserable Opposition,
the designs of tyrants, the eyes of Europe, &c., just as one would
in real journals. The Moniteur of Ghent belabors the Independent of
Brussels; the Independent falls foul of the Lynx; and really it is
difficult not to suppose sometimes that these worthy people are in
earnest. And yet how happy were they sua si bona norint! Think what a
comfort it would be to belong to a little state like this; not to abuse
their privilege, but philosophically to use it. If I were a Belgian,
I would not care one single fig about politics. I would not read
thundering leading-articles. I would not have an opinion. What's the use
of an opinion here? Happy fellows! do not the French, the English, and
the Prussians, spare them the trouble of thinking, and make all their
opinions for them? Think of living in a country free, easy, respectable,
wealthy, and with the nuisance of talking politics removed from out of