in a house of her own, and free to reenter the world, occupies a
different position from the nuns of the better-known Orders, though
so long as she remains a member of her society she is bound by the
vows of chastity and obedience to her ecclesiastical superiors.

[Illustration: BRUGES. The Béguinage.]

The Béguinage at Bruges, founded in the thirteenth century, is
situated near the Minnewater, or Lac d'Amour, which every visitor
is taken to see. This sheet of placid water, bordered by trees,
which was a harbour in the busy times, is one of the prettiest
bits of Bruges; and they say that if you go there at midnight,
and stand upon the bridge which crosses it on the south, any wish
which you may form will certainly come to pass. It is better to go
alone, for strict silence is necessary to insure the working of
this charm. A bridge over the water which runs from the Lac d'Amour
leads through a gateway into the Béguinage, where a circle of small
houses--whitewashed, with stepped gables, and green woodwork on the
windows--surrounds a lawn planted with tall trees. There is a view
of the spire of Notre Dame beyond the roofs, a favourite subject for
the painters who come here in numbers on summer afternoons. The
Church of Ste. Elizabeth, an unpretentious building, stands on one
side of the lawn; and within it, many times a day, the Sisters may
be seen on their knees repeating the Offices of the Church. When
the service is finished they rise, remove their white head-coverings,
and return demurely to their quaint little homes.

Bruges has, needless to say, many churches, but nothing which can
be compared to the magnificent Cathedral of Antwerp, to the imposing
front of Ste. Gudule at Brussels, or to the huge mass which forms