The Hotel de
Ville, a very beautiful example of the Renaissance style, with
its rare hangings of Cordovan leather and its portraits of the
Archduke Albert and his bride, the Infanta Isabella, is scarcely
changed since it was built soon after the death of Philip II. The
Corps de Garde Espagnol and the Pavilion des Officiers Espagnols
in the market-place, once the headquarters of the whiskered bravos
who wrought such ills to Flanders, are now used by the Municipal
Council of the town as a museum and a public library; but the stones
of this little square were often trodden by the persecutors, with
their guards and satellites, in the years when Peter Titelmann
the Inquisitor stalked through the fields of Flanders, torturing
and burning in the name of the Catholic Church and by authority
of the Holy Office. The spacious room in which the tribunal of the
Inquisition sat is nowadays remarkable only for its fine proportions
and venerable appearance; but, though it was not erected until
after the Spanish fury had spent its force, and at a time when
wiser methods of government had been introduced, it reminds us of
the days when the maxims of Torquemada were put in force amongst
the Flemings by priests more wicked and merciless than any who
could be found in Spain.
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