Antwerp has this week been the scene of one of
those gorgeous anniversary commemorations in which the cities of the Continent take such delight. In order to celebrate its jubilee, the Antwerp Archwological Society has resuscitated the procession which took place during the sixteenth century, when the Rhetorical Societies of the city competed among each other for the production of the beat drama, the finest poem, or the most lively burlesque. No expense was spared to produce the most exact imitations of the ancient costumes, and many of the members of the Antwerp aristocracy
who took part in the fete of Sunday wore the actual swords of their ancestors, and adorned their robes with real precious stones after the manner of the wealthy merchants- pf the Low Countries. The result was a dazzling pageant, and the population of Antwerp was, says the Times correspondent, quadrupled for the time, sstrangers pouring in from every quarter. The cost was enormous ; one of the many clubs and societies that took part in the proceedings alone spending £4,000 on preparations. It is characteristic of the age we live in that two Congresses, one occupied with economics and the other with criminal anthropology, were sitting in Antwerp during the fête. Just now, the only vital forms of amuse- ment on the Continent seem to be Congresses and historical processions. No doubt these are praiseworthy, but surely they tend to weariness. We cannot help sympathising with those who prefer a cricket-match or a boat-race.
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