a city of the duchy of Brabant, in the Austrian Netherlands, capital of the marquisate of Antwerp, otherwise called the marquisate of the holy Roman empire, situated in E. Long. 4. 15. N. Lat. 51.

12. It lies in a low marshy ground on the Scheld, 24 miles from Brussel to the north. It is the third city in rank in Brabant, large and well built, contain-

ing 22 squares, and above 200 streets, all straight and broad, especially that called the Mere, in which six coaches can go abreast. Most of the houses are of free-

stone, and have an air of antiquity, being high, with courts before and gardens behind. At the head of the Mere is a crucifix of brass thirty-three feet high. The cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the stadt-house, and the exchange, are magnificent structures: the lat-

ter is the first building of that kind in Europe, and on its model the exchanges of London and Amsterdam are built. Its pillars are all of blue marble, and carved, but all in a different manner. The exchange cost the city 300,000 crowns. Antwerp, towards the end of the fifteenth century, was one of the most celebrated towns that ever existed. The Scheld, on which it stands, being 20 feet at low water, and rising 20 feet more at flood, ships of the greatest burden came up to the keys, as in the river Thames at London; but when the United Provinces formed themselves into a free state, after having shaken off the yoke of Spain, they got the entire command of the navigation of the Scheld; which ruined the trade of Antwerp, and transferred it to Am-

sterdam. This made the inhabitants turn their heads to painting, jewellery, and banking, which they have continued to this day with great success and reputa-

tion; for at Antwerp bills of exchange may be nego-

ciated for any sum to any part of Europe; and in the time of Queen Anne's wars, two brothers of the name of De Koning, paid the one the army of France, and the other that of the confederates. Besides, here is a fine manufacture of tapestry and lace; and, for the pro-

moting of trade, an insurance-company has been erect-

ed. This city is the see of a bishop, who, as ab-

bot of St Bernard, is the second prelate in Brabant. The bishopric is of great extent, and the cathedral a most noble pile, with one of the finest steeples in the world. The emperor Charles V., when he made his entry into Antwerp, said it ought to be put in a cage, and showed only once a year for a rarity. The house of the hanse-towns, built when the city was in its flourishing condition, is a stately building, with ma-

gazines above for dry goods, and cellars below for wet, and in the middle story were 300 lodging-rooms for merchants; but now it is turned to a horse-barn-

rack. There is a market here called the Friday's mar-

ket, because it is held every Friday, where all sorts of household goods, pictures, and jewels, are sold by auction. No city in the Netherlands has so many and so fine churches as this. Many of them, particularly the cathedral and Jesuits church, are adorned with paintings, by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, who was a na-

tive. Antwerp, tive of this city; and by Quintin Massys, who is said to have been a blacksmith; but having fallen in love with a painter's daughter, and been told by her father, when he asked her of him in marriage, that he would have none but a painter for his son-in-law, he went to Italy to study painting, and, in a few years, returned so eminent in his new profession, that he found no difficulty in obtaining the father's consent. He is interred at the entry of the cathedral, where his effigy is put up, with an inscription, signifying, that conjugal love made an'Apelles of a blacksmith. The above mentioned Jesuits church is extremely magnificent, and the chapel of the Virgin, joining to it, till more so.

Among the cloisters the most remarkable are, the noble and rich abbey of St Michael, on the banks of the Scheld, the apartments of which are truly royal, and in which all sovereign princes that pass this way actually lodge; and the English nunnery, of the order of St. Teresa, the nuns of which never wear linen, nor eat flesh, and lie upon straw: the grates of the convent are so dismal, that it looks like a prison. As to the fortifications of the city, it is environed with a fine wall, planted with rows of trees on each side, with walks between, broad enough for two coaches to go abreast, being also defended by a very strong, large, regular citadel, in form of a pentagon, erected by the Duke of Alva in 1568, which commands the town and the neighbouring country. The magistracy of this city is chosen only out of the seven patrician families; and conflicts of two burgomasters and 18 aldermen, besides inferior magistrates. Among the privileges granted to it by its princes, there is one by which every person born in it is a citizen, though both his father and mother were foreigners.

In 1585, Antwerp underwent a remarkable siege by the Duke of Parma. It was then the most wealthy city in the Netherlands, and had long been the object of his designs; but the difficulties attending the enterprise obliged him to postpone it for a considerable time. In order to succeed, it was necessary to cut off the communication of the city with Holland, Ghent, and all places above and below Antwerp on the Scheld. To effect this, he laid siege to Lakenhout and Tillo, places of the utmost consequence to the security and commerce of the city: both were obstinately defended; and the siege of the latter was raised, after it had been carried on for three months; however, the Duke gained several other points on the river, where he built forts, and greatly annoyed the shipping and trade of the city. He next laid siege to Dendermonde, in order to cut off the communication with Ghent, in which he succeeded by the reduction of the town. His next attempt was on Vilvorde; this place he took by assault, and thereby cut off the communication with Bruges. Finding, however, this method of hemming in the city tedious, and ineffectual while an opening to the mouth of the river remained, he formed a design of building a bridge across the Scheld, the extremities of which were to be defended by strong forts and outworks. He began with collecting great quantities of wood at Callo and fort at Philip, where he intended the bridge should be built; but his project was for some time retarded by the Antwerpers, who broke down the dykes, overflowed the whole country, and carried off his magazines by the inundation. Not discouraged by this loss, he applied himself diligently to repair it, and with incredible expedition cut a canal from Steken to Callo, by which he carried off the waters. He then set to work upon the bridge, and finished it in seven months, without any interruption from the Zealander. During the building of this bridge, Aldegonde, governor of Antwerp, proposed to build a fort on Couvensteyn dyke, in order to secure that important post, and then breaking down the dyke when the bridge was near finished; but he was violently opposed by certain citizens, who apprehended that their lands and villas would be destroyed by the inundation. This unfeeling opposition, with the negligence of the magistrates, who, because the markets were high, had not laid in a sufficient stock of corn, occasioned the loss of the city. However, in despite of all the Duke of Parma's precautions, the Zealander found means to throw in a convoy of corn; but the citizens, knowing they would not run the risk of carrying it back again, so cheapened the price, that these bold traders refused ever to bring their goods again to so bad a market. The Antwerpers, having thus through avarice brought on their ruin, began in a short time to suffer by famine; they then prefaced the Zealander to attempt something for their relief, but it was now too late. While the magistrates were deliberating on some means for destroying the bridge, which they might have prevented from being ever completed, one Ginebello, a Mantuan engineer, offered his service, undertaking at a certain expense to blow it into the air. Even in this extremity the expense was grudged; but necessity at last overcame this obstacle; Ginebello was furnished with two large vessels, a number of small boats, and everything necessary. He formed the two large vessels into fire-ships, which he let adrift with the stream, deceiving the enemy by means of false fires lighted up in the fleet of small boats. The train of one of the fire-ships was expended before the time expected, and she blew up with a terrible explosion, but with little damage to the bridge. The other was more successful, carrying off all the outworks, setting fire to the whole bridge, and burying above 500 soldiers in the ruins it made. The fire, however, was soon extinguished, and the bridge repaired by the Duke of Parma, while the Antwerpers were prevented by avarice from repeating the experiment; so that they were soon reduced to the greatest straits, and obliged to surrender. It is said that the city of Amsterdam had obstructed every measure for the relief of Antwerp, hoping to profit by its destruction. It was not doubted but the Protestants would forsake it as soon as it fell into the hands of an arbitrary Catholic prince; and this conjecture was soon fulfilled by the removal of many families with their effects to Amsterdam.—After the battle of Ramillies, the city of Antwerp surrendered to the Duke of Marlborough. It was taken by the French in 1746, but restored to the house of Austria at the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.