I next visited St. James's Church, which is a very splendid building, and richly decorated with fine paintings and superb marble columns; the altar is inlaid with black and white marble, and supported by handsome twisted columns, and various groups of sculpture. The pulpit is most elegantly sculptured, and the beautiful specimens of carved oak are deserving of notice, as likewise is the splendour of the painted windows. There is also a fine picture of the Last Supper, by Otto Vennius, one of the Last Judgment, by Willemsen, the Tomb of Rubens, and a painting by him, of our Saviour on his mother's knees, surrounded by a number of figures, all of which are said to be portraits of the painter's wives and family. After seeing these two magnificent churches, I proceeded to the nursery garden of M. Vangeert, which is situated about two English miles from the city; it contains a very good collection of hardy perennial plants, as well as _Azaleas_ and other American shrubs. The hothouses here are about one hundred and fifty feet long, in several divisions, and a good-sized pit for the half-hardy sorts. I here observed the best crop and finest bunches of hothouse grapes that I had previously met with on the continent. I was much indebted to M. Vangeert, jun., for his attention in accompanying me to the various gardens that he considered to be most deserving of notice in the neighbourhood of Antwerp.
We proceeded to the Antwerp Botanic Garden, which is but of limited extent, I think not above an acre of ground in it. There is a green-house placed about the centre of the garden, but its occupants appeared to be of rather distant introduction, and little amongst them of novelty except a very fine specimen of the _Araucaria Braziliensis_, which was growing in a tub, and then standing out of doors.
There were likewise two or three other small houses for tropical plants, which were in a very flourishing state, particularly those cultivated in the stove.
They have in this garden a tolerably good collection of the _Genus Pinus_, amongst which is a dwarf sort, named there the _Pinus monstrosa_, but it appears to be only a variety of the _Pinus cembra_. It formed a very close bush, not exceeding two feet in height.