live in the houses of the townspeople, for the town exists merely for the accommodation of the university. The vice-president keeps a record of all houses and the addresses of the students; still any student of Oxford or Cambridge will appreciate the probable value of such a liberty. A second and most important difference from English university life lies in the utter absence of athleticism. The Belgians were entirely averse to muscular exertion of any kind. I saw very little cycling, no cricket, no football, no rowing—nothing more active than skittles during the whole period, for ‘beer and skittles’ is much more than a figurative ideal to the Belgian. Their free time, and they are not at all a studious race, is mainly spent in the estaminets or beer houses, and, like German students, they consume enormous quantities of their national beverage and smoke unceasingly.
The ethical result of such a mode of life may be deduced from general physiological laws. The ‘rector magnificus’ is a very able and estimable man, but of a retiring and studious character; the vice-rector, Mgr. Cartuyvels, is, however, an active and zealous disciplinarian, and, by means of a wide system of espionage, he is tolerably acquainted with the condition of affairs. Still he is powerless to stem an inevitable tide, and indeed it is said that he is afraid to enforce his authority too sternly, lest he should drive more Catholics to the other Liberal universities. Of the two evils, heterodoxy or immorality, the Church
