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Mr Van de Werve, whose large fortune justified a lavish expenditure, was

accustoentleers as well as citizens His love for art and science

induced hiether the best artists and the h-born, wealthy, and influential members of

society at Antwerp; and his house had become the rendezvous of all that

was excellent and celebrated in the city

Nearly the whole of the anterior part of the house was occupied by a vast

hall, called the Ancestral Hall, because it was decorated by numberless

souvenirs of his illustrious family The walls, for a certain distance

were sculptured in oak wood, so artistically designed, and so delicately

wrought, that at the first glance it looked like embroidery in various

colors To produce this effect, the natural brown of the oak had been left

in soold and silver, which was

relieved by a beautiful scarlet, brilliant yellow, and the softest

sky-blue The hly