The sons of the wealthier citizens completed their education at Louvain, Douay, Paris, or Padua.
The city itself was one of the most beautiful in Europe.

Placed upon a plain along the banks of the Scheld, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within it walls some of the most splendid edifices in Christendom.

The world-renowned church of Notre Dame, the stately Exchange where five thousand merchants daily congregated, prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world, the capacious mole and port where twenty-five hundred vessels were often seen at once, and where five hundred made their daily entrance or departure, were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the world.
From what has already been said of the municipal institutions of the country, it may be inferred that the powers of the Estates-general were limited.

The members of that congress were not representatives chosen by the people, but merely a few ambassadors from individual provinces.

This individuality was not always composed of the same ingredients.