THE CATHEDRAL, YPRES. 
The town of Ypres is said to have been founded in the year 940, by Baldwin, 
son of Count Arnulphus. It is about nine leagues from Bruges and thirteen 
from Ghent. It is fortified, and in general well built. In former ages Ypres was 
celebrated for its woollen manufactures, but these have been superseded by linen, 
cotton, thread, lace, and some silk The principal structures are the Town Hall, 
and the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Martin. The Cathedral, which is remark 
able both for its magnitude and beauty, was originally in the possession of secular 
clergy, who, however, on account of their ambition, avarice, simony, and other 
vices, were removed in the year 1101, by John, the twenty-ninth Bishop, the 
ordinary of the place. The time of the foundation of the building does not appear 
to be precisely ascertained. In the year 1240, the greater part of the Cathedral, 
together with a third part of the town, was destroyed by fire. In the year 1559, 
Pope Paul IV. raised this Church to the rank of a Cathedral, at the same time as 
that of Antwerp. 
Ypres, like most, of the ancient towns in the Netherlands and other parts 
of the Continent, has still a great many of those old-fashioned houses, with the 
highly ornamented gable ends turned towards the street. One of these, of the date 
of 1626, is represented in the Vignette.