GHEEL, or Geel, a town of Belgium, in the province of Antwerp, about 25 miles E. of Antwerp, on the railway between Herenthals and Moll, with a population, according to the census of 1876, of 10,265. Situated in the midst of that half barren stretch of moorland which is known as the Campine or Kampenland, it would have been of little importance, in spite of its manufactures of cloth, leather, wooden shoes, and wax-lights, had it not for long centuries been the seat of a unique method of dealing with the insane. A local legend, tracing the origin of the town back to a chapel of St Martin erected in the 7th century, goes on to tell how an Irish princess, fearing the fate that long afterwards befel Beatrice Cenci, sought refuge in this remote asylum, but was pursued by her relentless father and put to death, along with a priest Gerrebert, the companion of her flight. The tomb of the victims was soon discovered to have a healing virtue for minds diseased: the sainted Dymphna became the patroness of the insane; and a large and beautiful church in her honour was erected on the site of St Martin’s chapel. Commenced in the 12th century, it was finished in 1340, and consecrated by the bishop of Cambray; and the pilgrimages to the tomb were sanctioned by a brief of Eugenius IV. In 1538 Jean de Mérode, within whose domains the church was situated, instituted a vicariate of nine priests and a director, and in 1562 Henri de Mérode transformed the vicariate into a regular chapter of nine canons and a dean. The church still remains to bear witness to the importance formerly attached to the shrine; and though the tomb of St Dymphna has long been a cenotaph, a few stray enthusiasts still pass beneath it in hopeful imitation of the thousands in byegone years, whose knees have worn ...