behind, went out to hear it. This hollow mass of metal is twelve feet in diameter, and requires twenty men to swing it; yet its tone, powerful beyond conception, is perfectly melodious. The voice of Big Ben' was but the tinkling of a sheep-bell in comparison. The majestic sound seemed to fill the universal atmosphere, and I thought the music worth coming over the Atlantic to hear. I have read of an English traveller who heard the bells of his native village in the desert of Sahara; and if they were all like this, the belief of the statement requires no great credulity.

From the cathedral we went to nine other churches in succession, most of which were brilliantly illuminated, and many of them thronged with worshippers. The Church of the Jesuits, in which we heard some extremely fine music, is profusely decorated with sculpture and paintings; contains the crozier of Francis Xavier, and the rosary of Ignatius Loyola and its bells, a very fine set, presented by Tilly, were cast from the cannon which he captured at Magdeburg. In the Church of the Apostles a priest was preaching to an immense audience-not less, I think, than three or four thousand, some of whom stood listening with profound attention, while others were kneeling in prayer before the different shrines and images, and others wandering about, and talking aloud, while no one attempted to still them. We tried very hard to enter the Protestant Church, but the throng about the door was so dense that we found it quite impossible, and were obliged to content ourselves with standing outside, and listening to the service, which seemed very simple, and much after the manner of our German brethren in Charleston.

Cologne is a free city, the largest and wealthiest on the Rhine. With its two suburbs across the river, it has a population of a hundred thousand, ten thousand of whom are Protestants, and six thousand and five hundred soldiers. It originated in a Roman camp, pitched here by Marcus Agrippa. In this camp was born Agrippina, the mother of Nero. She afterwards sent to the place of her birth a Roman colony; which was called, after her, Colonia Agrippina; the former part of which suggests the derivation of the present name of the city. The inhabitants are said to

be still very proud of their Roman origin; and till within the last hundred years they kept up many of the ancient Roman customs. For more than three centuries, including the thirteenth and fourteenth, Cologne was the most flourishing city of Northern Europe, and was frequently called 'the Northern Rome.' It then had two hundred magnificent churches, and was able to send forth thirty thousand men to battle. Its subsequent decay is attributed to many agencies, the chief of which was the unlimited sway of ignorant and bigoted ecclesiastics. They expelled and persecuted its most industrious and useful citizens; first the Jews, then the weavers, afterwards the Protestants; and by these and kindred measures reduced a rich and thriving city to comparative poverty and desolation. Since the French Revolution, a great change has taken place: the people have thrown off their lethargy, trade has revived, population has increased, dilapidated buildings have been repaired, valuable works of art have been sought out and restored, the long-suspended work of the magnificent cathedral has been commenced anew, and all things seem to be in an improving condition. The streets are very narrow, and without sidewalks, and Cologne has long been famous as a filthy city. There is no bridge across the Rhine, but a bridge of boats; which, however, is soon to be superseded by a solid stone structure already begun. The renowned Eau de Cologne (originally manufactured by Jean Marie Farina, now by some twenty-four others, most of whom claim the name of the patentee and the right of the patent) perfumes the whole civilized world. The ladies bought a box of six bottles, and when our sweet sojourn here was ended, we resumed our journey toward the Eternal City, all redolent of the Northern Rome.'

It was not yet daylight on New Year's morning, when we crossed the Rhine, and took the train for Dresden. Railway accidents are said to be infrequent in Europe; but was not our progress arrested that day by a capsized locomotive, and a superincumbent pile of shattered cars? Of course, nobody was to blame, and I heard it suggested that the engine was probably on a New Year's frolic, and the train, like 'poor Tray,' was involved in the consequences,

'for no other reason than having been found in bad company.' 'Kommen sie hieraus!' shouted the conductor, as he threw open the door of our vehicle; and we, promptly obeying the order, and following through mud and snow, walked past the hideous ruin and took another train. Stout peasants, in short blue frocks and huge wooden shoes, bore our baggage after us upon their shoulders, and we were soon pursuing our journey. The detention, however, made us too late for the connection at Leipsic, and we were obliged to remain there all night. There stopped with us at the same hotel an agreeable Polish gentleman, whose acquaintance we had made in the car. The next morning, when we resumed our journey, one of the waiters, by mistake, put into our carriage a valuable fur overcoat, which I supposed to be the property of the Polander, and he thought to be mine. After we had been travelling an hour or two, he asked me, as I thought, what such an article would be worth in America, and I answered, 'Peut-être cent livres.' I had mistaken his question, however, as it afterwards appeared; for instead of inquiring what it would bring, he had inquired what I had paid for it. When we drew near Dresden, the conductor came into our coupé, and began talking very seriously with our friend, evidently about the coat. The colloquy was carried on partly in French and partly in German, both of which the Polander appeared to speak but indifferently. Soon there was a transition from the coat to me, and I heard our new acquaintance say: Er ist Pastor, er ist Doctor.' Now the conductor turned to me, and asked for my passport, and handed me a bit of paper, on which he desired me to write my name, residence, and profession. He scrutinized the passport, then my form and features, and next what I had written at his request, in a most mysterious manner; and I never suspected the cause, till the Polander turned to me and asked: Ist das Ihr Rock?' 6 To which I replied: 'Nein, ist es nicht der Ihrige?' and in a moment the mystery was explained. The owner of the article at Leipsic had missed his coat; and upon inquiry, learned that it had gone with our party; and innocently suspecting that it was stolen, telegraphed the conductor to that effect, who, as a

-a small, plain, antique-looking structure-where we had the Evening Service' in our own tongue, without either singing or sermon. In regard to the latter, it is very likely we did not lose much, for the Church of England preaching which we heard on the Continent was generally of a very indifferent character; and here, judging from the personal appearance of the minister, and the soulless manner in which he read the prayers, to say nothing of what others told us of his dullness in the pulpit, it could not have been much better.

CHAPTER V.

EN ROUTE FOR VENICE.

Saxon Switzerland-Speaking German-Smoking and SmokersVienna-Baden-The Semmering-Valley of the Mur-Gratz -Cave of Adelsberg-The Dreary Karst-Trieste-Across the Adriatic-Venetian Fog.

ON Monday, the fifth of January, leaving Sallie in Dresden, we resumed our journey. The railway for some distance runs along a delightful valley on the south bank of the Elbe; on the opposite side of which, the hills, rising in terraced slopes, covered with vineyards, and ornamented with villas, present an attractive view, even in the depth of winter. We passed the ancient castle of Schonnenstien, now a lunatic asylum, standing on an elevated rock at our right; and a little farther on, the not very imposing summer residence of the Court of Saxony. We now entered the romantic region called the Saxon Switzerland. It consists chiefly of huge columnar hills, with level tops, separated from one another in some places by dark and frightful chasms, and in others by broad and pleasant valleys. Here and there slender shafts, like obelisks, shoot up to a giddy height among the clouds. One of these is crowned with the remains of a castle, formerly the abode of robber knights, and reached by ladders and drawbridges, which were easily removed in time of danger, rendering their lofty eyrie quite inaccessible to their pursuers. The intervening valleys and gorges appear to have been formed by the action of water, wearing away the softer portions of the rock, and leaving the more solid masses standing in peerless majesty. Large trees might be seen frequently growing out of the crags and crevices half-way up the precipice, where there seemed not a handful of earth to nourish them.