EPIGRAM. 501 



Catholic country. For example, a waxen image of the Virgin was 

 nursing a waxen infant Saviour, the one dressed in a hooped petticoat 

 of faded silk, and the other in long clothes of the same material. In 

 a compartment of the wall, in another part of the church, was a piece 

 of sculpture representing the death of the Virgin Mary, and St. Peter 

 bringing a vase of holy water to administer extreme unction previous 

 to her demise. Alas! alas ! that so noble a place of Christian wor- 

 ship should be thus assimilated to a heathen temple. 



The organ is on one side of the centre aisle, and though it interferes 

 a little with the symmetry of the building, this disposition has one good 

 effect, namely, that you view the whole extent at once, the length not 

 being broken, as with us, by the screen before the choir. The famous 

 clock is a curious piece of mechanism, but fitter for the entertainment 

 of children than for the contemplation of those who have arrived at ma- 

 ture age. In fact, a Dutch toy on a large scale, with moving figures 

 and various peculiar ornaments, such as a cock, which crows at mid- 

 day, or ought to crow, for the machinery is out of order, and a lion* 

 which ought to roar the hours. 



Having ascended to the platform of the unfinished tower, we had 

 a capital view of the surrounding country and the town beneath us. 

 One of the principal beauties of the cathedral, as we thought, was the 

 union of mass and lightness; for, notwithstanding its vast magnitude 

 and the unpromising material of which it is constructed (red sand 

 stone), the whole of it, but more especially that tower which is com- 

 pleted, had quite an aerial character. It has at different times suf- 

 fered much injury from lightning, which, among other devastations, 

 has destroyed the window over the altar, which is about to be replaced 

 at the expense of about 1200/. An inscription on the platform com- 

 memorates an earthquake which in the beginning of the last century 

 shook the church to its foundation, and threw the water from a reser- 

 voir on the tower to a distance of eighteen feet from its base. 



I should not omit to mention that we encountered our German 

 baron again in Strasburg. But here he was more soigne in his per- 

 sonal appearance than when travelling, inasmuch as he had provided 

 himself with a not very clean shirt, or at least a front, which expen- 

 sive luxury he seemed to think quite a matter of supererogation in the 

 diligence, inasmuch as he was notlherein encumbered with any linen 

 whatever, foul or otherwise. 



(To be concluded in our next.) 



EPIGRAM. 



Our footman, John Thompson (deny it who can), 

 Since his nose is all gone, is a fright of a man ; 

 To be rid of this fright, then, I humbly propose 

 That Thompson be ordered to follow his nose. 



M.M No. 5, N 



