monuments which they contain, must perforce deal largely with the
picturesque and romantic elements of the river's legendary past._

_Not all of these legends deal with mere romance, as the world well
knows. The religious element has ever played a most important part in
the greater number of the Rhine legends. For demonstration, one has only
to recall the legends of "The Architect of Cologne," of "Bishop Hatto
and His Mouse Tower on the Rhine," and of many others relating to the
devout men and women who in times past lived their lives here._

_In the Low Countries also,--at Liege, where we have "The Legend of the
Liegeois," and at Antwerp, where we have "The Legend of the
Blacksmith,"--and indeed throughout the whole Rhine watershed there is
abundant material to draw from with respect to the religious legend
alone._

_As for the purely romantic legends, like "The Trumpeter of Sackingen"
and "The Lorelei," there is manifestly neither room nor occasion for
recounting them in a work such as this, and so, frankly, they are
intentionally omitted._

_In general, this book aims to be an account of the great churches in
the Rhine valley, and of that species of architectural style which is
known as Rhenish._

_There is a fund of interesting detail to be gathered in out-of-the-way
corners in regard to these grand edifices and their pious founders, but
not all of it can be even catalogued here. The most that can be
attempted is to point out certain obvious facts in connection with these
ecclesiastical monuments, not neglecting the pictorial representation as
well._

_Tourists have well worn the roads along both banks of the Rhine, from
Cologne to Mayence, but above and below is a still larger and no less
interesting country, which has been comparatively neglected._

_Not all the interest of the Rhine lies in its castled crags or its
vine-clad slopes, and not all the history of the middle ages emanated
from feudal strongholds. The Church here, as in France, played its part
and played it gloriously._

_In this discussion of the Rhine churches from Constance to Leyden, the
reader will be taken on what might, with considerable license, be called
an "architectural tour" of the Rhine, and will be allowed to ramble
along the banks of the river, looking in and out of the various
religious edifices with which its cities and towns are crowded._

_The valley of the Rhine is no undiscovered land, but it served the
purpose of the