at Heidelberg, a mere
geographical map.

"At the time of my visit a great cloud rose up from the valley of the
Rhine, and framed the panorama for a dozen leagues in truly eerie
fashion. As I went from one tower to another, I saw about me la France,
la Suisse, and l'Allemagne."

It was in 1277 that the celebrated architect, Ervin von Steinbach, began
the construction of the portal of the cathedral at Strasburg, and above
its great doorway one may yet read, if he be keen of eyesight and knows
where to look for it, this inscription:

ANNO. DOMINI. MCCLXXVII. IN. DIE.
BEATI.
URBANI. HOC. GLORIOSUM. OPUS.
INCOHAVIT.
MAGISTER. ERVINUS DE STEINBACH.

Ervin died in 1318, and his son continued the work up to the first
landing, or platform, of the towers.

In the archives of the cathedral are still to be seen the designs on
which father and son worked in achieving the portal and towers, as well
as those of the spire, the north porch, the pulpit, and the
organ-buffet. Not all of these are contemporary, but the first, at
least, are the very drawings which were handled by Maitre Ervin and his
son in the latter years of the thirteenth century.

The following lines of Longfellow describe the religious fervour of the
great architect perhaps more truthfully than could prose.

"...A great master of his craft,
Ervin von Steinbach; but not he alone,
For many generations laboured with him,
Children that came to see these saints in stone,
As day by day out of the blocks they rose,
Grew old and died, and still the work went on,
And on and on and is not yet completed.

"...The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, and their lives
Were builded with his own into the walls
As offerings to God."

It is perhaps not possible to write of Strasburg's cathedral without
giving its great clock more than a passing thought.

The legendary history of the clock at Strasburg is as follows:

The cathedral being terminated, the magistrates of the city desired to
ornament its tower with a great clock which should be unique in all the
world.

No one came forth to undertake the commission, until a workman, much
advanced in years, agreed for a certain sum to produce a clock which
should be superior to all others then existing.

After some years of incessant work, he produced the fir