. I replied that it was not my fault;
that it was given to me in that shape by the English Consul at Bruxelles
and that it was not my province to give to the Consul any directions as to
its form and tenor. The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I
was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place: "Was
haben Sie fuer Geschaefte?"--"Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnuegen's Willen."--"
Sonderbar!"--"Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schoenes
Land zu sehen?"[20]--He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors
standing by him said in a loud whisper, "Ein Herumreiser," which means an
adventurer or person who travels about for no good,--in a word, a
suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference:
"Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the
subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do,
whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return
to Bruxelles." The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the _visa_
and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary
signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.

In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral. It is a fine
specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet
finished. In this Cathedral the most remarkable thing is the Chapel of the
Three Kings, wherein is deposited a massy gold chest inlaid with precious
stones of all sorts and of great value, containing the bones of the
identical three Kings (it is said) who came from the East to worship the
infant Jesus at Bethlehem. The Scriptures say it was three wise men or
Magi. The legend however calls them Kings and gives them Gothic names. Let
schoolmen and theologians reconcile this difference: _ce n'est point notre
affaire_. To me it appears that when the German tribes embraced
Christianity and enrolled themselves under the banner of St Peter, it was
thought but fair to allow them to give vent to a little nationality and to
blend their old traditions with the new-fangled doctrine, and no doubt the
Sovereign Pontiffs thought that the people could never be made to believe
too much; the same policy is practised by the Jesuit missionaries in China,
where in order to flatter the national vanity and bend it to their purposes
they represent Jesus Christ as being a great personal friend and
corresponden