and traffic, quaint old town of art and song,
Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them
throng.

Memories of the middle ages, when the emperors, rough and bold,
Had their dwelling in thy castle, time-defying, centuries old.

And thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted in their uncouth rhyme,
That their great imperial city stretched its hand through every
clime."

[Illustration: Fig. 228.--The Town Walls, Nuernberg.]

The "uncouth rhyme" was the familiar old proverb which told of the
universal trade of the old city, couched in the few words--

_Nuernberg's hand,
Geht durch alle land;_

and which may be rendered in our modern vernacular--

"Nuernberg's hand
Goes through every land."

This proud boast was more truthful than boasts are in general; its
artisans literally sent their handiwork far and wide, their connections
were great, and their city was the centre of trade between the East and
West; for, prior to the discovery of the circumnavigation of the Cape of
Good Hope, it was the depot for eastern merchandise, which was
principally sent with their own productions from Venice and Genoa; its
convenient central position in Europe enabling its traders to distribute
such produce, and all others coming to it, by means of the Danube and
the Rhine to the north and west of Europe. Its own manufacturers were
also much esteemed, and their works in metal highly valued, whether
consisting of armour for the knight or bijouterie for his lady. The
city, in fact, held within its warehouses the combined results of the
taste, luxury, and necessities of the age, and was busied in exchanging
them with the great trading towns of the low countries,--Bruges, Ghent,
and Antwerp,--the trade of the latter rising on the decline of that of
old Nuernberg, whose inland position kept it far away from the
sea-traffic which resulted from the discovery already alluded to. The
religious wars contributed ultimately to accelerate its downfall at the
commencement of the seventeenth century, and when peace was again
restored, prosperity had flown in the turmoil.

[Illustration: Fig. 229.--The Castle, Nuernberg.]

It was during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that Nuernberg
attained its greatest prosperity. At this time it was a free city of the
German empire, possessing an independent domain around it extending
twenty-three German miles, and was enabled to furnish the