ith genuine hearty hospitality. But you will wait in vain
for those whom the eternally revolving wheel of Time has whirled away;
you may therefore surrender yourself to the sweet dream in which the
old Masters rise up before you and speak honest and weighty words that
sink deeply into your heart Then for the first time will you be able to
grasp the profound significance of their works, for you will then not
only live in, but you will also understand the age which could produce
such masters and such works. But, alas! does it not happen that, as you
stretch out your loving arms to clasp the beautiful image of your
dream, it shyly flees away on the light morning clouds before the noisy
bustle of the day, whilst you, your eyes filling with scalding tears,
gaze after the bright vision as it gradually disappears? And so, rudely
disturbed by the life that is pulsing about you, you are suddenly
wakened out of your pleasant dream, retaining only the passionate
longing that thrills your breast with its delicious awe.

Such sentiments as these, indulgent reader, have always animated the
breast of him who is about to pen these pages for you, whenever his
path has led him through the world-renowned city of Nuremberg. Now
lingering before that wonderful structure, the fountain[2]
in the market-place, now contemplating St. Sebald's shrine,[3] and the
ciborium[4] in St. Lawrence's Church, and Albert Duerer's[5] grand
pictures in the castle and in the town-house, he used to give himself
up entirely to the delicious reveries which transported him into the
midst of all the glorious splendours of the old Imperial Town. He
thought of the true-hearted words of Father Rosenblueth[6]--

O Nuremberg, thou glorious spot,
Thy honour's bolt was aimed aright,
Sticks in the mark whereat wisdom shot;
And truth in thee hath come to light.

Many a picture of the life of the worthy citizens of that period, when
art and manual industry went loyally and industriously hand in hand,
rose up brightly before his mind's eye, impressing itself upon his soul
in especially cheerful and pleasing colours. Graciously be pleased,
therefore, that he put one of these pictures before you. Perhaps, as
you gaze upon it, it may afford you gratification, perhaps it may draw
from you a good-natured smile, perhaps you may even come to feel
yourself at home in Master Martin's house, and may linger willingly
amongst his casks a