ists
still, and the city that was once called the kernel of the Hanseatic
League, and boasted of its Lorenzo de' Medici in the person of the good
and enlightened Matthias Overstolz, has now almost as proud a place among
merchants as Hamburg or Frankfort. Before we pass to more modern things
let us not forget the shrine of the Three Kings in the cathedral, which is
simply a mass of gold and jewelry, in such profusion as to remind one of
nothing less than the golden screen studded with uncut gems called the
_Palla d'Oro_ at San Marco, directly behind the high altar, and the Golden
Frontal of St. Ambrose at Milan--golden altar it might more fitly be
named, as each side of the altar is a slab of solid gold, almost hidden by
its breastplate of precious stones. The same warrior-archbishop, Conrad of
Hochstaden, who, driven from Cologne, transferred his see to Bonn, was the
first founder of the cathedral, though in those days of slow and solid
building to found was not to finish. The cathedral is not _finished_ even
yet. The present scenes in which Cologne shines are many--for instance,
its lively market on the Neumarkt, and the country costumes one sees there
each week as the stalls and carts, easily drawn by dogs and donkeys, are
set up in the square; the parade of the old guard, called the "Sparks of
Cologne" from their scarlet uniforms; and the Carnival, a high opportunity
for fun and display, and specially seized upon to reproduce historic
figures and incidents, such as the half-comic _Gecker-Berndchen_, a
typical figure in red and white, the colors of the town, with a shield in
one hand and a wooden sabre in the other, shouting the traditional warning
cry, "_Geck los Geck elans!_" the antique procession of burgher youths and
maidens, the latter with large white caps and aprons, and the former in
three-cornered hats, black breeches and stockings and thick low shoes.
Then follows a fancy ball in the Guerzenich House, in which the lineal
descendants of the burgomasters and councillors of old come out in ancient
family trappings of black cloth or velvet, stiff white ruff and heavy gold
chain from shoulder to shoulder, which their forefathers once wore in
earnest. Among the museums and other additions of modern taste is the
beautiful botanical garden and large conservatory, where flourish tropical
plants in profusion--a thing we find in many even of the secondary German
towns.

[Illustration: RHEINFELS.]

The Rhine itself is