LETTER XXVII.

Aix la Chapelle.

MY DEAR

BEFORE leaving Cologne, we repaired to the church of St. Pierre, to see the celebrated painting of the martyrdom of St. Peter, over the altar. It is esteemed one of the finest works of Rubens, and was painted by that great master, as a present to his parish church-for in this parish he was born, and in this church he was baptized. It is a sublime effort of the pencil. I am no connoisseur-but I must confess that I never experienced such emotions at the sight of a picture before. The writhing of the body in agony-the distention of every muscle-the anguish of the countenance--the nerve of the executioner, who is about to nail the last limb, (the left arm) to the cross-are all so forcibly depicted, that the illusion is too much for a spectator of sensibility, and you soon begin to feel as though it were the reality upon which you gaze. This picture was taken by Buonaparte to swell the treasures of the Louvre.

It has been restored to its place about fourteen months. On the back of the frame, which turns upon a pivot, another canvass is stretched, upon which a copy is painted, that usually appears at the altar piece, and many persons seeing this, go away with the impression that they have beheld the original. The original, however, is carefully concealed from injury by folding doors, and is only unlocked and turned to the spectator when expressly desired.

In viewing this picture I was astonished at one circumstance-namely-the composure with which the young man who exhibited it brought us up to the high altar, and removed the sacred articles from it, that he might turn round the picture, although divine service was performing, and a priest officiating at an inferior altar, close at his elbow. And all this for heretics too!-But it was for moneythe oil which consecrates and hallows every thing!

From the church we went to look at the house in which Rubens was born. There are no paintings of the artist in it—nor are there any of his descendants inthe city. There are some paintings of Le Brun in the house, which are said to be very fine.

From thence we again repaired to the cathedral, to view the paintings in a better light than the preceding evening afforded. There is one enclosed

in folding doors richly gilt, very ancient, and certainly finely executed for its age. It is a representation of St. Ursula and her nuns-the virgin and her child, &c. and the Society de Mori. The painter was Philippe Kolf, in 1411.

But the most wonderful exhibition this church contains is that of the Mausoleum of the wise men, whom they call three in number and kings in dignity, who came to pay their homage at the feet of the infant Jesus. Their bones were presented, according to our guide, by Frederic I, of the House of Hohenstaufen, to the Archbishop of Cologne, by whose care they were adorned with crowns and various ornaments, studded with gems, cameos, and divers precious stones, and deposited in a chest of massive silver, gilt. The sanctity of these relicks, however, did not protect the shrine from sacrilege at the time of the French revolution, at which period it lost much of its value. But by the zeal and piety of the good people at Cologne, it is restored to the appearance, at least, of its former splendour; and if some of the jewels are glass, and some of its cameos modern devices, it looks nearly as well and is quite as useful as before. But the most remarkable, and to a reflecting mind, the most affecting circumstance connected with these relicks is, the adoration that is paid them. There are actually Litanies composed in latin respecting them, abounding in prayers addressed expressly to

P

them, and amongst others, a petition, which, if the intercessions of these saints had much avail, would ever have withheld from us the privilege of approaching their shrine, for it asks them to "keep all pertinacious heretics from that province." These Litanies are sold near the cathedral, and warranted to have touched the holy relicks, and whosoever recites them devoutly in the church, is promised three hundred and nine days of indulgence. Recited out of the church they have far less virtue, for such an act of devotion entitles to no more than two hundred and three. There are also engravings of the kings which have touched the sacred bones, and one of these I certainly should have purchased, for they cure head-aches, and perform sundry other desirable services.

From thence, we went to the church of the Minorites, and saw the tomb of the famous Duns Scotus; it is nothing but a mass of stone, without any inscription or date. It is behind the high altar. Here, too, they shewed us, carefully preserved in a glass case, the remains of an infant, which they said was one of the children whom Herod killed in the hope of destroying Christ. The skeleton seems to be entire. It is covered with a sort of cloth, almost consumed by age, and studded with stones.

On leaving Cologne we travelled through a flat and sandy country, to this place, forty-five miles,

where we did not arrive till ten o'clock at night. The best hotel in the place was full, and we were obliged to put up at one of a very inferior quality.

This morning we have visited the cathedral. The centre is octagonal, surrounded by an aisle, whose pillars support a corresponding gallery above. This church is interesting from the circumstance that it was built, all but the choir, by Charlemagne, and possesses the remains of that monarch. His body was embalmed immediately after his decease, and entombed sitting upright in a stone chair. It was discovered about three hundred years afterwards by Frederic Barbarossa, who caused the body to be interred in a vault in the centre of this church, and the chair, together with the steps which led down into the monarch's tomb, to be placed in the gallery above. In that chair, from the period of its removal, to the time of Charles V. the Emperors of Germany were crowned. On these occasions the railing of the gallery was removed, and a flight of steps prepared from the area below to the imperial chair. Of course we did ourselves the honour of sitting in so illustrious a seat.

The ornamental parts of the church are comparatively of modern date. They were very splendid, but the major part were removed or destroyed at the time of Robespierre, particularly the thirty-nine pillars which surrounded the dome. The bronze