CHAPTER XVI.

FROM BELGIUM TO COLOGNE AND UP THE RHINE.

Brussels—Its Laces and Carpets—Belgium a Small Country—Cultivated like a Garden—Into Germany—Aix-La-Chapelle—Birthplace of Charlemagne—Capital of Holy Roman Empire—Cathedral Built by Charlemagne—A Strange Legend—Shrine of the Four Relics—A Pulpit Adorned with Ivory and Studded with Diamonds—Cologne—Its Inhabitants—Its Perfumery—Its Cathedral—A Ponderous Bell—A Church Built of Human Bones—Sailing up the Rhine—A River of Song—Bonn—Its University—Birthplace of Beethoven—Feudal Lords—The Bloody Rhine—Dragon’s Rock—A Combat with a Serpent—A Convent with a Love Story—Empress of the Night—Intoxicated—Coblentz—A Tramp-Trip through Germany—Sixteen Thousand Soldiers Engaged in Battle—Enchanted Region—Loreli—Son-in-Law of Augustus Caesar—Birthplace of Gutenberg, the Inventor of Printing. Page, 155