blessed with the same indulgence as those who visited the tombs of the
apostles at Rome.

The bishop lost no time, and his agents went forth into all Germany to
get funds to reerect the sepulchral church of the emperors. They were
received favourably, and twenty-one thousand golden florins furnished
Bishop Reinhold the means of carrying out his project.

After the wars of the sixteenth century, when Speyer was sacked,
pillaged, and burned, the sturdy walls of the cathedral again fell, and
only in the eighteenth century was it restored. For a long time, only
the choir was rebuilt, the nave being neglected up to 1772, when Bishop
August of Limburg undertook to restore the entire edifice, which,
considering that he did it in the eighteenth century, he did
comparatively well.

The choir and nave reflect, considerably, the spirit of the middle ages.
The facade alone indicates the false taste of the period in which it
was restored.

In general the exterior decoration is simple and remarkable for its
interest.

The interior was wisely restored in 1823, and shows a series of mural
decorations of more than usual excellence, and the statue of Rudolph of
Hapsburg, a modern work by a pupil of Thorwaldsen's, is less offensive
than might be supposed.

In Speyer's cathedral are an elaborate series of frescoes by
Schraudolph, forming a part of the extensive renovation undertaken by
Maximilian II. of Bavaria.

The cloister, built in 1437, exists no more. The baptistery is a curious
octagonal edifice ornamented with eight columns and surmounted by a
dome. It is lighted by eight narrow windows. The origin of the
baptistery is in dispute; but, while doubts are likely enough to be cast
upon the assertion, it is repeated here, on the strength of the opinion
of many authorities, that it may have descended from the time of
Dagobert.

There are numerous grotesque carvings, which ornament the cathedral in
its various parts, and which have ever been the despair of antiquarians
as to their meaning.

In one place on the exterior of the apside is a queerly represented
melee between gnomish figures of men and beasts with human heads. And
again, in the nave, there is a figure of a dwarf with a long beard, with
a sort of helmet on his head, and a sword at his side. If he is supposed
in any way to represent the Church militant, the symbolism is badly
expressed.

St. Bernard preached the Crusades here in the presence of Conrad III.,
of H