s suis, obtulerunt munera._"

Behind the reliquary which encloses the skulls is a bas-relief in marble
representing the solemn journey by which the relics were first brought
from Milan. A bas-relief in bronze, richly gilded, represents an
"Adoration." It was the gift of Jacques de Croy, Duc de Cambrai, in
1516. The window above contains some fine glass of the thirteenth
century.

Before the high altar are four great candelabra of reddish copper, cast
at Liege in 1770.

The sculptured stalls of wood, which range themselves in a double row in
the choir, are notable for the profusion of figures of men and animals
which they show in their carving. They are perhaps not comparable with
the stalls at Amiens and at Antwerp, nor with those in Ste. Cecile at
Albi in France; but they merit, nevertheless, a very high rank for
excellence, and are very extensive as to size and number.

[Illustration: _Stone-masons' marks, Cologne Cathedral_]

To sum up, the cathedral at Cologne has had the good fortune to have
been carried out in a pure and distinct German form of Gothic without
the interpolation of any _outre_ disfigurements. It is a sumptuous
edifice, perhaps the grandest, in general effect, of any church in
Europe, not even forgetting the splendid cathedrals at Reims, Amiens, or
Chartres, all of which stand out from among their surroundings in much
the same imposing manner as does Cologne.

One recognizes even to-day on the stones of Cologne's cathedral certain
cryptogramic marks which are supposed to be merely the identifying
marks of some particular stonemason's labour, and are not, as has been
doubtfully advanced from time to time, of any other significance
whatever.

[Illustration]

XXVI

THE CHURCHES OF COLOGNE

The popular interest in Cologne, the ancient _Colonia Agrippina_ of the
Romans, and the romantic incidents connected with it, are so great that
one might devote a large volume to the city, and then the half of its
legend and history would not have been told.

Cologne is one of the most ancient cities of Germany. It takes its place
beside Treves and Mayence as one of the earliest seats of Christianity;
but the actual date of the establishment of the church in Cologne is
lost in obscurity.

There were undoubtedly persons professing the Christian faith in the
colony in the third century, and toward the year 312 the Emperor
Constantine, having embraced the faith himself, gave his protection to
its