ordered our dinner to be got ready by five; which, as the house was
within a stone's cast of the cathedral, gave us every opportunity of
visiting it beforehand. The day continued most beautiful: and we sallied
forth in high spirits, to gaze at and to admire every object of
antiquity which should present itself.

The Cathedral of Ulm is doubtless among the most respectable of those on
the Continent. It is large and wide, and of a massive and imposing style
of architecture. The buttresses are bold, and very much after the
English fashion. The tower is the chief exterior beauty. Before we
mounted it, we begged the guide, who attended us, to conduct us all over
the interior. This interior is very noble, and even superior, as a piece
of architecture, to that of Strasburg. I should think it even longer and
wider--for the truth is, that the tower of Strasburg Cathedral is as
much too tall, as that of Ulm Cathedral is too short, for its nave and
choir. Not very long ago, they had covered the interior by a whitewash;
and thus the mellow tint of probably about five centuries--in a spot
where there are few immediately surrounding houses--and in a town of
which the manufactories and population are comparatively small--the
latter about 14,000--thus, I say, the mellow tint of these five
centuries (for I suppose the cathedral to have been finished about the
year 1320) has been cruelly changed for the staring and chilling effects
of whiting.[B]

The choir is interesting in a high degree. At the extremity of it is an
altar--indicative of the Lutheran form of worship being carried on
within the church--upon which are oil paintings upon wood, emblazoned
with gilt backgrounds--of the time of Hans Burgmair, and of others at
the revival of the art of painting in Germany. These pictures turn upon
hinges, so as to shut up, or be thrown open; and are in the highest
state of preservation. Their subjects are entirely Scriptural; and
perhaps old John Holbein, the father of the famous Hans Holbein, might
have had a share in some of them. Perhaps they may come down to the time
of Lucas Cranach. Wherever, or by whomsoever executed, this series of
paintings, upon the high altar of the Cathedral of Ulm, can not be
viewed without considerable satisfaction. They were the first choice
specimens of early art which I had seen on this side of the Rhine; and
I, of course, contemplated them with the hungry eye of an antiquary.

After a careful survey of the