what high estimation she is held in the grand duchy of Baden, as we found by the very great admiration a shilling, possessing her remarkably fine profile for a coin, excited at the Zähringer Hotel; and we afterwards found the same feeling existed in other parts of the Continent: indeed, a commissionnaire, whom I some time after detected in an attempt to cheat us in more ways than one at Cologne, thought most fully to disarm suspicion by giving me the assurance that Queen Victoria was his favourite, the sovereign prince he loved most in all the world. My nephew chanced to possess and to pull out, when about to pay the bill, a new-coined fresh and plump shilling from our Mint, bearing upon it the impression of our young and lovely Queen. On glancing his eye upon it our Friburg poet instantly exclaimed, "I will give money for that!" My nephew bestowed it upon him as a gift; but it was not destined to rest in his hands, for the master of the Zähringer, having also seen it, expressed so great a wish to be the possessor of it, that the poet gave it up to him, and Queen

Victoria's "sweet favour" was passed from hand to hand, and admired by all the house,

I purpose giving you some account of the minster, but I must defer it till my next letter, and have only to add to this the assurance that I am,

Ever, your most affectionate sister,

ANNA ELIZA BRAY.

LETTER VII.

TO A. J. KEMPE, ESQ. F.S. A.

The Writer's Experience in Gothic Buildings.Freyburg in Baden.-Its Cathedral magnificent. -First Impressions on seeing it.-Town of Freyburg. The Cathedral again. - Coup d'œil on entering it. - Its Windows Altars Service of the Virgin - calculated to impress a youthful or imaginative Mind.- Image Worship. The Sacristan an original Character. - Survey of the noble Edifice. Ancient Churches. Nave. Choir-Aisles.-Pulpit.-Effigies. — Archbishop Bernadus Boll.- Duke Berthold. — His Armour. Lines from Shirley. Tombs and Monuments.Lateral Chapels. — Altars. — Windows in the Choir. Hans Holbein.

High Altar.

Bal

dung Grun's Work. - Recess.- Tabernacle-work. -Sculpture. The Last Supper.- Windows.Designs. Albert Durer. Work by Helmle.— Holbein's great Altar-piece.— The Sexagenarian's Impressions concerning the Cathedral of Freyburg in Baden. A Farewell to the Poet, the Host,

and the Town.

My dear Brother,

I HAVE, in the course of my former journeys on the Continent, had the good fortune to visit

many of the finest Gothic edifices, both civil and religious, in Europe; but I do not remember that I was ever so much struck with any as with the Cathedral of Freyburg, on entering it the morning after our arrival in that town. It is so fine in all its parts, its combinations are so beautiful; and having neither been injured by time, revolution, nor incongruous improvement, it remains in all its perfection, just as it was left, when completed, during the middle ages.

The service was going on when we passed within its walls; the priests, attired in rich vestments and robes, the children attending them in white and scarlet dresses, the women in the costume of the country, which for ages has not changed, were all engaged in the ceremonial of their devotions; there wanted but a few stately dames, and a few knights clad in armour bright, and, without the least stretch of fancy, you would have had before your eyes a most striking scene of the days of chivalry perfect in all its parts. The whole seen under the influence of that rich and mellowed light produced by painted glass; and here the windows are so gorgeous and so

beautiful, that nothing I have hitherto seen of the kind can exceed them. But I must check myself, and, instead of giving vent to the enthusiasm I felt at such a sight, I will go with you regularly from the door of our inn to that of the cathedral, making a few observations as we pass along.

Freyburg is a large, clean, and populous town, as the guide-books say, in most of their notices of cities; it is well situated on the borders of the Black Forest, and near some of the very finest scenery in all Germany. The air is good, provisions plenty, and the people (as far as I could judge) well mannered, and ready to oblige the stranger. My husband said it wanted nothing but beauty; for here, as in all other places, he could not see one pretty or even good-looking face among the women. In this, as, indeed, in almost all continental towns, there are those most valuable erections for health, comfort, and utility, public fountains. In Freyburg they are ornamented with statues, sculptured in stone, of nobles and warriors, clad in the armour of their period.