STRASBURG.

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of Köln,— and now a canal-street tliat looks like a thorough-fare taken from Rotterdam.*

The great sight, however, of Strasburg—the arcliitectural"lion," as it were, of the place—is the cathedral, or Münster.

The cathedrals bordering the Rhine are nine in number,and admit mostly of being ranged in couples as regards their •main points of attraction. Those of Worms and Constanz,for instance, are interesting principally for their associationswith the Reformation — the one the scene of Martin Luther'strial, the other the site of John Huss's martyrdom; thoseof Bonn and Mainz, on the other band, are remarkable forthe quaintness, if not ugliness, of their structure—that ofthe former town having a huge stone spike for a steeple, andthe other an enormous stone pumpkin for a dorne; those of

* The principal Rhenish cities are of Roman origin. Köln, Bonn, Remagen,Andernach, Coblenz, Boppard, Oberwesel, Bingen, Mayence, Worms, Spires,are all known to have been Roman stations. Strasburg is equally classic in itsfoundation. It was the Argcntoratum of the Ceesars, and even in those days wasrenowned as a flourishing city, embellished with noble edifices, among which atemple dedicated to Hercules is specially mentioned.

Attila, the leader of the Huns, is said to have destroyed the Roman city;but its Situation was too important for the town to remain in ruins, for it wasthen the centre of three great highways that radiated from it — the one leading toMilan, the other to Treves, and the third intoBelgium. The Francs, accordingly,rebuilt it in the 4th Century, and changed its Roman name for the more appro-priate one of " Strato-burgum," —that is to say, the City of the Highways.

Strasburg was one of the most eminent of the free Imperial German cities upto 1681 ; and in the Middle Ages the German empire had not a more securestronghold. Buton the 30th September in that year, Louis XIV. attackedit, mostunwarrantably, during the peace, and obtained possession of it. He then causedthe fortiflcations to be reconstructed after the most impregnable plans of thosedays, under Vauban, who added a citadel (a cinq angles), and had engraved over thecitadel-gate the inscription, " Servat et Observat," —that is to say, it" Guards and Regards." Strasburg was formerly the capital of Lower Alsace,and is at present the head-quarters of the Freneh " dcpartement du Bas Rhin,"and one of the most important fortresses of France, occupying the third place onthe list. It is about a league distant from the Rhine, and is traversed by thewaters of the 111 on its way to empty itself into the German river.