154

DOMESTIC MANNEKS OF THE PEUSSIANS.

Basel and Freiburg, again, are " sight-worthy," as the Ger-mans say, for the delicate tracery of their open steeples;and tliat of Speier standing alone for the barharic splendourof its gilt and painted interior; while those of Köln andStrasburg are renowned for the exquisite "pure Gothic"character of their architecture.

But beautiful as is the chancel of the Dom at Köln, withits "glory," as it were, of %ing buttresses, radiating as iffrom the centre of the choir,— and with the fretted pinnaclesrising about it like a Cluster of monster Stalagmites springingfrom the fioor of a cavern,—and the finely-massive proportionsof the entire building; still the beauty of Strasburg Münsteris of a wliolly different kind: there it is not the mass thatcharms the eyes with the harmony of its arrangement, but thewondrous delicacy and luxury of the detail.

The western front, above which the tower rises, is a veryfeast of the choicest taste. The facade itself, with its slenderfretted colonnades before the Windows, and delicate arcadesabove the " rosace," seems as it were to be trellised over witha Gothic net of stone, as light as a bit of Parian lace-workveiling some Statuette: indeed, the open fllagree of the screenbefore the elaborately-wrought mullions reminds one of thecurious Chinese carving of one ivory ball within another.

The doorways, too, are so exquisitely embossed, and thered-stone has been toned by age into such a deep brown,that the sculptured chasing of the arches looks more likeold oak carving than stone-work; while the pinnacles, bris-tling up on either side of the gable fronts, as it were, of theporches, seem like a sheaf of spear-heads above the doors.*

* The History of the Cathedral teils us that the first sacred edifice at Stras-burg was begun in the reign of Clovis, at the beginning of the sixth Century, andfinished under Charlemagne. This building, however, was strack by lightning andentirely destroyed on the 24th June, 1007 ; and though partly reconstructeda yearor two afterwards, it was pillaged and afterwards burnt by the troops of the Duke