any directions as to its form and tenor.  The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place:  “Was haben Sie fuer Geschaefte?”—­“Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnuegen’s Willen.”—­” Sonderbar!”—­“Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schoenes Land zu sehen?"[20]—­He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors standing by him said in a loud whisper, “Ein Herumreiser,” which means an adventurer or person who travels about for no good,—­in a word, a suspicious character.  I then said with the utmost calm and indifference:  “Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do, whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return to Bruxelles.”  The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the visa and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.

In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral.  It is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet finished.  In this Cathedral the most remarkable thing is the Chapel of the Three Kings, wherein is deposited a massy gold chest inlaid with precious stones of all sorts and of great value, containing the bones of the identical three Kings (it is said) who came from the East to worship the infant Jesus at Bethlehem.  The Scriptures say it was three wise men or Magi.  The legend however calls them Kings and gives them Gothic names.  Let schoolmen and theologians reconcile this difference:  ce n’est point notre affaire.  To me it appears that when the German tribes embraced Christianity and enrolled themselves under the banner of St Peter, it was thought but fair to allow them to give vent to a little nationality and to blend their old traditions with the new-fangled doctrine, and no doubt the Sovereign Pontiffs thought that the people could never be made to believe too much; the same policy is practised by the Jesuit missionaries in China, where in order to flatter the national vanity and bend it to their purposes they represent Jesus Christ as being a great personal friend and correspondent of Confucius.

To return to these monarchs, wise men or Magi:  their sculls are kept separate to the rest of the bones and each scull bears a crown of gold.  But if you are fond of miracles, legends, and details of relics, come with me to the Church of St Ursula in this city, and see the proof positive of the miraculous legend of the eleven thousand Virgins who suffered martyrdom in this city, in the time of Attila; the bones of all of whom are carefully preserved here and adorn the interior walls of the Church in the guise of arms arranged in an armoury.  Eleven thousand sculls, each bearing a golden or gilt crown, grin horribly on the spectator from the upper part