Of all the Places where the Waters are used, there’s none of more agreeable Accommodation than Aix; the Lodgings and Provisions here being perfectly good. There’s the House of Bougir, near the Fountain, where the late King of Denmark, the Queen, the Princess, and all their Retinue, were lodged very conveniently. This House is exceeding well furnished, and belongs to very genteel People, who, during the Season, hold Assemblies, and give a Ball, in a Room which is perfectly fine.
From Aix la Chapelle, I came in less than a Day to Cologne, thro’ a very even Road, and a flat Country all the Way, excepting a Hill that one ascends going out of Aix. I passed thro’ Juliers, the Capital of a Duchy of that Name, upon the little River Roer, which is very subject to overflow its Banks. Several Authors will have it, that Julius Cæsar caused this City to be built, while others ascribe its Foundation to Drusus. Which of them soever it was, the Town does no Honour to either. There is not one House in it, that can be called a Structure; and I thought the Fortifications were very much neglected. The Castle, or Citadel, which I only saw at a Distance, ’tis to be hoped, is in a better State. The Elector Palatine keeps a good Garison there, commanded by the General Haxhausen; whose House is, I think, the best in all Juliers. The Roman Catholic is the only Religion exercised in the City, but the Lutherans and Calvinists have their Chapel on the Glacis of the Place; and ’tis natural enough to suppose, that ere long they will have Churches in the Town itself, since nothing stands in the Way but the Life of the Elector Palatine; after whose Death, ’tis hardly supposed that the King of Prussia will let a Country slip from him, to which he has such just Pretensions.
Cologne is the greatest City in Germany, but the saddest in Europe. There’s nothing to be heard in it but tolling of Bells, and nothing to be seen but Priests, Friers and Students; many of whom beg Alms with a Song. The People of Cologne boast, that Agrippina, the Mother of Nero, was born there; and that this Princess, in order to give the City signal Proofs of her Good-will and Generosity, very much augmented its Circumference, and peopled it with a Colony of Veteran Romans. ’Twere to be wish’d, that this
Empress was still living, and that she would take it into her Head to people Cologne again, where there are really more Houses than Families. For ’tis a poor Burgher indeed here, who has not a whole House to himself.
If the Inhabitants of a Town were the more righteous for having a Number of Churches, those of Cologne would be the greatest Saints upon Earth; for they have as many Churches and Chapels as there are Days in the Year. The most considerable is the Metropolitan Church, dedicated to the Apostle St. Peter. If it were finished, it would be one of the greatest and most magnificent Buildings in Europe; but in its present Condition, it does no very great Honour to the Chapter, which is the most illustrious in Germany; the Canons being all born Princes, or Counts of the Empire, who must prove their Nobility from sixteen Descents. There are, indeed, some Canons who are only Doctors; but, properly speaking, they are no more than the Officers of the Chapter. The Bodies of the three Kings that were brought to Cologne, lie in a Chapel behind the Choir. They came into the City through a Gate towards the Rhine, which was walled up, as soon as the sacred Reliques had pass’d, that nothing might profane it. The Effigies of the three Kings are painted over it. The Inhabitants of Cologne have such a Veneration for these Reliques, that I believe, it would not be proper so much as to question whether they are genuine, in a Company of the Burghers.
The Nobility and Gentry at Cologne are as polite as they are elsewhere; but the Vulgar are extremely clownish. There are very ancient Patrician Families here, who make as plain Proof that they are descended from the old Romans, as
the Duke de Ventadour in France does, that he is a Kin to the Holy Virgin.
The Town is governed by a Senate, and is a Free Imperial City; nevertheless, the Elector of Cologne holds the Supreme Court of Justice here, by a sort of Chief Justice, or Lieutenant Criminal, who has no manner of Dependance on the Magistrates. The principal Offices are shared among the Patricians or Senators; who keep close at their own Houses, and shun the Nobility, as do all the Patricians of Germany. There are very few Families of Quality in this City, considering its Bigness. The Noblemen of the Chapter, are all the good Company to be met with in Cologne, and they are respectful to Foreigners; but the greatest Part of ’em are very little in Town; for as soon as their Residence is expired, they either go Home, or remove to other Places, where they are Prebendaries. There are substantial Tradesmen here, who eat well, and drink still better. They may be merry Blades, for aught I know, but I have not kept them Company; and you need not be told, that our Germanic Haughtiness will not permit us to demean ourselves to them.
There are a great many other Curiosities to be seen in this City, particularly the House where the Horses went up of their own Accord into the Garret, to convince a Man, that his Wife, who was buried the Day before, was not dead. You will find the Account of it in Misson’s[91] Letters. I have been to see the House where the unfortunate Queen Mary de Medicis lodg’d, while she liv’d here, and where she died in a Condition so forlorn, as may be a Warning to the World of the Frailty of Human Grandeur. The ungrateful Cardinal de Richelieu, on whom she had heap’d