The Rhine loses none of its charms by intimate acquaintance; its history and legends stand out with even more prominence; and the quaint architectural forms of its cities are at least characteristically convincing.
Remains of every period may be found by the antiquary, from the time when the Roman eagle was triumphant throughout the dominion of the Franks to feudal and warlike times nearer our own day.
In addition, there are ever to be found evidences of the frugality and thrift of the[{11}] Germans which preserve the best traditions of other days.
The love of the Rhineland in the breast of the Teuton is an indescribable sentiment; a confusion of the higher and lower emotions. It is characteristic of the national genius. We have been told, and rightly: "You cannot paint the Rhine, you cannot even describe it, for picture or poem would leave out half of the whole delicious confusion. The Rhine, however, can be set to music," and that apparently is just what has been done.
Everywhere one hears the music of the fatherland. Whether it is the songs and madrigals of the Church, or of the German bands in the Volksgarten, it is always the same, a light, irrepressible emotion which does much toward elucidating the complex German character.
Nowhere more than at Cologne is this contrast apparent. It is the most delightful of all Rhine cities. Usually tourists go there, or are sent there—which is about what it amounts to in most cases—in order to begin their "Rhine tour."
Before they start up-stream, they stroll about the city, pop in and out of its glorious[{12}] cathedral, and perhaps one or another of its magnificent churches,—if they happen to be on their line of march to or from some widely separated points,—make the usual purchase of real eau de Cologne,—though doubtless they are deceived into buying a poor imitation,—and wind up in a river-side concert-garden, with much music and beer-drinking in the open.
This is all proper enough, but this book does not aim at recounting a round of these delights. It deals, if not with the Teutonic emotions themselves, at least with the expression of them in the magnificent and picturesquely disposed churches of both banks of the Rhine, from its source to the sea.[{13}]
II
THE RHINE CITIES AND TOWNS