"I want some," added Paul. "My mother will be delighted with a bottle of cologne from Cologne itself."
"The reputation of the article is world-wide, and I suppose many fortunes have been made in the trade. Farina was the original inventor, and there are not less than twenty-four establishments in this city which claim to be the rightful owners of the receipt for the pure article. I see that Murray and Fetridge both award to Jean Marie Farina the glory of being the right one."
"The original Jacobs," laughed Paul.
"Yes. His place is opposite the Jülich's Platz; and after we have been to the Churches of St. Cunibert and St. Ursula, we will call upon him. There is a cologne shop," added the surgeon, as he pointed to the opposite side of the Domhof. "I bought some there once, and I found it very good."
There are half a dozen churches in Cologne from six to eight hundred years old, and our party looked at them with interest. The church of St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins presented to them a very remarkable display. The saint went from Brittany to Rome with her virgin band. On their return by way of the Rhine, they were all massacred at Cologne by the savage Huns. The remains of the saint and her companions have been gathered together, and enshrined in this church. The bones are buried under the pavement, displayed in the walls, or exhibited in glass cases. St. Ursula herself lies in a coffin, and near her are the skulls of some of her preferred companions. The chains of St. Peter, and one of the clay vessels which held the wine of Cana, are also exhibited.
Before dinner time, the party reached the Jülich's Platz, where the original cologne shop is located. A blast of the vapor of the fragrant water was blown in each of their faces by the aid of a machine made for the purpose, and each one bought a supply of the genuine article.
In the afternoon the same party visited the house in the Sternengasse, in which Rubens was born and Marie de Medicis died. There were objects of interest enough in the city to occupy the attention of the excursionists till night.
"Do you find Cologne a very dirty city?" said the doctor, as they were returning to the hotel.
"Rather so in the old market-place," replied Mr. Arbuckle. "As a whole, I don't think it is any dirtier than most of the cities of Europe."
"That is just my view. I find that all the guidebooks and all the works of travel insist upon inserting and indorsing Coleridge's lines on the subject."