The Henson Journals

[320]

Friday, September 15th, 1911. Cologne.

The morning sun shining on the Rhine welcomed one's eyes when at 7 a.m. we ruffled our indolence by the distraction of the tea–basket. These rooms are quiet & so–placed that the sun–light comes frankly in, very welcome & consoling to all true 'children of light' doomed to live in the fogs & shadows of London. "The innocent brightness of a new–born Day" loses nothing of its innocence & gains a new loveliness by resting on a river in its passage of glory. There is that in the Rhine which no other river can show in equal measure. It entered into the first lessons of the school–boy: it delighted the eager eyes of the student–traveller: it consoles the disillusioned mind of the middle–aged preacher. History, & Sentiment, are Nature's hand–maids here where Time is registered & defied by the Rhine:

Still glides the Stream, & shall for ever glide;

The Form remains, the Function never dies.

Thus on rising, I pour a libation to the local Deities!

After breakfast we went out to see the city. First we walked by the river & looked at the bridge of boats: then, going through a very narrow, winding quaint street, we came to St Martin's Church, which was shown us by the sacristan. It is a Romanesque building full of mosaics & frescoes. Then we visited the Rathouse, of which the Renaissance front, & the 14th century Hansa Hall, were the objects best worth seeing. After this we went to the Cathedral. We saw the treasures of medieval art, & the [321] strange assortment of relics. We were interested by the quaint carving of the choir–stalls. There is much bad modern glass in the nave. From the cathedral we went to St Andrew's, another Romanesque church, with a fine late–Gothic chancel in which more relics were displayed. We wound up the morning's performance by seeing S. Ursula's, which is full of the holy maidens' skulls. 700 are exhibited in the "Golden Room", & as many as 1700 are said to be stacked in the Church itself! The Church itself is of the 11th century, with a graceful Gothic chancel added later. We returned to the Hotel: on the way we noticed outside the office of the Kölnische Zeitung the announcement that Stolypin had been wounded by an Anarchist.

Almost side by side in the Cathedral Treasury are exhibited a reliquary worth 2,000,000 marks all sparkling with gold & precious stones, and a small porringer of earthenware which belonged to S. Francis!

After lunch we hired a carriage & drove to the Zoo. There is a fair collection of animals, admirably arranged and exhibited. Here we saw the long–eared Syrian sheep, and some grotesque Swine from China. We had tea at the 'Restauration', and afterwards hired another carriage, & were driven round the town. Its fine buildings & flourishing aspect impressed us. Before finally returning to the Hotel we went again into the Cathedral, & saw it in the gathering gloom of evening. Then to dinner, & to bed.

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