It was near sunset when we reached the margin of the upper terrace, where we began to descend to the level of the borders of the Rhine. Here we had a view of the towers of Cologne, and of the broad plain that environs its walls. It was getting to be dark as we drove through the winding entrance, among bastions and half-moons, and across bridges, up to the gates of the place, which we reached just in season to be admitted without the extra formalities. LETTER XII. The Cathedral of Cologne.--The eleven thousand Virgins.--The Skulls Of the Magi--House in which Rubens was born.--Want of Cleanliness in Cologne.--Journey resumed.--The Drachenfels.--Romantic Legend.--A Convent converted into an Inn.--Its Solitude.--A Night in it.--A Storm.--A Nocturnal Adventure.--Grim Figures.--An Apparition.--The Mystery dissolved.--Palace of the Kings of Australia.--Banks of the Rhine.--Coblentz.--Floating Bridges.--Departure from Coblentz.--Castle of the Ritterstein.--Visit to it.--Its Furniture,--The Ritter Saal--Tower of the Castle.--Anachronisms. Dear ----, I do not know by what dignitary of the ancient electorate the hotel in which we lodged was erected, but it was a spacious building, with fine lofty rooms and a respectable garden. As the language of a country is influenced by its habits, and in America everything is so much reduced to the standard of the useful that little of the graceful has yet been produced, it may be well to remind you that this word "garden," signifies pleasure-grounds in Europe. It way even be questioned if the garden of Eden was merely a _potager_. After breakfasting we began to deliberate as to our future movements. Here we were at Cologne, in Prussia, with the wide world before us, uncertain whither to proceed. It was soon decided, however, that a first duty was to look again at the unfinished cathedral, that wonder of Gothic architecture; to make a pilgrimage to the house in which Rubens was born; to pay a visit to the eleven thousand virgins, and to buy some Cologne water: after which it would be time enough to determine where we should sleep.