Cologne is one of the largest and most ancient cities in Germany; it was founded by _Agrippa_, and is above three miles in length; but the population is only between 40 and 50,000, which is very inconsiderable for its great extent. From the number of its churches, which at one time amounted to 300, it has been called the Rome of Germany. One of them (the Dome), although still unfinished, is one of the grandest efforts of architecture, and excites the admiration of all judges of that art. The port owes its improvement to Buonaparte, and the quay is lined with ships of considerable size. The city was anciently imperial, and the Elector of Cologne could not reside more than three days together in it without permission of the magistrates; but those who have ever seen this gloomy city, will not, I think, consider this restriction as a grievance. I here left the Rhine; it is difficult sufficiently to praise the beauties of its banks, which afford also ample scope for the researches of the naturalist. They are not, however, adorned with that number of country-seats which enliven many of our rivers, and a few convents and palaces only are to be seen; although villages and towns are very numerous. I must not omit to mention, that I visited the house in which _Rubens_ was born; his name is given to the street, which, like most others at Cologne, has little beauty. He had furnished many of the churches of his native city with paintings, but several of them have been removed to Paris. He has been called _the Ajax of painters_, and his great excellence appears in the grandeur of his _compositions_; the art of colouring was by him carried to the highest pitch. Rubens, however great his skill, deserves the praise of _modesty_, as, although he is allowed to have been little inferior to Titian in _landscape_, he employed Widens and Van-uden when landscapes were introduced into his paintings, and Snyders for animals, who finished them from his designs. The country around Cologne is well cultivated, but is unenclosed up to the walls of the city, and there are none of those elegant villas to be seen which distinguish the neighbourhood of Frankfort; but it is impossible for any two places to be more completely the reverse of each other in every respect. My next stage was Juliers, the ancient capital of the duchy of the same name; it is a small city, but is well fortified, and its citadel is said to be of uncommon strength. As we approached Aix-la-Chapelle the roads became very indifferent, the soil being a deep sand; they are, however, in many places paved in the centre.