CHAPTER VII. COLOGNE.--THE TRACES OF THE ROMAN YOKE.--THE CHURCH OF ST. MARIA.--TREVYLYAN’S REFLECTIONS ON THE MONASTIC LIFE.--THE TOMB OF THE THREE KINGS.--AN EVENING EXCURSION ON THE RHINE. ROME--magnificent Rome! wherever the pilgrim wends, the traces of thy dominion greet his eyes. Still in the heart of the bold German race is graven the print of the eagle’s claws; and amidst the haunted regions of the Rhine we pause to wonder at the great monuments of the Italian yoke. At Cologne our travellers rested for some days. They were in the city to which the camp of Marcus Agrippa had given birth; that spot had resounded with the armed tread of the legions of Trajan. In that city, Vitellius, Sylvanus, were proclaimed emperors. By that church did the latter receive his death. As they passed round the door they saw some peasants loitering on the sacred ground; and when they noted the delicate cheek of Gertrude they uttered their salutations with more than common respect. Where they then were the building swept round in a circular form; and at its base it is supposed by tradition to retain something of the ancient Roman masonry. Just before them rose the spire of a plain and unadorned church, singularly contrasting the pomp of the old with the simplicity of the innovating creed. The church of St. Maria occupies the site of the Roman Capitol, and the place retains the Roman name; and still something in the aspect of the people betrays the hereditary blood. Gertrude, whose nature was strongly impressed with _the venerating character_, was fond of visiting the old Gothic churches, which, with so eloquent a moral, unite the living with the dead.