The Democratic advocate., 1876-01-15
Ghines abroad.
From the Home Journal.
A DAY IN NUREMBERG.
by Az AMERICAN oiRL.

Olu houses WIN pointed roois, 10 the tlotei
de ,Barriere, which is built on the left bank
Of the Pegnitz. From the window in
which am now sitting can look down
upon the muddy waters of this little stream,
and also at the street, which is very mar
row, and at the backs Of the erampcd,
dingy houses on the opposite bank. The
dignity with which this is spoken Of as
river makes me laugh. Two persons might
almost shake hands across it, il they bad
arms like Rob Roy After dinner We
drove out to see the city, going first to the
Rath Haus, or Town Hall, which contains
the picture gallery aud Several other more
interesting rooms,
The pictures are all very old, and mostly
representations of long, lath-like figures,
with distorted features and hair painted
without the least shading. ! Icouldn't help
laughing to think how such people would
look walking about; the attention they
would attract would be rather uncomforta-
bic, fancy. Among the paintings were
portraits of two of the Saxon kings, by
Albrecht Durer, which were, of course,
well painted; but to me there is nothing
particularly fascinating in portraits of old
kings, of whom no one has ever heard,
and who are usually abominably ugly,
In the room next to the picture gallery
was an immense table, very carefully COW
cred up, and l was naturally most curious
to see what treasure was concealed beneath
the cover. The guide laid aside the cloth
reverentially, and beneath it, framed into
the top Of great, old, carved, rosewood
table, was piece of the most elaborate
silk embroidery one could possibly dream
of. 1t had been worked in the ninth cen
tury, by the wife of one Of the electors,
who, after her husbands death, never ap-
peared in the world again, but spent her
time in making this wonderful piece Of
work. The border of it was filed with
verses, worked in silver thread, and COM
posed by the bereaved electress, in which
she tells Ct her loss and grief; and inside
Of the border were all the coats.of-arms of
the two families, so finely embroidered that
they looked like paintings.
In the next room was large collection
of beautiful carvings in wood, paintings on
glass and numbers of curiosities of various
kiuds. Among them was a superb casket,
which is said to have once contained tho
bones of the martyred St. Sebastian. AT
each corner was figure, representing Se-
bastian tied to stake and pierced with
innumerable arrows; aud there was much
fnc chasing and many jewels about the
casket.
In the same building was an old chapel
upon the walls Of which Albrecht Durel
has left his immortal handiwork. Neal
the altar, under wooden canopy, was an
ancient chair, the whole used as sort Of
triumphal car by the Emperor Maximiian
/ went up and sat down in it; but it didn'
afford the peculiar pleasure | expected
perhaps because | am very emphatic il
my movements, and the chair was very
hard Any way l failed TO imagine my
self an empress, or to envy Maximilian hil
triumphs il he had to occupy that seat aftel
them.
On the ceilings Of the halls in the build.
ing were figures in stucco, almost as larg,
as life, representing NEUROLOGICAL charac-
tiers. They we're finely colored, and very
effective.
. Our tour of the Rath Haus ended, W,
! drove to the Schonea Brunnen, a 1beauti
! ful fountain indeed; more like grotesqu,
steeple sat down inside railing, than any
fountain l have ever seen. 1t ran up to 4
peak, and was formed entirely Of group
of figures, large ones at the bottom, and
! smaller ones toward the top, which wa
flushed by ono figure alone. The railing
around it was very odd; there were ring
in the grating, cast in such way that i
has always been mystery how they were
put in.
We also passed the st. Lawrence Church
over the entrance of which was a gigantic
figure of Christ, supposed to be gold
When tho French entered the town 10 tn,
, thirty years war, the Germans painted
this figure black, thinking that their en-
emies. would then pass it BY; but it seeml
the latter obtained it, and kept it in thei
posse sion some years before the German
recovered it.
We drove around the Burg, or crock
throned CASTLE" where the old elector
used to live, aud which the King Of Bava
ria visits occasionally even now. We ha,
a fine view Of the city from the driv,
around it. Then we visited the Jung Fra,
Prison, which contains the torturous in
struments used to put to death those who
were so sentenced in oldeu times II wa
a dismal place to visit, and il makes in'
shudder, even now, to think Of it. w
first descended dozen or more crumblin,
steps, down into dark, damp place, unde
ground; the guide carrying a torch, whicl
threw an uncertain sort of light about US
and gave all distant objects an indistinc
aud mysterious appearancc--as il the,
might start forth from the shadow. Tn
first thing pointed out to our dismaye,
vision was machine for stretching peopl
: until every joint was dislocated; then a
! iron cradle, full Of sharp spikes, in whic
+ they used to rock thieves The last tim
: is was used was in 1903, when an old ma