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.

Aix-la-Chapelle is a large, and, in general, a well-built city.  The windows, in most of the houses, are very large, and give it a peculiar appearance.  It was called by the Romans Aquisgranum, or Urbs Aquensis.  It has for ages been celebrated for its waters, which resemble extremely those of Bath; but some of the springs are still hotter.  There are five springs which attract every year much company; but the season had ended before my arrival.  This city was chosen by Charlemagne as the place of his residence, on account of the pleasantness of its situation; and, until its incorporation with France, held the first rank amongst the imperial cities of Germany.  According to the Golden Bull the emperors were to be crowned here; but Charles V was the last who conformed to that regulation.

The ancient walls of Aix enclose a vast extent of ground, and afford a pleasant walk; but there is much of the space enclosed in fields and gardens, and the population is not proportioned to the remaining buildings, being no more than 30,000.  The surrounding country is highly picturesque and varied, cultivation and woods being interspersed.  The woods in this country have been, however, much diminished of late years.  But there are, it may be observed, coal mines to supply sufficient fuel for the inhabitants.