The CATHEDRAL of ULM is doubtless among the most respectable of those upon the continent.  It is large and wide, and of a massive and imposing style of architecture.  The buttresses are bold, and very much after the English fashion.  The tower is the chief exterior beauty.  Before we mounted it, we begged the guide, who attended us, to conduct us all over the interior.  This interior is very noble:  and even superior, as a piece of architecture, to that of Strasbourg.  I should think it even longer and wider—­for the truth is, that the tower of Strasbourg Cathedral is as much too tall, as that of Ulm cathedral is too short, for its nave and choir.  Not very long ago, they had covered the interior by a white wash; and thus the mellow tint of probably about five centuries—­in a spot where there are few immediately surrounding houses—­and in a town of which the manufactories and population are comparatively small—­the latter about 14,000—­thus, I say, the mellow tint of these five centuries (for I suppose the cathedral to have been finished about the year 1320) has been cruelly changed for the staring and chilling effects of whiting.

The choir is interesting in a high degree.  At the extremity of it, is an altar—­indicative of the Lutheran form of worship[24] being carried on within the church—­upon which are oil paintings upon wood, emblazoned with gilt backgrounds—­of the time of Hans Burgmair, and of others at the revival of the art of painting in Germany.  These pictures turn upon hinges, so as to shut up, or be thrown open; and are in the highest state of preservation.  Their subjects are entirely scriptural; and perhaps old John Holbein, the father of the famous Hans Holbein, might have had a share in some of them.  Perhaps they may come down to the time of Lucas Cranach.  Whenever, or by whomsoever executed, this series of paintings, upon the high altar of the cathedral of Ulm, cannot be viewed without considerable satisfaction.  They were the first choice specimens of early art which I had seen on this side of the Rhine; and I of course contemplated them with the hungry eye of an antiquary.

After a careful survey of the interior, the whole of which had quite the air of English cleanliness and order, we prepared to mount the famous tower.  Our valet, Rohfritsch, led the way; counting the steps as he mounted, and finding them to be about three hundred and seventy-eight in number.  He was succeeded by the guide.  Mr. Lewis and myself followed in a more leisurely manner; peeping through the interstices which presented themselves in the open fretwork of the ornaments, and finding, as we continued to ascend, that the inhabitants and dwelling houses of Ulm diminished gradually in size.  At length we gained the summit, which is surrounded by a parapet wall of some three or four feet in height.  We paused a minute, to recover our breath, and to look at the prospect which