Strasburg Cathedral, Clock And Library

One of the most lamentable rcpulte of the Beige of Strnsburg, lcaving out of viow the los of büinan lifo, is tho injury wliicli the bombardmenl has inflicted ou the noble tathednil and its wonderful stronwnical clock. 'J'be vaat catlicdral, vhieli perlinps moro tlian sny otlier thinpr, lias made the name of StraAburg celcbrated, is one of the finesi Gotliio buildings iu Kurope. It was foundcd A. 1). 004 Tho e'ioir was built bv Charlemagoej probubly about A. i). 800 th"lJgh it was not oompleted until 1489-. Tho material of whioh the oathdral is built i.s a brown stone, very rnuííli resctnbling our Connecticut Port land freo sioiie, o estensively imed in Fifth Arcnuo. It was obtaii.cd froni a rjuarry in WfiFPebonne, in the valley of ("uronne, a few miles from Strasburg. The Rrchitpct of tlie existirii; odiRcc. was Irwin Von Stciubiich, of Baden. - Ooe John Huells, of Cologne, was lbo architect of the peerless tower. ïtn l ppirc is the loiiieat in the world. It beigbt ■!()() feet, surpasses St. Peter's, and is bout eqasl to that of the greut l'yramid. The gieater part of iho entire strueturo was deetrojed by l'glitnii) o 1007, and 'lic restore d edifico wasbegun in 1015 nnd completod 1439. Tlie cathedral is in ovcry virt riclily decorated with sculp'urc? ; and tlie we.-tern front ri.KÍt)g to a height of 230 foct, is or was particularly fino with its woaltb of stat ues, oruamcntal oarvings, aml bas reliëfs, It has a circular window 48 feet in diameter. The Prosian heavy irtillery has made, it is said, a ruin of purt of tlie vast building. Tiie flstronomical clock, the product of a Germán clock maker, in nbout the year 1550, is a m ir vel of ingenuitj a id mechunical ekül, and bas do couDterpart. It performs not only the ordiaary ervico of a clock, but exhibits the days thb months, and the years ; the piocess of the eeaauus ; the t-igns of iho 2odi;ic, and tho nanies and the niovcinenta of the hoavenly bodies. At each quarter ol an hour an angel coraos out and strikes one stroke on a bel! ; at every hour anolher angel comes and strikes twice ; - at 12 meridiau a figure of Christ Hppcar-, accompnnied by the. twelva apotlos, all of whom mbvo around a coiitril point and pass in out of sight by anotber door, the stroke of tweívo being giren, and a oook fljs ht wins and cruws. The clock is enormcus in eize, like every thins else connected with tho vest cathedral, aid is invisible froni tho outsido iïroet-t!ie spectator pasiiug throuh the nave of the cathcdral to sce it. It, bas Euffered from fire and viilencebefore tbo presont year, baring been out of repair and molionlen íince ttie rcvolution cf 179S, until the yoar 1842, whea it was repaired by a watcbinaker of ]JnsRhine, and lias been in operation siuce. It is to be boped' that this ingenious pieoe of mecbaniam bus not been parably injured by the present bombardment. The loss of the Strssburg library - a vast collection of 800,000 volumes, ineluding rnmiy ooUeotiomi of rare and curious üionkish pmeh menta - is total and irreparable. It cm Bever be replaced -y :my ci'lleetion hereafter made. It was the s!ow rcsult of a thoufand years; and its destrtiction by firo caused by the Prussinn hot shot, is like the bar o ing of the Alexandrifi library in this, that of a gieat number of the works destroyed no duplícate can ever be