Cologne

Portrait of Samuel Coleridge
Samuel Coleridge 1772–1834

In Köhln, a town of monks and bones, And pavements fang'd with murderous stones And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches ; I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks ! Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks, The river Rhine, it is well known, Doth wash your city of Cologne ; But tell me, Nymphs, what power divine Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine ?

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