to retirement, and wish to unite comfort and economy with the most enchanting scenery, will here enjoy all that they desire.

In 1805, Alexander-bad was made most reluctantly the residence of the King of Prussia, who succeeded to the territories of the late Margrave of Anspach: the unfortunate monarch seemed to have accommodated his mind to his circumstances, for in the absence of more important occupations, he improved the grounds and buildings, and changed the name of the mountain in its vicinity to the more romantic appellation of Louisenberg, in honour of his beautiful queen, Louisa; but that inexorable enemy of the house of Hohenzollern, Napoleon, dispossessed them even of this, and gave it to the King of Bavaria. On leaving the bath we commenced ascending the mountain, and immediately entered a long shady avenue, leading into a thick forest of pines, in which immense masses of granite are lying about in every direction. Our serpentine path passes through a succession of grotesque caverns, corridors, saloons, &c. each of them named after some members of the royal family of Prussia, or Bavaria, and all adorned, or disfigured, according to the opinion of the traveller, with the most senseless inscriptions engraved in gilt letters on white marble inlaid in the rock. Surely, when the intellectual King of Bavaria visits this part of his dominions, he will cause them to be obliterated, as their only effect is to destroy the illusion of solitude. We found on the summit, which is two thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, all that remains of the castle of a robber

knight, once the most formidable in this part of Germany. It was perfectly inaccessible, as the gigantic and perpendicular rock of granite on which it reposed presents a surface smooth as if cut by the mason's chisel; a portion of the iron hooks are still visible, to which the inmates were accustomed to fasten the ladder of ropes in ascending or descending.

Our guide now conducted us by a circuitous route to the highest summit of the Fichtelgebirge mountains, the Ochsen-kopf (bull's head). It was with no small difficulty we penetrated through the almost inaccessible forest of pines and rocks; here we see mass upon mass, tower upon tower, many of them appearing as if a breath of wind was sufficient to dislodge them, yet they have maintained their gravity for thousands of years. At one time we wandered through a labyrinth, dark, dreary, and sunless; at another over natural lawns and paddocks, glowing beneath the brightest sunshine: now we ascended what might be termed the turrets of a natural castle, then explored in rapid succession, dens and caverns, the interior of which shone resplendently with that most brilliant of all vegetation, the golden moss.

But these romantic vagaries of nature were too often marred by the blundering attempts of the inhabitants to improve, by artificial means, her extraordinary caprices; whereas the only assistance that can ever be successfully rendered in scenery of this description, is merely to secure a dangerous pass by a railing or fence, and even these should be constructed in such a manner, as to harmonize with the wild character of the landscape.

ASCENT OF THE OCHSEN-KOPF.

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In one feature these mountains differ from most others of the same altitude in Germany, for the pine continued our companion in its highest perfection to the summit, computed to be three thousand six hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. The ascent, though toilsome, was amply repaid by a very splendid prospect.

On one side we have the beautiful valleys of the Egar and Rösla, surrounded by a chain of hills, each colossal peak crowned with the ruins of a castle. Beyond these the mountains of Saxony and Bohemia rise in grand elevation to the heavens. On the other lies extended to an immeasurable distance the vast plain of Franconia, with the towns of Nuremberg and Ratisbon, looking like dark specks at the extremity of the horizon; and Baireuth, though six or seven leagues distant, seems smiling in sun-shine at our feet. Besides all this, we have the additional pleasure of tracing the Maine, the Egar, the Saal, and the Naab, as they wander through the several charming valleys which their own waters baptize.

Having indulged ourselves by contemplating the source of the Maine, which rises a little below the summit, we then followed its graceful windings to Berneck, and soon began to experience the delights of a milder climate: the luxuriant oak succeeded the spire-like pine; and not unfrequently a noble deer, or a stealthy fox, broke across our path, while hundreds of squirrels bounded from tree to tree. These, with the woodman's axe, and the loud crowing of the cock

of the wood, as they re-echoed through the forest, gave life to the otherwise solitary stillness.

Nothing can be more picturesque than the situation of Berneck, forming, as it does, the gate to the Fichtelgebirge, as these mountains can only be approached on this side through the deep defile that lies beyond it. The town is partly built on the banks of the Maine, which is already a fine volume of water, and traversed by its first bridge, and partly on the brow of the surrounding hills, over which hang the majestic ruins of a castle, formerly belonging to the noble family of Wallenrode, whose armorial bearings still grace its mouldering portal. A few leagues to the right lies the ancient town of Gold-Cranach, formerly no less famous for its gold mines than for being the natal place of the celebrated painter Lucas Cranach.

After leaving Berneck, the road was constantly alternating between hill and dale, animated by numbers of the mountain peasants returning from a neighbouring fair. The women were attired in ample blue cloth petticoats, with countless plaits, descending only a little below the knee, as if for the sake of displaying their red stockings with green clocks, while their tight bodices and variegated stomachers exhibited the contour of the arms and bust; and their rosy countenances, shaded by scarlet handkerchiefs, were laughingly turned to their lords; who, in cocked hats, long blue coats, and scarlet waistcoats, thickly studded with silver buttons, were escorting them home. Their dress and appearance, though bizarre enough to the eye of a

stranger, yet sufficiently indicated they were in easy circumstances, which is the general condition of the peasantry in this part of Germany, who are for the most part engaged in agricultural employments.

About a league from Baireuth the road rises to its greatest height, where we find it planted with rows of trees, under which are placed seats, affording the traveller an opportunity of enjoying at his leisure a very fine prospect. Behind us the whole range of the Fichtelgebirge mountains, which we had just left, rose in a magnificent amphitheatre; and before us lay Baireuth, with its extensive plain, encircled by another chain of hills of inferior altitude.

The town, with its wide suburbs, towers and steeples, wears the appearance of a very considerable city; and