BACHARACH-ST. WERNER'S CHURCH. 81 terrible strongholds on the Rhine, and reduced them to picturesque ruins, evermore to embellish where before they had wasted and destroyed. And now we turn another abrupt bend of the river, and the ancient town of Bacharach is before us, with its ancient wall strengthened with twelve towers still standing. Nearly opposite the town is a small island; and adjoining the island is a rock, the Bacchi ara-the altar of Bacchus, which, when it appears above the surface of the water, denotes a dry season auspicious to the vine. There is another ruin on the lofty hill behind the town, and this is Stahlech, once the proud residence of the Electors Palatine. But what beautiful ruin is that, with pointed windows still perfect, and exhibiting the most exquisite tracery work---Melrose Abbey again! "Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand In many a freakish knot had twined; Then framed a spell when the work was done, And changed the willow wreaths to stone. " It is but a fragment standing alone upon a rock, and so light, that you would almost expect it to wave gracefully in the breeze. It is all that is left of St. Werner's Church, built more than four hundred years ago, and is pronounced “the remains of the highest and most elegant lancet style existing." And now we pass Lorchhausen, and here rises before us on those lofty rocks the ruins of Nollengen, and the height on which it stands is the Devil's Ladder; and then a short 82 THE RHEINGAU. run brings us up to Lorch, lying at the mouth of the Wispenthal. O that I could stop here, and wander up that valley-but we are already past, and on the opposite shore is the village of Nieder Heimbech, and behind overlooking the houses, the ruined castle of Heimburg. We are now in the Rheingau, which begins at Lorch, and extends to Nieder Walluf, below Biberich. It is six leagues in length and two in breadth in the Duchy of Nassau, and is sheltered on the north by the Taunus mountains. Far famed is the Rheingau for its beauty and fertility, and for producing the richest and most delicate Rhenish wines. Here are produced the Johannisberg, the Steinburg, the Markobrunnen, the Rudesheim, the Rothenberg, and other kinds well known at least to travellers on the Rhine; and, indeed, well known nowhere else, for here they may be had unadulterated and with their delicate flavor preserved.. Happy is that country in respect to temperance where the grape is cultivated, and light pure wines takes the place of strong drink. I believe the taste for these pure wines precludes the taste for strong drink. Are not the wine-growing countries the most temperate? that is the question. If so, then the cultivation of the vine would be the promotion of temperance. But while I am writing this, or something like it in the leaves of my portfolio, we have reached Sonneck, once a robber castle, and destroyed when the vengeance of the people fell upon their strongholds of plunder, but now restored, and picturesque and peaceful where it clings to the rocks. Here all the heights seem to grow into turreted castles, for here follow in quick succession Sonneck, Falkenburg, Clemenskirche, and Rheinstein, the last restored also, and the RUDESHEIM-JOHANNISBERG. 83 knightly and imposing residence of Prince Frederick of Prussia. Scarcely have we passed these, when we sail between the broken walls of Ehrenfels on the right bank, and the Mouse Tower of Bishop Hatto, built on a rock near the left bank. The Legend of the Bishop may be found in verse among Southey's poems. Just above the Mouse Tower the Nahe empties into the Rhine, and we are now running past Bingen. From Bingen to Biberich the Rhine widens and is filled with little islands, while the country opens, and the shores are less bold and jagged. The Rheingau presents an undulating surface over which the vineyards cluster. Rudesheim and Johannisberg resemble each other in situation, and in the form of the land. It would be natural to conclude that if Johannisberg produces fine wine, Rudesheim must do the same. But why one should be superior to the other, from a superficial view, it is hard to conceive. Perhaps the superiority of Johannisberg is owing to the nicer cultivation, and to the rejection of all but the perfect grapes in the vintage; the reputation which the wine has gained and the consequently high price warranting this particularity. The quantity of wine produced is so small, and is so generally bought by princes and nobles, that the traveller will act most prudently if he never calls for Johannisberg on steamboats or at hotels. Rudesheim of a fine quality he will sometimes meet with. Well, we have left the Rheingau behind with its towns and villages, its beautiful hills and valleys, its vineyards and cornfields, its ruined towers and its princely seats, and we are now at Biberich. Here we take the train, and before dark we are at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Middle Rhine Continued. Frankfort on the Maine-Heidelberg -Baden-Baden-Strasburg. Frankfort, in the ancient part of the town, is an old but respectable-looking house. Over the door is a coatof-arms bearing the device of three lyres; and underneath the arms is an inscription, "This is the house in which Göthe was born." The arms of the father seem like a prophecy of the genius of the son. Here the childhood and youth of Göthe were spent. Here his early studies were carried on. Here he dreamed his early dreams of life. Here were laid many of those scenes which his autobiography describes. That autobiography was among the books of my boyish reading; and it made Frankfort, and the home of Göthe a sort of dreamland to my boyish fancy. In visiting Frankfort Göthe was more in my mind than any thing else. THE POET AND THE BANKER. 85 There The house in which the Rothschild family were born is here too, in the Jews' street, narrow and dark, and crowded with old dwellings, shut in by a gate, formerly, which was closed at an early hour every evening, until the cannon of Marshal Jourdan knocked it down, never to be replaced. And this family have country-seats near the town, and the mother has a splendid mansion outside of the gardens. I chanced to see the Rothschild house at the same time that I went to see the home of Göthe; and thus was I led to compare the Banker and the man of Genius, the wealth of money and the wealth of mind. Both had won success. was the Prince of Bankers, and there the Prince of Literary men, both from the same town. A noble bronze statue of Göthe is erected in an open space opposite the Theatre. How majestic that figure, how expressive that countenance! And then around the pedestal are bas-reliefs which represent the creations of his genius. The citizens of Frankfort have erected this statue. Will they erect one to the Banker? If it stood there, how would the rotund figure, the absorbed calculating countenance, contrast with the grace and fire of the poet! What bas-reliefs would surround the pedestal? There is a fine gallery of paintings in Frankfort, established by the munificence of an individual, who bequeathed his collection of paintings and drawings, together with four hundred thousand dollars to his native city. Besides the erection of a suitable building, this fund yields four thousand dollars annually for the increase of the gallery. Thus has he entailed his estate. In the Kaiser Saal of the Town-house, where the election |