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LETTER XXV.

Mayence.

MY DEAR

IMMEDIATELY on leaving Kehl, we crossed the Rhine by the bridge of boats, and again entered France. We passed on our left the beautiful monument erected by Napoleon to the memory of General Dessaix. It is the work of Ohmacht, a German artist, from a design of Weinbrenner. At Strasburg, which is about three miles from the banks of the Rhine, the principal object of attraction is the cathedral. It is certainly one of the finest buildings the continent can boast. Its workmanship is most exquisite, and its whole appearance truly sublime. The stone is of a dark red, which gives it a sombre character. The front is exceedingly magnificent, notwithstanding the circumstance that it was designed for two spires and possesses only one. The spire is the highest in Europe, being four hundred and ninety-four feet from the ground: yet it is extremely light and elegant. Mr. H, Mrs. F, and myself, ascended within eighteen feet of the highest accessible point— the other eighteen feet of honour we did not think it wise to purchase at the peril of our lives; for, from the place where we stood, the steps to the highest pinnacle are entirely undefended, that it must be madness in one, not well prac

tised in the art of climbing, to attempt ascending them on the thin pinnacle of a spire, then nearly five hundred feet from the earth. The ascent to the point we reached was extremely difficult, and not, I think, altogether without danger, for the spire is composed entirely of open work, wrought in stone, bound together with bars of iron; and we had to squeeze through a narrow cork-screw kind of staircase, that winds round the gothic pinnacles, which rise almost like bundles of reeds, gradually lengthened towards the centre to form the spire. The descent was by far the most formidable part of this expedition, and I was not a little pleased and thankful when it was safely accomplished. My ambition led me to the top of the highest spire in Europe, but, like most elevations, it was giddy and hazardous; and in this instance, as in many others, by no means repaid the toil of reaching it, for the view into the street below is too terrific to impart any thing like pleasure, while that of the surrounding country is flat and uninteresting, except to the north, and not any more extensive than what is obtained from the leads of the tower beneath, which is not more than half its height, and the ascent to which is perfectly safe and easy. The principal objects are the windings of the Rhine and the buildings of the city. At the time of the passing of the allied armies through the continent there were sixty thousand men in the neighbourhood of Strasburg, thirty in Kehl, and thirty in the plains in the vicinity of the town.

On the leads above mentioned, men constantly

live, whose business it is to keep a watch over the city, and to give the earliest alarm of fire. They are furnished with long poles, from which a flag is hung by day and a lantern by night. So soon as a fire is seen, they sound the tocsin and rouse the inhabitants, whose eyes are immediately turned to the tower of the church, and the direction in which the flag or lantern is pointed, and the quantity of the pole which is put out, shows them at once the direction and distance of the fire. To secure the watchfulness of the men, they are compelled to strike the quarters upon the clock, which of course keeps one of them constantly awake, and on the look out. These excellent precautions seem to have arisen from the circumstance that the interior of the cathedral was almost entirely consumed by fire about fifty years ago.

The interior of the cathedral is spacious and plain, but exceedingly rich in painted glass. It is surrounded by little chapels. Service was performing at the high altar, and at several of the inferior altars, and there were many people engaged in their devotions. The organ is remarkably elegant, and curiously placed over one of the aisles.

From the cathedral we went to the church of St. Thomas, to see the monument erected by Louis XV. to the memory of the great General, Count Saxe. It is a noble effort of the art of sculpture. The General is represented descending to his tomb, Death is holding the lid of it open for his reception-while the Genius of France, in the utmost agony, puts forth one hand to arrest the Count,

and with the other she strives to thrust away Death. Hercules stands leaning on the other end of the sarcophagus, with an expression of the deepest, but most dignified grief.

From Strasburg we proceeded along a flat and insipid, though highly cultivated country, to Lauterbourgh, on leaving which we entered a portion of the Bavarian territories. This was indicated by the demand for our passports, and the change of the postillion's costume to light blue. We now drove for several miles through a fine wood, the openings in which towards the Rhine gave us occasional views of the high lands on the opposite bank of the river, though we saw not the river itself, until we reached the vicinity of Spire.

All along from Strasburg to Spire the harvest looked well, though in some places a little beat down by the heavy thunder showers with which we have recently been visited. The potato, the Indian corn, and the vine, each attracted our attention as we passed along. They seem to flourish exceedingly in this genial clime. We spent a sabbath at Spire in retirement and quietude. We repaired to the churches, but service was performed in the German language, of which none of us, I believe, understood enough to derive any edification from - what we heard. I was present in the afternoon at one of the churches, when the minister catechised the children, and was much pleased with the seriousness and earnestness of his manner. He appeared to be deeply interested in the improvement of his catechumens, and to take great pains in their in

struction. They read a chapter of the new testa ment, each one reading a verse, and the question of the minister arose out of the verses as they were read. This was in a Lutheran church. We afterwards went to the Catholic chapel, and there we heard a country congregation, not chant, but bawl the vespers. There was more of the ludicrous in the scene than I could endure, and I quickly left them, and returned to the solitude of my own apartment to reflect on the happy sabbath you was spending in England-that land of sabbaths and of bibles-dearer to me than ever-since I have learned the value of its privileges by their loss! At Spire there is little to interest a stranger, except an old cathedral of curious architecture, now fast sinking to decay.

At

On leaving Spire, we passed through a flat, but luxuriant country to Manheim. There we crossed the Rhine by a bridge of boats, and entered again the territories of the Grand Duke of Baden. Manheim is a palace of the Grand Duke, and from the Bavarian side of the Rhine, as we approached the city, we had a fine view of the chateau, the gardens of which are laid out in the style of an English pleasure-ground, and occupy a space of many acres between the back front of the palace and the river. Manheim is a very fine city. Its streets are wide, and cross each other at right angles. The houses are all white and clean in their appearance, being built either of stone, or covered with a composition imitating it. The style of building is ex- • tremely good; the streets are clean, and the city

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