PREFACE. The want of a work which should include the most interesting "legends, traditions, and history of that most romantic and remarkable portion of the RHINE lying between COLOGNE and MFNTZ, has been long felt by the European public. It is quite true that much has been written on these subjects, in various languages, and that a great deal has been done towards elucidating them in several forms: so far the subject is not a new one. But still it is no less true, that the wild and wondrous legends which appertain to each particular castle on that immortal river -the extraordinary traditions which attach themselves to almost every spot on its shores the spirit-stirring histories connected with its cities, and towns, and hamlets, through the long period when it was, not alone the sole highway of |