berg however is not destined to such oblivion. And gladly, had it been possible, would I have visited a spot so deserving of an Englishman's contemplation, as the cradle of that warlike stock, the last member of which (Frederick Duke of Schomberg) fell gloriously in the cause of our country's liberties, 1690, on the banks of the Boyne. The family under the name of Belmont was it is said possessed of celebrity so early as the age of Charlemagne, and assumed the name of Schönberg or Schomberg towards the end of the 11th century. The river now becomes much narrower, the current more rapid, and the mountains on each side, though not so high, more steep and covered with craggs. The road by the water-side on the left bank is carried on admirably; being in many places cut through the solid rock à la Simplon: the manner in which it is protected by a strong railing also claims praise for its late imperial founder. At Lurleyberg, about half a league below Oberwesel, an enormous rock of singular configuration juts out into the bed of the river, and compels it to take a sudden turn to the right. It is famous for a very fine Echo, which, as I had auricular demonstration of, repeats the word five times distinctly. The rocher de Lurley, mass piled on mass of torn and cloven rocks, is evidently the result of some fearful shock; and reminds one of those awful heaps of ruined Nature which over-hang the startled traveller in his passage through the valley of Gondo and the defile of Ysella. It is a rocky chaos, which indeed wants but a sprinkling of pines instead of copse-wood to render it very Alpine; and which in the varied hues of stone, the lively spots of verdure, the broad gradations of shade, and the vivid catching lights, presents an abundance of strong pictorial effect.-On passing it, you find yourself to all appearance in the midst of a lake, entirely shut in by rocks so steep and devoid of soil that even the vine almost forsakes you.-Yet as the Savoyards with their patches of corn so are the Rheinwers with their terraces of vines: every spot not absolutely stone is planted with this staple of the Bacchi-arians; and it is really astonishing to see what a degree of perpendicularity is compatible with grape-growing and ripening. Emerging from this gulph we arrived at St. Goarhausen, a mere village in size, but a town in all the dignity of embattled walls and lofty towers, by which its poor little dwellings are uselessly pent up. situated on the right bank beneath a continuation of the same formidable heights, whose tops exhibit much wildness of aspect whilst the bottoms are covered with neat vineyards and pretty plantations of fruit trees. "Above, the frequent feudal towers "Through green leaves lift their walls of gray, "And noble arch in proud decay, "Look o'er this vale of vintage-bowers. One of the rocks which impend over St. Goarhausen and the adjoining village of Neubrüchhausen, is crowned with a gloomy but imposing ruin called Die Katz. The whole group gives another forcible portraiture of a feudal town and its peculiar accessories. Over the cliffs we see the mountain village of Patersberg upon a fine and fertile plateau. The sinuosity of the river at this point throws its current upon a shoal close to the left bank, whence it is repelled with increased violence towards the right hand shore, against which it dashes at the foot of a tower, oftentimes the dread of those who navigate rafts. At that point a whirlpool of great force, called the Bank, is formed, of which however the watermen have the skill to avail themselves: they attach the trunk of a tree by a rope to the side of the raft, and suffer it to be swallowed up by the vortex, which holds it fast enough to draw the floating mass of timber away from the dreaded right bank: and thus "Out of this nettle, danger, they pluck this flower, safety."-The river is here, I think, more terribly impetuous, and must be more dangerous to small boats, than at the Bingerloch. But so fair was the weather, and so stout our bark, that the sensation as we went through the whirlpool was comparatively trivial, and we saw the nature of it to great advantage. * On clearing this dismal pass, another and a wider lake opens in the most picturesque cheerfulness to view, with St. Goar on the left, and, on the brow of an almost inaccessible hill above it, the superb ruins of the castle of Rheinfels, by far the most considerable fortress that we had seen on either bank. The fortifications not only cover the summit of the rock nearest the water, but are extended in tier above tier of gigantic masonry to a higher ridge. Terrace, bastion, and arcaded wall; palatial façade, chapel-cupola, and master-tower present themselves in contrasted variety and with a still formidable aspect. The only Count Thierry, of Katzenellenbogen, surnamed the Rich, transformed a cloister into this strong castle, and compelled boats descending the Rhine, to pay a toll. The Hanseatic Confederation besieged it without success.— In 1692, Colonel Görtz successfully defended Rheinfels against Marshal Tallard, During the revolutionary war, its governor surrendered it to the French, on the first summons, and they afterwards blew up the fortifications. H access seems to have been by a gateway perforated in the upper part of the solid cliff, and approached through a steep woody path. It has indeed been a magnificent pile: fit residence of some warlike prince. Below the castle is an extensive barrack, and a few buildings fast verging to decay. St. Goar extends along the shore at the foot of an almost perpendicular precipice; its situation is consequently striking: many of the houses are formed in the rock itself, and the communication with the higher street appears to be inconveniently difficult. This town was formerly the capital of Lower Hesse. It now comes into the dominions of Prussia, with all the territories on the left shore, from Bingen to Coblentz, both inclusive. By one of my fellow passengers I was told, that the inhabitants of this district do not consider their condition at all improved by the change. Their new masters certainly do make their sovereignty known with sufficient ostentation-witness the display of the Black Eagle on every toll-bar, post-house, direction-post, and mile-stone. St. Goar is said to be the highest point at which the Salmon boats are stationed. Not that it is the ne plus ultra of migration to that tribe of fish, for we know that salmon are caught below the cataract, near Schaffhausen. A long heavy punt is used for the fishery, containing a hut for the men to watch in; and one or more stout posts, in the forked tops of which large poles are poised on a pivot, with pullies and tackle at one end, and at the other a square net suspended at the four corners from curved sticks. When the net is raised, an operation which requires to be performed with great celerity, the fish found in it are taken out with a landing net, attached to a long staff. Sometimes you see these salmon nets suspended at the extremity of a little wooden jetty fixed at the point of a neck of land, where a bay is formed. A delightful valley now opens itself on the left bank, the heights of which gradually sloping down to the water's edge are in some parts decked with " the shadowy pomp of floating foliage ;" in others they display the riches of the soil in checquered vineyards and corn fields.— On the right bank, which continues more stern and menacing we passed Thurnberg, a very noble ruin, perched on a rock four hundred feet in height, whose sides exhibit their vegetative strength and the power of cultivation amidst an appalling ruggedness; and it is in defiance of the most difficult ascent, that husbandry by means of terraces is carried up to the walls of this ivy-mantled castle. Below it, in a meadow by the water-side, is Welmich, a very small village; but placed at the entrance of an opening into the mountains, which flank and command the fortified rock of Thurnberg, it has been furnished, and still retains in an interesting state of preservation, its battlemented defences. The church steeple, with its long narrow lights, and its watch towers at the four corners, is of a stile quite congenial to the Gothic character of surrounding objects. After passing some lead mines near the Ehrenthal, we came opposite the pretty hamlet of Hirzenach, planted in a romantic situation, beneath rounded hills "with wildering forests feathered o'er," but which in some places have been laid bare by écroulemens. At this point the river abruptly turns past a rocky promontory, and “the slackening stream, spread like a spacious mere," re |
