the English language was known to some extent in our country; but singularly enough, when the happy land was mentioned, I found him far from being ignorant of it. He had read of our 'manners' from his own Duke of SaxeWeimar down to Captain Hall and the Trollope; and he was now writing a critical essay on American poetry. In short, he was Dr. O. L. B. WOLFF, professor of belleslettres in the University of Jena; the author, you will recollect, of the History of German Literature in the London Athenæum, and of the other essays which have made his name well known with us. He seemed a good deal interested in our literature, and we beguiled the hours far into the night, in learned talk, parting near the battle-field of Jena, with mutual promises of future correspondence.

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The road lies over several memorable fields. Near Lutzen, they pointed to a stone, Voila la Gustave tomber !' It was the spot where the Great Gustavus' Adolphus fell, in the thirty years' war. We passed the house where Charles XII. of Sweden signed his treaty with the Elector of Saxony. At Erfurt is the cell where Martin Luther lived when he was an Augustine friar. At Gotha, Weimar, Eisenbach, and Fulda, the capitals of their respective duchies, are the chateaux de residence.'

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The approaches to most of the continental towns are through long avenues, shaded by elms or poplars, extending sometimes a couple of miles. One naturally looks for something handsome, after passing such an imposing portal; but it does not always follow. One of the finest of

Jews-Ladies-Salutations."

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these triumphal arches leads to a filthy hamlet, which would disgrace our backwoods.

They have a peculiar costume, at one of these towns; but in general, there is no costume in Germany. Both at Frankfort and Leipsic, I noticed two remarkable items, the Jews and the pretty girls. The Jews wear long black gowns and girdles, with beards of nearly equal length. They seem to be here a distinct and peculiar people.' As to the German ladies, there is certainly more beauty among them than I have seen elsewhere in Europe.

I was somewhat diverted with a prevalant custom of the Germans-that of embracing and kissing each other, when taking leave. I refer of course, to the men; for an affectionate salutation of this sort to the ladies, it would be unpardonable to omit. But to see the 'grave and reverend seignors' bussing each other, is a little queer.

6

My second entrance into Frankfort was from a better point of view, crossing the stone bridge over the Main. I had been riding four nights, sans sleep, and in the vulgar phrase, was quite done up.' It was of course delightful to find that the fair' had so thoroughly filled the domicils of every publican in the place, that not a nook or a corner in all those immense hotels was to be had for love or money. I wandered here and there, houseless and alone till dusk, with a fair prospect of a loafer-like lodging in the street! This was actually the only alternative to going off at ten P. M., to Mayence. There were probably at least ten thousand strangers in the place at that moment.

The entrance into Mayence, at one o'clock at night,

was quite impressive. On the opposite side of the river, in Cassel, is an extensive military establishment, through the gates and court of which we had to pass. The postilion sounded a martial air on his trumpet, and the sentinel, opening the ponderous gates, admitted us to the bridge of boats, on which we crossed the Rhine to the city. Every thing was still and quiet, but our rumbling diligence; the stars and the lights of the town were looking at their portraits in the river. At the city portals, another blast of the trumpet* procured us admission, but no living thing was to be seen, except the military guardians of the night.'

To-day it rains torrents. So I will merely tell you, in guide book style, that Mayence, as well as Cologne, owes its origin to the Romans, and was occasionally the residence of some of the emperors. The city has also been an electorcate of the German empire, but at present it belongs to Prussia; and it is remarkable, that, with a population of thirty-two thousand, it has a garrison of twelve thousand soldiers. It claims the honor of being the birthplace of Guttenberg, one, at least, of the inventors of printing, of whom there is a statue in one of the squares. I have been to see the cathedral, noted only for antiquity,

The Old Man' of the Bubbles denounces these trumpets, but verily they are preferable to the long tin horns of the English ' guards,' which are indeed enough to

"break the bands of sleep asunder

And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder
Hark, hark! the horrid sound;

He raises his head as if waked from the dead,
And amazed he stares around!"

Mayence-Sail down the Rhine.

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and for the numerous monuments and statues of church dignitaries in the interior.

Coblentz, (on the Rhine,) September.-The steam-boat left the quay at Mayence this morning at six, with about one hundred passengers, mostly English, on their homeward retreat. For two or three miles, the banks of the river continued to be low and tame. We passed the palace of the Grand Duke of Nassau, a fine edifice, near the river. The classical Brunnens of Langen-Schwalbach are a few miles in the interior.

We were this day to see the only interesting part of the glorious Rhine,' that between Mayence and Cologne. Along here, there are a plenty of little islands, and the banks of the river abound with picturesque rocky crags, capped by ruins of castles, and relieved here and there by a green meadow, a vineyard, or a neat village. Johannisberg, a chateau belonging to Prince Metternich, is one of the first from Mayence. This estate has fifty-five acres of vine-grounds, from whence comes the most celebrated of the Rhenish wines. Speaking of Metternich, I need not remind you of his portraiture as Beckendorf,” in that unique production, 'Vivian Grey.' Then we passed the ruins of Klopp and Ehrenfels,* Vantsberg castle, at pres

* Among the Rhenish legends, versified by PLANCHE, is one of the 'Mouse-Tower,' near Ehrenfels, commencing:

"The Bishop of Mentz was a wealthy prince,

Wealthy and proud was he;

He had all that was worth a wish on earth,
But he had not charitie!

ent occupied, from which we were saluted with a gun; the ruins of Falkenberg, Guttenfels, Schoenberg, and the

He would stretch out his empty hands to bless,

Or lift them both to pray;

But, alack! to lighten man's distress,

They moved no other way."

A famine came; the poor begged in vain for aid, till he 'opened his granaries free,' and then locked them in, and 'burned them every one. 'The merry mice! how shrill they squeak!' said the prelate :

"But mark what an awful judgement soon

On the cruel bishop fell!

With so many mice his palace swarm'd,
That in it he could not dwell.

They gnaw'd the arras above and beneath,
They eat each savory dish up,
And shortly their sacrilegious teeth
Began to nibble the bishop!

"He flew to the castle of Ehrenfels,
By the side of the Rhine so fair,
But they found the road to his new abode,
And came in legions there!

He built him in haste a tower so tall

In the tide, for his better assurance,

But they swam the river, and scal'd the wall,
And worried him past endurance!

"One morning his skeleton there was seen,
By a load of flesh the lighter!

They had pick'd his bones uncommonly clean,

And eaten his very mitre!

Such was the end of the bishop of Mentz;

And oft at midnight hour,

He comes in the shape of a fog so dense,

And sits on his old Mouse-tower."