ruins of those wonderful fortifications, which had employed the skill of the ablest engineer to complete, and which, but for the want of food, would have defied the force of her assailing enemy to the end of time. The thal, or valley below, is justly celebrated for its fertility and romantic beauty.

1

Soon after our departure from Coblentz, we passed the island of Obewerth; and a little further on, on our left, the disemboguement of the river Lahn, which flows between two ancient and picturesque towns, called the Upper and Lower Lahnsteins, where the Rhine forms a considerable curve, and expands into the resemblance of a placid lake, adorned with two vast mountains, one crowned with a hoary watch tower, and the base of the other half encircled by a village, and the whole adorned by the captivating combinations of forest scenery, rich meadows, and hanging vineyards and orchards, amidst which, half embosomed in their foliage, the peasant's peaceful dwelling every now and then gladdened the eye. This lovely view was soon exchanged for one of gloomy magnificence; before we reached Boppart, we entered a melancholy defile of barren and rugged rocks, rising perpendicularly from the river to an immense height, and throwing a shade and horror over the whole scene; here all was silent, and no traces of man were to be found but in a few dispersed fishermens' huts, and crucifixes. Fear and superstition,

when the day has gone down, and the stars are few,” have long filled every cave with banditti, and every solitary recess with apparitions.

In the course of my passage I frequently, when the boat came very near the land, sprung on shore with two or three other passengers, and varied the scene by walking along the banks for a mile or two, and during these excursions had frequently an opportunity of admiring the astonishing activity and genius of the French, who have, since they became masters of the left bank of the Rhine, nearly finished one of the finest roads in the world, extending from Mayence to Cologne, in the course of which they have cut through many rocks impending over the river, and triumphed over some of the most formidable obstacles Nature could present to the achievement of so wonderful a design. This magnificent undertaking, worthy of Rome in the most shining periods of her history, was executed by the French troops, who, under the direction of able engineers, preferred leaving these monuments of indefatigable toil and elevated enterprize, to passing their time, during the cessation of arms, in towns and barracks, in a state of indolence and inutility.

The sombre spires of Boppart, surrounded by its black wall and towers, presented a melancholy appearance to

BOPPART.

425 the eye, relieved by the rich foliage of the trees in its vicinity, and the mountains behind it irregularly intersected with terraces covered with vines to their very summits. The antiquity of this city is very great; it was one of the fifty places of defence erected on the banks of the Rhine by Drusus Germanicus, and in the middle ages was an imperial city.

Not far from Boppart we saw, on the right bank of the river, a procession of nuns and friars returning to a convent, the belfry of which just peeped above a noble avenue of walnut-trees; they were singing, and their voices. increased the solemn effect of the surrounding scenery. We put up for the night at a little village, amid mountains half covered with vineyards, tufted with forests, and checquered with convents and ruined castles. The evening was stormy, and a full moon occasionally brightened the scene frequently we were enveloped in solemn gloom,

When the broken arches are as black as night,

And each shafted Oriel glimmers white,

When the cold light's uncertain show'r

Streams on the ruin'd central tow'r.

Lay of the last Minstrel