royal troubadour. In 1193 his shameless jailor, the Emperor, brought Richard in chains before the Diet at Hagenau, to answer the charge of the murder of Conrad of Montferrat, which he repelled with such manly and persuasive eloquence, and proved so clearly his innocence, that the Diet at once acquitted him, and ordered his chains to be knocked off. In 1194 he was released from Trifels in consideration of a ransom of 130,000 marks of silver. which rises the overhanging rock called Jungfernsprung. Dahn may be visited by a slight detour on the way to Pirmasens ; the distance is about 15 miles. 2 Kaltenbach. 1 Pirmasens (Inn, Lamm), a town of 5000 inhab. Sweden; but fell by inheritance to the King of Bavaria, to whom it now be longs. The series of the Classics known as "The Bipont Edition" was printed here by a society of learned men in 1779. 2 Zweibrücken (French, Deux Ponts). - Inns: Post;-Zweibrücker Hof. A town of 7300 inhab., in a very picturesque situation, once the capital of the Duchy of Zweibrücken, The castle of Trifels stands on the or Deux Ponts. The dukes resided summit of a singular mountain of in the Palace, partly destroyed by the sandstone (Bunter Sandstein) called French, and the remains now converted the Sonnenberg, 1422 ft. above the sea- into a Catholic church. The name of level. It was a favourite residence of this place is supposed to be derived from the German emperors, and must have the two bridges leading across the river been a place of great magnificence as Erbach to the palace. The Princi well as strength. Frederick Barba-pality once belonged to the crown of rossa, and many of his predecessors and successors, held their court here, and the regalia of the empire were depo. sited within its walls for security. It was also used as a state prison for many unfortunate captives besides Richard of England. It has remained a ruin ever since the Thirty Years' War, when it was taken by the Swedes; but it has something imposing even in its present state. The walls of the donjon are very thick, and 40 feet high. The chapel has been stripped, and the marble pillars removed from it to the church of Annweiler. An agreeable path leads up from the town to the castle, an hour's walk, whence the view is very pleasing; two of the neighbouring heights are also crowned with castles. Annweiler contains nothing remarkable, but the scenery of the valley of the Queich, for 12 m. above it, should not be left unseen. The scenery between Annweiler and Dahn is particularly interesting, from the extraordinary forms assumed by the sandstone rocks (Bunter Sandstein), which have been split and fissured in all directions. Willgartswiesen (Inn, Lamm; good and cheap) is a pretty new Ch. with twin towers. A walk of 2 hours by Hauenstein, with a guide, brings you to Dahn (Inn, Ritter St. Georg), near Eilwagen daily to Carlsruhe. Zweibrücken is 1 Germ. m. distant from Homburg, which is on the high road from Mayence to Metz, and the present terminus of the Mannheim and Bexbach railway. (Rte. 101.) ROUTE 105. FRANKFURT TO BASLE BY DARMSTADT, From Frankfurt to Heidelberg and Heidelberg to Efringen, 8 m. from At Basle, in 9 hours, by the Badische Staatsbahn.-Distance from Mannheim to Leopoldshöhe, on the frontier of the canton of Basle (to which point the railway will soon be opened) $4 Germ. m= =1583 Eng. m. Terminus in Frankfurt outside the Herzog). It is a structure of various Gallus Thor. The line crosses the Main at Frankfurt by a new bridge, and passes 1. on the height the watch-tower of Sachsenhausen, whence the view over Frankfurt, the Main, the distant Taunus, and the immediate foreground of neat villas and vineyards, is very pleasing. At Sachsenhausen the railway to Offenbach turns off to the E. Langen Stat. The country, as far as Darmstadt, is flat and uninteresting. DARMSTADT STAT. - Inns: Darmstädter Hof; Traube (Bunch of Grapes). Köhlers, near the railway station, outside the Rheinthor, is a handsome building. Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, the residence of the Grand Duke, and seat of the government and chambers, has a population of 30,000 (chiefly Protestants). It is a dull, uninteresting town, which need not detain the traveller long. The appearance of torpidity is increased by the extent of surface over which it is spread. The streets are straight and very wide, the squares numerous; and many of the houses are built singly, with intervals between them. The old town, with its dark and confined streets, is very properly kept in the background, and none of the great thoroughfares pass through it. Near the end of the Rheinstrasse, leading from the railway, rises a column, 134 ft. high, surmounted by a statue of the Grand Duke Louis, by Schwanthaler. The Catholic Church, built by Moller, a native architect, is worth notice. Its exterior is of brick; the interior, a rotunda, 173 ft. in diameter and 123 ft. high, surrounded by pillars, 50 ft. high, is imposing, though simple. The Grand Duke lives in a New Palace of no great architectural pretensions, next door to the Traube Hotel. A red Doric column, in the midst of the square, is surmounted by a statue of the late Grand Duke Louis I., modelled by Schwanthaler. The Old Palace (Alte Schloss) has been fitted up as a residence for the Hereditary Grand Duke (Erb-Gross "ages, from the 16th to the 18th; still surrounded by a dry ditch, now converted into a shrubbery and garden. It contains likewise the Museum of Paintings and of Natural History. Among the 700 pictures which fill the gallery, the following seem best worth notice:The Purification of the Virgin, by William of Cologne; sometimes called William Calf, a rare master.-Schoreel, the Death of the Virgin.-L. Cranach, portrait of Albert of Brandenburg, Archbp. of Mayence, as St. Jerome with his lion; and of Luther and his Wife.-Portraits of Louis XIV. and XV., Cardinal Mazarin, Maria Leczinsky, Marie Antoinette, Cardinal Fleury, and Madame du Barry, by French artists. In the Dutch School: Schalken, portrait of William III. of England.—Vandyk, Virgin and Child; sketch of the portrait of Lord Pembroke.-P. Potter (?), Cow and Herd, with a horn.-Eckhout, a Man's Head. - Teniers, Peasants. P. de Hooge, Dutchman and his Wife.- Rembrandt, portrait of his Second Wife.-Italian School: P. Veronese, sketch of the great picture in the Louvre of the Marriage in Cana.—Titian (?), a Venus (doubtful).-Velazquez, a Child in a white frock.-Domenichino, David and Nathan. Raphael (?), St. John in the Wilderness, varying slightly from the paintings of the same subject at Florence, and in the Stafford gallery; the Archangel Michael. St. Genoveva by a modern German artist, Steinbruck. There is some very curious painted glass in this gallery, and numerous antique ivory carvings, enamels, &c. "In the Collection of Coins are many of the thin and barbarous Bracteata of the middle ages."—F. S. Museum of Natural History. The most valuable and interesting part of this collection are the fossils, found in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, such as remains of the whale and elephant, some from the bed of the Rhine: several very perfect skulls, and numerous other bones of rhinoceros from Oppenheim: of Sus antiquus and Mastodon from Eppelsheim: numerous perfect were Castel. jaws and other remains of the Deinothe-ing the Main by a ferry opposite rium; an extinct amphibious animal, equalling the elephant in size, and feeding like the Dugong upon herbs and weeds growing in the water. These unequalled specimens found in sandpits at Eppelsheim, near Alzey, along with marine shells. The fossils of this Museum have been described in a work published by Dr. Kaup. The Palace also contains a good Public Library of 200,000 vols. the inhabitants of the town are allowed to take books home. The Theatre (Hof- Opernhaus), near the Palace, was built in 1819 from the designs of Moller. ; Near the theatre is the Exercier Haus (Drilling House), a sort of large riding-school. It was built for the purpose of drilling the garrison under cover in bad weather, and is remarkable for the great size of its roof, 157 ft. broad, and 319 ft. long; constructed, it is said, by a common carpenter, after architects of pretension had declared the task impossible. The building now serves as a depôt for artillery. The Gardens of the Palace (Bosquet, or Herrngarten) are very prettily laid out, but sadly neglected; one lofty white poplar is remarkable; within them is the grave of Margravine Henrietta Caroline, great-grandmother of the present king of Prussia. The spot was chosen by herself in her lifetime, and Frederick the Great engraved upon her urn the words, "Sexu fœmina, ingenio vir." The landlord of the inn will intro duce the traveller to the Casino club. The House of Commons of the duchy assembles under the same roof, and at particular seasons, balls, concerts, and assemblies take place in it. There is very little commerce at Darmstadt; the inhabitants depend in a great measure on the court. A mile or two out of the town is the preserve, where wild boars are kept for the ducal chasse. Strangers are often taken in the evening to see the animals fed. Eilwagen daily to Mayence (41 Germ. m. in 34 hrs.), by Gross-Gerau, cross Eberstadt Stat. A little beyond this (1.) is the ruined castle of Frankenstein. The picturesque district called the Odenwald (forest of Odin) begins a few miles S. of Darmstadt, not far from this station. It lies to the E. of the railroad, and of the high road to Heidelberg, and some of its most inter esting scenes, particularly the Melibocus, may be visited on the way thither. To explore it thoroughly 2 days would be required; and the route from Darmstadt by Rheinheim (2 Germ. m.) to Erbach (3 Germ. m.) is usually taken. The entire excursion may not suit the taste or convenience of all travellers; but the ascent of the Melibōcus mountain should be omitted by none, as it cannot fail of affording gratification by its fine panoramic view. The railroad for the greater part of the way, runs near the old post road from Darmstadt to Heidelberg, which is celebrated for its beauty. It is called Bergstrasse (mountain road, from the Latin strata montana, although, in fact, perfectly level), because it runs along the base of a range of hills, which form the E. boundary of the valley of the Rhine. Its chief beauty arises from the fertility and high cultivation of the district it overlooks, rich in its luxuriant vegetation of vines and maize, enlivened by glimpses of the Rhine, and bounded by the outline of the Vosges mountains in France. (1.) The wooded and vine-covered range of mountains, with their old castles, form ing the boundary of the Odenwald, runs parallel with the railroad and at a short distance from it. (rt.) Stretches a vast sandy flat, through which the Rhine wanders, bounded by the heights of Mont Tonnerre and the Vosges at 50 or 60 miles distance. The villages and towns are beautifully situated at the foot of the mountains overhung by vine-covered slopes, embosomed in orchards, which extend in cheerful avenues along the road from one town to another. "Almost every mountain of the Bergstrasse, and many of those in the Odenwald, are crowned and Zwingenberg Stat. close under the woody Melibocus. Those who wish to ascend the Melibōcus, should leave the railroad here (Inn, Löwe). Take refreshments with you none are to be had above, and ask for the key of the tower. The visit, including ascent and descent by Schloss Auerbach, the best way to return to the road, occupies 3 hours' walking. The tower alone commands the view on the side of the Odenwald, over its forest-clad hills; the keys are kept at Auerbach, and at Alsbach. The whole excursion to the Melibocus, Felsberg, Felsenmeer, and through the valley of Schönberg back to Auerbach and Zwingenberg occupies about 6 hours. The Melibocus, or Malchen, is a conical hill of granite, 1632 Paris feet above the sea it is the highest of the Odenwald chain of hills, and is conspicuous far and wide, on account of the white tower on its top, erected 1772, as a Belvedere. The view from it is most extensive, owing to the vast expanse of flat in the valley of the Rhine below. "The more distant objects are, Spires, and Mannheim with its slated dome to the left; Worms and its Gothic cathedral, opposite; and the dark towers of Mayence, lower down. The tower is built on the very edge of the declivity. The smoking villages, the gardens, vineyards, and orchards of the Bergstrasse, appeared immediately beneath us. We traced the course of the Rhine, which now gleamed in the bright sun, and appeared little removed from the base of the mountain, from above Mannheim, almost to Bingen, a distance of nearly 60 English miles. At Bingen it loses itself in the defiles of the Rheingau mountains, which bound the view on that side. The course of the placid Neckar and its junction with the Rhine are very visible, as also that of the Main. By the help of a good telescope, in a clear day you may distinguish the tower of Strasburg cathedral, at a distance of above 100 Eng. m. Towards the North, the view reaches the mountains in the neighbourhood of Giessen, in Hesse, 60 m. distant. To the East lies the Odenwald, over the chaotic wooded hills of which the prospect stretches as far as the vicinity of Würtzburg. distance of 60 or 70 m.; while on the West, across the Rhine, the eye ranges over the smooth plain, till it is bounded by the blue broken tops of the Mont Tonnerre and the Vosges mountains, at a nearly equal distance.". -Autumn near the Rhine. -a [Those who intend to extend their walk through the ODENWALD continue by a convenient path to another mountain, the Felsberg, S m. off, surmounted by a hunting-loage (Jägerhaus), which also commands a fine view. The valley which separates it from the Melibōcus is one of the wildest in the Odenwald. A little way from the Jägerhaus, on the declivity of the hill, by the side of the path leading to Reichenbach, lies the Riesensaule (Giant's Column), a gigantic column of hard syenite, similar to the rock of which the mountain is composed, and without doubt quarried on the spot; it is about 30 feet long, nearly 4 in diameter, and tapering towards one end. Its origin and use are unknown, but it must be of great antiquity. Not far off lies a vast block of the same stone, called Riesenaltar, bearing on it incisions and marks of the saw. The appearance of these vestiges of human power and art in the depths of a sequestered forest is peculiarly striking, and not easily accounted for. Some have supposed that they are of German origin, and were intended to form part of a temple of Odin. It is more probable that they are the work of Roman artificers, during the time they were established in this part of Germany, which was included in the Agri Decumates. was at one time proposed to erect the column on the field of Leipzic, as a monument of that victory -a project more easily started than executed. It The Felsenmeer (Sea of Rocks) is a singular accumulation of fragments of syenite, some of vast size, heaped upon one another, and extending from near the top of the Felsberg almost to Reichenbach. They are of the same kind of rock as the mountain itself, so cannot have been transported from a distance. They appear like an avalanche of stones, hurled by some convulsion of nature from the summit. From this point again the traveller has the choice either of returning to Zwingenberg Station, by way of Reichenbach and Auerbach, or of proceeding on to Erbach. · About 18 m. from Auerbach, along a tolerable road, passing through Schoenberg, Reichenbach, the hill of Winterkasten, and Reichelsheim, lies Erbach (Inn, Post). This small town is situated in a narrow valley overlooked by high rocks, composed of the new red sandstone (Bunter Sandstein) and muschelkalk of geologists. of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Erbach is connected by a post road, About 9 m. N. W. from Erbach, between Reichelsheim and Bilstein, and near the former place, in a wild and secluded mountain district, surrounded by forests, lies the Castle of Rodenstein, the seat of the singular superstition of the wild Jäger, the Knight of Rodenstein, who, issuing from out the ruined walls of the neighbouring castle of Schnellert, his usual abode, announces the approach of war by traversing the air with a noisy cavalcade, to the castle a solitary "The strange of Rodenstein, situated on mountain opposite. noises heard on the eve of battles are authenticated by affidavits preserved in the village of Reichelshein; some are of so recent a date as 1743 and 1796, and there are persons who profess to have been convinced by their eyes as In this manner well as their ears. the people assert that they were forewarned of the victories of Leipzic and If the spectral host retur Waterloo. at once to Schnellert, nothing mate rial occurs; but if the huntsman tarr with his train, then some momentous event, threatening evil and calamity to Germany, is expected by the peop to occur. The Castle of the Counts of Erbach, a modern building, erected on the site of an ancient baronial residence, the greater part of which, except the donjon tower, was removed in the last century, contains a very interesting Armoury, highly deserving of a visit. There are many suits, arranged, some on horseback, in the attitude of the foot. The tournament, others on history of every one is known; many have belonged to ancestors of the family, others have been worn by robber knights (Raubritter), not a few of whom expiated their crimes on the Those which have wheel or scaffold. a more general historical interest are, the suits of Philip the Good of Burgundy, the Emp. Frederick III., Maximilian I. of Austria, Gian Gia. como Medici, Markgrave Albert of Brandenburg, Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein. The two last, with many other suits in the collection, were brought from the arsenal at Nuremberg. Here besides the panoply of Franz of Sickingen, and his friend Goetz of Berlichingen, with the iron hand, brought from Heilbronn, and a small suit made for Thomele, the dwarf | cause. The flying army of Roder stein may probably be owing to a simpl The power of the wind is ver |