through the town in pipes, to supply the different baths, and loses little of its warmth in the passage; but the supply greatly exceeds the demand, so that some of the sources are used by the townspeople to scald their pigs and poultry. A building in the form of a temple is erected over the principal spring (Ursprung), one of the hottest as well as most copious sources. The vault of masonry which encloses the spring is of Roman construction. Several fragments of ancient sculpture, dug up in Baden and its neighbourhood, are preserved in the building; among them are votive tablets and altars to Neptune, Mercury, and Juno. Neptune seems to have been the adopted patron of Baden, and of this medicinal fountain. Remains of Roman vapour baths, well preserved, were discovered in 1847 just beneath the new castle. One room is accessible. The mineral water which comes out of the rock was conducted by a canal to a subterraneous chamber of about 20 ft. in breadth and 40 in length, from which the vapour ascended to the bathing-room by a great many pipes which open all round the walls of it. The floor is supported by small columns of 3 ft. high.

The Neue Trinkhalle (i. e. Pumproom) on the public walks, and nearly on a line with the Conversations Haus, is one of the handsomest buildings in Baden. It is from Hübsch's design, and is decorated with poor frescoes, representing legends of the Black Forest. The hot water is conducted in pipes from the source: and other mineral waters, goat's whey, &c., are to be had. The company assembles here between 6 and 7 A. M. to drink the waters, and the band plays. A new building for vapour baths has recently been constructed close to the Ursprung..

On the left bank of the Oosbach, opposite to the town, are the Promenade and the Conversations Haus, a handsome building with a Corinthian portico, surrounded by gardens and pleasure-grounds, forming the lounge and chief resort-in fact, the grand focus of attraction for the visitors at Baden. It is one of the most splendid establish

ments of the kind in Germany, and includes a very fine and large assemblyroom, where there is dancing 3 times a week; to which people repair in their morning dress, except on Saturday, when it is "bal paré." Gaming-tables are open and occupied day and night. There is a Theatre in the right wing, and in the left a Restaurant, where dinners may be had à la carte; attached to it is the Library and Reading Room of M. Marx.

Strangers who intend to remain any time here may subscribe for a fortnight or month to the rooms and balls. In the shop of Creutzbauer the bookseller, there is a Circulating Library and reading-room, where The Times, Galig nani's Messenger, and other English papers are taken in. The shady avenue leading to the Conversations Haus is occupied by shops of traders from various parts of Europe,- Tyrol, Switzerland, Paris, all selling their national commodities, and commonly not very cheap. In the afternoon, when dinner is over, the walks and colonnades in front of the Conversations Haus be come the fashionable resort, and are crowded with people sipping coffee and ices, or smoking; the whole space is then covered with chairs and tables, and a band of music is stationed close at hand.

The rouge-et-noir and roulette tables, though opened for a forenoon course of gambling, are chiefly frequented in the evening, and stakes become higher as the night advances: females are sometimes seen at them as well as men; ladies but rarely. Players alone are allowed to be seated.

The Conversations Haus is let out by the government of Baden to a company of speculators, who pay for the exclusive privilege of opening gamb ling-tables 35,000 florins (3000) allnually, and agree to spend in additio 250,000 florins on the walks and build ings. Some idea may be formed from this of the vast sums of money whic¡ must be yearly lost by the dupes wh frequent this licensed gaming-house. is understood that the same company engage the tables at Ems, Wiesbade

and other watering-places. The whole is under the direction of M. Benazet, who formerly farmed the gamblinghouses of Paris. He has fitted up the interior with much taste and great splendour. The gaming-tables draw hither much disreputable society, and must be considered as a very serious disadvantage to the place. It is chiefly through their baneful influence that Baden has sadly fallen off in respect ability of late years.

Immediately above the highest houses of the town rises das Neue Schloss (new castle)-called new only by way of distinguishing it from the still older castle on the very summit of the bill above, in which the Duke's ancestors resided during the insecure times of the middle ages, down to 1471, when the present new schloss was founded. It was burnt and ruined in the fatal year 1689, by the French army that ravaged the Palatinate, but was afterwards restored in its present form. It is an ugly building, only remarkable for its situation and the curious Dungeons beneath it. Under the guidance of the castellan, the stranger is conducted into these singular vaults down a winding stair, under the tower in the right-hand corner of the inner court, through an ancient bath constructed by the Romans. This entrance has been broken through in modern times; originally the dungeons were only accessible from above, by a perpendicular shaft or chimney running through the centre of the building, and still in existence. The visitor, in passing under it, can barely discern the daylight at the top. According to tradition, prisoners, bound fast in an arm-chair and blindfolded, were let down by a windlass into these dark and mysterious vaults, excavated out of the solid rock on which the castle is founded. The dungeons were closed, not with doors of wood or iron, but with solid slabs of stone, turning upon pivots, and ingeniously fitted. Several of them still remain; they are nearly a foot thick, and weigh from 1200 to 2000 lbs. In one chamber, loftier than the rest, called the Rack Chamber (Folter-Kammer), the instruments of tor

ture stood; a row of iron rings, forming part of the fearful apparatus, still remains in the wall. In a passage adjoining, there is a well or pit in the floor, now boarded over, originally covered with a trap door. The prisoner, upon whom doom had been passed, was led into this passage, and desired to kiss an image of the Virgin placed at the opposite end; but no sooner did his feet rest on the trap-door than it gave way beneath his weight, and precipitated him to a great depth below, upon a machine composed of wheels, armed with lancets, by which he was torn to pieces. This dreadful punishment was called the "Baiser de la Vierge," and the fatal pit, with its trapdoor, an oubliette; because those who were precipitated down it were "oubliés,” never heard of more. The secret of this terrible dungeon remained unknown until, as the story goes, an attempt to rescue a little dog, which had fallen through the planking above the pit, led to the discovery, at a depth of many yards, of fragments of ponderous wheels set round with rusty knives, with portions of bones, rags, and torn garments adhering to them.

The last and largest of these vaults is called the Hall of Judgment. Here the judges sat upon stone benches, remains of which may still be traced round the wall.

Behind the niche where the president (Blutrichter) sat is the outlet to a subterranean passage, by which the members of the court entered; it is said to have communicated at one time with the Alte Schloss on the top of the hill, but is now walled up.

According to popular belief, these dungeons were the seat of a Secret Tribunal (Vehm-gericht), such as that described so well by Scott in Anne of Geierstein, and by Göthe in Götz of Berlichingen. It must be remembered, however, that the famous Vehme of Westphalia held its meetings, not in the dark, nor in dungeons, but in broad day, and in the open field. (See p. 377.)

There is little doubt that these prisons were the place of meeting of a

mysterious tribunal, over which the lord of the castle most probably presided. Similar prisons (excepting the stone doors) are to be found in almost every well-preserved baronial fortress of the middle ages; and, though sometimes appropriated to the trial of real offences committed within the seigneur's juris. diction, were not unfrequently the instruments of tyranny, and the scenes of dark crime; while at the best, from the secrecy of the proceedings, such a trial must have been but "wild jus tice."

The upper part of the castle is only worth notice on account of the fine view from its windows, and of the open shaft running through the building from top to bottom, within the winding staircase, which was the means of access to the dungeons below. It was divided by a partition, extending the whole way down. It is supposed that a prisoner, with his eyes blindfolded, was admitted by a door in the hall, opposite the principal entrance of the castle, was seated in an arm-chair, wound up to the top by a windlass through one side of the shaft, and let down by the other into the prisons of the secret tribunal. This shaft, at least, served to convey air into those subterranean chambers. The small garden adjoining the castle and the terrace called Schneckengarten (snail garden, because snails were once bred in it for the table) are agreeable walks, commanding fine views.

The Parish Church is noticed chiefly as being the burial-place of the Margraves of Baden, and as containing several of their monuments. The most interesting are those of Margrave Louis William, who distinguished himself against the Turks, and was considered one of the first generals of his time. He served in 26 campaigns, and in his numerous battles was never vanquished; he died 1707 Prince Eugene served under him. His monument is by Pigalle (the sculptor of that of Marshal Saxe at Strasburg), and is not in good Margrave Frederick, although Bishop of Utrecht, is represented on his tomb clad in armour, but with a mitre

taste.

An

on his head instead of a helmet. other of the family, Leopold William, also fought against the infidel, in token of which his monument (one of the best in the collection) is supported by Turks, chained. He was the colleague of Staremberg and Montecucoli, and died at Warasdein in Hungary, 1671. At the E. end of the town is a Convent of nuns of the Holy Sepulchre: their dress is black, in sign of mourning; to be worn until the Holy Sepulchre shall be again rescued from the Infidels by the Christians. The sisters conduct a female school; the service in their convent chapel, aided by the voices of a female choir, is very impressive and pleasing.

The English Church Service is performed every Sunday in the Spital Kirche, at 11. English visitors usually subscribe towards the stipend of the clergyman.

Dr. C. Frech, a resident German physician, understands the English language and practice.

Post-Office. Letters arrive from and are despatched to Strasburg twice, and to Carlsruhe once a day. A letter sent via Paris, will reach England in 5 days from Baden,

Extra-post. The post-master is entitled to charge 15 kr. above the usual sum for every horse sent out from Baden.

Hired carriages, donkeys, and ridinghorses are to be had in abundance during the season at all the principal inns. About 2 or 3 in the afternoon, they collect at the end of the avenue leading to the Conversations Haus, to await employers. All the charges are fixed according to distance, by a printed tariff (taxe).

Excursions. A stranger cannot be at a loss for excursions: let him follow almost any path leading out of the town, and he will find it a pleasant walk. One of the most agreeable, and usually the first taken, is that to das Alte Schloss (2 miles, an hour's walk), the conspicuous ruin which rises out of the woods on the summit of the hill above the town. A carriage-road, commencing behind das Neue Schloss, leads up the hill to it in zig-zags, but

a shorter foot-path is open for pedestrians, or those who trust to mules and asses, the usual beasts of burden employed in this excursion. The shade of the woods through which the path winds, alleviates the fatigue of the ascent in the heat of the day, while seats, opportunely placed, wherever a projecting rock displays the view to advantage, enable the wanderer to recruit his strength, if weary.

The Alte Schloss was the earliest residence of the ancestors of the reigning house of Baden. Its situation afforded its owners security from foes during many centuries of rapine and disorder. At length, in the 15th cent., when the right of private warfare was abolished, the Lords of Baden ventured to descend from their tower on high, and settled in the New Château, close to the town. This interesting and picturesque old ruin was disman tled and reduced to its present state by the French in the devastating war of the Palatinate. The view which the galleries round its mouldering battlements afford is the most pleasing and extensive in the neighbourhood of Baden. On one side are seen the dark hills of the Black Forest, luxuriantly clothed with the woods from which they get their name, contrasting with the verdure of the valleys they enclose, while the town of Baden at our feet, numberless villages, church spires, convents, and mills, clustering on the borders of winding streams, fill the foreground: on the other side, the hills subside into the plain of the Rhine, whose course may be traced in the distance, backed by the Vosges Mountains in France.

A path leading from the gateway of the castle to the left, and winding round the shoulder of the hill, conducts to Ebersteinburg (2 m.), another ruin, near a village of the same name. "This is an agreeable prolongation of the morning's excursion. Walks are also cut in the hill above the castle to the curious rocks called Felsen Brücke on the summit, whence a good view over the level land to Strasburg may be enjoyed."-D. J.

The views from the top of the other hills around Baden, the Jagdhaus (Hunting Lodge, from which the spire of Strasburg may be seen), the Yberg, 6 m. (accessible for carriages only part of the way;-to the foot of the hill), and the Mercuriusberg, 5 m. (on whose summit a tower is built) partake more or less of the character of that from the Alte Schloss. Nevertheless, a person residing some time at Baden will find each of them a pleasant excursion, affording most excellent situations for a pic-nic party.

Lichtenthal. An avenue of shady oaks, commencing near the south end of the town of Baden, leads up the valley to the Convent of Lichtenthal, 14 m. It was richly endowed in ancient days by the Margraves of Baden, but has undergone the fate of all such religious establishments; its revenues only escaped entire confiscation by the interference of the Grand Duke, but the number of its inmates is now reduced to 20 nuns. In the older and smaller of the two churches attached to the convent, are many curious monuments of the Margraves, bearing their mailed effigies, and the crest of goat's horn displayed on their helmets: one prince lies on a slab or table, clad in mail, with bars of iron running down the sleeves, a curious transition from chain to plate armour.

The Orphan house attached to the convent is one of the foundations of the charitable London tailor Stultz, who was created a nobleman by the Grand Duke of Baden.

The convent and the village of Oberbeuern, close to Lichtenthal, lie at the entrance of a beautiful valley, which well deserves to be explored. It is the picture of quiet seclusion, a miniature of a Swiss valley. A clear rippling stream flows through the midst, and sets in activity several saw-mills; rich verdant meadows and well cultivated corn-fields line its banks, and extend up to the hem of the forest, which clothes all the hills around with its dark foliage. A carriage road leads as far as Geroldsau, a picturesque village, where visitors are invited to walk up

to a waterfall called the Butte (6 m. from Baden). The walk is pleasant; but as for the waterfall, it is a paltry jet, dried up for a great part of the season, when its attractions are most needed.

A pedestrian disposed to take a good long walk may go to Yberg, proceed thence with a guide over the hills to Geroldsau and the waterfall, and return to Baden by Lichtenthal, making altogether 12 or 13 miles.

The most pleasing excursion, however, beyond doubt, among the many which lie within the reach of the visitor at Baden, is that to the Valley of the Murg. The drive to Gernsbach and Neu Eberstein (6 m.) and back will occupy a morning or afternoon; but it is well worth a stranger's while to devote a whole day to the beauties of the Murgthal.

A traveller pressed for time may visit the most interesting objects around Baden in 6 hours, with a carriage and 2 horses, costing 6 florins. After seeing the Old Schloss, which will take up 3 hours on foot, he may drive by Lichtenthal to Neu Eberstein; thence descend the Murgthal to Gernsbach, by Ottenau, Rothenfels, and Kuppenheim, to the Favourite; whence he may either return to Baden, or proceed on to the Rastadt station (p. 549.).

An admirably constructed road leads from Lichtenthal direct to Schloss Eberstein, a drive of 1 hour, winding gradually over the ridge of steep hills, a spur or promontory shooting out from the Black Forest range, which divides the valley of Baden from that of the Murg. After viewing it, the traveller may descend the valley to Gernsbach.

The Castle of Neu Eberstein, an ancestral fortalice of the Grand Ducal family, projects forward on the summit of a beetling crag, in a situation enabling its owners, in ancient days, to command the passage up and down the stream and valley, and to take toll from all comers. The old feudal ruin has been built up into a modern residence, and is inhabited during part of the year by some members of the Grand

Duke's family. Strangers are freely admitted to see it. In front of it, on a stone pedestal, is placed a huge statue of a wild boar. (Eber.) The Gothic furniture, ancient armour, and painted glass with which it is decorated, though curious, will hardly distract the stranger's attention from the exquisite view which he will gain from the platform in front. The road descends in zigzags from the castle-gate to the Murg, and joins a shorter footpath through the wood, at a little white chapel called Der Klingel, the resort of pilgrims at certain seasons.

In the small town of Gernsbach (Inns: Stern; Sonne; 2000 inhabitants) at the corner of the market-place, is a handsome red Elizabethan hose. The saw-mills, which abound here, are busily employed in cutting into planks the noble trees of the Black Forest, which, having been floated down the Murg, are here collected, sorted, cut, and made up into larger rafts, to find their way down the Rhine to Holland.

About an hour's drive beyond Gernsbach, and lower down the valley of the Murg, is Rothenfels, with a fine hotel, pleasantly situated at what is called the Elizabethenquelle.

The

Those who intend to wander further up the valley above Eberstein will find a foot-path descending from the castle straight to the village of Oberzroth, where they will find themselves again at the side of the Murg. The beau ties and wildness of the river-banks increase as you ascend the stream. villages passed in succession are Wilpertsau, where the road crosses over to the right bank of the Murg, Weissenbach, Langenbrand, on a lofty granite rock, a very striking object; Gausbach, where the wooden houses resemble those of Switzerland; and Forbach (Inn, Krone), the last village belonging to Baden, 12 m. from Baden. As the road beyond is up-hill, Forbach generally forms the limits of a day's excursion, if the traveller intends returning the same day to Baden; but for those who have time to spare, it may be ob served, that the vale of the Murg is