dau; from Ludwigshafen several times a day to Dürkheim. Railway as far as Neustadt, opened in 1847: this is part of the Railway through Kaiserslautern to Bexbach. (See Rte. 103.) The circle of the Rhine (Rhein Kreis) includes much pleasing scenery among the chains of the Haardt and Vosges mountains, and many old towns and castles, interesting from their history. The following route, not much traversed hitherto by English travellers, lays open some of the most interesting objects in this part of the country, and will conduct to the prison of Richard Coeurde-Lion, an object of interest for all Englishmen. They must not expect, however, to meet with a good road, or very capital accommodation. If the traveller keeps the post road, he will follow that from Mannheim to Mayence as far as Romans, and when on his way to take possession of Rome itself. It has given a name to a novel of Cooper, the American. Near it is the Devil's Stone, a natural rock, bearing the im pression of a gigantic paw, on which the pagans are said to have sacrificed. The view from it over the plain of the Palatinate, along the Rhine and Neckar as far as Heidelberg, and the near prospect of fertile and industrious valleys, is highly pleasing. At the entrance of the Isenachthal, at the top of a hill nearly encircled by the stream, stand the ruins of the Abbey of Limburg, with its vast church, founded in 1030, in the style of the Dom of Spires, and destroyed by the Swedes in 1632. The height on which it stands commands fine views, and is now converted into gardens. A crypt and part of the cloister remain. Within sight of the ruins of the abbey are those of Hartenburg, the castle of the Counts of Leiningen, its greatest enemies, who were engaged in constant feuds with the monks, and burnt the abbey in the 15th century. One of the Raugrafs of Hartenburg having made the abbot his prisoner, built his head into the wall of the castle, with his face towards the abbey, that he might see the condagration. 1 Oggersheim (p. 527.). 2 Dürkheim. — Inn, Vier Jahreszeiten, good. This town, of 5500 inhab., was once the residence of the Princes of Leiningen-Hartenburg, whose palace was burnt by the French, 1794; it was originally a strong fortress, but its works have long since been razed; it is now chiefly remarkable for its agreeable situation at the foot of the hills on the skirts of the plain of the Rhine, and at the entrance of the valley of the Isen- The road to Neustadt passes through ach, up which runs the road to Kaisers- Wachenheim, Forst, and Deidesheim, lautern, and for its pleasing environs. (Inn, Bairischer Hof), all famous for The chief beauties of the Rheinpfalz the wines produced in the neighbour begin at Dürkheim, on the borders of ing vineyards. It is a most delightful the Haardtgebirge. The proper way ride. Geologists will remark with in-indeed the only one-t -to explore its terest the eruption of basalt, proceeding heights and valleys is on foot; guided from the mountain called Pechsteinby a good map-such as Reizmann's Kopf: the basalt assumes the shape of map of Germany, sheets 199 and 218, balls. price 15 Sgr. each. Within a short distance lie the salt Post; Golden Löwe. This town d 2 Neustadt an der Haardt. -Inns works of Phillipshall. The summit of 8000 inhab. is old and uninviting the nearest height, the Castanienberg, within, but its situation at the foot of is crowned by the Heidenmauer (Pa- the Haardt mountains is delightful gan's Wall), a rampart of loose stones Its Church dates from the 10th cen 8 to 10 ft. high, 60 or 70 wide at the tury, and contains curious monuments of the Pfalzgraves. In the fore-court The Romans are said to have built it to called the Paradise, some remains of keep in check the barbarians and ancient fresco paintings may be traced Attila is reported to have passed the The neighbourhood abounds in ruined base, enclosing a space of about 2 m. : winter in it, after having expelled the castles, many of which were reduced to Edelberg pleas ance of 2 R their present condition in the Peasants' impregnable until 1702, when it was War (1525). A railroad is in progress taken by Markgrave Lewis of Baden. to the Rhine at Mannheim. On the From 1713 to 1815, it remained in the hill above the town rise the ivy-clad hands of the French. It stood a siege ruins of the Castle Winzingen, called of 9 months in 1793, in the course of Haardter Schlösschen (originally the which 30,000 shells, &c., were thrown summer residence of the Electors Pa- into it. In the following year the powlatine, now attached to a modern villa), der magazine blew up, and the bell of and Wolfsburg, destroyed in the Thirty the Rathhaus was carried by the exploYears' War. It commands a fine view sion as far as the village of Godramstein, extending as far as Heidelberg castle. where it was dug up in a meadow some About 2 m. S. of the town is the Custle years afterwards. The gates of the forof Hambach, another ruin. It was tress are shut at an early hour. built by the Emp. Henry IV., who is said to have set out from hence on his disgraceful pilgrimage to Rome barefoot, in 1077, to appease the anger of the haughty pope Hildebrand. The view from the ruins is fine: but inTferior to that from the Madenberg. It cloisters s of the the cast is greate In const now belongs to the present King of An agreeable excursion may be made to the Madenberg, near Eschbach (Günter's Inn), the most perfect castle in the Rheinpfalz, which long was the property of the Archbishops of Spires, ruined by the French 1680. The view from it is the finest in the district. guide should be engaged at Eschbach to cross the hills to Trifels, 6 m. to the E. The walk from it through the woods to Annweiler, taking Trifels by the way, is about 8 miles. A league from Landau, at Gleisweiler, is a hydrotherapic establishment kept by Dr. Near Neustadt very extensive quar- is head bis face The road passes Edenkoben (Inn, might surrounded by vineyards, producing | Nustach a wine of inferior quality. Near at Halbruck. ed in t It is a m 7 of bas a in case 6000 inhab. assumes der Ha 2 LANDAU.-Inns: Schwan; Schaaf (Sheep). This strong fortress of the Germanic Confederation is occupied by garrison of Bavarians, and numbers It is situated on the Queich, which fills its fosse with water. It has been an object of contest in every great European war from the 15th centy., and consequently its history is nothing but a succession of sieges, blockades, bombardments, captures, and surrenders. During the Thirty Years' War it was taken 8 times, by the troops of Count Mansfeldt, by the Spaniards, Swedes, Imperialists, and French. In the 17th centy. it fell into the hands of the French, was fortified by Vauban, and was considered Inn, Post. This is a town of 2600 inhab., on the Queich. The ruined castle of TRIFELS, memorable as the prison of Richard Coeur-deLion, is 3 m. distant. It is now a total ruin; one square tower alone remains in a tolerably perfect state to attest its former strength; but the subterranean dungeon, in which, according to tradition, he was confined, and watched night and day by guards with drawn swords, is still pointed out. After being captured by his treacherous enemy, Leopold of Austria, on his return from the Holy Land, Richard was sold by him for 30,000 marks of silver to the Emperor Henry VI., who basely detained him a prisoner from 1192 to 1194. It was probably beneath these walls that the song of the faithful minstrel Blondel first succeeded in discovering the prison of his master, by procuring the vocal response from the A A 4 A 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. The castle of Trifels stands on the summit of a singular mountain of sandstone (Bunter Sandstein) called the Sonnenberg, 1422 ft. above the sealevel. It was a favourite residence of the German emperors, and must have been a place of great magnificence as which rises the overhanging rock 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, or Deux Ponts. The dukes resided in the Palace, partly destroyed by the French, and the remains now converted into a Catholic church. The name of this place is supposed to be derived from the two bridges leading across the river 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, HEIDELBERG, CARLSRUHE, AND FREI From Frankfurt to Heidelberg and Mannheim in 3 hours, by the Main Neckar Eisenbahn. Distance from Frankfurt to Friedrichsfeld Junction Station on the Mannheim and Heidelberg line, 10 Germ. m.=521 Eng. miles. Heidelberg to Efringen, 8 m. from At Basle, in 9 hours, by the Badische Staatsbahn.-Distance from Mannheim to Leopoldshöhe, on the frontier the canton of Basle (to which point the railway will soon be opened) 94 Germ. m=1583 Eng. m. Jans: Post-J town of 300 ¡resque siman the Duch c. partly deser the remains D 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. 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 In the Dutch School: Schalken, portrait of William III. of Langen Stat. The country, as far as Darmstadt, is flat and uninteresting. DARMSTADT STAT. - Inns: DarmPorts T städter Hof; - · Traube (Bunch of Grapes). Köhlers, near the railway station, outside the Rheinthor, is a Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse olic church handsome building. Supposed to be the palace ges leading Darmstadt, the residence of the Grand French artists. · at fell bri Duke, and seat of the government and (chiefly Protestants). It is a dull, series of detain the traveller long. belonged to chambers, has a population of 30,000 England.-Vandyk, Virgin and Child; varia, to wh uninteresting town, which need not broke.-P. Potter (?), Cow and Herd, by urg, whichs The appear spread. The streets are straight and with intervals between them. sketch of the portrait of Lord Pem with a horn.-Eckhout, a Man's Head. Teniers, Peasants. P. de Hooge, The Biportance of torpidity is increased by the ya sa extent of surface over which it is Dutchman and his Wife.- Rembrandt, daily to CVery wide, the squares numerous; and School: P. Veronese, sketch of the great en is 1 G many of the houses are built singly, picture in the Louvre of the Marriage Lavence to town, with its dark and confined ful).—Velazquez, a Child in a white Juus of the Streets, is very properly kept in the frock.-Domenichino, David and Na way. (Ru OUTE The old background, and none of the great Near 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 portrait of his Second Wife.-Italian in Cana.— Titian (?), a Venus (doubt than. — 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 AA 5 were jaws and other remains of the Deinotherium; 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 a great measure on the court. 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. ing the Main by a ferry opposite Castel. 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. road The railroad for the greater part of the way, runs near the old post 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. and Darmstadt; the inhabitants depend in The villages and towns are beautifull A mile situated at the foot of the mountains overhung by vine-covered slopes, embosomed in orchards, which exten in cheerful avenues along the road from "Almost every mountain of the Bergstrasse, and many of those in the Odenwald, are crowned Eilwagen daily to Mayence (44 Germ. m. in 34 hrs.), by Gross-Gerau, cross one town to another. |