buildings of any other nation or time. The peculiar and massy architecture would be recognized at a glance, by a person who had merely seen prints even of the buildings of ancient Rome.

Excavations have been made here, to a very great extent, and are still going on a very extensive chamber was thus laid open last winter, having before remained filled up with earth and rubbish for years level with the high-road which runs near it. The original staircase remains perfect, by which one can ascend to the top of the building, from whence a fine view is obtained of the whole valley in which Treves is situated.

The same process of excavation is going on in the amphitheatre, which we also visited. It is, however, not so characteristic as the baths, though more extensive. It is believed that highly interesting remains might still be exposed between these two spots; but, although the King of Prussia is very anxious that this should be effected, he has been unable to do so, in consequence of the ground, principally vineyards, belonging to private individuals, who set even a higher value on what may be gathered above ground, than the king does on what may be discovered below. The Porta Nigra, besides being a very perfect specimen of that style of Roman building, contains in the room above it detached articles, that have been found at these different excavations, such as busts, gravestones, amphora, parts of columns, milestones, &c. After dinner, we made an excursion to Igel, six miles off, to see the Roman monument there. If the road had not been beautiful, keeping near the banks of the Moselle all the way, we should hardly have been repaid for so long a drive in the heat. The fact that it has never been ascertained for what peculiar purpose it was erected, takes away much of the interest, and its shape is not very elegant, rather resembling that of a hock bottle. After visiting a coffee-house on the heights above the town, much resorted to by the citizens, on account of the beautiful view it commands, we returned home, sufficiently tired, although much delighted with our day of sight seeing.

The next day we were to begin our descent of the Moselle to Coblentz. We had engaged a boat to ourselves, as the regular barge starts at four in the morning, which we thought too early for comfort, and were thus enabled to set off in the morning and stop at night, when we pleased; or in the course of our voyage, put into any creek for the purpose of drawing or exploring some valley that branched from the river As the ascent would be too laborious, the boat used for this purpose (a distance of one hundred and twenty miles) is broken up on arriving at Coblentz and sold for timber; the charge is fourteen crowns, rather more than two guineas, for two rowers, including all their own expenses. Considering that they have three hard days' work, and must then find their way back As the inns are by some other means, the charge is very reasonable.

bad, and stopping for dinner would cause great delay, we laid in a stock of provisions, which, as a useful hint to those who may be tempted to make the same excursion, I may mention, consisted of fowls, partridges, hung beef, and marmalade, which we brought from England, and some raspberry vinegar, which we found more acceptable than any thing else during this intensely hot weather. Excellent wine and the finest fruit of every kind, may be got at each small village on the banks of the river. We set off at half-past seven, and found both the boatmen and laquais de place in raptures at the arrangements of the interior of the boat, which they all agreed in saying was "sehr schön," very beauti

ful. All that we could see to cause this rapture was a truss or two of straw, forming a sort of a litter at the bottom; a plank laid across as a seat, for which our luggage formed a back, while some hoops above with an awning, completed the furniture. We had not glided down half a mile, when the boatman discovered he had left his coat; the rapidity of the stream forbade all thoughts of returning for it, so he was obliged to do without as he well might.

The voyage down the Moselle, as far as picturesque scenery could make it so, was delightful, but the heat, "according to the oldest inhabitant," was greater than had ever been remembered; so much so, that with all the arrangements for cooling the atmosphere in the interior of the boat, which awnings and a thorough draught would allow us to make, we thought it a great thing to get the thermometer below 90°, and when even shaded from the sun, it was frequently at 95°. Once indeed, seeing the rower who sat opposite to us almost overcome by the heat, we put the little circular thermometer by his side; it then rose in the sun to the full extent of the tube, above 110°.

The great charm of the scenery, and that in which it differs most from other great rivers, is the richness in its growth of woods: sometimes the eye might trace, as far as it could reach, mountains covered to their summits with the finest timber, while the foreground consisted of very rich meadows, studded thickly with forest trees. Every turn the Moselle took afforded a fresh picture, and there was hardly a spot which would not have been a delightful site for a country-house; and so apparently thought the old German barons, for the crest of almost every hill was formed by an extensive castellated ruin or some single tower, which had menaced each passer by or frowned defiance to all invaders in the olden time. About every hour we came to a village, each with its church and English-looking steeple, and the haymaking which was going on added not a little to the interest of the scene. Boats, instead of haycarts, might be seen gliding down or hauled up the river, with the merry-looking haymakers, some seated on the top of the enormous load of hay, and some towing it up the stream.

It was a great relief from the monotony of rowing, that we at times came to rapids, down which we glided gently and swiftly without motion or exertion.

it

The first night we stopped at Trarbach, a beautiful picturesque village nestled beneath a ruinous castle, which might have served to protect in the olden time.

The rowers had at first taken us to an inn on the other side of the river, but our noses obliged us to forsake it, though the old woman, who was, I suspect, more aware than she chose to confess of this particular objection to her house, tried to conceal it by blowing out the candle; laying all the blame on the unfortunate wick, which, in truth, though tallow, breathed perfume in comparison with what it was intended to excuse. The next day we got out of the boat at a spot where the river makes an abrupt bend, and crossed a narrow tongue of land, by which we got greatly the start of the boatmen, and had time to sketch the beauties of the scenery as seen from the shore, by which the features of it are rendered so different from those taken in a boat. That night we slept at Carden, all the beds being already occupied at Cochein, which is the usual halting-place the second night. Here the lady of our party made great acquaintance with a little baby, the grand-daughter of the land

lady, perhaps from sympathy, as they were the only two persons in the house who could not understand a word of what was jabbered in German around them.

Our third day's journey was a very short one, though we made it somewhat longer by exploring the valley of Ehrenburg, which we would not have missed seeing for twice the trouble it cost us. The castle was distinguished from all the others we had been sketching, by its being seated three miles from the Moselle, up a narrow and abrupt valley. It stands on a perpendicular and isolated rock, and so high that from the point from whence we drew it, about a mile and a half off, it appeared towering above the trees among which we were standing. The whole of the mountain road thither, and the view of it, were well worth the very fatiguing walk and hours delay by which they were purchased.

The friendly terms of mutual content, with which we parted from the old boatmen after settling our accounts at Coblentz, completed the satisfaction with which we looked back on our choice of this somewhat unfrequented route.

In order to reach Kissengen, one of the principal and most fashionable watering-places in Bavaria, our way from hence lay through Francfort. On inquiring there as to our road to Kissengen, we were informed that there is a much shorter route now, as what was a cross is now made a post road, so that the distance is about eighty, instead of more than one hundred miles: they told us, indeed, that as the road was not quite good yet, we had better devote two whole days to it. We set off accordingly on our two whole days' journey by seven o'clock, and soon entered the Bavarian frontiers. As we unluckily arrived at the frontier-town about their dinner-hour, we were subjected to a delay of two hours; as the official functionary wisely considered, that it was much better that the traveller, who ought to be dining too, should be detained for that period, than that this important meal should be interrupted for the five minutes it would take to countersign his passport.

As far as Hessenthal we followed the great high-road to Wurtzburg, and even here we had some foretaste of the proverbial incapacity of the Bavarian "Macadams." From Hessenthal, however, the new road began. New road it may well be called, as it is as yet hardly finished throughout, and in some parts not more than sketched out. In point of picturesque scenery, it is very full of interest, as the greater part of it is more like a drive through a gentleman's park in England, than any thing else. An ascent of some steepness, soon after leaving Hessenthal, brings one to a grassy height full of the noblest timber trees, principally oaks, and as large as we can remember to have seen. They are very carefully thinned, each having ample space to expand, and are in the very vigour of their age. As far as the eye reaches in the distance, are banks of wood in every direction. Judging by this and other specimens, their forests must be an important article of royal revenue.

Through drives like this, unenclosed, and with other wood roads branching off from time to time, the new high-road proceeds with now and then steep ascents and descents. Nothing but herds of deer are wanting to make one fancy ourself in some nobleman's place in England, celebrated for picturesque beauty; it was just eight at night when we arrived at Lahn. We stopped at the posthouse in this town, but should strongly recommend any person to avoid this if possible, by some other division of their journey: we were very far from comfortable, and, as a usual con

sequence, the charges were extravagantly high. When this was hinte.. to the landlord, he was very indignant, and declared that it was the first time, during the fourteen years he had kept the inn, such a thing had been said. Unluckily for his veracity, we were told on our arrival at Kissengen, that the same complaint had been made by an English family two days before.

Our second day's journey carried us over a road not quite so beautiful, and a great deal rougher than the first. We were obliged to take three additional horses over part of the ground, and even then, towards the conclusion of the last stage but one, one of the horses was so knocked up, that it was with the greatest difficulty he was prevented from lying down whenever they stopped to drag the wheels.

The last stage being better, a fresh pair of horses soon brought us to Kissengen, with the first sight of which, as we descended upon it, we were much disappointed. It is seated in a plain surrounded by round hills, and the first thing that attracts the attention is a number of glaring red roofs and white houses; these, with some young trees dotted about it, make it look like the sort of town a child brings home in a box from a bazaar, and builds upon the green baize table-cover; and this is the celebrated watering-place, to which hundreds from Russia of the highest rank, for years, have been making a pilgrimage for health each season, and towards which the current of fashion even in England is now so decidedly setting!

The place was so full that we were obliged to apply at three or four places before we could get lodgings. We at last established ourselves in a suite of rooms, on the ground floor of a house belonging to a Mr. Streit, situated in the principal street, next door to the Doctor (par excel lence) Dr. Maas. For these rooms we were to pay twenty-four florins a week, about two pounds, which seemed a great deal, but there appeared to be no choice.

Our landlord, a crafty-looking old fellow, when he made out that we were English, said, that before letting the rooms, he must first ask “whether we intended to stay in them, as he had let them once before to English people, who had annoyed him very much, by leaving him in a day or two.' We replied that our present intentions were to stay; but that, of course, it must depend on whether the waters agree with the invalides. He said, "Das war gut," but that what he meant was, that he should not like us to change to another quarter. We could only add, "that, we have no present intention of doing ;" and so it stood; but all this left rather an unpleasant sensation, as if we were tied by the leg. There seemed, nevertheless, nothing to induce a wish to change. The rooms were spacious, and what is here called "schön" and comfortable; though, to an English eye, the absence of carpets, curtains, window-shutters, arm-chairs, and table-covers, and, above all, anything like tolerable beds, makes them hardly come up to that description, while the green wine-bottle which stood for a jug, and the pie-dish which represented basin were a little astounding. They were, however, rather better than the usual run of German rooms; and, most important of all, quite clean. When therefore we had spread out our books, portfolios, and writing-cases, banished the nasty little boxes filled with sawdust in the corners of each room, which, for those who do not smoke, are superfluities, and pressed workboxes, guitars, &c. into the service, it looked rather more homelike.

A TALE OF MYSTERY;

OR, A ROMANCE OF PORTLAND-PLACE.

BY J. POOLE, ESQ.

CHAP. I.

Ir was in the cold month of December! The morning was dark and cheerless, for a dense fog oppressed the bosom of the earth, veiling in its envious folds, even as with a mantle, the surrounding objects from the sight. Scarcely could the uplifted and extended hand be discerned by the searching eye of its possessor. The chimes, in sullen. sounds, told that insatiate Time had added to his store one quarter of the ninth hour since departed midnight: when suddenly, two blows, loud, heavy, and distinct, resounded from the startled portal of

Hold! this will never do. By such a commencement, our readers might be misled into the expectation of a tale comprising castles, chains, and dungeons; a venerable captive (the rightful possessor of the domain), feeble, emaciated, worn to the bone by a long confinement, and with a beard still longer; five abductions, three murders, a mysterious noise, and a bleeding spectre-all this at the least. Now as any such expectation would surely end in disappointment, we think it but fair to make a fresh and more appropriate start.

Well, then :

It was a very nasty, cold, foggy morning in December, when, just as the clock of Langham Church struck a quarter-past eight, Molly Mopsley, a housemaid in the family of Sir Matthew Moonshine, residing in Portland-place, ascended the kitchen-stairs, fully equipped for the commencement of her daily duties. She had but two hands, yet in those, and under her arms, did she contrive to carry a mop, a pail full of water, a scrubbing-brush, a hearth-stone, a scuttle of coals, a bundle of wood, a lighted candle, and a pair of bellows. We do not cite this as a singular effort of genius: to the honour of the sisterhood of housemaids be it said, there is not one amongst them—provided she have been properly educated for her profession-who could not do as much.

He

The sound of Molly's footsteps disturbed the operations of a certain person, who, cautiously and without noise, had already displaced the bar and chain, and drawn the bolts which secured the street-door. was about to turn the key (all that was now wanting for his escape) when, at Molly's appearance, his heart failed him and he hastily concealed himself behind the huge hall-chair. Who, or what he was, or what he did, or had been doing in the house, we know not; neither can we say whether he was young or old, handsome or ugly, for he was completely enveloped in a large cloak.

"what expe

"Ah!" muttered he, as he rushed to his hiding-place, dients am I driven to! Who would be a ?" What, he muttered

not.

It is a trite observation that few persons are satisfied with their condition. Molly Mopsley was no exception to this rule. Having discharged her cargo, she knelt down to light the hall-fire, and thus soliloquized:

March.-VOL. LV. NO. CCXXIX.

2 c