DRESDEN AS SEEN FROM RACKNITZ.

the _ Position occupied by the Allied Armica the day before the celebrated battle

leagued for the destruction of Russia, took place at Dresden. On the latter occasion the house was lighted by upwards of 5000 wax candles, and the three ranges of boxes were filled with the fairest of the capital in full dress, to greet the mighty conqueror, who with his father-in-law of Austria on his right, and the late King of Saxony on the left, occupied the centre box, doubtlessly relaxing from the intense thoughts and meditations which the allied sovereigns had bestowed at their council in the morning on the subject of the invasion about to be carried into execution. Fêtes, illuminations, and other public rejoicings continued for several days, and the crowned triumvirate exhibited their persons in every part of the capital and environs. On one of those occasions, the Emperor Francis, with his daughter Maria Louisa, visited Pillnitz, a royal residence, situated within a mile or two of the capital, and the same in which that sovereign had held a meeting in 1791, with the identical Elector of Saxony, his present host, in order to oppose the French power at the breaking out of the French Revolution, by the Coryphée of which his Majesty was accompanied in 1812. How different the interview of Napoleon with the Saxon sovereign must have been but six short months after that last mentioned meeting, when that discomfited leader, on the 14th of December, of the same year, once more re-entered Dresden, but alone, and incognito, at one o'clock in the morning, and like a runaway! In another short twelvemonth more, Napoleon was destined again to tread, and for the last time, this classical ground of Strategy, and measure his strength against one of his former companions in arms. To the heights of Räcknitz, from which there is a charming view of the city, we directed our steps, principally to examine the monument erected to the memory of Napoleon's antagonist, who fell mortally wounded on that spot. On that occasion, Sir James Wylie, as a last

resource, amputated the wounded limbs, which are here deposited; but the career of Moreau had reached its close, and the utmost surgical skill availed not. As quare block of granite has been erected, in the midst of artificial rocks, bearing the brief inscription, " Moreau der Held fiel hier an der seite Alexanders I. den 27 August, MDCCCXIII. "Moreau, the hero, fell here, by the side of Alexander the First, on the 27th of August, 1813."

Full of these melancholy recollections, we hastened to the Park, or Grosser Garten, not far distant from the position occupied by the allied armies on the day previous to the battle, and were delighted with that spot which has, within the last two years, been considerably improved, under the direction of a general officer, who has introduced the English style of gardening, and park-plantations.

On the left of this public garden, which is said to be much frequented, and along the Elbe as far as Pillnitz, lies the road which conducts to the hilly region, called the Sächsische Schweiz. This we followed early one morning in Mr. Bennett's carriage, and crossing the Elbe on a ferry, landed a short distance from Pillnitz, which royal residence, more remarkable as an historical monument of modern war-treaties, than as an edifice of note, we had full leisure to contemplate. Here the Saxon court uniformly spends the summer months. The garden is well supplied with exotic plants. The road winds round the royal demesnes, passes through the village, and then taking a direction midway between the range of hills on the left, and the bank of the Elbe, penetrates through a forest of fir-trees, crosses the Wesnitz Bach, and ascends to the village of Lohmen. Hence the road takes a romantic direction, gently rising all the way, and plunges in the midst of dense woods, until, after an hour and a half's drive, it emerges upon

the brow of the Great Hill, whence the magnificent scenery of the Bastey breaks upon the astonished traveller.

Quitting our carriage, we walked immediately to the railed terrace, and thence explored, for the space of two hours, every insulated summit and gigantic pinnacle of those ruins of a former world. The weather favoured us much; and the season, though greatly advanced, took nothing from the beauty of a panorama, unequalled, I believe, on the surface of the European continent, as it receives its character from the strange grey masses of rocks shooting upwards from the banks of the Elbe to a perpendicular elevation of 800 feet, and is enlivened by the ever-green colour of the forest fir.

Mr. Russell has performed the task of describing this remarkable district so correctly, and in so much better language than I could command on so picturesque a subject, that, for the information of my readers, I shall, with that gentleman's permission, quote his spirited account of the Saxon Switzerland. The description which I prepared on the spot, being too strictly geological, would ill assort with the rest of the subjects mentioned in this chap

ter:

"About four miles farther up, and beyond Pillnitz, the valley closes; the mountains become more lofty and bare; the majestic river, quitting at length the rugged and mountainous course which has hemmed him in from his birth in the Mountains of the Giant, and destined to visit, throughout the rest of his career, only scenes of industry and fertility, comes forth rejoicing from the gorges which you are about to enter. From this point, up to the frontiers of Bohemia, the rocks in the neighbourhood of the river, principally on the right bank, consisting of a coarsegrained sandstone, are cut in all directions into frightful