with these arrangements, he felt no further uneasiness from foreign invasion or domestic contention. The Welch acknowledged his authority; and the reputation of having shared in 56 pitched battles lent its aid in esta blishing a terror of, if not a respect for, his name amongst his savage enemies. Henceforth we shall perceive that this great Prince's mind was given up undividedly to the amelioration of the laws and morals of his country, to the promotion of religion, learning, and the arts. Although Sir W. Blackstone conjectures (why conjecture, since he cannot disprove?) that Alfred only adopted and improved the mode of trial by jury, there is no reason whatever to conclude that it was not an original act of King Alfred. The merit of having divided the kingdom into shires, hundreds, and tithings, also of Alfred's introduction, has been enviously claimed as the invention of others, those others being also anonymous. But this disinclination on the part of lawyers and statesmen to award so large a share of praise and merit to an individual, is common, absolutely natural, yet quite unfounded, for it is obvious that all our discoveries are attributable to a few illustrious names. Aristotle wrote of every department in learning; Newton discovered the greater part of all our scientific information; Napoleon reformed all the institutions of his own country, and even of some others, in addition to his military achievements, and his character resembles our Saxon king's in very many respects. Great men appear at great intervals of time, and separated by great distances in space also, on the face of the earth; but when these lights do appear, it must be acknowledged that they accomplish, in the brief periods of their splendour, an amazing amount of good or evil, or both. We have no reason to withhold from Alfred the praise of introducing trial by jury, the territorial partition of the kingdom-the institution of a militia, and of a naval force—a general survey of the kingdom (the Winchester Book, from which Doomsday Book is imitated)-and the formation of an Assembly, or House of Convocation, in which our present Parliament recognises its prototype. Finding that learning was little cultivated, and "that few persons south of the Humber" either understood the service of the Church or could render Latin into English, he invited the most learned foreigners to his Court, and laid the foundation of the University of Oxford. But he was not only the occasion of learning in others, he was himself a profound scholar, and may still be placed at the head of the catalogue of royal and noble authors. Amongst his literary labours are versions of Orosius, Bede, and Boethius, translations from St. Gregory, Æsop, various religious works, including a complete Psalter, In his translation of Orosius he has given an account of an expedition, fitted out under his auspices, for the discovery of a North-east Passage, and of another to carry alms to the Christians of St. Thomas, in the East Indies. We need not be told, that the accomplishment of so many objects was only to be effected by the nicest apportioning of time, and the most exact system of arrangement, and the most cautious husbanding of the revenues. That Alfred was unequalled in all these acquirements, however, his monkish biographers unnecessarily assure us. The panegyrics

of ecclesiastics, whose institutions hung but on the prince's smile, have been always received with caution; and, in Alfred's case, his liberal benefactions to the church, his religious deportment, and virtuous life, augmented the enthusiasm of his learned and grateful biographers. Hence it is that none of those blemishes from which mere mortality is inseparable are recorded of this great prince; his portrait, as well as the general view of his useful life, is a flood of light. His history is a perfect union of prince, patriot, man-one of those noble illustrations of the admixture of the true elements of greatness and goodness, which are so seldom witnessed among mankind, but which do occasionally exist as blessings in their own age, and models for posterity.

After a reign of eight-and-twenty years, Alfred the Great resigned his earthly kingdom, in the cheerful expectation of an immortal one-dying in his palace at Oxford, some time in the year 901. By his Queen, Elswitha, he had three sons and three daughters. His second son, Edward the Elder, succeeded to his throne; and his daughter, Æthelffida, who married the Earl of Mercia, is said to have inherited his talents.

WALKS IN SWITZERLAND.

CHAPTER IV.-THE RHINE.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. COBLENZ.- EHRENBREITSTEIN.-FINE SUNSET.-WHIRLPOOLS. THE AUTHOR'S FELLOW-TRAVELLERS.—MENTZ.

The Rhine steamer, July 4.

AND I am on the Rhine!-speeding over its broad clear bosom -basking in all the glories of sunshine, mitigated while mirrored upon its breezy surface, and gazing on a landscape of tranquil beauty, that seems to smile in gratitude and gladness for supplies from the fertilizing element, so bountiful, and so unfailing. The far-famed Rhine! rolling, age by age, its swift, full-volumed waters through a region not unworthy such a baptism. Wide and deep, its abundant waves appear but just confined to their channel by the banks, which here rise a few feet only above its level, and leave the surrounding country open far and wide to its wintry inundations: now, sparkling to a morning sun, they curl gracefully and gently within their sandy boundaries. Ennobled by heroes the scene of great deeds of olden as well as later days-its shores yet thrill to the echoes of mighty voices and legendary song! As I watch the career of thy swift tide, passing away beneath our vessel, on its changeless ocean errand, something of thy spell, renowned Rhine! comes over me.

The silence of its powerful course was broken only by the gurgle of many eddies, while its broad front, of a hoary half-translucency, appeared everywhere corrugated, as in token of the struggling energy of its onward current. Well might Napoleon have deemed it the boundary,

designed by Nature for a great empire; though it was not decreed by Nature's God to continue the land-mark of his own.

Leaving Cologne, the banks on both sides are flat and uninteresting, though here and there a scene of delightful repose meets the eye. So wide and open a river, without the usual moving concomitants of one, needs little extrinsic aid to impress the mind with the idea.

The first feature of interest is the group of mountainous hills, called Siebengeberge, over against Bonn, among which the oft-sung "castled crag of Drachenfels" is the most striking; and from hence to Coblenz, where our day's voyage terminated, the whole course of the river is one varying picture, assembling almost every element of the picturesque.

I shall not attempt to describe the many antique towns, pretty villages, ruined castles, glens, mountains, monasteries, and localities of a hundred different kinds, which our shifting panorama embodied during the day. It was one unbroken note of admiration from every mouth; or with such intervals only between as permitted the spectators to keep up their interjectional firing with undiminished vigour to the last. In truth, I almost tired of admiring, and longed for an intermission of beauties, to furnish an excuse for a nap below. Yet, staunch in my æsthetic duty I kept me upon deck until the last.

It was towards evening, after a day propitious as tourist could desire for this favourite voyage, that we arrived at the bridge of boats beneath the mighty fortress, that crowns the eminence over against Coblenz. Hither had my imagination been speeding ever since dawn, anticipating greatly the lazy pace of our vessel. And, despite numberless attractions, the river thus far, with all the accompaniments of its banks, had failed to produce much sensible effect upon my mind, to satisfy a fancy strung to its highest pitch, or perceptibly to elevate my feelings beyond their usual quiet tone. As the boat moved on, I admired with the rest, and turned my back in succession upon a hundred beautiful pictures, in preparation for that which was to be the next; and this glen looked lovelythat cliff was bold and fine-yonder château crowned well its hill-top, and charmingly rose to view the convent whose turrets peeped, just visible, behind yon green boughs on the water's edge; while history had consecrated this spot-a ruin here, and a crag there, were eloquent, each with its own legend of wonder; but they came and went, one and all of them; and their images, all beautiful as they were,--nay, any distinct idea of any one locality will, from mere multiplicity, (I fear) be forgotten tomorrow, as their names are, almost without exception, now. Even thy majestic steep, Broad Rock of Honour,* disclosed not its full magnificence at once! For a considerable distance had I noticed it, as I imagined, one of the numerous forts about the town; but inwardly disbelieved the assertions of a fellow-passenger, that Ehrenbreitstein was in view. My conception was wholly from prints and sketches, taken southward of the fort; while we, at the opposite end of the eminence, could see little of

* The literal meaning of Ehrenbreitstein.

the grand features that, from any given point in the former direction, are assembled in your picture. I was convinced, however, of my error, as each succeeding moment discovered more the face of the citadel; and as I gazed across the river from the quay of Coblenz, seemed as if regarding a favourite and familiar scene.

We were quickly furnished with a ticket of admission from the Commandant, and not long in availing ourselves of it. Upon reaching the opposite bank of the Rhine, we found ourselves in the small town of Ehrenbreitstein, chiefly barracks, magazines, and offices of the military or police, but withal substantial and handsome buildings. The high embattled rock now rose almost perpendicularly above us, its sharp black prominences seeming to frown in stern and solemn pride upon the region and the many moving beings beneath. Its altitude is about one half greater than the castle of Edinburgh; and its aspect, from the immensity and completeness of the works, beyond comparison more threatening; though, taken separately, as a mere castellated height, not nearly so picturesque. The ramparts and bastions which cross and stud its front, extending and raising their sturdy line and head in every direction, are of the simplest yet most gigantic style of workmanship; and, for once, the sublimity with which nature has invested the spot is not marred, but, on the contrary, greatly heightened by the additional handy work of man. The ascent is by a winding road, steep yet wide, and conveniently acces→ sible for carriages; and from the platform on the top, terminating under the windows of the governor's house, a railway, frightfully precipitous, descends to the river, whereby the heaviest stores and materials are conveyed with ease and celerity into the garrison.

Outside the main portal is a broad ditch, filled from the Rhine, and crossed by a drawbridge; and two fortified gateways guard the road within, at intervals, between the entrance to the fort and the citadel at top. The rock, although apparently designed by nature for a stronghold, has yet been considerably modified, to adapt it to the more systematic notions of the engineer; but the vast natural slabs of stone, that present their unmortared walls as you ascend, create an idea of solid masonry, with which nothing from the tool of man can vie.

The batteries are prodigious, and so disposed as to command every possible avenue of approach, as well as to subject the town and other adjacent forts to the tremendous sweep of their artillery. In the gateway-tower and line of wall immediately without the citadel, are embrasures for nearly fourscore cannon, besides loop-holes in the former for a heavy fire of musketry. The fortress itself is entered through a long massy archway, with outer and inner gates, trenches and battery. The barracks afford accommodation for fourteen thousand men-at present, the garrison might be five-and-twenty hundred-and the magazines are extensive, to correspond; both are bomb-proof, and constructed in the strongest and most substantial, yet in a handsome style: the stone-work of the walls being disposed archwise in various places, to obviate in some measure the effects of a breach, by leaving the parts above it self-supported.

Many hundreds of the soldiery were moving dispersedly about the place of parade, or stood conversing in small knots; the few sentinels who paced backward and forward on the ramparts alone exhibiting the present influence of discipline. The fine fellows might be compared to a huge and busy colony of bees, when, after the toilsome duties of the day are finished, those insect labourers may be seen-some sporting around the hive, others creeping loiteringly about its portal-all giving evidence, in the gentle yet general murmur, of content and tranquil enjoyment. Numbers amongst our military swarm were in like manner humming their martial songs, or joining in glees, the rough melody of which was in perfect unison with the place and season.

We had many interesting peeps of the country, by snatches, as we wound up the long ascent; but, standing upon the large open platform of the citadel, and looking down from its lofty breastwork, a scene of luxuriance and varied beauty was presented, as striking in its way as the locality I have been attempting to describe. The town of Coblenz, occupying a square area, in which each church, street, and most insignificant object was distinctly developed, lay just across the Rhine, its eastern boundary; while north-west and west it is washed by the Moselle, which falls into the other at the angle of the town opposite Ehrenbreitstein, and whose previous course might be traced for some miles, winding beautifully through the landscape, and affording, together with the more expansive and equally sinuous waters of the great river, a truly magnificent feature of the panorama. Our station appeared connected with the city by the bridge of boats before mentioned, while the Moselle is crossed just above its disemboguement by a fine stone bridge of thirteen arches. Coblenz (confluentia) has its name from the meeting of the waters.

The country beyond the rivers exhibits a rich champaign for a considerable extent, which many little towns and villages, glistening with their white dwellings and tapering spires, tend to diversify and enliven. Distant irregular ranges of high land, in the direction of France, terminate this part of the view. In the same quarter, south of Coblenz and overhanging the Rhine, stand the hill and fortress of Chartreuse; and further up is a loftier ridge, whose thickly-wooded sides, that appeared to rise abruptly from the river, were now screened from the rays of a fine setting sun, and showed, in gradually lessening tints of blue, their imperfectly limned features; rendering the gleamy roofs and still more glowing waters additionally brilliant by the contrast. The other angle of land formed by the two rivers is slightly elevated, and furnished with some smaller forts. The gables of Ehrenbreitstein were at our feet.

While we continued gazing, mute and motionless, as if spell-bound at our several stations, a bright haze, in hue between the topaz and the amethyst, gradually overspread the whole, like a shining exhalation, giving the effect of one of those warmly-tinted media, which Claude and our Turner so especially love to portray; while the sun, arrayed in his richest solstitial mantle, was fast approaching, but had not yet begun to sink below, the horizon.