but their ardor and numbers at length compelled the Austrians to retire into Germany, leaving behind them ten thousand of their comrades, killed or taken prisoners, in the short space of three days; and soon afterwards a detachment of the French army, under the command of general Moreau, entered Coblentz as victors, Cologne being already in their possession, and Mainz, or Mayence, the only city in the possession of the allies on the left bank of the Rhine.

"I was informed by some French officers who were in the boat with me, that the society in Coblentz was very elegant; that a number of families lived in splendour; and also, that Buonaparte had continued with some modifications the colleges, and most of the public institutions, which the electors of Treves had at various times established in that city. The vast and celebrated monastery, called in German Karthaus, or La Chartreuse, situated on a high mountain, in the neigh bourhood to the west of Coblentz, from which the countries of Treves, Mayence, Cologne, Darmstadt, d'Anspach, and Wied, may be seen, is converted into an observatory, and a place of very agreeable recreation.

"Upon my return, in descending the Rhine, I had an opportunity of more closely seeing Ehrenbreitstein, which I was enabled to do from the following circumstance: the Rhine schuyt was uncommonly crowded, and late in the evening we arrived at a hamlet on the right bank of the river to sleep: the house in which we were to pass the night was not able to furnish beds more than barely sufficient for the ladies on board, which at once determined a French officer, one of the party, who had not placed his head upon a pillow for three preceding nights,

and who was a wretched invalid, apparently in the last stage of a decline, to hunt amongst the cottagers for a fidler, to whose miserable sounds this epitome of his nation, with several other officers and petty German merchants, danced till the dawn of day, pour passer le tems, and the boat was ready to proceed. Having found by moon-light a nook in a peasant's nest, in the most romantic situation under heaven, I lay down, and never awoke till an hour after the boat had departed, in which dilemma I was obliged to hire a punt with two paddles, and by the assistance of a couple of sturdy pea sants overtook the passage-boat, which lay off Coblentz, during which I visited Ehrenbreitstein. At its base there is a pretty town and an excellent hotel; opposite to the palace is a walk of limes, close to which was moored the electoral state yacht, or barge, in shape and size resembling our Lord Mayor's, bet not quite so gaudy. The ascent to this stupendous rock, which is eight hundred feet in a perpendicular line above the level of the river, is by a very narrow, steep, and winding path: the noble fortifications on its sides, and the castles, arsenals, barracks, and batteries upon its summit, from whence the eye can be hold the mountains of Lorraine, the meanders of the Rhine, and the countries through which it flows to a vast distance, and from which the beholder might almost think he could step into the clouds, are all roofless and dismantled. The citadel was erected by the order of the Prince Bishop Herman Hillinus, in the 12th century, upon the ruins of an ancient Roman building.

"In the centre of the square, or parade upon the top, was formerly mounted the celebrated cannon, called the Griffon,' as well known to

the

the Germans as that called 'Queen Anne's pocket-piece' is to the English. The former merits the national pride which it has excited. It was cast at Frankfort by the order of the elector, Richard Greifenklau, weighing thirty thousand pounds, and was capable of projecting a ball of one hundred and eighty pounds, to a distance of sixteen miles. Close to the touch-hole there was the following inscription: Vogel Greif heis ich, meinem gnadigen herrn von Trier dien ich, wo er mich heist gewanten, da will ich Thoren und mauren Zerspalten. Simon gos mich, 1528.' In English-Griffon is my name, I serve my gracious master of Treves, I shatter gates and walls, whenever he commands me to exert my force. Simon cast me, 1528.' This rock was supplied with water from a well 280 feet deep, which occupied three years in digging, in the year 1481, and has a subterranean communication with Coblentz, dug out of the solid rock: the fortress was justly deemed, when properly garrisoned, impregnable. In the time of the Swedish war, the attacks of eighty thousand French troops on the southern side of it, and of forty thousand on the northeru, could make no impression upon it; however, still maintaining its invulnerable character, it was des tined to bend to a foe, before which all local advantage is useless, and all enterprise unavailing after bravely sustaining a blockade for a whole year, by the troops of the French republic, the garrison having endured with the greatest fortitude almost every description of privation and misery, were obliged to surrender to famine, and capitulated on the 28th January, 1799; soon after which the French covered this mighty rock with the ruins of those wonderful fortifications, which had

employed the skill of the ablest engineer to complete, and which, but for the want of food, would have defied the force of her assailing enemy to the end of time. The thal, or valley below, is justly celebrated for its fertility and romantic beauty,

"Soon after our departure from Coblentz, we passed the island of Obewerth; and a little further on, on our left, the disemboguement of the river Lahn, which flows between two ancient and picturesque towns, called the Upper and Lower Lahn steins, where the line forms a considerable curve, and expands into the resemblance of a placid lake, adorned with two vast mountains, one crowned with a hoary watch tower, and the base of the other half encircled by a village, and the whole adorned by the captivating combinations of forest scenery, rich meadows, and hanging vineyards and orchards, amidst which, half embosomed in their foliage, the peasant's peaceful dwelling every now and then gladdened the eye. This lovely view was soon exchanged for one of gloomy magnificence; before we reached Boppart, we entered a melancholy defile of barren and rugged rocks, rising perpendi cularly from the river to an immense height, and throwing a shade and horror over the whole scene; here all was silent, and no traces of man were to be found but in a few dispersed fishermen's huts, and crucifixes. Fear and superstition, when the day has gone down, and-the stars are few,' have long filled every cave with banditti, and every solitary recess with apparitions.

"In the course of my passage I frequently, when the boat came very near the land, sprung on shore with two or three other passengers, and varied the scene by walking

02.

along

along the banks for a mile or two, and during these excursions Lad frequently an opportunity of acrairing the astonishing activity and genius of the French, who have, since they became masters of the left bank of the Rhine, nearly finished one of the finest roads in the world, extending from Mayence to Cologne, in the course of which they have cut through many rocks impending over the river, and triumphed over some of the most formidable obsta

cles Nature could present to the achievement of so wonderful a design. This magnificent undertaking, worthy of Rome in the most shining periods of her history, was executed by the French troops, who, under the direction of able engineers, preferred leaving these monuments of indefatigable toil and elevated enterprise, to passing their time, during the cessation of arms, in towns and barracks, in a state of indolence and inutility.

"The sombre spires of Boppart, surrounded by its black wall and towers, presented a melancholy appearance to the eye, relieved by the rich foliage of the trees in its vici

nity, and the mountains behind it irregularly intersected with terraces covered with vines to their very summits. The antiquity of this city is very great; it was one of the fifty places of defence erected on the banks of the Rhine by Drusus Germanicus, and in the middle ages was an imperial city.

"Not far from Boppart we say, on the right bank of the river, a procession of nuns and friars returning to a convent, the belfry of which just poéped above a noble avenue of walnut-trees; they were singing, and their voices increased the solema effect of the surrounding scenery. We put up for the night at a little village, amid mountains half covered with vineyards, tufted with forests, and checquered with convents and ruined castles. The evening was stormy, and a full moon occasion. ally brightened the scene: frequently we were enveloped in solemn gloom,

When the broken arches are as black as right,

When the cold light's uncertain show'r, And each shafted Oriel glimmers white, Streams on the ruin'd central tow'r.

Lay of the last Minetrel.

through a seven years' war, contending with the choicest troops of Europe, and gaining them independence, he resigned his commission to that Congress which appointed him their commander in chief, and retired to the peaceful shades of Mount Vernon. A short time only was he allowed for the enjoyment of tranquillity and domestic pleasures; for, on

the

the formation of the federal constitation, he was called, by the unaninous voice of the delegates who ratified that compact on behalf of their fellow citizens, to fill the first post in the executive department of the state. For his military services he had already disclaimed pecuniary recompence, requesting his country to discharge only those expences which the emergencies of war had incurred. The office of the president is by law limited to the term of four years, at the expiration of which time, when Washington again looked forward for the enjoyment of his favourite retirement, his further services were a second time called for more loudly and unanimously than before. Four years more he devoted to the service of his country; m which time he beheld the foundation of the federal city, the permanent seat of government; and he survived to see the legislators of America convened at the capitol.

"It was about this time that the French faction began to raise its clamors, which president Washington soon quelled, by his energetic measures; but the disaffected in secret reviled him for saving their country from the merciless fangs of a set of monsters, who would have enslaved them, under the specious pretext of liberality and equality.

"They insinuated that he had pitched on a spot for the seat of government near to his estate of Vernon, in order to inhance its value, though they well knew that his private property was ten-fold greater than his private expences. His choice, I believe, was directed to one object only; the capital is built in the centre of the United States.

"The entrance, or avenues, as they are pompously called, which lead to the American seat of government,

are the worst roads I passed in the country; and I appeal to every citi zen who has been unlucky ene:gh to travel the stages north and south leading to the city, for the truth of the assertion. I particolarly allode to the mail stage road from Bladensburg to Washington, and from thence to Alexandria. In the winter season, during the sitting of Congress, every turn of your waggon wheel (for I must again observe, that there is no such thing in the country as what we call a stage. coach, or a post-chaise), is for many miles attended with danger. The roads are never repaired; deep ruts, rocks, and stumps of trees, every minute impede your progress, and often incaten your limbs with dislocation.

"Arrived at the city, you are struck with its grotesque appearance. In one view from-the capi tol hill, the eye fixes upon a row of uniform houses, ten or twelve in number, while it faintly discovers the adjacent tenements to be miserable wooden structures, consisting, when you approach them, of two or three JOODIS one above another. Again, you see the hotel, which was vauntingly promised, on laying the foundation, to rival the large inns in England. This, like every other private adventure, failed: the walls and the roof remain, but not a window! and, instead of accommodating the members of Congress, and travellers of distinction, as proposed, a number of the lowest order of Irish have long held the title of naked possession, from which, were it ever to become an object, it would be difficult to eject them Turning the eye, a well finished edifice presents itself, surrounded by lofty trees, which never felt the stroke of the