8

MAYENCE.

PRESENT GOVERNMENT.

strongest party. Mayence and the district extending along the banks of the Rhine from Bingen to Worms, of which it is the Capital, are now under the civil government of the Grand Duke of Hesse's Council of Regency, headed by a President. The French governed the whole department by a Prefect, a Sub-Prefect, and one or two Sub-Officers; but German form employs about forty Counsellors of Regency, bailiffs, upper bailiffs, and other statesmen in detail, who pocket salaries, and clog the movements of government. The people of the Province, are in general, however, contented with their new Sovereign; and the citizens would be more so if they were not incommoded by the troops; but town's people and rustics, all look back to the mild rule of the Ecclesiastical Princes, as to bright days almost forgotten in the changing calamities which have succeeded them. "Parbleu, alors nous étions bien," exclaimed a dirty désœuvré citizen, whose drawling Germanized French showed that, he had belonged to the old régime. The liberal government of the Grand Duke, however, which has wisely left the Courts of Justice,

MAYENCE.

PUBLIC FEELING.

6

trial by jury, the Code Napoleon, and other French improvements on the footing he found them with slight modifications, gives pretty general satisfaction. The inhabitants of Mayence, and the whole Province, are of course chiefly Catholics; but though now subject to a Protestant Prince, they have nothing to complain of on the score of religion they are as well off as under the French. Their religion is no longer an aristocratical and splendid one- the days of luxurious Chapters are gone bybut they have the freest toleration and every privilege of Protestants-their pastors and schools are upon an equal footing. In short, the new Hessians on this side the Rhine are so well contented with their condition, that they have refused to sign the general Address to the Diet for the restoration of the States asserting that they have every reason to hope for what is just from a Prince who has shown himself so liberally disposed towards them. This is the conduct, however, of green politicians, who have not yet learnt to appreciate security for the future as well as present comfort.

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MAYENCE. CATHEDRAL.

massy

The red stone Towers and pinnacles of the Cathedral are venerable objects in a dirty wretched square in the centre of the town, filled with the barrows and baskets of a littering market, and thronged with passengers of all qualities. The meanness of the lower ranks, the white Austrian, and the blue Prussian, uniforms, here and there a prowling gendarme, are, however, the predominant features. The Cathedral has nothing very striking in its architecture beyond a heavy massive grandeur; and after the superb Gothic edifices of the Netherlands it is by no means remarkable. It contains some interesting and handsome monuments of the Electors, in whose arms the old Sacristan begged us to remark the wheel taken from the first Elector, who exercised the profession of a wheel-wright. Besides Albert of Brandenburg and other men of celebrity, Fastrada, the wife of Charlemagne, is buried here, and honoured by an inscription, which I was not linguist enough to decypher. We did not omit paying due respect to the small stone erected to Henry Frauenlob, Anglice, "Praise the Ladies," the old Minnesinger and Canon, whose

MAYENCE. OLD PRINTERS.

11

surname vouches for the gallantry of his poems. The fair Ladies of Mayence showed their appreciation of their Bard by bearing him to his Grave, and inundating his bier with tears and red wine.

You know the celebrity which Mayence has acquired by the invention of Printing. The scite of Gutenberg's, the Printer's house, is now not unappropriately occupied by the Casino and the Cabinet de Lecture, while Faust's is degraded into a low inn. Just at the invention of Printing broke out the terrible war for the Electorate between Didier of Isenbourg and Adolphus of Nassau. The printers were obliged, among others, to emigrate, and this helped to spread the infant art among the cities of Germany.

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CROSS THE RHINE.

CASSEL.

LETTER II.

WE crossed the Rhine by the fine bridge of boats from Mayence to Cassel, a small but fortified place, where neat new houses are starting from the black ruins of the last bombardment. The Rhine has here a majestic appearance: it is at least half a mile broad, and its stately bed lies before

the eye

eye for a considerable reach each way. Opposite Mayence, the Main unites its tranquil stream, which any where but by the side of the Rhine would be a noble river. Both sides of the Rhine are now once more

German; but it is not till you have passed the river that you begin to feel yourself fairly in Germany. As far as Mayence, francs and Napoleons are more in circulation than the German money; but the toll is demanded on the opposite side in kreutzers, a little coin, sixty of which make a florin. At Mayence you find French