blown to, and she, miserable woman, had stolen to the bed of her (A——­’s) maid, whom she had implored to give her shelter and protection for the night!  We went in a body to look at the chapel, after breakfast, and it was admitted all round, that it was well suited to produce a sensation, in a thunder-storm, of a dark night, and that it was no wonder Jetty’s bed-fellow had been frightened.  But now everything was calm and peaceful.  The glass hung in fragments about the leaden sashes; the chair and priere-dieu of the lady abbess had altogether an innocent and comfortable air, and the images, of which there were several, as horrible as a bungling workman and a bloody imagination could produce, though of a suffering appearance, were really insensible to pain.  While we were making this reconnoissance a bugle sounded on the main, and looking out, we saw the Oberwinter postilion coming round the nearest bend in the river.  On this hint, we took our leave of the island, not forgetting to apply a little of the universal salve to the bruised spirit of the old woman whose dread of thunder had caused her to pass so comfortless a night.

The day was before us, and we went leisurely up the stream, determined to profit by events.  The old castles crowned every height, as you know, and as we had the carriage filled with maps and books, we enjoyed every foot of this remarkable road.  At Andernach we stopped to examine the ruins of the palace of the Kings of Austrasia, of whom you have heard before.  The remains are considerable, and some parts of the walls would still admit of being restored.  The palace has outlasted not only the kingdom, but almost its history.  This edifice was partly built of a reddish freestone, very like that which is so much used in New York, a material that abounds on the Rhine.

Between Andernach and Coblentz the road passes over a broad plain, at some little distance from the river, though the latter is usually in sight.  It may give you some idea of its breadth, if I tell you that as we approached Neuwied, it became a disputed point in the carriage, whether the stream flowed between us and the town, or not.  Still the Rhine is a mighty river, and even imposing, when one contemplates its steady flow, and remembers its great length.  It is particularly low at present, and is less beautiful than last year, the colours of the water being more common-place than usual.

It was still early, though we had loitered a good deal by the way, to study views and examine ruins, when we drew near the fort-environed town of Coblentz.  The bridge across the Moselle was soon passed, and we again found ourselves in this important station.  The territory opposite the city belongs to the duchy of Nassau, but enough has been ceded to the King of Prussia to enable him to erect the celebrated Ehrenbreitstein, which is one of the strongest forts in the world, occupying the summit of a rocky height, whose base is washed