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CHAP.  XVI.

At Mayence I embarked on the Rhine for Cologne (above 100 English miles distant), to see the banks of a river so highly celebrated.  Our company in the boat was not numerous, and would have been sufficiently agreeable, but for the continual political rhapsodies of two Frenchmen, one of whom was an officer, and spoke with confidence of recovering all the conquests of France.  These Frenchmen, in spite of the remonstrances of the Germans present, insisted, like the physicians in Moliere, that they best knew what was for their good, and that they (the Germans) mast be again united to France.  One of these politicians asked me, if I did not think that Talleyrand would demand the left bank of the Rhine, as essential to France, at the congress of Vienna.  I answered, I did not think it was probable he would ask for countries which France had so recently relinquished, nor was it to be expected that the Allies would, to oblige him, depart from their principle of restraining France within those boundaries, which had, for centuries, been found as extensive as were consistent with the tranquillity of the rest of Europe; and that, for my own part, I could not conceive the acquisition of those provinces to be essential to France, which had never been more prosperous than at a period when she formed no pretensions to so great an aggrandizement.

Waving any further discussions on a subject which the vanity of these gentlemen would have extended ad infinitum, or, at least, longer than I wished, I left them to their own lucubrations, and went on deck to contemplate the grandeur of the scenery which surrounded us, and which was reflected in the transparent waters of the Rhine.  The river here resembles a succession of lakes, and is surrounded in many places by such lofty mountains, that I was often at a loss to guess on which side we should find an opening to continue our course.  The country along the Rhine is considered as one of the richest districts in Europe; it abounds with considerable towns, and with villages which, in other countries, would be considered as towns.  Almost every eminence is crowned with an ancient castle, and there is scarcely a reach of the river which does not exhibit some ruin in the boldest situation that can be imagined.  The houses too being mostly white, and covered with blue slates, add considerably to the beauty of the scene.

The Tour de Souris is situated on an island near the Gulph of Bingerlock, where the river presents a curious appearance, being extremely agitated by hidden rocks, and the different currents are very violent.  We dined at Bingen, where the Noh falls into the Rhine.  The mountains of Niederwald cast a considerable shade around, and the mixture of woods and vineyards is highly picturesque, but the vines being mostly blighted, had this year the same autumnal tint as the trees.  In this country, the vine is almost the only product of the soil, and the inhabitants, who subsist chiefly by it, now behold with regret its withered state, and are melancholy and inactive, instead of being engaged in the pleasing cares of the vintage.