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descended to the vault containing the tun. This huge cask, which occupies an entire cellar, is adjusted in a peculiar manner on its side, and the upper part is covered by a platform with a rail, to which visitors ascend by a stair. A trap-door in the platform may be called the bung to this monstrous vessel, and there exist means for drawing off the liquor at the end, as in an ordinary butt. According to the statement of the person who shews, and seems to be the guardian of the tun, it measures 33 feet in length by 24 in diameter, and is capable of containing 283,000 bottles, or about 800 hogsheads. It was constructed by one of the former Lords of Heidelberg, for the purpose of holding wine, and its size was intended to be emblematic of the overflowing abundance of the vintages in the beautiful country around. It has not been used since 1769, or shortly after the conflagration which rendered the castle desolate. The view from the projecting bulwarks of the castle across the Vale of the Neckar, though exceedingly grand, is inferior to that obtained from a projection of the hill above, whence the eye stretches over the extensive Valley of the Upper Rhine, and is only interrupted by the Vosges mountains in France, undulating along the western horizon.

From Mannheim and Frankfort, the tourist may proceed by railway to Switzerland, or he may vary his route homeward by taking the railway from Strasburg to Paris. A still greater accommodation consists in a line of railway direct from Mannheim into France; this latter line strikes the Strasburg and Paris line at Metz, and materially shortens the route from the banks of the Rhine to the French metropolis.

We may now, in conclusion, give a short account of

THE LOWER RHINE.

The Rhine, below Cologne, rolls onward in a massive, unbroken current through alluvial meadows and corn-fields, and boasts none of that picturesque character which distinguishes it in its upper parts. In this portion, it is navigated without difficulty by steamers and sailing-vessels, and by this means a certain traffic is carried on between Cologne and the ports in Holland.

The

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The country on both banks of the river belongs to Prussia; and here, in the duchy of Berg, there are some towns of note. chief of these, on the right bank, is Düsseldorf, which possesses the features of a provincial capital. The streets are spacious, and lined with rows of trees, which have an agreeable effect. former times, the city was walled for defence; but all the fortifications have been removed, much to the benefit of the place; for the site of the ramparts has been levelled, and laid out with charming walks in the landscape style of gardening. Some years ago, the town contained one of the finest collections of pictures in Germany; the pictures are now removed to Munich, in Bavaria;

but latterly there has sprung up a school of historical painting, which has already attained considerable celebrity. Düsseldorf is on the line of railway from Deutz to Hanover and Hamburg, and it has also railway communication with Elberfeld, a place in which there are large cotton-factories and dye-works. So celebrated are these dye-works for certain colours, that cotton-yarns are sent from Great Britain to be dyed at them. In the neighbourhood of Düsseldorf and Elberfeld, the country is populous, and has a thriving appearance. This district, including certain adjoining territories, formed part of the kingdom of Westphalia.

Further down the Rhine, on the same side, and at the junction with the Lippe, stands the old fortified town of Wesel, which possesses some historical interest. Here steamers touch in passing. Still lower down, on the right bank, is Emmerich. Nearly opposite, we see, at a short distance from the river, the towers of the ancient city of Cleves, formerly the capital of the dukedom of Cleves. Emmerich and Cleves are the last Prussian towns. Immediately on passing them, we enter Holland.

A short way below Emmerich, we arrive at the spot where the Rhine breaks into branches, and by different channels reaches the sea; in fact, here may be said to commence the delta of the Rhine, which, like all other deltas, is a low and flat stretch of land, so little relieved by any undulation, that but for banking, the river would disperse itself over a wide tract of country, and be lost in marshes and sands before arriving at the ocean. The branch thrown off on the west is called the Waal; that on the east, still called the Rhine, sends off a branch named the New Yssel, which, after having joined the Old Yssel, takes the name of Over-Yssel, and is emptied into the Zuiderzee. This eastern branch of the Rhine afterwards divides into two branches; one of which, the chief continuation of the river, is called the Leck, and joins the Meuse an important river, having its rise in France, and flowing through Belgium by Namur and Liege. The name Meuse, takes the form of Maas on the river flowing through Holland. Only in the case of one small branch does the name of Rhine continue onward to the sea. This branch is usually called the Old Rhine; with the appearance of a canal, it flows past Utrecht and Leyden, and falls into the ocean at Katwick. Formerly, this obscure branch of the great river disappeared amidst the marshes and downs on the sea-coast. Now, it is pent up artificially, and allowed to issue into the sea at low-water by means of a stupendous sluice, the work of a French engineer.

We now return to the primary branch of the Rhine, called the Waal. This branch, a fine large river in itself, and of much importance to navigation, has several interesting towns on its banks. One of these is Nemeguen, or, as it is often called, Nymvegen. It is a strongly fortified place on the Dutch frontier, and occupies a commanding position on the left bank of the Waal. It will be recollected that Nemeguen was the scene of warlike operations during

the hard winter of 1794. The place was besieged by the French republican army under General Pichegru; and to relieve the allied forces, the Duke of York, with an army of 30,000 men, conducted a brilliant attack on the French, but it was attended by no marked success. Nemeguen was evacuated, and fell into the hands of the French, who soon after completed the conquest of Holland by crossing the Waal, and other branches of the Rhine, on the icean exploit that astonished Europe, and gave an impetus to the encroachments of the French Republic.

Shortly after the union of the Waal and the Maas, the river diverges into a number of cross branches enclosing islands, on one of which stands the ancient town of Dort, or Dordrecht. Some of these branches unite with the Leck; and one of them, the Maas, is the river on which the city of Rotterdam has been built. A few miles below Rotterdam, the Maas passes Schiedam, so celebrated for its manufacture of the kind of gin called Hollands. Further down, it joins the sea. It is principally by this channel that steam-boats and sailing-vessels ascend the river, to which we are now obliged to bid farewell:

Adieu to thee, fair Rhine! How long delighted
The stranger fain would linger on his way!
Thine is a scene alike where souls united

Or lonely Contemplation thus might stray;
And could the ceaseless vultures cease to prey
On self-condemning bosoms, it were here,
Where Nature, nor too sombre nor too gay,
Wild but not rude, awful yet not austere,
Is to the mellow earth as Autumn to the year.

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MINA BLOCK: THE FACE-MODEL. »>

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Y poor Mina,' said sickly Madame Block to her little daughter, who was diligently working in what they call English embroidery, whence do you get these ideas of grandeur and luxury? I am sure, not from me. If I were taken from you, your situation in life would indeed be gloomy; and though you may learn how to gain a precarious livelihood by your needle, it will be necessary to suppress such ambitious longings. Look around, and you will see all the property I shall be able to leave you. What is its value? Nothing.'

Mina raised her dark expressive eyes, and ran them over the poor furniture of the humble apartment, lightly, almost contemptuously, until they fell on a mirror that still retained sufficient polish to reflect one of the most lovely countenances ever framed by the Creator. She gazed at herself for awhile, and then pointing with her needle, somewhat shamefacedly, it is true, replied: "I see my fortune there.'

And who has told you that wealth is the inheritance of beauty?"

'I feel it, mamma; and you must know it. A few of the fine ladies of Blois are, they say, nearly as beautiful as I am; but can you find such a face as that among the peasants and the work women?'

No. 6.

1

Madame Block was somewhat alarmed at finding this train of thought running in her daughter's head; yet she endeavoured to carry on the dialogue calmly, as if she was discussing a mere philosophical problem.

Even if your observation, child, be true, it may all be accident; but you do not remember that at least among our workwomen many are to be found that were beautiful as children, but have become disfigured by time and labour. Besides, those that are in any way remarkable, are often induced to go to Paris'

'Yes; and become great ladies there!' cried Mina. Felicie Pinson told me the story of her cousin Caroline, who went to the great city in sabots, and was rolling in her carriage with a fine white silk bonnet, in the place of her thirty-sou cap, before three months were over.'

'Felicie is a bad friend for you; and you shall see her no more. She told the truth, but only part of the truth. Caroline died in an hospital last year. However, this is not the question. You say that beauty must bring wealth. Do you imagine, then, that I have not been beautiful in my time? Go to that drawer, and bring me a little casket you will find.'

Mina, who seemed surprised at the serious turn the dialogue was taking, obeyed; and presently Madame Block held in her hands an old casket, still bearing vestiges of mother-of-pearl ornaments. Taking a small key from a drawer of her worktable, she opened it, with many signs of emotion, and from among several objects, selected a miniature-case, double, one side containing the portrait of a very fine young man of military appearance, the other of Madame Block herself.

Certainly, the comparison of that most exquisite countenance with the revelations of almost squalid poverty with which the room abounded, should at once have destroyed Mina's theory; but we are not always convinced, even by the evidence of our senses, of the falsehood of a long-cherished prejudice. Mina believed, because she wished to believe, that a beautiful, graceful being as she was, could never have been intended to be defiled and distorted in a struggle with the miseries of this world. Of moral deformity she knew nothing, as how should she? But when she looked in her mirror, and saw that she was fair, she believed herself appointed to hold some bright position on this earth, giving and receiving light from all around. Bending over her mother's picture, therefore, she sought to discover in it some refuge from conviction, and at length exclaimed: Yes, mamma, you were beautiful, as you are now to me; but why that look of sorrow, that strange sadness in the eyes? Perhaps you might have been happy had you willed it, as I will it.'

'It is true, Mina, that I might have chosen what the world calls happiness. I might have been rich now, with a fine house, a carriage, a troop of servants

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