AGEICULTUEE ON THE RHINE, 



CHAPTER I. 



Amongst the many thousands who yearly flock to the 

 banks of the Rhine there are not a few for whom the 

 social activity, the condition, the wants and wishes, of the 

 })eople they mingle with are as attractive objects as the 

 picturesque scenery and romantic legends of the far- 

 famed river. The figures in the landscape are its pro- 

 minent feature for the deeper observer. For such tra- 

 vellers the following volume is written, for from such 

 its author does not fear to be rebuked because he reads a 

 moral in 



" The noble arch in proud decay," 

 where others choose only to enjoy its scenic effect. Nor 

 does he anticipate from them the supposition that be- 

 cause he points to the effects of shady and sunny sites on 

 the productions of the soil, he has no soul for the glow- 

 ing tints of the sunlit stream, or the majestic gloom with 

 which night invests the precipices that overhang it. 

 Having himself found leisure both to enjoy the beauties 

 with which nature has clothed this enchanting river, and 

 to commune with those who dwell upon its banks, he 

 deems it no superfluous task to invite any who have taste 

 or leisure to study more than scenery as they pass along ; 

 to inquire with him respecting the account to which the 



B 



