On the summit of the mountain overlooking Bacharach are the ivycovered ruins of Castle Stahleck, which was the residence of the Counts Palatine in the twelfth century.

Rhein."

One of the most beautiful and picturesque spots on the Rhine is the "Pfalz im Rhein " a peculiar ship-shaped structure in the middle of The "Pfalz im the river with the town of Caub on the right bank, and the castle Gutenfels rising high up in the background. Like the Mouse Tower at Bingen the Pfalz seems to have been built in feudal times to serve as a watch-tower, in order that the ruler of the district might discover and exact toll from all boats that passed. Legend of course accounts for its origin in different ways. According to one story the peculiar old structure became the home of each newly born Count Palatine, that is to say, custom made it necessary that the Count Palatine should always be born in this romantic, isolated spot. It was here that Marshal Blücher constructed a bridge over the Rhine and crossed it with his army on his way to join the Duke of Wellington just before the battle of Waterloo.

In the romantic Sweizerthal (Swiss Valley) that runs up from the Rhine just behind the Lorelei, we come into a veritable land of fairy. The ruins of Burg Reichenberg are situated in this truly Alpine valley, and just behind the hills of Reichenberg are the remains of an ancient village" of The village "of the Barber's" with which a very interesting legend is connected. It the barber's.” tells how a Wisper fairy with the help of a giant thwarted a scheme of the devil to shave off the Emperor Barbarossa's beard during a brief sojourn of the emperor at Bacharach.

Many are the interesting legends which cluster around the beautiful villages of St. Goar and St. Goarhausen, and the romantic castles overlooking them-Rheinfels, the Cat, and the Mouse. Rheinfels is probably the most imposing ruin on the Rhine, that is of those that remain unrestored. Its foundation dates back to the thirteenth century and it stood the storms of time until it was finally destroyed during the French revolution.

A very interesting institution of St. Goar is the so-called Hänselorden, which derived its name from the curious method of initiation (Hänseln) connected with it. The society is said to have originated under Charlemagne, and its customs were observed until steamboat traffic was opened in 1827. "Every traveler who visited the town for the first time was attached to a ring in the wall of the custom-house, and obliged to submit to the water or the wine ordeal. If the former was selected a good ducking was the result; the pleasant alternative consisted in drinking a goblet of wine to the memory of Charlemagne, the Queen of England, the reigning prince, and the members of the society which enforced obedience to the custom. The traveler was then invested with the rights of a member of the society, and finally had to make a donation to the poor and enter his name in the Hänselbuch.

The Cat and the Mouse (the latter derisively so-called by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, as compared with their much larger Cat) stare at each other in ruins from opposite sides of the Rhine. An old well in the ruins of the Mouse which is near the village of Welmich, is associated with many gruesome stories about one of the lords of Falkenstein. This lord lived in the fourteenth century and had the rather disagreeable habit of

The lord of
Falkenstein.

dropping such of his vassals or even casual passers-by, as he saw fit, into the well. The souls of his victims emerging from purgatory came back, it was believed, and haunted the castle. On one occasion the lord of the castle appropriated a very precious silver bell from the steeple of the chapel in Welmich, and when the prior came in his sacred robes to demand it back again, Falkenstein seized upon him and threw both prior and bell into the well. A few days after this the Burgrave fell ill and died. The physician who attended upon him "heard with awe and anguish the tolling of the silver bell issue from the depths of the earth" on the day before Falkenstein died. Every year since the prince's death, at the exact hour of his demise (on the night of January 18th) the strokes of the bell may be heard distinctly under the mountains.

The legend connected with the castles Sternberg and Liebenstein - or the Brothers, as they are popularly called is of the love of two brothers for the same beautiful maiden. One version of the story is told by the poet Heine in an exquisite little poem, "The Hostile Brothers":

"Yonder on the mountain summit,

Lies the castle wrapped in night;

In the valley gleam the sparkles

Struck from clashing swords in fight, etc."

At Coblentz, situated near the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, the valley gradually becomes broader and the mountains less rugged. On the opposite side of the Rhine from Coblentz, but really belonging to it, lies the magnificent but sombre castle of Ehrenbreitstein. The castle, now used for military fortification and prison, is situated more than three hundred feet above the Rhine. This mountain is said to have been crowned by a castle called Ehrenbreitstein as early as the middle of the seventh century.

Between Coblentz and Cologne, "the holy city," are many, many objects that are full of beauty and romantic interest, and which have been hallowed by literary and religious associations. No part of the Rhine has probably played a greater part in German literature than the romantic

stretch above Bonn, which embraces the castle Drachenfels* (according to legend the original home of the struggle between Siegfried and the dragon) and Rolandseck, which a knight named Roland (not the hero of Roncesvalles) erected with a large window looking out upon the cloister of Nonnenwerth, situated upon an island in the Rhine, whence he could every day see the sweet maiden Hildegunde, whom he loved but could not claim as his own. Schiller has used the story of Roland and Hildegunde as the basis of his beautiful poem, Ritter Toggenburg.

One could easily write a book about Apollinarisberg and its patron saint, Apollinaris, the Marksburg, Godesberg, Bonn with its splendid university, and Cologne with its magnificent cathedral containing the shrine of the Three Wise Men of the East, with a half-dozen other churches equal in interest almost to the cathedral itself, and with hundreds of objects of interest to the curious tourist. The stately, imposing cathedral is a conspicuous object for miles in every direction from Cologne, The Cologne and the prayer uttered by Wordsworth in the fine sonnet,

"O for the help of angels to complete

This temple "

has long since been fulfilled.

cathedral.

The Rhine below Cologne grows considerably broader, and the country gradually becomes level in every direction and uninteresting as far as natural scenery is concerned. But the towns and cities along the banks of the river continue to be the homes of innumerable legends and myths. One of these cities of the lower Rhine was, moreover, the virtual center of the civilized world for several centuries in the early middle ages. That was Aix-la-Chapelle, the ancient capital of the Emperor Charlemagne, where all the emperors were crowned for several centuries after Charlemagne. The chair is still preserved in the Hochmünster in which thirtysix emperors, including Frederick Barbarossa, were crowned. The magnificent tomb of Charlemagne containing a sarcophagus of the great emperor himself sitting upright in the throne chair remained intact till it was partially destroyed by Barbarossa during the twelfth century. The cathedral still preserves many relics which have become sacred because of their connection with Charlemagne. Below Aix, and just after the Rhine passes out of Germany into Holland, there are several small towns. with which many beautiful stories are connected. Kevlaer, the city of pilgrims, has been excellently described by Heine in his poem, "The The city of Pilgrimage to Kevlaer." Xanten was the capital of Siegmund, and the pilgrims. birthplace of Siegfried.

The part of the Rhine below Aix which is of most romantic interest, is Nymwegen and the Duchy of Cleves. This region is almost sacred because of its association with Lohengrin, the Swan Knight, who was also a guardian of the Holy Grail with King Parsifal in the distant temple of Montsalvat. The story of Lohengrin coming from his sacred and