amer to
Antwerp, go up to Brussels by the rail-road; from thence you will start
for Cologne by the route of Namur and Liege through Waterloo; and I
rather expect that many will prefer the banks of the _Meuse_ to the
Rhine. I know nothing more beautiful than the road from Namur as far as
Chaude Fontaine, although compared to the Rhine it is on a miniature
scale. From Liege to Aix-la-Chapelle, and from thence to Cologne. Go
up the Rhine by land as far as Mayence, and then you may do as you
please. When you are coming back, descend by the steam-boats; for then
you go with the stream and with great rapidity, and arrive in good time
at the towns where they stop. You will then have seen the Rhine by land
and by water.

At present the bubble is at its height; but it will burst by-and-by.
The English are lining the banks of the Rhine with gold, and receive
insult and abuse in exchange. I have been much amused with a young
countryman who has come up in the steamer with me. Not able to speak a
word of French or German, he is pillaged every hour of the day; but if
he could speak, he has no idea of the value of his money. He pulls out
his purse, and the waiters help themselves--very _plentifully_, I may
safely add. What he has come for it is difficult to say: not for the
picturesque, for he slept the whole time between Cologne and Mayence--
that is, all the time that was not occupied by eating and drinking. His
only object appears to be to try the Rhenish wines. He has tried all
upon the _Wein Presen_. He called for a bottle of the best; they gave
him one not on the _carte_, and charged him exactly one pound sterling
for the bottle. He is a generous fellow; he sits at the table with his
bottle before him, and invites every man to partake of it. And he found
plenty on board who were willing to oblige him.

"Capital wine, an't it?" said he to a Frenchman who drank his wine, but
did not understand a word of English.

"A votre sante, Monsieur," replied the Frenchman.

"I say, what wine do you call it?"

"C'est exquis, Monsieur," replied the Frenchman.

"Eskey, is it? You, waiter, bring us another bottle of eskey."

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

To continue.--Should travellers think it advisable to proceed upon the
Rhine, so far as Mayence, let them be careful how they venture to
proceed farther. I did so, out of curiosity to know what the features
of the Rhine were, after it had lost its character for magnificence