now the full noon; light clouds were bearing up towards the
opposite banks of the Rhine, but over the Gothic towers of Ellfeld the
sky spread blue and clear; the river danced beside the old gray walls
with a sunny wave, and close at hand a vessel crowded with passengers,
and loud with eager voices, gave a merry life to the scene. On the
opposite bank the hills sloped away into the far horizon, and one slight
skiff in the midst of the waters broke the solitary brightness of the
noonday calm.

The town of Ellfeld was the gift of Otho the First to the Church;
not far from thence is the crystal spring that gives its name to the
delicious grape of Markbrunner.

"Ah," quoth Du-----e, "doubtless the good bishops of Mayence made the
best of the vicinity!"

They stayed some little time at this town, and visited the ruins of
Scharfenstein; thence proceeding up the river, they passed Nieder
Walluf, called the Gate of the Rheingau, and the luxuriant garden of
Schierstein; thence, sailing by the castle-seat of the Prince Nassau
Usingen, and passing two long and narrow isles, they arrived at Mayence,
as the sun shot his last rays upon the waters, gilding the proud
cathedral-spire, and breaking the mists that began to gather behind,
over the rocks of the Rheingau.

Ever memorable Mayence,--memorable alike for freedom and for song,
within those walls how often woke the gallant music of the Troubadour;
and how often beside that river did the heart of the maiden tremble to
the lay! Within those walls the stout Walpoden first broached the great
scheme of the Hanseatic league; and, more than all, O memorable Mayence,
thou canst claim the first invention of the mightiest engine of human
intellect,--the great leveller of power, the Demiurgus of the moral
world,--the Press! Here too lived the maligned hero of the greatest
drama of modern genius, the traditionary Faust, illustrating in himself
the fate of his successors in dispensing knowledge,--held a monster for
his wisdom, and consigned to the penalties of hell as a recompense for
the benefits he had conferred on earth!

At Mayence, Gertrude heard so much and so constantly of Heidelberg,
that she grew impatient to visit that enchanting town; and as Du-----e
considered the air of Heidelberg more pure and invigorating than that of
Mayence, they resolved to fix within it their temporary residence.
Alas! it was the place destined to close their brief and melancholy
pilgrimage, and to beco