did Nature present a fairer picture than we gazed upon at
this spot. The villages around are pictures of happiness and content,
and the scenery such as only the Rhine can exhibit. Passing by the
charming, rural-looking Oberwinter, we soon came upon a woody height,
where stands the Gothic Church of St. Apollinarisberg. Here is, or was,
the saint's head; and it was formerly a shrine of great resort. Close by
is the little tower Of Remagen, and opposite are basaltic rocky heights
of six or eight hundred feet, on the sides of which are vineyards--the
vines growing in baskets filled with earth and placed in the crevices of
the rocks. No square foot of soil seems to be wasted; and, to improve
the ground, you will find the plots for vines laid out like potato
patches,--some running this way, and others that,--making the sides of
the hills and banks look very much like basket work.

We now came, on our left hand, to the ruins of Okenfels and the pretty
town of Linz. The ruins are very dark, and look as if they were past
redemption; whereas, some of these castles retain fine outlines. The red
roofs of the town are in pleasing contrast with the green woods. This
town seemed quite a business place; and I noticed several sloops and
queer-looking vessels at the piers. On the opposite side the Aar falls
into the Rhine. Just back is a town called Sinzig, and story tells that
here Constantine and Maxentius fought the battle which resulted in the
downfall of paganism. Here it was that, the evening previous,
Constantine saw in the heavens the figure of a cross, with the
inscription, [Greek: "_En touto nika_."] But other
legends give the battle place on the banks of the Tiber.

We were all pleased with a beautiful, modern, castellated building,
erected out of the ruins of an ancient castle, of which a single
venerable tower remains at a small distance. The name is the Castle of
Reineck. It was built for Professor Bethman Holweg, of Bonn, and he
reads his lines in pleasant places. It must have cost much money to rear
such an edifice. Nearly opposite are the ruins of Hammerstein Castle,
where, in 1105, Henry IV. found an asylum. We next came to Andernach.
This is an ancient city, and here you see towers and ruins standing
amidst a wide amphitheatre of basaltic mountains. The place is spoken of
by various old historians, and under several names. The great trade of
the place is in millstones, which find their way even to America. Here
is a