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secure this room to ourselves, we expressed our intention to be the tenants, if not occupiers of all the beds; and it seemed quite unintelligible to the Bavarian chamber-maid, how two Englishmen could possibly want four beds. However, our will became law, and we kept uninterrupted possession of our quarters.

At five o'clock on the following morning we re-embarked, and after a delightful passage of three hours, reached Passau ; from whence our route lay to Ratisbon. We now took leave of the Danube; and certainly though many interesting objects presented themselves to our notice, I have but little desire to retrace my steps. Our journey up to Passau had cost us twenty-six days, accompanied by all the inconveniences of small and ill-adjusted steamers. We were now in Bavaria, of which Passau is a rather interesting ancient town. It is the capital of an episcopal see. The cathedral is deemed one of the finest in Germany. It was originally Gothic, but has been remodelled after St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot say much for the taste that suggested the change. From Passau we took a carriage towards Ratisbon, resting in the evening at Pattsling— a considerable village, with but rude accommodation; and then onwards next day, till we reached Ratisbon at about six in the evening. The roads of Bavaria are excellent; and the country is exceedingly well cultivated. The peasantry appear healthy and industrious, and present no indications of squalid poverty. A remarkable custom prevails among the apprentices. For the purpose of being instructed in their respective trades and occupations, they go from town to town, seeking employment among various masters. The most respectable do this, as well as the humbler; and they are not permitted to exercise their various callings on their own account, till they have had the fullest experience in this way. They make their progress on foot, or get a chance lift in an empty carriage; and without assuming the air of mendicants, ask assistance of travellers by the way. It is a custom well understood in the country, and there is no sense of degradation connected with it. We overtook many apprentices in our way, some of

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whom looked like clever and intelligent lads. The Bavarians are good farmers; and the towns and smaller villages have about them an air of comfort and respectability. The children are commonly fine specimens of healthiness and natural beauty.

Ratisbon contains little to fix the attention of the traveller besides the cathedral, which is a beautiful specimen of florid Gothic-with very few of the modern disfigurements to which so many fine ecclesiastical structures on the Continent have been subjected. The general effect is sombre and quietly graceful, neither too rich in ornament, nor too poor. The color of the stone has been defaced by time. The groined roof has been spoiled by the common disfigurement of whitewash, for the purpose of sprinkling over it a number of gilded stars. If the roof could be restored, the whole effect would be all that could be desired. The exterior has been left unfinished. Spires were evidently intended to be erected upon the towers over the western entrance, which are now only capped with tiles in a pyramidal form. The greater number of the inhabitants of Ratisbon are Protestants.

Pursuing our journey by night, we reached Nurenburg early on the morning of the thirtieth of September. It is a Lutheran town, and remarkable for its fine cathedral, which contains some admirable specimens of the works of Albert Durer in excellent preservation. The popish decorations still remain untouched. The inhabitants of Nurenburg are considerable mechanics in iron, steel, ivory, wood, and alabaster. There is also a great manufactory of toys, usually called Dutch toys. It has the appearance of a wealthy, ancient place. The roofs of the houses are curiously constructed. They are very steep, and have several rows of windows built in them. From Nurenburg we passed on rapidly, by night, through Wurtzburg to Frankfort where we arrived in the afternoon, and there fixed ourselves for a few days at the Hotel de Russie-a truly comfortable place

of sojourn, after all we had put up with since quitting Constantinople.

Frankfort has an entirely modern aspect; and the extremely flat regularity and whiteness of its buildings becomes wearisome to the eye. It is beautifully clean, and has the appearance of a prosperous town. The cathedral is very poor indeed. The public library is a delightful place of resort. In the entrance hall is a noble statue of Goethe. It is indeed an admirable work, and worthy of its great subject. There is a grandeur of repose about it, quite indescribable. Every true Protestant who visits the library of Frankfort, gazes with delight upon the autographs of those men of God-mightyhearted Luther, and gentle Melancthon-the spiritual champions of an iron age, for whom and for whose achievements we praise God in the same degree in which we love our Bibles, and live upon the unmingled, unadulterated truth of God" the truth as it is in Jesus." Though the hands that traced those names are dust, yet their record is written on high, and they are embalmed in the memory of the people of God. Even the rude shoe of Luther, preserved with veneration, and shewn in the library, is an object from which one cannot turn away without many a thought directed towards him who trod the difficult way of duty in the firm majesty of truth-though all that was terrible in earthly domination and spiritual despotism sought to frown him off from his integrity of purpose.

Frankfort, and the adjacent parts of Germany, are now so generally known and so frequently visited by the English, that English faces and English sounds prevail in every part. I felt all the time as if I were on the very boundaries of home. If the reader be half as impatient for the end of my narrative, as I was for home, he will be disposed to skip over the remainder of this chapter, and sympathize with me in the concluding one.

Our route lay down the Rhine, of which so much has been said and sung and sketched and painted, that, really, I have nothing to tell, further than that we reached Mayence by the

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short railroad, and steamed down the Rhine to Cologne, of which expedition every drawing-room table abounds with details, graphic and literary. From Cologne to Aix-laChapelle was but a railroad step; and from thence to Liege, by diligence, a dreary drag of eight hours. Then came Courtray-Ypres and last of all, Calais, and the far-famed hotel of "Monsieur Dessin," our final continental resting place; and then, next morning, midway in the British Channel looking right ahead-What are those white cliffs, and that little sparkling town below, and those masts bearing a well-known flag?

Oh joy! It is Dover-England-my father-land: the home of my family-of my flock-MY OWN BELOVED HOME!

A brief space-and the anchor was cast.

With a calm and thankful spirit I again stood on the venerated shores of highly-gifted Engiand-a better man, I trust; if not at least I think a wiser.

CHAPTER XII.

FINAL.

The growing interest about the Holy Land-Inferences-Fulfilled and unfulfilled

prophecy-Conclusion.

ONCE more at home, and with the familiar and beloved objects and pursuits of home around me, I sometimes find it difficult to muse upon the substance of my narrative, otherwise than as the recollection of a bright vision that has past away for ever. But if I have fulfilled my intention, there will be deposited in the mind of the intelligent reader, a deep -an abiding sense of reality, which will gain strength as he dwells upon the records of inspiration; for he will go on steadily filling up the outlines of thought which I have rapidly sketched out before him. The reader who does not love his Bible, will doubtless deem mine a dull narrative indeed-to him it must be so; for certainly all the interest with which it may be invested is dependent upon Holy Scripture, and the previous deposit of its wondrous contents in the heart.

It is a remarkable feature of the present times, that there should be an almost universal-an unprecedented interest felt and manifested in all that relates to the Holy Land. The most intellectual and gifted are never weary of inquiring; and the humblest artizan will suspend his labor that he may listen. Artists love to portray its venerable scenes; and all men gaze on them with wonder and delight. Moreover, those who possess the means—the Jew and the Gentile, the Poet and the Philosopher, the Scholar and the Divine-the subjects of most kingdoms, the dwellers in distant climes-are daily bending their steps to the land of Scripture-history; and soon, I