antient round building near the Moselle; said to be Roman: I passed a number of old decayed buildings, which have been convents or hospitals. Went to the Dome or Cathedral of St. Peter, a very irregular pile, extremely antient for the most part. If the oldest parts are not Roman, they are of the earliest of what we call Saxon; it was filled with young men and boys from the College, who were singing in a slow unison, like that of the Scotch Kirk. Adjoining to the Cathedral, is a beautiful Church of Notre Dame, built in the early part of the 13th century (the date of Amiens and Rheims Cathedrals); it is a cross, equal in length in each angle; it is richly decorated with altars and paint ings. Near the Church door lies an immense grey stone, about the size of that at Rudston. I then proceeded to view the ruins of the Elector's Palace; the old parts of this building are Roman, and were formerly the Imperial Palace, but the front is handsome and modern, probably not 200 years old; the whole is now fitted up as Barracks for the Prussian soldiers.

The walls of Treves are low, resembling those of Conway, and owing to the neighbouring heights, it must have been quite incapable of defence since the invention of cannon. The Black Gate, or old Church of St. Si meon, is the Northern entrance into the town; it consists of two very large gates, with towers on each side, and a covered way through them, and an antient building of three stories above, which was formerly the Church of St. Simeon, but is now unroofed; the account given is, that the building was erected by the Gauls, afterwards used by the Romans as their Capitol, and then converted into a Christian Church; the two arches continuing to be used as the gates of the city. The building has much the appearance of Roman ruins, as shewn in the views published by artists; it is large and picturesque, and would be perfectly uniform, but for a modern Grecian gate added at one end. The arches are stated to be as old, if not older than the time of the Romans, and they certainly, from the rudeness of the workmanship, seem of older date than the building erect ed above, but I do not pretend to determine the dates.

After breakfast we took a Commissionaire, or Guide, who conducted us first to the Cathedral; mass was performing, accompanied by a small organ, on the North side of the Choir; it was very sweet, and well played; the great organ stands on the North side of the Nave; the building is a mixture of Roman, Saxon, Gothic, and Grecian architecture. At the adjoining Church of Notre Dame there was a large congregation, and a priest was preaching in German. The Bishop's Palace is an old building, at present occupied by the Prussian General. Near the Imperial Palace are the ruins of the Roman Baths; the King of Prussia has employed the military in excavating the foundations; it is a circular building with large projecting towers at each angle, surrounded by large arched fire places; flues appear to have run round for the purpose of communicating heat; it stands on an angle of the city walls, and is built of flat red bricks, mixed with unshapen stones. But the greatest curiosity is the Roman Amphitheatre, about a quarter of a mile out of the town, on that side nearest the Baths; nothing but the towers were formerly visible, and the form of the Amphitheatre could only be traced out in the inequality of the surface of the ground; but the Prussian military have, by immense labour, excavated the building to the foundations, and laid open to the stone floor of the centre of the Amphitheatre, cutting for a great extent through earth from 10 to 30 feet in depth; one side of the Amphitheatre still remains to be excavated. At the entrance there are two towers, which formerly were considerably higher than at present. The walls of the building are of small, well shaped, uniform stones, without any intermixture of bricks. The great entrance on the South side consists of three ailes or passages, divided from each other by stone walls; the centre aile is broad, the two side ailes narrow; the walls of division are about 30 feet high. These passages are very wide at the entrance, but contract in advancing; the centre may be 20 feet in width at the narrowest. The Amphitheatre or Circus to which these passages lead, is about 50 yards wide; there are different recesses in the walls, from which the beasts were to

issue. The walls of the Amphithe atre are only about five feet high above the area in the centre; behind these walls the ground gradually rises, but there is no appearance of any separation between this elevated ground, (on which the spectators may be supposed to have been seated, or to have stood,) and the area of the Amphitheatre, from which they must have been guarded by some protection or other. On the West side of the Amphitheatre, there is a long vaulted subterranean archway, which was the private entrance of the Emperor. On some stones lately dug up, there is part of a Latin inscription, in large characters, but if the remainder be not discovered, I suppose the meaning will not be found. There is a deep reservoir of water under the Amphitheatre, and also a narrow subterranean passage, about 100 yards long, communicating with the Amphitheatre, and having an outlet at the opposite end.

We visited the Museum kept by Mr. Wittenbach; it belongs to the College; here there are several Roman altars and lachrymatories, armour, axes, &c. some of which have been found near the town, several near the bridge, and some near the Amphitheatre. One of the altars having a legible inscription, I copied it, "Deo Mercurio Sac. Sauters Novialchi fil. ædes duas cum suis ornamentis et triburn. A. V. S. L. M."

The ruined Convent of St. Maximin, in the suburbs, was formerly the Palace of Constantine, but in the year 333, the Bishop of Treves converted it into a Convent. The Church of St. Paulinus, in the suburbs, was built within the last 100 years, on the scite of another Church dedicated to the same Saint. The painting of the roof, and the decorations of the interior in general, are very splendid, and render it equal to the Royal Chapel at Versailles; there are several interesting paintings representing scenes connected with early Church History. In one, Palmatius the Consul of Treves, and other senators, are condemned by Rictius Varus, the Prefect, to be beheaded, for refusing to sacrifice to the Gods, in the reigns of Maximianus and Dioclesian. In another, Paulinus, the Bishop (tutelar Saint of the Church), is condemned by the

Emperor Constantine, to exile in Phrygia, for refusing to subscribe to the Arian heresy; this was early in the 4th century. In the crypt, below the Church, are several monuments, and among the rest a very old one, under which lie the remains of Paulinus; he died in banishment in 358, and in 396 his remains were removed to Treves, by Felix the 6th Bishop.

In returning through the Black Gate into the town, we met several convicts going out to labour. Over the inner gate of our Inn, is inscribed, "Porta patens esto-nulli claudaris honesto, 1559.”—Gate, be open; be shut to no honest man: which by transposition of stops, it has been observed, may be rendered, "Be open to none; but shut to the honest man." At our Inn at dinner to-day, evidently appeared the origin of the term side board. On a side table was placed a large board, on which every dish was carved by the landlord into portions before it was sent round; there was no cleaning up of the board, but every joint was laid on it without any consideration for their discordant qualities or tastes. had pewter plates both at breakfast and dinner. Mr. Adamy, our landlord, shewed himself remarkably obliging and attentive, and his charges were moderate. Though the correspondent in Treves, by whom our bills of credit from Herries's should have been cashed, had given up business, Mr. Adamy, with great readiness, offered to supply us with any cash we might want upon the bills. There being no post horses for above 80 miles on the road we are to travel, he engaged for us a man and horses to drive us through the whole dis

tance.

We

Our driver proceeded with all slow deliberation, usually at the rate of three miles and a half an hour, but the roads were very hilly; he was to have 80 francs for the distance, and to provide himself and horses. At half past two in the afternoon we set off, and accomplished a stage of about 20 miles, by eight o'clock; the road was heavy, and we had showers: sometimes he took out a flint and steel, struck a light, and began to smoke; he could not speak a word of French. We met a great number of waggons loaded with wood, drawn

by

by little oxen no bigger than calves. For the first three miles we had a beautiful ride along the vale of the Moselle, but afterwards we quitted it, and proceeded over hills and through woods for several miles. The country people here have a bungry squalid appearance: the old women are every where remarkably ugly; the men and boys wear very broad flapped hats with low crowns.

We slept at a small village Inn at HERMESKEYL; the country near it is high and moorish, the first of that description we have seen since leaving England, but the ground is chiefly Covered with grass, without much ling. Our landlord, Mr. Schwartz, who speaks French, sat down with us to supper, on soup, an excellent leg of roast mutton, and potatoe sallad. When bread is toasted, it is done by laying it on a hot iron. As we were to set off between four and five, we wished to pay our bill that night, but Mr. Schwartz said there was always some person at his house ready to receive money; accordingly next morning we found a young woman waiting, who, though she could not speak French, yet on my rattling some money, said, "Seven francs," (the word seven being German) which sum was the charge for supper, wine and rum, and beds for two.

August 21.-As we were setting off this morning at a quarter before five, the herdsman of Hermeskeyl was blowing his horn, and the cattle were turn ing out to accompany him to the hills. It was a cold morning; the thermometer at six was 49. I walked the greatest part of the stage, which was to be nine miles, but proved to be thirteen. Went into a village Church where the people were at mass; the women wore flat turban caps. Since we quitted the great thoroughfare we have not been annoyed by beggars, who between Calais and Rheims had pestered the carriage at every opportunity. The charges are only one half of what they were on the great road.

It was half-past nine when we arrived at BIRKENFELD to breakfast. Just before our arrival, the postillion's horse fell with his head under him, and lay as if insensible; the postillion got up unhurt, and with dif ficulty raised his horse, which had GENT. MAG. December, 1820.

received a severe contusion above the eye; this happened on smooth road, nearly level; the shoulders of this, and of most horses used in drawing carriages, are excoriated and raw, from the clumsiness and weight of the harness. Above the village was a castle or fortification on a steep hill. We breakfasted at Mr. Medicus's;

we found no one in the house who could speak French, but fortunately both coffee and milk are German words. It once happened to an Englishman unable to make himself understood, that he said to his companion, nothing can be easier than to draw the figure of an egg with a piece of chalk; and he called out to the German waiter "bring me a piece of chalk;" forgetting that he must first make them understand what chalk was. Whilst we were at breakfast Mr. Medicus came in, and as he spoke French, we got forward comfortably: we found that his father kept an inn at Kirn, and we determined to sleep there.

After breakfast we proceeded to OBERSTEIN; two places of that name are by mistake laid down on Carey's map; the one East of the other is rightly placed. At two the thermometer was 59; in the afternoon we had showers. I walked nearly all the distance, which was about 13 miles. The horse seemed better and more careful in consequence of the blow on the head; this used to be the case with idle boys at school. The only word our German postillion understood in reference to our wants, was halt, when we wanted to get out and walk; once when I was getting out to walk, he pointed to a coming shower, and to dissuade me, cried out, "Nah, nah, boon to rayhn." The country resembled the hilly (but not mountainous) parts of North Wales, but as we approached Oberstein, it reminded us of the neighbourhood of Matlock. We passed through Oberkirchen, a village at which agates are found, and on descending a very steep hill into the valley of the Nah, we saw a great number of watermills, which are employed in polishing them. The road was extremely narrow, and awkward in meeting carriages; it was cut out of the rocks, and overhung the valley. Oberstein is a very romantic

place,

place, near the foot of almost perpendicular rocks; near the summit are the picturesque ruins of a castle. · Our landlord, Mr. Cæsar, the burgomaster, informed us that about 500 people are employed in polishing Agates at this village. We went to sce one of the mills; the workmen lie prostrate on hollow boards in front of the millstones, and hold the Agates to the stones; a clumsy contrivance which would not be tolerated with us for a week; it would be easy to lower the ground and enable the workmen to stand or sit at his employment comfortably.

At dinner we produced our Cheshire cheese from the Palais Royal, and presented Mr. Cæsar, our landlord, with a slice; he liked it extremely, and was surprised at the dimensions of the cheese, of which he was able to judge by the wedge or segment which we produced; he requested a piece for Mrs. Cæsar to taste. Mr. Cæsar accompanied me up a long flight of steps to see the Church; the front of it appears at the opening of a cave towards the summit of a perpendicular rock, and the Church runs back inte the cave. I observed none of the insignia of popery here, and remarked that the burgo-master kept his hat on. I found it was a Protestant Church; and that 9-10ths of the population are Protestants. This town has been given up by Prussia to the Elector of Oldenburgh. The wine in the valley of the Nah is equal to the Moselle.

On quitting Oberstein, which may be considered the Matlock of this country, we had some romantic and picturesque scenes; the rocks are abrupt and varied in their forms, and of a dark colour: afterwards the valley expanded to the width of three or four miles, and then closed again, and the scene was much like Dove dale, but on a larger scale. We arrived about dusk at the house of Mr. Medicus, the father, which we found a decent Inn.

KIRN is pleasantly situated in the same valley, and about 12 miles from Oberstein. At the table d'hôte, the

waiter after supper sat down with the guests; he spoke French. All the sitting and lodging-rooms in this country have German stoves. All the people we meet on the roads move or take off their hats.

The

women carry large burdens on their backs, fastened by straps over their shoulders. Some of our friends who are afflicted with litho-mania should have been at Oberstein, as I was out of my element; however, I bought three or four agates of Mr. Cæsar, who wrapped them in paper, and I supposed when I set off that I had got them in one parcel, but one little parcel remained in a corner of his bureau; and was left behind.

We had not, however, been five minutes at Kirn when an express arrived from Mr. Cæsar, and a letter was produced with a parcel, directed to Messrs. (post paid); we said it could not be for us, but after some time it was opened, and found it to be from our friend Mr. Cæsar, with the agates.

(To be continued.)

Mr. URBAN,

IN

X.

May 5. 'N Mr. Dibdin's curious and interesting work, the "Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain," (vol. III. p. 248,) I read that the "Protestation of Robert Barnes was printed in 1540 by Elizabeth Redman, widow of Robert Redman; who, it is stated, afterwards married Ralph Cholmondeley, esq." In a note of reference from the preceding account, it is stated that a Book, entitled "Ordynaries," has the following colophon; "Imprynted at London, in Flete Strete, by me Elysabeth Pykerynge, late wife of Robert Redman, dwellynge at the sygne of the George, next to Saynt Dunstones Churche-the year of our Lorde God, 1541."- Robert Redman died in the year 1540, and from the above particulars, it should appear his widow was twice married. I shall therefore feel obliged to any of your Correspondents informing me the dates of the said Elizabeth Redman's respective betrothments. Yours, &c. P. W. E.

and called a Castle. The Governor had a body of 7 or 800 men at his command, and with these he used frequently to make excursions, which commonly ended in a battle with the lord of some petty state of the same kind, whose castle was then pillaged, and the women and treasures borne off by the conqueror. During this state of universal hostility, there was no friendly communication between the provinces, nor any high road from one part of the Kingdom to another the wealthy traders, who then travelled from place to place with their merchandize and their families, were in perpetual danger; the Lord of almost every castle extorted something from them on the road; and at last, some one, more rapacious than the rest, seized upon the whole cargo, and bore off the women for his own use.

Thus castles became the warehouses of all kinds of rich merchandize, and the persons of the distressed females, whose fathers or lovers had been plundered or slain, and who being, therefore, seldom disposed to take the thief or murderer into favour, were in continual danger of a rape.

But as some are always distinguished by virtue in the most general defection, it happened that many Lords insensibly associated to repress these sallies of violence and rapine, to secure property, and protect the ladies. Among these were many Lords of great fiefs, and the association was at length strengthened by a solemn vow, and received the sanction of a religious ceremony. By this ceremony they assumed a new character, and became Knights, As the first Knights were men of the highest rank, and the largest possessions, such having most to lose, and least temptation to steal, the fraternity was regarded with kind of reverence, even by those against whom it was formed. Admission into the order was deemed the highest honour. Many extraordinary qualifications were required in a candidate, and many new ceremonies were added at his creation. After having fasted from sun-rise, confessed himself, and received the sacrament, he was dressed in a white tunic, and placed by himself at a sidetable, where he was neither to speak,

a

to smile, nor to eat, while the Knights and Ladies, who were to perform the principal parts of the ceremony, were eating, drinking, and making merry at the great table. At night his armour was conveyed to the Church, where the ceremony was performed; and here having watched it till the morning, he advanced with his sword hanging about his neck, and received the benedictions of the priest. He then kneeled down before the Lady who was to put on his armour, who being assisted by persons of the first rank, buckled on his spurs, put an helmet on his head, and accoutred him with a coat of mail, a cuirass, baslets, cuisses, and gauntlets.

Being thus armed cap-a-pie, the Knight who dubbed him struck him three times over the shoulder with the flat side of his sword, in the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George. He was then obliged to watch all night in all his armour, with his sword girded, and his lance in his hand. From this time the Knight devoted himself to the redress of those wrongs which "Patient merit of th' unworthy takes," to secure merchants from the rapacious cruelty of banditti, and women from ravishers, to whose power they were, by the particular confusion of the times, continually exposed.

From this view of the origin of Chivalry, it will be easy to account for the castle, the moat, and the bridge, which are found in romances; and as to the Dwarf, he was a constant appendage to the rank and fortune of those times, and no castle therefore could be without him. The Dwarf and the Buffoon were then introduced to kill time, as the cardtable is at present. It will also be easy to account for the multitude of captive Ladies, whom the Knights upon seizing a castle set at liberty; and for the prodigious quantities of useless gold and silver vessels, and rich stuffs, and other merchandize, with which many apartments in these castles are said to have been filled.

The principal Lords who entered into confraternity of Knights, used to send their sons to each other, to be educated, far from their parents, in the mystery of Chivalry. These youths, before they arrived at the age of one and twenty, were called Bachelors, or Bas- Chevaliers, infe