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250 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
in the park of Darmftade, is a lafting memorial of her uncorrupt tafte and noble way
of thinking. The Prince of Homberg is alfo a well educated man; fo that this court,
fmall as it is, was one of thofe I admired moft in all Germany. The whole of its in-
come does not amount to more than 100,000 rix dollars, or 10,co00l.
The country betwixt Francfort, Homberg, Cronberg, and Rodelheim, is thick fet
with villages and hamlets, which form the prettieft inland picture imaginable. You fel-
dom meet with a pleafanter landfcape than from the view at Oberurfel, a large hamlet
in the territory of Mentz, which lies between Cronberg and Homberg. The noife of
fome iron and copper hammers has an exceeding good effect.
We met with an adventure in this country, which I fhall all my life long recolle&
with the greateit pleafure. Behind Cronberg the mountain called A/rkoniger, or the
old king, raifes its bare head high above the ridge of hills, which protect the fine plain
along the fide of the Maine, between Francfort and Mentz, from the rude north wind.
They tell many ftrange ftories of this hills, and of an old ruinous caftle which ftands
onit. We afcended him with fome difficulty, but at the top met with a {pectacle which
will never go out of my remembrance. LDireétly to the fouth you overlook a plain
thirty-three miles broad, which is terminated by the fummits of the Odenwalde and the
Speffart. Here you may difcern all the villages, hamlets, and towns, which lie between
Francfort and the Maine; together with a great part of the country of Darmftadt.
The eaftern view is clofed by the Speffart, which is fifty-one miles diftant. ‘The whole
country of Afchaffenburg, along the Maine, along the Necker, and as far as the Don-
nerfberg in the Upper Palatinate, lay like a map under our feet. ‘Thefe extenfive pro-
fpeéts are common enough in many countries, but you feldom find them fo thickly
fprinkled with the fmiling habitations of men. Behind you to the northward, and on
both fides to the welt and north-eaft, you overlook partly barren, or well wooded
mountains, and partly the moft agreeable mixture of foft hills and plains that can be
conceived. Directly againft the welt the row of mountains form the fineft amphithe-
atre that canbe conceived. The fineft fight, however, was that which we faw the next
morning. ‘here is a fpot on this mountain very favourable for feeing the rifing fun.
In order to enjoy this fpeétacle we had provided ourfelves with pelifles, to guard againft
the cold, but were obliged to make a fire of wood in the might, though after one of the
warmeft days in Auguft. ‘The rife of the morning, however, fully overpaid us for the
toils of the night. Never did I feel my own exiftence, or that of the Being which ani-
mates all nature, more fully than at the inftant in which the firft ray of the morn gilded
the tops of the Speffart and Odenwalde ; both which at a diftance appeared to be iflands
of fire. As far as this hill all was thick darknefs ; but this eaftern view appeared like
an illuminated ifland {wimming on the black ocean of night. The morning {fpreading
‘wider and wider fhewed us the moft beautiful landfcape in miniature that we had ever
feen. We beheld: villages afar offin the fhade, which one ray of the morning fun broke
through and difpelled the darknefs of. By degrees we faw the feparation of the hills,.
with their feveral breaks and windings. Every thing looked as it does when you fee a
fine and wel!-illumined land{cape through a perfpective-glafs. A preflure never before
experienced took pofleflion of my breaft on beholding this fcene. But the firft break
of the fun himfelf furpaffed all the beauties of the day-break. The grandeur, variety,
and magnificence of this appearance, is above all defcription._ ‘The plain, feventy-five
miles long, and forty-two miles broad, which lies betwixt the Spefart, the Donner/berg,
the weltern part of the Odenwalde, and our hills, was overfpread with large ftreaks of
licht, which contrafted in the ftrongeft manner with the thicknefs of the fhades. We
beheld the top of the Donnerfberg gilded over, whilft deep darknefs brooded at his feet
and
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