the broad stone of honour."

"Here Ehrenbreitstein with her shatter'd wall
Black with the miner's blast upon her height,
Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball
Rebounding idly on her strength did light."

The city occupies a most romantically and historically endowed situation
at the junction of the Moselle and the Rhine.

At Coblenz the sons of Charlemagne met to divide their father's empire
into France, Germany, and Italy; there also Edward III. in 1338 met the
Emperor Louis, and was by him appointed vicar of the empire; and at
Coblenz the French raised a monument to commemorate the subjugation of
Russia. Soon after the inscription was finished, the Russian commander
entered Coblenz in pursuit of Napoleon. With memorable and caustic wit
he left the inscription as it stood, just adding, "Vu et approuve par
nous, Commandant Russe de la Ville de Coblence, Janvier 1er, 1814." Here
also is the monument to the young and gallant General Marceau, killed at
the battle of Altenkirchen, 1796.

"By Coblenz, on a rise of gentle ground,
There is a small and simple pyramid,
Crowning the summit of the verdant mound:
Beneath its base are hero's ashes hid."

The Moselle, which joins the Rhine at Coblenz, was, like the Rhine
itself, referred to by Caesar.

The pleasant valley of the Moselle--indeed it is one of the
_pleasantest_ (which is a vague term, but one easily understood by all)
in all Europe--was celebrated by one of the longer poems of Ausonius,
who wrote in the fourth century.

For those who would translate the original, his description will not be
found inapropos to-day:

"_Qua sublimis apex longo super ardua tractu
Et rupes et aprica jugi, flexusque sinusque
Vitibus adsurgunt naturalique theatro._"

Vines then, as now, clothed the slopes of the hills and cliffs which
sheltered the deep-cut stream.

A Roman governor of Gaul once proposed to unite the Moselle with the
Saone (as it is to-day, by means of the Canal de l'Est), and thus effect
a waterway across Europe from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.

The church of St. Castor stands on the spot of the famous conference
between the sons of Charlemagne. It is one of the most ancient of the
Rhine churches, and was founded by Louis the Pious in 836.

Of this early church but little remains to-day except some distinct
features to be noted in the choir.

The four towers form a remarkable outline, and two of them,