of pointed and round-headed arches in both
the nave and choir, but nothing to indicate that it was anything but a
Romanesque influence that inspired the builders of this not very
appealing church.

The vestibule which joins the spires, and the most unusual groining of
the vaulting of the body of the church, are two features which the
expert will linger over and marvel at, but they have not much interest
for the lay observer who will prefer to stroll along the river-bank and
pick out charming vistas for his camera.

The convent of Marienburg, which rises high on the hillside back of the
town, has an ancient history and was a vast foundation to which
references are continually met with in history. To-day it is a
hydropathic establishment for semi-invalids and devotees of bridge and
tea parties.

The Carmelite church contains some richly carved sixteenth-century
monuments, now somewhat mutilated, but very beautiful.

The _Templehof_ perpetuates the fact that it was the Knights Templars of
Boppart who first mounted the breach at the storming of Ptolemais in the
third crusade.

This completes the list of Boppart's ecclesiastical monuments.

[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW _of BOPPART_]

In the fourteenth century the town was a "free imperial city"; but,
following upon political dissension with its neighbours, it was returned
to the guardianship of the Archbishop of Treves.

Previously it would appear that the inhabitants had not been very
religious, but the archbishop was able to induce them to build him a
chateau here as a place of temporary residence; "the first service,"
says the chronicle of the time, "which we have rendered our gracious
master."

[Illustration]

XX

LAACH AND STOLZENFELS

_Laach_

Back of Coblenz is the charming little lake of Laach, at the other end
of which is the picturesque but deserted abbey of Laach, one of the most
celebrated, architecturally and historically, of all the religious
edifices along the Rhine.

Once a Benedictine convent, it was pillaged and its inmates dispersed
during the overflow of the French Revolution, and is now naught but a
ruin, though in many respects a grandly preserved one.

The abbey was founded in 1093 by Henry II. of Laach, Count Palatine of
Lower Lorraine, and the first Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Its magnificent church, built in the most acceptable Gothic, contains
the remains of its founder and many nobles.

The monks of the abbey were