a life of
unsupportable tyranny under the rod of Napoleon. The river was crowded
with custom house officers. Not a man could pass without being
personally searched for Coffee and sugar in every part of his dress. All
they lament now is the uncertainty of their fate. Many expressed a hope
that the report of their being sold to England might be true. All they
want is certainty, and then their commerce will revive. As it is,
nothing can be more uninteresting in a commercial point of view than
this noble river. We did not see above a dozen Merchants' barks in the
course of 120 miles, and yet they say trade is tenfold greater than when
Napoleon governed. Below Coblentz we passed some of the Chateaux of the
German Princes, which are generally large, uncomfortable-looking houses,
fitted up, as far as external examination allowed us to judge, without
taste. The river became rather dull, but at Andernach, where we slept,
it began to improve and to promise better for the next morning, and for
some miles we were not disappointed.

We were under the necessity of travelling on the Sunday, which in our
situation I certainly held to be no crime. What I could do I did in
inducing our Boatmen to attend their Mass. Religion, which appears to be
nearly extinct in France, is by no means so in Germany. We find the
churches all well attended and plentifully scattered over the whole
country. In the course of the morning we passed a large Chapel dedicated
to St. Apollonius, and noted for its Miracles, all of which were
recorded by our Boatmen with the air of implicit reverence and belief.
It happened to be the festival of the Saint, and from a distance of 10
or 20 miles even the road was crowded with persons going or coming to
their favourite shrine. You will recollect what Mme. de Stael says of
the Germans' taste for religious music. Of this we had a specimen
to-day. As we passed the height upon which the Chapel stood a boat
containing 40 or 50 people put off from the shore and preceded us for
several miles chaunting almost the whole way hymns and psalms. In the
Evening, soon after leaving Bonn, we came up with another containing
about 120, who every quarter of an hour delighted us with the same
strains. They glided with the stream, and gave us time to row alongside,
and we continued in their company the remainder of the day.

Could I have heard and not have seen all would have been perfect, but
the charm was almost broken by the heterogene