esting places are to be found near Carlsbad. To the north is
the village of Dallwitz, with a porcelain factory, a handsome castle and
beautiful oaks extolled by Theodor Korner, under which he composed in
1812 his touching elegy on the downfall of Germany. To the east is the
watering-place of Giesshubl-Puchstein with celebrated springs, which
contain alkaline waters impregnated with carbonic acid gas. To the west
in the valley of the Eger, the village of Aich, with a porcelain
factory, and a little farther the much-visited Hans Heiling's Rock, a
wild and romantic spot, with which a very touching legend is connected.
To the south-east the ruined castle of Engelhaus, situated on a rock of
phonolite, 2340 ft. high, built probably in the first part of the 13th
century and destroyed by the Swedes in 1635. At the foot of the mountain
lies the actual village of Engelhaus.

According to legend the springs of Carlsbad were discovered during a
hunting expedition by the emperor Charles IV., who built the town, which
derives its name from him, on both banks of the Tepl. But the hot
springs were already known two centuries before, as is indicated by the
name of the river _Tepl_ (warm), under which name the river was known in
the 12th century. Besides, on the same spot stood already in the 13th
century a place called _Vary_, which means the Sprudel. The truth is,
that the emperor Charles IV., after being cured here, built about 1358 a
castle in the neighbourhood and accorded many privileges to the town. It
obtained its charter as a town in 1370; the fame of the waters spread
and it was created a royal free town in 1707 by the emperor Joseph I.
The waters were used only for bathing purposes until 1520, when they
began to be prescribed also for drinking. The first _Kurhaus_ was
erected in 1711 near the Muhlbrunnen, and was replaced by a larger one,
built in 1761 by the empress Maria Theresa. Carlsbad was nearly
completely destroyed by fire in 1604, and another great fire raged here
in 1759. It also suffered much from inundations, especially in 1582 and
1890. In August 1819 a meeting of the ministers of the German courts
took place here under the presidency of Prince Metternich, when many
reactionary measures, embodied in the so-called "Carlsbad Decrees" (see
below), were agreed upon and introduced in the various states of the
German Confederation.

Among the extensive literature of the place see Mannl, _Carlsbad and
its Mineral Spr