erica.

But to return to the Rhine. Of course, just so fast and so far as the
smaller chieftains were conquered and dispossessed, and the country came
into the hands of a smaller number of greater princes, the old castles
became useless. Besides, when rules and laws, instead of surprises and
violence, became the means by which contributions were levied, it was no
longer necessary to have strongholds on high hills to come down from,
when a vessel or a traveller was coming by, and to retreat to with the
booty when the plunder had been taken. A great number of these old
castles have, therefore, gone to decay; for they were generally built
too high on the hills and rocks to be convenient as dwellings for
peaceable men. A few of the largest and strongest of them were retained
as fortresses; and those that were retained have been greatly enlarged
and strengthened in their defences in modern times, so that some of them
are now the greatest and strongest fortresses in the world. Others, that
were built in tolerably accessible situations, or which commanded an
unusually beautiful view, were retained and kept in repair, and are used
now as the summer residences of wealthy men. The rest were suffered
gradually to go to decay, and the ruins and remains of them are seen
crowning almost every remarkable height all along the river. Some of
these ruins are still in a very good state of preservation, so that in
going up to explore them you can make out very easily the whole original
plan of the edifice. You can find the turret, with the remains of the
stairs which led up to the watchtower, and the kitchen, and the hall,
and the armory, and the stables. In others, there is nothing to be seen
but a confused mass of unintelligible ruins; and in others still, every
thing is gone, except, perhaps, some single arch or gateway, which
stands among a mass of shapeless mounds, the last remaining relic of the
edifice it once adorned, and itself tottering, perhaps, on the brink of
its precipitous foundation, as if just ready to fall.

[Illustration: DONKEY RIDING.]

These old ruins are visited every year by thousands of persons who come
from every part of the world to see them. These visitors arrive every
year in such numbers that the steamboats, both going up and coming down,
and all the hotels, and thousands of carriages, which are perpetually
plying to and fro along the shores on both sides of the river, are
constantly filled with them. A grea