AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
CHAPTER I.
Amongst the many thousands who yearly flock to the
banks of the Rhine there are not a few for whom the
social activity, the condition, the wants and wishes, of the
people they mingle with are as attractive objects as the
picturesque scenery and romantic legends of the far-
famed river. The figures in the landscape are its pro-
minent feature for the deeper observer. For such tra-
vellers the following volume is written, for from such
its author does not fear to be rebuked because he reads a
moral in
“ The noble arch in proud decay,”
where others choose only to enjoy its scenic effect. Nor
does he anticipate from them the supposition that be-
cause he points to the effects of shady and sunny sites on
the productions of the soil, he has no soul for the glow-
ing tints of the sunlit stream, or the majestic gloom with
which night invests the precipices that overhang it.
Having himself found leisure both to enjoy the beauties
with which nature has clothed this enchanting river, and
to commune with those who dwell upon its banks, he
deems it no superfluous task to invite any who have taste
or leisure to study more than scenery as they pass along ;
to inquire with him respecting the account to which the