AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
Hills and the sea is called, and the Middle Rhine
from Mayence to the Drachenfels, formed long the vir-
tual northern boundary of the Roman empire, beyond
which few or no permanent settlements were made.
The Rhine was, however, fully appreciated by the Ro-
mans as a grand road for warlike and commercial opera-
tions, and its banks teem with relics of that stirring age.
The Teutonic tribes that succeeded the Romans as con-
querors or immigrants found in the roads, harbours, and
other constructions of their predecessors, a foundation of
power far more valuable than the chivalrous daring to
which they usually ascribed their success. The rise of
the second line of Frankish kings has been described
by M. Guizot as resulting from the conquests over the
Neustrian or Western Franks achieved by the Austrasian
or Eastern Frankish tribes. To judge from the acts of
Charlemagne and his favourite places of abode, that
monarch knew well from what source the Austrasians
and his family drew their might. The ruins of his im-
perial castle are now scarcely to be traced at Ingelheim
on the Middle Rhine, and Aix-la-Chapelle contains but
his grave and the cathedral which he founded ; yet are
these relics sufficient to attest the importance attributed
by that discerning monarch to the great water-road that
connects the Alps with the German Ocean.*
The period that marks the rise of the great vassals of
the German empire shows us the Earls of Flanders, the
Dukes of Brabant, the Lords of Hainault and Cleves,
* Napoleon is said to have entertained the idea of re-
building the palace at Ingelheim, and we believe that the
Lojal Library at Paris contains the plans and elevations of
the intended palatium, comprising even the decorations of
the interior.
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
as potentates whose alliance is courted and whose enmity
js dreaded by their reigning contemporaries. These
districts all belong to the region of the Rhine, or are so
contiguous to it as to be influenced by the events of
which its basin was the scene. The Counts of Haps-
burg, of Nassau, and of Luxemburg successively ascended
the Imperial throne. Civic independence reared its
banner triumphantly on the banks of the Rhine, and the
Rhenish League is a no less interesting historical event
than the more famous Confederacy of the Hanse Towns,
in which the cities of the Lower Rhine, especially
Cologne, played a conspicuous part. That the mechanical
and refined arts also flourished at an early period in these
cities is well known.
The portion of Prussia by which the traveller on the
Rhine enters Germany from Holland was formerly the
Duchy of Cleves. The high road from Nymwegen to
Cologne follows the heights that recede from the left
bank of the Rhine and leave a narrow strip of low land
(originally marsh, and afterwards enclosed), which is
occasionally inundated, or what is called Polderland in
the language of the country. This narrow strip formed
the county of Mors. It has been already observed that a
tract of land stretching along the right bank of the river
from the frontier of Holland to the mouth of the Lippe
also belonged formerly to Cleves. The farmer who fol-
lows other than political boundaries still distinguishes be-
tween the heights and the lowlands of Cleves. In the
former tract, which is traversed by the high road from
Cologne to Nymwegen, that owed its original construc-
tion in all probability to the Romans, trade has had its
usual effect upon the farmer’s calculations. Estates are