ing this beautiful little city, which enabled the former Electors of Cologne to display their taste by selecting it for their residence. It was elegantly and justly observed by a French lady on board of the boat as we approached the city, Voilà Bonne! c'est une petite perle! no expression could describe it better; when I made my view of it, the dark clouds behind it set off the pearl-like appearance of the palace and buildings. I saw no spot on the Rhine in the shape of a town with which I was so much delighted; it consists of little more than 1,000 houses and 8,000 inhabitants. In the neighbourhood the country begins to undulate, and the vines make a luxuriant appearance. The wine made here and in the adjacent parts is tolerably good; that which grows upon the black basalt hills, further to the southward, is infinitely preferable, black being a powerful agent to attract and retain heat; hence the rents of hills are rather high. So powerful is this colour in attracting and retaining the heat, that a very intelligent friend of mine, who resided for some time in China, informed me, that for the purpose of ripening their fruits as early as possible, the Chinese gardeners paint their garden walls black, and lately in some parts of England this plan has been followed. Every thing in and about the city bears testimony to the enlightened liberality and refined taste of the last of the Electors of Cologne, who was cordially beloved and admired by all classes of his subjects. The building which

was once his palace, is very extensive; it stands just without the city upon an elevation of ground, and commands a most enchanting prospect, embracing the windings of the majestic Rhine, part of the village of Poppledorff, the ci-devant monastery of Gruizberg crowning the summit of a hill, and at a distance the Seven Mountains, cloathed with vineyards, and the spires of Coblentz. This beautiful building is now applied to government purposes; in the left wing towards the orange garden, which is prettily disposed, the French Emperor has preserved the Lyceum for instructing boys in Latin, Greek, German, French, mathematics, and philosophy: the professors are very able men, and the institution is in a flourishing condition: this is one amongst the many noble establishments founded by the last Elector, which in his reign was kept in another quarter of the city this elegant pile of building, which is now stripped of all its valuable ornaments, was raised by the elector Clement Augustus in 1777, upon the same site on which no less than four preceding palaces had fallen victims to the flames: there is a beautiful walk under a quadruple row of lime trees, which leads to a small country palace: this walk forms the fashionable parade of the city, and was graced by a number of beautiful and elegantly dressed ladies. Some very pleasant French officers, with whom I was walking in this place, expressed their surprise at seeing an Englishman amongst them, and I was obliged to find refuge again in my American adoption.

Through a beautiful and romantic country, by a short walk a little beyond Gruizberg, towards the south, is the picturesque hill of Godesberg, or Godshill, so called from a sanative mineral spring flowing close to it, which contains fixed air, iron, magnesia, and salt: the last Elector who never omitted any thing which could add to the comfort and happiness of his people, erected an assembly and other rooms, and also pleasure gardens for recreation close to the spring, and by some very wise regulations, encouraged the building of lodging houses. At this place, many of the unhappy French emigrants, after the revolution, found a little relief from the miserable recollections of their fallen fortunes and altered fate: the court of the prince bishop was remarkable for the elegance, hospitality, and refined freedom which reigned throughout it, and in return in every visitor he beheld a friend. The influence of this scene of courtly felicity upon the manners of the people had not as yet subsided. A peculiar air of refinement distinguished the deportment of the inhabitants: after an exquisite ramble, I returned through the square, a spacious irregular area, where the French troops quartered in the place were exercising, and where a very ancient Gothic town-house stands, to supper at my hotel, at the table d'hote of which I again smarted for the temerity of trespassing upon this delightful spot. During our repast, which abounded with a great variety of choice and excellent dishes, and which was