We still continued our course on the left bank of the Rhine, and passed by many beautiful villages, and the handsome towns of Haltenheim, Erbach, Elfeld, Steinheimerhof, Nieder or Lower Wallauf, where ancient churches and convents are interspersed amongst many handsome modern houses. We reached Nieder Wallauf, the last town of the Rhingau to the east, and afterwards Schierstein, a pretty town where, as our progress was so frequently delayed by the numerous islands which lie close to the bank, in company with a very pleasant, intelligent German, I quitted the boat, and walked to Biberich: the day was remarkably fine, and our road lay through luxuriant corn and pasture fields, vineyards, orchards, every where profusely adorned with castles, religious houses, picturesque cottages, and beautiful chateaus, behind which the vast forest of Landeswald extends to an immense distance: at length the numerous spires, and the lofty towers and palaces of Mayence opened upon us, from the opposite side of the river, and had a very venerable, and majestic effect. CHAPTER XXV. BIBERICH ... CHARLEMAGNE’S PALACE ... BRIDGE OF BOATS ... MAYENCE ... HORRORS OF WAR ... THE ART OF PRINTING ... THE HOCKHEIM HILLS ... REMARKS ON OLD HOCK ... THE TOOTH-BRUSH ... FRANCFORT ... SPLENDID TABLE D’HOTE ... INAUGURATION OF THE PRINCE PRIMATE ... ANECDOTES OF THE FRENCH ... THE FAIR. Our entrance into an avenue of nearly a mile and a half in length, thickly lined with walnut, apple, pear, and plum trees, loaded with fruit, announced our approach to Biberich, the superb palace of the Prince of Nassau Usingen. As I made a drawing of this palace and the adjacent town when I descended the Rhine, and the boat was in a central part of the river, it will be unnecessary to describe it. I had no time to view the apartments, but my laquais informed me, that they were grand, and furnished in a princely manner: the town is modern, small, and very handsome. As we skirted Ingelheim, we were informed that the illustrious Charlemagne, the great prototype of Bonaparte, selected this place for his favourite residence, where he built a magnificent palace, which was supported by a hundred columns of Italian marble, and had an immense number of apartments, in which synods and the most important councils of state were held: that his son Louis le Debonnaire died broken-hearted here, in consequence of the rebellions of his sons Lotharius and Louis. Not a vestige remains of this celebrated pile to prove that it once existed: but in the life of Louis le Debonnaire, Nigellus thus consecrates this building: Est locus ille situs rapidi prope flumina Rheni, Ornatus variis cultibus et dapibus. Quo domus alta putet, centum perfixa columnis, Quo reditus varii tectaque multimoda, Mille aditus, reditus, millenaque claustra domorum Acta magistrorum artificumque manu.