This is certainly one of the most splendid works of the kind ever
produced in this or any other country. This is high but not unmerited
praise; as the reader will believe when we tell him, that it contains
twenty-six large plates, from drawings by Stanfield, engraved by
first-rate artists, and superintended by Mr. Charles Heath. They are
all, strictly speaking, PICTURESQUE scenes, chosen with great skill,
and with right understanding of the Picturesque. The literary portion
consists of Travelling Sketches on the Rhine, and in Belgium, and in
Holland, by Mr. Leitch Ritchie. The plates are, of course, intended as
illustrations to the letter-press; but it is too evident, that the
latter has been _written_ to the plates. However, that matters not,
for the twenty-six engravings are amply worth twenty-one shillings, the
cost of the volume. The author's share is lively and jaunty, and of the
most here-and-there description. We only intend to quote the portion
accompanying the Engraving on the annexed page.[1]
ST. GOAR, (_on the Rhine_).
"We now arrived at St. Goar, and the ruins of the castle of Rheinfels:
but here the pen gives willing place to the pencil. In the view, the
town and river are seen through an arch, in such a way as to convey
a complete idea of what we call the Lakes of the Rhine. In entering
St. Goar by the gate of the Rhine, a stranger of these every-day times
thinks of nothing but being bothered about his passport. It was once
very different. A traveller of any consideration, who visited the town
for the first time, was asked by the functionary, 'Sir, My Lord, or Sir
Knight'--as it happened--'with what do you please to be baptized, wine
or water?'--'With wine,' of course was the answer, if the respondent
happened to be a man of any kind of good sense or virtuous habits; and,
after being commanded to prepare himself for the ceremony, by giving
alms to the poor, he was straightway led by his sponsors to the Fleur
de Lys. In this ancient hostelrie, the neophyte was seated amidst the
assembled brethren, a brazen crown placed on his head, and the rules of
the Order of the Collar read to him. A huge goblet of silver was then
presented to him, filled to the lip with wine, and this he was commanded
to drain to the health of the Emperor; a second was emptied to the
honour of the Landgrave of Hesse; and a third gurgled salutation to the
company. The same ceremony was gone through by the sponsors; and the
name of the baptized being duly entered in the register of the Order,
a second collection was made for the poor, and he was permitted to
continue his way into the town. If, instead of wine, the misguided
individual desired baptism with water, he was justly punished for the
immorality, by a bucket of the insipid element being tumbled over his
head. This Order, it is said, had its origin in the reconciliation at
St. Goar of the two sons of Charlemagne; which was doubtless accompanied
by much out-pouring of wine, and in memory whereof they hung up at the
gates a brazen collar."
This is the second volume of the _Picturesque Annual._ The Public
are stated, in its preface, to have contributed from ten to twelve
thousand guineas to the support of last year's volume; and we are
inclined to think, that, in his next, the Editor will have the
gratification of reporting still more munificent patronage: for,
if guineas be somewhat less abundant than twelve months since, the
disposition to foster British art, and a liberal appreciation of its
merits, has been and is on the increase; and, though the proverb be
somewhat musty, "Where there is a will," &c.
[1] Copied by permission of the Proprietor.
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