immense fir-apples, with the cones occasionally broken; but no words can give any adequate idea of the awful contrast of their dark isolated range of pinnacles with the dazzling fields of ice and snow above, around, and beneath them. The most capacious ledge is on the north-western side of the first rock of the range; of irregular width, being, perhaps, seven feet at the broadest, backed by the summit of the rock rising about twenty feet above it, and protected at its edge partly by natural projections of the rock itself, and partly by inserted stones which the guides place and renew on their expeditions. When I approached these rocks of refuge, the chief ledge was occupied by my son and three or four of our fellow aspirants; guides and porters were dispersed in smaller ledges, or fissures of the range, so that the crags were all animated with mortal life, diversified by the travellers' accompaniments. Almost in front rose the huge Dôme du Gouté, here surveyed in its full grandeur, a vast cupola of stainless snow; to its right the Aiguille de Gouté, a bulk of rock rising out of a belt of snow; to the left the highest summit, scarcely here looking larger than from the valley, but cast farther back in a more solemn seclusion from its subject domes and spires; all beneath these, the greatest summits, was wellsunned, but unspotted snow, broken only by a few reddish rocks on the right of the top: ascending on every side from the basin out of which our rock arose, and thence floating downwards till lost to the sight in the steepness of the descent, except that here and there at the rim of the downward view a rock projected out, as if overhanging the unseen abyss, in shape like the tusk of some gigantic animal. The lower snow was, however, illustrated by the track of the party, deep imprinted steps, which gave a human interest to the waste. Beyond, far below, almost as at the bottom of a well, the broadest part of the valley of Chamouni gleamed with its bits of yellow fields and white baby houses, above which the top of the Breven

stood out in blackness; and, beyond that, the far mightier rock of the Aiguille Varens, crouched like a lion in the deep blue sky. To the left the huge round top of the Buet walled in the prospect; which was, although thus so mighty in objects, yet limited in extent; admitting no distance except a gleam of blue of the lake of Geneva, with a faint outline of hills-the line of the Jura beyond it-which also I thought might be traced to the left of the Breven at the extreme verge of the horizon. Having recovered sufficient strength to crawl round the buttress, which towered above our resting-place, I looked down into the other great snow valley, which it overlooked and divided from that which we had made ours; it was not so vast, but still more fearful,-bordered by heights more abrupt between the Aiguille du Midi and the summit, precipices which the chamois can never scale. Our rock on this side was far more precipitous than on that by which we had ascended; and therefore I contented myself with one glance, and crept back to my place on the safer eyry.

"Soon after I had thus 'set up my nest,' the grand process of sun-setting began; and, solemn as have been many sunsets to me, I never saw one-I will not say merely equal to this-but one resembling it; for the difference was not in degree, but in kind. Above and around there was not a cloud-not a speck to dim the deepening azure of the sky, nor a fleecy breath of mist wafted or lingering about the towers or domes of the mountain. These glowed for a few moments in a deeper rose-colour than that which appeared to clothe them at this hour from below; the summit, as usual, retained it last, and when it faded, it left them in the cold whiteness of the dawn. Thus far, with the grandeur above us, all passed in its usual procession of glory; but while I watched these receding tints, flocks of clouds arose below, and filled up the valley of Chamouni to the brim with tissues waving greyly, like floating

shrouds. They were then seen creeping up within the folds of the valley beyond, till that also assumed, as far as it was revealed, the same spectral veil; while the top of the Breven, the Aiguille Varens, and the head of the Buet stood out like islands in that solemn sea. But beyond, in the expanse to the right of the Breven top, what glory was disclosed! A heaven-tinged cloud-land, not to be gazed at from below by a subject mortal, but to be looked down into, as from a purer seat—a subjected enchantment spread beneath us, as if, from some pinnacle of heaven, the eye were permitted to gaze upon its lower glories—the habitations and the array of angels. The first appearance

of this vision was that of a celestial city, all of sapphire, circling a lake of azure, while far away in the measureless distance, legions of angelic hosts-shapeless as those of Rembrandt descending on Jacob's slumber, but giving, like them, the sense of winged glories-were ranged, while tents and pavilions of violet and gold behind them, seemed to bespeak a martial array. Presently these splendours became all confused, and then a sterner grandeur reigned; a scene of huge purple caverns and golden rocks, but beside a sapphire sea studded with islands of deeper gold; and then the colours blended, and faded, and nothing but one heap of purple clouds filled the place of the gorgeous vision; and I was alone with the rock, the snow, and the stars. When this pageantry of a lower heaven had quite passed away, I fell asleep, and slopt without a dream."

CHAPTER IX.

Luther's Fatherland-The Reformation-Its Instrumentality-Its progress-Its Memorials-Its Influence in Germany.

I PROPOSE that we shall this evening direct our attention to what may be called Luther's Fatherland, or the country in which he first appeared as a reformer, and the scenes through which he passed in the performance of his duties. in that exalted character. Before I proceed to what may be called the interior, it will be most suitable that I should previously revive my recollections of Frankfort-onthe-Maine, rather than return thither from some intermediate part of the journey. It stands upon the borders of Germany, not being an integral part of it, and is connected. with the reminiscences of Luther's eventful life. It was visited by him in the midst of his most active career, and is associated with some interesting discussions in which he was engaged. There are two Frankforts, as most of you perhaps know-Frankfort on the Oder, which is farther east, and nearer Leipsic; and Frankfort-on-the-Maine, which is not far from Mayence: the latter is the place to which we at present direct attention, and is one of the independent cities of Germany. The territory is not more than ten miles in extent, and is situate about eleven or twelve miles from the Rhine. A railway passes from a town called Cassel; it may be reckoned rather a fortress than a town, and is immediately opposite to Mayence, upon the Rhine. Frankfort is further from

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Cassel than the number of miles I have mentioned; but I refer to the distance from the Rhine up the river Maine. Beside being a free city, this municipality serves as the centre of intercourse to many of the European continental States. The Austrian ambassador resides as president of the Germanic Diet, and maintains diplomatic relations with other national representatives; indeed, every leading European state has its ambassador residing in this city; not ostensibly to superintend the affairs of Frankfort, or to keep under surveillance what is doing among its citizens. It is true every ambassador is a sort of spy, accredited by the courtesies of royalty, and honoured; yet nothing better than a spy, looking after what the people or rulers of other lands are employed about, lest deeds done or plotted in those other countries should defeat what may be reckoned the interest of his own country. A polite and legitimatized espionage is the system of resident ambassadors, with the formulas of diplomatic relation maintained between nations. Ambassadors, however, who reside at Frankfort, do not merely watch over the local affairs—the policy of the Hanseatic towns that are connected with this city, which are all minor, very minor states. Frankfort being the centre of extensive commercial transactions, and most extensive monetary negotiations, its bankers and money-brokers are sensitively alive to the apprehension of danger when any political movement is threatened in reference to the states that are at a distance from Frankfort: and no agency is so acute in scenting, or so active in exploring and developing such contingencies as the members of the stock exchange; they surpass even a French police or a Muscovite despotism.

Frankfort contains about sixty thousand inhabitants. There are of these not fewer-I think we may say morethan five thousand Jews; and the Jews in Frankfort, connected as they are with the celebrated Baron Roths