Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy

The Pilgrims of the Rhine

Rotterdam.--The Character of the Dutch.--Their Resemblance to the Germans.--A Dispute between Vane and Trevylyan, after the manner of the ancient Novelists, as to which is preferable, the Life of Action, or the Life of Repose.--Trevylyan’s Contrast between Literary Ambition an...

Chapters

38. Chapter 38

AND the STARS sat, each on his ruby throne, and watched with sleepless eyes upon the world. It was the night ushering in the new year, a night on which every star receives from...

23. Chapter 23

IT was noonday in the town of Malines, or Mechlin, as the English usually term it; the Sabbath bell had summoned the inhabitants to divine worship; and the crowd that had loiter...

31. Chapter 31

* In the excursions of the fairies, it is the object of the author to bring before the reader a rapid phantasmagoria of the various beings that belong to the German superstition...

43. Chapter 43

THE banks of the Rhine now shelved away into sweeping plains, and on their right rose the once imperial city of Boppart. In no journey of similar length do you meet with such st...

25. Chapter 25

IT was a bright and cheery morning as they glided by Gorcum. The boats pulling to the shore full of fishermen and peasants in their national costume; the breeze freshly rippling...

19. Chapter 19

THE IDEAL WORLD,--ITS REALM IS EVERYWHERE AROUND US; ITS INHABITANTS ARE THE IMMORTAL PERSONIFICATIONS OF ALL BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS; TO THAT WORLD WE ATTAIN BY THE REPOSE OF THE SE...

52. Chapter 52

ON their return homeward, Du-----e took the third seat in the carriage, and endeavoured, with his usual vivacity, to cheer the spirits of his companions; and such was the elasti...

24. Chapter 24

THE GERMANS.--A DISPUTE BETWEEN VANE AND TREVYLYAN, AFTER THE MANNER OF THE ANCIENT NOVELISTS, AS TO WHICH IS PREFERABLE, THE LIFE OF ACTION OR THE LIFE OF REPOSE.--TREVYLYAN’S...

45. Chapter 45

IN the deep valley of Ehrenthal, the metal kings--the Prince of the Silver Palaces, the Gnome Monarch of the dull Lead Mine, the President of the Copper United States--held a co...

47. Chapter 47

EXCUSED.--THE SITUATION AND CHARACTER OF GERTRUDE.--THE CONVERSATION OF THE LOVERS IN THE TEMPEST.--A FACT CONTRADICTED.--THOUGHTS OCCASIONED BY A MADHOUSE AMONGST THE MOST BEAU...

48. Chapter 48

IT was now the full noon; light clouds were bearing up towards the opposite banks of the Rhine, but over the Gothic towers of Ellfeld the sky spread blue and clear; the river da...

42. Chapter 42

“I WAS born,” said he, “with many of the sentiments of the poet, but without the language to express them; my feelings were constantly chilled by the intercourse of the actual w...

29. Chapter 29

ON the shore opposite the Drachenfels stand the Ruins of Rolandseck,--they are the shattered crown of a lofty and perpendicular mountain, consecrated to the memory of the brave...

21. Chapter 21

I WISH only for such readers as give themselves heart and soul up to me,--if they begin to cavil I have done with them; their fancy should put itself entirely under my managemen...

34. Chapter 34

FROM the Drachenfels commences the true glory of the Rhine; and once more Gertrude’s eyes conquered the languor that crept gradually over them as she gazed on the banks around.

37. Chapter 37

GERTRUDE had, indeed, apparently rallied during their stay at Coblentz; and a French physician established in the town (who adopted a peculiar treatment for consumption, which h...

20. Chapter 20

IN one of those green woods which belong so peculiarly to our island (for the Continent has its forests, but England its woods) there lived, a short time ago, a charming little...

27. Chapter 27

THE angels strung their harps in heaven, and their music went up like a stream of odours to the pavilions of the Most High; but the harp of Seralim was sweeter than that of his...

46. Chapter 46

RHEINFELS.--PERIL UNFELT BY LOVE.--THE ECHO OF THE LURLEI-BERG.--ST. GOAR.--KAUB, GUTENFELS, AND PFALZGRAFENSTEIN.--A CERTAIN VASTNESS OF MIND IN THE FIRST HERMITS.--THE SCENERY...

30. Chapter 30

DURING the heat of next day’s noon, Fayzenheim took the English visitors through the cool caverns that wind amidst the mountains of the Rhine. There, a thousand wonders awaited...

22. Chapter 22

GERTRUDE and her companions proceeded by slow and, to her, delightful stages to Rotterdam. Trevylyan sat by her side, and her hand was ever in his; and when her delicate frame b...

26. Chapter 26

ROME--magnificent Rome! wherever the pilgrim wends, the traces of thy dominion greet his eyes. Still in the heart of the bold German race is graven the print of the eagle’s claw...

41. Chapter 41

THERE are two lives to each of us, gliding on at the same time, scarcely connected with each other,--the life of our actions, the life of our minds; the external and the inward...

44. Chapter 44

THE day now grew cool as it waned to its decline, and the breeze came sharp upon the delicate frame of the sufferer. They resolved to proceed no farther; and as they carried wit...

49. Chapter 49

BUT in what spot of the world is there ever utter solitude? The vanity of man supposes that loneliness is _his_ absence! Who shall say what millions of spiritual beings glide in...

36. Chapter 36

I AM obliged to you, my dear friend, for your letter; which, indeed, I have not, in the course of our rapid journey, had the leisure, perhaps the heart, to answer before. But we...

35. Chapter 35

THE next day they visited the environs of Brohl. Gertrude was unusually silent; for her temper, naturally sunny and enthusiastic, was accustomed to light up everything she saw....

39. Chapter 39

“YOU made me tremble for you more than once,” said Gertrude to the student; “I feared you were about to touch upon ground really sacred, but your end redeemed all.”

40. Chapter 40

ANOTHER time our travellers proceeded from Coblentz to Treves, following the course of the Moselle. They stopped on the opposite bank below the bridge that unites Coblentz with...

50. Chapter 50

THE next day, Gertrude and her companions went along the banks of the haunted Neckar. She had passed a sleepless and painful night, and her evanescent and childlike spirits had...

28. Chapter 28

ON leaving Cologne, the stream winds round among banks that do not yet fulfil the promise of the Rhine; but they increase in interest as you leave Surdt and Godorf. The peculiar...

32. Chapter 32

THE feast being now ended, as well as the story, the fairies wound their way homeward by a different path, till at length a red steady light glowed through the long basaltic arc...

33. Chapter 33

“Now that I have found thee,” answered the queen, “and now that I feel what happy love is to a fairy, I sigh over that love which I have lately witnessed among mortals, but the...

51. Chapter 51

on your heart thus parted,--tenderer, but not so sad. I would not wish you to feel yourself widowed to my memory; I would not cling like a blight to your fair prospects of the f...

1. Chapter 1

Rotterdam.--The Character of the Dutch.--Their Resemblance to the Germans.--A Dispute between Vane and Trevylyan, after the manner of the ancient Novelists, as to which is prefe...

14. Chapter 14

Thurmberg.--A Storm upon the Rhine.--The Ruins of Rheinfels.--Peril Unfelt by Love.--The Echo of the Lurlei-berg.--St. Goar.--Kaub, Gutenfels, and Pfalzgrafenstein.--A certain V...

15. Chapter 15

The Voyage to Bingen.--The Simple Incidents in this Tale Excused.--The Situation and Character of Gertrude.--The Conversation of the Lovers in the Tempest.--A Fact Contradicted....

7. Chapter 7

Coblentz.--Excursion to the Mountains of Taunus; Roman Tower in the Valley of Ehrenbreitstein.--Travel, its Pleasures estimated differently by the Young and the Old.--The Studen...

13. Chapter 13

In which the Reader will learn how the Fairies were received by the Sovereigns of the Mines.--The Complaint of the Last of the Fauns.--The Red Huntsman.--The Storm.--Death

2. Chapter 2

Cologne.--The Traces of the Roman Yoke.--The Church of St. Maria.--Trevylyan’s Reflections on the Monastic Life.--The Tomb of the Three Kings.--An Evening Excursion on the Rhine

17. Chapter 17

9. Chapter 9

4. Chapter 4

16. Chapter 16

5. Chapter 5

6. Chapter 6

12. Chapter 12

3. Chapter 3

18. Chapter 18

11. Chapter 11

8. Chapter 8

10. Chapter 10