The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-20 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

His loyal Highness the Duke of Cambridge ho-
noured the performance of the Italian Opera with his
presence yesterday evening.
Sun lay last being the anniversary of the birth of her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, the morning was
ushered in at Kensington by a merry peal of the church
bells, and by the hoisting of the national flag. The same
denr)nstrations of respect were observed in several
parts of the metropolis and its vicinity.
On Monday her Royal Highness's tradesmen dined
together at the King's Arms Tavern, Kensington. The
chair was very ably filled
.by Mr. Wright, of Pall-mall.
Venison was liberally supplied by her Royal Jlighness's
orders, and the company passed a most pleasant even-
ing, by the assistance of Mr. Ransford and other
vocalists.
Mr. Aglionby, Mr. George Frederick Young, and
Mr. Harrington, transacted business yesterday at the
office of the Board of Trade.
Dispatches fir the Lord High Commissioner of the
lonian Islands, and also for the Governor of Malta,
were sent off last evening from the Colonial-office.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO
GERMANY.
MAYENCE, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 16.
Her Majesty has arrived at this point of her journey.
She left Stolzenfels this morning in her steam-yacht the
Fairy, at half-past eleven o'clock, and reached Mayence
at six. The weather, which had for so many hours been
bad, brightened up a short time before her Majesty's
embarkation; and, with the exception of now and then,
a slight shower, it continued fine the whole of the day.
Her Majesty and the Prince, accompanied by the Earl
of Aberdeen, the Earl of Liverpool, Mr. Anson, Colonel
Wylde, Lady Canning, and Lady Gainsborough, left the
Palace of Stolzenfels at about a quarter-past eleven
o'clock, and came down to the place of embarkation, on
the bank of the Rhine, immediately under the palace.
The King of Prussia and the Crown Prince escorted
their royal visitors to the landing place. In a few
minutes her Majesty and suite had embarked on board
the Fairy, amidst salutes from a park of artillery sta-
tioned in the neighbourhood. A guard of honour, com-
posed of Prussian infantry, were present at the embarka-
tion. While the vessel was getting under weigh, and
for some minutes after she had started, the King of
Prussia stood on the river side waving his hat to her

Majesty.
The scenery of the Rhine from Coblents to Mayence
is much finer than that from Cologne to the former
place. The general characteristics, however, are the
same. There are the vine-clad hills, the ravine-like
valleys, the small, straggling, picturesque towns and
villages, with their slate-roofed houses, contrasting
softly with the verdure around, the name rough grim
crags with ruined castles at their summits ; all the fea-
tures are similar, but they are on a grander scale—the
contrasts more sudden and striking, the panorama more
various, more full of perfect pictures. The Queen had
to-day the advantage of fine weather. The rain had
brightened and freshened the verdure, and there was
that exquisitely pure atmosphere, and that deep blue
sky, which add the crowning charm to scenery such as
that on the Rhine.
At most of the principal towns and villages which so
prettily stud the shore on either side of the river there
were some efforts made by the inhabitants to welcome the
Queen. Passing Oberlahnstein, Lahneck, and the other
places which were the scene of the illuminations on
Thursday night, the first place of any importance is
Boppard, a very picturesque little town or large village,
where there were some flags and a great many people,
who cheered loudly as the Fairy passed. Further on she
passed the two castles of Lubenstein and Steinberg, to
which, as to most of the places on either side, a legend is
attached, with which the reader shall not here be
troubled. Many of these legends are extremely beauti-
ful, and characteristic of the tone of manners in the
middle ages, as all who have read the hundred and one
tales and books that have been written on the subject are
very well aware ; but there is no reason for giving one of
them more than another, and, as all could not be even
alluded to, it is better to leave them alone, more espe-
cially as those who go up the Rhine to look at scenery
seldom have time for anything else.
At the Rheinfels, the castle of Prince Frederick of
Prussia, which looks very much like a miniature
Windsor Castle in the last state of crumbling decay, sa-
lutes were fired in honour of her Majesty as the vessel
passed. The people had collected in numbers on the
banks, and flags hung from some of the houses. A
little further on and her Majesty approached the
Lurleiborg, so celebrated in the romance of the Rhine.
There was a fisherman's boat—a sort of punt with
wings—but no Lurlei maid to sing from the rock and
lure the fisherman to his destruction in the rapids.
Nature has done so much for this part of the Rhine that
it needed not the additional charm of romantic or
legendary association. But all the poetry of that asso-
ciation is banished by the use to which this splendid
combination of hill, valley, and stream is put by its
owners. It seems that there is a very good echo here,
and a fine echo is a very grand thing; but it is like
many other things, more striking when it comes unex-
pectedly than when it is sought for. Here they lie in
wait for the echo, which is awakened so constantly, and
at such unseasonable times, that if it had not the national
courtesy it would long since have given up. It destroys
the interest of the association at least, if not the beauty
of the scene, to see, st so fine a point of the river, three
little gaudy flags stuck upon sticks, and a man with a
sort of swivel gun stationed there to call up the echo by
firing as each steam-boat .passes. For this, too, he is
paid weekly by the steam-boat companies. The echo
was rather sulky on the present occasion.
At Oberwesel, again—a fine old fortified town, with
crumbling walls, sad of the most picturesque aspect—
there were stores of flags and crowds of people • and the
same may be said of Gutenfels and the bank of the
Rhine opposite Pfalz, the isolated tower rising abruptly
from the bosom of the Rhine, which was once the toll-
house of the river. At Bingen, where the scenery pre-
sents a coup d'ceil almost as fine as that at Coblentz,
there was great gaiety, animation, and excitement.
Here the dominions of the King of Prussia end, and
those of the Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt commence.
The flag of Prussia waved from an old tower on one
side of the boundary line, and that of Hesse Darmstadt
on the other side, and salutes were fired as the Fairy—
which looked fairy-like indeed as she glided without
noise or apparent motion on the bosom of the winding
river—passed slowly by on her way towards Riidesheim.
Very soon after leaving Bingen the grandeur and
beauty of the Rhine scenery is lost. Castled crag and
ruined tower, vine-clad mountain and fertile valley, give
place to rich plains, only gently undulating on either
side as the land rises in the distance. They are highly
cultivated, and dotted with those picturesque villages,
with their quaint old Gothic houses and religious-look-
ing churches, that are to be seen all along the banks of
the Rhine, and add the charm of human life and activity
to the grand features of the scenery.
The first place of any importance passed on the way
to Mayence, at the point where the course of the Rhine
turns, is Riidesheim, and a little beyond it is Geisen-
heim, close to which, on a high hill at a distance, over-
looking the river, is the celebrated seat of Prince Met-
ternich, surrounded by the vineyards whence is produced
the Johannisberg, so celebrated among the epicures of
the world. Vineyards sound very well in a poem, but,
in fact, they are dull and common-place as kitchen gar-
dens, looking very much like rows of peas. Schloss
Johannisberg also sounds very grand, and, associated
with the great name of Metternich, it inspires one with
expectations which the real chateau does not bear out—
for it is a plain, flat-looking building, reminding one of
a barrack or a Poor-law Union. However, let its faults
be what it may, it will always inspire interest—with
some for the sake of its master—with more, for the sake
of its wine.
A few miles further on is Bieberich, the palace of the
Grand Duke of Nassau, a massive and rather cumbrous
pile, of great architectural pretension, but exhibiting a
most barbarous conglomeration of different styles, and
those not the best. Here the standard of Nassau
flouted from the top of the palace, and a crowd of the
Nassau people, with their pretty partners, assembled to
see the Fairy pass. They were, however, doomed to
disappointment. Opposite the palace a narrow richly-
wooded island divides the stream, and the royal steamer,
instead of passing through the channel nearest to Nas-
sau, went on the other side. This was the only instance
of this sort of disappointment on the whole trip, for
her Majesty gave orders that the speed of the Fairy
should be slackened at different places on the route, that
the people on shore might have an opportunity of gra-
tifying their curiosity. The people of Bieberich were
not so fortunate ; but this did not prevent the firing of
salutes in right military style.
In a very few minutes the two towers and the whole
river-front of this picturesque city of Mayence were
visible : the shore lined with people, flags waving from
the mastheads of the shipping, and troops drawn up at
the landing-place. As the Fairy steamed up salutes
were fired on all sides, and there was a very grand and
animated reception—as much so as there has been at any
place of the kind. Her Majesty and Prince Albert
stood upon deck and witnessed the whole scene. On
landing her Majesty was received by Prince William of
Prussia, who is the Governor of Mayence, and a brilliant
staff, and nearly 9,000 troops lined the way and kept the
ground in and about the Government-house, to which
her Majesty was conducted. Such a body of troops had
a very imposing appearance, as may be supposed. They
were mixed, Austrians and Prussians, the city being
garrisoned jointly by the two nations on terms of
equality.
In the evening after her dinner her Majesty was se-
renaded (if the term may be used) with a military con-
cert by torchlight. All the bands of the different Aus-
trian and Prussian regiments in the garrison turned out
and formed in procession. They then proceeded, ac-
companied by soldiers bearing- torches, to the Hotel de
l'Europe, which is occupied by her Majesty and suite
while staying here, where they formed a circle opposite
the hotel, and played the English national anthem and
several airs. The effect of this may be conceived ; it
was like everything else that has been got up in this
country to welcome the Queen—grand and imposing in
the extreme. The illumination at Cologne, the fire-
works at Stolzenfels, the reception at Bruhl—all had the
same characteristic of magnitude and profuse splendour.
They were less the compliment of a Sovereign than the
tribute of a nation.
The Government-house would, of course, have been
at the disposal of her Majesty, but the time of her ar-
rival was so uncertain, and it was so doubtful whether
she would sleep at Mayence at all, that her Majesty de-
clined to allow it to be fitted up, and the Hotel de
PEurope was engaged for her accommodation. Her Ma-
jesty will remain at Mayence till Monday morning,
when she proceed* to Wurzburg. •