Mobile register and journal., 1845-12-11

Wiley & Putnam, New York, have recently issued from their press Two additional numbers of the "For- eign Library," entitled the RHINE; by Victor Hugo We have the authority of the Evening Post that is a readable book in several pouts of view. Simply as the narrative of summers jaunt from Paris to the Rhine, and along that famous river, il is full of entertainment. As a specimen of the style ex. tract the following
 CoLoeSI.-Towards evening, when the stars shot forth their light slroliod upon he shore oppo- site Cologne. l had before the whole city, with its nnumerable gables and solemn steeples. defined against the pallid sky of lhe West. To my lef like the gianess of Cologne, stood ihe lofty spiIe of St. Martin, with it's TWO open worked towers. Nearly fronting was he gloomy Coihedial with its thou- sand bnnacles hrislllng like the back of a hedge hog, crouched mp the brink of the ryer the ini- mense crane the sleeple forming the tail. while the lanterns alight towards the bottom of the gloomy mass glired like it's eyes. Amid this prevailing gloom heard nothing but the gentle ripple far be-. law al my lpet the deadened sound of horses hoofs upon the bridge, and from forge in the distance, the ringing strokes of the hammer on the anvil; no other noise disturbed the stiffness of the Rhine. A few lights tlickered in the windows from the forge the sparks and flakes of ruging furnace shot forth and exinguished themselves in the Rhine, leaving long luminous trace as if sack of fire was shooting forth its contents into the stream. Influenced by th gloomy aspect of things sad 10 myself, the Gasc city has disaprearcd-the city of Agrippa va nished, Cologne is now the city of St. EngebeI; but how long will it be thus! The temple built wonder by S. Helena fell iheusand years ago-the church con- structed by Archbishop Anno will also fall the rum ia gradually undermining the city; every day some old stone, some old remembrance IS detached from its place by the wear and tear of score of steam boats. city does not afx itself with inpunity To the grand artery of Europe. Cologne. though more ancient than Treves and .5oeure, the two most an. cient communities of the continent, has been thrice reformed and transformed by the rspid and violent current of ideas, ascending and descending unceas- ngly from the cities of William the Tacurn to the moutains of William Tell, and bringing to Cologne from Mayence ihe opulence of Germany, and from Starsbcnrg the opueuce of France.
 A fourth clinacieeic epoch appears to menace Co., logne. The mania of uliariansm and postiV ism, so called in the slang of the day, prevades every quarter of the world and innovations creep into the Labyrinth of it's antique architecture, and open streets pene- irae it's Gothic obscurity. What is called 'the taste of the day., is beginning invade it. with houses lroutages in the fashion of Rue de Rivo, 10 the profound amazement of the shop. keepers. Nay, have we not seen that there exist drunken rhymers who would ln behold the old minister of Conrad, of Hochstetten, converted into Ile Pantheon of Soul- foi! In that Cathedral, still endowed and adorned, for vanitys sake rather than lreH devotion, the an- cient tombs of the archbishops decayin The psasan, women with their superb old costume of scarlet and coifs of gold and silver, have yielded their place upon the qua,s to smart and hippant gyiseites. attired in the Paris fashion; and saw the last brick dslodged from the old coster of St. Mar
 tin, in order that cafe might be buih on the site Long rows of pert white houses give cockney fled air the Catholic and leude suburb of the Inprtyrs of Thebes; and an omnibus takes you across the historical bridge of boats for six sos, from AgTppi- aa to Tsitsimi Alas, alas! hs cid cities ef Europe are departing.