Mountain and city, the solitary island, the castled steep, like the dreams of ambition, suddenly appear, proudly swell, and dimly fade away.
"You begin now," said Trevylyan, "to understand the character of the German literature.

The Rhine is an emblem of its luxuriance, its fertility, its romance.

The best commentary to the German genius is a visit to the German scenery.

The mighty gloom of the Hartz, the feudal towers that look over vines and deep valleys on the legendary Rhine; the gigantic remains of antique power, profusely scattered over plain, mount, and forest; the thousand mixed recollections that hallow the ground; the stately Roman, the stalwart Goth, the chivalry of the feudal age, and the dim brotherhood of the ideal world, have here alike their record and their remembrance.

And over such scenes wanders the young German student.