. Zigzag journeys in northwest lands. The Rhine to the Arctic . s hand,And he said, I nevermore shall see my own, my native land :Take a message and a token to some distant friends of mine ;For I was born at Bingen, — at Bingen on the Rhine. Bingen is a town of about seven thousand inhabitants, and is en-gaged in the wine trade. We visited the chapel of St. Rochus, on ahill near the town, because one of our party had somewhere read thatBulwer had said that the view from St. Rochus was the finest in theworld. Again upon the river, all the banks seemed filled with castles,villages, and ruins. Ev
. Zigzag journeys in northwest lands. The Rhine to the Arctic . s hand,And he said, I nevermore shall see my own, my native land :Take a message and a token to some distant friends of mine ;For I was born at Bingen, — at Bingen on the Rhine. Bingen is a town of about seven thousand inhabitants, and is en-gaged in the wine trade. We visited the chapel of St. Rochus, on ahill near the town, because one of our party had somewhere read thatBulwer had said that the view from St. Rochus was the finest in theworld. Again upon the river, all the banks seemed filled with castles,villages, and ruins. Every hill had its castle, every crag its gray drifted by the famous Mouse Tower, which stands at the end of FIFTH MEETING FOR RHINE STORIES. J55 an island meadow fringed with osier twigs. It is little better than a square tower of a common village church,nor is there any truth in the story thatSoutheys poem has associated with Bishop Hatto, of evil name and<jh memory ! He died in 970, and the tower1 was not built until the thirteenth cen-. tury. For aught that is known, hewas a good man; he certainly wasnot eaten up by rats or mice. The le-gend runs : — ; \_ In the tenth century Hatto, Bishopof Fulda, was raised to the dignity of Arch-bishop of Mayence. He built a strong tower on \ xthe Rhine, wherein to collect tolls from the vesselsthat passed. A famine came to the Rhine countries. Hatto 156 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN NORTHERN LANDS. had vast granaries, and the people came to him for bread. He refusedthem, and they importuned him. He bade them go into a large gran-ary, one day, promising them relief. When they had entered thebuilding, he barred the doors and set it on fire, and the famishingbeggars, among whom were many women and children, were con-sumed. The bishop listened to the cries of the dying for mercy as thebuilding was burning. Hark ! he said, hear the rats squeak. When the building fell millions of rats ran from the ruins to thebishops palace. They f
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