EAST VIEW OF HEIDELBERG CASTLE, FROM A DRAWING MADE IN 1619. THE Regent dying in 1572, was succeeded by his nephew Frederic the Fourth, who added much to his residence, and one of the finest and most perfect portions, built in a style of florid architecture, corresponding with the erections of Otho Henry, and embellished with the most gorgeous statues of the electors, remains a monument of his taste. This structure, which forms the south side of the great Tournament Court, was devoted to the purpose of a chapel, with a fine ball-room above, and still bears the name of Friederich's Bau, or Frederic's Building. The magnificent stone balcony overlooking the town was also the work of this period: here all travellers are taken to see an indentation somewhat resembling the impress of a human foot, in one of the flagstones; concerning which, the legend goes, that a young princess who, in her ardour to join her lover, leaped from a three-story-high window above, and being, we conclude, more nimble than the gentleman was dexterous, descended with such violence, as to imprint the shape of her foot in the solid pavement. The thousands of curious feet, great and small, which have since measured their length in this place, have maintained its shape, and swelled it to colossal dimensions. Whether the lady gave rise to the story of the stone, or vice versa, we leave our readers to decide; we tell the tale as it was told to us. But to return to Frederic the Fourth. In the University library, part of a journal kept by this Pfalzgraf between the years 1596 and 1599, is still VOL. XII. preserved. As far as regards the eating, drinking, and hunting routine of the day, it doubtless is a faithful, and, therefore, interesting picture; but we obtain from it no information, either local or historical, concerning the Castle. Dying in 1610, he was succeeded by his son Frederic the Fifth, subsequently king of Bohemia, who, from his alliance with Elizabeth, daughter of James the First of England, from his prominent position at the commencement of the thirty years' war, of which his cruel fortunes first fired the fatal spark, and from the train of afflictions, public and domestic, which hunted him to an early grave, has obtained a mournful celebrity in the annals of the Palatinate. With regard to the improvement of the Castle, also, his name and that of his high-minded consort stand equally forward, and though its strength and importance declined with his fortunes, and never entirely rallied again, yet we must not forget that he it was who raised it to that splendour which still lingers over its ruined halls. Animated alike by a natural taste for magnificence, by a highly cultivated mind, and, above all, by the most ardent passion for his English bride, he spared no pains in rendering his Castle worthy her abode. In honour of her, a palace in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and furnished on the model of English comfort, quickly arose, and by the simplicity and lightness of its proportions, remains strikingly distinct from the massive gorgeousness of the surrounding walls. Nothing could surpass the varied attractions of 357 the gardens, of which an elegant archway, still called Elizabeth's gate, formed, and yet forms, a conspicuous ornament; while De Caux, architect to the king of France, employed in these additions, taxed his invention in the erection of grottoes, obelisks, fountains, &c. Our print of the Castle, is copied from a drawing taken in 1619. Scarcely were these improvements completed, and the first years of happy royal wedlock flown over, when the election of Frederic to the crown of Bohemia called this interesting couple from their beloved Heidelberg; and, as it subsequently proved, from all permanent happiness and distinction. The dignity of a crown was but short-lived; a few years saw them fugitives and pensioners in a foreign land, while their proud patrimonial castle and lands suffered all the horrors of siege, famine, and spoliage, under the devastating influence of the thirty years' war. Our present royal family of England derives its descent from this same Elizabeth Stuart, Countess Palatine, and queen of Bohemia, through Sophia, the youngest of her numerous and ill-fated family, who became wife to the Elector of Hanover, and mother of George the First. Frederic the Fifth died in obscurity at Mayence, in 1632, and on the 7th of October, 1649, after a period of unexampled horror and public calamity, Charles Louis, his eldest son, was reinstated in the ruined halls of his fathers. His first acts were to repair the breaches of war and plunder, and although his lands still groaned beneath their effects, he contrived to carry on his plans with solidity and expedition, and, at the same time, to recruit the broken fortunes of the Palatinate. His only daughter, Elizabeth Charlotte, he bestowed in marriage on the Duke of Orleans, and thereby unconsciously laid the foundation of that fearful struggle which once more laid his towns and villages in ashes, and gave the finishing blow to the downfall of Heidelberg Castle. His only son, by his royal consort, Charles Louis, studied, and received a doctor's degree, at the University of Oxford, a ceremony which was followed by the presentation of the order of the Garter from his cousin Charles the Second. Receiving during his sojourn in England, in 1680, tidings of his father's demise, he hastened home and assumed the sovereignty. This prince also busied himself in the work of reparation. The favourite amusements of this Elector consisted in theatrical and military spectacles, and a curious work still exists of the pageants and ballets performed at the castle. Having over-exerted himself, however, at a mock siege, a tedious illness was induced, which terminated his life. Here the Palatinate line expires, Charles Louis leaving no issue, and henceforward the history of the castle presents only a successive picture of treachery, violence, and final desolation. exorbitant levies exacted, the state-papers purloined, On the 17th of May, 1692, a body of thirty thousand French troops, with General Melac at their head, marched direct upon Heidelberg, and summoned the town to surrender. On the 20th, fresh forces arriving, General Melac mounted the hills above the castle, took possession of the old ruined fortress, and dispersed his men on the adjacent mountains. Other divisions gathered round the town, cutting fosses and throwing up embankments, to the no small embarrassment of the German commander. Unappalled by these preparations and the strength of their Philip William, of the house of Neuburg, was the foes, the garrison, composed of a motley group of first to claim and assume the seat of authority at citizens and soldiers, determined to defend the walls Heidelberg. Two antagonists, however, soon appeared to the last; but, whether paralyzed by fear, or disin the lists against him, in the persons of Leopold, armed by a foreign bribe, General Heydersdorf gave Count of Veldenz, and Louis the Fourteenth of France, such contradictory orders, spiking, for instance, the alliance of whose brother, the Duke of Orleans, twenty-three of his own cannon, and withdrawing with the late Elector's sister, we have already noticed. his troops from the most important posts, that it The pretensions of Veldenz were quickly satisfied, or soon became manifest what his intentions were. compromised; France proved a weightier foe, and Indignant at his treachery, the officers under him not finding the channel of political menace and ne- used every exertion in counteracting his influence, gotiation successful, deluged the devoted land with a and animating the soldiery; but their enemies had hostile force, and military resistance proving useless, gained too much ground-the suburb was taken, and the castle and town capitulated on the 25th of Octo- the occupation of the town soon followed. This time ber, 1688, but upon honourable conditions. No not even the semblance of humanity was shown; sooner, however, were the French in possession, than and the pillage of the town was granted to five they began to abuse all authority, and to violate regiments, who too well availed themselves of the every treaty. The town's-people were maltreated, barbarous licence. Mingled with grosser acts, every refinement of cruelty was practised. A crowd of wretched fugitives were forced into the church of the Holy Ghost, and there detained, whilst their persecutors set fire to the roof above them, and taking a demoniacal pleasure in their distress, released them only for fresh torments when the danger threatened to become positive destruction. At length, when scarcely an article was left to plunder, nor a human being to destroy, the whole town was given over to the flames. All that now remained was the castle, which, surrendering in a few days, fared no better than its unfortunate neighbour. The valuable furniture was stolen or destroyed, the graves of the electors broken open, and their bones scattered; at the same time, the chief towers and fortifications, surviving the previous struggle, were undermined and blown up, the Otho Henry's building burnt to the shell it now presents, and in short, every species of destruction adopted which tyranny and brutality could suggest. On the news of the destruction of Heidelberg, and the devastation of the Palatinate, reaching the French capital, Louis the Fourteenth, the pride of modern chivalry, and model of every gallant, ordered a public Te Deum in the principal churches, and caused a medal to be struck with the ruins of Heidelberg, with the inscription, Rex dixit, et factum est.-(The king said it, and it was done.)-General Heydersdorf, whose cowardice or treachery had involved such sad consequences, was summoned by his countrymen before a council of war, and condemned to death. The Emperor, however, granted him his life, but banished him from the Austrian and Suabian circle, beyond the barriers of which he was transported in a butcher's cart, with every mark of ignominy. In 1697, peace was signed at Ryswick, and the Palatinate again began to raise her fallen head; the town emerged from its ashes, the various public buildings commenced erecting, and the University, which had existed but as an empty name around the ruins of its schools, at the beginning of 1700, once more became the resort of the youth of Germany John William was succeeded, 1716, by his brother Charles Philip, who took up his residence at Heidelberg, and directed his attention to the restoration of the castle; and financial records which still exist, show that much was laid out in repairing the damages of this ancient palace. Not satisfied with these necessary preliminaries, this elector entertained magnificent plans for its further embellishment and increase, which, had they been prosecuted, would have doubtless preserved it to this day, as the proudest of royal residences. But a fatality seemed to attend all efforts for its re-instatement, and those naturally most interested in its preservation, proved its greatest enemies. Among the improvements projected for the town, it was proposed to fit up the church of the Holy Ghost, (which then, and to this day, by means of a trumpery partition-wall, serves for both Catholic and Protestant services,) entirely for the former worship; the Elector promising to erect in its stead a new church for the Reformed portion of the community. This, however, necessitating a trifling alteration in the Heidelberg catechism, and interfering with some old German dogmas, the Burghers made every opposition, and Charles Philip, in a fit of disgust, removed his residence to Manheim, and employed the enormous sums appointed for Heidelberg, in the erection of a palace, and in making extensive additions to that city. Too late did the citizens repent their shortsighted obstinacy; the workmen were withdrawn from the castle, and much traffic from their town; and the solitude of the ruined walls was alone interrupted by the water-cart, which daily fetched its load from the royal fountains for the court at Manheim. Charles Philip, dying the 31st of December, 1742, Charles Theodore, of the house of Sulzbach, undertook the government, the 1st of January, 1743. Twenty years elapsed before this Elector visited the crumbling halls of his predecessors, when, charmed with its regal grandeur and romantic beauty, he determined to repair a portion for a temporal residence. Again, though from a different quarter, were the plans of restoration frustrated; that very night a thunder storm broke over the ruins, and a flash of lightning taking effect, reduced the castle to the state wherein we now see it. On Charles Theodore's death, Maximilian of Bavaria assumed the Palatinate; but under the division of Europe by that arch king-maker and deposer, Napoleon, it was allotted to Charles Frederic, Grand Duke of Baden, then a man of seventy-two, who directed that every care should be bestowed in preserving the beautiful ruins, and appointed the laying out of the gardens in the style they now present. In 1811, he was succeeded by his grandson Charles, who dying in 1832, his eldest son, Leopold, a prince of the highest worth, was unanimously declared successor. The charge of preserving the castle is vested in the hands of the Heidelberg corporation, who, although doubtless worthy citizens and excellent members of society, were the last men fitted for such a trust. Big with self-importance, and guided neither by love of antiquity, or feeling for the picturesque, they have continued year by year officiously picking at the castle, endeavouring to make old new, and crooked straight, till much that had survived the violence of its foes, has fallen before the scarcely less destructive civilities of its friends. Such was the extent of the subter ranean cellars, groined passages, chambers and dungeons, that it were hard to say whether the castle occupied most space above or below ground. The writer had personally explored this portion, and regretted the destruction of some of its most inte. resting compartments;-now, by a late corporation edict, all the entrances to this lower world have been beaten down or filled up, and thus it will probably remain, till the plough of some future generation again lay it open to the light of day. Further, the gorgeous pillars, and architectural ornaments interspersed in the building, and especially in the suite of apartments called the Knights' Hall, have been sawn in pieces, and used for different purposes, and many a wooden bench in the surrounding gardens, is supported upon a capital, whose exquisite elegance reminds us, that its form was dictated by the taste of a Raphael. Nevertheless, Heidelberg Castle still offers, and must for centuries offer, a powerful attraction to all true lovers of antiquity and beauty, and among the thousands who yearly throng through its empty portals, not a few imbibe an impression of symmetry, strength, gorgeousness, and grandeur, which can never be effaced. HE that does not know those things which are of use and necessity for him to know, is but an ignorant man, what ever he may know besides.-TILLOTSON. EXCELLENCE is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour. It argues, indeed, no small strength of mind to persevere in the habits of industry, without the pleasure of perceiving those advantages which, like the hands of a clock, whilst they make hourly approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape observation.-SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BIBLE FROM THE MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. No. VII THE BONDAGE OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. THE interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, was marked by an important change in the constitution of the Egyptian government, concerning which our authentic information is remarkably indirect and scanty. Several very able writers have laboured with more or less success to elucidate this very obscure period, and the following summary will be found consistent with the Scripture narrative, the Egyptian monuments, and the fragments of Manetho preserved by Josephus. After the Israelites had settled in Goshen, they were engaged in active hostilities with the nomade tribes of Syria and Palestine. A singular record of these wars is preserved in the book of Chronicles, where we find enumerated among the sons of Ephraim, "Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle." (1 Chron. vii. 21.) From this interesting passage we obtain information respecting the condition of the Hebrews in Goshen, previous to their being reduced into slavery, which we find nowhere else recorded. We find that they loyally fulfilled the conditions of the tenure by which they held the land of Goshen, namely, checking the incursions of the eastern nomades; they not only did so, but carried the war into the enemies' country, and swept the plains of Palestine even to the distant city of Gath. The bow was the favourite weapon of the Egyptians, and is so represented on the monuments. It deserves also to be remarked, that the Egyptians drew the bow to the ear, not to the breast as was usual with the Greeks and Romans; consequently, their bows were more powerful, and their arrows better aimed than those of other nations. It may be added that the Israelites, after their settlement in Canaan, appear to have neglected archery, for we read that, immediately after his accession, David "bade them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow." (2 Samuel i. 17.) From the brief narrative in the book of Chronicles, it seems that the Hebrews in Goshen enjoyed a qualified independence; they made wars upon their own account, and retained all their pastoral usages. In some of their expeditions they were unsuccessful, and perhaps subjected to very severe reprisals. Manetho now becomes our sole guide; he informs us in substance, that a nomade race, settled on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt, invited the Hyksos, who had been anciently overcome and expelled, to return into Egypt, and that these barbarians obeyed the summons, subdued Lower Egypt, and reduced the inhabitants to slavery. Many circumstances recorded in Scripture, lead us to believe that the Pharaoh who tyrannized so cruelly over the Egyptians, belonged to this intrusive dynasty of the Hyksos; he is described as "a king who knew not Joseph," consequently, he must have been a stranger unacquainted with the benefits which Egypt had derived from the enlightened administration of that patriarch, for it is scarcely credible that any native Egyptian could have been ignorant of those circumstances. This Pharaoh also asserts, "the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;" which is scarcely credible if it be understood of the whole body of the Egyptian nation, but it is very possible, nay very probable, that the savage race of conquerors may have been inferior in number to the smallest division of the races which inhabited Egypt. At this very hour, the Turks are the least numerous part of the Turkish population, and the jealousy with which they consequently regard all the other races subject to the Sultan, is the greatest obstacle to the regeneration of their empire. Finally, one of the tasks which this monarch imposed on the Hebrews, was the erection of treasure cities, that is, fortresses to secure the plunder which had been wrested from the native Egyptians. When Joseph, under a native Pharaoh, had received all the money of Egypt in exchange for corn, we do not find that he was compelled to erect any fortresses for its security; such a precaution was necessary only under the iron rule of a barbarous foreigner and conqueror. The tyranny of Pharaoh commenced by his setting "task-masters" over the Israelites, "to afflict them with their burdens." We find many representations of these cruel task-masters on the monuments; they are armed with formidable whips. "The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." (Exod. i. 13, 14). The manufacture of bricks was so very toilsome and painful an employment, that it was usually the work of slaves and captives. Among the monumental paintings, we find representations of different races of people employed in this degrading labour. Some of them being bearded, and otherwise pourtrayed with characteristics strikingly different from those of the Egyptians, it can hardly be doubted that the Jews are meant, and such paintings may, therefore, be taken as historical records of the state of bondage of the Jews in the land of Egypt. These representations, too, are the more worthy of note, because, we see some native Egyptians, also compelled to endure the same toil, whence the picture may fairly be regarded as the memorial of a time, when both the Israelites and the native Egyptians were forced to become the slaves of a foreign conqueror, just as both the Arabs and the Fellahs of modern times were equally subjected to the tyranny of the Turks. The clay before being wrought was tempered with water, and broken into small particles by an instrument resembling the hand-plough, described in a former article of this series. This process was equally painful and unwholesome under the burning sun of Egypt, where the moist exhalations from humid clay have always been found very deleterious. When the clay was properly tempered, it was moulded in a shape, as is still the practice in the modern manufacture of bricks. Indeed it is scarcely possible to avoid remarking, how very similar the processes of the necessary arts of life, represented on the Egyptian monuments, are to those which we see every day around us. It does not appear that the Egyptians burned their bricks, though, as we shall hereafter see, they were acquainted with the use of |