And morning to the night,
So will His mercy wandering footsteps lead
From darkness into light.
Between Cobern and Winningen our river makes its last great bend at a point where a splendid mass of rock towers up on the left bank. It is the last of the Eifel family of Giants we encounter; for, beyond Winningen, the scenery on that side becomes softer in character, smaller hills become undulations, and then, as we get close to Coblence, these slope into the garden with which the plain is covered.
The first cluster of houses we encounter after leaving Cobern is Dieblich. It lies quite back from the stream, and looks anything but a place that would be especially selected by witches to carry on their spells and incantations; yet so infected (say the Chronicles) was this town with witches, that in a short time twenty-five individuals were burnt there, who all confessed that they were in the habit of meeting on a neighbouring mountain and worshipping a goat, who was an incarnation of the Evil One.
They also confessed to having emptied cellars, cursed cattle, raised storms, destroyed the harvests, and performed all the feats usually attributed to those unfortunates. The key to the true causes of their being persecuted lies, perhaps, in the following tale, which, if true, clears the memory of one witch of Dieblich. Spite, envy, jealousy, or some other evil passion being, in all probability, the denouncer of the unfortunate witches in nine cases out of ten.
THE FATE OF THE FALSE SWEARER.
An old country Squire who was unmarried, having been much struck with the appearance of a young girl of Dieblich, determined to ask her mother to give him the daughter in marriage; so he donned his best suit and set off.
Now Elsbeth was, as she richly deserved, the belle of the place. Many and many a head had been broken, and many a tall wine-bottle emptied, in honour of her. The mother was naturally proud of her daughter’s attractions; indeed, perhaps, as mothers will do, she rather overrated her merits.