“Most beautiful are the paths” [“Heidelberg”] [essay, part 1]
Most beautiful are the paths which scale the face of the
hill which is crowned by the castle of Heidelberg, 1 fairylike,
winding beneath the twisted branches of green woods, with
here and there a grey crag lifting up its lichened head
from the wilderness of brake 2 and grass and flowr, that con‐
cealed the mass of that ancient granite, sometimes
supporting a fragment of the remains of the old walls,
with here and there an arrowslit choked up with ivy,
then emerging on narrow vallies, or steep and rocky dells,
or lovely sweeps of dewy green sward, fresh and flowery,
as ever fairies circled on, and ending on a lofty terrace,
whose precipice base was begirt with meadow land,
at the point where a narrow mountain gorge opened
into the mighty plains of the Rhine, having in its
embouchure 3 the little town of Heidelberg with its river
and its tall arched bridge, all glistening under that
most lovely of all lights, the first glow of sunshine,
after a spring shower. 18
hill which is crowned by the castle of Heidelberg, 1 fairylike,
winding beneath the twisted branches of green woods, with
here and there a grey crag lifting up its lichened head
from the wilderness of brake 2 and grass and flowr, that con‐
cealed the mass of that ancient granite, sometimes
supporting a fragment of the remains of the old walls,
with here and there an arrowslit choked up with ivy,
then emerging on narrow vallies, or steep and rocky dells,
or lovely sweeps of dewy green sward, fresh and flowery,
as ever fairies circled on, and ending on a lofty terrace,
whose precipice base was begirt with meadow land,
at the point where a narrow mountain gorge opened
into the mighty plains of the Rhine, having in its
embouchure 3 the little town of Heidelberg with its river
and its tall arched bridge, all glistening under that
most lovely of all lights, the first glow of sunshine,
after a spring shower. 18