ENV1H0XS OF WILDBAD.

47

The valley of the Nagold; another of thc many moun- tain bosoms of thc Schwarzwald, lies not far from, but on a lower levcl than, the vale of the Enz. In that valley is fonnd Liebemell, a small town containing about a thousand inhabitants, poor and simple-minded, like their hrethren of the Enz, and like them possessing “a spring of health,” the virtuos and powers of whicli have proved of essential Service where thc Wildbad waters werc found too irritating, or had been deemed inappropriate.

The place is sheltered by lofty mountains from the north and south winds; an agreeable freshness prevails du- ring the summcr, while in thc winter the air is less sharp than that of the Black Forest in general. That part in which the little town and its salutary wells are situated, expands beyond the narrow limits of the valley, and assu- mes the picturesque character of a delightful retrcat. On the liill above the town the ruins of an old castlc are si­tuated, of which a fine square tower is still in a state of tolerable preservation. The legcnds of tlic place relate that it has been inhabited in olden times by a giant, called the Tyrant of Merklingen , (the samc wliose lcather drcss and measure werc formerly exhibited at Hirsau) and that he has been thrown down from the height in punislnnent of bis misdeeds.

Those w’ho can sre nothing casual in the denomination of places, have found, on the top of a hill, which rises nearly perpcndicularly from the Nagold near Liebenzell, an etymology for that name, in the ruins of an old Bene­dictine convent, said to have been founded by the holy Lioba, the friend of St. Bonifacius. CellofLioba, or Lioba- zell, being soon concocted, that of Liebenzell came by easy transition. But a mucli simpler explanation of the name miglit be pointed out, in the traditionary reputation