BINGEN (the ancient Vincum or .13:ngium), a t. in the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darm stadt, Germany, is situated in a charming country on the left bank of the Rhine, and on the right of the Nahe, here crossed by a generally supposed to have been built by the Romans, and called the bridge of Drusus. Pop. 75, 6404, who are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of fustian, leather, flannel, and tobacco. The vine is exten sively cultivated in the surrounding country. The celebrated Scharlachberger wine is produced in the vineyard of the same name, near the village of RiIdesheim. In the vicinity of the town is the Rochusberg, with a chapel, to which annual pilgrimages are made. On the declivity of the hill are still to be seen the ruins of the old castle (blown up by the French in 1689), in which the emperor Henry IV. was detained a prisoner by his son in the year 1105. On the other side of the Nahe is the Rupertsberg. with the
ruins of a monastery, in which St. Ilildegarde resided in the 12th century. Below the town is the celebrated Bingerlock formerly a very dangerous point in the navigation of the Rhine, on account of the sunk rocks which, with the exception of a narrow passage through which the waters rushed loud and furions, stretched across the river; but, in the year 1834, these rocks were partially blown up, so that there is no longer any great danger. In the middle of the river stands the tower, in which, according to the legend, bishop Matto was devoured by rats in the year 069. History, however, fixes the date of the erection of the tower in the 13th c., as a toll-house for the collection of dutieS on goods passing this point in the river.