htaccess problem

Hi im new to the site and to htaccess, and right now im having a problem with my htaccess file, i have a mvc folder structure with no index on the root directory but a htaccess file wich must redirect every time to my public directory, im using xampp, and i want to have several projects there, so whenever i want to access a diferent project i would type http://localhost/xampp/ProjectName/

In my htaccess files i just have this

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^$ public/ [L]
RewriteRule (.*) public/$1 [L]


but is not working, i keep getting internal server error 500, i don't know whats wrong, can anywone please tell me whats wrong?

What do your Error Logs say? Chances are, you'll find something important there. :D