SHEPHERD. "Welcome, wanderer as thou art, All my blessings to partake; Yet thrice welcome to my heart, For thine injured country's sake. "On the western hills afar Evening lingers with delight, While she views her favourite star Brightening on the brow of night. Humble shelter, homely fare. SHEPHERD'S WIFE. "I will yield them sweet relief: Weary pilgrims! welcome here; Welcome, family of grief, Welcome to my warmest cheer." WANDERER. "When in prayer the broken heart SHEPHERD. "Haste, recruit the failing fire, High the winter-fagots raise; See the crackling flames aspire; O how cheerfully they blaze! "Mourners, now forget your cares, And, till supper-board be crown'd, Closely draw your fireside chairs ; Form the dear domestic round." WANDERER. "Host, thy smiling daughters bring, Bring those rosy lads of thine; Let them mingle in the ring With these poor lost babes of mine." SHEPHERD. "Join the ring, my girls and boys; This enchanting circle, this Binds the social loves and joys: 'Tis the fairy ring of bliss!" WANDERER. "O ye loves and joys! that sport "Bountiful my former lot As my native country's rills; The foundations of my cot Were her everlasting hills. "But those streams no longer pour Rich abundance round my lands; And my father's cot no more On my father's mountain stands. "By a hundred winters piled, When the glaciers,* dark with death, Hang o'er precipices wild, Hang-suspended by a breath: "If a pulse but throb alarm, Headlong down the steeps they fall; For a pulse will break the charm,— Bounding, bursting, burying all. "Struck with horror stiff and pale, When the chaos breaks on high, All that view it from the vale, All that hear it coming, die :"In a day and hour accurst, O'er the wretched land of Tell, Thus the Gallic ruin burst, Thus the Gallic glacier fell!" SHEPHERD. "Hush that melancholy strain; Wipe those unavailing tears. WANDERER. "Nay-I must, I will complain; 'Tis the privilege of years: ""Tis the privilege of wo Thus her anguish to impart: And the tears that freely flow Ease the agonizing heart." SHEPHERD. "Yet suspend thy griefs a while; See the plenteous table crown'd; And my wife's endearing smile Beams a rosy welcome round. "Cheese, from mountain dairies prest, Wholesome herbs, nutritious roots, Honey, from the wild-bee's nest, Cheering wine and ripen'd fruits: "These, with soul-sustaining bread, My paternal fields afford :On such fare our fathers fed; Holy pilgrim! bless the board." PART II. After supper, the Wanderer, at the desire of his host, relates the sorrows and sufferings of his country during the invasion and conquest of it by the French, in connexion with his own story. SHEPHERD. "WANDERER! bow'd with griefs and years, * More properly the avalanches; immense accumulations of ice and snow, balanced on the verge of the moun tains in such subtle suspense, that, in the opinion of the natives, the tread of the traveller may bring them down in destruction upon him. The glaciers are more permanent masses of ice, and formed rather in the valleys than on the summits of the Alps. WANDERER. "Stranger-friend, the tears that flow Down the channels of this cheek, Tell a mystery of wo Which no human tongue can speak. "Not the pangs of hope deferr'd' My tormented bosom tear:On the tomb of hope interr'd Scowls the spectre of despair. "Where the Alpine summits rise, Height o'er height stupendous hurl'd; Like the pillars of the skies, Like the ramparts of the world: "Born in freedom's eagle nest, Rock'd by whirlwinds in their rage, Nursed at freedom's stormy breast, Lived my sires from age to age. "High o'er Underwalden's vale, Where the forest fronts the morn; Whence the boundless eye might sail O'er a sea of mountains borne ; "There my little native cot Peep'd upon my father's farm:O! it was a happy spot, Rich in every rural charm! "There, my life, a silent stream, Glid along, yet seem'd at rest; Lovely as an infant's dream On the waking mother's breast. "Till the storm that wreck'd the world, In its horrible career, Into hopeless ruin hurl'd All this aching heart held dear. "On the princely towers of Berne Fell the Gallic thunder-stroke; To the lake of poor Lucerne, All submitted to the yoke. "REDING then his standard raised, Drew his sword on Brunnen's plain ;* But in vain his banner blazed, Reding drew his sword in vain. "Where our conquering fathers died, Where their awful bones repose, Thrice the battle's fate he tried, Thrice o'erthrew his country's foes.† "Happy then were those who fell Fighting on their father's graves! Wretched those who lived to tell Treason made the victors slaves!‡ * Brunnen, at the foot of the mountains, on the borders of the Lake of Uri, where the first Swiss patriots, Walter Furst of Uri, Werner Stauffacher of Schwitz, and Arnold of Melchtal in Underwalden, conspired against the ty ranny of Austria in 1307, again in 1798, became the seat of the diet of these three forest cantons. + On the plains of Morgarthen, where the Swiss gained their first decisive victory over the force of Austria, and thereby secured the independence of their country; Aloys Reding, at the head of the troops of the little cantons, Uri, Schwitz, and Underwalden, repeatedly repulsed the invading army of France. By the resistance of these small cantons, the French General Schawenbourg was compelled to respect their independence, and gave them a solemn pledge to that "Thus my country's life retired, Slowly driven from part to part; Underwalden was the heart.* "In the valley of their birth, Where our guardian mountains stand; In the eye of heaven and earth, Met the warriors of our land. Arm'd they met in stern debate; Glow'd the spirit of the state. And defied their faithless foes. As they turn'd the tearless eye, (My poor daughter was his wife; Albert was my staff of life.) "From the council field he came : All his noble visage burn'd; At his look I caught the flame; At his voice my youth return'd. Vigour beat through every vein; Every limb to life restored; As I snatch'd my fathers' sword. "This the weapon they did wield On Morgarthen's dreadful day; And through Sempach'st iron field This the ploughshare of their way. "Then, my spouse! in vain thy fears Strove my fury to restrain; O my daughter! all thy tears, All thy children's, were in vain. purport; but no sooner had they disarmed, on the faith of this engagement, than the enemy came suddenly upon them with an immense force; and with threats of extermination compelled them to take the civic oath to the new constitution, imposed upon all Switzerland. *The inhabitants of the lower valley of Underwalden alone resisted the French message, which required sub- The mission to the new constitution, and the immediate surrender, alive or dead, of nine of their leaders. When the demand, accompanied by a menace of destruction, was read in the assembly of the district, all the men of the valley, fifteen hundred in number, took up arms, and devoted themselves to perish in the ruins of their country. † At the battle of Sempach, the Austrians presented so impenetrable a front with their projected spears, that the Swiss were repeatedly compelled to retire from the attack, till a native of Underwalden,named Arnold de Winkelried, commending his family to his countrymen, sprung upon the enemy, and burying as many of their spears as he could grasp in his body, made a breach in their line; the Swiss rushed in, and routed the Austrians with a terrible slaughter. "Quickly from our hastening foes, Those who loved us,-those beloved.* "Then our cottage we forsook; Yet as down the steeps we pass'd, Many an agonizing look Homeward o'er the hills we cast. "Now we reach'd the nether glen, Where in arms our brethren lay; Thrice five hundred fearless men, Men of adamant were they! "Nature's bulwarks, built by time, 'Gainst eternity to stand, Mountains, terribly sublime, Girt the camp on either hand. "Dim behind, the valley brake Into rocks that fled from view; Fair in front the gleaming lake Roll'd its waters bright and blue. "Midst the hamlets of the dale, Stantz, with simple grandeur crown'd, Seem'd the mother of the vale, With her children scatter'd round. "Midst the ruins of the dale Now she bows her hoary head, Like the widow of the vale Weeping o'er her children dead. Happier then had been her fate, Ere she fell by such a foe, Had an earthquake sunk her state, Or the lightning laid her low!" SHEPHERD. "By the lightning's deadly flash Would her foes had been consumed! Or amidst the earthquake's crash Suddenly, alive, entomb'd! "Why did justice not prevail ?" WANDERER. "Ah! it was not thus to be !" SHEPHERD. "Man of grief! pursue thy tale To the death of liberty." PART III. Wanderer continues his narrative, and describes the battle and massacre of Underwalden. WANDERER. "FROM the valley we descried, As the Gauls approach'd our shores, Tempesting the lake with oars. French army, removed their families and cattle among * Many of the Underwalders, on the approach of the the higher Alps; and themselves returned to join their brethren, who had encamped in their native valley, on the borders of the lake, and awaited the attack of the enemy + The capital of Underwalden. "In that valley, on that shore, When the graves give up their dead, "For the glen that gave them birth Freedom's cradle, freedom's tomb. "Then on every side begun That unutterable fight; Never rose th' astonish'd sun On so horrible a sight. "Once an eagle of the rock ('Twas an omen of our fate) Stoop'd, and from my scatter'd flock Bore a lambkin to his mate. "While the parents fed their young, Lo a cloud of vultures lean, By voracious famine stung, Wildly screaming, rush'd between. "Fiercely fought the eagle-twain, Though by multitudes opprest, Till their little ones were slain, Till they perish'd on their nest. More unequal was the fray Which our band of brethren waged; More insatiate o'er their prey Gaul's remorseless vultures raged. "In innumerable waves, Swoln with fury, grim with blood, "In the whirlpool of that flood, "Till by tenfold force assail'd, "Broken into feeble bands, "Fierce amid the loud alarms, Wives and husbands pour'd their breath; Many a youth and maiden bled, Married at thine altar, Death.t At Schaffhausen.-See Coxe's Travels. In this miserable conflict, many of the women and children of the Underwalders fought in the ranks by their husbands, and fathers, and friends, and fell gloriously for their country. "Wildly scatter'd o'er the plain, Bloodier still the battle grew ;O ye spirits of the slain, Slain on those your prowess slew: "Who shall now your deeds relate? "Virtue, valour, naught avail'd Cowards then could strike a blow. "Cold and keen th' assassin's blade "Underwalden thus expired; Lo, a band of Switzers came.t "From the steeps beyond the lake, "Down they rush'd with headlong might, Swifter than the panting wind; All before them fear and flight, "How the forest of the foe Bow'd before the thunder strokes, When they laid the cedars low, When they overwhelm'd the oaks. "Thus they hew'd their dreadful way; Till, by numbers forced to yield, Terrible in death they lay, The AVENGERS OF THE FIELD." PART IV. The Wanderer relates the circumstances attending the death of Albert. SHEPHERD. "PLEDGE the memory of the brave, And the spirits of the dead; Pledge the venerable grave, Valour's consecrated bed. "Wanderer, cheer thy drooping soul, This inspiring goblet take; Drain the deep delicious bowl, For thy martyr'd brethren's sake. An indiscriminate massacre followed the battle. Two hundred self-devoted heroes from the canton of Switz arrived, at the close of the battle, to the aid of their brethren of Underwalden; and perished to a man, after having slain thrice their number. The lavanges are tremendous torrents of melting snow that tumble from the tops of the Alps, and deluge all the country before them. WANDERER. "Hail!-all hail! the patriot's grave, Valour's venerable bed: Hail! the memory of the brave, Hail! the spirits of the dead. "Time their triumphs shall proclaim, And their rich reward be this,Immortality of fame, Immortality of bliss." SHEPHERD. "Op that melancholy plain, WANDERER. "In the agony of strife, Where the heart of battle bled, Where his country lost her life, Glorious Albert bow'd his head. "When our phalanx broke away, "There, like lions old in blood, Lions rallying round their den, Albert and his warriors stood; We were few, but we were men. "Breast to breast we fought the ground, Arm to arm repell'd the foe; Every motion was a wound, And a death was every blow. "Thus the clouds of sunset beam Warmer with expiring light; Thus autumnal meteors stream Redder through the darkening night. "Miracles our champions wroughtWho their dying deeds shall tell! O how gloriously they fought! How triumphantly they fell! "One by one gave up the ghost, Slain, not conquer'd,-they died free. Albert stood,-himself a host: Last of all the Swiss was he. "So, when night with rising shade Climbs the Alps from steep to steep Till, in hoary gloom array'd, All the giant mountains sleep; "High in heaven their monarch* stands, Bright and beauteous from afar, Shining unto distant lands Like a new-created star. * Mont Blanc; which is so much higher than the surrounding Alps, that it catches and retains the beains of the sun twenty minutes earlier and later than they, and, crowned with eternal ice, may be seen from an immense distance purpling with his eastern light, or crimsoned with his setting glory while mist and obscurity rest on the mountains below. |