"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, "Nature's bulwarks, built by Time, "Dim behind, the valley brake ""Midst the hamlets of the dale, "'Midst the ruins of the dale. "Happier then had been her fate, 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. The 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, Keels that darken'd all the tide, Tempesting the Lake with oars. "Then the mountain-echoes rang With the clangour of alarms: Shrill the signal-trumpet sang; All our warriors leapt to arms. "On the margin of the flood, "In a deluge upon land Burst their overwhelming might; Back we hurl'd them from the strand, Oft returning to the fight. "Fierce and long the combat held- "For on that triumphant day Underwalden's arms once more Broke Oppression's black array, Dash'd invasion from her shore. "Gaul's surviving barks retired, "From the dead our spirits rose, "Star of Switzerland! whose rays "Star of Switzerland! thy fame "While the lingering moon delay'd "Gallia's tigers, wild for blood, "By the trumpet's voice alarm'd, 1 The French made their first attack on the valley of Under walden from the Lake: but, after a desperate conflict, they were victoriously repelled, and two of their vessels, containing five hundred men, perished in the engagement. 2 In the last and decisive battle, the Underwalders were over camped in their native Valley, on the borders of the Lake, and powered by two French armies, which rushed upon them from awaited the attack of the enemy. 1 The Capital of Underwalden. the opposite mountains, and surrounded their camp, while an assault, at the same time, was made upon them from the Lake. 188 "In that valley, on that shore, "Then on every side begun "Once an eagle of the rock "While the Parents fed their young, "Fiercely fought the eagle-twain, More unequal was the fray "In innumerable waves, "In the whirlpool of that flood, Like the eternal rocks we stood, "Till by tenfold force assail'd, In a hurricane of fire, When at length our phalanx fail'd, 'Then our courage blazed the higher. "Broken into feeble bands, "Fierce amid the loud alarms, "On their country's dying bed, Wives and husbands pour'd their breath; 1 At Schaffhausen.-See Coxe's Travels. 2 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;— Oh ye Spirits of the slain, "Who shall now your deeds relate? "Virtue, valor, nought avail'd When the nerves of heroes fail'd, "Cold and keen the assassin's blade "From the steeps beyond the lake, 3 "Down they rush'd with headlong might, "How the forest of the foe "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, “Wanderer, cheer thy drooping soul, This inspiring goblet take; Drain the deep delicious bowl, For thy martyr'd brethren's sake." 1 An indiscriminate massacre followed the battle. 2 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 hav. ing slain thrice their number. 3 The Lavanges are tremendous torrents of melting snow WANDERER. "Hail!—all hail! the Patriot's grave, Valor's venerable bed : Hail! the memory of the Brave, "Time their triumphs shall proclaim, And their rich reward be this,— Immortality of fame, Immortality of bliss." SHEPHERD, "On that melancholy plain, In that conflict of despair, How was noble Albert slain? How didst thou, old Warrior, fare?" WANDERER. "In the agony of strife, Where the heart of battle bled, "When our phalanx broke away, "There, like lions old in blood, "Breast to breast we fought the ground, "Thus the clouds of sunset beam "Miracles our champions wrought- "One by one gave up the ghost, "So, when night with rising shade "High in heaven their monarch' stands, Like a new-created star. that tumble from the tops of the Alps, and deluge all the country before them. 1 Mont Blane; which is so much higher than the surrounding Alps, that it catches and retains the beams 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 enstern light, or crimsoned with his setting glory while mist and obscurity rest on the mountains below "Many a mother, in despair, "As I gazed, an ancient dame, "Then, with desperation bold, "Albert's angel gave me strength, "Then, returning through the shade To the battle-scene, I sought, 'Mongst the slain, an ax and spade; With such weapons FREEMEN fought. "Scythes for swords our youth did wield In that execrable strife: Plowshares in that horrid field Bled with slaughter, breathed with life. "In a dark and lonely cave, "Tears then, tears too long represt, "On the fresh earth's humid bed, "But while o'er my weary eyes "For the bones of Albert dead Heaved the turf with horrid throes, And his grave beneath my head, Burst asunder;-Albert rose! "One pale moment fix'd I stood In astonishment severe; "Then a sudden trembling came SHEPHERD. "Rather like the mountain-oak, Tempest-shaken, rooted fast, Grasping strength from every stroke While it wrestles with the blast." WANDERER. "Ay!-my heart, unwont to yield, "Loud the gusty night-wind blew ;— "For the moon's resplendent eye Gleams of transient glory shed; And the clouds, athwart the sky Like a routed army, fled. "Sounds and voices fill'd the vale, Heard alternate loud and low; Shouts of victory swell'd the gale, But the breezes murmur'd woe. "As I climb'd the mountain's side, Where the Lake and Valley meet, All my country's power and pride Lay in ruins at my feet. "On that grim and ghastly plain Underwalden's heart-strings broke, When she saw her heroes slain, And her rocks receive the yoke. "On that plain, in childhood's hours, From their mothers' arms set free, Oft those heroes gather'd flowers, Often chased the wandering bee. "On that plain, in rosy youth, "There, with shepherd's pipe and song, SHEPHERD. "Heard not Heaven the accusing cries Of the blood that smoked around, While the life-warm sacrifice Palpitated on the ground?” WANDERER. "Wrath in silence heaps his store, "Vengeance, vengeance will not stay: "From the Revolution's flood Shall a fiery dragon start; He shall drink his mother's blood, He shall eat his father's heart. "Nurst by Anarchy and Crime, SHEPHERD. "Prophet! thou hast spoken well, WANDERER. Though the moon's bewilder'd bark, By the midnight tempest tost, In a sea of vapors dark, In a gulf of clouds was lost; "Still my journey I pursued, Climbing many a weary steep, Whence the closing scene I view'd With an eye that would not weep "Stantz-a melancholy pyreAnd her hamlets blazed behind, With ten thousand tongues of fire Writhing, raging in the wind.' Flaming piles, where'er I turn'd, "While the red illumined flood, "'Midst the mountains far away, "At the sight my brain was fired, 1 The town of Stantz, and the surrounding villages, were burnt by the French on the night after the battle of Underwalden, and the beautiful valley was converted into a wilderness. |