"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:-
Oh! 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.2

"Happy then were those who fell Fighting on their fathers' graves! Wretched those who lived to tell

Treason made the victors slaves!

"Thus my country's life retired, Slowly driven from part to part; Underwalden last expired, Underwalden was the heart.4

1 Brunnen, at the foot of the mountains, on the borders of the

"In the valley of their birth,
Where our guardian mountains stand;
In the eye of heaven and earth,
Met the warriors of our land.

"Like their sires in olden time,
Arm'd they met in stern debate;
While in every breast sublime
Glow'd the SPIRIT OF THE STATE.

46 Gallia's menace fired their blood:
With one heart and voice they rose;
Hand in hand the heroes stood,
And defied their faithless foes.

"Then to heaven, in calm despair,
As they turn'd the tearless eye,
By their country's wrongs they sware
With their country's rights to die.
"Albert from the council came
(My poor daughter was his wife :
All the valley loved his name;
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.

"Fire from heaven my heart renew'd,
Vigor beat through every vein;
All the powers, that age had hew'd,
Started into strength again.

"Sudden from my couch I sprang,
Every limb to life restored;
With the bound my cottage rang,
As I snatch'd my fathers' sword.
"This the weapon they did wield
On Morgarthen's dreadful day;
And through Sempach's iron field
This the plowshare of their way.

2 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. 3 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 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. 4 The inhabitants of the Lower Valley of Underwalden alone

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.

1 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.

2 Many of the Underwalders, on the approach of the French army, removed their families and cattle among the Higher Alps; and themselves returned to join their brethren, who had en

"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!"

"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,
While the frantic foe drew nigh,
Grim as watching wolves we stood,
Prompt as eagles stretch'd to fly.

"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-
Till the waves were warm with blood,
Till the booming waters swell'd
As they sank beneath the flood.'

"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, Muttering vengeance as they fled; Hope in us, by Conquest fired, Raised our spirits from the dead.

"From the dead our spirits rose,
To the dead they soon return'd;
Bright, on its eternal close,
Underwalden's glory burn'd.

"Star of Switzerland! whose rays
Shed such sweet expiring light,
Ere the Gallic comet's blaze
Swept thy beauty into night:-

"Star of Switzerland! thy fame
No recording Bard hath sung;
Yet be thine immortal name
Inspiration to my tongue!?

"While the lingering moon delay'd
In the wilderness of night,
Ere the morn awoke the shade
Into loveliness and light:-

"Gallia's tigers, wild for blood,
Darted on our sleeping fold;
Down the mountains, o'er the flood,
Dark as thunder-clouds they roll'd.

"By the trumpet's voice alarm'd,
All the valley burst awake;
All were in a moment arm'd,
From the barriers to the lake.

1 The French made their first attack on the valley of Underwalden 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

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.

"In that valley, on that shore,
When the graves give up their dead,
At the trumpet's voice once more
Shall those slumberers quit their bed.

"For the glen that gave them birth
Hides their ashes in its womb:
Oh! 'tis venerable earth,
Freedom's cradle, Freedom's tomb.

"Then on every side begun
That unutterable fight;
Never rose the astonish'd sun
On so horrible a sight.

"Once an eagle of the rock
('T was 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.

"Wildly scatter'd o'er the plain,
Bloodier still the battle grew ;—
Oh ye Spirits of the slain,
Slain on those your prowess slew:

"

"Who shall now your deeds relate?
Ye that fell unwept, unknown;
Mourning for your country's fate,
But rejoicing in your own.

Virtue, valor, nought avail'd
With so merciless a foe;

When the nerves of heroes fail'd,
Cowards then could strike a blow.

"Cold and keen the assassin's blade
Smote the father to the ground;
Through the infant's breast convey'd
To the mother's heart a wound.1
"Underwalden thus expired;
But at her expiring flame,
With fraternal feeling fired,
Lo, a band of Switzers came.2

"From the steeps beyond the lake,
Like a Winter's weight of snow,
When the huge Lavanges break,
Devastating all below; '

"Down they rush'd with headlong might, Swifter than the panting wind;

All before them fear and flight,
Death and silence all behind.

"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."

WANDERER.

“Hail!—all hail! the Patriot's grave, Valor'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.

"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,

Where his country lost her life,

Glorious Albert bow'd his head.

"When our phalanx broke away, And our stoutest soldiers fell,

-Where the dark rocks dimm'd the day,
Scowling o'er the deepest dell;

"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 wrought-
Who their dying deeds shall tell!
Oh 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 an 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.

that tumble from the tops of the Alps, and deluge all the country before them.

1 Mont Blanc; 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 eastern light, or crimsoned with his setting glory, while mist and obscurity rest on the mountains below.

"Bow'd to Heaven's mysterious will,

I am worthy yet of you;

Yes!-I am a mother still,

Though I feel a widow too."

WANDERER.

"Mother, Widow, Mourner, all,
All kind names in one,-my child;
On thy faithful neck I fall;
Kiss me, are we reconciled?"

WANDERER'S DAUGHTER.
"Yes, to Albert I appeal :
Albert, answer from above,
That my father's breast may feel
All his daughter's heart of love."

SHEPHERD'S WIFE.

"Faint and wayworn as they be With the day's long journey, Sire, Let thy pilgrim family

Now with me to rest retire."

WANDERER.

"Yes, the hour invites to sleep; Till the morrow we must part: -Nay, my daughter, do not weep, Do not weep and break my heart.

"Sorrow-soothing sweet repose On your peaceful pillows light; Angel-hands your eye-lids closeDream of Paradise to-night."

PART V.

The Wanderer, being left alone with the Shepherd, relates his Adventures after the Battle of Underwalden.

SHEPHERD.

"WHEN the good man yields his breath
(For the good man never dies),
Bright, beyond the gulf of death,
Lo! the land of promise lies.

"Peace to Albert's awful shade,
In that land where sorrows cease;
And to Albert's ashes, laid
In the earth's cold bosom, peace."

WANDERER.

"On the fatal field I lay,
Till the hour when twilight pale,
Like the ghost of dying day,
Wander'd down the darkening vale.

"Then in agony I rose,
And with horror look'd around,
Where, embracing friends and foes,
Dead and dying, strew'd the ground.

"Many a widow fix'd her eye,
Weeping, where her husband bled,
Heedless, though her babe was by,
Prattling to his father dead.

Many a mother, in despair, Turning up the ghastly slain, Sought her son, her hero there, Whom she long'd to seek in vain. "Dark the evening shadows roll'd On the eye that gleam'd in death; And the evening dews fell cold On the lip that gasp'd for breath.

"As I gazed, an ancient dame,
-She was childless by her look,-
With refreshing cordials came;
Of her bounty I partook.

"Then, with desperation bold,
Albert's precious corpse I bore
On these shoulders weak and old,
Bow'd with misery before.

"Albert's angel gave me strength,
As I stagger'd down the glen;
And I hid my charge at length
In its wildest, deepest den.

"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,
While the glimmering moon arose,
Thus I dug my Albert's grave;
There his hallow'd limbs repose.

"Tears then, tears too long represt,
Gush'd-they fell like healing balm,
Till the whirlwind in my breast,
Died into a dreary calm.

"On the fresh earth's humid bed,
Where my martyr lay enshrined,
This forlorn, unhappy head,
Crazed with anguish, I reclined.

"But while o'er my weary eyes
Soothing slumbers seem'd to creep,
Forth I sprang, with strange surprise,
From the clasping arms of sleep.

"For the bones of Albert dead Heaved the turf with horrid throes, And his grave beneath my head, Burst asunder;-Albert rose!

"Ha! my Son-my Son,' I cried, Wherefore hast thou left thy grave?' Fly, my Father,' he replied; 'Save my wife-my children save.'

"In the passing of a breath

This tremendous scene was o'er :
Darkness shut the gates of Death,
Silence seal'd them as before.