330 And scenes of childhood dear, each farewell sound, By which he looked superior, and was crown'd 340 350 FLUSH'D with Hesperia's golden prey, Sudden Helvetia's guardian Genius sprang; High on * Adula's rock he fix'd his stand, And clash'd his shield, and wav'd his banner'd hand, "Rise, my warriors!-see, advance *Mount St. Gothard. 1 "Onward she bids the gathering tempest roll, "With many a simple spire and cottage grac'd; "Fain would she scatter from her venom❜d breath "Over this pleasant land the seeds of death, "And for our blooming Eden leave a hideous waste. "And shall she?-no, my warriors, no! "Full wide her conquering banners have unfurl'd "The fury of the freeman's blade, "Of souls resolv'd to conquer or to die?"Then, Switzers, rise! each his stout breast-plate gird, "And each unsheath his blood-incrusted sword, "And rear his nervous arm, and strike for liberty." He spake: obedient to the sound And wintry Rhone's tumultuous tide From thy green hills, O Appenzell ; From the forest-crowned mere, Where the hardy mountaineer Chaunts the high feats of his compatriot Tell; They hear the spirit-stirring call: "Warriors, your forefathers bore; 66 66 They whirl'd the ax, and bent the bow. "Together swept the ranks of war, "And Union led the way to victory: "This quench'd the fury of the Austrian sword, "This crush'd the might of bold Burgundia's Lord, This chas'd proud Gallia's kings, this made our country free. “Switzers, in virtue as in name, 86 Emulate your father's fame; "Hark to your common country's sacred call, "And on your common foe with force united fall! * Mount Furca. The lake of the four cantons, or, agreeably to the name in the language of the country, of the four forest towns. William Tell was a native of Burglen, a small village not far from Altorf, in the canton of Uri. The banners of the cantons of Uri and Berne; meant to denote the union between the small and great cantons. "So may the songs of future days 66 Again may conquest crown your ranks "On rapid Birsa's holy banks, * The hospital of St. James, near Basle, not far from the conflu ence of the Birse with the Rhine, is celebrated for the stand made by the Swiss in 1444 against the Dauphin of France, afterwards Louis XI. Naefels and Morgarten, respectively in the cantons of Glarus and Schwitz, are no less famous as scenes of the Austrian defeats in 1388 and 1315. At Granson, towards the lower extremity of the lake of Neuchâtel, and at Morat, on the lake of Morat, were fought two battles, which effectually quelled the invasion of Switzerland by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in 1476. Near the latter place was erected a chapel, or charnel house, said to contain the bones of the Burgundians who fell in that decisive engage ment. This building contained several inscriptions commemorative of the event which occasioned it's erection. Amongst these was one in German verse by Haller, which probably gave rise to this poem. The sentiments of it are given here with tolerable correctness, though somewhat dilated from the original. Helvetian, pause, and view this monument! Helvetians! Brothers! feel your proper strength Unmoveable, if but that holy flame, That warm'd your fathers' bosoms, glow in yours. It was near this chapel that General d'Erlach, commander of the Swiss troops, was posted in 1798, when the French General Brune sent to summon him to surrender. "My ancestors," he replied, "never surrendered. Could I be base enough to think of it, yonder "monument would recall me to my duty." Brune, on becoming master of the spot, ordered the building to be destroyed, and not one stone of it now stands upon another. VOL II. |