THE WANDERER OF SWITZER

LAND.

IN SIX PARTS

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE historical facts alluded to in The Wanderer of Switzerland may be found in the supplement to Coxe's Travels, in Planta's History of the Helvetic Confederacy, and in Zschokke's Invasion of Switzerland by the French, in 1798, translated by Dr. Aikin.

PART I.

A Wanderer of Switzerland and his family, consisting of his wife, his daughter, and her young children, emigrat Lag from their country, in consequence of its subjugation by the French, in 1798, arrive at the cottage of a shepherd, beyond the frontiers, where they are hospitably entertained.

SHEPHERD.

"WANDERER, Whither dost thou roam?

Weary wanderer, old and gray; Wherefore hast thou left thine home In the sunset of thy day?"

WANDERER.

"In the sunset of my day,

Stranger! I have lost my home: Weary, wandering, old, and gray— Therefore, therefore do I roam. "Here mine arms a wife enfold,

Fainting in their weak embrace; There my daughter's charms behold, Withering in that widow'd face. "These her infants-0 their sire, Worthy of the race of Tell, In the battle's fiercest fire, In his country's battle fell!"

SHEPHERD.

"Switzerland, then, gave thee birth?"

WANDERER.

"Ay-twas Switzerland of yore; But, degraded spot of earth,

Thou art Switzerland no more: "O'er thy mountains sunk in blood, Are the waves of ruin hurl'd; Like the waters of the flood Rolling round a buried world."

SHEPHERD.

"Yet will time the deluge stop;
Then may Switzerland be blest
On St. Gothard's hoary top
Shall the ark of Freedom rest.'

WANDERER.

"No-irreparably lost,

On the day that made us slaves, Freedom's ark, by tempest tost,

Founder'd in the swallowing waves."

*St. Gothard is the name of the highest mountain in the canton of Uri. the birthplace of Swiss independence.

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. "Here, though lowly be my lot,

Enter freely, freely share All the comforts of my cot,

Humble shelter, homely fare. "Spouse, I bring a suffering guest, With his family of grief; Give the weary pilgrims rest,

Yield the exiles sweet relief."

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
Asks a blessing from above,
Heaven shall take the wanderer's part,
Heaver reward the stranger's love."

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
In the fairy ring of bliss,
Oft with me ye held your court:
I had once a home like this!

"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.

66

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 huil'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 sall
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.t

"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 last expired,

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. 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. "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,
Vigour 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'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

"Quickly from our hastening foes, Albert's active care removed, Far amidst th' eternal snows,

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.

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 devited 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.

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.

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 encamped in their native valley, on the borders of the lake, and awaited the attack of the eneiny + The capital of Underwalden.

"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:
O! 'tis venerable earth,

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, Headlong roll'd the hordes of slaves, And ingulf'd us with a flood.

"In the whirlpool of that flood,
Firm in fortitude divine,
Like th' eternal rocks we stood,
In the cataract of the Rhine.*

"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,
Fighting in dissever'd parts,
Weak and weaker grew our hands,
Strong and stronger still our hearts.

"Fierce amid the loud alarms,
Shouting in the foremost fray,
Children raised their little arms
In their country's evil day.

"On their country's dying bed,

Wives and husbands pour'd their breath; Many a youth and maiden bled, Married at thine altar, Death.†

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.