"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!"

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

awaited the attack of the enemy.

1 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:
Oh! 't is 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.

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 the 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.2

1 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.

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.'
"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.

"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.

"While I struggled through the fight,
Albert was my sword and shield;
Till strange horror quench'd my sight,
And I fainted on the field.

46

Slow awakening from that trance, When my soul return'd to day, Vanish'd were the fiends of France, -But in Albert's blood I lay.

"Slain for me, his dearest breath On my lips he did resign;

Slain for me, he snatch'd his death
From the blow that menaced mine.

"He had raised his dying head,
And was gazing on my face;
As I woke, the spirit fled,
But I felt his last embrace."

"Dare my daughter thus repine?
Albert, answer from above;
Tell me, are these infants thine.
Whom their mother does not love?"

WANDERER'S DAUGHTER.
"Does not love!-my father, hear;
Hear me, or my heart will break;
Dear is life, but only dear
For my parents', children's sake,

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 scem'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.

Flaming piles, where'er I turn'd,
Cast a grim and dreadful light;
Like funereal lamps they burn'd
In the sepulchre of night;

"While the red illumined flood,
With a hoarse and hollow roar,
Seem'd a lake of living blood,
Wildly weltering on the shore.

"'Midst the mountains far away,
Soon I spied the sacred spot,
Whence a slow consuming ray,
Glimmer'd from my native cot.

"At the sight my brain was fired,
And afresh my heart's wounds bled;
Still I gazed:-- -the spark expired—
Nature seem'd extinct:-I fled.

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.