He quakes not like the timid forest game,
But smiles-the hesitating shaft to free;
Assured that Heaven its justice will proclaim,
And to his Father give its own unerring aim.

BY

XXI

THE TOWN OF SCHWYTZ

1820 or 1821

Y antique Fancy trimmed-though lowly, bred
To dignity-in thee, O SCHWYTZ! are seen
The genuine features of the golden mean;

Equality by Prudence governèd,

Or jealous Nature ruling in her stead;

And, therefore, art thou blest with peace, serene
As that of the sweet fields and meadows green
In unambitious compass round thee spread.
Majestic BERNE, high on her guardian steep,
Holding a central station of command,
Might well be styled this noble body's HEAD;
Thou, lodged 'mid mountainous entrenchments deep,
Its HEART; and ever may the heroic Land

Thy name, O SCHWYTZ, in happy freedom keep!1

ON HEARING THE

XXII

1820 or 1821

RANZ DES VACHES' ON THE TOP OF THE
PASS OF ST. GOTHARD

LISTEN but no faculty of mine

Avails those modulations to detect,

Which, heard in foreign lands, the Swiss affect
With tenderest passion; leaving him to pine
(So fame reports) and die,-his sweet-breath'd kine
Remembering, and green Alpine pastures decked
With vernal flowers. Yet may we not reject
The tale as fabulous.-Here while I recline,
Mindful how others by this simple Strain
Are moved, for me- -upon this Mountain named
Of God himself from dread pre-eminence-
Aspiring thoughts, by memory reclaimed,
Yield to the Music's touching influence;
And joys of distant home my heart enchain.

1820 or 1821

ΙΟ

ΙΟ

1 Nearly 500 years (says Ebel, speaking of the French Invasion) had elapsed, when, for the first time, foreign soldiers were seen upon the frontiers of this small Canton, to impose upon it the laws of their governors.

XXIII

FORT FUENTES

THE Ruins of Fort Fuentes form the crest of a rocky eminence that rises from the plain at the head of the lake of Como, commanding views up the Valteline, and toward the town of Chiavenna. The prospect in the latter direction is characterised by melancholy sublimity. We rejoiced at being favoured with a distinct view of those Alpine heights; not, as we had expected from the breaking up of the storm, steeped in celestial glory, yet in communion with clouds floating or stationary-scatterings from heaven. The Ruin is interesting both in mass and in detail. An Inscription, upon elaborately-sculptured marble lying on the ground, records that the Fort had been erected by Count Fuentes in the year 1600, during the reign of Philip the Third; and the Chapel, about twenty years after, by one of his Descendants. Marble pillars of gateways are yet standing, and a considerable part of the Chapel walls: a smooth green turf has taken place of the pavement, and we could see no trace of altar or image; but everywhere something to remind one of former splendour, and of devastation and tumult. In our ascent we had passed abundance of wild vines intermingled with bushes: near the ruins were some ill tended, but growing willingly; and rock, turf, and fragments of the pile, are alike covered or adorned with a variety of flowers, among which the rose-coloured pink was growing in great beauty. While descending, we discovered on the ground, apart from the path, and at a considerable distance from the ruined Chapel, a statue of a Child in pure white marble, uninjured by the explosion that had driven it so far down the hill. 'How little,' we exclaimed, are these things valued here! Could we but transport this pretty Image to our own garden !'-Yet it seemed it would have been a pity any one should remove it from its couch in the wilderness, which may be its own for hundreds of years.-Extract from Journal.

READ hour! when, upheaved by war's sulphurous

DR

blast,

This sweet-visaged Cherub of Parian stone

So far from the holy enclosure was cast,

To couch in this thicket of brambles alone,

To rest where the lizard may bask in the palm

Of his half-open hand pure from blemish or speck; And the green, gilded snake, without troubling the calm

Of the beautiful countenance, twine round his neck;

Where haply (kind service to Piety due!)

ΤΟ

When winter the grove of its mantle bereaves,
Some bird (like our own honoured redbreast) may strew
The desolate Slumberer with moss and with leaves.

FUENTES Once harboured the good and the brave,

Nor to her was the dance of soft pleasure unknown; Her banners for festal enjoyment did wave

While the thrill of her fifes thro' the mountains was blown:

Now gads the wild vine o'er the pathless ascent :-
O silence of Nature, how deep is thy sway,
When the whirlwind of human destruction is spent,
Our tumults appeased, and our strifes passed away! 20

1820 or 1821

XXIV

THE CHURCH OF SAN SALVADOR, SEEN FROM THE LAKE OF LUGANO

THIS Church was almost destroyed by lightning a few years ago, but the altar and the image of the Patron Saint were untouched. The Mount, upon the summit of which the Church is built, stands amid the intricacies of the Lake of Lugano; and is, from a hundred points of view, its principal ornament, rising to the height of 2000 feet, and, on one side, nearly perpendicular. The ascent is toilsome; but the traveller who performs it will be amply rewarded. Splendid fertility, rich woods and dazzling waters, seclusion and confinement of view contrasted with sea-like extent of plain fading into the sky; and this again, in an opposite quarter, with an horizon of the loftiest and boldest Alps-unite in composing a prospect more diversified by magnificence, beauty, and sublimity, than perhaps any other point in Europe, of so inconsiderable an elevation, commands.

HOU sacred Pile! whose turrets rise

ΤΗ

From yon steep mountain's loftiest stage,

Guarded by lone San Salvador;

Sink (if thou must) as heretofore,

To sulphurous bolts a sacrifice,
But ne'er to human rage!

On Horeb's top, on Sinai, deigned
To rest the universal Lord :

Why leap the fountains from their cells
Where everlasting Bounty dwells?—
That, while the Creature is sustained,
His God may be adored.

Cliffs, fountains, rivers, seasons, times-
Let all remind the soul of heaven;
Our slack devotion needs them all;
And Faith-so oft of sense the thrall,
While she, by aid of Nature, climbs—
May hope to be forgiven.

Glory, and patriotic Love,

And all the Pomps of this frail 'spot

Which men call Earth,' have yearned to seek,

Associate with the simply meek,

Religion in the sainted grove,

And in the hallowed grot.

ΤΟ

20

Thither, in time of adverse shocks,
Of fainting hopes and backward wills,
Did mighty Tell repair of old-
A Hero cast in Nature's mould,
Deliverer of the steadfast rocks
And of the ancient hills!

He, too, of battle-martyrs chief!
Who, to recall his daunted peers,
For victory shaped an open space,
By gathering with a wide embrace,
Into his single breast, a sheaf
Of fatal Austrian spears.1

XXV

1820 or 1821

THE ITALIAN ITINERANT, AND THE
SWISS GOATHERD

N

PART I

I

OW that the farewell tear is dried,

Heaven prosper thee, be hope thy guide!

Hope be thy guide, adventurous Boy;

The wages of thy travel, joy!

Whether for London bound-to trill
Thy mountain notes with simple skill;
Or on thy head to poise a show
Of Images in seemly row;

The graceful form of milk-white Steed,
Or Bird that soared with Ganymede;
Or through our hamlets thou wilt bear
The sightless Milton, with his hair
Around his placid temples curled;
And Shakspeare at his side-a freight,
If clay could think and mind were weight,
For him who bore the world!

Hope be thy guide, adventurous Boy;
The wages of thy travel, joy!

II

But thou, perhaps (alert as free,
Though serving sage philosophy),
Wilt ramble over hill and dale,

A Vender of the well-wrought Scale,

30

ΤΟ

20

1 Arnold Winkelried, at the battle of Sempach, broke an Austrian phalanx in this manner. The event is one of the most famous in the annals of Swiss heroism; and pictures and prints of it are frequent throughout the country.

Whose sentient tube instructs to time
A purpose to a fickle clime:

Whether thou choose this useful part,
Or minister to finer art,

Though robbed of many a cherished dream,
And crossed by many a shattered scheme,
What stirring wonders wilt thou see

In the proud Isle of liberty!

Yet will the Wanderer sometimes pine

With thoughts which no delights can chase,
Recall a Sister's last embrace,

His Mother's neck entwine;

Nor shall forget the Maiden coy

That would have loved the bright-haired Boy!

III

My Song, encouraged by the grace

That beams from his ingenuous face,
For this Adventurer scruples not

To prophesy a golden lot;

Due recompense, and safe return

To Coмo's steeps-his happy bourne!
Where he, aloft in garden-glade,

Shall tend, with his own dark-eyed Maid,

The towering maize, and prop the twig
That ill supports the luscious fig;
Or feed his eye in paths sun-proof
With purple of the trellis-roof,

That through the jealous leaves escapes
From Cadenabbia's pendent grapes.
-Oh might he tempt that Goatherd-child
To share his wanderings! him whose look
Even yet my heart can scarcely brook,
So touchingly he smiled-

As with a rapture caught from heaven-
For unasked alms in pity given.

PART II

I

WITH nodding plumes, and lightly drest
Like foresters in leaf-green vest,
The Helvetian Mountaineers, on ground
For Tell's dread archery renowned,
Before the target stood-to claim
The guerdon of the steadiest aim.

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