sustained himself in his perilous situation till the vulture's struggles were over, when his grasp relaxed and his huge carcass slid over the prostrate body of the stranger into the abyss. The young hero was conducted to the chalet in triumph, with the lammer-geyer borne in state before him; the men envying and the women admiring him. The youth bore his honours with a modest, yet frank and well-bred air; spoke of the achievement as of a lucky accident; and insisted that his slight wounds should not delay the ceremony for a single moment. but it was too late. Poised for a few seconds | energy to the rough surface of the rocky path, on his pinions, the lammer-geyer hung in the air almost motionless, then with a slow and contracted circular movement began his descent, and with a rush of wings like a tempest swooped upon his prey: the next instant he was seen soaring towards the Peak, bearing the infant in his talons. Cross-bows, lances, were seized in haste; but what could human effort avail? Cries, shrieks, spoke the anguish of the parents and the sympathy of their friends. The vulture alighted on a ledge of the rock, some distance below the scene of his former conflict, and, as he bent down his terrible beak, it was thought that he was devouring the child. A mute horror pervaded the company, broken only by Accordingly the priest pronounced the blessthe deep, suppressed groans and convulsive ing, and Florent and his Marianne were for sobs of the agonized parents. On a sudden, the time the very happiest couple in the world. the animal was seen to toss his head high in Dancing among those primitive people was, at the air, his huge wings were expanded, as if this period, known only on the occasion of a 1 in the effort to fly, but dropped again lifeless marriage or the confirmation of a nun; wher to his sides, his monstrous frame quivered as therefore, the music struck, it may be imagined in the spasms of death, and the lammer-geyer with what alacrity the young people stood up, rolled like a dark lavange down the precipice. at least the girls; for the Swiss peasant, even At the same moment the figure of the young in the dance, retains a portion of his charac stranger was discovered standing on the cliff, teristic gravity, while the females are all spirit the child sat on one arm, erect in the form of and playful vivacity. The bride was led out life, while the other was distinctly perceived to by the young Austrian, who, in his neat hunwave a scarf in sign of victory and safety. At ter dress, exhibited a form and a grace that the sight, a shout so loud, so wild, went forth were long remembered and talked of by the from the crowd, that in its reverberation from mountain maidens. the mountain, it seemed to shake the solid rock, where the stranger stood on his perilous footing. While some of the mountaineers ran to drag the feathered monster from his rocky grave, the rest of the company proceeded in frantic joy to meet the gallant victor. The situation of the stranger had indeed been one of extreme hazard. After his first rencounter with the vulture, hastening to descend the Peak, he was about to turn round an angle of the rock to the narrow ledge, along which the path led, when he beheld the vulture approaching with his prey, and he couched down behind the crag as the bird alighted at his side. Instinctively he threw himself between the beak of the ravenous monster and his intended victim, and instantly felt himself in his iron grasp. To turn, to stir on the fearful ridge, was almost sure destruction, and the slightest effort of the animal would hurl him down the rock. With the least motion possible, he directed his weapon over his head to the neck of the bird; and, guided by his left hand, just as he felt the beak close around his own neck, thrust the knife, with sure and firm hand, deep into the animal's throat; then clinging with desperate In the repast that followed, it was plainly to be seen that it was honest Eberard's intention things should be done handsomely. The good father had even excelled himself on this occasion; and among the dainties, the ladies were surprised and delighted with the toasts sopped in wine, and nicely powdered with sugar and cinnamon. We have not mentioned milk and cheese, as being things of course; and yet the latter, at least, deserves particular notice, not only because it was excellent in itself, ba: the rather that it had been made and designed for this special occasion full twenty years before, and, agreeably to the country custom, had the names of the intended man and wife, while they were yet children, carved legibly upon its ample surface. The appearance of the cheese was a coup d'éclat, for, with a laudable policy, the intended bride and bridegroom had been kept in ignorance of the arrangement, and suffered to fall in love in their own way; and Florent had gone through all the gradations of courtship as regulated by Swiss usage; had duly come a-wooing through storm and sun, over hulde and hubel, through tobel and tangel-holtz, until one eventful Saturday night, when every maiden, dressed for company, has a right to look for a visit from her suitor, Florent climbed manfully up the outside of the house to her chamber-window, and sitting gallantly there, half in and half out, drinking a little kiersiwasser and talking a great deal of love, till the dawn of day, had, in the end, put the final question, in couplets invented for similar purposes by his ancestors, and receiving the favourable poetical response, retired, the joyful bridegroom elect. While at table the host, encouraged by the curiosity manifested by the strangers, did not fail to dwell at length on the merits of Mont Pilate, which, although he admitted it was not so high as Mont Blanc, he contended was a much finer mountain. "Can you see thirteen lakes from Mont Blanc?" said he, triumphantly. "It has glaciers, it is true," he added, "and we have none to speak of; and no lauwines tumbling down upon our houses and our heads; for the snow leaves us in summer, except from under the side of old Esel; but where will ye find such pasturages as the Brundlen on Mont Blanc? And then for curiosities, let Mont Blanc show us a shaking rock like our Knapstein; or a statue of white marble, thirty feet high, fixed in the very bowels of the rock-nobody knows how, or when, or by whom-like our St. Dominic; or, above all, let them show us, in all Switzerland, a fine dismal lake like that hard by in the midst of noble firs and sycamores, where, as our fathers say, Pontius Pilate drowned himself of yore." "And full of dark spectres," whispered Marianne, shuddering. "And from whose vapours we get such pelting storms," added Florent: "St. Dominic preserve us from its favours to-night!" "Our magistrates have forbidden strangers to approach the lake," observed Martin of Hergottwald; for it is only then that it breeds tempests." "We know your laws, and have avoided your mare infernale," replied the old Austrian, to whom the observation seemed to be addressed. "Potz tusig!" exclaimed honest Eberard, "that's a fable, I believe, friend Martin, as we of the Brundlen can testify, who have been Soundly drenched and not a stranger on the mountain. But tell us, neighbour of Underwalden, you have been a traveller, did you ever see a lammer-geyer killed but on Mont Pilate? Faith, brother, since your ancestor, Sir Struth of Winkelried, destroyed the dragon, there had been no such gallant deed; and dragons, they say, are no longer to be met with." VOL. III The person addressed, who, at every opportunity, had been engaged in earnest discourse with the seniors of the company, smiled faintly as he turned to the speaker. "There may be dragons yet to encounter, brother of Lucerne," he replied, "more dangerous to the land than any my ancestor ever destroyed;" and he glanced at the strangers, the younger of whom was chatting with the bride; the elder, however, noticed the remark, and was for an instant discomposed, but immediately resumed his serenity. "But come," said the jovial host, "let us to the free air and taste the freshness of the evening. We have the finest echoes in the Eight Cantons," he added, turning to the strangers. "Come, girls-come, lads, tune your voices and let us hear whether the bridal carol will sleep among the rocks. No ranz-des-vaches now," cried the merry old man; "let the herds have their holiday, and give us a stirring lay, as ye wish to be brides and grooms yourselves." "And do not forget TELL in your songs," said the guest from Underwalden. "Away, away," cried Eberard; and the young people sallied gladly out, followed by the rest. But an air of disappointment and uneasiness took place of their hilarity as soon as they gained the open air. "Aha!" said Eberard, looking up, "Pontius is rising in his wrath— we shall have rain." And it happened as the experienced mountaineer predicted. The dense mists, arising slowly from the dismal lake, instead of passing the summits of the rocks and dispersing in the air, lingered around the sides of the seven peaks that surrounded and overlooked the plain. The muttering of thunder began to be heard, accompanied by occasional flashes of lightning, and the guests hastened back into the house, with the exception of the two strangers and the man of Underwalden, who remained behind a few minutes, and until the storm burst upon them. Those who have never witnessed an Alpine tempest cannot form an idea of its sublimity; and where the spectators now stood, in the very centre of its scope and sway, it was truly frightful. "You have seen what Switzerland is in its wrath," said the man of Underwalden; "let us retire." Not unwillingly they left the spot, and had not yet entered the house, when a tremendous crash was heard immediately behind them, and the gigantic elm-tree, near which they had stood, was shivered into fragments. The storm continued till the evening was so far advanced, that, when it had subsided, the inmates of the chalet felt no inclination to 66 resume their festivities; and, the vesper prayer made and the benediction bestowed, the guests were soon locked in profound repose. At an early hour the next morning every one was stirring; for it was the intention of many of the visitors to join in the pilgrimage duly made on that day to the shrine of Notre Dame des Eremites, at the abbey of Einsedeln, in the adjoining canton of Schwytz, and soon after the matin service and the necessary morning repast, the cavalcade set out, with many cautions from honest Eberard to beware of the falling rocks, which, loosened by the recent rain, rendered the narrow valleys they might pass somewhat exposed to danger. neither Cæsar in his pride, nor Attila in his wrath, ever dared to enter?" "How if neither Cæsar nor Attila knew of the existence of yonder valley?" asked the elder stranger. "Scorn us, if you will," answered the Swiss, calmly, "but touch us not: disdain the land at a distance; and leave us in our simplicity, rude, perhaps, and rugged as our rocks. Yonder you behold the cradle of Helvetic liberty: it may become its tomb, but first it will be the grave of every free Helvetian. Look farther north, beyond yon lake of Zug, and you may perceive the hills of Morgarten, at whose base, by the marshy lake of Egheri, some seventy years ago, our fathers met their Austrian invaders, in force one to fifteen, and sealed the liberties of Switzerland." "Let us move on," said the elder, a little impatiently. "Our mountain air is often found too keen for strangers," observed the Swiss, as he sedately followed. Descending the mountain through forests of oak and elm, over fertile pasturages or barren rocks, and by the side of precipices covered with pine or the mountain-ash, the scene every moment assuming a new aspect and varied tints, they reached Brientz, where they resumed their horses, and through several other villages, at length arrived at Lucerne. Passing the fine old town, with its towers, and battlements, and open bridges, and richly ornamented bal The man of Underwalden and the strangers, who seemed mutually desirous of knowing more of each other, were together when they reached the brow of the Alps; and before they began to descend, paused at the same moment, in admiration of the magnificent spectacle that met their view. In their front the glorious sun had just begun to show himself above the higher mountains towards the east. More than five thousand feet below them was the most picturesque lake in Switzerland, the Waldstetten See, or Water of the Sylvan States, as it was appropriately called, lying tranquil and serene in its rocky recess, and laving the beautiful shores of the four ancient and free cantons. The tops of the most distant Alps were already tinged with gold, but the mountains that clustered immediately around the lake remained in dark and gloomy grandeur. The eye wan-conies, they were preparing to embark in their dered delighted, over the far-off scene of mountain, and valley, and forest, and stream; or, charmed and enraptured, followed the sinuous outline of the lake below, as it now expanded its broad bosom near Lucerne, or shone a liquid cross, as it branched its waters into the opposite gulfs of Kilsnacht and Alpnach; and now, in a noble sheet, diversified by bay and promontory, stretched to the east between Underwalden and Schwytz, until, approaching the towering Mont Righi, it contracted its surface to a strait, and abruptly turned towards the south into the narrow inlet which waters the wild banks of Uri. "It is, indeed, a splendid spectacle," exclaimed the younger stranger; "nor do I deem it wonderful that such a land should be beloved, even as ye of Switzerland are said to love it." "And shall it be a marvel," replied the Swiss, "if it be defended, even as we have sworn to defend it? Shall it be reserved for a modern ravager to violate a sanctuary which the Roman and the Hun respected; where respective boats, when the Swiss suddenly broke the silence which for a time had been preserved. "We may soon enough be enemies," said he; "at present let us deal frankly one with another. I am Arnold of Winkelried, a poor knight of Underwalden, who love my country, and would destroy her foes, fairly, in the field." "And we," replied the elder, catching his blunt tone and manner, "are the young Eyloff of Ems and old John of Hasenberg, knights, and true liegemen to Leopold of Austria; ready to serve him as his soldiers in any country, but his spies in none." "Then we understand each other," said Arnold, "and I shall not inquire why you are in Switzerland." "You shall not need," replied John of Hasenberg; "I have old friends and companions in arms in Switzerland, and this young knight, my relative, has leisure and curiosity. We are, at present, guests of the Lord of Gerisau; but, ere we quit your mountains, may visit the Baron of Thornberg, or even attend the annual "The last is a gallant and true knight," remarked Arnold; "but tell Peter of Thornberg that the people of his barony of Enthlibuch are growing weary of his tyranny; and it might bestead the Lord of Gerisau if he were reminded that he is too weak to oppose the Lion League, although he has not yet joined it." festival of the Lord of Interlaken, at his castle | side the rocks rose to a fearful height, now on the Lake of Thun." thrown into the wildest and most fantastic forms, now shooting up in perpendicular masses of granite, bare and bald, or shagged and bristled with dark forests of fir, or beech, or pine, down to the water's edge; and now hanging their beetling cliffs over the passing voyager, their wildest features rendered yet more savage by the fearful contrast offered, here and there, in the green or golden patch of cultivation, and rude cabin of the adventurous peasant, suspended amidst the crags. "Gerisau is a fief of Austria," was the only reply made by De Hasenberg, as they embarked. Leaving Lucerne, they were quickly conveyed through the various curves of the lake between its noble and diversified shores, until nearly fronting Gerisau. The romantic residence of Arnold was seen on the opposite side of the lake, peeping from its elevated recess: Arnold even thought he could perceive the handkerchief waving his welcome from the balcony. "It is my daughter Bertha," said he: then turning to the Austrians, he added, "Our countries are not yet at war, and ye are honourable knights. Yonder is my habitation, and should your curiosity lead you to explore the shores of Underwalden, do not, in your way to Stantz, pass, unentered, the door of Arnold of Winkelried." Eyloff, in his youthful feeling, was about to promise; but the tranquil John of Hasenberg prevented it by the usual acknowledgments, made in the most approved manner of the Austrian court; and they separated, if not friends, at least with no hostile feelings towards each other. Turning their prows to different points, the boats soon bore them to their several destinations, the one to the bosom of his happy family, and the other to the little castle of the petty Lord of Gerisau. But Eyloff was not content to waste the rest of the day in the monotony of the castle; and, leaving his more aged companion and their host fighting their former battles over their wine of Alsace, he engaged the boatmen, for a few florins, to proceed farther up the lake. Shooting through the narrow passage leading towards Mont Righi, and following the sudden turn to the right, the young knight passed between the memorable village and meadow pointed out by Arnold in the morning, through a stupendous mountain portal, worthy of being the entrance to a lake, at once the most classical and most magnificent in Switzerland. In breathless admiration, with feelings such as he had seldom before experienced, he glided over the silent and gloomy Lake of Uri, as it reposed in its dark and glassy stillness, closely confined between banks of almost terrific grandeur. On either Having reached the Rock of Tell, Eyloff, yielding to the advice of the boatmen, abandoned the design of proceeding so far as Altorf. The bay of Fluelen, they said, was sometimes dangerous in the evenings, and the day was fast wearing away; they even thought that already the golden day-streaks that crossed the dazzling white of the glaciers of the Sureen Alps were beginning to assume the rich purple hue lent by the declining sun. "The winds are going up the mountains," said one of the boatmen, as they headed homewards, "to bring down the rain upon us; there will be flüderwetter yet;" and they stretched manfully to their oars. But in despite of their speed they had scarcely arrived opposite the perilous bay of Brunnen when the sun disappeared behind Mont Pilate. "Potz tusig!" exclaimed the man who had before spoken, as he looked toward the west, "Pontius has put his black cap on; we shall have a blascht from that quarter too; it's well if we get out of the Uri See, where there's no landing left us, before it comes down." "Cannot we run into Brunnen?" asked the other boatman; "Or Gerisau?" inquired Eyloff. "Neither," replied the first, bluntly: "Pull round yonder promontory, and make for the first smooth spot of Underwalden, it's all that's left us." The wind began now to be evidently felt by the quiet lake, and they had barely weathered the point when the tempest burst over them in all its violence. The blast, like a thing of life, came rushing and raging over the waters; the clouds sent down their torrents with irresistible force and fury; the thunders clashed, and lightnings shot madly around them, while the winds and waters, in whirls and eddies from the numerous bluffs and rocky hollows of the shore, threatened every moment their destruction. their own to gain the shore; she was nearer the land, but her peril seemed extreme, and as they approached the frail bark the flashes of light discovered a female seated in the stern, her long loose tresses streaming in the storm. Her delicate form was sustained with difficulty, while with one hand she clung to the side of the boat, and with the other grasped the helm. Meantime a well-grown lad, her companion, plied his oars with a steady and strong nerve. They were now but a short distance from the shore; lights blazing on the beach and at the house directed their course, and Eyloff almost felt assured of the female's safety, when a gust suddenly coming round from the point below, bearing the waters high before it, struck the light bark on the side and instantly upset her. The generous boy held by the boat, only to cast his look around to discover where he might succour his sister, but Eyloff had already plunged in, and at the risk of his own life rescued the lady just as she was about to sink beneath the waves. With the assistance of the boatmen they were all safely conveyed to the beach, where the distracted mother stood screaming in her despair. Her daughter was yet insensible, but when borne up the winding path that led to her dwelling, and it became certain that she yet lived, who can depict the transport of the happy parent over her restored child! The return of Arnold, who had hastened towards home from his business abroad on the first indications of the approaching storm, was now announced, and he entered as the grateful matron, after seeing her daughter properly attended to, was pouring out her acknowledgments before the young knight; and when in formed of the extent of their obligations to him, the pressure of the hand, the tear that swelled into his manly eye, spoke the fond father's feelings. An early separation and retirement being expedient, Eyloff was conducted to his chamber, where refreshments were provided him. But he felt, for the first time, perhaps, after a day of such exertion, but little inclined either to eat or sleep, and he lay listening to the roar of the tempest without, and thinking over the last interesting incident. He still seemed to enfold in his arms the youthful beauty he had rescued, and to gaze upon her as if he would infuse, through his eyes, a portion of his own fire into her cold and inanimate form. He asked himself why a little Swiss girl, scarcely seen, should thus produce sensations which the beauties of the Austrian court had failed to excite, and he could not answer; but he could not but remember her mild blue eyes, as, awakening from the sleep of temporary death, they turned upon her deliverer, and thought following thought, he still lay drawing beautiful pictures of the future, and it was not until nature became exhausted that his spirit grew calm and he sank to rest, lulled by the low and monotonous moaning of the subsiding storm. Is love, then, a mere passion-an excitement? Is it not rather a mystic affinity existing in kindred hearts, latent, perhaps, till circumstances bring them within the sphere of its mysterious agency? Is the beautiful apologue all fable, that the souls of those individuals of either sex, intended for each other, receive, at their formation, the impress of their destiny, and, however widely separated at their birth, know and recognize each other when they meet? If sympathy be a mere word among mortals, how is it that one shall wander among the beautiful and polished, the pure and unsophisticated of foreign lands, surrounded by all that can excite the senses or satisfy the taste, and yet return to find a kindred soul in the ordinary circle of home; while another shall leave behind, unregarded, those whom association, whom similarity of habits, tastes, opinions, even prejudices, might render objects of preference, to seek, in some distant corner of the universe, his mystic partner in a stranger, an alien in language, manners, opinions; in a word, in all but love? Eyloff, for one so young, had seen much in the world, and his education and breeding had been suitable to his station, among the highest in Austria. Bertha was not unused to society: she had accompanied her parents in many of their visits to the gentry of the neighbouring districts, and her father's mansion was the seat of hospitality. It was not, therefore, rustic bashfulness that, when Eyloff and Bertha met at breakfast, threw over their deportment the air of reserve and embarrassment. Was it not that the mystic powers had met and commingled? Were not two kindred souls at length about to fulfil their destiny? "I am devoted to adore this maiden," humbly breathed the spirit of Eyloff; "but oh! dare I hope to gain so rich a prize? let me not offend her by the arrogance of even a too ardent gaze." "Behold," whispered the throbbing heart of Bertha, "here is the youth I am fated to love; yet ah! will he regard the poor Swiss girl?" It was a lovely morning. The sun was rising bright and beautiful over the enchanting scene around them, and the repast of the little family was taken, with their guest, on a green terrace before the house, commanding the most interesting prospect. Yet Eyloff had never |