NOTES.

PART I.

Note a. p. 28.

On St. Gothard's hoary top.

St. Gothard is the name of the highest mountain in the Canton of Uri, the birth place of Swiss Independence.

Note b. p. 31.

When the Glaciers, dark with death.

More properly the avalanches; immense accumulations of ice and snow, balanced on the verge of the mountains, in such subtle suspense, that, in the opinion of the natives, the tread of the traveller may bring them down in destruction upon him. The glaciers are more permanent masses of ice, and formed rather in the vallies, than on the summit of the Alps.

PART II.

Note a.- -p. 35.

Drew his sword on Brunnen's plain.

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 Melchthal, in Underwalden, conspired against the tyranny of Austria, in 1307, again in 1798 became the seat of the diet of these three forest cantons.

Note b.-p. 35.

Thrice o'erthrew his country's foes.

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, Alloys Reding, at the head of the troops of the little cantons, Uri, Schwitz, and Underwalden, repeatedly repulsed the invading army of France.

Note c. p. 35.

Treachery made the victors slaves.

By the resistance of these small cantons, the French General Shawembourg was compelled to respect their independence, and gave them a solemn pledge to that 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 civick oath to the new constitution, imposed upon all Switzerland.

Note d.-p. 35.

Underwalden was the heart.

The inhabitants of the lower valley of Underwalden alone resisted the French message, which required submission 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 devoted themselves to perish in the ruins of their country.

Note e. p. 37.

This the ploughshare of their way.

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, sprang 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.

These who loved us-these beloved.

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 enemy.

Till they founder'd in the flood.

The French made their first attack on the valley of Underwalden 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.

In the last and decisive battle the Underwalders were overpowered by two French armies, which rushed