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JAMES MONTGOMERY.

JAMES MONTGOMERY was born in Irvine, Ayr- | by the upright and unimpeachable tenor of his life— shire, in 1771. His parents belonged to the church even more than by his writings-the persuasive

of the United Brethren, commonly called Moravians, a sect by no means numerous in England, and still more limited in Scotland. Having previously sojourned for a short time at a village in the Irish county of Antrim, they placed the future poet at the school of their society at Fulnick, near Leeds, and embarked for the West Indies as missionaries among the negro slaves. They were the victims of their zeal and humanity; the husband died in Barbadoes, and the wife in Tobago.

and convincing advocate of religion. In his personal appearance, Montgomery is rather below than above the middle stature: his countenance is peculiarly bland and tranquil; and but for the occasional sparklings of a clear gray eye, it could scarcely be described as expressive. Very early in life, Montgomery published a volume of poems. They were not, it would appear, favourably received by the public; and he writes, the disappointment of his premature poetical hopes brought with it a blight which his mind has never | recovered. "For many years," he adds, "I was as mute as a moulting bird; and when the power of song returned, it was without the energy, selfconfidence, and freedom which happier minstrels

Wanderer of Switzerland was published in 1806; the West Indies, in 1810; the World before the Flood, in 1813; Greenland in 1819; the Pelican Island, in 1827: he has since contented himself with the production of occasional verses.

Those who can distinguish the fine gold from the "sounding brass" of poetry, must place the name of James Montgomery high in the list of British

After remaining two years at Fulnick, and, like other men of genius, disappointing the expectations of his friends as a student, "from very indolence," he was placed by them in a retail shop at Mirfield near Wakefield. This ungenial employment he considered himself not being under indentures-among my contemporaries have manifested." The at liberty to relinquish at the end of two years, with a view to try his fortune in the great world. After spending other two years at a village near Rotherham, and a few months with a bookseller in London, he engaged as an assistant with Mr. Joseph Gales of Sheffield, who, published a newspaper; to the management of which, in 1794, he succeeded. This, though conducted with comparative moderation, exposed him to much enmity-poets; and those who consider that the chiefest rather inherited from his predecessor than actually incurred by himself. The liberty of the press in those days was, like faith," the substance of things hoped for;" a sentence of condemnation, or even a word of reproach, against men in "high places," was punished as libellous. Montgomery did not indeed share the fate of some of his stern sectarian forefathers; but in lieu of maiming and pillory, he had to endure fine and imprisonment. Within eighteen months, and when he had scarcely arrived at manhood, his exertions in the cause of rational freedom had twice consigned him to a jail. During the thirty years that followed, however, he was permitted to publish his opinions, without being the object of open persecutions. Wearied out, at length, he relinquished his newspaper, in 1825. Recently one of the government grants to British worthies has been conferred upon him; and-it must be recorded to his honour-by Sir Robert Peel. The poet continues to reside in Sheffield,esteemed, admired, and beloved: a man of purer mind, or more unsuspected integrity, never existed. He is an honour to the profession of letters; and

duty of such is to promote the cause of religion, virtue, and humanity, must acknowledge in him one of their most zealous and efficient advocates. He does not, indeed, often aim at bolder flights of imagination; but if he seldom rises above, he never sinks beneath, the object of which he desires the attainment. If he rarely startles us, he still more rarely leaves us dissatisfied; he does not attempt that to which his powers are unequal, and therefore is at all times successful. To the general reader, it will seem as if the early bias of his mind and his first associations had tinged-we may not say tainted-the source from whence he drew his inspirations, and that his poems are "sicklied o'er" with peculiar impressions and opinions which fail to excite the sympathy of the great mass of mankind. We should, however, recollect, that, although he has chiefly addressed himself to those who think with him, his popularity is by no means confined to them; but that those who read poetry for the delight it affords them, and without any reference to his leading design, acknowledge his merit, and contribute to his fame.

572

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, emigrating 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 grayTherefore, 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-O 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,
Heaven 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.

"By a hundred winters piled, When the glaciers,* dark with death, Hang o'er precipices wild,

Hang-suspended by a breath: "If a pulse but throb alarm,

Headlong down the steeps they fall; For a pulse will break the charm,

Bounding, bursting, burying all. "Struck with horror stiff and pale, When the chaos breaks on high, All that view it from the vale,

All that hear it coming, die :"In a day and hour accurst,

O'er the wretched land of Tell, Thus the Gallic ruin burst,

Thus the Gallic glacier fell!"

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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 hurl'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 sail 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.

alone resisted the French message, which required sub- The Wanderer continues his narrative, and describes the

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 devoted 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 enemy. †The capital of Underwalden.

"Then the mountain echoes rang With the clangour of alarms : Shrill the signal trumpet sang;

All our warriors leapt to arms.

"On the margin of the flood,

While the frantic foe drew nigh, Grim as watching wolves we stood, Prompt as eagles stretch'd to fly.

"In a deluge upon land

Burst their overwhelming might; Back we hurl'd them from the strand, Oft returning to the fight.

"Fierce and long the combat held— Till the waves were warm with blood, Till the booming waters swell'd

As they sank beneath the flood.*

"For on that triumphant day

Underwalden's arms once more Broke oppression's black array,

Dash'd invasion from her shore.

"Gaul's surviving barks retired, Muttering vengeance as they fled; Hope in us, by conquest fired,

Raised our spirits from the dead.

"From the dead our spirits rose,

To the dead they soon return'd; Bright, on its eternal close,

Underwalden's glory burn'd.

"Star of Switzerland! whose rays Shed such sweet expiring light, Ere the Gallic comet's blaze

Swept thy beauty into night :

"Star of Switzerland! thy fame

No recording bard hath sung; Yet be thine immortal name Inspiration to my tongue !+

"While the lingering moon delay'd
In the wilderness of night,
Ere the morn awoke the shade
Into loveliness and light:-

"Gallia's tigers, wild for blood,

Darted on our sleeping fold: Down the mountains, o'er the flood, Dark as thunder clouds they roll'd.

"By the trumpet's voice alarm'd,

All the valley burst awake; All were in a moment arm'd,

From the barriers to the lake.

* 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 upon them from the opposite mountains, and surrounded their camp, while an assault, at the same time, was made upon them from the lake.

"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.

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