WILLIAM TELL.

337

Is/ Workman. Nay, were it but the imperial crown, indeed !

But ’tis the cap of Austria ! I’ve seen itHanging above the throne in Gessler’s hall.

Mason. The cap of Austria ? Mark that! A snareTo get us into Austria ’s power, by heaven!

Workmen. No freeborn man will stoop to such disgrace.

Master Mason. Come—to our comrades, and advise with them.”

William Toll, one of the conspirators, refused this act of homage ; he was therefore seizedand taken into the presence of the governor, who sentenced him to shoot an apple from offhis son’s head. The father and the child immediately proceeded to the endurance of thissevere trial; hut the calm bearing of the child, and the long-skilled arm and eye of thebowman, triumphed. Gessler saw Tell concealing an additional shaft, and asked whythis was brought ? “ Had the first missed the apple,” said the bowman, “ the second

should not have missed thy heart! ” Gessler now made Tell his prisoner ; loaded himwith chains, and embarked with him on board his boat, to bear his captive to the castleof Kussnacht . But a storm arose, and Gessler directed that Tell, expert at the oar aswell as the bow, should be unbound, that he might save them in this time of peril. Tellplied the bark so that it might near the shore, then springing over the rocks, left hisoppressors to their fate, and made his escape.

True, indeed, was Melcthal’s tale as he said :—

Through the Surenen’s fearful mountain chain,

Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side,

And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture’s cry,

I reached the Alpine pasture, where the herdsFrom Uri and from Engelberg resort,

And turn their cattle forth to graze in common.

Still as I went along, I slacked my thirstWith the coarse ooziugs of the lofty glacier,

That thro’ the crevices came foaming down,

And turned to rest me in the herdsmen’s cots,

Where I was host and guest, until I gainedThe cheerful homes and social haunts of men.

Already through these distant vales had spreadThe rumour of this last atrocity ;

And wheresoe’er I went, at every door,

Kind words and gentle looks were there to greet me.

I found these simple spirits all in armsAgainst our ruler’s tyrannous encroachments.

For as their Alps through each succeeding yearYield the same roots,—their streams flow ever onIn the same channels,— nay, the clouds and windsThe self-same course unalterably pursue,

So have old customs there, from sire to son,

Been handed down, unchanging and unchanged ;

Nor will they brook to swerve or turn asideFrom the fixed even tenour of their life.

With grasp of their hard hands they welcomed me,—

Took from the walls their rusty falchions down,—

And from their eyes the soul of valour flashedWith joyful lustre, as I spoke those names,

Sacred to every peasant in the mountains.”

In a few hours the staff of the oppressor was broken; the cantons were once more free;and Tell, waylaying Gessler, shot him to the heart.

Similar results arose when other attempts were made on the liberties of the people, ata later date, until Leopold ascended the throne : a man filled with family pride, but ofgreat personal courage, and burning with desire to avenge the reverses sustained bv his

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