AMID this dance of objects sadness steals Backward, in rapid evanescence, wheels And what the dell unwillingly reveals May in fit measure bless my later days. HYMN, FOR THE BOATMEN AS THEY APPROACH THE RAPIDS, UNDER THE CASTLE OF HEIDELBERG. JESU! bless our slender boat, By the current swept along; tween France and Spain, so as physically to separate the two kingdoms-let us fancy this wall curved like a crescent, with its convexity towards France. Lastly, let us suppose, that in the very middle of the wall a breach of three hundred feet wide has been beaten down by the famo's Poland, and we may have a good idea of what he mountaineers call the 'Breche de Roland. Raymond's Pyrenees. Loud its threatenings-let them not Drown the music of a song, Breathed thy mercy to implore, Where these troubled waters roar ! Saviour, in Thy image, seen Bleeding on that precious rood; If, while through the meadows green Gently wound the peaceful flood, We forgot Thee, do not Thou Disregard Thy suppliants now! Hither, like yon ancient tower Watching o'er the river's bed, Fling the shadow of Thy power, Else we sleep among the dead; Thou who trod'st the billowy sea, Shield us in our jeopardy! Guide our bark among the waves; Through the rocks our passage smooth; Where the whirlpool frets and raves Let Thy love its anger soothe : All our hope is placed in Thee; Miserere Domine!* THE SOURCE OF THE DANUBE. NoT, like his great compeers, indignantlyt Doth Danube spring to life! The wandering stream [gleam (Who loves the cross, yet to the crescent's Unfolds a willing breast) with infant glee Slips from his prison walls and fancy, free To follow in his track of silver light, Reaches, with one brief moment's rapid flight, The vast encincture of that gloomy sea * See the beautiful song in Mr. Coleridge's tragedy of "Remorse.' + Before this quarter of the Black Forest was inhabited, the source of the Danube might have suggested some of those sublime images which Armstrong has so finely described; at present, the contrast is most striking. The spring appears in a capacious stone basin upon the front of a ducal palace, with a pleasure-ground opposite; then, passing under the pavement, takes the form of a little, clear, bright, black, vigorous rill, barely wide enough to tempt the agility of a child five years old to leap over it,-and entering the garden, it joins, after a course of a few hundred yards, a stream much more considerable than itself. The copiousness of the spring at Donischingen must have procured for it the honour of being named the source of the Danube. ON APPROACHING THE STAUB-BACH, TRACKS let me follow far from human kind Which these illusive greetings may not reach ; Where only nature tunes her voice to teach More thrilling melodies! no caverned witch, Well judged the friend who placed it there The-strain should flow-enjoyment to en For silence and protection, And haply with a finer care Of dutiful affection. The sun regards it from the west, And oft he tempts the patriot Swiss COMPOSED IN ONE OF THE CATHOLIC I love, where spreads the village lawn, thral, And with regret and useless pity haunt *"The Staub-bach" is a narrow stream, which, after a long course on the heights, comes to the sharp edge of a somewhat overhanging precipice, overleaps it with a bound, and, after a fall of 930 feet, forms again a rivulet. The vocal powers of these musical beggars may seem to be exaggerated; but this wild and savage air was utterly unlike any sounds I had ever heard; the notes reached me from a distance, and on what occasion they were sung I could not guess, only they seemed to belong, in some way or other, to the waterfall; and reminded me of religious services chanted to streams and fountains in pagan times. Mr. Southey has thus accurately characterized the peculiarity of this music: "While we were at the waterfall, some halfscore peasants, chiefly women and girls, assembled just out of reach of the spring, and set up, -surely, the wildest chorus that ever was heard by human ears, -a song not of articulate sounds, but in which the voice was used as a mere instrument of music, more flexible than any which art could produce,-sweet, powerful, and thrilling beyond description." See notes to "A Tale of Paraguay.” " THE FALL OF THE AAR.-HANDEC. FROM the fierce aspect of this river throwing His giant body o'er the steep rock's brink, Back in astonishment and fear we shrink: But gradually a calmer look bestowing, Flowers we espy beside the torren growing; Flowers that peep forth from many a cleft and chink, And, from the whirlwind of his anger drink Hues ever fresh, in rocky fortress blowing: They suck, from breath that threatening to destroy Is more benignant than the dewy eve, Beauty, and life, and motions as of joy: Nor doubt but He to whom yon pine-trees nod Their heads in sign of worship, nature's God, These humbler adorations will receive. SCENE ON THE LAKE OF BRIENTZ. A mortal hymn, or shaped the choir, To chant, as glides the boat along, ENGELBERG, THE HILL OF ANGELS. FOR gentlest uses, oft-times nature takes The work of tancy from her willing hands; And such a beautiful creation makes As renders needless spells and magic wands, And for the boldest tale belief commands. When first mine eyes beheld that famous hill The sacred Engelberg;* celestial bands, With intermingling motions soft and still, *The convent whose site was pointed out, according to tradition, in this manner, is seated at its base. The architecture of the building is unimpressive, but the situation is worthy of the honour which the imagination of the mountaineers has conferred upon it.. OUR LADY OF THE SNOW. MEEK Virgin mother, more benign These crowded offerings as they hang To thee, in this aërial cleft, As to a common centre, tend And hence, O Virgin mother mild! Even for the man who stops not here, Nor falls that intermingling shade + Mount Righi But on!-a tempting downward way, EFFUSION IN PRESENCE OF THE PAINTED TOWER OF TELL, AT ALTORE. This tower is said to stand upon the spot where grew the linden-tree against which his son was placed, when the father's archery was put to proof under circumstances so famous in Swiss history. WHAT though the Italian pencil wrought not here, Nor such fine skill as did the meed bestow On Marathonian valour, yet the tear Springs forth in presence of this gaudy show, While narrow cares their limits overflow. Thrice happy, burghers, peasants, warriors old, Infants in arms, and ye, that as ye go Home-ward or school-ward, ape what ye [bold! Heroes before your time, in frolic fancy behold; But when that calm spectatress from on high Looks down-the bright and solitary moon, noon Roused into fury, murmur a soft tune That fosters peace, and gentleness recalls; Then might the passing monk receive a boon [walls, Of saintly pleasure from these pictured While, on the warlike groups, the mellowing lustre falls. How blest the souls who when their trials come Yield not to terror or despondency, Whose head the ruddy apple tops, while he THE TOWN OF SCHWITZ. By antique fancy trimmed-though lowly, bred serene To dignity-in thee, O Schwytz! are seen 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. THOU Sacred pile! whose turrets rise On Horeb's top, on Sinai, deigned Cliffs, fountains, rivers, seasons, times, Glory, and patriotic love, [seek, And all the pomps of this frail "spot Thither, in times of adverse shocks, He, too, of battle-martyrs chief! *Arnold Winkelreid, at the battle of Sempach, broke an Austrian phalanx in this manner. 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 characterized 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 stationaryscatterings from heaven. The ruin is interesting, both in mass and 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 the 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. DREAD hour! when upheaved by war's sulphurous blast, [stone This sweet-visaged cherub of Parian So far from the holy inclosure was cast, To couch in this thicket of brambles alone; To rest where the lizard may bask in the palm [or speck; Of his half-open hand pure from blemish And the green, gilded snake, without troubling the calm. [his neck. Of the beautiful countenance, twine round 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. |