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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43678 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 43678-h.htm or 43678-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43678/43678-h/43678-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43678/43678-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/anneofgeiersteinsco01scotuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
+
+
+
+
+
+Waverley Novels
+Forty-Eight Volumes
+Volume XLIII.
+
+Border Edition
+
+The Introductory Essays and Notes by Andrew Lang to this
+Edition of the Waverley Novels are Copyright
+
+
+[Illustration: THE DUEL.
+Drawn and Etched by R. de Los Rios]
+
+
+ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN
+
+by
+
+SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.
+
+With Introductory Essay and Notes by Andrew Lang
+
+Ten Etchings
+
+VOLUME I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+John C. Nimmo
+14, King William Street, Strand
+MDCCCXCIV
+
+Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
+At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
+
+
+
+
+     THIS EDITION OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS,
+     THE BORDER EDITION,
+     IS DEDICATED BY THE PUBLISHER
+     TO
+     THE HON. MRS. MAXWELL SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD
+     AND HER CHILDREN,
+     WALTER, MARY, MICHAEL, ALICE, MALCOLM,
+     MARGARET, AND HERBERT,
+     GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER AND GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN
+     OF THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+     TO
+     The King's Most Gracious Majesty.
+
+     SIRE,
+
+The Author of this Collection of Works of Fiction would not have
+presumed to solicit for them your Majesty's august patronage, were it
+not that the perusal has been supposed in some instances to have
+succeeded in amusing hours of relaxation, or relieving those of
+languor, pain, or anxiety, and therefore must have so far aided the
+warmest wish of your Majesty's heart, by contributing in however small
+a degree to the happiness of your people.
+
+They are therefore humbly dedicated to your Majesty, agreeably to
+your gracious permission, by
+
+          Your Majesty's Dutiful Subject,
+               WALTER SCOTT.
+
+     ABBOTSFORD,
+     1st January, 1829.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ETCHINGS.
+
+PRINTED BY F. GOULDING, LONDON.
+
+
+VOLUME THE FIRST.
+
+     THE DUEL. Drawn and Etched by R. de Los Rios
+     (p. 99)                                            Frontispiece
+
+     GEIERSTEIN. Drawn and Etched by R. de Los
+     Rios                                       To face page      48
+
+     IN THE STABLE. Drawn and Etched by R. de Los
+     Rios                                                        192
+
+     THE EXAMINATION. Drawn and Etched by R. de
+     Los Rios                                                    256
+
+     THE EXECUTION. Drawn and Etched by R. de Los
+     Rios                                                        304
+
+
+
+
+     ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN;
+     OR,
+     THE MAIDEN OF THE MIST.
+
+     What! will the aspiring blood of Lancaster
+     Sink in the ground?
+
+     SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+TO
+
+ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN.
+
+
+With "The Fair Maid of Perth" we take farewell of Scott at his best,
+though "even from the stubble one may tell what the grain has been."
+"Anne of Geierstein" was no favourite of the author's, and, as Mr.
+Matthew Arnold says, the world does not contemplate with pleasure what
+the poet creates without joy. The novel was begun in the late summer
+or autumn of 1828, but for part of the time Scott neglected his Diary.
+He was become (June 19) "a writing automaton," and suffered much pain
+from rheumatism and rheumatic headaches. He feared that this affected
+"the quality of the stuff," but he was not one who "waited for the
+spark from heaven to fall." He plodded on, in these late years,
+_invita Minerva_. Of old the goddess had generally been willing; but
+now his task took the likeness of journalism, the round had to be
+trodden, be he well or be he ill. Masterpieces are not written thus:
+it is the moral effort that we admire, and the contempt for fame, even
+for art, compared with the respect for duty. Scott believed in his
+duty and in his power of will, but imagination will not obey a moral
+dictate. We find Ballantyne "complaining of his manuscript": the
+wearied hand no longer wrote legibly, despite the mechanical supports
+which he used. "I cannot trace my _pieds de mouche_ but with great
+labour and trouble" (June 22). He "wrought and endured," afflicted by
+a hypochondriacal melancholy: "it may be chased away by study or by
+exercise." He is nobly master of his fate, in every event. In July we
+find him "beginning Simond's 'Switzerland,'" in search of local
+colour, for he did not know Switzerland, nor even the Rhine. His
+description of a storm in the mountains is, in the circumstances,
+wonderfully accurate. He simply drew the hills above Loch Skene on a
+grander scale. Morritt and Sir James Stuart of Allanbank, who were
+well acquainted with the scenes, were "surprised at the felicity with
+which he divined its character, and outdid, by the force of
+imagination, all the efforts of a thousand actual tourists." Their
+praise much encouraged Sir Walter (Lockhart, ix. 279). Ballantyne
+"bored and bothered me with his criticisms," he said, for he did not
+pretend to be a geologist, and to describe the formation of the rocks.
+In January he "muzzed on"--I can call it little better--with "Anne of
+Geierstein." The "materials are excellent, but the power of using them
+is failing." In February (1829) he was better "pleased with his work."
+The reason why he was better pleased may perhaps be gathered from his
+Journal (Feb. 17): "I called on Skene, and borrowed a volume of his
+journal to get some information about Burgundy and Provence. Something
+may be made out of King René, but I wish I had thought of him sooner."
+This is elucidated by a note of Mr. Skene's: "Sir Walter wished to see
+a paper which I had some time before contributed to the Memoirs of the
+Society of Antiquaries on the subject of the secret tribunals of
+Germany, and upon which, accordingly, he grounded his scene in the
+novel." Mr. Skene now suggested the introduction of King René of
+Provence, as he himself could give topographical details. "He liked
+the idea much ... and the whole dénouement of the story was changed,
+and the Provence part woven into it, in the form in which it
+ultimately came forth" (Journal, ii. 235, note). On March 8 "Cadell
+totally condemns 'Anne of Geierstein' ... great dishonour in this, as
+Trinculo says, besides an infinite loss. Yet worse has succeeded, but
+it was while the fashion of the thing was fresh. I retrenched a good
+deal about the Troubadours, which was really _hors de place_" (April
+14). After some weeks of work and reflection, he came to the
+conclusion that more pains would not serve his turn. Inspiration came
+at once, if it came at all, and now his "braes and burn-sides" were
+ceasing to inspire him. "I don't know why or wherefore, but I hate
+'Anne'" (April 27). "The story will end, and shall end, because it
+must end, and so here goes." He finished "Anne of Geierstein" on April
+29, and began an historical work for Dr. Lardner on the same day. He
+had been writing reviews and other trifles all the time. "Were
+necessity out of the question, I would take the same literary labour
+from choice--something more leisurely, though."
+
+The book was published in the middle of May, and was very popular in
+Switzerland. Lockhart praises "occasional outbursts of the old poetic
+spirit," as in the Alpine storm, the wild climb of Arthur, the duel,
+the noble picture of the battle of Granson. No one else then writing
+in England could have matched these passages. Lockhart especially
+admired the sympathy with which an old and weary man "depicts the
+feelings of youth with all their original glow and purity." "He was
+always living over again in his children, young at heart whenever he
+looked on them, and the world that was opening on them and their
+friends. But, above all, he had a firm belief in the future reunion of
+those whom death had parted."
+
+The novel is unlucky, perhaps, in the period chosen, which is not
+sufficiently familiar to most readers. The forlorn cause of the House
+of Lancaster now affects us very little, and the passion of Margaret
+of Anjou is remote--it cannot stir us like the last view of the King,
+in "Redgauntlet." The mechanism of the volume does suggest the
+favourite topics of Mrs. Radcliffe, and the mysterious appearances and
+disappearances of the heroine need a more plausible explanation than
+they receive. The prophecy turning on the drawing of the bow is rather
+dropped out of sight, and the magic scenes connected with the opal and
+the mysterious bride suffer from being explained away. The miracle is
+more easy of belief than the explanation. Though Charles the Bold is
+painted with power in his pride and in his fall, he does not interest
+us like Louis XI. or James VI., either in this novel or in "Quentin
+Durward." It is probable enough that Scott, in his intended
+continuation of "Quentin Durward," had this very period in his eye:
+perhaps we need not regret that, with failing powers, he left Quentin
+out of the tale. His place is filled by the good dull Sigismund, who
+always warms up into a kind of brilliance when action is to be taken
+or described. The hero and heroine do not differ much from Scott's
+usual characters, in similar romantic circumstances, but Anne has less
+of originality and charm, of course, than the women of his earlier
+novels. The story, even on the least favourable estimate, is a rapid
+novel of adventure: incident follows incident, and, as a modern critic
+says, "the novel of character is one we often take up, the novel of
+incident is one we cannot lay down;" if it be written with the spirit
+of Scott, or of Dumas. That friendly master of romance was just about
+to take up the pen which fell from the fingers of Sir Walter--
+
+     Uno avulso non deficit alter.
+
+Scott's imitators, in his lifetime, produced little or nothing of
+merit: he was, however, to leave successors, the author of "Vingt Ans
+Après" first and greatest; the author of "Esmond"; the author, we may
+surely add, of "The Master of Ballantrae." Much as these differ from
+Scott, both in quantity and quality of genius, in method, in style,
+they are all "sealed of his tribe," like the spiritual children of Ben
+Jonson. Scott is he
+
+     Without whose life they had not been,
+
+and thus his example has borne, and still bears, new fruit in the most
+innocent of intellectual pleasures. For a later generation Scott has
+done what the romances and the epics did for chivalry, and fairy-tales
+for all the world. In an unexpected place, the Memoirs of Dr. Adam
+Clarke, we find a tribute to old romance and fairy-tale. Had he not
+read these in boyhood, the learned and excellent Doctor declares, his
+religion would have lacked imagination, and his character the courage
+which he displayed in face of many dangers. Examples of lofty fancy,
+of chivalrous courage, all that can attract and inspire youth, all
+that makes against moody despair, and stolid commonplace, and creeping
+prose, Scott gives, even in this late work, and he enlightens all with
+humour, as in his admirable description of the despotic German
+innkeeper, before whom the Earl of Oxford has to lower his bonnet.
+While youth is youth, and men have yet a smack of it, we can be happy
+with Arthur Philipson in his duel, with Sigismund in the fight, with
+the cheery maid of Anne of Geierstein, and her honest ideas of love on
+first principles, with that royal philosopher King René, with the
+sagacious loyalty of Oxford, and the manly patriotism of the peasant
+noble. That the conclusion is entangled, and the knots rather broken
+than disengaged, is no unusual fault in Scott: it haunted his works
+from the beginning. Considering his health, his absence, in this tale,
+from scenes familiar to him, and times familiar to his readers, the
+novel is remarkable for its interest. What success and merit it
+possesses are mainly due, however, to a determined effort of the will,
+not to a delighted and conscious inspiration. In his last essays,
+though the will was indomitable, the material machinery of the brain
+was shattered, and we can only criticise them as psychological
+examples of unconquered courage. He had to see James Ballantyne,
+broken by his wife's death, and "squandering his thoughts and senses
+upon dowdy metaphysics, and abstruse theology." It was better for
+Scott to work on, and die at his task, at the labour of a life which
+would not be complete, would not offer the same invigorating
+spectacle, had he thrown his pen away and confessed himself defeated.
+
+The historical sources of "Anne of Geierstein" are explained in
+Scott's own Introduction and Notes. All the later part of the novel
+follows the narrative of Commines closely, save for certain dramatic
+liberties, as we shall point out in our additional annotations.
+
+          ANDREW LANG.
+
+     _May 1894._
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+TO
+
+ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN.
+
+
+This novel was written at a time when circumstances did not place
+within my reach the stores of a library tolerably rich in historical
+works, and especially the memoirs of the Middle Ages, amidst which I
+had been accustomed to pursue the composition of my fictitious
+narratives. In other words, it was chiefly the work of leisure hours
+in Edinburgh, not of quiet mornings in the country. In consequence of
+trusting to a memory, strongly tenacious certainly, but not less
+capricious in its efforts, I have to confess on this occasion more
+violations of accuracy in historical details, than can perhaps be
+alleged against others of my novels. In truth, often as I have been
+complimented on the strength of my memory, I have through life been
+entitled to adopt old Beattie of Meikledale's answer to his parish
+minister when eulogising him with respect to the same faculty. "No,
+doctor," said the honest border-laird, "I have no command of my
+memory; it only retains what happens to hit my fancy, and like enough,
+sir, if you were to preach to me for a couple of hours on end, I might
+be unable at the close of the discourse to remember one word of it."
+Perhaps there are few men whose memory serves them with equal fidelity
+as to many different classes of subjects; but I am sorry to say, that
+while mine has rarely failed me as to any snatch of verse or trait of
+character that had once interested my fancy, it has generally been a
+frail support, not only as to names, and dates, and other minute
+technicalities of history, but as to many more important things.
+
+I hope this apology will suffice for one mistake which has been
+pointed out to me by the descendant of one of the persons introduced
+in this story, and who complains with reason that I have made a
+peasant deputy of the ancestor of a distinguished and noble family,
+none of whom ever declined from the high rank to which, as far as my
+pen trenched on it, I now beg leave to restore them. The name of the
+person who figures as deputy of Soleure in these pages, was always, it
+seems, as it is now, that of a patrician house. I am reminded by the
+same correspondent of another slip, probably of less consequence. The
+Emperor of the days my novel refers to, though the representative of
+that Leopold who fell in the great battle of Sempach, never set up any
+pretensions against the liberties of the gallant Swiss, but, on the
+contrary, treated with uniform prudence and forbearance such of that
+nation as had established their independence, and with wise, as well
+as generous kindness, others who still continued to acknowledge fealty
+to the imperial crown. Errors of this sort, however trivial, ought
+never, in my opinion, to be pointed out to an author, without meeting
+with a candid and respectful acknowledgment.
+
+With regard to a general subject of great curiosity and interest, in
+the eyes at least of all antiquarian students, upon which I have
+touched at some length in this narrative, I mean the _Vehmic_
+tribunals of Westphalia, a name so awful in men's ears during many
+centuries, and which, through the genius of Goethe, has again been
+revived in public fancy with a full share of its ancient terrors, I am
+bound to state my opinion that a wholly new and most important light
+has been thrown upon this matter since Anne of Geierstein first
+appeared, by the elaborate researches of my ingenious friend, Mr.
+Francis Palgrave, whose proof-sheets, containing the passages I allude
+to, have been kindly forwarded to me, and whose complete work will be
+before the public ere this Introduction can pass through the press.
+
+"In Germany," says this very learned writer, "there existed a singular
+jurisdiction, which claimed a _direct descent from the Pagan policy
+and mystic ritual of the earliest Teutons_.
+
+"We learn from the Historians of Saxony, that the 'Frey Feld gericht,'
+or Free Field Court of Corbey, was, in Pagan times, under the
+supremacy of the Priests of the Eresburgh, the Temple which contained
+the Irminsule, or pillar of Irmin. After the conversion of the people,
+the possessions of the temple were conferred by Louis the Pious upon
+the Abbey which arose upon its site. The court was composed of sixteen
+persons, who held their offices for life. The senior member presided
+as the Gerefa or Graff; the junior performed the humbler duties of
+'Frohner,' or summoner; the remaining fourteen acted as the Echevins,
+and by them all judgments were pronounced or declared. When any one of
+these died, a new member was elected by the Priests, from amongst the
+twenty-two septs or families inhabiting the Gau or district, and who
+included all the hereditary occupants of the soil. Afterwards, the
+selection was made by the Monks, but always with the assent of the
+Graff and of the 'Frohner.'
+
+"The seat of judgment, the King's seat, or 'Königs-stuhl,' was always
+established on the greensward; and we collect from the context, that
+the tribunal was also raised or appointed in the common fields of the
+Gau, for the purpose of deciding disputes relating to the land within
+its precinct. Such a 'King's seat' was a plot sixteen feet in length,
+and sixteen feet in breadth; and when the ground was first
+consecrated, the Frohner dug a grave in the centre, into which each of
+the Free Echevins threw a handful of ashes, a coal, and a tile. If any
+doubt arose whether a place of judgment had been duly hallowed, the
+Judges sought for the tokens. If they were not found, then all the
+judgments which had been given became null and void. It was also of
+the very essence of the Court, that it should be held beneath the sky,
+and by the light of the sun. All the ancient Teutonic judicial
+assemblies were held in the open air; but some relics of solar worship
+may perhaps be traced in the usage and in the language of this
+tribunal. The forms adopted in the Free Field Court also betray a
+singular affinity to the doctrines of the British Bards respecting
+their Gorseddau, or Conventions, which were 'always held in the open
+air, in the eye of the light, and in face of the sun.'[1]
+
+"When a criminal was to be judged, or a cause to be decided, the Graff
+and the Free Echevins assembled around the 'Königs-stuhl;' and the
+'Frohner,' having proclaimed silence, opened the proceedings by
+reciting the following rhymes:
+
+     "Sir Graff, with permission,
+         I beg you to say,
+     According to law, and without delay,
+         If I, your Knave,
+         Who judgment crave,
+     With your good grace,
+     Upon the King's seat this seat may place.
+
+"To this address the Graff replied:
+
+     "While the sun shines with even light
+     Upon Masters and Knaves, I shall declare
+     The law of might, according to right.
+     Place the King's seat true and square,
+     Let even measure, for justice' sake,
+     Be given in sight of God and man,
+     That the plaintiff his complaint may make,
+     And the defendant answer,--if he can.
+
+"In conformity to this permission, the 'Frohner' placed the seat of
+judgment in the middle of the plot, and then he spake for the second
+time:
+
+     "Sir Graff, Master brave,
+     I remind you of your honour, here,
+     And moreover that I am your Knave;
+     Tell me, therefore, for law sincere,
+     If these mete-wands are even and sure,
+     Fit for the rich and fit for the poor,
+     Both to measure land and condition;
+     Tell me as you would eschew perdition.
+
+"And so speaking, he laid the mete-wand on the ground. The Graff then
+began to try the measure, by placing his right foot against the wand,
+and he was followed by the other Free Echevins in rank and order,
+according to seniority. The length of the mete-wand being thus proved,
+the Frohner spake for the third time:
+
+     "Sir Graff, I ask by permission,
+     If I with your mete-wand may mete
+     Openly, and without displeasure,
+     Here the king's free judgment seat.
+
+"And the Graff replied:
+
+     "I permit right,
+     And I forbid wrong,
+     Under the pains and penalties
+     That to the old known laws belong.
+
+"Now was the time of measuring the mystic plot; it was measured by the
+mete-wand along and athwart, and when the dimensions were found to be
+true, the Graff placed himself in the seat of judgment, and gave the
+charge to the assembled Free Echevins, warning them to pronounce
+judgment, according to right and justice.
+
+     "On this day, with common consent,
+     And under the clear firmament,
+     A free field court is established here,
+         In the open eye of day;
+         Enter soberly, ye who may.
+     The seat in its place is pight,
+     The mete-wand is found to be right;
+     Declare your judgments without delay:
+     And let the doom be truly given,
+     Whilst yet the Sun shines bright in heaven.
+
+"Judgment was given by the Free Echevins according to plurality of
+voices."
+
+After observing that the author of Anne of Geierstein had, by what he
+calls a "very excusable poetical licence," transferred something of
+these judicial rhymes from the Free Field Court of the Abbey of
+Corbey, to the Free Vehmic Tribunals of Westphalia, Mr. Palgrave
+proceeds to correct many vulgar errors, in which the novel he remarks
+on no doubt had shared, with respect to the actual constitution of
+those last-named courts. "The protocols of their proceedings," he
+says, "do not altogether realise the popular idea of their terrors and
+tyranny." It may be allowed to me to question whether the mere
+protocols of such tribunals are quite enough to annul all the import
+of tradition respecting them; but in the following details there is no
+doubt much that will instruct the antiquary, as well as amuse the
+popular reader.
+
+"The Court," says Mr. Palgrave, "was held with known and notorious
+publicity beneath the 'eye of light;' and the sentences, though speedy
+and severe, were founded upon a regular system of established
+jurisprudence, not so strange, even to England, as it may at first
+sight appear.
+
+"Westphalia, according to its ancient constitution, was divided into
+districts called 'Freygraffschafften,' each of which usually contained
+one, and sometimes many, Vehmic tribunals, whose boundaries were
+accurately defined. The right of the 'Stuhlherr,' or Lord, was of a
+feudal nature, and could be transferred by the ordinary modes of
+alienation; and if the Lord did not choose to act in his own person,
+he nominated a 'Freigraff' to execute the office in his stead. The
+Court itself was composed of 'Freyschöppfen,' Scabini, or Echevins,
+nominated by the Graff, and who were divided into two classes: the
+ordinary, and the 'Wissenden' or 'Witan,' who were admitted under a
+strict and singular bond of secrecy.
+
+"The initiation of these, the participators in all the mysteries of
+the tribunal, could only take place upon the 'red earth,' or within
+the limits of the ancient Duchy of Westphalia. Bareheaded and ungirt,
+the candidate is conducted before the dread tribunal. He is
+interrogated as to his qualifications, or rather as to the absence of
+any disqualification. He must be free born, a Teuton, and clear of any
+accusation cognisable by the tribunal of which he is to become a
+member.--If the answers are satisfactory, he then takes the oath,
+swearing by the Holy Law, that he will conceal the secrets of the Holy
+Vehme from wife and child--from father and mother--from sister and
+brother--from fire and water--from every creature upon which the sun
+shines, or upon which the rain falls--from every being between earth
+and heaven.
+
+"Another clause relates to his active duties. He further swears, that
+he will 'say forth' to the tribunal all crimes or offences which fall
+beneath the secret ban of the Emperor, which he knows to be true, or
+which he has heard from trustworthy report; and that he will not
+forbear to do so, for love nor for loathing, for gold nor for silver
+nor precious stones.--This oath being imposed upon him, the new
+Freischopff was then intrusted with the secrets of the Vehmic
+tribunal. He received the password, by which he was to know his
+fellows, and the grip or sign by which they recognised each other in
+silence; and he was warned of the terrible punishment awaiting the
+perjured brother.--If he discloses the secrets of the Court, he is to
+expect that he will be suddenly seized by the ministers of vengeance.
+His eyes are bound, he is cast down on the soil, his tongue is torn
+out through the back of his neck--and he is then to be hanged seven
+times higher than any other criminal. And whether restrained by the
+fear of punishment, or by the stronger ties of mystery, no instance
+was ever known of any violation of the secrets of the tribunal.
+
+"Thus connected by an invisible bond, the members of the 'Holy Vehme'
+became extremely numerous. In the fourteenth century, the league
+contained upwards of one hundred thousand members. Persons of every
+rank sought to be associated to this powerful community, and to
+participate in the immunities which the brethren possessed. Princes
+were eager to allow their ministers to become the members of this
+mysterious and holy alliance; and the cities of the Empire were
+equally anxious to enrol their magistrates in the Vehmic union.
+
+"The supreme government of the Vehmic tribunals was vested in the
+great or general Chapter, composed of the Freegraves and all the other
+initiated members, high and low. Over this assembly the Emperor might
+preside in person, but more usually by his deputy, the Stadtholder of
+the ancient Duchy of Westphalia; an office which, after the fall of
+Henry the Lion, Duke of Brunswick, was annexed to the Archbishopric
+of Cologne.
+
+"Before the general Chapter, all the members were liable to account
+for their acts. And it appears that the 'Freegraves' reported the
+proceedings which had taken place within their jurisdictions in the
+course of the year. Unworthy members were expelled, or sustained a
+severer punishment. Statutes, or 'Reformations,' as they were called,
+were here enacted for the regulation of the Courts, and the amendment
+of any abuses; and new and unforeseen cases, for which the existing
+laws did not provide a remedy, received their determination in the
+Vehmic Parliament.
+
+"As the Echevins were of two classes, uninitiated and initiated, so
+the Vehmic Courts had also a twofold character; the 'Offenbare Ding'
+was an Open Court or Folkmoot; but the 'Heimliche Acht' was the
+far-famed Secret Tribunal.
+
+"The first was held three times in each year. According to the ancient
+Teutonic usage, it usually assembled on Tuesday, anciently called
+'Dingstag,' or court-day, as well as 'Diensttag,' or serving-day, the
+first open or working day after the two great weekly festivals of
+Sun-day and Moon-day. Here all the householders of the district,
+whether free or bond, attended as suitors. The 'Offenbare Ding'
+exercised a civil jurisdiction; and in this Folkmoot appeared any
+complainant or appellant who sought to obtain the aid of the Vehmic
+tribunal, in those cases when it did not possess that summary
+jurisdiction from which it has obtained such fearful celebrity. Here
+also the suitors of the district made presentments or 'wroge,' as they
+are termed, of any offences committed within their knowledge, and
+which were to be punished by the Graff and Echevins.
+
+"The criminal jurisdiction of the Vehmic Tribunal took the widest
+range. The 'Vehme' could punish mere slander and contumely. Any
+violation of the Ten Commandments was to be restrained by the
+Echevins. Secret crimes, not to be proved by the ordinary testimony of
+witnesses, such as magic, witchcraft, and poison, were particularly to
+be restrained by the Vehmic Judges; and they sometimes designated
+their jurisdiction as comprehending every offence against the honour
+of man or the precepts of religion. Such a definition, if definition
+it can be called, evidently allowed them to bring every action of
+which an individual might complain, within the scope of their
+tribunals. The forcible usurpation of land became an offence against
+the 'Vehme.' And if the property of an humble individual was occupied
+by the proud Burghers of the Hanse, the power of the Defendants might
+afford a reasonable excuse for the interference of the Vehmic power.
+
+"The Echevins, as Conservators of the Ban of the Empire, were bound to
+make constant circuits within their districts, by night and by day. If
+they could apprehend a thief, a murderer, or the perpetrator of any
+other heinous crime in possession of the 'mainour,' or in the very
+act--or if his own mouth confessed the deed, they hung him upon the
+next tree. But to render this execution legal, the following
+requisites were necessary: fresh suit, or the apprehension and
+execution of the offender before daybreak or nightfall;--the visible
+evidence of the crime;--and lastly, that three Echevins, at least,
+should seize the offender, testify against him, and judge of the
+recent deed.
+
+"If, without any certain accuser, and without the indication of crime,
+an individual was strongly and vehemently suspected; or when the
+nature of the offence was such as that its proof could only rest upon
+opinion and presumption, the offender then became subject to what the
+German jurists term the inquisitorial proceeding; it became the duty
+of the Echevin to denounce the 'Leumund,' or manifest evil fame, to
+the secret tribunal. If the Echevins and the Freygraff were satisfied
+with the presentment, either from their own knowledge, or from the
+information of their compeer, the offender was said to be
+'verfämbt;'--his life was forfeited; and wherever he was found by the
+brethren of the tribunal, they executed him without the slightest
+delay or mercy. An offender who had escaped from the Echevins was
+liable to the same punishment; and such also was the doom of the party
+who, after having been summoned pursuant to an appeal preferred in
+open court, made default in appearing. But one of the 'Wissenden' was
+in no respect liable to the summary process, or to the inquisitorial
+proceeding, unless he had revealed the secrets of the Court. He was
+presumed to be a true man; and if accused upon vehement suspicion, or
+'Leumund,' the same presumption or evil repute which was fatal to the
+uninitiated might be entirely rebutted by the compurgatory oath of the
+free Echevin. If a party, accused by appeal, did not shun
+investigation, he appeared in the open court, and defended himself
+according to the ordinary rules of law. If he absconded, or if the
+evidence or presumptions were against him, the accusation then came
+before the Judges of the Secret Court, who pronounced the doom. The
+accusatorial process, as it was termed, was also, in many cases,
+brought in the first instance before the 'Heimliche Acht.' Proceeding
+upon the examination of witnesses, it possessed no peculiar character,
+and its forms were those of the ordinary courts of justice. It was
+only in this manner that one of the 'Wissenden,' or Witan, could be
+tried; and the privilege of being exempted from the summary process,
+or from the effects of the 'Leumund,' appears to have been one of the
+reasons which induced so many of those who did not tread the 'red
+earth' to seek to be included in the Vehmic bond.
+
+"There was no mystery in the assembly of the Heimliche Acht. Under the
+oak, or under the lime-tree, the Judges assembled, in broad daylight,
+and before the eye of heaven; but the tribunal derived its name from
+the precautions which were taken, for the purpose of preventing any
+disclosure of its proceedings which might enable the offender to
+escape the vengeance of the Vehme. Hence, the fearful oath of secrecy
+which bound the Echevins. And if any stranger was found present in the
+Court, the unlucky intruder instantly forfeited his life as a
+punishment for his temerity. If the presentment or denunciation did
+chance to become known to the offender, the law allowed him a right of
+appeal. But the permission was of very little utility, it was a
+profitless boon, for the Vehmic Judges always laboured to conceal the
+judgment from the hapless criminal, who seldom was aware of his
+sentence until his neck was encircled by the halter.
+
+"Charlemagne, according to the traditions of Westphalia, was the
+founder of the Vehmic tribunal; and it was supposed that he instituted
+the Court for the purpose of coercing the Saxons, ever ready to
+relapse into the idolatry from which they had been reclaimed, not by
+persuasion, but by the sword. This opinion, however, is not confirmed
+either by documentary evidence or by contemporary historians. And if
+we examine the proceedings of the Vehmic tribunal, we shall see that,
+in principle, it differs in no essential character from the summary
+jurisdiction exercised in the townships and hundreds of Anglo-Saxon
+England. Amongst us, the thief or the robber was equally liable to
+summary punishment, if apprehended by the men of the township; and the
+same rules disqualified them from proceeding to summary execution. An
+English outlaw was exactly in the situation of him who had escaped
+from the hands of the Echevins, or who had failed to appear before the
+Vehmic Court: he was condemned unheard, nor was he confronted with his
+accusers. The inquisitorial proceedings, as they are termed by the
+German jurists, are identical with our ancient presentments.
+Presumptions are substituted for proofs, and general opinion holds the
+place of a responsible accuser. He who was untrue to all the people in
+the Saxon age, or liable to the malecredence of the inquest at a
+subsequent period, was scarcely more fortunate than he who was branded
+as 'Leumund' by the Vehmic law.
+
+"In cases of open delict and of outlawry, there was substantially no
+difference whatever between the English and the Vehmic proceedings.
+But in the inquisitorial process, the delinquent was allowed,
+according to our older code, to run the risk of the ordeal. He was
+accused by or before the Hundred, or the Thanes of the Wapentake; and
+his own oath cleared him, if a true man; but he 'bore the iron' if
+unable to avail himself of the credit derived from a good and fair
+reputation. The same course may have been originally adopted in
+Westphalia; for the 'Wissend,' when accused, could exculpate himself
+by his compurgatory oath, being presumed to be of good fame; and it
+is, therefore, probable that an uninitiated offender, standing a stage
+lower in character and credibility, was allowed the last resort of the
+ordeal. But when the 'Judgment of God' was abolished by the decrees of
+the Church, it did not occur to the Vehmic Judges to put the offender
+upon his second trial by the visne, which now forms the distinguishing
+characteristic of the English law, and he was at once considered as
+condemned. The Heimliche Acht is a presentment not traversable by the
+offender.
+
+"_The Vehmic Tribunals can only be considered as the original
+jurisdictions of the 'Old Saxons,' which survived the subjugation of
+their country. The singular and mystic forms of initiation, the system
+of enigmatical phrases, the use of the signs and symbols of
+recognition, may probably be ascribed to the period when the whole
+system was united to the worship of the Deities of Vengeance, and when
+the sentence was promulgated by the Doomsmen, assembled, like the Asi
+of old, before the altars of Thor or Woden._ Of this connection with
+ancient pagan policy, so clearly to be traced in the Icelandic Courts,
+the English territorial jurisdictions offer some very faint vestiges;
+but the mystery had long been dispersed, and the whole system passed
+into the ordinary machinery of the law.
+
+"As to the Vehmic Tribunals, it is acknowledged, that in a truly
+barbarous age and country, their proceedings, however violent, were
+not without utility. Their severe and secret vengeance often deterred
+the rapacity of the noble robber, and protected the humble suppliant;
+the extent, and even the abuse, of their authority was in some measure
+justified in an Empire divided into numerous independent
+jurisdictions, and not subjected to any paramount tribunal, able to
+administer impartial justice to the oppressed. But as the times
+improved, the Vehmic tribunals degenerated. The Echevins, chosen from
+the inferior ranks, did not possess any personal consideration.
+Opposed by the opulent cities of the Hanse, and objects of the
+suspicion and the enmity of the powerful aristocracy, the tribunals of
+some districts were abolished by law, and others took the form of
+ordinary territorial jurisdictions; the greater number fell into
+desuetude. Yet, as late as the middle of the eighteenth century, a
+few Vehmic tribunals existed in name, though, as it may be easily
+supposed, without possessing any remnant of their pristine
+power."--PALGRAVE _on the Rise and Progress of the English
+Commonwealth. Proofs and Illustrations._ p. 157.
+
+I have marked _by italic letters_ the most important passage of the
+above quotation. The view it contains seems to me to have every
+appearance of truth and justice--and if such should, on maturer
+investigation, turn out to be the fact, it will certainly confer no
+small honour on an English scholar to have discovered the key to a
+mystery, which had long exercised in vain the laborious and profound
+students of German antiquity.
+
+There are probably several other points on which I ought to have
+embraced this opportunity of enlarging; but the necessity of preparing
+for an excursion to foreign countries, in quest of health and
+strength, that have been for some time sinking, makes me cut short my
+address upon the present occasion.
+
+Although I had never been in Switzerland, and numerous mistakes must
+of course have occurred in my attempts to describe the local scenery
+of that romantic region, I must not conclude without a statement
+highly gratifying to myself, that the work met with a reception of
+more than usual cordiality among the descendants of the Alpine heroes
+whose manners I had ventured to treat of; and I have in particular to
+express my thanks to the several Swiss gentlemen who have, since the
+novel was published, enriched my little collection of armour with
+specimens of the huge weapon that sheared the lances of the Austrian
+chivalry at Sempach, and was employed with equal success on the bloody
+days of Granson and Morat. Of the ancient doublehanded _espadons_ of
+the Switzer, I have, in this way, received, I think, not less than
+six, in excellent preservation, from as many different individuals,
+who thus testified their general approbation of these pages. They are
+not the less interesting, that gigantic swords, of nearly the same
+pattern and dimensions, were employed, in their conflicts with the
+bold knights and men-at-arms of England, by Wallace, and the sturdy
+foot-soldiers who, under his guidance, laid the foundations of
+Scottish independence.
+
+The reader who wishes to examine with attention the historical events
+of the period which the novel embraces will find ample means of doing
+so in the valuable works of Zschokké and M. de Barante--which last
+author's account of the Dukes of Burgundy is among the most valuable
+of recent accessions of European literature--and in the new Parisian
+edition of Froissart, which has not as yet attracted so much attention
+in this country as it well deserves to do.
+
+          W.S.
+
+     ABBOTSFORD, _Sept. 17, 1831_.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] Owen Pugh's Elegies of Lewarch Hen, Pref., p. 46. The place of
+these meetings was set apart by forming a circle of stones round the
+_Maen Gorsedd_, or Stone of the Gorsedd.
+
+
+
+
+ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN;
+
+OR,
+
+THE MAIDEN OF THE MIST.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+     The mists boil up around the glaciers; clouds
+     Rise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphurous,
+     Like foam from the roused ocean ...
+                                   ... I am giddy.
+                                              _Manfred._
+
+
+The course of four centuries has well-nigh elapsed since the series of
+events which are related in the following chapters took place on the
+Continent. The records which contained the outlines of the history,
+and might be referred to as proof of its veracity, were long preserved
+in the superb library of the Monastery of St. Gall, but perished, with
+many of the literary treasures of that establishment, when the convent
+was plundered by the French revolutionary armies. The events are
+fixed, by historical date, to the middle of the fifteenth
+century--that important period, when chivalry still shone with a
+setting ray, soon about to be totally obscured: in some countries, by
+the establishment of free institutions; in others, by that of
+arbitrary power, which alike rendered useless the interference of
+those self-endowed redressers of wrongs, whose only warrant of
+authority was the sword.
+
+Amid the general light which had recently shone upon Europe, France,
+Burgundy, and Italy, but more especially Austria, had been made
+acquainted with the character of a people of whose very existence they
+had before been scarcely conscious. It is true, that the inhabitants
+of those countries which lie in the vicinity of the Alps, that immense
+barrier, were not ignorant that, notwithstanding their rugged and
+desolate appearance, the secluded valleys which winded among those
+gigantic mountains nourished a race of hunters and shepherds; men who,
+living in a state of primeval simplicity, compelled from the soil a
+subsistence gained by severe labour, followed the chase over the most
+savage precipices and through the darkest pine forests, or drove their
+cattle to spots which afforded them a scanty pasturage, even in the
+vicinage of eternal snows. But the existence of such a people, or
+rather of a number of small communities who followed nearly the same
+poor and hardy course of life, had seemed to the rich and powerful
+princes in the neighbourhood a matter of as little consequence, as it
+is to the stately herds which repose in a fertile meadow, that a few
+half-starved goats find their scanty food among the rocks which
+overlook their rich domain.
+
+But wonder and attention began to be attracted towards these
+mountaineers, about the middle of the fourteenth century, when reports
+were spread abroad of severe contests, in which the German chivalry,
+endeavouring to suppress insurrections among their Alpine vassals,
+had sustained repeated and bloody defeats, although having on their
+side numbers and discipline, and the advantage of the most perfect
+military equipment then known and confided in. Great was the wonder
+that cavalry, which made the only efficient part of the feudal armies
+of these ages, should be routed by men on foot; that warriors sheathed
+in complete steel should be overpowered by naked peasants who wore no
+defensive armour, and were irregularly provided with pikes, halberts,
+and clubs, for the purpose of attack; above all, it seemed a species
+of miracle, that knights and nobles of the highest birth should be
+defeated by mountaineers and shepherds. But the repeated victories of
+the Swiss at Laupen, Sempach [_a_],[2] and on other less distinguished
+occasions, plainly intimated that a new principle of civil
+organisation, as well as of military movements, had arisen amid the
+stormy regions of Helvetia.
+
+Still, although the decisive victories which obtained liberty for the
+Swiss Cantons, as well as the spirit of resolution and wisdom with
+which the members of the little confederation had maintained
+themselves against the utmost exertions of Austria, had spread their
+fame abroad through all the neighbouring countries; and although they
+themselves were conscious of the character and actual power which
+repeated victories had acquired for themselves and their country, yet
+down to the middle of the fifteenth century, and at a later date, the
+Swiss retained in a great measure the wisdom, moderation, and
+simplicity of their ancient manners; so much so, that those who were
+intrusted with the command of the troops of the Republic in battle,
+were wont to resume the shepherd's staff when they laid down the
+truncheon, and, like the Roman dictators, to retire to complete
+equality with their fellow-citizens, from the eminence of military
+command to which their talents, and the call of their country, had
+raised them.
+
+It is, then, in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland, in the autumn of
+1474, while these districts were in the rude and simple state we have
+described, that our tale opens.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two travellers, one considerably past the prime of life, the other
+probably two or three and twenty years old, had passed the night at
+the little town of Lucerne, the capital of the Swiss state of the same
+name, and beautifully situated on the Lake of the Four Cantons. Their
+dress and character seemed those of merchants of a higher class, and
+while they themselves journeyed on foot, the character of the country
+rendering that by far the most easy mode of pursuing their route, a
+young peasant lad, from the Italian side of the Alps, followed them
+with a sumpter mule, laden apparently with men's wares and baggage,
+which he sometimes mounted, but more frequently led by the bridle.
+
+The travellers were uncommonly fine-looking men, and seemed connected
+by some very near relationship,--probably that of father and son; for
+at the little inn where they lodged on the preceding evening, the
+great deference and respect paid by the younger to the elder had not
+escaped the observation of the natives, who, like other sequestered
+beings, were curious in proportion to the limited means of information
+which they possessed. They observed also, that the merchants, under
+pretence of haste, declined opening their bales, or proposing traffic
+to the inhabitants of Lucerne, alleging in excuse that they had no
+commodities fitted for the market. The females of the town were the
+more displeased with the reserve of the mercantile travellers, because
+they were given to understand that it was occasioned by the wares in
+which they dealt being too costly to find customers among the
+Helvetian mountains; for it had transpired, by means of their
+attendant, that the strangers had visited Venice, and had there made
+many purchases of rich commodities, which were brought from India and
+Egypt to that celebrated emporium, as to the common mart of the
+Western World, and thence dispersed into all quarters of Europe. Now
+the Swiss maidens had of late made the discovery that gauds and gems
+were fair to look upon, and, though without the hope of being able to
+possess themselves of such ornaments, they felt a natural desire to
+review and handle the rich stores of the merchants, and some
+displeasure at being prevented from doing so.
+
+It was also observed, that though the strangers were sufficiently
+courteous in their demeanour, they did not evince that studious
+anxiety to please, displayed by the travelling pedlars or merchants of
+Lombardy or Savoy, by whom the inhabitants of the mountains were
+occasionally visited; and who had been more frequent in their rounds
+of late years, since the spoils of victory had invested the Swiss with
+some wealth, and had taught many of them new wants. Those peripatetic
+traders were civil and assiduous, as their calling required; but the
+new visitors seemed men who were indifferent to traffic, or at least
+to such slender gains as could be gathered in Switzerland.
+
+Curiosity was further excited by the circumstance that they spoke to
+each other in a language which was certainly neither German, Italian,
+nor French, but from which an old man serving in the cabaret, who had
+once been as far as Paris, supposed they might be English; a people of
+whom it was only known in these mountains, that they were a fierce
+insular race, at war with the French for many years, and a large body
+of whom had long since invaded the Forest Cantons [_b_], and sustained
+such a defeat in the valley of Russwyl as was well remembered by the
+grey-haired men of Lucerne, who received the tale from their fathers.
+
+The lad who attended the strangers was soon ascertained to be a youth
+from the Grisons country, who acted as their guide, so far as his
+knowledge of the mountains permitted. He said they designed to go to
+Bâle, but seemed desirous to travel by circuitous and unfrequented
+routes. The circumstances just mentioned increased the general desire
+to know more of the travellers and of their merchandise. Not a bale,
+however, was unpacked, and the merchants, leaving Lucerne next
+morning, resumed their toilsome journey, preferring a circuitous route
+and bad roads, through the peaceful cantons of Switzerland, to
+encountering the exactions and rapine of the robber chivalry of
+Germany, who, like so many sovereigns, made war each at his own
+pleasure, and levied tolls and taxes on every one who passed their
+domains, of a mile's breadth, with all the insolence of petty
+tyranny.
+
+For several hours after leaving Lucerne, the journey of our travellers
+was successfully prosecuted. The road, though precipitous and
+difficult, was rendered interesting by those splendid phenomena, which
+no country exhibits in a more astonishing manner than the mountains of
+Switzerland, where the rocky pass, the verdant valley, the broad lake,
+and the rushing torrent, the attributes of other hills as well as
+these, are interspersed with the magnificent and yet fearful horrors
+of the glaciers, a feature peculiar to themselves.
+
+It was not an age in which the beauties or grandeur of a landscape
+made much impression either on the minds of those who travelled
+through the country, or who resided in it. To the latter, the objects,
+however dignified, were familiar, and associated with daily habits and
+with daily toil; and the former saw, perhaps, more terror than beauty
+in the wild region through which they passed, and were rather
+solicitous to get safe to their night's quarters, than to comment on
+the grandeur of the scenes which lay between them and their place of
+rest. Yet our merchants, as they proceeded on their journey, could not
+help being strongly impressed by the character of the scenery around
+them. Their road lay along the side of the lake, at times level and
+close on its very margin, at times rising to a great height on the
+side of the mountain, and winding along the verge of precipices which
+sank down to the water as sharp and sheer as the wall of a castle
+descending upon the ditch which defends it. At other times it
+traversed spots of a milder character,--delightful green slopes, and
+lowly retired valleys, affording both pasturage and arable ground,
+sometimes watered by small streams, which winded by the hamlet of
+wooden huts with their fantastic little church and steeple, meandered
+round the orchard and the mount of vines, and, murmuring gently as
+they flowed, found a quiet passage into the lake.
+
+"That stream, Arthur," said the elder traveller, as with one consent
+they stopped to gaze on such a scene as I have described, "resembles
+the life of a good and a happy man."
+
+"And the brook, which hurries itself headlong down yon distant hill,
+marking its course by a streak of white foam," answered Arthur,--"what
+does that resemble?"
+
+"That of a brave and unfortunate one," replied his father.
+
+"The torrent for me," said Arthur; "a headlong course which no human
+force can oppose, and then let it be as brief as it is glorious."
+
+"It is a young man's thought," replied his father; "but I am well
+aware that it is so rooted in thy heart, that nothing but the rude
+hand of adversity can pluck it up."
+
+"As yet the root clings fast to my heart's strings," said the young
+man; "and methinks adversity's hand hath had a fair grasp of it."
+
+"You speak, my son, of what you little understand," said his father.
+"Know, that till the middle of life be passed, men scarce distinguish
+true prosperity from adversity, or rather they court as the favours of
+fortune what they should more justly regard as the marks of her
+displeasure. Look at yonder mountain, which wears on its shaggy brow a
+diadem of clouds, now raised and now depressed, while the sun glances
+upon, but is unable to dispel it;--a child might believe it to be a
+crown of glory--a man knows it to be the signal of tempest."
+
+Arthur followed the direction of his father's eye to the dark and
+shadowy eminence of Mount Pilatus.
+
+"Is the mist on yonder wild mountain so ominous, then?" asked the
+young man.
+
+"Demand of Antonio," said his father; "he will tell you the legend."
+
+The young merchant addressed himself to the Swiss lad who acted as
+their attendant, desiring to know the name of the gloomy height,
+which, in that quarter, seems the leviathan of the huge congregation
+of mountains assembled about Lucerne.
+
+The lad crossed himself devoutly, as he recounted the popular legend,
+that the wicked Pontius Pilate, Proconsul of Judea, had here found the
+termination of his impious life; having, after spending years in the
+recesses of that mountain which bears his name, at length, in remorse
+and despair rather than in penitence, plunged into the dismal lake
+which occupies the summit. Whether water refused to do the
+executioner's duty upon such a wretch, or whether, his body being
+drowned, his vexed spirit continued to haunt the place where he
+committed suicide, Antonio did not pretend to explain. But a form was
+often, he said, seen to emerge from the gloomy waters, and go through
+the action of one washing his hands; and when he did so, dark clouds
+of mist gathered first round the bosom of the Infernal Lake (such it
+had been styled of old), and then, wrapping the whole upper part of
+the mountain in darkness, presaged a tempest or hurricane, which was
+sure to follow in a short space. He added, that the evil spirit was
+peculiarly exasperated at the audacity of such strangers as ascended
+the mountain to gaze at his place of punishment, and that, in
+consequence, the magistrates of Lucerne had prohibited any one from
+approaching Mount Pilatus, under severe penalties. Antonio once more
+crossed himself as he finished his legend; in which act of devotion he
+was imitated by his hearers, too good Catholics to entertain any doubt
+of the truth of the story.
+
+"How the accursed heathen scowls upon us!" said the younger of the
+merchants, while the cloud darkened and seemed to settle on the brow
+of Mount Pilatus. "_Vade retro!_ Be thou defied, sinner!"
+
+A rising wind, rather heard than felt, seemed to groan forth, in the
+tone of a dying lion, the acceptance of the suffering spirit to the
+rash challenge of the young Englishman. The mountain was seen to send
+down its rugged sides thick wreaths of heaving mist, which, rolling
+through the rugged chasms that seamed the grisly hill, resembled
+torrents of rushing lava pouring down from a volcano. The ridgy
+precipices, which formed the sides of these huge ravines, showed their
+splintery and rugged edges over the vapour, as if dividing from each
+other the descending streams of mist which rolled around them. As a
+strong contrast to this gloomy and threatening scene, the more distant
+mountain range of Rigi shone brilliant with all the hues of an
+autumnal sun.
+
+While the travellers watched this striking and varied contrast, which
+resembled an approaching combat betwixt the powers of Light and
+Darkness, their guide, in his mixed jargon of Italian and German,
+exhorted them to make haste on their journey. The village to which he
+proposed to conduct them, he said, was yet distant, the road bad, and
+difficult to find, and if the Evil One (looking to Mount Pilatus, and
+crossing himself) should send his darkness upon the valley, the path
+would be both doubtful and dangerous. The travellers, thus admonished,
+gathered the capes of their cloaks close round their throats, pulled
+their bonnets resolvedly over their brows, drew the buckle of the
+broad belts which fastened their mantles, and each with a mountain
+staff in his hand, well shod with an iron spike, they pursued their
+journey, with unabated strength and undaunted spirit.
+
+With every step the scenes around them appeared to change. Each
+mountain, as if its firm and immutable form were flexible and varying,
+altered in appearance, like that of a shadowy apparition, as the
+position of the strangers relative to them changed with their motions,
+and as the mist, which continued slowly though constantly to descend,
+influenced the rugged aspect of the hills and valleys which it
+shrouded with its vapoury mantle. The nature of their progress, too,
+never direct, but winding by a narrow path along the sinuosities of
+the valley, and making many a circuit round precipices and other
+obstacles which it was impossible to surmount, added to the wild
+variety of a journey, in which, at last, the travellers totally lost
+any vague idea which they had previously entertained concerning the
+direction in which the road led them.
+
+"I would," said the elder, "we had that mystical needle which mariners
+talk of, that points ever to the north, and enables them to keep their
+way on the waters, when there is neither cape nor headland, sun,
+moon, nor stars, nor any mark in heaven or earth, to tell them how to
+steer."
+
+"It would scarce avail us among these mountains," answered the youth;
+"for though that wonderful needle may keep its point to the northern
+Pole-star, when it is on a flat surface like the sea, it is not to be
+thought it would do so when these huge mountains arise like walls,
+betwixt the steel and the object of its sympathy."
+
+"I fear me," replied the father, "we shall find our guide, who has
+been growing hourly more stupid since he left his own valley, as
+useless as you suppose the compass would be among the hills of this
+wild country.--Canst tell, my boy," said he, addressing Antonio in bad
+Italian, "if we be in the road we purposed?"
+
+"If it please St. Antonio"--said the guide, who was obviously too much
+confused to answer the question directly.
+
+"And that water, half covered with mist, which glimmers through the
+fog, at the foot of this huge black precipice--is it still a part of
+the Lake of Lucerne, or have we lighted upon another since we ascended
+that last hill?"
+
+Antonio could only answer that they ought to be on the Lake of Lucerne
+still, and that he hoped that what they saw below them was only a
+winding branch of the same sheet of water. But he could say nothing
+with certainty.
+
+"Dog of an Italian!" exclaimed the younger traveller, "thou deservest
+to have thy bones broken, for undertaking a charge which thou art as
+incapable to perform as thou art to guide us to heaven!"
+
+"Peace, Arthur," said his father; "if you frighten the lad, he runs
+off, and we lose the small advantage we might have by his knowledge;
+if you use your baton, he rewards you with the stab of a knife,--for
+such is the humour of a revengeful Lombard. Either way, you are marred
+instead of helped.--Hark thee hither, my boy," he continued, in his
+indifferent Italian, "be not afraid of that hot youngster, whom I will
+not permit to injure thee; but tell me, if thou canst, the names of
+the villages by which we are to make our journey to-day."
+
+The gentle mode in which the elder traveller spoke reassured the lad,
+who had been somewhat alarmed at the harsh tone and menacing
+expressions of his younger companion; and he poured forth, in his
+patois, a flood of names, in which the German guttural sounds were
+strangely intermixed with the soft accents of the Italian, but which
+carried to the hearer no intelligible information concerning the
+object of his question; so that at length he was forced to conclude,
+"Even lead on, in Our Lady's name, or in St. Antonio's, if you like it
+better: we shall but lose time, I see, in trying to understand each
+other."
+
+They moved on as before, with this difference, that the guide, leading
+the mule, now went first, and was followed by the other two, whose
+motions he had formerly directed by calling to them from behind. The
+clouds meantime became thicker and thicker, and the mist, which had at
+first been a thin vapour, began now to descend in the form of a small
+thick rain, which gathered like dew upon the capotes of the
+travellers. Distant rustling and groaning sounds were heard among the
+remote mountains, similar to those by which the Evil Spirit of Mount
+Pilatus had seemed to announce the storm. The boy again pressed his
+companions to advance, but at the same time threw impediments in the
+way of their doing so, by the slowness and indecision which he showed
+in leading them on.
+
+Having proceeded in this manner for three or four miles, which
+uncertainty rendered doubly tedious, the travellers were at length
+engaged in a narrow path, running along the verge of a precipice.
+Beneath was water, but of what description they could not ascertain.
+The wind, indeed, which began to be felt in sudden gusts, sometimes
+swept aside the mist so completely as to show the waves glimmering
+below; but whether they were those of the same lake on which their
+morning journey had commenced, whether it was another and separate
+sheet of water of a similar character, or whether it was a river or
+large brook, the view afforded was too indistinct to determine. Thus
+far was certain, that they were not on the shores of the Lake of
+Lucerne, where it displays its usual expanse of waters; for the same
+hurricane gusts which showed them water in the bottom of the glen gave
+them a transient view of the opposite side, at what exact distance
+they could not well discern, but near enough to show tall abrupt rocks
+and shaggy pine-trees, here united in groups, and there singly
+anchored among the cliffs which overhung the water. This was a more
+distinct landscape than the farther side of the lake would have
+offered, had they been on the right road.
+
+Hitherto the path, though steep and rugged, was plainly enough
+indicated, and showed traces of having been used both by riders and
+foot passengers. But suddenly, as Antonio with the loaded mule had
+reached a projecting eminence, around the peak of which the path made
+a sharp turn, he stopped short, with his usual exclamation, addressed
+to his patron saint. It appeared to Arthur that the mule shared the
+terrors of the guide; for it started back, put forwards its fore feet
+separate from each other, and seemed, by the attitude which it
+assumed, to intimate a determination to resist every proposal to
+advance, at the same time expressing horror and fear at the prospect
+which lay before it.
+
+Arthur pressed forward, not only from curiosity, but that he might if
+possible bear the brunt of any danger before his father came up to
+share it. In less time than we have taken to tell the story, the young
+man stood beside Antonio and the mule, upon a platform of rock on
+which the road seemed absolutely to terminate, and from the farther
+side of which a precipice sank sheer down, to what depth the mist did
+not permit him to discern, but certainly uninterrupted for more than
+three hundred feet.
+
+The blank expression which overcast the visage of the younger
+traveller, and traces of which might be discerned in the physiognomy
+of the beast of burden, announced alarm and mortification at this
+unexpected and, as it seemed, insurmountable obstacle. Nor did the
+looks of the father, who presently after came up to the same spot,
+convey either hope or comfort. He stood with the others gazing on the
+misty gulf beneath them, and looking all around, but in vain, for some
+continuation of the path, which certainly had never been originally
+designed to terminate in this summary manner. As they stood uncertain
+what to do next, the son in vain attempting to discover some mode of
+passing onward, and the father about to propose that they should
+return by the road which had brought them hither, a loud howl of the
+wind, more wild than they had yet heard, swept down the valley. All
+being aware of the danger of being hurled from the precarious station
+which they occupied, snatched at bushes and rocks by which to secure
+themselves, and even the poor mule seemed to steady itself in order to
+withstand the approaching hurricane. The gust came with such
+unexpected fury that it appeared to the travellers to shake the very
+rock on which they stood, and would have swept them from its surface
+like so many dry leaves, had it not been for the momentary precautions
+which they had taken for their safety. But as the wind rushed down the
+glen, it completely removed for the space of three or four minutes the
+veil of mist which former gusts had only served to agitate or
+discompose, and showed them the nature and cause of the interruption
+which they had met with so unexpectedly.
+
+The rapid but correct eye of Arthur was then able to ascertain that
+the path, after leaving the platform of rock on which they stood, had
+originally passed upwards in the same direction along the edge of a
+steep bank of earth, which had then formed the upper covering of a
+stratum of precipitous rocks. But it had chanced, in some of the
+convulsions of nature which take place in those wild regions, where
+she works upon a scale so formidable, that the earth had made a slip,
+or almost a precipitous descent, from the rock, and been hurled
+downwards with the path, which was traced along the top, and with
+bushes, trees, or whatever grew upon it, into the channel of the
+stream; for such they could now discern the water beneath them to be,
+and not a lake, or an arm of a lake, as they had hitherto supposed.
+
+The immediate cause of this phenomenon might probably have been an
+earthquake, not unfrequent in that country. The bank of earth, now a
+confused mass of ruins inverted in its fall, showed some trees growing
+in a horizontal position, and others, which, having pitched on their
+heads in their descent, were at once inverted and shattered to pieces,
+and lay a sport to the streams of the river which they had heretofore
+covered with gloomy shadow. The gaunt precipice which remained behind,
+like the skeleton of some huge monster divested of its flesh, formed
+the wall of a fearful abyss, resembling the face of a newly wrought
+quarry, more dismal of aspect from the rawness of its recent
+formation, and from its being as yet uncovered with any of the
+vegetation with which nature speedily mantles over the bare surface
+even of her sternest crags and precipices.
+
+Besides remarking these appearances, which tended to show that this
+interruption of the road had been of recent occurrence, Arthur was
+able to observe, on the farther side of the river, higher up the
+valley, and rising out of the pine forests, interspersed with rocks, a
+square building of considerable height, like the ruins of a Gothic
+tower. He pointed out this remarkable object to Antonio, and demanded
+if he knew it; justly conjecturing that, from the peculiarity of the
+site, it was a landmark not easily to be forgotten by any who had seen
+it before. Accordingly, it was gladly and promptly recognised by the
+lad, who called out cheerfully that the place was Geierstein--that is,
+as he explained it, the Rock of the Vultures. He knew it, he said, by
+the old tower, as well as by a huge pinnacle of rock which arose near
+it, almost in the form of a steeple, to the top of which the
+lammer-geier (one of the largest birds of prey known to exist) had in
+former days transported the child of an ancient lord of the castle. He
+proceeded to recount the vow which was made by the Knight of
+Geierstein to Our Lady of Einsiedlen; and, while he spoke, the castle,
+rocks, woods, and precipices again faded in mist. But as he concluded
+his wonderful narrative with the miracle which restored the infant
+again to its father's arms, he cried out suddenly, "Look to
+yourselves--the storm!--the storm!" It came accordingly, and, sweeping
+the mist before it, again bestowed on the travellers a view of the
+horrors around them.
+
+"Ay!" quoth Antonio, triumphantly, as the gust abated, "old Pontius
+loves little to hear of Our Lady of Einsiedlen; but she will keep her
+own with him--Ave Maria!"
+
+"That tower," said the young traveller, "seems uninhabited. I can
+descry no smoke, and the battlement appears ruinous."
+
+"It has not been inhabited for many a day," answered the guide. "But I
+would I were at it, for all that. Honest Arnold Biederman, the
+Landamman [chief magistrate] of the Canton of Unterwalden, dwells
+near, and, I warrant you, distressed strangers will not want the best
+that cupboard and cellar can find them, wherever he holds rule."
+
+"I have heard of him," said the elder traveller, whom Antonio had been
+taught to call Seignor Philipson; "a good and hospitable man, and one
+who enjoys deserved weight with his countrymen."
+
+"You have spoken him right, Seignor," answered the guide: "and I would
+we could reach his house, where you should be sure of hospitable
+treatment, and a good direction for your next day's journey. But how
+we are to get to the Vulture's Castle, unless we had wings like the
+vulture, is a question hard to answer."
+
+Arthur replied by a daring proposal, which the reader will find in the
+next chapter.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] See Editor's Notes at the end of the Volume. Wherever a similar
+reference occurs, the reader will understand that the same direction
+applies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+                             Away with me.
+     The clouds grow thicker--there--now lean on me.
+     Place your foot here--here, take this staff, and cling
+     A moment to that shrub--now, give me your hand.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The chalet will be gained within an hour.
+                                                 _Manfred._
+
+
+After surveying the desolate scene as accurately as the stormy state
+of the atmosphere would permit, the younger of the travellers
+observed, "In any other country, I should say the tempest begins to
+abate; but what to expect in this land of desolation, it were rash to
+decide. If the apostate spirit of Pilate be actually on the blast,
+these lingering and more distant howls seem to intimate that he is
+returning to his place of punishment. The pathway has sunk with the
+ground on which it was traced--I can see part of it lying down in the
+abyss, marking, as with a streak of clay, yonder mass of earth and
+stone. But I think it possible, with your permission, my father, that
+I could still scramble forward along the edge of the precipice, till I
+come in sight of the habitation which the lad tells us of. If there be
+actually such a one, there must be an access to it somewhere; and if I
+cannot find the path out, I can at least make a signal to those who
+dwell near the Vulture's Nest yonder, and obtain some friendly
+guidance."
+
+"I cannot consent to your incurring such a risk," said his father;
+"let the lad go forward, if he can and will. He is mountain-bred, and
+I will reward him richly."
+
+But Antonio declined the proposal absolutely and decidedly. "I am
+mountain-bred," he said, "but I am no chamois-hunter; and I have no
+wings to transport me from cliff to cliff, like a raven--gold is not
+worth life."
+
+"And God forbid," said Seignor Philipson, "that I should tempt thee to
+weigh them against each other!--Go on, then, my son--I follow thee."
+
+"Under your favour, dearest sir, no," replied the young man; "it is
+enough to endanger the life of one--and mine, far the most worthless,
+should, by all the rules of wisdom as well as nature, be put first in
+hazard."
+
+"No, Arthur," replied his father, in a determined voice; "no, my
+son--I have survived much, but I will not survive thee."
+
+"I fear not for the issue, father, if you permit me to go alone; but I
+cannot--dare not--undertake a task so perilous, if you persist in
+attempting to share it, with no better aid than mine. While I
+endeavoured to make a new advance, I should be ever looking back to
+see how you might attain the station which I was about to leave--And
+bethink you, dearest father, that if I fall, I fall an unregarded
+thing, of as little moment as the stone or tree which has toppled
+headlong down before me. But you--should your foot slip, or your hand
+fail, bethink you what and how much must needs fall with you!"
+
+"Thou art right, my child," said the father. "I still have that which
+binds me to life, even though I were to lose in thee all that is dear
+to me.--Our Lady and our Lady's Knight bless thee and prosper thee,
+my child! Thy foot is young, thy hand is strong--thou hast not climbed
+Plynlimmon in vain. Be bold, but be wary--remember there is a man who,
+failing thee, has but one act of duty to bind him to the earth, and,
+that discharged, will soon follow thee."
+
+The young man accordingly prepared for his journey, and, stripping
+himself of his cumbrous cloak, showed his well-proportioned limbs in a
+jerkin of grey cloth, which sat close to his person. The father's
+resolution gave way when his son turned round to bid him farewell. He
+recalled his permission, and in a peremptory tone forbade him to
+proceed. But, without listening to the prohibition, Arthur had
+commenced his perilous adventure. Descending from the platform on
+which he stood, by the boughs of an old ash-tree, which thrust itself
+out of the cleft of a rock, the youth was enabled to gain, though at
+great risk, a narrow ledge, the very brink of the precipice, by
+creeping along which he hoped to pass on till he made himself heard or
+seen from the habitation, of whose existence the guide had informed
+him. His situation, as he pursued this bold purpose, appeared so
+precarious, that even the hired attendant hardly dared to draw breath
+as he gazed on him. The ledge which supported him seemed to grow so
+narrow, as he passed along it, as to become altogether invisible,
+while sometimes with his face to the precipice, sometimes looking
+forward, sometimes glancing his eyes upward, but never venturing to
+cast a look below, lest his brain should grow giddy at a sight so
+appalling, he wound his way onward. To his father and the attendant,
+who beheld his progress, it was less that of a man advancing in the
+ordinary manner, and resting by aught connected with the firm earth,
+than that of an insect crawling along the face of a perpendicular
+wall, of whose progressive movement we are indeed sensible, but cannot
+perceive the means of its support. And bitterly, most bitterly, did
+the miserable parent now lament, that he had not persisted in his
+purpose to encounter the baffling and even perilous measure of
+retracing his steps to the habitation of the preceding night. He
+should then, at least, have partaken the fate of the son of his love.
+
+Meanwhile, the young man's spirits were strongly braced for the
+performance of his perilous task. He laid a powerful restraint on his
+imagination, which in general was sufficiently active, and refused to
+listen, even for an instant, to any of the horrible insinuations by
+which fancy augments actual danger. He endeavoured manfully to reduce
+all around him to the scale of right reason, as the best support of
+true courage. "This ledge of rock," he urged to himself, "is but
+narrow, yet it has breadth enough to support me; these cliffs and
+crevices in the surface are small and distant, but the one affords as
+secure a resting-place to my feet, the other as available a grasp to
+my hands, as if I stood on a platform of a cubit broad, and rested my
+arm on a balustrade of marble. My safety, therefore, depends on
+myself. If I move with decision, step firmly, and hold fast, what
+signifies how near I am to the mouth of an abyss?"
+
+Thus estimating the extent of his danger by the measure of sound sense
+and reality, and supported by some degree of practice in such
+exercise, the brave youth went forward on his awful journey, step by
+step, winning his way with a caution and fortitude and presence of
+mind which alone could have saved him from instant destruction. At
+length he gained a point where a projecting rock formed the angle of
+the precipice, so far as it had been visible to him from the platform.
+This, therefore, was the critical point of his undertaking; but it was
+also the most perilous part of it. The rock projected more than six
+feet forward over the torrent, which he heard raging at the depth of a
+hundred yards beneath, with a noise like subterranean thunder. He
+examined the spot with the utmost care, and was led, by the existence
+of shrubs, grass, and even stunted trees, to believe that this rock
+marked the farthest extent of the slip or slide of earth, and that,
+could he but turn round the angle of which it was the termination, he
+might hope to attain the continuation of the path which had been so
+strangely interrupted by this convulsion of nature. But the crag
+jutted out so much as to afford no possibility of passing either under
+or around it; and as it rose several feet above the position which
+Arthur had attained, it was no easy matter to climb over it. This was,
+however, the course which he chose, as the only mode of surmounting
+what he hoped might prove the last obstacle to his voyage of
+discovery. A projecting tree afforded him the means of raising and
+swinging himself up to the top of the crag. But he had scarcely
+planted himself on it, had scarcely a moment to congratulate himself,
+on seeing, amid a wild chaos of cliffs and wood, the gloomy ruins of
+Geierstein, with smoke arising, and indicating something like a human
+habitation beside them, when, to his extreme terror, he felt the huge
+cliff on which he stood tremble, stoop slowly forward, and gradually
+sink from its position. Projecting as it was, and shaken as its
+equilibrium had been by the recent earthquake, it lay now so
+insecurely poised, that its balance was entirely destroyed, even by
+the addition of the young man's weight.
+
+Aroused by the imminence of the danger, Arthur, by an instinctive
+attempt at self-preservation, drew cautiously back from the falling
+crag into the tree by which he had ascended, and turned his head back
+as if spell-bound, to watch the descent of the fatal rock from which
+he had just retreated. It tottered for two or three seconds, as if
+uncertain which way to fall, and, had it taken a sidelong direction,
+must have dashed the adventurer from his place of refuge, or borne
+both the tree and him headlong down into the river. After a moment of
+horrible uncertainty, the power of gravitation determined a direct and
+forward descent. Down went the huge fragment, which must have weighed
+at least twenty tons, rending and splintering in its precipitate
+course the trees and bushes which it encountered, and settling at
+length in the channel of the torrent, with a din equal to the
+discharge of a hundred pieces of artillery. The sound was re-echoed
+from bank to bank, from precipice to precipice, with emulative
+thunders; nor was the tumult silent till it rose into the region of
+eternal snows, which, equally insensible to terrestrial sounds and
+unfavourable to animal life, heard the roar in their majestic
+solitude, but suffered it to die away without a responsive voice.
+
+What, in the meanwhile, were the thoughts of the distracted father,
+who saw the ponderous rock descend, but could not mark whether his
+only son had borne it company in its dreadful fall! His first impulse
+was to rush forward along the face of the precipice, which he had seen
+Arthur so lately traverse; and when the lad Antonio withheld him, by
+throwing his arms around him, he turned on the guide with the fury of
+a bear which had been robbed of her cubs.
+
+"Unhand me, base peasant," he exclaimed, "or thou diest on the spot!"
+
+"Alas!" said the poor boy, dropping on his knees before him, "I too
+have a father!"
+
+The appeal went to the heart of the traveller, who instantly let the
+lad go, and holding up his hands, and lifting his eyes towards heaven,
+said, in accents of the deepest agony, mingled with devout
+resignation, "_Fiat voluntas tua!_--he was my last, and loveliest, and
+best beloved, and most worthy of my love; and yonder," he added,
+"yonder over the glen soar the birds of prey, who are to feast on his
+young blood.--But I will see him once more," exclaimed the miserable
+parent, as the huge carrion vulture floated past him on the thick
+air,--"I will see my Arthur once more, ere the wolf and the eagle
+mangle him--I will see all of him that earth still holds. Detain me
+not--but abide here, and watch me as I advance. If I fall, as is most
+likely, I charge you to take the sealed papers, which you will find in
+the valise, and carry them to the person to whom they are addressed,
+with the least possible delay. There is money enough in the purse to
+bury me with my poor boy, and to cause masses be said for our souls,
+and yet leave you a rich recompense for your journey."
+
+The honest Swiss lad, obtuse in his understanding, but kind and
+faithful in his disposition, blubbered as his employer spoke, and,
+afraid to offer further remonstrance or opposition, saw his temporary
+master prepare himself to traverse the same fatal precipice over the
+verge of which his ill-fated son had seemed to pass to the fate which,
+with all the wildness of a parent's anguish, his father was hastening
+to share.
+
+Suddenly there was heard, from beyond the fatal angle from which the
+mass of stone had been displaced by Arthur's rash ascent, the loud
+hoarse sound of one of those huge horns made out of the spoils of the
+urus, or wild bull, of Switzerland, which in ancient times announced
+the terrors of the charge of these mountaineers, and, indeed, served
+them in war instead of all musical instruments.
+
+"Hold, sir, hold!" exclaimed the Grison. "Yonder is a signal from
+Geierstein. Some one will presently come to our assistance, and show
+us the safer way to seek for your son.--And look you--at yon green
+bush that is glimmering through the mist, St. Antonio preserve me, as
+I see a white cloth displayed there! it is just beyond the point where
+the rock fell."
+
+The father endeavoured to fix his eyes on the spot, but they filled so
+fast with tears that they could not discern the object which the guide
+pointed out.--"It is all in vain," he said, dashing the tears from his
+eyes--"I shall never see more of him than his lifeless remains!"
+
+"You will--you will see him in life!" said the Grison. "St. Antonio
+wills it so--See, the white cloth waves again!"
+
+"Some remnant of his garments," said the despairing father,--"some
+wretched memorial of his fate.--No, my eyes see it not--I have beheld
+the fall of my house--would that the vultures of these crags had
+rather torn them from their sockets!"
+
+"Yet look again," said the Swiss; "the cloth hangs not loose upon a
+bough--I can see that it is raised on the end of a staff, and is
+distinctly waved to and fro. Your son makes a signal that he is safe."
+
+"And if it be so," said the traveller, clasping his hands together,
+"blessed be the eyes that see it, and the tongue that tells it! If we
+find my son, and find him alive, this day shall be a lucky one for
+thee too."
+
+"Nay," answered the lad, "I only ask that you will abide still, and
+act by counsel, and I will hold myself quit for my services. Only, it
+is not creditable to an honest lad to have people lose themselves by
+their own wilfulness; for the blame, after all, is sure to fall upon
+the guide, as if he could prevent old Pontius from shaking the mist
+from his brow, or banks of earth from slipping down into the valley at
+a time, or young harebrained gallants from walking upon precipices as
+narrow as the edge of a knife, or madmen, whose grey hairs might make
+them wiser, from drawing daggers like bravos in Lombardy."
+
+Thus the guide ran on, and in that vein he might have long continued,
+for Seignor Philipson heard him not. Each throb of his pulse, each
+thought of his heart, was directed towards the object which the lad
+referred to as a signal of his son's safety. He became at length
+satisfied that the signal was actually waved by a human hand; and, as
+eager in the glow of reviving hope as he had of late been under the
+influence of desperate grief, he again prepared for the attempt of
+advancing towards his son, and assisting him, if possible, in
+regaining a place of safety. But the entreaties and reiterated
+assurances of his guide induced him to pause.
+
+"Are you fit," he said, "to go on the crag? Can you repeat your Credo
+and Ave without missing or misplacing a word? for, without that, our
+old men say your neck, had you a score of them, would be in
+danger.--Is your eye clear, and your feet firm?--I trow the one
+streams like a fountain, and the other shakes like the aspen which
+overhangs it! Rest here till those arrive who are far more able to
+give your son help than either you or I are. I judge, by the fashion
+of his blowing, that yonder is the horn of the Goodman of Geierstein,
+Arnold Biederman. He hath seen your son's danger, and is even now
+providing for his safety and ours. There are cases in which the aid of
+one stranger, well acquainted with the country, is worth that of three
+brothers who know not the crags."
+
+"But if yonder horn really sounded a signal," said the traveller, "how
+chanced it that my son replied not?"
+
+"And if he did so, as is most likely he did," rejoined the Grison,
+"how should we have heard him? The bugle of Uri itself sounded amid
+these horrible dins of water and tempest like the reed of a shepherd
+boy; and how think you we should hear the holloa of a man?"
+
+"Yet, methinks," said Seignor Philipson, "I do hear something amid
+this roar of elements which is like a human voice--but it is not
+Arthur's."
+
+"I wot well, no," answered the Grison; "that is a woman's voice. The
+maidens will converse with each other in that manner, from cliff to
+cliff, through storm and tempest, were there a mile between."
+
+"Now, Heaven be praised for this providential relief!" said Seignor
+Philipson; "I trust we shall yet see this dreadful day safely ended. I
+will holloa in answer."
+
+He attempted to do so, but, inexperienced in the art of making himself
+heard in such a country, he pitched his voice in the same key with
+that of the roar of wave and wind; so that, even at twenty yards from
+the place where he was speaking, it must have been totally
+indistinguishable from that of the elemental war around them. The lad
+smiled at his patron's ineffectual attempts, and then raised his voice
+himself in a high, wild, and prolonged scream, which, while produced
+with apparently much less effort than that of the Englishman, was
+nevertheless a distinct sound, separated from others by the key to
+which it was pitched, and was probably audible to a very considerable
+distance. It was presently answered by distant cries of the same
+nature, which gradually approached the platform, bringing renovated
+hope to the anxious traveller.
+
+If the distress of the father rendered his condition an object of deep
+compassion, that of the son, at the same moment, was sufficiently
+perilous. We have already stated, that Arthur Philipson had commenced
+his precarious journey along the precipice with all the coolness,
+resolution, and unshaken determination of mind which was most
+essential to a task where all must depend upon firmness of nerve. But
+the formidable accident which checked his onward progress was of a
+character so dreadful as made him feel all the bitterness of a death
+instant, horrible, and, as it seemed, inevitable. The solid rock had
+trembled and rent beneath his footsteps, and although, by an effort
+rather mechanical than voluntary, he had withdrawn himself from the
+instant ruin attending its descent, he felt as if the better part of
+him, his firmness of mind and strength of body, had been rent away
+with the descending rock, as it fell thundering, with clouds of dust
+and smoke, into the torrents and whirlpools of the vexed gulf beneath.
+In fact, the seaman swept from the deck of a wrecked vessel, drenched
+in the waves, and battered against the rocks on the shore, does not
+differ more from the same mariner, when, at the commencement of the
+gale, he stood upon the deck of his favourite ship, proud of her
+strength and his own dexterity, than Arthur, when commencing his
+journey, from the same Arthur, while clinging to the decayed trunk of
+an old tree, from which, suspended between heaven and earth, he saw
+the fall of the crag which he had so nearly accompanied. The effects
+of his terror, indeed, were physical as well as moral, for a thousand
+colours played before his eyes; he was attacked by a sick dizziness,
+and deprived at once of the obedience of those limbs which had
+hitherto served him so admirably; his arms and hands, as if no longer
+at his own command, now clung to the branches of the tree, with a
+cramp-like tenacity over which he seemed to possess no power, and now
+trembled in a state of such complete nervous relaxation as led him to
+fear that they were becoming unable to support him longer in his
+position.
+
+An incident, in itself trifling, added to the distress occasioned by
+this alienation of his powers. All living things in the neighbourhood
+had, as might be supposed, been startled by the tremendous fall to
+which his progress had given occasion. Flights of owls, bats, and
+other birds of darkness, compelled to betake themselves to the air,
+had lost no time in returning into their bowers of ivy, or the harbour
+afforded them by the rifts and holes of the neighbouring rocks. One of
+this ill-omened flight chanced to be a lammer-geier, or Alpine
+vulture, a bird larger and more voracious than the eagle himself, and
+which Arthur had not been accustomed to see, or at least to look upon
+closely. With the instinct of most birds of prey, it is the custom of
+this creature, when gorged with food, to assume some station of
+inaccessible security, and there remain stationary and motionless for
+days together, till the work of digestion has been accomplished, and
+activity returns with the pressure of appetite. Disturbed from such a
+state of repose, one of these terrific birds had risen from the ravine
+to which the species gives its name, and having circled unwillingly
+round, with a ghastly scream and a flagging wing, it had sunk down
+upon the pinnacle of a crag, not four yards from the tree in which
+Arthur held his precarious station. Although still in some degree
+stupefied by torpor, it seemed encouraged by the motionless state of
+the young man to suppose him dead, or dying, and sat there and gazed
+at him, without displaying any of that apprehension which the fiercest
+animals usually entertain from the vicinity of man.
+
+As Arthur, endeavouring to shake off the incapacitating effects of his
+panic fear, raised his eyes to look gradually and cautiously around,
+he encountered those of the voracious and obscene bird, whose head and
+neck denuded of feathers, her eyes surrounded by an iris of an
+orange-tawny colour, and a position more horizontal than erect,
+distinguished her as much from the noble carriage and graceful
+proportions of the eagle, as those of the lion place him in the ranks
+of creation above the gaunt, ravenous, grisly, yet dastard wolf.
+
+As if arrested by a charm, the eyes of young Philipson remained bent
+on this ill-omened and ill-favoured bird, without his having the power
+to remove them. The apprehension of dangers, ideal as well as real,
+weighed upon his weakened mind, disabled as it was by the
+circumstances of his situation. The near approach of a creature, not
+more loathsome to the human race than averse to come within their
+reach, seemed as ominous as it was unusual. Why did it gaze on him
+with such glaring earnestness, projecting its disgusting form, as if
+presently to alight upon his person? The foul bird, was she the demon
+of the place to which her name referred? and did she come to exult
+that an intruder on her haunts seemed involved amid their perils, with
+little hope or chance of deliverance? Or was it a native vulture of
+the rocks, whose sagacity foresaw that the rash traveller was soon
+destined to become its victim? Could the creature, whose senses are
+said to be so acute, argue from circumstances the stranger's
+approaching death, and wait, like a raven or hooded crow by a dying
+sheep, for the earliest opportunity to commence her ravenous banquet?
+Was he doomed to feel its beak and talons before his heart's blood
+should cease to beat? Had he already lost the dignity of humanity,
+the awe which the being formed in the image of his Maker inspires into
+all inferior creatures?
+
+Apprehensions so painful served more than all that reason could
+suggest to renew in some degree the elasticity of the young man's
+mind. By waving his handkerchief, using, however, the greatest
+precaution in his movements, he succeeded in scaring the vulture from
+his vicinity. It rose from its resting-place, screaming harshly and
+dolefully, and sailed on its expanded pinions to seek a place of more
+undisturbed repose, while the adventurous traveller felt a sensible
+pleasure at being relieved of its disgusting presence.
+
+With more collected ideas, the young man, who could obtain, from his
+position, a partial view of the platform he had left, endeavoured to
+testify his safety to his father, by displaying, as high as he could,
+the banner by which he had chased off the vulture. Like them, too, he
+heard, but at a less distance, the burst of the great Swiss horn,
+which seemed to announce some near succour. He replied by shouting and
+waving his flag, to direct assistance to the spot where it was so much
+required; and, recalling his faculties, which had almost deserted him,
+he laboured mentally to recover hope, and with hope the means and
+motive for exertion.
+
+A faithful Catholic, he eagerly recommended himself in prayer to Our
+Lady of Einsiedlen, and, making vows of propitiation, besought her
+intercession, that he might be delivered from his dreadful condition.
+"Or, gracious Lady!" he concluded his orison, "if it is my doom to
+lose my life like a hunted fox amidst this savage wilderness of
+tottering crags, restore at least my natural sense of patience and
+courage, and let not one who has lived like a man, though a sinful
+one, meet death like a timid hare!"
+
+Having devoutly recommended himself to that Protectress, of whom the
+legends of the Catholic Church form a picture so amiable, Arthur,
+though every nerve still shook with his late agitation, and his heart
+throbbed with a violence that threatened to suffocate him, turned his
+thoughts and observation to the means of effecting his escape. But, as
+he looked around him, he became more and more sensible how much he was
+enervated by the bodily injuries and the mental agony which he had
+sustained during his late peril. He could not, by any effort of which
+he was capable, fix his giddy and bewildered eyes on the scene around
+him;--they seemed to reel till the landscape danced along with them,
+and a motley chaos of thickets and tall cliffs, which interposed
+between him and the ruinous Castle of Geierstein, mixed and whirled
+round in such confusion, that nothing, save the consciousness that
+such an idea was the suggestion of partial insanity, prevented him
+from throwing himself from the tree, as if to join the wild dance to
+which his disturbed brain had given motion.
+
+"Heaven be my protection!" said the unfortunate young man, closing his
+eyes, in hopes, by abstracting himself from the terrors of his
+situation, to compose his too active imagination, "my senses are
+abandoning me!"
+
+He became still more convinced that this was the case, when a female
+voice, in a high-pitched but eminently musical accent, was heard at
+no great distance, as if calling to him. He opened his eyes once
+more, raised his head, and looked towards the place whence the sounds
+seemed to come, though far from being certain that they existed saving
+in his own disordered imagination. The vision which appeared had
+almost confirmed him in the opinion that his mind was unsettled, and
+his senses in no state to serve him accurately.
+
+Upon the very summit of a pyramidical rock, that rose out of the depth
+of the valley, was seen a female figure, so obscured by mist that only
+the outline could be traced. The form, reflected against the sky,
+appeared rather the undefined lineaments of a spirit than of a mortal
+maiden; for her person seemed as light, and scarcely more opaque, than
+the thin cloud that surrounded her pedestal. Arthur's first belief
+was, that the Virgin had heard his vows, and had descended in person
+to his rescue; and he was about to recite his Ave Maria, when the
+voice again called to him with the singular shrill modulation of the
+mountain halloo, by which the natives of the Alps can hold conference
+with each other from one mountain ridge to another, across ravines of
+great depth and width.
+
+While he debated how to address this unexpected apparition, it
+disappeared from the point which it at first occupied, and presently
+after became again visible, perched on the cliff out of which
+projected the tree in which Arthur had taken refuge. Her personal
+appearance, as well as her dress, made it then apparent that she was a
+maiden of these mountains, familiar with their dangerous paths. He saw
+that a beautiful young woman stood before him, who regarded him with
+a mixture of pity and wonder.
+
+"Stranger," she at length said, "who are you, and whence come you?"
+
+"I am a stranger, maiden, as you justly term me," answered the young
+man, raising himself as well as he could. "I left Lucerne this
+morning, with my father, and a guide. I parted with them not three
+furlongs from hence. May it please you, gentle maiden, to warn them of
+my safety, for I know my father will be in despair upon my account?"
+
+"Willingly," said the maiden; "but I think my uncle, or some one of my
+kinsmen, must have already found them, and will prove faithful guides.
+Can I not aid you? Are you wounded? Are you hurt? We were alarmed by
+the fall of a rock--ay, and yonder it lies, a mass of no ordinary
+size."
+
+As the Swiss maiden spoke thus, she approached so close to the verge
+of the precipice, and looked with such indifference into the gulf,
+that the sympathy which connects the actor and spectator upon such
+occasions brought back the sickness and vertigo from which Arthur had
+just recovered, and he sank back into his former more recumbent
+posture, with something like a faint groan.
+
+"You are then ill?" said the maiden, who observed him turn pale.
+"Where and what is the harm you have received?"
+
+"None, gentle maiden, saving some bruises of little import; but my
+head turns, and my heart grows sick, when I see you so near the verge
+of the cliff."
+
+"Is that all?" replied the Swiss maiden. "Know, stranger, that I do
+not stand on my uncle's hearth with more security than I have stood
+upon precipices compared to which this is a child's leap. You too,
+stranger, if, as I judge from the traces, you have come along the edge
+of the precipice which the earth-slide hath laid bare, ought to be far
+beyond such weakness, since surely you must be well entitled to call
+yourself a cragsman."
+
+"I might have called myself so half an hour since," answered Arthur;
+"but I think I shall hardly venture to assume the name in future."
+
+"Be not downcast," said his kind adviser, "for a passing qualm, which
+will at times cloud the spirit and dazzle the eyesight of the bravest
+and most experienced. Raise yourself upon the trunk of the tree, and
+advance closer to the rock out of which it grows. Observe the place
+well. It is easy for you, when you have attained the lower part of the
+projecting stem, to gain by one bold step the solid rock upon which I
+stand, after which there is no danger or difficulty worthy of mention
+to a young man, whose limbs are whole, and whose courage is active."
+
+"My limbs are indeed sound," replied the youth; "but I am ashamed to
+think how much my courage is broken. Yet I will not disgrace the
+interest you have taken in an unhappy wanderer, by listening longer to
+the dastardly suggestions of a feeling which till to-day has been a
+stranger to my bosom."
+
+The maiden looked on him anxiously, and with much interest, as,
+raising himself cautiously, and moving along the trunk of the tree,
+which lay nearly horizontal from the rock, and seemed to bend as he
+changed his posture, the youth at length stood upright, within what,
+on level ground, had been but an extended stride to the cliff on which
+the Swiss maiden stood. But instead of being a step to be taken on the
+level and firm earth, it was one which must cross a dark abyss, at the
+bottom of which a torrent surged and boiled with incredible fury.
+Arthur's knees knocked against each other, his feet became of lead,
+and seemed no longer at his command; and he experienced, in a stronger
+degree than ever, that unnerving influence, which those who have been
+overwhelmed by it in a situation of like peril never can forget, and
+which others, happily strangers to its power, may have difficulty even
+in comprehending.
+
+The young woman discerned his emotion, and foresaw its probable
+consequences. As the only mode in her power to restore his confidence,
+she sprang lightly from the rock to the stem of the tree, on which she
+alighted with the ease and security of a bird, and in the same instant
+back to the cliff; and extending her hand to the stranger, "My arm,"
+she said, "is but a slight balustrade; yet do but step forward with
+resolution, and you will find it as secure as the battlement of
+Berne." But shame now overcame terror so much, that Arthur, declining
+assistance which he could not have accepted without feeling lowered in
+his own eyes, took heart of grace, and successfully achieved the
+formidable step which placed him upon the same cliff with his kind
+assistant.
+
+To seize her hand and raise it to his lips, in affectionate token of
+gratitude and respect, was naturally the youth's first action; nor was
+it possible for the maiden to have prevented him from doing so,
+without assuming a degree of prudery foreign to her character, and
+occasioning a ceremonious debate upon a matter of no great
+consequence, where the scene of action was a rock scarce five feet
+long by three in width, and which looked down upon a torrent roaring
+some three hundred feet below.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     Cursed be the gold and silver, which persuade
+     Weak man to follow far fatiguing trade.
+     The lily, peace, outshines the silver store,
+     And life is dearer than the golden ore.
+     Yet money tempts us o'er the desert brown,
+     To every distant mart and wealthy town.
+                    _Hassan, or the Camel-driver._
+
+
+Arthur Philipson and Anne of Geierstein, thus placed together in a
+situation which brought them into the closest possible contiguity,
+felt a slight degree of embarrassment; the young man, doubtless, from
+the fear of being judged a poltroon in the eyes of the maiden by whom
+he had been rescued, and the young woman, perhaps, in consequence of
+the exertion she had made, or a sense of being placed suddenly in a
+situation of such proximity to the youth whose life she had probably
+saved.
+
+"And now, maiden," said Arthur, "I must repair to my father. The life
+which I owe to your assistance can scarce be called welcome to me,
+unless I am permitted to hasten to his rescue."
+
+He was here interrupted by another bugle-blast, which seemed to come
+from the quarter in which the elder Philipson and his guide had been
+left by their young and daring companion. Arthur looked in that
+direction; but the platform, which he had seen but imperfectly from
+the tree, when he was perched in that place of refuge, was invisible
+from the rock on which they now stood.
+
+"It would cost me nothing to step back on yonder root," said the young
+woman, "to spy from thence whether I could see aught of your friends.
+But I am convinced they are under safer guidance than either yours or
+mine; for the horn announces that my uncle, or some of my young
+kinsmen, have reached them. They are by this time on their way to the
+Geierstein, to which, with your permission, I will become your guide;
+for you may be assured that my uncle Arnold will not allow you to pass
+farther to-day; and we shall but lose time by endeavouring to find
+your friends, who, situated where you say you left them, will reach
+the Geierstein sooner than we shall. Follow me, then, or I must
+suppose you weary of my guidance."
+
+"Sooner suppose me weary of the life which your guidance has in all
+probability saved," replied Arthur, and prepared to attend her; at the
+same time taking a view of her dress and person, which confirmed the
+satisfaction he had in following such a conductor, and which we shall
+take the liberty to detail somewhat more minutely than he could do at
+that time.
+
+An upper vest, neither so close as to display the person, a habit
+forbidden by the sumptuary laws of the canton, nor so loose as to be
+an incumbrance in walking or climbing, covered a close tunic of a
+different colour, and came down beneath the middle of the leg, but
+suffered the ankle, in all its fine proportions, to be completely
+visible. The foot was defended by a sandal, the point of which was
+turned upwards, and the crossings and knots of the strings, which
+secured it on the front of the leg, were garnished with silver rings.
+The upper vest was gathered round the middle by a sash of
+party-coloured silk, ornamented with twisted threads of gold; while
+the tunic, open at the throat, permitted the shape and exquisite
+whiteness of a well-formed neck to be visible at the collar, and for
+an inch or two beneath. The small portion of the throat and bosom thus
+exposed was even more brilliantly fair than was promised by the
+countenance, which last bore some marks of having been freely exposed
+to the sun and air, by no means in a degree to diminish its beauty,
+but just so far as to show that the maiden possessed the health which
+is purchased by habits of rural exercise. Her long fair hair fell down
+in a profusion of curls on each side of a face, whose blue eyes,
+lovely features, and dignified simplicity of expression implied at
+once a character of gentleness and of the self-relying resolution of a
+mind too virtuous to suspect evil, and too noble to fear it. Above
+these locks, beauty's natural and most beseeming ornament--or rather,
+I should say, amongst them--was placed the small bonnet, which, from
+its size, little answered the purpose of protecting the head, but
+served to exercise the ingenuity of the fair wearer, who had not
+failed, according to the prevailing custom of the mountain maidens, to
+decorate the tiny cap with a heron's feather, and the then unusual
+luxury of a small and thin chain of gold, long enough to encircle the
+cap four or five times, and having the ends secured under a broad
+medal of the same costly metal.
+
+I have only to add, that the stature of the young person was
+something above the common size, and that the whole contour of her
+form, without being in the slightest degree masculine, resembled that
+of Minerva, rather than the proud beauties of Juno, or the yielding
+graces of Venus. The noble brow, the well-formed and active limbs, the
+firm and yet light step--above all, the total absence of anything
+resembling the consciousness of personal beauty, and the open and
+candid look, which seemed desirous of knowing nothing that was hidden,
+and conscious that she herself had nothing to hide, were traits not
+unworthy of the goddess of wisdom and of chastity.
+
+The road which the young Englishman pursued, under the guidance of
+this beautiful young woman, was difficult and unequal, but could not
+be termed dangerous, at least in comparison to those precipices over
+which Arthur had recently passed. It was, in fact, a continuation of
+the path which the slip or slide of earth, so often mentioned, had
+interrupted; and although it had sustained damage in several places at
+the period of the same earthquake, yet there were marks of these
+having been already repaired in such a rude manner as made the way
+sufficient for the necessary intercourse of a people so indifferent as
+the Swiss to smooth or level paths. The maiden also gave Arthur to
+understand, that the present road took a circuit for the purpose of
+gaining that on which he was lately travelling, and that, if he and
+his companions had turned off at the place where this new track united
+with the old pathway, they would have escaped the danger which had
+attended their keeping the road by the verge of the precipice.
+
+The path which they now pursued was rather averted from the torrent,
+though still within hearing of its sullen thunders, which seemed to
+increase as they ascended parallel to its course, till suddenly the
+road, turning short, and directing itself straight upon the old
+castle, brought them within sight of one of the most splendid and
+awful scenes of that mountainous region.
+
+The ancient tower of Geierstein, though neither extensive nor
+distinguished by architectural ornament, possessed an air of terrible
+dignity by its position on the very verge of the opposite bank of the
+torrent, which, just at the angle of the rock on which the ruins are
+situated, falls sheer over a cascade of nearly a hundred feet in
+height, and then rushes down the defile, through a trough of living
+rock, which perhaps its waves have been deepening since time itself
+had a commencement. Facing, and at the same time looking down upon
+this eternal roar of waters, stood the old tower, built so close to
+the verge of the precipice that the buttresses with which the
+architect had strengthened the foundation seemed a part of the solid
+rock itself, and a continuation of its perpendicular ascent. As usual
+throughout Europe in the feudal times, the principal part of the
+building was a massive square pile, the decayed summit of which was
+rendered picturesque, by flanking turrets of different sizes and
+heights, some round, some angular, some ruinous, some tolerably
+entire, varying the outline of the building as seen against the stormy
+sky.
+
+A projecting sallyport, descending by a flight of steps from the
+tower, had in former times given access to a bridge connecting the
+castle with that side of the stream on which Arthur Philipson and his
+fair guide now stood. A single arch, or rather one rib of an arch,
+consisting of single stones, still remained, and spanned the river
+immediately in front of the waterfall. In former times this arch had
+served for the support of a wooden drawbridge, of more convenient
+breadth, and of such length and weight as must have been rather
+unmanageable, had it not been lowered on some solid resting-place. It
+is true, the device was attended with this inconvenience, that even
+when the drawbridge was up, there remained a possibility of
+approaching the castle gate by means of this narrow rib of stone. But
+as it was not above eighteen inches broad, and could only admit the
+daring foe who should traverse it to a doorway regularly defended by
+gate and portcullis, and having flanking turrets and projections, from
+which stones, darts, melted lead, and scalding water might be poured
+down on the soldiery who should venture to approach Geierstein by this
+precarious access, the possibility of such an attempt was not
+considered as diminishing the security of the garrison.
+
+In the time we treat of, the castle being entirely ruined and
+dismantled, and the door, drawbridge, and portcullis gone, the
+dilapidated gateway, and the slender arch which connected the two
+sides of the stream, were used as a means of communication between the
+banks of the river, by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, whom
+habit had familiarised with the dangerous nature of the passage.
+
+Arthur Philipson had, in the meantime, like a good bow when new
+strung, regained the elasticity of feeling and character which was
+natural to him. It was not indeed with perfect composure that he
+followed his guide, as she tripped lightly over the narrow arch,
+composed of rugged stones, and rendered wet and slippery with the
+perpetual drizzle of the mist issuing from the neighbouring cascade.
+Nor was it without apprehension that he found himself performing this
+perilous feat in the neighbourhood of the waterfall itself, whose
+deafening roar he could not exclude from his ears, though he took care
+not to turn his head towards its terrors, lest his brain should again
+be dizzied by the tumult of the waters as they shot forward from the
+precipice above, and plunged themselves into what seemed the
+fathomless gulf below. But notwithstanding these feelings of
+agitation, the natural shame to show cowardice where a beautiful young
+female exhibited so much indifference, and the desire to regain his
+character in the eyes of his guide, prevented Arthur from again giving
+way to the appalling feelings by which he had been overwhelmed a short
+time before. Stepping firmly on, yet cautiously supporting himself
+with his piked staff, he traced the light footsteps of his guide along
+the bridge of dread, and followed her through the ruined sallyport, to
+which they ascended by stairs which were equally dilapidated.
+
+The gateway admitted them into a mass of ruins, formerly a sort of
+courtyard to the donjon, which rose in gloomy dignity above the wreck
+of what had been works destined for external defence, or buildings for
+internal accommodation. They quickly passed through these ruins, over
+which vegetation had thrown a wild mantle of ivy, and other creeping
+shrubs, and issued from them through the main gate of the castle into
+one of those spots in which Nature often embosoms her sweetest
+charms, in the midst of districts chiefly characterised by waste and
+desolation.
+
+The castle in this aspect also rose considerably above the
+neighbouring ground, but the elevation of the site, which towards the
+torrent was an abrupt rock, was on this side a steep eminence, which
+had been scarped like a modern glacis, to render the building more
+secure. It was now covered with young trees and bushes, out of which
+the tower itself seemed to rise in ruined dignity. Beyond this hanging
+thicket the view was of a very different character. A piece of ground,
+amounting to more than a hundred acres, seemed scooped out of the
+rocks and mountains, which, retaining the same savage character with
+the tract in which the travellers had been that morning bewildered,
+enclosed, and as it were defended, a limited space of a mild and
+fertile character. The surface of this little domain was considerably
+varied, but its general aspect was a gentle slope to the south-west.
+
+The principal object which it presented was a large house composed of
+huge logs, without any pretence to form or symmetry, but indicating,
+by the smoke which arose from it, as well as the extent of the
+neighbouring offices, and the improved and cultivated character of the
+fields around, that it was the abode, not of splendour certainly, but
+of ease and competence. An orchard of thriving fruit-trees extended to
+the southward of the dwelling. Groves of walnut and chestnut grew in
+stately array, and even a vineyard, of three or four acres, showed
+that the cultivation of the grape was understood and practised. It is
+now universal in Switzerland, but was, in those early days, almost
+exclusively confined to a few more fortunate proprietors, who had
+the rare advantage of uniting intelligence with opulent, or at least
+easy, circumstances.
+
+  [Illustration: GEIERSTEIN.
+   Drawn and Etched by R. de los Rios.]
+
+There were fair ranges of pasture-fields, into which the fine race of
+cattle which constitute the pride and wealth of the Swiss mountaineers
+had been brought down from the more Alpine grazings where they had fed
+during the summer, to be near shelter and protection when the autumnal
+storms might be expected. On some selected spots, the lambs of the
+last season fed in plenty and security, and in others, huge trees, the
+natural growth of the soil, were suffered to remain, from motives of
+convenience probably, that they might be at hand when timber was
+required for domestic use, but giving, at the same time, a woodland
+character to a scene otherwise agricultural. Through this
+mountain-paradise the course of a small brook might be traced, now
+showing itself to the sun, which had by this time dispelled the fogs,
+now intimating its course, by its gently sloping banks, clothed in
+some places with lofty trees, or concealing itself under thickets of
+hawthorn and nut bushes. This stream, by a devious and gentle course,
+which seemed to indicate a reluctance to leave this quiet region,
+found its way at length out of the sequestered domain, and, like a
+youth hurrying from the gay and tranquil sports of boyhood into the
+wild career of active life, finally united itself with the boisterous
+torrent, which, breaking down tumultuously from the mountains, shook
+the ancient Tower of Geierstein as it rolled down the adjacent rock,
+and then rushed howling through the defile in which our youthful
+traveller had well-nigh lost his life.
+
+Eager as the younger Philipson was to rejoin his father, he could not
+help pausing for a moment to wonder how so much beauty should be found
+amid such scenes of horror, and to look back on the Tower of
+Geierstein, and on the huge cliff from which it derived its name, as
+if to ascertain, by the sight of these distinguished landmarks, that
+he was actually in the neighbourhood of the savage wild where he had
+encountered so much danger and terror. Yet so narrow were the limits
+of this cultivated farm, that it hardly required such a retrospect to
+satisfy the spectator that the spot susceptible of human industry, and
+on which it seemed that a considerable degree of labour had been
+bestowed, bore a very small proportion to the wilderness in which it
+was situated. It was on all sides surrounded by lofty hills, in some
+places rising into walls of rock, in others clothed with dark and
+savage forests of the pine and the larch, of primeval antiquity. Above
+these, from the eminence on which the tower was situated, could be
+seen the almost rosy hue in which an immense glacier threw back the
+sun; and still higher over the frozen surface of that icy sea arose,
+in silent dignity, the pale peaks of those countless mountains, on
+which the snow eternally rests.
+
+What we have taken some time to describe, occupied young Philipson
+only for one or two hurried minutes; for on a sloping lawn, which was
+in front of the farm-house, as the mansion might properly be styled,
+he saw five or six persons, the foremost of whom, from his gait, his
+dress, and the form of his cap, he could easily distinguish as the
+parent whom he hardly expected at one time to have again beheld.
+
+He followed, therefore, his conductress with a glad step, as she led
+the way down the steep ascent on which the ruined tower was situated.
+They approached the group whom Arthur had noticed, the foremost of
+which was his father, who hastily came forward to meet him, in company
+with another person, of advanced age, and stature well-nigh gigantic,
+and who, from his simple yet majestic bearing, seemed the worthy
+countryman of William Tell, Stauffacher, Winkelried, and other Swiss
+worthies, whose stout hearts and hardy arms had, in the preceding age,
+vindicated against countless hosts their personal liberty, and the
+independence of their country.
+
+With a natural courtesy, as if to spare the father and son many
+witnesses to a meeting which must be attended with emotion, the
+Landamman himself, in walking forward with the elder Philipson, signed
+to those by whom he was attended, all of whom seemed young men, to
+remain behind. They remained accordingly, examining, as it seemed, the
+guide Antonio, upon the adventures of the strangers. Anne, the
+conductress of Arthur Philipson, had but time to say to him, "Yonder
+old man is my uncle, Arnold Biederman, and these young men are my
+kinsmen," when the former, with the elder traveller, were close before
+them. The Landamman, with the same propriety of feeling which he had
+before displayed, signed to his niece to move a little aside; yet
+while requiring from her an account of her morning's expedition, he
+watched the interview of the father and son with as much curiosity as
+his natural sense of complaisance permitted him to testify. It was of
+a character different from what he had expected.
+
+We have already described the elder Philipson as a father devotedly
+attached to his son, ready to rush on death when he had expected to
+lose him, and equally overjoyed at heart, doubtless, to see him again
+restored to his affections. It might have been therefore expected that
+the father and son would have rushed into each other's arms, and such
+probably was the scene which Arnold Biederman expected to have
+witnessed.
+
+But the English traveller, in common with many of his countrymen,
+covered keen and quick feelings with much appearance of coldness and
+reserve, and thought it a weakness to give unlimited sway even to the
+influence of the most amiable and most natural emotions. Eminently
+handsome in youth, his countenance, still fine in his more advanced
+years, had an expression which intimated an unwillingness either to
+yield to passion or encourage confidence. His pace, when he first
+beheld his son, had been quickened by the natural wish to meet him;
+but he slackened it as they drew near to each other, and when they
+met, said in a tone rather of censure and admonition than
+affection,--"Arthur, may the Saints forgive the pain thou hast this
+day given me."
+
+"Amen," said the youth. "I must need pardon since I have given you
+pain. Believe, however, that I acted for the best."
+
+"It is well, Arthur, that in acting for the best, according to your
+forward will, you have not encountered the worst."
+
+"That I have not," answered the son, with the same devoted and patient
+submission, "is owing to this maiden," pointing to Anne, who stood at
+a few paces' distance, desirous perhaps of avoiding to witness the
+reproof of the father, which might seem to her rather ill-timed and
+unreasonable.
+
+"To the maiden my thanks shall be rendered," said his father, "when I
+can study how to pay them in an adequate manner; but is it well or
+comely, think you, that you should receive from a maiden the succour
+which it is your duty as a man to extend to the weaker sex?"
+
+Arthur held down his head and blushed deeply, while Arnold Biederman,
+sympathising with his feelings, stepped forward and mingled in the
+conversation.
+
+"Never be abashed, my young guest, that you have been indebted for
+aught of counsel or assistance to a maiden of Unterwalden. Know that
+the freedom of their country owes no less to the firmness and wisdom
+of her daughters than to that of her sons.--And you, my elder guest,
+who have, I judge, seen many years and various lands, must have often
+known examples how the strong are saved by the help of the weak, the
+proud by the aid of the humble."
+
+"I have at least learned," said the Englishman, "to debate no point
+unnecessarily with the host who has kindly harboured me;" and after
+one glance at his son, which seemed to kindle with the fondest
+affection, he resumed, as the party turned back towards the house, a
+conversation which he had been maintaining with his new acquaintance
+before Arthur and the maiden had joined them.
+
+Arthur had in the meantime an opportunity of observing the figure and
+features of their Swiss landlord, which, I have already hinted,
+exhibited a primeval simplicity mixed with a certain rude dignity,
+arising out of its masculine and unaffected character. The dress did
+not greatly differ in form from the habit of the female which we have
+described. It consisted of an upper frock, shaped like the modern
+shirt, and only open at the bosom, worn above a tunic or under
+doublet. But the man's vest was considerably shorter in the skirts,
+which did not come lower down than the kilt of the Scottish
+Highlander; a species of boots or buskins rose above the knee, and the
+person was thus entirely clothed. A bonnet made of the fur of the
+marten, and garnished with a silver medal, was the only part of the
+dress which displayed anything like ornament; the broad belt which
+gathered the garment together was of buff leather, secured by a large
+brass buckle.
+
+But the figure of him who wore this homely attire, which seemed almost
+wholly composed of the fleeces of the mountain sheep and the spoils of
+animals of the chase, would have commanded respect wherever the wearer
+had presented himself, especially in those warlike days, when men were
+judged of according to the promising or unpromising qualities of their
+thews and sinews. To those who looked at Arnold Biederman from this
+point of view, he displayed the size and form, the broad shoulders and
+prominent muscles, of a Hercules. But to such as looked rather at his
+countenance, the steady sagacious features, open front, large blue
+eyes, and deliberate resolution which it expressed, more resembled the
+character of the fabled King of Gods and Men. He was attended by
+several sons and relatives, young men, among whom he walked,
+receiving, as his undeniable due, respect and obedience, similar to
+that which a herd of deer are observed to render to the monarch stag.
+
+While Arnold Biederman walked and spoke with the elder stranger, the
+young men seemed closely to scrutinise Arthur, and occasionally
+interrogated in whispers their relation Anne, receiving from her brief
+and impatient answers, which rather excited than appeased the vein of
+merriment in which the mountaineers indulged, very much, as it seemed
+to the young Englishman, at the expense of their guest. To feel
+himself exposed to derision was not softened by the reflection, that
+in such a society it would probably be attached to all who could not
+tread on the edge of a precipice with a step as firm and undismayed as
+if they walked the street of a city. However unreasonable ridicule may
+be, it is always unpleasing to be subjected to it, but more
+particularly is it distressing to a young man, where beauty is a
+listener. It was some consolation to Arthur that he thought the maiden
+certainly did not enjoy the jest, and seemed by word and look to
+reprove the rudeness of her companions; but this he feared was only
+from a sense of humanity.
+
+"She, too, must despise me," he thought, "though civility, unknown to
+these ill-taught boors, has enabled her to conceal contempt under the
+guise of pity. She can but judge of me from that which she has
+seen--if she could know me better" (such was his proud thought), "she
+might perhaps rank me more highly."
+
+As the travellers entered the habitation of Arnold Biederman, they
+found preparations made in a large apartment, which served the purpose
+of general accommodation, for a homely but plentiful meal. A glance
+round the walls showed the implements of agriculture and the chase;
+but the eyes of the elder Philipson rested upon a leathern corselet, a
+long heavy halberd, and a two-handed sword, which were displayed as a
+sort of trophy. Near these, but covered with dust, unfurbished and
+neglected, hung a helmet, with a visor, such as was used by knights
+and men-at-arms. The golden garland, or coronal twisted around it,
+though sorely tarnished, indicated noble birth and rank; and the
+crest, which was a vulture of the species which gave name to the old
+castle and its adjacent cliff, suggested various conjectures to the
+English guest, who, acquainted in a great measure with the history of
+the Swiss revolution, made little doubt that in this relic he saw some
+trophy of the ancient warfare between the inhabitants of these
+mountains, and the feudal lord to whom they had of yore appertained.
+
+A summons to the hospitable board disturbed the train of the English
+merchant's reflections; and a large company, comprising the whole
+inhabitants of every description that lived under Biederman's roof,
+sat down to a plentiful repast of goat's flesh, fish, preparations of
+milk of various kinds, cheese, and, for the upper mess, the venison of
+a young chamois. The Landamman himself did the honours of the table
+with great kindness and simplicity, and urged the strangers to show,
+by their appetite, that they thought themselves as welcome as he
+desired to make them. During the repast, he carried on a conversation
+with his elder guest, while the younger people at table, as well as
+the menials, ate in modesty and silence. Ere the dinner was finished,
+a figure crossed on the outside of the large window which lighted the
+eating-hall, the sight of which seemed to occasion a lively sensation
+amongst such as observed it.
+
+"Who passed?" said old Biederman to those seated opposite to the
+window.
+
+"It is our cousin, Rudolph of Donnerhugel," answered one of Arnold's
+sons eagerly.
+
+The annunciation seemed to give great pleasure to the younger part of
+the company, especially the sons of the Landamman; while the head of
+the family only said with a grave, calm voice,--"Your kinsman is
+welcome--tell him so, and let him come hither."
+
+Two or three arose for this purpose, as if there had been a contention
+among them who should do the honours of the house to the new guest. He
+entered presently--a young man, unusually tall, well-proportioned and
+active, with a quantity of dark-brown locks curling around his face,
+together with mustaches of the same, or rather a still darker hue. His
+cap was small considering the quantity of his thickly clustering hair,
+and rather might be said to hang upon one side of his head than to
+cover it. His clothes were of the same form and general fashion as
+those of Arnold, but made of much finer cloth, the manufacture of the
+German loom, and ornamented in a rich and fanciful manner. One sleeve
+of his vest was dark green, curiously laced and embroidered with
+devices in silver, while the rest of the garment was scarlet. His sash
+was twisted and netted with gold, and besides answering the purpose of
+a belt, by securing the upper garment round his waist, sustained a
+silver-hilted poniard. His finery was completed by boots, the tips of
+which were so long as to turn upwards with a peak, after a prevailing
+fashion in the Middle Ages. A golden chain hung round his neck, and
+sustained a large medallion of the same metal.
+
+This young gallant was instantly surrounded by the race of Biederman,
+among whom he appeared to be considered as the model upon which the
+Swiss youth ought to build themselves, and whose gait, opinions,
+dress, and manners all ought to follow who would keep pace with the
+fashion of the day, in which he reigned an acknowledged and unrivalled
+example.
+
+By two persons in the company, however, it seemed to Arthur Philipson
+that this young man was received with less distinguished marks of
+regard than those with which he was hailed by the general voice of the
+youths present. Arnold Biederman himself was at least no way warm in
+welcoming the young Bernese, for such was Rudolph's country. The young
+man drew from his bosom a sealed packet, which he delivered to the
+Landamman with demonstrations of great respect, and seemed to expect
+that Arnold, when he had broken the seal and perused the contents,
+would say something to him on the subject. But the patriarch only bade
+him be seated, and partake of their meal, and Rudolph found a place
+accordingly next to Anne of Geierstein, which was yielded to him by
+one of the sons of Arnold with ready courtesy.
+
+It seemed also to the observant young Englishman, that the new comer
+was received with marked coldness by the maiden, to whom he appeared
+eager and solicitous to pay his compliments, by whose side he had
+contrived to seat himself at the well-furnished board, and to whom he
+seemed more anxious to recommend himself, than to partake of the food
+which it offered. He observed the gallant whisper her, and look
+towards him. Anne gave a very brief reply, but one of the young
+Biedermans, who sat on his other hand, was probably more
+communicative, as the youths both laughed, and the maiden again seemed
+disconcerted, and blushed with displeasure.
+
+"Had I either of these sons of the mountain," thought young Philipson,
+"upon six yards of level greensward, if there be so much flat ground
+in this country, methinks I were more likely to spoil their mirth than
+to furnish food for it. It is as marvellous to see such conceited
+boors under the same roof with so courteous and amiable a damsel, as
+it would be to see one of their shaggy bears dance a rigadoon with a
+maiden like the daughter of our host. Well, I need not concern myself
+more than I can help about her beauty or their breeding, since morning
+will separate me from them for ever."
+
+As these reflections passed through the young guest's mind, the father
+of the family called for a cup of wine, and having required the two
+strangers to pledge him in a maple cup of considerable size, he sent a
+similar goblet to Rudolph Donnerhugel. "Yet you," he said, "kinsman,
+are used to more highly flavoured wine than the half-ripened grapes of
+Geierstein can supply.--Would you think it, Sir Merchant," he
+continued, addressing Philipson, "there are burghers of Berne who send
+for wine for their own drinking both to France and Germany?"
+
+"My kinsman disapproves of that," replied Rudolph; "yet every place
+is not blessed with vineyards like Geierstein, which produces all that
+heart and eye can desire." This was said with a glance at his fair
+companion, who did not appear to take the compliment, while the envoy
+of Berne proceeded: "But our wealthier burghers, having some
+superfluous crowns, think it no extravagance to barter them for a
+goblet of better wine than our own mountains can produce. But we will
+be more frugal when we have at our disposal tuns of the wine of
+Burgundy, for the mere trouble of transporting them."
+
+"How mean you by that, cousin Rudolph?" said Arnold Biederman.
+
+"Methinks, respected kinsman," answered the Bernese, "your letters
+must have told you that our Diet is likely to declare war against
+Burgundy?"
+
+"Ah! And you know, then, the contents of my letters?" said Arnold;
+"another mark how times are changed at Berne, and with the Diet of
+Switzerland. When did all her grey-haired statesmen die, that our
+allies should have brought beardless boys into their councils?"
+
+"The Senate of Berne, and the Diet of the Confederacy," said the young
+man, partly abashed, partly in vindication of what he had before
+spoken, "allow the young men to know their purposes, since it is they
+by whom they must be executed. The head which thinks may well confide
+in the hand that strikes."
+
+"Not till the moment of dealing the blow, young man," said Arnold
+Biederman, sternly. "What kind of counsellor is he who talks loosely
+the secrets of state affairs before women and strangers? Go, Rudolph,
+and all of ye, and try by manly exercises which is best fitted to
+serve your country, rather than give your judgment upon her
+measures.--Hold, young man," he continued, addressing Arthur, who had
+arisen, "this does not apply to you, who are unused to mountain
+travel, and require rest after it."
+
+"Under your favour, sir, not so," said the elder stranger. "We hold,
+in England, that the best refreshment after we have been exhausted by
+one species of exercise is to betake ourselves to another; as riding,
+for example, affords more relief to one fatigued by walking, than a
+bed of down would. So, if your young men will permit, my son will join
+their exercises."
+
+"He will find them rough playmates," answered the Switzer; "but be it
+at your pleasure."
+
+The young men went out accordingly to the open lawn in front of the
+house. Anne of Geierstein, and some females of the household, sat down
+on a bank to judge which performed best, and shouts, loud laughing,
+and all that announces the riot of juvenile spirits occupied by manly
+sports, was soon after heard by the two seniors, as they sat together
+in the hall. The master of the house resumed the wine-flask, and,
+having filled the cup of his guest, poured the remainder into his own.
+
+"At an age, worthy stranger," he said, "when the blood grows colder,
+and the feelings heavier, a moderate cup of wine brings back light
+thoughts, and makes the limbs supple. Yet, I almost wish that Noah had
+never planted the grape, when of late years I have seen with my own
+eyes my countrymen swill wine like very Germans, till they were like
+gorged swine, incapable of sense, thought, or motion."
+
+"It is a vice," said the Englishman, "which I have observed gains
+ground in your country, where within a century I have heard it was
+totally unknown."
+
+"It was so," said the Swiss, "for wine was seldom made at home, and
+never imported from abroad; for indeed none possessed the means of
+purchasing that, or aught else, which our valleys produce not. But our
+wars and our victories have gained us wealth as well as fame; and in
+the poor thoughts of one Switzer, at least, we had been better without
+both, had we not also gained liberty by the same exertion. It is
+something, however, that commerce may occasionally send into our
+remote mountains a sensible visitor like yourself, worthy guest, whose
+discourse shows him to be a man of sagacity and discernment; for
+though I love not the increasing taste for trinkets and gewgaws which
+you merchants introduce, yet I acknowledge that we simple mountaineers
+learn from men like you more of the world around us, than we could
+acquire by our own exertions. You are bound, you say, to Bâle, and
+thence to the Duke of Burgundy's leaguer?"
+
+"I am so, my worthy host," said the merchant--"that is, providing I
+can perform my journey with safety."
+
+"Your safety, good friend, may be assured, if you list to tarry for
+two or three days; for in that space I shall myself take the journey,
+and with such an escort as will prevent any risk of danger. You will
+find in me a sure and faithful guide, and I shall learn from you much
+of other countries, which it concerns me to know better than I do. Is
+it a bargain?"
+
+"The proposal is too much to my advantage to be refused," said the
+Englishman; "but may I ask the purpose of your journey?"
+
+"I chid yonder boy but now," answered Biederman, "for speaking on
+public affairs without reflection, and before the whole family; but
+our tidings and my errand need not be concealed from a considerate
+person like you, who must indeed soon learn it from public rumour. You
+know doubtless the mutual hatred which subsists between Louis XI. of
+France and Charles of Burgundy, whom men call the Bold; and having
+seen these countries, as I understand from your former discourse, you
+are probably well aware of the various contending interests, which,
+besides the personal hatred of the sovereigns, make them
+irreconcilable enemies. Now Louis, whom the world cannot match for
+craft and subtlety, is using all his influence, by distributions of
+large sums amongst some of the counsellors of our neighbours of Berne,
+by pouring treasures into the exchequer of that state itself, by
+holding out the bait of emolument to the old men, and encouraging the
+violence of the young, to urge the Bernese into a war with the Duke.
+Charles, on the other hand, is acting, as he frequently does, exactly
+as Louis could have wished. Our neighbours and allies of Berne do not,
+like us of the Forest Cantons, confine themselves to pasture or
+agriculture, but carry on considerable commerce, which the Duke of
+Burgundy has in various instances interrupted, by the exactions and
+violence of his officers in the frontier towns, as is doubtless well
+known to you."
+
+"Unquestionably," answered the merchant; "they are universally
+regarded as vexatious."
+
+"You will not then be surprised, that, solicited by the one sovereign,
+and aggrieved by the other, proud of past victories, and ambitious of
+additional power, Berne and the City Cantons of our confederacy, whose
+representatives, from their superior wealth and better education, have
+more to say in our Diet than we of the Forests, should be bent upon
+war, from which it has hitherto happened that the Republic has always
+derived victory, wealth, and increase of territory."
+
+"Ay, worthy host, and of glory," said Philipson, interrupting him with
+some enthusiasm; "I wonder not that the brave youths of your states
+are willing to thrust themselves upon new wars, since their past
+victories have been so brilliant and so far-famed."
+
+"You are no wise merchant, kind guest," answered the host, "if you
+regard success in former desperate undertakings as an encouragement to
+future rashness. Let us make a better use of past victories. When we
+fought for our liberties God blessed our arms; but will He do so if we
+fight either for aggrandisement or for the gold of France?"
+
+"Your doubt is just," said the merchant, more sedately; "but suppose
+you draw the sword to put an end to the vexatious exactions of
+Burgundy?"
+
+"Hear me, good friend," answered the Switzer; "it may be that we of
+the Forest Cantons think too little of those matters of trade, which
+so much engross the attention of the burghers of Berne. Yet we will
+not desert our neighbours and allies in a just quarrel; and it is
+well-nigh settled that a deputation shall be sent to the Duke of
+Burgundy to request redress. In this embassy the General Diet now
+assembled at Berne have requested that I should take some share; and
+hence the journey in which I propose that you should accompany me."
+
+"It will be much to my satisfaction to travel in your company, worthy
+host," said the Englishman. "But, as I am a true man, methinks your
+port and figure resemble an envoy of defiance rather than a messenger
+of peace."
+
+"And I too might say," replied the Switzer, "that your language and
+sentiments, my honoured guest, rather belong to the sword than the
+measuring-wand."
+
+"I was bred to the sword, worthy sir, before I took the cloth-yard in
+my hand," replied Philipson, smiling, "and it may be I am still more
+partial to my old trade than wisdom would altogether recommend."
+
+"I thought so," said Arnold; "but then you fought most likely under
+your country's banners against a foreign and national enemy; and in
+that case I will admit that war has something in it which elevates the
+heart above the due sense it should entertain of the calamity
+inflicted and endured by God's creatures on each side. But the warfare
+in which I was engaged had no such gilding. It was the miserable war
+of Zurich [_c_], where Switzers levelled their pikes against the
+bosoms of their own countrymen; and quarter was asked and refused in
+the same kindly mountain language. From such remembrances your warlike
+recollections are probably free."
+
+The merchant hung down his head and pressed his forehead with his
+hand, as one to whom the most painful thoughts were suddenly
+recalled.
+
+"Alas!" he said, "I deserve to feel the pain which your words inflict.
+What nation can know the woes of England that has not felt them--what
+eye can estimate them which has not seen a land torn and bleeding with
+the strife of two desperate factions, battles fought in every
+province, plains heaped with slain, and scaffolds drenched in blood!
+Even in your quiet valleys, methinks, you may have heard of the Civil
+Wars of England?"
+
+"I do indeed bethink me," said the Switzer, "that England had lost her
+possessions in France during many years of bloody internal wars
+concerning the colour of a rose--was it not?--But these are ended."
+
+"For the present," answered Philipson, "it would seem so."
+
+As he spoke, there was a knock at the door; the master of the house
+said, "Come in!" the door opened, and, with the reverence which was
+expected from young persons towards their elders in those pastoral
+regions, the fine form of Anne of Geierstein presented itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     And now the well-known bow the master bore,
+     Turn'd on all sides, and view'd it o'er and o'er;
+     Whilst some deriding, "How he turns the bow!
+     Some other like it sure the man must know:
+     Or else would copy--or in bows he deals;
+     Perhaps he makes them, or perhaps he steals."
+                             POPE'S _Homer's Odyssey_.
+
+
+The fair maiden approached with the half-bashful half-important look
+which sits so well on a young housekeeper, when she is at once proud
+and ashamed of the matronly duties she is called upon to discharge,
+and whispered something in her uncle's ear.
+
+"And could not the idle-pated boys have brought their own errand--what
+is it they want that they cannot ask themselves, but must send thee to
+beg it for them? Had it been anything reasonable, I should have heard
+it dinned into my ears by forty voices, so modest are our Swiss youths
+become nowadays." She stooped forward, and again whispered in his ear,
+as he fondly stroked her curling tresses with his ample hand, and
+replied, "The bow of Buttisholz, my dear? Why, the youths surely are
+not grown stronger since last year, when none of them could bend it?
+But yonder it hangs with its three arrows. Who is the wise champion
+that is challenger at a game where he is sure to be foiled?"
+
+"It is this gentleman's son, sir," said the maiden, "who, not being
+able to contend with my cousins in running, leaping, hurling the bar,
+or pitching the stone, has challenged them to ride, or to shoot with
+the English long-bow."
+
+"To ride," said the venerable Swiss, "were difficult where there are
+no horses, and no level ground to career upon if there were. But an
+English bow he shall have, since we happen to possess one. Take it to
+the young men, my niece, with the three arrows, and say to them from
+me, that he who bends it will do more than William Tell, or the
+renowned Stauffacher, could have done."
+
+As the maiden went to take the weapon from the place where it hung
+amid the group of arms which Philipson had formerly remarked, the
+English merchant observed, "that were the minstrels of his land to
+assign her occupation, so fair a maiden should be bow-bearer to none
+but the little blind god Cupid."
+
+"I will have nothing of the blind god Cupid," said Arnold, hastily,
+yet half laughing at the same time; "we have been deafened with the
+foolery of minstrels and strolling minnesingers, ever since the
+wandering knaves have found there were pence to be gathered among us.
+A Swiss maiden should only sing Albert Ischudi's ballads, or the merry
+lay of the going out and return of the cows to and from the mountain
+pastures."
+
+While he spoke, the damsel had selected from the arms a bow of
+extraordinary strength, considerably above six feet in length, with
+three shafts of a cloth-yard long. Philipson asked to look at the
+weapons, and examined them closely. "It is a tough piece of yew," he
+said. "I should know it, since I have dealt in such commodities in my
+time; but when I was of Arthur's age, I could have bent it as easily
+as a boy bends a willow."
+
+"We are too old to boast like boys," said Arnold Biederman, with
+something of a reproving glance at his companion. "Carry the bow to
+thy kinsmen, Anne, and let him who can bend it say he beat Arnold
+Biederman." As he spoke, he turned his eyes on the spare yet muscular
+figure of the Englishman, then again glanced down on his own stately
+person.
+
+"You must remember, good my host," said Philipson, "that weapons are
+wielded not by strength, but by art and sleight of hand. What most I
+wonder at, is to see in this place a bow made by Matthew of Doncaster,
+a bowyer who lived at least a hundred years ago, remarkable for the
+great toughness and strength of the weapons which he made, and which
+are now become somewhat unmanageable, even by an English yeoman."
+
+"How are you assured of the maker's name, worthy guest?" replied the
+Swiss.
+
+"By old Matthew's mark," answered the Englishman, "and his initials
+cut upon the bow. I wonder not a little to find such a weapon here,
+and in such good preservation."
+
+"It has been regularly waxed, oiled, and kept in good order," said the
+Landamman, "being preserved as a trophy of a memorable day. It would
+but grieve you to recount its early history, since it was taken in a
+day fatal to your country."
+
+"My country," said the Englishman, composedly, "has gained so many
+victories, that her children may well afford to hear of a single
+defeat. But I knew not that the English ever warred in Switzerland."
+
+"Not precisely as a nation," answered Biederman; "but it was in my
+grandsire's days, that a large body of roving soldiers, composed of
+men from almost all countries, but especially Englishmen, Normans, and
+Gascons, poured down on the Argau, and the districts adjacent. They
+were headed by a great warrior called Ingelram de Couci, who pretended
+some claims upon the Duke of Austria; to satisfy which, he ravaged
+indifferently the Austrian territory and that of our Confederacy. His
+soldiers were hired warriors--Free Companions they called
+themselves--that seemed to belong to no country, and were as brave in
+the fight as they were cruel in their depredations. Some pause in the
+constant wars betwixt France and England had deprived many of those
+bands of their ordinary employment, and battle being their element,
+they came to seek it among our valleys. The air seemed on fire with
+the blaze of their armour, and the very sun was darkened at the flight
+of their arrows. They did us much evil, and we sustained the loss of
+more than one battle. But we met them at Buttisholz, and mingled the
+blood of many a rider (noble, as they were called and esteemed) with
+that of their horses. The huge mound that covers the bones of man and
+steed is still called the English barrow."
+
+Philipson was silent for a minute or two, and then replied, "Then let
+them sleep in peace. If they did wrong, they paid for it with their
+lives; and that is all the ransom that mortal man can render for his
+transgressions.--Heaven pardon their souls!"
+
+"Amen," replied the Landamman, "and those of all brave men!--My
+grandsire was at the battle, and was held to have demeaned himself
+like a good soldier; and this bow has been ever since carefully
+preserved in our family. There is a prophecy about it, but I hold it
+not worthy of remark."
+
+Philipson was about to inquire further, but was interrupted by a loud
+cry of surprise and astonishment from without.
+
+"I must out," said Biederman, "and see what these wild lads are doing.
+It is not now as formerly in this land, when the young dared not judge
+for themselves, till the old man's voice had been heard."
+
+He went forth from the lodge, followed by his guest. The company who
+had witnessed the games were all talking, shouting, and disputing in
+the same breath; while Arthur Philipson stood a little apart from the
+rest, leaning on the unbent bow with apparent indifference. At the
+sight of the Landamman all were silent.
+
+"What means this unwonted clamour?" he said, raising a voice to which
+all were accustomed to listen with reverence.--"Rudiger," addressing
+the eldest of his sons, "has the young stranger bent the bow?"
+
+"He has, father," said Rudiger; "and he has hit the mark. Three such
+shots were never shot by William Tell."
+
+"It was chance--pure chance," said the young Swiss from Berne. "No
+human skill could have done it, much less a puny lad, baffled in all
+besides that he attempted among us."
+
+"But what _has_ been done?" said the Landamman.--"Nay, speak not all
+at once!--Anne of Geierstein, thou hast more sense and breeding than
+these boys--tell me how the game has gone."
+
+The maiden seemed a little confused at this appeal, but answered with
+a composed and downcast look--
+
+"The mark was, as usual, a pigeon to a pole. All the young men, except
+the stranger, had practised at it with the cross-bow and long-bow,
+without hitting it. When I brought out the bow of Buttisholz, I
+offered it first to my kinsmen. None would accept of it, saying,
+respected uncle, that a task too great for you must be far too
+difficult for them."
+
+"They said well," answered Arnold Biederman; "and the stranger, did he
+string the bow?"
+
+"He did, my uncle, but first he wrote something on a piece of paper,
+and placed it in my hands."
+
+"And did he shoot and hit the mark?" continued the surprised Switzer.
+
+"He first," said the maiden, "removed the pole a hundred yards farther
+than the post where it stood."
+
+"Singular!" said the Landamman, "that is double the usual distance."
+
+"He then drew the bow," continued the maiden, "and shot off, one after
+another, with incredible rapidity, the three arrows which he had stuck
+into his belt. The first cleft the pole, the second cut the string,
+the third killed the poor bird as it rose into the air."
+
+"By St. Mary of Einsiedlen," said the old man, looking up in amaze,
+"if your eyes really saw this, they saw such archery as was never
+before witnessed in the Forest States!"
+
+"I say nay to that, my revered kinsman," replied Rudolph Donnerhugel,
+whose vexation was apparent; "it was mere chance, if not illusion or
+witchery."
+
+"What say'st thou of it thyself, Arthur," said his father, half
+smiling. "Was thy success by chance or skill?"
+
+"My father," said the young man, "I need not tell you that I have done
+but an ordinary feat for an English bowman. Nor do I speak to gratify
+that misproud and ignorant young man. But to our worthy host and his
+family, I make answer. This youth charges me with having deluded men's
+eyes, or hit the mark by chance. For illusion, yonder is the pierced
+pole, the severed string, and the slain bird, they will endure sight
+and handling; and, besides, if that fair maiden will open the note
+which I put into her hand, she will find evidence to assure you, that
+even before I drew the bow, I had fixed upon the three marks which I
+designed to aim at."
+
+"Produce the scroll, good niece," said her uncle, "and end the
+controversy."
+
+"Nay, under your favour, my worthy host," said Arthur, "it is but some
+foolish rhymes addressed to the maiden's own eye."
+
+"And under your favour, sir," said the Landamman, "whatsoever is fit
+for my niece's eyes may greet my ears."
+
+He took the scroll from the maiden, who blushed deeply when she
+resigned it. The character in which it was written was so fine that
+the Landamman in surprise exclaimed, "No clerk of St. Gall could have
+written more fairly.--Strange," he again repeated, "that a hand which
+could draw so true a bow, should have the cunning to form characters
+so fair." He then exclaimed anew, "Ha! verses, by Our Lady! What, have
+we minstrels disguised as traders?" He then opened the scroll, and
+read the following lines:--
+
+     If I hit mast, and line, and bird,
+     An English archer keeps his word.
+     Ah! maiden, didst thou aim at me,
+     A single glance were worth the three.
+
+"Here is rare rhyming, my worthy guest," said the Landamman, shaking
+his head; "fine words to make foolish maidens fain. But do not excuse
+it; it is your country-fashion, and we know how to treat it as such."
+And without further allusion to the concluding couplet, the reading of
+which threw the poet as well as the object of the verses into some
+discomposure, he added gravely, "You must now allow, Rudolph
+Donnerhugel, that the stranger has fairly attained the three marks
+which he proposed to himself."
+
+"That he has attained them is plain," answered the party to whom the
+appeal was made; "but that he has done this fairly may be doubted, if
+there are such things as witchery and magic in this world."
+
+"Shame, shame, Rudolph!" said the Landamman. "Can spleen and envy have
+weight with so brave a man as you, from whom my sons ought to learn
+temperance, forbearance, and candour, as well as manly courage and
+dexterity?"
+
+The Bernese coloured high under this rebuke, to which he ventured not
+to attempt a reply.
+
+"To your sports till sunset, my children," continued Arnold; "while I
+and my worthy friend occupy our time with a walk, for which the
+evening is now favourable."
+
+"Methinks," said the English merchant, "I should like to visit the
+ruins of yonder castle, situated by the waterfall. There is something
+of melancholy dignity in such a scene which reconciles us to the
+misfortunes of our own time, by showing that our ancestors, who were
+perhaps more intelligent or more powerful, have nevertheless, in their
+days, encountered cares and distresses similar to those which we now
+groan under."
+
+"Have with you, my worthy sir," replied his host; "there will be time
+also upon the road to talk of things that you should know."
+
+The slow step of the two elderly men carried them by degrees from the
+limits of the lawn, where shout and laugh and halloo were again
+revived. Young Philipson, whose success as an archer had obliterated
+all recollection of former failure, made other attempts to mingle in
+the manly pastimes of the country, and gained a considerable portion
+of applause. The young men, who had but lately been so ready to join
+in ridiculing him, now began to consider him as a person to be looked
+up and appealed to; while Rudolph Donnerhugel saw with resentment that
+he was no longer without a rival in the opinion of his male cousins,
+perhaps of his kinswoman also. The proud young Swiss reflected with
+bitterness that he had fallen under the Landamman's displeasure,
+declined in reputation with his companions, of whom he had been
+hitherto the leader, and even hazarded a more mortifying
+disappointment, all, as his swelling heart expressed it, through the
+means of a stranger stripling, of neither blood nor fame, who could
+not step from one rock to another without the encouragement of a girl.
+
+In this irritated mood, he drew near the young Englishman, and while
+he seemed to address him on the chances of the sports which were still
+proceeding, he conveyed, in a whisper, matter of a far different
+tendency. Striking Arthur's shoulder with the frank bluntness of a
+mountaineer, he said aloud: "Yonder bolt of Ernest whistled through
+the air like a falcon when she stoops down the wind!" and then
+proceeded in a deep low voice, "You merchants sell gloves--do you ever
+deal in single gauntlets, or only in pairs?"
+
+"I _sell_ no single glove," said Arthur, instantly apprehending him,
+and sufficiently disposed to resent the scornful looks of the Bernese
+champion during the time of their meal, and his having but lately
+imputed his successful shooting to chance or sorcery,--"I _sell_ no
+single glove, sir, but never refuse to exchange one."
+
+"You are apt, I see," said Rudolph. "Look at the players while I
+speak, or our purpose will be suspected.--You are quicker, I say, of
+apprehension than I expected. If we exchange our gloves, how shall
+each redeem his own?"
+
+"With our good swords," said Arthur Philipson.
+
+"In armour, or as we stand?"
+
+"Even as we stand," said Arthur. "I have no better garment of proof
+than this doublet--no other weapon than my sword; and these, Sir
+Switzer, I hold enough for the purpose.--Name time and place."
+
+"The old castle-court at Geierstein," replied Rudolph; "the time
+sunrise;--but we are watched.--I have lost my wager, stranger," he
+added, speaking aloud, and in an indifferent tone of voice, "since
+Ulrick has made a cast beyond Ernest.--There is my glove, in token I
+shall not forget the flask of wine."
+
+"And there is mine," said Arthur, "in token I will drink it with you
+merrily."
+
+Thus, amid the peaceful though rough sports of their companions, did
+these two hot-headed youths contrive to indulge their hostile
+inclinations towards each other, by settling a meeting of deadly
+purpose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+                                   I was one
+     Who loved the greenwood bank and lowing herd,
+     The russet prize, the lowly peasant's life,
+     Season'd with sweet content, more than the halls
+     Where revellers feast to fever-height. Believe me,
+     There ne'er was poison mix'd in maple bowl.
+                                             ANONYMOUS.
+
+
+Leaving the young persons engaged with their sports, the Landamman of
+Unterwalden and the elder Philipson walked on in company, conversing
+chiefly on the political relations of France, England, and Burgundy,
+until the conversation was changed as they entered the gate of the old
+castle-yard of Geierstein, where arose the lonely and dismantled keep,
+surrounded by the ruins of other buildings.
+
+"This has been a proud and a strong habitation in its time," said
+Philipson.
+
+"They were a proud and powerful race who held it," replied the
+Landamman. "The Counts of Geierstein have a history which runs back to
+the times of the old Helvetians, and their deeds are reported to have
+matched their antiquity. But all earthly grandeur has an end, and free
+men tread the ruins of their feudal castle, at the most distant sight
+of whose turrets serfs were formerly obliged to vail their bonnets, if
+they would escape the chastisement of contumacious rebels."
+
+"I observe," said the merchant, "engraved on a stone under yonder
+turret, the crest, I conceive, of the last family, a vulture perched
+on a rock, descriptive, doubtless, of the word Geierstein."
+
+"It is the ancient cognisance of the family," replied Arnold
+Biederman, "and, as you say, expresses the name of the castle, being
+the same with that of the knights who so long held it."
+
+"I also remarked in your hall," continued the merchant, "a helmet
+bearing the same crest or cognisance. It is, I suppose, a trophy of
+the triumph of the Swiss peasants over the nobles of Geierstein, as
+the English bow is preserved in remembrance of the battle of
+Buttisholz?"
+
+"And you, fair sir," replied the Landamman, "would, I perceive, from
+the prejudices of your education, regard the one victory with as
+unpleasant feelings as the other?--Strange, that the veneration for
+rank should be rooted even in the minds of those who have no claim to
+share it! But clear up your downcast brows, my worthy guest, and be
+assured, that though many a proud baron's castle, when Switzerland
+threw off the bonds of feudal slavery, was plundered and destroyed by
+the just vengeance of an incensed people, such was not the lot of
+Geierstein. The blood of the old possessors of these towers still
+flows in the veins of him by whom these lands are occupied."
+
+"What am I to understand by that, Sir Landamman?" said Philipson. "Are
+not you yourself the occupant of this place?"
+
+"And you think, probably," answered Arnold, "because I live like the
+other shepherds, wear homespun grey, and hold the plough with my own
+hands, I cannot be descended from a line of ancient nobility? This
+land holds many such gentle peasants, Sir Merchant; nor is there a
+more ancient nobility than that of which the remains are to be found
+in my native country. But they have voluntarily resigned the
+oppressive part of their feudal power, and are no longer regarded as
+wolves amongst the flock, but as sagacious mastiffs, who attend the
+sheep in time of peace, and are prompt in their defence when war
+threatens our community."
+
+"But," repeated the merchant, who could not yet reconcile himself to
+the idea that his plain and peasant-seeming host was a man of
+distinguished birth, "you bear not the name, worthy sir, of your
+fathers--They were, you say, the Counts of Geierstein, and you
+are"----
+
+"Arnold Biederman, at your command," answered the magistrate. "But
+know,--if the knowledge can make you sup with more sense of dignity or
+comfort,--I need but put on yonder old helmet, or, if that were too
+much trouble, I have only to stick a falcon's feather into my cap, and
+call myself Arnold, Count of Geierstein. No man could gainsay
+me--though whether it would become my Lord Count to drive his bullocks
+to the pasture, and whether his Excellency the High and Well-born
+could, without derogation, sow a field or reap it, are questions which
+should be settled beforehand. I see you are confounded, my respected
+guest, at my degeneracy; but the state of my family is very soon
+explained.
+
+"My lordly fathers ruled this same domain of Geierstein, which in
+their time was very extensive, much after the mode of feudal
+barons--that is, they were sometimes the protectors and patrons, but
+oftener the oppressors of their subjects. But when my grandfather,
+Heinrich of Geierstein, flourished, he not only joined the
+Confederates to repel Ingelram de Couci and his roving bands, as I
+already told you, but, when the wars with Austria were renewed, and
+many of his degree joined with the host of the Emperor Leopold, my
+ancestor adopted the opposite side, fought in front of the
+Confederates, and contributed by his skill and valour to the decisive
+victory at Sempach, in which Leopold lost his life, and the flower of
+Austrian chivalry fell around him. My father, Count Williewald,
+followed the same course, both from inclination and policy. He united
+himself closely with the state of Unterwalden, became a citizen of the
+Confederacy, and distinguished himself so much that he was chosen
+Landamman of the Republic. He had two sons,--myself, and a younger
+brother, Albert; and possessed, as he felt himself, of a species of
+double character, he was desirous, perhaps unwisely (if I may censure
+the purpose of a deceased parent), that one of his sons should succeed
+him in his Lordship of Geierstein, and the other support the less
+ostentatious, though not in my thought less honourable condition, of a
+free citizen of Unterwalden, possessing such influence among his
+equals in the Canton as might be acquired by his father's merits and
+his own. When Albert was twelve years old, our father took us on a
+short excursion to Germany, where the form, pomp, and magnificence
+which we witnessed made a very different impression on the mind of my
+brother and on my own. What appeared to Albert the consummation of
+earthly splendour seemed to me a weary display of tiresome and useless
+ceremonials. Our father explained his purpose, and offered to me, as
+his eldest son, the large estate belonging to Geierstein, reserving
+such a portion of the most fertile ground as might make my brother one
+of the wealthiest citizens, in a district where competence is esteemed
+wealth. The tears gushed from Albert's eyes--'And must my brother,' he
+said, 'be a noble Count, honoured and followed by vassals and
+attendants, and I a homespun peasant among the grey-bearded shepherds
+of Unterwalden?--No, father--I respect your will--but I will not
+sacrifice my own rights. Geierstein is a fief held of the empire, and
+the laws entitle me to my equal half of the lands. If my brother be
+Count of Geierstein, I am not the less Count Albert of Geierstein; and
+I will appeal to the Emperor, rather than that the arbitrary will of
+one ancestor, though he be my father, shall cancel in me the rank and
+rights which I have derived from a hundred.' My father was greatly
+incensed. 'Go,' he said, 'proud boy, give the enemy of thy country a
+pretext to interfere in her affairs--appeal to the will of a foreign
+prince from the pleasure of thy father. Go, but never again look me in
+the face, and dread my eternal malediction!' Albert was about to reply
+with vehemence, when I entreated him to be silent and hear me speak. I
+had, I said, all my life loved the mountain better than the plain; had
+been more pleased to walk than to ride; more proud to contend with
+shepherds in their sports than with nobles in the lists; and happier
+in the village dance than among the feasts of the German nobles. 'Let
+me, therefore,' I said, 'be a citizen of the republic of Unterwalden;
+you will relieve me of a thousand cares; and let my brother Albert
+wear the coronet and bear the honours of Geierstein.' After some
+further discussion, my father was at length contented to adopt my
+proposal, in order to attain the object which he had so much at heart.
+Albert was declared heir of his castle and his rank, by the title of
+Count Albert of Geierstein; and I was placed in possession of these
+fields and fertile meadows amidst which my house is situated, and my
+neighbours called me Arnold Biederman."
+
+"And if Biederman," said the merchant, "means, as I understand the
+word, a man of worth, candour, and generosity, I know none on whom the
+epithet could be so justly conferred. Yet let me observe, that I
+praise the conduct which, in your circumstances, I could not have
+bowed my spirit to practise. Proceed, I pray you, with the history of
+your house, if the recital be not painful to you."
+
+"I have little more to say," replied the Landamman. "My father died
+soon after the settlement of his estate in the manner I have told you.
+My brother had other possessions in Swabia and Westphalia, and seldom
+visited his paternal castle, which was chiefly occupied by a
+seneschal, a man so obnoxious to the vassals of the family, that but
+for the protection afforded by my near residence, and relationship
+with his lord, he would have been plucked out of the Vulture's Nest,
+and treated with as little ceremony as if he had been the vulture
+himself. Neither, to say the truth, did my brother's occasional visits
+to Geierstein afford his vassals much relief, or acquire any
+popularity for himself. He heard with the ears and saw with the eyes
+of his cruel and interested steward, Ital Schreckenwald, and would not
+listen even to my interference and admonition. Indeed, though he
+always demeaned himself with personal kindness towards me, I believe
+he considered me as a dull and poor-spirited clown, who had disgraced
+my noble blood by my mean propensities. He showed contempt on every
+occasion for the prejudices of his countrymen, and particularly by
+wearing a peacock's feather in public, and causing his followers to
+display the same badge, though the cognisance of the House of Austria,
+and so unpopular in this country, that men have been put to death for
+no better reason than for carrying it in their caps. In the meantime I
+was married to my Bertha, now a saint in heaven, by whom I had six
+stately sons, five of whom you saw surrounding my table this day.
+Albert also married. His wife was a lady of rank in Westphalia, but
+his bridal-bed was less fruitful; he had only one daughter, Anne of
+Geierstein. Then came on the wars between the city of Zurich and our
+Forest Cantons, in which so much blood was shed, and when our brethren
+of Zurich were so ill advised as to embrace the alliance of Austria.
+Their Emperor strained every nerve to avail himself of the favourable
+opportunity afforded by the disunion of the Swiss, and engaged all
+with whom he had influence to second his efforts. With my brother he
+was but too successful; for Albert not only took arms in the Emperor's
+cause, but admitted into the strong fortress of Geierstein a band of
+Austrian soldiers, with whom the wicked Ital Schreckenwald laid waste
+the whole country, excepting my little patrimony."
+
+"It came to a severe pass with you, my worthy host," said the
+merchant, "since you were to decide against the cause of your country
+or that of your brother."
+
+"I did not hesitate," continued Arnold Biederman. "My brother was in
+the Emperor's army, and I was not therefore reduced to act personally
+against him; but I denounced war against the robbers and thieves with
+whom Schreckenwald had filled my father's house. It was waged with
+various fortune. The seneschal, during my absence, burnt down my
+house, and slew my youngest son, who died, alas! in defence of his
+father's hearth. It is little to add that my lands were wasted and my
+flocks destroyed. On the other hand, I succeeded, with help of a body
+of the peasants of Unterwalden, in storming the Castle of Geierstein.
+It was offered back to me by the Confederates; but I had no desire to
+sully the fair cause in which I had assumed arms, by enriching myself
+at the expense of my brother; and besides, to have dwelt in that
+guarded hold would have been a penance to one the sole protectors of
+whose house of late years had been a latch and a shepherd's cur. The
+castle was therefore dismantled, as you see, by order of the elders of
+the Canton; and I even think that, considering the uses it was too
+often put to, I look with more pleasure on the rugged remains of
+Geierstein, than I ever did when it was entire, and apparently
+impregnable."
+
+"I can understand your feelings," said the Englishman, "though I
+repeat, my virtue would not perhaps have extended so far beyond the
+circle of my family affections.--Your brother, what said he to your
+patriotic exertions?"
+
+"He was, as I learnt," answered the Landamman, "dreadfully incensed,
+having no doubt been informed that I had taken his castle with a view
+to my own aggrandisement. He even swore he would renounce my kindred,
+seek me through the battle, and slay me with his own hand. We were, in
+fact, both at the battle of Freyenbach, but my brother was prevented
+from attempting the execution of his vindictive purpose by a wound
+from an arrow, which occasioned his being carried out of the mêlée. I
+was afterwards in the bloody and melancholy fight at Mount-Herzel, and
+that other onslaught at the Chapel of St. Jacob [_d_], which brought
+our brethren of Zurich to terms, and reduced Austria once more to the
+necessity of making peace with us. After this war of thirteen years,
+the Diet passed sentence of banishment for life on my brother Albert,
+and would have deprived him of his possessions, but forbore in
+consideration of what they thought my good service. When the sentence
+was intimated to the Count of Geierstein, he returned an answer of
+defiance; yet a singular circumstance showed us not long afterwards
+that he retained an attachment to his country, and amidst his
+resentment against me, his brother, did justice to my unaltered
+affection for him."
+
+"I would pledge my credit," said the merchant, "that what follows
+relates to yonder fair maiden, your niece?"
+
+"You guess rightly," said the Landamman. "For some time we heard,
+though indistinctly (for we have, as you know, but little
+communication with foreign countries), that my brother was high in
+favour at the court of the Emperor, but latterly that he had fallen
+under suspicion, and, in the course of some of those revolutions
+common at the courts of princes, had been driven into exile. It was
+shortly after this news, and, as I think, more than seven years ago,
+that I was returning from hunting on the farther side of the river,
+had passed the narrow bridge as usual, and was walking through the
+courtyard which we have lately left" (for their walk was now turned
+homeward), "when a voice said, in the German language, 'Uncle, have
+compassion upon me!' As I looked around, I beheld a girl of ten years
+old approach timidly from the shelter of the ruins, and kneel down at
+my feet. 'Uncle, spare my life,' she said, holding up her little hands
+in the act of supplication, while mortal terror was painted upon her
+countenance.--'Am I your uncle, little maiden?' said I; 'and if I am,
+why should you fear me?'--'Because you are the head of the wicked and
+base clowns who delight to spill noble blood,' replied the girl, with
+a courage which surprised me.--'What is your name, my little maiden?'
+said I; 'and who, having planted in your mind opinions so unfavourable
+to your kinsman, has brought you hither, to see if he resembles the
+picture you have received of him?'--'It was Ital Schreckenwald that
+brought me hither,' said the girl, only half comprehending the nature
+of my question.--'Ital Schreckenwald?' I repeated, shocked at the name
+of a wretch I have so much reason to hate. A voice from the ruins,
+like that of a sullen echo from the grave, answered, 'Ital
+Schreckenwald!' and the caitiff issued from his place of concealment,
+and stood before me, with that singular indifference to danger which
+he unites to his atrocity of character. I had my spiked mountain-staff
+in my hand--What should I have done--or what would you have done,
+under like circumstances?"
+
+"I would have laid him on the earth, with his skull shivered like an
+icicle!" said the Englishman, fiercely.
+
+"I had well-nigh done so," replied the Swiss, "but he was unarmed, a
+messenger from my brother, and therefore no object of revenge. His own
+undismayed and audacious conduct contributed to save him. 'Let the
+vassal of the noble and high-born Count of Geierstein hear the words
+of his master, and let him look that they are obeyed,' said the insolent
+ruffian. 'Doff thy cap, and listen; for though the voice is mine, the
+words are those of the noble Count.'--'God and man know,' replied I,
+'if I owe my brother respect or homage--it is much if, in respect for
+him, I defer paying to his messenger the meed I dearly owe him.
+Proceed with thy tale, and rid me of thy hateful presence.'--'Albert
+Count of Geierstein, thy lord and my lord,' proceeded Schreckenwald,
+'having on his hand wars, and other affairs of weight, sends his
+daughter, the Countess Anne, to thy charge, and graces thee so far as
+to intrust to thee her support and nurture, until it shall suit his
+purposes to require her back from thee; and he desires that thou apply
+to her maintenance the rents and profits of the lands of Geierstein,
+which thou hast usurped from him.'--'Ital Schreckenwald,' I replied,
+'I will not stop to ask if this mode of addressing me be according to
+my brother's directions, or thine own insolent pleasure. If
+circumstances have, as thou sayest, deprived my niece of her natural
+protector, I will be to her as a father, nor shall she want aught
+which I have to give her. The lands of Geierstein are forfeited to the
+state, the castle is ruinous, as thou seest, and it is much of thy
+crimes that the house of my fathers is desolate. But where I dwell
+Anne of Geierstein shall dwell, as my children fare shall she fare,
+and she shall be to me as a daughter. And now thou hast thine
+errand--Go hence, if thou lovest thy life; for it is unsafe parleying
+with the father, when thy hands are stained with the blood of the
+son.' The wretch retired as I spoke, but took his leave with his usual
+determined insolence of manner.--'Farewell,' he said, 'Count of the
+Plough and Harrow--farewell, noble companion of paltry burghers!' He
+disappeared, and released me from the strong temptation under which I
+laboured, and which urged me to stain with his blood the place which
+had witnessed his cruelty and his crimes. I conveyed my niece to my
+house, and soon convinced her that I was her sincere friend. I inured
+her, as if she had been my daughter, to all our mountain exercises;
+and while she excels in these the damsels of the district, there burst
+from her such sparkles of sense and courage, mingled with delicacy, as
+belong not--I must needs own the truth--to the simple maidens of these
+wild hills, but relish of a nobler stem, and higher breeding. Yet they
+are so happily mixed with simplicity and courtesy, that Anne of
+Geierstein is justly considered as the pride of the district; nor do I
+doubt but that, if she should make a worthy choice of a husband, the
+state would assign her a large dower out of her father's possessions,
+since it is not our maxim to punish the child for the faults of the
+parent."
+
+"It will naturally be your anxious desire, my worthy host," replied
+the Englishman, "to secure to your niece, in whose praises I have deep
+cause to join with a grateful voice, such a suitable match as her
+birth and expectations, but above all her merit, demand."
+
+"It is, my good guest," said the Landamman, "that which hath often
+occupied my thoughts. The over-near relationship prohibits what would
+have been my most earnest desire, the hope of seeing her wedded to one
+of my own sons. This young man, Rudolph Donnerhugel, is brave, and
+highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens; but more ambitious, and more
+desirous of distinction, than I would desire for my niece's companion
+through life. His temper is violent, though his heart, I trust, is
+good. But I am like to be unpleasantly released from all care on this
+score, since my brother, having, as it seemed, forgotten Anne for
+seven years and upwards, has, by a letter which I have lately
+received, demanded that she shall be restored to him.--You can read,
+my worthy sir, for your profession requires it. See, here is the
+scroll, coldly worded, but far less unkindly than his unbrotherly
+message by Ital Schreckenwald--Read it, I pray you, aloud."
+
+The merchant read accordingly.
+
+     "BROTHER--I thank you for the care you have taken of my
+     daughter, for she has been in safety when she would
+     otherwise have been in peril, and kindly used, when she
+     would have been in hardship. I now entreat you to restore
+     her to me, and trust that she will come with the virtues
+     which become a woman in every station, and a disposition
+     to lay aside the habits of a Swiss villager, for the
+     graces of a high-born maiden.--Adieu. I thank you once
+     more for your care, and would repay it were it in my
+     power; but you need nothing I can give, having renounced
+     the rank to which you were born, and made your nest on the
+     ground where the storm passes over you. I rest your
+     brother,
+
+          "GEIERSTEIN."
+
+"It is addressed 'to Count Arnold of Geierstein, called Arnold
+Biederman.' A postscript requires you to send the maiden to the court
+of the Duke of Burgundy.--This, good sir, appears to me the language
+of a haughty man, divided betwixt the recollection of old offence and
+recent obligation. The speech of his messenger was that of a malicious
+vassal, desirous of venting his own spite under pretence of doing his
+lord's errand."
+
+"I so receive both," replied Arnold Biederman.
+
+"And do you intend," continued the merchant, "to resign this beautiful
+and interesting creature to the conduct of her father, wilful as he
+seems to be, without knowing what his condition is, or what his power
+of protecting her?"
+
+The Landamman hastened to reply. "The tie which unites the parent to
+the child is the earliest and the most hallowed that binds the human
+race. The difficulty of her travelling in safety has hitherto
+prevented my attempting to carry my brother's instructions into
+execution. But as I am now likely to journey in person towards the
+court of Charles, I have determined that Anne shall accompany me; and
+as I will myself converse with my brother, whom I have not seen for
+many years, I shall learn his purpose respecting his daughter, and it
+may be I may prevail on Albert to suffer her to remain under my
+charge.--And now, sir, having told you of my family affairs at some
+greater length than was necessary, I must crave your attention, as a
+wise man, to what further I have to say. You know the disposition
+which young men and women naturally have to talk, jest, and sport with
+each other, out of which practice arise often more serious
+attachments, which they call loving _par amours_. I trust, if we are
+to travel together, you will so school your young man as to make him
+aware that Anne of Geierstein cannot, with propriety on her part, be
+made the object of his thoughts or attentions."
+
+The merchant coloured with resentment, or something like it. "I asked
+not to join your company, Sir Landamman--it was you who requested
+mine," he said; "if my son and I have since become in any respect the
+objects of your suspicion, we will gladly pursue our way separately."
+
+"Nay, be not angry, worthy guest," said the Landamman; "we Switzers do
+not rashly harbour suspicions; and that we may not harbour them, we
+speak, respecting the circumstances out of which they might arise,
+more plainly than is the wont of more civilised countries. When I
+proposed to you to be my companion on the journey, to speak the truth,
+though it may displease a father's ear, I regarded your son as a soft,
+faint-hearted youth, who was, as yet at least, too timid and
+milky-blooded to attract either respect or regard from the maidens.
+But a few hours have presented him to us in the character of such a
+one as is sure to interest them. He has accomplished the emprise of
+the bow, long thought unattainable, and with which a popular report
+connects an idle prophecy. He has wit to make verses, and knows
+doubtless how to recommend himself by other accomplishments which bind
+young persons to each other, though they are lightly esteemed by men
+whose beards are mixed with grey, like yours, friend merchant, and
+mine own. Now, you must be aware, that since my brother broke terms
+with me, simply for preferring the freedom of a Swiss citizen to the
+tawdry and servile condition of a German courtier, he will not approve
+of any one looking towards his daughter who hath not the advantage of
+noble blood, or who hath, what he would call, debased himself by
+attention to merchandise, to the cultivation of land--in a word, to
+any art that is useful. Should your son love Anne of Geierstein, he
+prepares for himself danger and disappointment. And, now you know the
+whole,--I ask you, Do we travel together or apart?"
+
+"Even as ye list, my worthy host," said Philipson, in an indifferent
+tone; "for me, I can but say that such an attachment as you speak of
+would be as contrary to my wishes as to those of your brother, or what
+I suppose are your own. Arthur Philipson has duties to perform totally
+inconsistent with his playing the gentle bachelor to any maiden in
+Switzerland, take Germany to boot, whether of high or low degree. He
+is an obedient son, besides--hath never seriously disobeyed my
+commands, and I will have an eye upon his motions."
+
+"Enough, my friend," said the Landamman; "we travel together, then,
+and I willingly keep my original purpose, being both pleased and
+instructed by your discourse."
+
+Then changing the conversation, he began to ask whether his
+acquaintance thought that the league entered into by the King of
+England and the Duke of Burgundy would continue stable. "We hear
+much," continued the Swiss, "of the immense army with which King
+Edward proposes the recovery of the English dominions in France."
+
+"I am well aware," said Philipson, "that nothing can be so popular in
+my country as the invasion of France, and the attempt to reconquer
+Normandy, Maine, and Gascony, the ancient appanages of our English
+crown. But I greatly doubt whether the voluptuous usurper, who now
+calls himself king, will be graced by Heaven with success in such an
+adventure. This Fourth Edward is brave indeed, and has gained every
+battle in which he drew his sword, and they have been many in number.
+But since he reached, through a bloody path, to the summit of his
+ambition, he has shown himself rather a sensual debauchee than a
+valiant knight; and it is my firm belief, that not even the chance of
+recovering all the fair dominions which were lost during the civil
+wars excited by his ambitious house will tempt him to exchange the
+soft beds of London, with sheets of silk and pillows of down, and the
+music of a dying lute to lull him to rest, for the turf of France and
+the réveille of an alarm trumpet."
+
+"It is the better for us should it prove so," said the Landamman; "for
+if England and Burgundy were to dismember France, as in our father's
+days was nearly accomplished, Duke Charles would then have leisure to
+exhaust his long-hoarded vengeance against our Confederacy."
+
+As they conversed thus, they attained once more the lawn in front of
+Arnold Biederman's mansion, where the contention of the young men had
+given place to the dance performed by the young persons of both sexes.
+The dance was led by Anne of Geierstein and the youthful stranger;
+which, although it was the most natural arrangement, where the one was
+a guest, and the other represented the mistress of the family,
+occasioned the Landamman's exchanging a glance with the elder
+Philipson, as if it had held some relation to the suspicions he had
+recently expressed.
+
+But so soon as her uncle and his elder guest appeared, Anne of
+Geierstein took the earliest opportunity of a pause to break off the
+dance, and to enter into conversation with her kinsman, as if on the
+domestic affairs under her attendance. Philipson observed that his
+host listened seriously to his niece's communication; and, nodding in
+his frank manner, seemed to intimate that her request should receive a
+favourable consideration.
+
+The family were presently afterwards summoned to attend the evening
+meal, which consisted chiefly of the excellent fish afforded by the
+neighbouring streams and lakes. A large cup, containing what was
+called the _schlaf-trunk_, or sleeping-drink, then went round, which
+was first quaffed by the master of the household, then modestly tasted
+by the maiden, next pledged by the two strangers, and finally emptied
+by the rest of the company. Such were then the sober manners of the
+Swiss, afterwards much corrupted by their intercourse with more
+luxurious regions. The guests were conducted to the sleeping-apartments,
+where Philipson and young Arthur occupied the same couch, and shortly
+after the whole inhabitants of the household were locked in sound
+repose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+     When we two meet, we meet like rushing torrents;
+     Like warring winds, like flames from various points,
+     That mate each other's fury--there is naught
+     Of elemental strife, were fiends to guide it,
+     Can match the wrath of man.
+                                                 FRENAUD.
+
+
+The elder of our two travellers, though a strong man and familiar with
+fatigue, slept sounder and longer than usual on the morning which was
+now beginning to dawn, but his son Arthur had that upon his mind which
+early interrupted his repose.
+
+The encounter with the bold Switzer, a chosen man of a renowned race
+of warriors, was an engagement which, in the opinion of the period in
+which he lived, was not to be delayed or broken. He left his father's
+side, avoiding as much as possible the risk of disturbing him, though
+even in that case the circumstance would not have excited any
+attention, as he was in the habit of rising early, in order to make
+preparations for the day's journey, to see that the guide was on his
+duty, and that the mule had his provender, and to discharge similar
+offices which might otherwise have given trouble to his father. The
+old man, however, fatigued with the exertions of the preceding day,
+slept, as we have said, more soundly than his wont, and Arthur, arming
+himself with his good sword, sallied out to the lawn in front of the
+Landamman's dwelling, amid the magic dawn of a beautiful harvest
+morning in the Swiss mountains.
+
+The sun was just about to kiss the top of the most gigantic of that
+race of Titans, though the long shadows still lay on the rough grass,
+which crisped under the young man's feet with a strong intimation of
+frost. But Arthur looked not round on the landscape, however lovely,
+which lay waiting one flash from the orb of day to start into
+brilliant existence. He drew the belt of his trusty sword which he was
+in the act of fastening when he left the house, and ere he had secured
+the buckle he was many paces on his way towards the place where he was
+to use it.
+
+It was still the custom of that military period to regard a summons to
+combat as a sacred engagement, preferable to all others which could be
+formed; and stifling whatever inward feelings of reluctance Nature
+might oppose to the dictates of fashion, the step of a gallant to the
+place of encounter was required to be as free and ready as if he had
+been going to a bridal. I do not know whether this alacrity was
+altogether real on the part of Arthur Philipson; but, if it were
+otherwise, neither his look nor pace betrayed the secret.
+
+Having hastily traversed the fields and groves which separated the
+Landamman's residence from the old castle of Geierstein, he entered
+the courtyard from the side where the castle overlooked the land; and
+nearly in the same instant his almost gigantic antagonist, who looked
+yet more tall and burly by the pale morning light than he had seemed
+the preceding evening, appeared ascending from the precarious bridge
+beside the torrent, having reached Geierstein by a different route
+from that pursued by the Englishman.
+
+The young champion of Berne had hanging along his back one of those
+huge two-handed swords, the blade of which measured five feet, and
+which were wielded with both hands. These were almost universally used
+by the Swiss; for, besides the impression which such weapons were
+calculated to make upon the array of the German men-at-arms, whose
+armour was impenetrable to lighter swords, they were also well
+calculated to defend mountain passes, where the great bodily strength
+and agility of those who bore them enabled the combatants, in spite of
+their weight and length, to use them with much address and effect. One
+of these gigantic swords hung round Rudolph Donnerhugel's neck, the
+point rattling against his heel, and the handle extending itself over
+his left shoulder, considerably above his head. He carried another in
+his hand.
+
+"Thou art punctual," he called out to Arthur Philipson, in a voice
+which was distinctly heard above the roar of the waterfall, which it
+seemed to rival in sullen force. "But I judged thou wouldst come
+without a two-handed sword. There is my kinsman Ernest's," he said,
+throwing on the ground the weapon which he carried, with the hilt
+towards the young Englishman. "Look, stranger, that thou disgrace it
+not, for my kinsman will never forgive me if thou dost. Or thou mayst
+have mine if thou likest it better."
+
+The Englishman looked at the weapon with some surprise, to the use of
+which he was totally unaccustomed.
+
+"The challenger," he said, "in all countries where honour is known,
+accepts the arms of the challenged."
+
+"He who fights on a Swiss mountain, fights with a Swiss brand,"
+answered Rudolph. "Think you our hands are made to handle penknives?"
+
+"Nor are ours made to wield scythes," said Arthur; and muttered
+betwixt his teeth, as he looked at the sword, which the Swiss
+continued to offer him--"_Usum non habeo_ [_e_], I have not proved the
+weapon."
+
+"Do you repent the bargain you have made?" said the Swiss; "if so, cry
+craven, and return in safety. Speak plainly, instead of prattling
+Latin like a clerk or a shaven monk."
+
+"No, proud man," replied the Englishman, "I ask thee no forbearance. I
+thought but of a combat between a shepherd and a giant, in which God
+gave the victory to him who had worse odds of weapons than falls to my
+lot to-day. I will fight as I stand; my own good sword shall serve my
+need now, as it has done before."
+
+"Content!--But blame not me who offered thee equality of weapons,"
+said the mountaineer. "And now hear me. This is a fight for life or
+death--yon waterfall sounds the alarum for our conflict.--Yes, old
+bellower," he continued, looking back, "it is long since thou hast
+heard the noise of battle;--and look at it ere we begin, stranger, for
+if you fall, I will commit your body to its waters."
+
+"And if thou fall'st, proud Swiss," answered Arthur, "as well I trust
+thy presumption leads to destruction, I will have thee buried in the
+church at Einsiedlen, where the priests shall sing masses for thy
+soul--thy two-handed sword shall be displayed above thy grave, and a
+scroll shall tell the passenger, Here lies a bear's cub of Berne,
+slain by Arthur the Englishman."
+
+"The stone is not in Switzerland, rocky as it is," said Rudolph,
+scornfully, "that shall bear that inscription. Prepare thyself for
+battle."
+
+The Englishman cast a calm and deliberate glance around the scene of
+action--a courtyard, partly open, partly encumbered with ruins, in
+less and larger masses.
+
+"Methinks," said he to himself, "a master of his weapon, with the
+instructions of Bottaferma of Florence in his remembrance, a light
+heart, a good blade, a firm hand, and a just cause, might make up a
+worse odds than two feet of steel."
+
+Thinking thus, and imprinting on his mind, as much as the time would
+permit, every circumstance of the locality around him which promised
+advantage in the combat, and taking his station in the middle of the
+courtyard where the ground was entirely clear, he flung his cloak from
+him, and drew his sword.
+
+Rudolph had at first believed that his foreign antagonist was an
+effeminate youth, who would be swept from before him at the first
+flourish of his tremendous weapon. But the firm and watchful attitude
+assumed by the young man reminded the Swiss of the deficiencies of his
+own unwieldy implement, and made him determine to avoid any
+precipitation which might give advantage to an enemy who seemed both
+daring and vigilant. He unsheathed his huge sword, by drawing it over
+the left shoulder, an operation which required some little time, and
+might have offered formidable advantage to his antagonist, had
+Arthur's sense of honour permitted him to begin the attack ere it was
+completed. The Englishman remained firm, however, until the Swiss,
+displaying his bright brand to the morning sun, made three or four
+flourishes as if to prove its weight, and the facility with which he
+wielded it--then stood firm within sword-stroke of his adversary,
+grasping his weapon with both hands, and advancing it a little before
+his body, with the blade pointed straight upwards. The Englishman, on
+the contrary, carried his sword in one hand, holding it across his
+face in a horizontal position, so as to be at once ready to strike,
+thrust, or parry.
+
+"Strike, Englishman!" said the Switzer, after they had confronted each
+other in this manner for about a minute.
+
+"The longest sword should strike first," said Arthur; and the words
+had not left his mouth when the Swiss sword rose, and descended with a
+rapidity which, the weight and size of the weapon considered, appeared
+portentous. No parry, however dexterously interposed, could have
+baffled the ruinous descent of that dreadful weapon, by which the
+champion of Berne had hoped at once to begin the battle and end it.
+But young Philipson had not over-estimated the justice of his own eye,
+or the activity of his limbs. Ere the blade descended, a sudden spring
+to one side carried him from beneath its heavy sway, and before the
+Swiss could again raise his sword aloft he received a wound, though a
+slight one, upon the left arm. Irritated at the failure and at the
+wound, the Switzer heaved up his sword once more, and availing himself
+of a strength corresponding to his size, he discharged towards his
+adversary a succession of blows, downright, athwart, horizontal, and
+from left to right, with such surprising strength and velocity, that
+it required all the address of the young Englishman, by parrying,
+shifting, eluding, or retreating, to evade a storm of which every
+individual blow seemed sufficient to cleave a solid rock. The
+Englishman was compelled to give ground, now backwards, now swerving
+to the one side or the other, now availing himself of the fragments of
+the ruins, but watching all the while, with the utmost composure, the
+moment when the strength of his enraged enemy might become somewhat
+exhausted, or when by some improvident or furious blow he might again
+lay himself open to a close attack. The latter of these advantages had
+nearly occurred, for in the middle of his headlong charge the Switzer
+stumbled over a large stone concealed among the long grass, and ere he
+could recover himself received a severe blow across the head from his
+antagonist. It lighted upon his bonnet, the lining of which enclosed a
+small steel cap, so that he escaped unwounded, and springing up,
+renewed the battle with unabated fury, though it seemed to the young
+Englishman with breath somewhat short, and blows dealt with more
+caution.
+
+They were still contending with equal fortune, when a stern voice,
+rising over the clash of swords, as well as the roar of waters, called
+out in a commanding tone, "On your lives, forbear!"
+
+The two combatants sank the points of their swords, not very sorry
+perhaps for the interruption of a strife which must otherwise have had
+a deadly termination. They looked round, and the Landamman stood
+before them, with anger frowning on his broad and expressive forehead.
+
+"How now, boys?" he said. "Are you guests of Arnold Biederman, and do
+you dishonour his house by acts of violence more becoming the wolves
+of the mountains, than beings to whom the great Creator has given a
+form after His own likeness, and an immortal soul to be saved by
+penance and repentance?"
+
+"Arthur," said the elder Philipson, who had come up at the same time
+with their host, "what frenzy is this? Are your duties of so light and
+heedless a nature, as to give time and place for quarrels and combats
+with every idle boor who chances to be boastful at once and
+bull-headed?"
+
+The young men, whose strife had ceased at the entrance of these
+unexpected spectators, stood looking at each other, and resting on
+their swords.
+
+"Rudolph Donnerhugel," said the Landamman, "give thy sword to me--to
+me, the owner of this ground, the master of this family, and
+magistrate of the canton."
+
+"And which is more," answered Rudolph, submissively, "to you who are
+Arnold Biederman, at whose command every native of these mountains
+draws his sword or sheathes it."
+
+He gave his two-handed sword to the Landamman.
+
+"Now, by my honest word," said Biederman, "it is the same with which
+thy father Stephen fought so gloriously at Sempach, abreast with the
+famous De Winkelried! Shame it is, that it should be drawn on a
+helpless stranger.--And you, young sir," continued the Swiss,
+addressing Arthur, while his father said at the same time, "Young man,
+yield up your sword to the Landamman."
+
+"It shall not need, sir," replied the young Englishman, "since, for my
+part, I hold our strife at an end. This gallant gentleman called me
+hither, on a trial, as I conceive, of courage: I can give my
+unqualified testimony to his gallantry and swordmanship; and as I
+trust he will say nothing to the shame of my manhood, I think our
+strife has lasted long enough for the purpose which gave rise to it."
+
+"Too long for me," said Rudolph, frankly; "the green sleeve of my
+doublet, which I wore of that colour out of my love to the Forest
+Cantons, is now stained into as dirty a crimson as could have been
+done by any dyer in Ypres or Ghent. But I heartily forgive the brave
+stranger who has spoiled my jerkin, and given its master a lesson he
+will not soon forget. Had all Englishmen been like your guest, worthy
+kinsman, methinks the mound at Buttisholz had hardly risen so high."
+
+"Cousin Rudolph," said the Landamman, smoothing his brow as his
+kinsman spoke, "I have ever thought thee as generous as thou art
+harebrained and quarrelsome; and you, my young guest, may rely, that
+when a Swiss says the quarrel is over, there is no chance of its being
+renewed. We are not like the men of the valleys to the eastward, who
+nurse revenge as if it were a favourite child. And now, join hands, my
+children, and let us forget this foolish feud."
+
+"Here is my hand, brave stranger," said Donnerhugel; "thou hast taught
+me a trick of fence, and when we have broken our fast we will, by your
+leave, to the forest, where I will teach you a trick of woodcraft in
+return. When your foot hath half the experience of your hand, and your
+eye hath gained a portion of the steadiness of your heart, you will
+not find many hunters to match you."
+
+Arthur, with all the ready confidence of youth, readily embraced a
+proposition so frankly made, and before they reached the house various
+subjects of sport were eagerly discussed between them, with as much
+cordiality as if no disturbance of their concord had taken place.
+
+"Now this," said the Landamman, "is as it should be. I am ever ready
+to forgive the headlong impetuosity of our youth, if they will be but
+manly and open in their reconciliation, and bear their heart on their
+tongue, as a true Swiss should."
+
+"These two youths had made but wild work of it, however," said
+Philipson, "had not your care, my worthy host, learned of their
+rendezvous, and called me to assist in breaking their purpose. May I
+ask how it came to your knowledge so opportunely?"
+
+"It was e'en through means of my domestic fairy," answered Arnold
+Biederman, "who seems born for the good luck of my family,--I mean my
+niece, Anne, who had observed a glove exchanged betwixt the two young
+braggadocios, and heard them mention Geierstein and break of day. Oh,
+sir, it is much to see a woman's sharpness of wit! It would have been
+long enough ere any of my thick-headed sons had shown themselves so
+apprehensive."
+
+"I think I see our propitious protectress peeping at us from yonder
+high ground," said Philipson; "but it seems as if she would willingly
+observe us without being seen in return."
+
+"Ay," said the Landamman, "she has been looking out to see that there
+has been no hurt done; and now, I warrant me, the foolish girl is
+ashamed of having shown such a laudable degree of interest in a matter
+of the kind."
+
+"Methinks," said the Englishman, "I would willingly return my thanks,
+in your presence, to the fair maiden to whom I have been so highly
+indebted."
+
+"There can be no better time than the present," said the Landamman;
+and he sent through the groves the maiden's name, in one of those
+shrilly accented tones which we have already noticed.
+
+Anne of Geierstein, as Philipson had before observed, was stationed
+upon a knoll at some distance, and concealed, as she thought, from
+notice, by a screen of brushwood. She started at her uncle's summons,
+therefore, but presently obeyed it; and avoiding the young men, who
+passed on foremost, she joined the Landamman and Philipson, by a
+circuitous path through the woods.
+
+"My worthy friend and guest would speak with you, Anne," said the
+Landamman, so soon as the morning greeting had been exchanged. The
+Swiss maiden coloured over brow as well as cheek, when Philipson, with
+a grace which seemed beyond his calling, addressed her in these
+words:--
+
+"It happens sometimes to us merchants, my fair young friend, that we
+are unlucky enough not to possess means for the instant defraying of
+our debts; but he is justly held amongst us as the meanest of mankind
+who does not acknowledge them. Accept, therefore, the thanks of a
+father, whose son your courage, only yesterday, saved from
+destruction, and whom your prudence has, this very morning, rescued
+from a great danger. And grieve me not, by refusing to wear these
+earrings," he added, producing a small jewel-case, which he opened as
+he spoke: "they are, it is true, only of pearls, but they have not
+been thought unworthy the ears of a countess"----
+
+"And must, therefore," said the old Landamman, "show misplaced on the
+person of a Swiss maiden of Unterwalden; for such and no more is my
+niece Anne while she resides in my solitude. Methinks, good Master
+Philipson, you display less than your usual judgment in matching the
+quality of your gifts with the rank of her on whom they are
+bestowed--as a merchant, too, you should remember that large guerdons
+will lighten your gains."
+
+"Let me crave your pardon, my good host," answered the Englishman,
+"while I reply, that at least I have consulted my own sense of the
+obligation under which I labour, and have chosen, out of what I have
+at my free disposal, that which I thought might best express it. I
+trust the host whom I have found hitherto so kind will not prevent
+this young maiden from accepting what is at least not unbecoming the
+rank she is born to; and you will judge me unjustly if you think me
+capable of doing either myself or you the wrong, of offering any token
+of a value beyond what I can well spare."
+
+The Landamman took the jewel-case into his own hand.
+
+"I have ever set my countenance," he said, "against gaudy gems, which
+are leading us daily further astray from the simplicity of our fathers
+and mothers.--And yet," he added, with a good-humoured smile, and
+holding one of the earrings close to his relation's face, "the
+ornaments do set off the wench rarely, and they say girls have more
+pleasure in wearing such toys than grey-haired men can comprehend.
+Wherefore, dear Anne, as thou hast deserved a dearer trust in a
+greater matter, I refer thee entirely to thine own wisdom, to accept
+of our good friend's costly present, and wear it or not as thou
+thinkest fit."
+
+"Since such is your pleasure, my best friend and kinsman," said the
+young maiden, blushing as she spoke, "I will not give pain to our
+valued guest, by refusing what he desires so earnestly that I should
+accept; but, by his leave, good uncle, and yours, I will bestow these
+splendid earrings on the shrine of Our Lady of Einsiedlen, to express
+our general gratitude to her protecting favour, which has been around
+us in the terrors of yesterday's storm, and the alarms of this
+morning's discord."
+
+"By Our Lady, the wench speaks sensibly!" said the Landamman; "and her
+wisdom has applied the bounty well, my good guest, to bespeak prayers
+for thy family and mine, and for the general peace of Unterwalden.--Go
+to, Anne, thou shalt have a necklace of jet at next shearing-feast, if
+our fleeces bear any price in the market."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     Let him who will not proffer'd peace receive,
+     Be sated with the plagues which war can give;
+     And well thy hatred of the peace is known,
+     If now thy soul reject the friendship shown.
+                                  HOOLE'S _Tasso_.
+
+
+The confidence betwixt the Landamman and the English merchant appeared
+to increase during the course of a few busy days, which occurred
+before that appointed for the commencement of their journey to the
+court of Charles of Burgundy. The state of Europe, and of the
+Helvetian Confederacy, has been already alluded to; but, for the
+distinct explanation of our story, may be here briefly recapitulated.
+
+In the interval of a week, whilst the English travellers remained at
+Geierstein, meetings or diets were held, as well of the City Cantons
+of the Confederacy as of those of the Forest. The former, aggrieved by
+the taxes imposed on their commerce by the Duke of Burgundy, rendered
+yet more intolerable by the violence of the agents whom he employed in
+such oppression, were eager for war, in which they had hitherto
+uniformly found victory and wealth. Many of them were also privately
+instigated to arms by the largesses of Louis XI., who spared neither
+intrigues nor gold to effect a breach betwixt these dauntless
+confederates and his formidable enemy, Charles the Bold.
+
+On the other hand, there were many reasons which appeared to render it
+impolitic for the Switzers to engage in war with one of the most
+wealthy, most obstinate, and most powerful princes in Europe--for such
+unquestionably was Charles of Burgundy--without the existence of some
+strong reason affecting their own honour and independence. Every day
+brought fresh intelligence from the interior that Edward the Fourth of
+England had entered into a strict and intimate alliance, offensive and
+defensive, with the Duke of Burgundy, and that it was the purpose of
+the English King, renowned for his numerous victories over the rival
+House of Lancaster, by which, after various reverses, he had obtained
+undisputed possession of the throne, to reassert his claims to those
+provinces of France so long held by his ancestors. It seemed as if
+this alone were wanting to his fame, and that, having subdued his
+internal enemies, he now turned his eyes to the regaining of those
+rich and valuable foreign possessions which had been lost during the
+administration of the feeble Henry VI. and the civil discords so
+dreadfully prosecuted in the wars of the White and Red Roses. It was
+universally known, that throughout England generally the loss of the
+French provinces was felt as a national degradation; and that not only
+the nobility, who had in consequence been deprived of the large fiefs
+which they had held in Normandy, Gascony, Maine, and Anjou, but the
+warlike gentry, accustomed to gain both fame and wealth at the expense
+of France, and the fiery yeomanry, whose bows had decided so many
+fatal battles, were as eager to renew the conflict, as their ancestors
+of Cressy, Poitiers, and Agincourt had been to follow their sovereign
+to the fields of victory, on which their deeds had conferred deathless
+renown.
+
+The latest and most authentic intelligence bore, that the King of
+England was on the point of passing to France in person (an invasion
+rendered easy by his possession of Calais), with an army superior in
+numbers and discipline to any with which an English monarch had ever
+before entered that kingdom; that all the hostile preparations were
+completed, and that the arrival of Edward might instantly be expected;
+whilst the powerful co-operation of the Duke of Burgundy, and the
+assistance of numerous disaffected French noblemen in the provinces
+which had been so long under the English dominion, threatened a
+fearful issue of the war to Louis XI., sagacious, wise, and powerful
+as that prince unquestionably was.
+
+It would no doubt have been the wisest policy of Charles of Burgundy,
+when thus engaging in an alliance against his most formidable
+neighbour, and hereditary as well as personal enemy, to have avoided
+all cause of quarrel with the Helvetian Confederacy, a poor but most
+warlike people, who already had been taught by repeated successes to
+feel that their hardy infantry could, if necessary, engage on terms of
+equality, or even of advantage, the flower of that chivalry which had
+hitherto been considered as forming the strength of European battle.
+But the measures of Charles, whom fortune had opposed to the most
+astucious and politic monarch of his time, were always dictated by
+passionate feeling and impulse, rather than by a judicious
+consideration of the circumstances in which he stood. Haughty, proud,
+and uncompromising, though neither destitute of honour nor
+generosity, he despised and hated what he termed the paltry
+associations of herdsmen and shepherds, united with a few towns which
+subsisted chiefly by commerce; and instead of courting the Helvetian
+Cantons, like his crafty enemy, or at least affording them no
+ostensible pretence of quarrel, he omitted no opportunity of showing
+the disregard and contempt in which he held their upstart consequence,
+and of evincing the secret longing which he entertained to take
+vengeance upon them for the quantity of noble blood which they had
+shed, and to compensate the repeated successes they had gained over
+the feudal lords, of whom he imagined himself the destined avenger.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy's possessions in the Alsatian territory [_f_]
+afforded him many opportunities for wreaking his displeasure upon the
+Swiss League. The little castle and town of Ferette, lying within ten
+or eleven miles of Bâle, served as a thoroughfare to the traffic of
+Berne and Soleure, the two principal towns of the confederation. In
+this place the Duke posted a governor, or seneschal, who was also an
+administrator of the revenue, and seemed born on purpose to be the
+plague and scourge of his republican neighbours.
+
+Archibald von Hagenbach was a German noble, whose possessions lay in
+Suabia, and was universally esteemed one of the fiercest and most
+lawless of that frontier nobility known by the name of Robber-knights
+and Robber-counts. These dignitaries, because they held their fiefs of
+the Holy Roman Empire, claimed as complete sovereignty within their
+territories of a mile square as any reigning prince of Germany in his
+more extended dominions. They levied tolls and taxes on strangers,
+and imprisoned, tried, and executed those who, as they alleged, had
+committed offences within their petty domains. But especially, and in
+further exercise of their seignorial privileges, they made war on each
+other, and on the Free Cities of the Empire, attacking and plundering
+without mercy the caravans, or large trains of wagons, by which the
+internal commerce of Germany was carried on.
+
+A succession of injuries done and received by Archibald of Hagenbach,
+who had been one of the fiercest sticklers for this privilege of
+_faustrecht_, or club-law, as it may be termed, had ended in his being
+obliged, though somewhat advanced in life, to leave a country where
+his tenure of existence was become extremely precarious, and to engage
+in the service of the Duke of Burgundy, who willingly employed him, as
+he was a man of high descent and proved valour, and not the less,
+perhaps, that he was sure to find in a man of Hagenbach's fierce,
+rapacious, and haughty disposition, the unscrupulous executioner of
+whatsoever severities it might be his master's pleasure to enjoin.
+
+The traders of Berne and Soleure, accordingly, made loud and violent
+complaints of Hagenbach's exactions. The impositions laid on
+commodities which passed through his district of La Ferette, to
+whatever place they might be ultimately bound, were arbitrarily
+increased, and the merchants and traders who hesitated to make instant
+payment of what was demanded were exposed to imprisonment and personal
+punishment. The commercial towns of Germany appealed to the Duke
+against this iniquitous conduct on the part of the Governor of La
+Ferette, and requested of his Grace's goodness that he would withdraw
+Von Hagenbach from their neighbourhood; but the Duke treated their
+complaints with contempt. The Swiss League carried their remonstrances
+higher, and required that justice should be done on the Governor of La
+Ferette, as having offended against the law of nations; but they were
+equally unable to attract attention or obtain redress.
+
+At length the Diet of the Confederation determined to send the solemn
+deputation which has been repeatedly mentioned. One or two of these
+envoys joined with the calm and prudent Arnold Biederman, in the hope
+that so solemn a measure might open the eyes of the Duke to the wicked
+injustice of his representative; others among the deputies, having no
+such peaceful views, were determined, by this resolute remonstrance,
+to pave the way for hostilities.
+
+Arnold Biederman was an especial advocate for peace, while its
+preservation was compatible with national independence, and the honour
+of the Confederacy; but the younger Philipson soon discovered that the
+Landamman alone, of all his family, cherished these moderate views.
+The opinion of his sons had been swayed and seduced by the impetuous
+eloquence and overbearing influence of Rudolph of Donnerhugel, who, by
+some feats of peculiar gallantry, and the consideration due to the
+merit of his ancestors, had acquired an influence in the councils of
+his native canton, and with the youth of the League in general, beyond
+what was usually yielded by these wise republicans to men of his early
+age. Arthur, who was now an acceptable and welcome companion of all
+their hunting parties and other sports, heard nothing among the young
+men but anticipations of war, rendered delightful by the hopes of
+booty and of distinction, which were to be obtained by the Switzers.
+The feats of their ancestors against the Germans had been so wonderful
+as to realise the fabulous victories of romance; and while the present
+race possessed the same hardy limbs, and the same inflexible courage,
+they eagerly anticipated the same distinguished success. When the
+Governor of La Ferette was mentioned in the conversation, he was
+usually spoken of as the bandog of Burgundy, or the Alsatian mastiff;
+and intimations were openly given, that if his course were not
+instantly checked by his master, and he himself withdrawn from the
+frontiers of Switzerland, Archibald of Hagenbach would find his
+fortress no protection from the awakened indignation of the wronged
+inhabitants of Soleure, and particularly of those of Berne.
+
+This general disposition to war among the young Switzers was reported
+to the elder Philipson by his son, and led him at one time to hesitate
+whether he ought not rather to resume all the inconveniences and
+dangers of a journey, accompanied only by Arthur, than run the risk of
+the quarrels in which he might be involved by the unruly conduct of
+these fierce mountain youths, after they should have left their own
+frontiers. Such an event would have had, in a peculiar degree, the
+effect of destroying every purpose of his journey; but respected as
+Arnold Biederman was by his family and countrymen, the English
+merchant concluded, upon the whole, that his influence would be able
+to restrain his companions until the great question of peace or war
+should be determined, and especially until they should have discharged
+their commission by obtaining an audience of the Duke of Burgundy; and
+after this he should be separated from their society, and not liable
+to be engaged in any responsibility for their ulterior measures.
+
+After a delay of about ten days, the deputation commissioned to
+remonstrate with the Duke on the aggressions and exactions of
+Archibald of Hagenbach at length assembled at Geierstein, whence the
+members were to journey forth together. They were three in number,
+besides the young Bernese, and the Landamman of Unterwalden. One was,
+like Arnold, a proprietor from the Forest Cantons, wearing a dress
+scarcely handsomer than that of a common herdsman, but distinguished
+by the beauty and size of his long silvery beard. His name was
+Nicholas Bonstetten. Melchior Sturmthal, banner-bearer of Berne, a man
+of middle age, and a soldier of distinguished courage, with Adam
+Zimmerman, a burgess of Soleure, who was considerably older, completed
+the number of the envoys.
+
+Each was dressed after his best fashion; but notwithstanding that the
+severe eye of Arnold Biederman censured one or two silver
+belt-buckles, as well as a chain of the same metal, which decorated
+the portly person of the burgess of Soleure, it seemed that a powerful
+and victorious people, for such the Swiss were now to be esteemed,
+were never represented by an embassy of such patriarchal simplicity.
+The deputies travelled on foot, with their piked staves in their
+hands, like pilgrims bound for some place of devotion. Two mules,
+which bore their little stock of baggage, were led by young lads, sons
+or cousins of members of the embassy, who had obtained permission in
+this manner to get such a glance of the world beyond the mountains as
+this journey promised to afford.
+
+But although their retinue was small, so far as respected either state
+or personal attendance and accommodation, the dangerous circumstances
+of the times, and the very unsettled state of the country beyond their
+own territories, did not permit men charged with affairs of such
+importance to travel without a guard. Even the danger arising from the
+wolves, which, when pinched by the approach of winter, have been known
+to descend from their mountain fastnesses into open villages, such as
+those the travellers might choose to quarter in, rendered the presence
+of some escort necessary; and the bands of deserters from various
+services, who formed parties of banditti on the frontiers of Alsatia
+and Germany, combined to recommend such a precaution.
+
+Accordingly, about twenty of the selected youth from the various Swiss
+cantons, including Rudiger, Ernest, and Sigismund, Arnold's three
+eldest sons, attended upon the deputation. They did not, however,
+observe any military order, or march close or near to the patriarchal
+train. On the contrary, they formed hunting parties of five or six
+together, who explored the rocks, woods, and passes of the mountains,
+through which the envoys journeyed. Their slower pace allowed the
+active young men, who were accompanied by their large shaggy dogs,
+full time to destroy wolves and bears, or occasionally to surprise a
+chamois among the cliffs; while the hunters, even while in pursuit of
+their sport, were careful to examine such places as might afford
+opportunity for ambush, and thus ascertained the safety of the party
+whom they escorted, more securely than if they had attended close on
+their train. A peculiar note on the huge Swiss bugle, before
+described, formed of the horn of the mountain bull, was the signal
+agreed upon for collecting in a body should danger occur. Rudolph
+Donnerhugel, so much younger than his brethren in the same important
+commission, took the command of this mountain body-guard, whom he
+usually accompanied in their sportive excursions. In point of arms,
+they were well provided; bearing two-handed swords, long partisans and
+spears, as well as both cross and long bows, short cutlasses, and
+huntsmen's knives. The heavier weapons, as impeding their activity,
+were carried with the baggage, but were ready to be assumed on the
+slightest alarm.
+
+Arthur Philipson, like his late antagonist, naturally preferred the
+company and sports of the younger men to the grave conversation and
+slow pace of the fathers of the mountain commonwealth. There was,
+however, one temptation to loiter with the baggage, which, had other
+circumstances permitted, might have reconciled the young Englishman to
+forego the opportunities of sport which the Swiss youth so eagerly
+sought after, and endure the slow pace and grave conversation of the
+elders of the party. In a word, Anne of Geierstein, accompanied by a
+Swiss girl her attendant, travelled in the rear of the deputation.
+
+The two females were mounted upon asses, whose slow step hardly kept
+pace with the baggage mules; and it may be fairly suspected that
+Arthur Philipson, in requital of the important services which he had
+received from that beautiful and interesting young woman, would have
+deemed it no extreme hardship to have afforded her occasionally his
+assistance on the journey, and the advantage of his conversation to
+relieve the tediousness of the way. But he dared not presume to offer
+attentions which the customs of the country did not seem to permit,
+since they were not attempted by any of the maiden's cousins, or even
+by Rudolph Donnerhugel, who certainly had hitherto appeared to neglect
+no opportunity to recommend himself to his fair cousin. Besides,
+Arthur had reflection enough to be convinced, that in yielding to the
+feelings which impelled him to cultivate the acquaintance of this
+amiable young person, he would certainly incur the serious displeasure
+of his father, and probably also that of her uncle, by whose
+hospitality they had profited, and whose safe-conduct they were in the
+act of enjoying.
+
+The young Englishman, therefore, pursued the same amusements which
+interested the other young men of the party, managing only, as
+frequently as their halts permitted, to venture upon offering to the
+maiden such marks of courtesy as could afford no room for remark or
+censure. And his character as a sportsman being now well established,
+he sometimes permitted himself, even when the game was afoot, to
+loiter in the vicinity of the path on which he could at least mark the
+flutter of the grey wimple of Anne of Geierstein, and the outline of
+the form which it shrouded. This indolence, as it seemed, was not
+unfavourably construed by his companions, being only accounted an
+indifference to the less noble or less dangerous game; for when the
+object was a bear, wolf, or other animal of prey, no spear, cutlass,
+or bow of the party, not even those of Rudolph Donnerhugel, were so
+prompt in the chase as those of the young Englishman.
+
+Meantime, the elder Philipson had other and more serious subjects of
+consideration. He was a man, as the reader must have already seen, of
+much acquaintance with the world, in which he had acted parts
+different from that which he now sustained. Former feelings were
+recalled and awakened, by the view of sports familiar to his early
+years. The clamour of the hounds, echoing from the wild hills and dark
+forests through which they travelled; the sight of the gallant young
+huntsmen, appearing, as they brought the object of their chase to bay,
+amid airy cliffs and profound precipices, which seemed impervious to
+the human foot; the sounds of halloo and horn reverberating from hill
+to hill, had more than once well-nigh impelled him to take a share in
+the hazardous but animating amusement, which, next to war, was then in
+most parts of Europe the most serious occupation of life. But the
+feeling was transient, and he became yet more deeply interested in
+studying the manners and opinions of the persons with whom he was
+travelling.
+
+They seemed to be all coloured with the same downright and blunt
+simplicity which characterised Arnold Biederman, although it was in
+none of them elevated by the same dignity of thought or profound
+sagacity. In speaking of the political state of their country, they
+affected no secrecy; and although, with the exception of Rudolph,
+their own young men were not admitted into their councils, the
+exclusion seemed only adopted with a view to the necessary
+subordination of youth to age, and not for the purpose of observing
+any mystery. In the presence of the elder Philipson, they freely
+discussed the pretensions of the Duke of Burgundy, the means which
+their country possessed of maintaining her independence, and the firm
+resolution of the Helvetian League to bid defiance to the utmost force
+the world could bring against it, rather than submit to the slightest
+insult. In other respects, their views appeared wise and moderate,
+although both the Banneret of Berne and the consequential Burgher of
+Soleure seemed to hold the consequences of war more lightly than they
+were viewed by the cautious Landamman of Unterwalden, and his
+venerable companion, Nicholas Bonstetten, who subscribed to all his
+opinions.
+
+It frequently happened that, quitting these subjects, the conversation
+turned on such as were less attractive to their fellow-traveller. The
+signs of the weather, the comparative fertility of recent seasons, the
+most advantageous mode of managing their orchards and rearing their
+crops, though interesting to the mountaineers themselves, gave
+Philipson slender amusement; and notwithstanding that the excellent
+Meinherr Zimmerman of Soleure would fain have joined with him in
+conversation respecting trade and merchandise, yet the Englishman, who
+dealt in articles of small bulk and considerable value, and traversed
+sea and land to carry on his traffic, could find few mutual topics to
+discuss with the Swiss trader, whose commerce only extended into the
+neighbouring districts of Burgundy and Germany, and whose goods
+consisted of coarse woollen cloths, fustian, hides, peltry, and such
+ordinary articles.
+
+But ever and anon, while the Switzers were discussing some paltry
+interests of trade, or describing some process of rude cultivation, or
+speaking of blights in grain, and the murrain amongst cattle, with all
+the dull minuteness of petty farmers and traders met at a country
+fair, a well-known spot would recall the name and story of a battle in
+which some of them had served (for there were none of the party who
+had not been repeatedly in arms), and the military details, which in
+other countries were only the theme of knights and squires who had
+acted their part in them, or of learned clerks who laboured to record
+them, were, in this singular region, the familiar and intimate
+subjects of discussion with men whose peaceful occupations seemed to
+place them at an immeasurable distance from the profession of a
+soldier. This led the Englishman to think of the ancient inhabitants
+of Rome, where the plough was so readily exchanged for the sword, and
+the cultivation of a rude farm for the management of public affairs.
+He hinted this resemblance to the Landamman, who was naturally
+gratified with the compliment to his country, but presently
+replied--"May Heaven continue among us the homebred virtues of the
+Romans, and preserve us from their lust of conquest and love of
+foreign luxuries!"
+
+The slow pace of the travellers, with various causes of delay which it
+is unnecessary to dwell upon, occasioned the deputation spending two
+nights on the road before they reached Bâle. The small towns or
+villages in which they quartered, received them with such marks of
+respectful hospitality as they had the means to bestow, and their
+arrival was a signal for a little feast, with which the heads of the
+community uniformly regaled them.
+
+On such occasions, while the elders of the village entertained the
+deputies of the Confederation, the young men of the escort were
+provided for by those of their own age, several of whom, usually aware
+of their approach, were accustomed to join in the chase of the day,
+and made the strangers acquainted with the spots where game was most
+plenty.
+
+These feasts were never prolonged to excess, and the most special
+dainties which composed them were kids, lambs, and game, the produce
+of the mountains. Yet it seemed, both to Arthur Philipson and his
+father, that the advantages of good cheer were more prized by the
+Banneret of Berne and the Burgess of Soleure than by their host the
+Landamman and the Deputy of Schwitz. There was no excess committed, as
+we have already said; but the deputies first mentioned obviously
+understood the art of selecting the choicest morsels, and were
+connoisseurs in the good wine, chiefly of foreign growth, with which
+they freely washed it down. Arnold was too wise to censure what he had
+no means of amending: he contented himself by observing in his own
+person a rigorous diet, living indeed almost entirely upon vegetables
+and fair water, in which he was closely imitated by the old
+grey-bearded Nicholas Bonstetten, who seemed to make it his principal
+object to follow the Landamman's example in everything.
+
+It was, as we have already said, the third day after the commencement
+of their journey, before the Swiss deputation reached the vicinity of
+Bâle, in which city, then one of the largest in the south-western
+extremity of Germany, they proposed taking up their abode for the
+evening, nothing doubting a friendly reception. The town, it is true,
+was not then, nor till about thirty years afterwards, a part of the
+Swiss Confederation, to which it was only joined in 1501; but it was a
+Free Imperial City, connected with Berne, Soleure, Lucerne, and other
+towns of Switzerland by mutual interests and constant intercourse. It
+was the object of the deputation to negotiate, if possible, a peace,
+which could not be more useful to themselves than to the city of Bâle,
+considering the interruptions of commerce which must be occasioned by
+a rupture between the Duke of Burgundy and the Cantons, and the great
+advantage which that city would derive by preserving a neutrality,
+situated as it was betwixt these two hostile powers.
+
+They anticipated, therefore, as welcome a reception from the
+authorities of Bâle as they had received while in the bounds of their
+own Confederation, since the interests of that city were so deeply
+concerned in the objects of their mission. The next chapter will show
+how far these expectations were realised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     They saw that city, welcoming the Rhine,
+     As from his mountain heritage he bursts,
+     As purposed proud Orgetorix of yore,
+     Leaving the desert region of the hills,
+     To lord it o'er the fertile plains of Gaul.
+                                     _Helvetia._
+
+
+The eyes of the English travellers, wearied with a succession of wild
+mountainous scenery, now gazed with pleasure upon a country still
+indeed irregular and hilly in its surface, but capable of high
+cultivation, and adorned with cornfields and vineyards. The Rhine, a
+broad and large river, poured its grey stream in a huge sweep through
+the landscape, and divided into two portions the city of Bâle, which
+is situated on its banks. The southern part, to which the path of the
+Swiss deputies conducted them, displayed the celebrated cathedral, and
+the lofty terrace which runs in front of it, and seemed to remind the
+travellers that they now approached a country in which the operations
+of man could make themselves distinguished even among the works of
+nature, instead of being lost, as the fate of the most splendid
+efforts of human labour must have been, among those tremendous
+mountains which they had so lately traversed.
+
+They were yet a mile from the entrance of the city, when the party was
+met by one of the magistrates, attended by two or three citizens
+mounted on mules, the velvet housings of which expressed wealth and
+quality. They greeted the Landamman of Unterwalden and his party in a
+respectful manner, and the latter prepared themselves to hear, and
+make a suitable reply to, the hospitable invitation which they
+naturally expected to receive.
+
+The message of the community of Bâle was, however, diametrically
+opposite to what they had anticipated. It was delivered with a good
+deal of diffidence and hesitation by the functionary who met them, and
+who certainly, while discharging his commission, did not appear to
+consider it as the most respectable which he might have borne. There
+were many professions of the most profound and fraternal regard for
+the cities of the Helvetian League, with whom the orator of Bâle
+declared his own state to be united in friendship and interests. But
+he ended by intimating, that, on account of certain cogent and weighty
+reasons, which should be satisfactorily explained at more leisure, the
+Free City of Bâle could not, this evening, receive within its walls
+the highly respected deputies, who were travelling, at the command of
+the Helvetian Diet, to the court of the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Philipson marked with much interest the effect which this most
+unexpected intimation produced on the members of the embassage.
+Rudolph Donnerhugel, who had joined their company as they approached
+Bâle, appeared less surprised than his associates, and, while he
+remained perfectly silent, seemed rather anxious to penetrate their
+sentiments than disposed to express his own. It was not the first time
+the sagacious merchant had observed that this bold and fiery young
+man could, when his purposes required it, place a strong constraint
+upon the natural impetuosity of his temper. For the others, the
+Banneret's brow darkened; the face of the Burgess of Soleure became
+flushed like the moon when rising in the north-west; the grey-bearded
+Deputy of Schwitz looked anxiously on Arnold Biederman; and the
+Landamman himself seemed more moved than was usual in a person of his
+equanimity. At length he replied to the functionary of Bâle, in a
+voice somewhat altered by his feelings:--
+
+"This is a singular message to the deputies of the Swiss Confederacy,
+bound as we are upon an amicable mission, on which depends the
+interest of the good citizens of Bâle, whom we have always treated as
+our good friends, and who still profess to be so. The shelter of their
+roofs, the protection of their walls, the wonted intercourse of
+hospitality, is what no friendly state hath a right to refuse to the
+inhabitants of another."
+
+"Nor is it with their will that the community of Bâle refuse it,
+worthy Landamman," replied the magistrate. "Not you alone, and your
+worthy associates, but your escort, and your very beasts of burden,
+should be entertained with all the kindness which the citizens of Bâle
+could bestow--But we act under constraint."
+
+"And by whom exercised?" said the Banneret, bursting out into passion.
+"Has the Emperor Sigismund profited so little by the example of his
+predecessors"----
+
+"The Emperor," replied the delegate of Bâle, interrupting the
+Banneret, "is a well-intentioned and peaceful monarch, as he has been
+ever; but----there are Burgundian troops, of late marched into the
+Sundgaw, and messages have been sent to our state from Count Archibald
+of Hagenbach."
+
+"Enough said," replied the Landamman. "Draw not farther the veil from
+a weakness for which you blush. I comprehend you entirely. Bâle lies
+too near the citadel of La Ferette to permit its citizens to consult
+their own inclinations. Brother, we see where your difficulty lies--we
+pity you--and we forgive your inhospitality."
+
+"Nay, but hear me to an end, worthy Landamman," answered the
+magistrate. "There is here in the vicinity an old hunting-seat of the
+Counts of Falkenstein, called Graffs-lust,[3] which, though ruinous,
+yet may afford better lodgings than the open air, and is capable of
+some defence--though Heaven forbid that any one should dare to intrude
+upon your repose! And hark ye hither, my worthy friends;--if you find
+in the old place some refreshments, as wine, beer, and the like, use
+them without scruple, for they are there for your accommodation."
+
+"I do not refuse to occupy a place of security," said the Landamman;
+"for although the causing us to be excluded from Bâle may be only done
+in the spirit of petty insolence and malice, yet it may also, for what
+we can tell, be connected with some purpose of violence. Your
+provisions we thank you for; but we will not, with my consent, feed at
+the cost of friends who are ashamed to own us unless by stealth."
+
+"One thing more, my worthy sir," said the official of Bâle--"You have
+a maiden in company, who, I presume to think, is your daughter. There
+is but rough accommodation where you are going, even for men;--for
+women there is little better, though what we could we have done to
+arrange matters as well as may be. But rather let your daughter go
+with us back to Bâle, where my dame will be a mother to her, till next
+morning, when I will bring her to your camp in safety. We promised to
+shut our gates against the men of the Confederacy, but the women were
+not mentioned."
+
+"You are subtle casuists, you men of Bâle," answered the Landamman;
+"but know, that from the time in which the Helvetians sallied forth to
+encounter Cæsar down to the present hour, the women of Switzerland, in
+the press of danger, have had their abode in the camp of their
+fathers, brothers, and husbands, and sought no further safety than
+they might find in the courage of their relations. We have enough of
+men to protect our women, and my niece shall remain with us, and take
+the fate which Heaven may send us."
+
+"Adieu, then, worthy friend," said the magistrate of Bâle; "it grieves
+me to part with you thus, but evil fate will have it so. Yonder grassy
+avenue will conduct you to the old hunting-seat, where Heaven send
+that you may pass a quiet night; for, apart from other risks, men say
+that these ruins have no good name. Will you yet permit your niece,
+since such the young person is, to pass to Bâle for the night in my
+company?"
+
+"If we are disturbed by beings like ourselves," said Arnold Biederman,
+"we have strong arms, and heavy partisans; if we should be visited, as
+your words would imply, by those of a different description, we have,
+or should have, good consciences, and confidence in Heaven.--Good
+friends, my brethren on this embassy, have I spoken your sentiments as
+well as mine own?"
+
+The other deputies intimated their assent to what their companion had
+said, and the citizens of Bâle took a courteous farewell of their
+guests, endeavouring, by the excess of civility, to atone for their
+deficiency in effective hospitality. After their departure, Rudolph
+was the first to express his sense of their pusillanimous behaviour,
+on which he had been silent during their presence. "Coward dogs!" he
+said; "may the Butcher of Burgundy flay the very skins from them with
+his exactions, to teach them to disown old friendships, rather than
+abide the lightest blast of a tyrant's anger!"
+
+"And not even their own tyrant either," said another of the group--for
+several of the young men had gathered round their seniors, to hear the
+welcome which they expected from the magistrates of Bâle.
+
+"No," replied Ernest, one of Arnold Biederman's sons, "they do not
+pretend that their own prince the Emperor hath interfered with them;
+but a word of the Duke of Burgundy, which should be no more to them
+than a breath of wind from the west, is sufficient to stir them to
+such brutal inhospitality. It were well to march to the city, and
+compel them at the sword's point to give us shelter."
+
+A murmur of applause arose amongst the youth around, which awakened
+the displeasure of Arnold Biederman.
+
+"Did I hear," he said, "the tongue of a son of mine, or was it that
+of a brutish Lanzknecht,[4] who has no pleasure but in battle or
+violence? Where is the modesty of the youth of Switzerland, who were
+wont to wait the signal for action till it pleased the elders of the
+canton to give it, and were as gentle as maidens till the voice of
+their patriarchs bade them be bold as lions?"
+
+"I meant no harm, father," said Ernest, abashed with this rebuke, "far
+less any slight towards you; but I must needs say"----
+
+"Say not a word, my son," replied Arnold, "but leave our camp
+to-morrow by break of day; and, as thou takest thy way back to
+Geierstein, to which I command thine instant return, remember, that he
+is not fit to visit strange countries who cannot rule his tongue
+before his own countrymen, and to his own father."
+
+The Banneret of Berne, the Burgess of Soleure, even the long-bearded
+Deputy from Schwitz, endeavoured to intercede for the offender, and
+obtain a remission of his banishment; but it was in vain.
+
+"No, my good friends and brethren, no," replied Arnold. "These young
+men require an example; and though I am grieved in one sense that the
+offence has chanced within my own family, yet I am pleased in another
+light, that the delinquent should be one over whom I can exercise full
+authority, without suspicion of partiality.--Ernest, my son, thou hast
+heard my commands: Return to Geierstein with the morning's light, and
+let me find thee an altered man when I return thither."
+
+The young Swiss, who was evidently much hurt and shocked at this
+public affront, placed one knee on the ground, and kissed his
+father's right hand, while Arnold, without the slightest sign of
+anger, bestowed his blessing upon him; and Ernest, without a word of
+remonstrance, fell into the rear of the party. The deputation then
+proceeded down the avenue which had been pointed out to them, and at
+the bottom of which arose the massy ruins of Graffs-lust; but there
+was not enough of daylight remaining to discern their exact form. They
+could observe as they drew nearer, and as the night became darker,
+that three or four windows were lighted up, while the rest of the
+front remained obscured in gloom. When they arrived at the place, they
+perceived it was surrounded by a large and deep moat, the sullen
+surface of which reflected, though faintly, the glimmer of the lights
+within.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] Graffs-lust--_i. e._, Count's-delight.
+
+[4] A private soldier of the German infantry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     _Francisco._ Give you good-night.
+
+     _Marcellus._ O, farewell, honest soldier.
+     Who hath relieved you?
+
+     _Francisco._ Give you good-night; Bernardo hath my place.
+                                                     _Hamlet._
+
+
+The first occupation of our travellers was to find the means of
+crossing the moat, and they were not long of discovering the _tête de
+pont_ on which the drawbridge, when lowered, had formerly rested. The
+bridge itself had been long decayed, but a temporary passage of
+fir-trees and planks had been constructed, apparently very lately,
+which admitted them to the chief entrance of the castle. On entering
+it, they found a wicket opening under the archway, which, glimmering
+with light, served to guide them to a hall prepared evidently for
+their accommodation as well as circumstances had admitted of.
+
+A large fire of well-seasoned wood burned blithely in the chimney, and
+had been maintained so long there, that the air of the hall,
+notwithstanding its great size and somewhat ruinous aspect, felt mild
+and genial. There was also at the end of the apartment a stack of
+wood, large enough to maintain the fire had they been to remain there
+a week. Two or three long tables in the hall stood covered and ready
+for their reception; and, on looking more closely, several large
+hampers were found in a corner, containing cold provisions of every
+kind, prepared with great care, for their immediate use. The eyes of
+the good Burgess of Soleure twinkled when he beheld the young men in
+the act of transferring the supper from the hampers and arranging it
+on the table.
+
+"Well," said he, "these poor men of Bâle have saved their character;
+since, if they have fallen short in welcome, they have abounded in
+good cheer."
+
+"Ah, friend!" said Arnold Biederman, "the absence of the landlord is a
+great deduction from the entertainment. Better half an apple from the
+hand of your host, than a bridal feast without his company."
+
+"We owe them the less for their banquet," said the Banneret. "But,
+from the doubtful language they held, I should judge it meet to keep a
+strong guard to-night, and even that some of our young men should,
+from time to time, patrol around the old ruins. The place is strong
+and defensible, and so far our thanks are due to those who have acted
+as our quarter-masters. We will, however, with your permission, my
+honoured brethren, examine the house within, and then arrange regular
+guards and patrols.--To your duty then, young men, and search these
+ruins carefully,--they may perchance contain more than ourselves; for
+we are now near one who, like a pilfering fox, moves more willingly by
+night than by day, and seeks his prey amidst ruins and wildernesses
+rather than in the open field."
+
+All agreed to this proposal. The young men took torches, of which a
+good provision had been left for their use, and made a strict search
+through the ruins.
+
+The greater part of the castle was much more wasted and ruinous than
+the portion which the citizens of Bâle seemed to have destined for the
+accommodation of the embassy. Some parts were roofless, and the whole
+desolate. The glare of light--the gleam of arms--the sound of the
+human voice, and echoes of mortal tread, startled from their dark
+recesses bats, owls, and other birds of ill omen, the usual
+inhabitants of such time-worn edifices, whose flight through the
+desolate chambers repeatedly occasioned alarm amongst those who heard
+the noise without seeing the cause, and shouts of laughter when it
+became known. They discovered that the deep moat surrounded their
+place of retreat on all sides, and of course that they were in safety
+against any attack which could be made from without, except it was
+attempted by the main entrance, which it was easy to barricade, and
+guard with sentinels. They also ascertained by strict search, that
+though it was possible an individual might be concealed amid such a
+waste of ruins, yet it was altogether impossible that any number which
+might be formidable to so large a party as their own could have
+remained there without a certainty of discovery. These particulars
+were reported to the Banneret, who directed Donnerhugel to take charge
+of a body of six of the young men, such as he should himself choose,
+to patrol on the outside of the building till the first cock-crowing,
+and at that hour to return to the castle, when the same number were to
+take the duty till morning dawned, and then be relieved in their turn.
+Rudolph declared his own intention to remain on guard the whole night;
+and as he was equally remarkable for vigilance as for strength and
+courage, the external watch was considered as safely provided for, it
+being settled that, in case of any sudden reencounter, the deep and
+hoarse sound of the Swiss bugle should be the signal for sending
+support to the patrolling party.
+
+Within side the castle the precautions were taken with equal
+vigilance. A sentinel, to be relieved every two hours, was appointed
+to take post at the principal gate, and other two kept watch on the
+other side of the castle, although the moat appeared to insure safety
+in that quarter.
+
+These precautions being taken, the remainder of the party sat down to
+refresh themselves, the deputies occupying the upper part of the hall,
+while those of their escort modestly arranged themselves in the lower
+end of the same large apartment. Quantities of hay and straw, which
+were left piled in the wide castle, were put to the purpose for which
+undoubtedly they had been destined by the citizens of Bâle, and, with
+the aid of cloaks and mantles, were judged excellent good bedding by a
+hardy race, who, in war or the chase, were often well satisfied with a
+much worse night's lair.
+
+The attention of the Bâlese had even gone so far as to provide for
+Anne of Geierstein separate accommodation, more suitable to her use
+than that assigned to the men of the party. An apartment, which had
+probably been the buttery of the castle, entered from the hall, and
+had also a doorway leading out into a passage connected with the
+ruins; but this last had hastily, yet carefully, been built up with
+large hewn stones taken from the ruins; without mortar, indeed, or any
+other cement, but so well secured by their own weight, that an
+attempt to displace them must have alarmed not only any one who might
+be in the apartment itself, but also those who were in the hall
+adjacent, or indeed in any part of the castle. In the small room thus
+carefully arranged and secured there were two pallet-beds and a large
+fire, which blazed on the hearth, and gave warmth and comfort to the
+apartment. Even the means of devotion were not forgotten, a small
+crucifix of bronze being hung over a table, on which lay a breviary.
+
+Those who first discovered this little place of retreat came back loud
+in praise of the delicacy of the citizens of Bâle, who, while
+preparing for the general accommodation of the strangers, had not
+failed to provide separately and peculiarly for that of their female
+companion.
+
+Arnold Biederman felt the kindness of this conduct. "We should pity
+our friends of Bâle, and not nourish resentment against them," he
+said. "They have stretched their kindness towards us as far as their
+personal apprehensions permitted; and that is saying no small matter
+for them, my masters, for no passion is so unutterably selfish as that
+of fear.--Anne, my love, thou art fatigued. Go to the retreat provided
+for you, and Lizette shall bring you from this abundant mass of
+provisions what will be fittest for your evening meal."
+
+So saying, he led his niece into the little bedroom, and, looking
+round with an air of complacency, wished her good repose; but there
+was something on the maiden's brow which seemed to augur that her
+uncle's wishes would not be fulfilled. From the moment she had left
+Switzerland, her looks had become clouded; her intercourse with those
+who approached her had grown more brief and rare; her whole appearance
+was marked with secret anxiety or secret sorrow. This did not escape
+her uncle, who naturally imputed it to the pain of parting from him,
+which was probably soon to take place, and to her regret at leaving
+the tranquil spot in which so many years of her youth had been spent.
+
+But Anne of Geierstein had no sooner entered the apartment than her
+whole frame trembled violently, and the colour leaving her cheeks
+entirely, she sank down on one of the pallets, where, resting her
+elbows on her knees, and pressing her hands on her forehead, she
+rather resembled a person borne down by mental distress, or oppressed
+by some severe illness, than one who, tired with a journey, was in
+haste to betake herself to needful rest. Arnold was not quicksighted
+as to the many sources of female passion. He saw that his niece
+suffered; but imputing it only to the causes already mentioned,
+augmented by the hysterical effects often produced by fatigue, he
+gently blamed her for having departed from her character of a Swiss
+maiden ere she was yet out of reach of a Swiss breeze of wind.
+
+"Thou must not let the dames of Germany or Flanders think that our
+daughters have degenerated from their mothers; else must we fight the
+battles of Sempach and Laupen over again, to convince the Emperor, and
+this haughty Duke of Burgundy, that our men are of the same mettle
+with their forefathers. And as for our parting, I do not fear it. My
+brother is a Count of the Empire, indeed, and therefore he must needs
+satisfy himself that everything over which he possesses any title
+shall be at his command, and sends for thee to prove his right of
+doing so. But I know him well: He will no sooner be satisfied that he
+may command thy attendance at pleasure, than he will concern himself
+about thee no more. Thee? Alas! poor thing, in what couldst thou aid
+his courtly intrigues and ambitious plans? No, no--thou art not for
+the noble Count's purpose, and must be content to trudge back to rule
+the dairy at Geierstein, and be the darling of thine old peasantlike
+uncle."
+
+"Would to God we were there even now!" said the maiden, in a tone of
+wretchedness which she strove in vain to conceal or suppress.
+
+"That may hardly be till we have executed the purpose which brought us
+hither," said the literal Landamman. "But lay thee on thy pallet,
+Anne--take a morsel of food, and three drops of wine, and thou wilt
+wake to-morrow as gay as on a Swiss holiday, when the pipe sounds the
+réveille."
+
+Anne was now able to plead a severe headache, and declining all
+refreshment, which she declared herself incapable of tasting, she bade
+her uncle good-night. She then desired Lizette to get some food for
+herself, cautioning her, as she returned, to make as little noise as
+possible, and not to break her repose if she should have the good
+fortune to fall asleep. Arnold Biederman then kissed his niece, and
+returned to the hall, where his colleagues in office were impatient to
+commence an attack on the provisions which were in readiness; to which
+the escort of young men, diminished by the patrols and sentinels, were
+no less disposed than their seniors.
+
+The signal of assault was given by the Deputy from Schwitz, the eldest
+of the party, pronouncing in patriarchal form a benediction over the
+meal. The travellers then commenced their operations with a vivacity
+which showed that the uncertainty whether they should get any food,
+and the delays which had occurred in arranging themselves in their
+quarters, had infinitely increased their appetites. Even the
+Landamman, whose moderation sometimes approached to abstinence, seemed
+that night in a more genial humour than ordinary. His friend of
+Schwitz, after his example, ate, drank, and spoke more than usual;
+while the rest of the deputies pushed their meal to the verge of a
+carousal. The elder Philipson marked the scene with an attentive and
+anxious eye, confining his applications to the wine-cup to such
+pledges as the politeness of the times called upon him to reply to.
+His son had left the hall just as the banquet began, in the manner
+which we are now to relate.
+
+Arthur had proposed to himself to join the youths who were to perform
+the duty of sentinels within, or patrols on the outside of their place
+of repose, and had indeed made some arrangement for that purpose with
+Sigismund, the third of the Landamman's sons. But while about to steal
+a parting glance at Anne of Geierstein, before offering his service as
+he proposed, there appeared on her brow such a deep and solemn
+expression, as diverted his thoughts from every other subject,
+excepting the anxious doubts as to what could possibly have given rise
+to such a change. The placid openness of brow; the eye which expressed
+conscious and fearless innocence; the lips which, seconded by a look
+as frank as her words, seemed ever ready to speak, in kindness and in
+confidence, that which the heart dictated, were for the moment
+entirely changed in character and expression, and in a degree and
+manner for which no ordinary cause could satisfactorily account.
+Fatigue might have banished the rose from the maiden's beautiful
+complexion, and sickness or pain might have dimmed her eye and clouded
+her brow. But the look of deep dejection with which she fixed her eyes
+at times on the ground, and the startled and terrified glance which
+she cast around her at other intervals, must have had their rise in
+some different source. Neither could illness or weariness explain the
+manner in which her lips were contracted or compressed together, like
+one who makes up her mind to act or behold something that is fearful,
+or account for the tremor which seemed at times to steal over her
+insensibly, though by a strong effort she was able at intervals to
+throw it off. For this change of expression there must be in the heart
+some deeply melancholy and afflicting cause. What could that cause be?
+
+It is dangerous for youth to behold beauty in the pomp of all her
+charms, with every look bent upon conquest--more dangerous to see her
+in the hour of unaffected and unapprehensive ease and simplicity,
+yielding herself to the graceful whim of the moment, and as willing to
+be pleased as desirous of pleasing. There are minds which may be still
+more affected by gazing on beauty in sorrow, and feeling that pity,
+that desire of comforting the lovely mourner, which the poet has
+described as so nearly akin to love. But to a spirit of that romantic
+and adventurous cast which the Middle Ages frequently produced, the
+sight of a young and amiable person evidently in a state of terror
+and suffering, which had no visible cause, was perhaps still more
+impressive than beauty, in her pride, her tenderness, or her sorrow.
+Such sentiments, it must be remembered, were not confined to the
+highest ranks only, but might then be found in all classes of society
+which were raised above the mere peasant or artisan. Young Philipson
+gazed on Anne of Geierstein with such intense curiosity, mingled with
+pity and tenderness, that the bustling scene around him seemed to
+vanish from his eyes, and leave no one in the noisy hall save himself
+and the object of his interest.
+
+What could it be that so evidently oppressed and almost quailed a
+spirit so well balanced, and a courage so well tempered, when, being
+guarded by the swords of the bravest men perhaps to be found in
+Europe, and lodged in a place of strength, even the most timid of her
+sex might have found confidence? Surely if an attack were to be made
+upon them, the clamour of a conflict in such circumstances could
+scarce be more terrific than the roar of those cataracts which he had
+seen her despise? At least, he thought, she ought to be aware that
+there is one, who is bound by friendship and gratitude to fight to the
+death in her defence. Would to Heaven, he continued in the same
+reverie, it were possible to convey to her, without sign or speech,
+the assurance of my unalterable resolution to protect her in the worst
+of perils!--As such thoughts streamed through his mind, Anne raised
+her eyes in one of those fits of deep feeling which seemed to
+overwhelm her; and, while she cast them round the hall, with a look of
+apprehension, as if she expected to see amid the well-known
+companions of her journey some strange and unwelcome apparition, they
+encountered the fixed and anxious gaze of young Philipson. They were
+instantly bent on the ground, while a deep blush showed how much she
+was conscious of having attracted his attention by her previous
+deportment.
+
+Arthur, on his part, with equal consciousness, blushed as deeply as
+the maiden herself, and drew himself back from her observation. But
+when Anne rose up, and was escorted by her uncle to her bedchamber, in
+the manner we have already mentioned, it seemed to Philipson as if she
+had carried with her from the apartment the lights with which it was
+illuminated, and left it in the twilight melancholy of some funeral
+hall. His deep musings were pursuing the subject which occupied them
+thus anxiously, when the manly voice of Donnerhugel spoke close in his
+ear--
+
+"What, comrade, has our journey to-day fatigued you so much that you
+go to sleep upon your feet?"
+
+"Now Heaven forbid, Hauptman," said the Englishman, starting from his
+reverie, and addressing Rudolph by this name (signifying Captain, or
+literally Head-man), which the youth of the expedition had by
+unanimous consent bestowed on him,--"Heaven forbid I should sleep, if
+there be aught like action in the wind."
+
+"Where dost thou propose to be at cock-crow?" said the Swiss.
+
+"Where duty shall call me, or your experience, noble Hauptman, shall
+appoint," replied Arthur. "But, with your leave, I purposed to take
+Sigismund's guard on the bridge till midnight or morning dawn. He
+still feels the sprain which he received in his spring after yonder
+chamois, and I persuaded him to take some uninterrupted rest, as the
+best mode of restoring his strength."
+
+"He will do well to keep his counsel, then," again whispered
+Donnerhugel; "the old Landamman is not a man to make allowances for
+mishaps, when they interfere with duty. Those who are under his orders
+should have as few brains as a bull, as strong limbs as a bear, and be
+as impassible as lead or iron to all the casualties of life, and all
+the weaknesses of humanity."
+
+Arthur replied in the same tone: "I have been the Landamman's guest
+for some time, and have seen no specimens of any such rigid
+discipline."
+
+"You are a stranger," said the Swiss, "and the old man has too much
+hospitality to lay you under the least restraint. You are a volunteer,
+too, in whatever share you choose to take in our sports or our
+military duty; and therefore, when I ask you to walk abroad with me at
+the first cock-crowing, it is only in the event that such exercise
+shall entirely consist with your own pleasure."
+
+"I consider myself as under your command for the time," said
+Philipson; "but, not to bandy courtesy, at cock-crow I shall be
+relieved from my watch on the drawbridge, and will be by that time
+glad to exchange the post for a more extended walk."
+
+"Do you not choose more of this fatiguing, and probably unnecessary
+duty, than may befit your strength?" said Rudolph.
+
+"I take no more than you do," said Arthur, "as you propose not to take
+rest till morning."
+
+"True," answered Donnerhugel, "but I am a Swiss."
+
+"And I," answered Philipson quickly, "am an Englishman."
+
+"I did not mean what I said in the sense you take it," said Rudolph,
+laughing; "I only meant, that I am more interested in this matter than
+you can be, who are a stranger to the cause in which we are personally
+engaged."
+
+"I am a stranger, no doubt," replied Arthur; "but a stranger who has
+enjoyed your hospitality, and who, therefore, claims a right, while
+with you, to a share in your labours and dangers."
+
+"Be it so," said Rudolph Donnerhugel. "I shall have finished my first
+rounds at the hour when the sentinels at the castle are relieved, and
+shall be ready to recommence them in your good company."
+
+"Content," said the Englishman. "And now I will to my post, for I
+suspect Sigismund is blaming me already, as oblivious of my promise."
+
+They hastened together to the gate, where Sigismund willingly yielded
+up his weapon and his guard to young Philipson, confirming the idea
+sometimes entertained of him, that he was the most indolent and least
+spirited of the family of Geierstein. Rudolph could not suppress his
+displeasure.
+
+"What would the Landamman say," he demanded, "if he saw thee thus
+quietly yield up post and partisan to a stranger?"
+
+"He would say I did well," answered the young man, nothing daunted;
+"for he is for ever reminding us to let the stranger have his own way
+in everything; and English Arthur stands on this bridge by his own
+wish, and no asking of mine.--Therefore, kind Arthur, since thou wilt
+barter warm straw and a sound sleep for frosty air and a clear
+moonlight, I make thee welcome with all my heart. Hear your duty. You
+are to stop all who enter, or attempt to enter, or till they give the
+password. If they are strangers, you must give alarm. But you will
+suffer such of our friends as are known to you to pass outwards,
+without challenge or alarm, because the deputation may find occasion
+to send messengers abroad."
+
+"A murrain on thee, thou lazy losel!" said Rudolph--"Thou art the only
+sluggard of thy kin."
+
+"Then am I the only wise man of them all," said the youth.--"Hark ye,
+brave Hauptman, ye have supped this evening,--have ye not?"
+
+"It is a point of wisdom, ye owl," answered the Bernese, "not to go
+into the forest fasting."
+
+"If it is wisdom to eat when we are hungry," answered Sigismund,
+"there can be no folly in sleeping when we are weary." So saying, and
+after a desperate yawn or two, the relieved sentinel halted off,
+giving full effect to the sprain of which he complained.
+
+"Yet there is strength in those loitering limbs, and valour in that
+indolent and sluggish spirit," said Rudolph to the Englishman. "But it
+is time that I, who censure others, should betake me to my own
+task.--Hither, comrades of the watch, hither."
+
+The Bernese accompanied these words with a whistle, which brought from
+within six young men, whom he had previously chosen for the duty, and
+who, after a hurried supper, now waited his summons. One or two of
+them had large bloodhounds or lyme-dogs, which, though usually
+employed in the pursuit of animals of chase, were also excellent for
+discovering ambuscades, in which duty their services were now to be
+employed. One of these animals was held in a leash, by the person who,
+forming the advance of the party, went about twenty yards in front of
+them; a second was the property of Donnerhugel himself, who had the
+creature singularly under command. Three of his companions attended
+him closely, and the two others followed, one of whom bore a horn of
+the Bernese wild bull, by way of bugle. This little party crossed the
+moat by the temporary bridge, and moved on to the verge of the forest,
+which lay adjacent to the castle, and the skirts of which were most
+likely to conceal any ambuscade that could be apprehended. The moon
+was now up, and near the full, so that Arthur, from the elevation on
+which the castle stood, could trace their slow, cautious march, amid
+the broad silver light, until they were lost in the depths of the
+forest.
+
+When this object had ceased to occupy his eyes, the thoughts of his
+lonely watch again returned to Anne of Geierstein, and to the singular
+expression of distress and apprehension which had that evening clouded
+her beautiful features. Then the blush which had chased, for the
+moment, paleness and terror from her countenance, at the instant his
+eyes encountered hers--was it anger--was it modesty--was it some
+softer feeling, more gentle than the one, more tender than the other?
+Young Philipson, who, like Chaucer's Squire, was "as modest as a
+maid," almost trembled to give to that look the favourable
+interpretation which a more self-satisfied gallant would have applied
+to it without scruple. No hue of rising or setting day was ever so
+lovely in the eyes of the young man as that blush was in his
+recollection; nor did ever enthusiastic visionary or poetical dreamer
+find out so many fanciful forms in the clouds, as Arthur divined
+various interpretations from the indications of interest which had
+passed over the beautiful countenance of the Swiss maiden.
+
+In the meantime, the thought suddenly burst on his reverie, that it
+could little concern him what was the cause of the perturbation she
+had exhibited. They had met at no distant period for the first
+time--they must soon part for ever. She could be nothing more to him
+than the remembrance of a beautiful vision, and he could have no other
+part in her memory save as a stranger from a foreign land, who had
+been a sojourner for a season in her uncle's house, but whom she could
+never expect to see again. When this idea intruded on the train of
+romantic visions which agitated him, it was like the sharp stroke of
+the harpoon, which awakens the whale from slumbering torpidity into
+violent action. The gateway in which the young soldier kept his watch
+seemed suddenly too narrow for him. He rushed across the temporary
+bridge, and hastily traversed a short space of ground in front of the
+_tête de pont_, or defensive work, on which its outer extremity
+rested.
+
+Here for a time he paced the narrow extent to which he was confined by
+his duty as a sentinel, with long and rapid strides, as if he had been
+engaged by vow to take the greatest possible quantity of exercise upon
+that limited space of ground. His exertion, however, produced the
+effect of in some degree composing his mind, recalling him to himself,
+and reminding him of the numerous reasons which prohibited his fixing
+his attention, much more his affections, upon this young person,
+however fascinating she was.
+
+I have surely, he thought, as he slackened his pace, and shouldered
+his heavy partisan, sense enough left to recollect my condition and my
+duties--to think of my father, to whom I am all in all--and to think
+also on the dishonour which must accrue to me, were I capable of
+winning the affections of a frank-hearted and confiding girl, to whom
+I could never do justice by dedicating my life to return them. "No,"
+he said to himself, "she will soon forget me, and I will study to
+remember her no otherwise than I would a pleasing dream, which hath
+for a moment crossed a night of perils and dangers, such as my life
+seems doomed to be."
+
+As he spoke, he stopped short in his walk, and as he rested on his
+weapon a tear rose unbidden to his eye, and stole down his cheek
+without being wiped away. But he combated this gentler mood of passion
+as he had formerly battled with that which was of a wilder and more
+desperate character. Shaking off the dejection and sinking of spirit
+which he felt creeping upon him, he resumed, at the same time, the air
+and attitude of an attentive sentinel, and recalled his mind to the
+duties of his watch, which, in the tumult of his feelings, he had
+almost forgotten. But what was his astonishment, when, as he looked
+out on the clear landscape, there passed from the bridge towards the
+forest, crossing him in the broad moonlight, the living and moving
+likeness of Anne of Geierstein!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     We know not when we sleep nor when we wake.
+     Visions distinct and perfect cross our eye,
+     Which to the slumberer seem realities;
+     And while they waked, some men have seen such sights
+     As set at naught the evidence of sense,
+     And left them well persuaded they were dreaming.
+                                               ANONYMOUS.
+
+
+The apparition of Anne of Geierstein crossed her lover--her admirer,
+at least we must call him--within shorter time than we can tell the
+story. But it was distinct, perfect, and undoubted. In the very
+instant when the young Englishman, shaking off his fond despondency,
+raised his head to look out upon the scene of his watch, she came from
+the nearer end of the bridge, crossing the path of the sentinel, upon
+whom she did not even cast a look, and passed with a rapid yet steady
+pace towards the verge of the woodland.
+
+It would have been natural, though Arthur had been directed not to
+challenge persons who left the castle, but only such as might approach
+it, that he should nevertheless, had it only been in mere civility,
+have held some communication, however slight, with the maiden as she
+crossed his post. But the suddenness of her appearance took from him
+for the instant both speech and motion. It seemed as if his own
+imagination had raised up a phantom, presenting to his outward senses
+the form and features which engrossed his mind; and he was silent,
+partly at least from the idea that what he gazed upon was immaterial
+and not of this world.
+
+It would have been no less natural that Anne of Geierstein should have
+in some manner acknowledged the person who had spent a considerable
+time under the same roof with her, had been often her partner in the
+dance, and her companion in the field; but she did not evince the
+slightest token of recognition, nor even look towards him as she
+passed; her eye was on the wood, to which she advanced swiftly and
+steadily, and she was hidden by its boughs ere Arthur had recollected
+himself sufficiently to determine what to do.
+
+His first feeling was anger at himself for suffering her to pass
+unquestioned, when it might well chance that upon any errand which
+called her forth at so extraordinary a time and place he might have
+been enabled to afford her assistance, or at least advice. This
+sentiment was for a short time so predominant, that he ran towards the
+place where he had seen the skirt of her dress disappear, and,
+whispering her name as loud as the fear of alarming the castle
+permitted, conjured her to return, and hear him but for a few brief
+moments. No answer, however, was returned; and when the branches of
+the trees began to darken over his head and to intercept the
+moonlight, he recollected that he was leaving his post, and exposing
+his fellow-travellers, who were trusting in his vigilance, to the
+danger of surprise.
+
+He hastened, therefore, back to the castle gate, with matter for
+deeper and more inextricable doubt and anxiety than had occupied him
+during the commencement of his watch. He asked himself in vain with
+what purpose that modest young maiden, whose manners were frank, but
+whose conduct had always seemed so delicate and reserved, could sally
+forth at midnight like a damsel-errant in romance, when she was in a
+strange country and suspicious neighbourhood; yet he rejected, as he
+would have shrunk from blasphemy, any interpretation which could have
+thrown censure upon Anne of Geierstein. No, nothing was she capable of
+doing for which a friend could have to blush. But connecting her
+previous agitation with the extraordinary fact of her leaving the
+castle, alone and defenceless, at such an hour, Arthur necessarily
+concluded it must argue some cogent reason, and, as was most likely,
+of an unpleasant nature.--"I will watch her return," he internally
+uttered, "and, if she will give me an opportunity, I will convey to
+her the assurance that there is one faithful bosom in her
+neighbourhood, which is bound in honour and gratitude to pour out
+every drop of its blood, if by doing so it can protect her from the
+slightest inconvenience. This is no silly flight of romance, for which
+common-sense has a right to reproach me; it is only what I ought to
+do, what I must do, or forego every claim to be termed a man of
+honesty or honour."
+
+Yet scarce did the young man think himself anchored on a resolution
+which seemed unobjectionable, than his thoughts were again adrift. He
+reflected that Anne might have a desire to visit the neighbouring town
+of Bâle, to which she had been invited the day before, and where her
+uncle had friends. It was indeed an uncommon hour to select for such a
+purpose; but Arthur was aware that the Swiss maidens feared neither
+solitary walks nor late hours, and that Anne would have walked among
+her own hills by moonlight much farther than the distance betwixt
+their place of encampment and Bâle, to see a sick friend, or for any
+similar purpose. To press himself on her confidence, then, might be
+impertinence, not kindness; and as she had passed him without taking
+the slightest notice of his presence, it was evident she did not mean
+voluntarily to make him her confidant; and probably she was involved
+in no difficulties where his aid could be useful. In that case, the
+duty of a gentleman was to permit her to return as she had gone forth,
+unnoticed and unquestioned, leaving it with herself to hold
+communication with him or not as she should choose.
+
+Another idea, belonging to the age, also passed through his mind,
+though it made no strong impression upon it. This form, so perfectly
+resembling Anne of Geierstein, might be a deception of the sight, or
+it might be one of those fantastic apparitions, concerning which there
+were so many tales told in all countries, and of which Switzerland and
+Germany had, as Arthur well knew, their full share. The internal and
+undefinable feelings which restrained him from accosting the maiden,
+as might have been natural for him to have done, are easily explained,
+on the supposition that his mortal frame shrank from an encounter with
+a being of a different nature. There had also been some expressions of
+the magistrate of Bâle, which might apply to the castle's being liable
+to be haunted by beings from another world. But though the general
+belief in such ghostly apparitions prevented the Englishman from being
+positively incredulous on the subject, yet the instructions of his
+father, a man of great intrepidity and distinguished good sense, had
+taught him to be extremely unwilling to refer anything to supernatural
+interferences which was capable of explanation by ordinary rules; and
+he therefore shook off, without difficulty, any feelings of
+superstitious fear which for an instant connected itself with his
+nocturnal adventure. He resolved finally to suppress all disquieting
+conjecture on the subject, and to await firmly, if not patiently, the
+return of the fair vision, which, if it should not fully explain the
+mystery, seemed at least to afford the only chance of throwing light
+upon it.
+
+Fixed, therefore, in purpose, he traversed the walk which his duty
+permitted, with his eyes fixed on the part of the forest where he had
+seen the beloved form disappear, and forgetful for the moment that his
+watch had any other purpose than to observe her return. But from this
+abstraction of mind he was roused by a distant sound in the forest,
+which seemed the clash of armour. Recalled at once to a sense of his
+duty, and its importance to his father and his fellow-travellers,
+Arthur planted himself on the temporary bridge, where a stand could
+best be made, and turned both eyes and ears to watch for approaching
+danger. The sound of arms and footsteps came nearer--spears and
+helmets advanced from the greenwood glade, and twinkled in the
+moonlight. But the stately form of Rudolph Donnerhugel, marching in
+front, was easily recognised, and announced to our sentinel the return
+of the patrol. Upon their approach to the bridge, the challenge, and
+interchange of sign and countersign, which is usual on such occasions,
+took place in due form; and as Rudolph's party filed off one after
+another into the castle, he commanded them to wake their companions,
+with whom he intended to renew the patrol, and at the same time to
+send a relief to Arthur Philipson, whose watch on the bridge was now
+ended. This last fact was confirmed by the deep and distant toll of
+the Minster clock from the town of Bâle, which, prolonging its sullen
+sound over field and forest, announced that midnight was past.
+
+"And now, comrade," continued Rudolph to the Englishman, "have the
+cold air and long watch determined thee to retire to food and rest, or
+dost thou still hold the intention of partaking our rounds?"
+
+In very truth it would have been Arthur's choice to have remained in
+the place where he was, for the purpose of watching Anne of
+Geierstein's return from her mysterious excursion. He could not easily
+have found an excuse for this, however, and he was unwilling to give
+the haughty Donnerhugel the least suspicion that he was inferior in
+hardihood, or in the power of enduring fatigue, to any of the tall
+mountaineers, whose companion he chanced to be for the present. He did
+not, therefore, indulge even a moment's hesitation; but while he
+restored the borrowed partisan to the sluggish Sigismund, who came
+from the castle yawning and stretching himself like one whose slumbers
+had been broken by no welcome summons, when they were deepest and
+sweetest, he acquainted Rudolph that he retained his purpose of
+partaking in his reconnoitring duty. They were speedily joined by the
+rest of the patrolling party, amongst whom was Rudiger, the eldest
+son of the Landamman of Unterwalden; and when, led by the Bernese
+champion, they had reached the skirts of the forest, Rudolph commanded
+three of them to attend Rudiger Biederman.
+
+"Thou wilt make thy round to the left side," said the Bernese; "I will
+draw off to the right--see thou keepest a good look-out, and we will
+meet merrily at the place appointed. Take one of the hounds with you.
+I will keep Wolf-fanger, who will open on a Burgundian as readily as
+on a bear."
+
+Rudiger moved off with his party to the left, according to the
+directions received; and Rudolph, having sent forward one of his
+number in front, and stationed another in the rear, commanded the
+third to follow himself and Arthur Philipson, who thus constituted the
+main body of the patrol. Having intimated to their immediate attendant
+to keep at such distance as to allow them freedom of conversation,
+Rudolph addressed the Englishman with the familiarity which their
+recent friendship had created.--"And now, King Arthur, what thinks the
+Majesty of England of our Helvetian youth? Could they win guerdon in
+tilt or tourney, thinkest thou, noble prince? Or would they rank but
+amongst the coward knights of Cornouailles?"[5]
+
+"For tilt and tourney I cannot answer," said Arthur, summoning up his
+spirits to reply, "because I never beheld one of you mounted on a
+steed, or having spear in rest. But if strong limbs and stout hearts
+are to be considered, I would match you Swiss gallants with those of
+any country in the universe, where manhood is to be looked for,
+whether it be in heart or hand."
+
+"Thou speakest us fair; and, young Englishman," said Rudolph, "know
+that we think as highly of thee, of which I will presently afford thee
+a proof. Thou talkedst but now of horses. I know but little of them;
+yet I judge thou wouldst not buy a steed which thou hadst only seen
+covered with trappings, or encumbered with saddle and bridle, but
+wouldst desire to look at him when stripped, and in his natural state
+of freedom?"
+
+"Ay, marry, would I," said Arthur. "Thou hast spoken on that as if
+thou hadst been born in a district called Yorkshire, which men call
+the merriest part of Merry England."
+
+"Then I tell thee," said Rudolph Donnerhugel, "that thou hast seen our
+Swiss youth but half, since thou hast observed them as yet only in
+their submissive attendance upon the elders of their Cantons, or, at
+most, in their mountain-sports, which, though they may show men's
+outward strength and activity, can throw no light on the spirit and
+disposition by which that strength and activity are to be guided and
+directed in matters of high enterprise."
+
+The Swiss probably designed that these remarks should excite the
+curiosity of the stranger. But the Englishman had the image, look, and
+form of Anne of Geierstein, as she had passed him in the silent hours
+of his watch, too constantly before him, to enter willingly upon a
+subject of conversation totally foreign to what agitated his mind. He,
+therefore, only compelled himself to reply in civility, that he had no
+doubt his esteem for the Swiss, both aged and young, would increase in
+proportion with his more intimate knowledge of the nation.
+
+He was then silent; and Donnerhugel, disappointed, perhaps, at having
+failed to excite his curiosity, walked also in silence by his side.
+Arthur, meanwhile, was considering with himself whether he should
+mention to his companion the circumstance which occupied his own mind,
+in the hope that the kinsman of Anne of Geierstein, and ancient friend
+of her house, might be able to throw some light on the subject.
+
+But he felt within his mind an insurmountable objection to converse
+with the Swiss on a subject in which Anne was concerned. That Rudolph
+made pretensions to her favour could hardly be doubted; and though
+Arthur, had the question been put to him, must in common consistency
+have resigned all competition on the subject, still he could not bear
+to think on the possibility of his rival's success, and would not
+willingly have endured to hear him pronounce her name.
+
+Perhaps it was owing to this secret irritability that Arthur, though
+he made every effort to conceal and to overcome the sensation, still
+felt a secret dislike to Rudolph Donnerhugel, whose frank but somewhat
+coarse familiarity was mingled with a certain air of protection and
+patronage, which the Englishman thought was by no means called for. He
+met the openness of the Bernese, indeed, with equal frankness, but he
+was ever and anon tempted to reject or repel the tone of superiority
+by which it was accompanied. The circumstances of their duel had given
+the Swiss no ground for such triumph; nor did Arthur feel himself
+included in that roll of the Swiss youth over whom Rudolph exercised
+domination by general consent. So little did Philipson relish this
+affectation of superiority, that the poor jest, that termed him King
+Arthur, although quite indifferent to him when applied by any of the
+Biedermans, was rather offensive when Rudolph took the same liberty;
+so that he often found himself in the awkward condition of one who is
+internally irritated, without having any outward manner of testifying
+it with propriety. Undoubtedly, the root of all this tacit dislike to
+the young Bernese was a feeling of rivalry; but it was a feeling which
+Arthur dared not avow even to himself. It was sufficiently powerful,
+however, to suppress the slight inclination he had felt to speak with
+Rudolph on the passage of the night which had most interested him; and
+as the topic of conversation introduced by his companion had been
+suffered to drop, they walked on side by side in silence, "with the
+beard on the shoulder," as the Spaniard says--looking round, that is,
+on all hands; and thus performing the duty of a vigilant watch.
+
+At length, after they had walked nearly a mile through forest and
+field, making a circuit around the ruins of Graffs-lust, of such an
+extent as to leave no room for an ambush betwixt them and the place,
+the old hound, led by the vidette who was foremost, stopped, and
+uttered a low growl.
+
+"How now, Wolf-fanger!" said Rudolph, advancing.--"What, old fellow!
+dost thou not know friends from foes? Come, what sayest thou, on
+better thoughts?--Thou must not lose character in thy old age--try it
+again."
+
+The dog raised his head, snuffed the air all around, as if he
+understood what his master had said, then shook his head and tail, as
+if answering to his voice.
+
+"Why, there it is now," said Donnerhugel, patting the animal's shaggy
+back; "second thoughts are worth gold; thou seest it is a friend after
+all."
+
+The dog again shook his tail, and moved forward with the same
+unconcern as before; Rudolph fell back into his place, and his
+companion said to him--
+
+"We are about to meet Rudiger and our companions, I suppose, and the
+dog hears their footsteps, though we cannot."
+
+"It can scarcely yet be Rudiger," said the Bernese; "his walk around
+the castle is of a wider circumference than ours. Some one approaches,
+however, for Wolf-fanger is again dissatisfied--Look sharply out on
+all sides."
+
+As Rudolph gave his party the word to be on the alert, they reached an
+open glade, in which were scattered, at considerable distance from
+each other, some old pine-trees of gigantic size, which seemed yet
+huger and blacker than ordinary, from their broad sable tops and
+shattered branches being displayed against the clear and white moonlight.
+"We shall here, at least," said the Swiss, "have the advantage of
+seeing clearly whatever approaches. But I judge," said he, after
+looking around for a minute, "it is but some wolf or deer that has
+crossed our path, and the scent disturbs the hound--Hold--stop--yes,
+it must be so; he goes on."
+
+The dog accordingly proceeded, after having given some signs of doubt,
+uncertainty, and even anxiety. Apparently, however, he became
+reconciled to what had disturbed him, and proceeded once more in the
+ordinary manner.
+
+"This is singular!" said Arthur Philipson; "and, to my thinking, I saw
+an object close by yonder patch of thicket, where, as well as I can
+guess, a few thorn and hazel bushes surround the stems of four or five
+large trees."
+
+"My eye has been on that very thicket for these five minutes past, and
+I saw nothing," said Rudolph.
+
+"Nay, but," answered the young Englishman, "I saw the object, whatever
+it was, while you were engaged in attending to the dog. And by your
+permission, I will forward and examine the spot."
+
+"Were you, strictly speaking, under my command," said Donnerhugel, "I
+would command you to keep your place. If they be foes, it is essential
+that we should remain together. But you are a volunteer in our watch,
+and therefore may use your freedom."
+
+"I thank you," answered Arthur, and sprang quickly forward.
+
+He felt, indeed, at the moment, that he was not acting courteously as
+an individual, nor perhaps correctly as a soldier; and that he ought
+to have rendered obedience, for the time, to the captain of the party
+in which he had enlisted himself. But, on the other hand, the object
+which he had seen, though at a distance and imperfectly, seemed to
+bear a resemblance to the retiring form of Anne of Geierstein, as she
+had vanished from his eyes, an hour or two before, under the cover of
+the forest; and his ungovernable curiosity to ascertain whether it
+might not be the maiden in person, allowed him to listen to no other
+consideration.
+
+Ere Rudolph had spoken out his few words of reply, Arthur was halfway
+to the thicket. It was, as it had seemed at a distance, of small
+extent, and not fitted to hide any person who did not actually couch
+down amongst the dwarf bushes and underwood. Anything white, also,
+which bore the human size and form must, he thought, have been
+discovered among the dark-red stems and swarthy-coloured bushes which
+were before him. These observations were mingled with other thoughts.
+If it was Anne of Geierstein whom he had a second time seen, she must
+have left the more open path, desirous probably of avoiding notice;
+and what right or title had he to direct upon her the observation of
+the patrol? He had, he thought, observed that, in general, the maiden
+rather repelled than encouraged the attentions of Rudolph Donnerhugel;
+or, where it would have been discourteous to have rejected them
+entirely, that she endured without encouraging them. What, then, could
+be the propriety of his intruding upon her private walk, singular,
+indeed, from time and place, but which, on that account, she might be
+more desirous to keep secret from the observation of one who was
+disagreeable to her? Nay, was it not possible that Rudolph might
+derive advantage to his otherwise unacceptable suit, by possessing the
+knowledge of something which the maiden desired to be concealed?
+
+As these thoughts pressed upon him, Arthur made a pause, with his eyes
+fixed on the thicket, from which he was now scarce thirty yards
+distant; and although scrutinising it with all the keen accuracy which
+his uncertainty and anxiety dictated, he was actuated by a strong
+feeling that it would be wisest to turn back to his companions, and
+report to Rudolph that his eyes had deceived him.
+
+But while he was yet undecided whether to advance or return, the
+object which he had seen became again visible on the verge of the
+thicket, and advanced straight towards him, bearing, as on the former
+occasion, the exact dress and figure of Anne of Geierstein! This
+vision--for the time, place, and suddenness of the appearance made it
+seem rather an illusion than a reality--struck Arthur with surprise,
+which amounted to terror. The figure passed within a spear's-length,
+unchallenged by him, and giving not the slightest sign of recognition;
+and, directing its course to the right hand of Rudolph, and the two or
+three who were with him, was again lost among the broken ground and
+bushes.
+
+Once more the young man was reduced to a state of the most
+inextricable doubt; nor was he roused from the stupor into which he
+was thrown, till the voice of the Bernese sounded in his ear--"Why,
+how now, King Arthur--art thou asleep, or art thou wounded?"
+
+"Neither," said Philipson, collecting himself; "only much surprised."
+
+"Surprised? and at what, most royal"----
+
+"Forbear foolery," said Arthur, somewhat sternly, "and answer as thou
+art a man--Did she not meet thee?--didst thou not see her?"
+
+"See her!--see whom?" said Donnerhugel. "I saw no one. And I could
+have sworn you had seen no one either, for I had you in my eye the
+whole time of your absence, excepting two or three moments. If you saw
+aught, why gave you not the alarm?"
+
+"Because it was only a woman," answered Arthur, faintly.
+
+"Only a woman!" repeated Rudolph, in a tone of contempt. "By my honest
+word, King Arthur, if I had not seen pretty flashes of valour fly from
+thee at times, I should be apt to think that thou hadst only a woman's
+courage thyself. Strange, that a shadow by night, or a precipice in
+the day, should quell so bold a spirit as thou hast often shown"----
+
+"And as I will ever show, when occasion demands it," interrupted the
+Englishman, with recovered spirit. "But I swear to you, that if I be
+now daunted, it is by no mere earthly fears that my mind hath been for
+a moment subdued."
+
+"Let us proceed on our walk," said Rudolph; "we must not neglect the
+safety of our friends. This appearance, of which thou speakest, may be
+but a trick to interrupt our duty."
+
+They moved on through the moonlight glades. A minute's reflection
+restored young Philipson to his full recollection, and with that to
+the painful consciousness that he had played a ridiculous and unworthy
+part in the presence of the person whom (of the male sex, at least) he
+would the very last have chosen as a witness of his weakness.
+
+He ran hastily over the relations which stood betwixt himself,
+Donnerhugel, the Landamman, his niece, and the rest of that family;
+and, contrary to the opinion which he had entertained but a short
+while before, settled in his own mind that it was his duty to mention
+to the immediate leader under whom he had placed himself, the
+appearance which he had twice observed in the course of that night's
+duty. There might be family circumstances--the payment of a vow,
+perhaps, or some such reason--which might render intelligible to her
+connections the behaviour of this young lady. Besides, he was for the
+present a soldier on duty, and these mysteries might be fraught with
+evils to be anticipated or guarded against; in either case, his
+companions were entitled to be made aware of what he had seen. It must
+be supposed that this resolution was adopted when the sense of duty,
+and of shame for the weakness which he had exhibited, had for the
+moment subdued Arthur's personal feelings towards Anne of
+Geierstein--feelings, also, liable to be chilled by the mysterious
+uncertainty which the events of that evening had cast, like a thick
+mist, around the object of them.
+
+While the Englishman's reflections were taking this turn, his captain
+or companion, after a silence of several minutes, at length addressed
+him.
+
+"I believe," he said, "my dear comrade, that, as being at present your
+officer, I have some title to hear from you the report of what you
+have just now seen, since it must be something of importance which
+could so strongly agitate a mind so firm as yours. But if, in your own
+opinion, it consists with the general safety to delay your report of
+what you have seen until we return to the castle, and then to deliver
+it to the private ear of the Landamman, you have only to intimate your
+purpose; and, far from urging you to place confidence in me
+personally, though I hope I am not undeserving of it, I will authorise
+your leaving us, and returning instantly to the castle."
+
+This proposal touched him to whom it was made exactly in the right
+place. An absolute demand of his confidence might perhaps have been
+declined; the tone of moderate request and conciliation fell
+presently in with the Englishman's own reflections.
+
+"I am sensible," he said, "Hauptman, that I ought to mention to you
+that which I have seen to-night; but on the first occasion, it did not
+fall within my duty to do so; and, now that I have a second time
+witnessed the same appearance, I have felt for these few seconds so
+much surprised at what I have seen, that even yet I can scarce find
+words to express it."
+
+"As I cannot guess what you may have to say," replied the Bernese, "I
+must beseech you to be explicit. We are but poor readers of riddles,
+we thick-headed Switzers."
+
+"Yet it is but a riddle which I have to place before you, Rudolph
+Donnerhugel," answered the Englishman, "and a riddle which is far
+beyond my own guessing at." He then proceeded, though not without
+hesitation, "While you were performing your first patrol amongst the
+ruins, a female crossed the bridge from within the castle, walked by
+my post without saying a single word, and vanished under the shadows
+of the forest."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Donnerhugel, and made no further answer.
+
+Arthur proceeded. "Within these five minutes, the same female form
+passed me a second time, issuing from the little thicket and clump of
+firs, and disappeared, without exchanging a word. Know, further, this
+apparition bore the form, face, gait, and dress of your kinswoman,
+Anne of Geierstein."
+
+"Singular enough," said Rudolph, in a tone of incredulity. "I must
+not, I suppose, dispute your word, for you would receive doubt on my
+part as a mortal injury--such is your northern chivalry. Yet, let me
+say, I have eyes as well as you, and I scarce think they quitted you
+for a minute. We were not fifty yards from the place where I found you
+standing in amazement. How, therefore, should not we also have seen
+that which you say and think you saw?"
+
+"To that I can give no answer," said Arthur. "Perhaps your eyes were
+not exactly turned upon me during the short space in which I saw this
+form--perhaps it might be visible--as they say fantastic appearances
+sometimes are--to only one person at a time."
+
+"You suppose, then, that the appearance was imaginary, or fantastic?"
+said the Bernese.
+
+"Can I tell you?" replied the Englishman. "The Church gives its
+warrant that there are such things; and surely it is more natural to
+believe this apparition to be an illusion, than to suppose that Anne
+of Geierstein, a gentle and well-nurtured maiden, should be traversing
+the woods at this wild hour, when safety and propriety so strongly
+recommend her being within doors."
+
+"There is much in what you say," said Rudolph; "and yet there are
+stories afloat, though few care to mention them, which seem to allege
+that Anne of Geierstein is not altogether such as other maidens; and
+that she has been met with, in body and spirit, where she could hardly
+have come by her own unassisted efforts."
+
+"Ha!" said Arthur; "so young, so beautiful, and already in league with
+the destroyer of mankind! It is impossible."
+
+"I said not so," replied the Bernese; "nor have I leisure at present
+to explain my meaning more fully. As we return to the castle of
+Graffs-lust, I may have an opportunity to tell you more. But I
+chiefly brought you on this patrol to introduce you to some friends,
+whom you will be pleased to know, and who desire your acquaintance;
+and it is here I expect to meet them."
+
+So saying, he turned round the projecting corner of a rock, and an
+unexpected scene was presented to the eyes of the young Englishman.
+
+In a sort of nook, or corner, screened by the rocky projection, there
+burned a large fire of wood, and around it sat, reclined, or lay,
+twelve or fifteen young men in the Swiss garb, but decorated with
+ornaments and embroidery, which reflected back the light of the fire.
+The same red gleam was returned by silver wine-cups, which circulated
+from hand to hand with the flasks which filled them. Arthur could also
+observe the relics of a banquet, to which due honour seemed to have
+been lately rendered.
+
+The revellers started joyfully up at the sight of Donnerhugel and his
+companions, and saluted him, easily distinguished as he was by his
+stature, by the title of Captain, warmly and exultingly uttered,
+while, at the same time, every tendency to noisy acclamation was
+cautiously suppressed. The zeal indicated that Rudolph came most
+welcome--the caution that he came in secret, and was to be received
+with mystery.
+
+To the general greeting he answered,--"I thank you, my brave comrades.
+Has Rudiger yet reached you?"
+
+"Thou seest he has not," said one of the party; "had it been so, we
+would have detained him here till your coming, brave Captain."
+
+"He has loitered on his patrol," said the Bernese. "We too were
+delayed, yet we are here before him. I bring with me, comrades, the
+brave Englishman, whom I mentioned to you as a desirable associate in
+our daring purpose."
+
+"He is welcome, most welcome to us," said a young man, whose richly
+embroidered dress of azure blue gave him an air of authority; "most
+welcome is he, if he brings with him a heart and a hand to serve our
+noble task."
+
+"For both I will be responsible," said Rudolph. "Pass the wine-cup,
+then, to the success of our glorious enterprise, and the health of
+this our new associate!"
+
+While they were replenishing the cups with wine of a quality far
+superior to any which Arthur had yet tasted in these regions, he
+thought it right, before engaging himself in the pledge, to learn the
+secret object of the association which seemed desirous of adopting
+him.
+
+"Before I engage my poor services to you, fair sirs, since it pleases
+you to desire them, permit me," he said, "to ask the purpose and
+character of the undertaking in which they are to be employed."
+
+"Shouldst thou have brought him hither," said the cavalier in blue to
+Rudolph, "without satisfying him and thyself on that point?"
+
+"Care not thou about it, Lawrenz," replied the Bernese, "I know my
+man.--Be it known, then, to you, my good friend," he continued,
+addressing the Englishman, "that my comrades and I are determined at
+once to declare the freedom of the Swiss commerce, and to resist to
+the death, if it be necessary, all unlawful and extortionate demands
+on the part of our neighbours."
+
+"I understand so much," said the young Englishman, "and that the
+present deputation proceeds to the Duke of Burgundy with remonstrances
+to that effect."
+
+"Hear me," replied Rudolph. "The question is like to be brought to a
+bloody determination long ere we see the Duke of Burgundy's most
+august and most gracious countenance. That his influence should be
+used to exclude us from Bâle, a neutral town, and pertaining to the
+empire, gives us cause to expect the worst reception when we enter his
+own dominions. We have even reason to think that we might have
+suffered from his hatred already, but for the vigilance of the ward
+which we have kept. Horsemen, from the direction of La Ferette, have
+this night reconnoitred our posts; and had they not found us prepared,
+we had, without question, been attacked in our quarters. But since we
+have escaped to-night, we must take care for to-morrow. For this
+purpose, a number of the bravest youth of the city of Bâle, incensed
+at the pusillanimity of their magistrates, are determined to join us,
+in order to wipe away the disgrace which the cowardly inhospitality of
+their magistracy has brought on their native place."
+
+"That we will do ere the sun, that will rise two hours hence, shall
+sink into the western sky," said the cavalier in blue; and those
+around joined him in stern assent.
+
+"Gentle sirs," replied Arthur, when there was a pause, "let me remind
+you, that the embassy which you attend is a peaceful one, and that
+those who act as its escort ought to avoid anything which can augment
+the differences which it comes to reconcile. You cannot expect to
+receive offence in the Duke's dominions, the privileges of envoys
+being respected in all civilised countries; and you will, I am sure,
+desire to offer none."
+
+"We may be subjected to insult, however," replied the Bernese, "and
+that through your concerns, Arthur Philipson, and those of thy
+father."
+
+"I understand you not," replied Philipson.
+
+"Your father," answered Donnerhugel, "is a merchant, and bears with
+him wares of small bulk but high value?"
+
+"He does so," answered Arthur; "and what of that?"
+
+"Marry," answered Rudolph, "that if it be not better looked to, the
+Bandog of Burgundy is like to fall heir to a large proportion of your
+silks, satins, and jewellery work."
+
+"Silks, satins, and jewels!" exclaimed another of the revellers; "such
+wares will not pass toll-free where Archibald of Hagenbach hath
+authority."
+
+"Fair sirs," resumed Arthur, after a moment's consideration, "these
+wares are my father's property, not mine; and it is for him, not me,
+to pronounce how much of them he might be content to part with in the
+way of toll, rather than give occasion to a fray in which his
+companions, who have received him into their society, must be exposed
+to injury as well as himself. I can only say, that he has weighty
+affairs at the court of Burgundy, which must render him desirous of
+reaching it in peace with all men; and it is my private belief that,
+rather than incur the loss and danger of a broil with the garrison of
+La Ferette, he would be contented to sacrifice all the property which
+he has at present with him. Therefore, I must request of you,
+gentlemen, a space to consult his pleasure on this occasion; assuring
+you, that if it be his will to resist the payment of these duties to
+Burgundy, you shall find in me one who is fully determined to fight to
+the last drop of his blood."
+
+"Good King Arthur," said Rudolph; "thou art a dutiful observer of the
+Fifth Commandment, and thy days shall be long in the land. Do not
+suppose us neglectful of the same duty, although, for the present, we
+conceive ourselves bound, in the first place, to attend to the weal of
+our country, the common parent of our fathers and ourselves. But as
+you know our profound respect for the Landamman, you need not fear
+that we shall willingly offer him offence, by rashly engaging in
+hostilities, or without some weighty reason; and an attempt to plunder
+his guest would have been met, on his part, with resistance to the
+death. I had hoped to find both you and your father prompt enough to
+resent such a gross injury. Nevertheless, if your father inclines to
+present his fleece to be shorn by Archibald of Hagenbach, whose
+scissors, he will find, clip pretty closely, it would be unnecessary
+and uncivil in us to interpose. Meantime, you have the advantage of
+knowing, that in case the Governor of La Ferette should be disposed to
+strip you of skin as well as fleece, there are more men close at hand
+than you looked for, whom you will find both able and willing to
+render you prompt assistance."
+
+"On these terms," said the Englishman, "I make my acknowledgments to
+these gentlemen of Bâle, or whatever other country hath sent them
+forth, and pledge them in a brotherly cup to our further and more
+intimate acquaintance."
+
+"Health and prosperity to the United Cantons, and their friends!"
+answered the Blue Cavalier. "And death and confusion to all besides."
+
+The cups were replenished; and instead of a shout of applause, the
+young men around testified their devoted determination to the cause
+which was thus announced, by grasping each other's hands, and then
+brandishing their weapons with a fierce yet noiseless gesture.
+
+"Thus," said Rudolph Donnerhugel, "our illustrious ancestors, the
+fathers of Swiss independence, met in the immortal field of Rutli,
+between Uri and Unterwalden. Thus they swore to each other, under the
+blue firmament of heaven, that they would restore the liberty of their
+oppressed country; and history can tell how well they kept their
+word."
+
+"And she shall record," said the Blue Cavalier, "how well the present
+Switzers can preserve the freedom which their fathers won.--Proceed in
+your rounds, good Rudolph, and be assured that at the signal of the
+Hauptman the soldiers will not be far absent;--all is arranged as
+formerly, unless you have new orders to give us."
+
+"Hark thee hither, Lawrenz," said Rudolph to the Blue Cavalier,--and
+Arthur could hear him say,--"Beware, my friend, that the Rhine wine be
+not abused;--if there is too much provision of it, manage to destroy
+the flasks;--a mule may stumble, thou knowest, or so. Give not way to
+Rudiger in this. He is grown a wine-bibber since he joined us. We must
+bring both heart and hand to what may be done to-morrow."--They then
+whispered so low, that Arthur could hear nothing of their further
+conference, and bid each other adieu, after clasping hands, as if
+they were renewing some solemn pledge of union.
+
+Rudolph and his party then moved forward, and were scarce out of sight
+of their new associates, when the vidette, or foremost of their
+patrol, gave the signal of alarm. Arthur's heart leaped to his
+lips--"It is Anne of Geierstein!" he said internally.
+
+"The dogs are silent," said the Bernese. "Those who approach must be
+the companions of our watch."
+
+They proved, accordingly, to be Rudiger and his party, who, halting on
+the appearance of their comrades, made and underwent a formal
+challenge; such advance had the Swiss already made in military
+discipline, which was but little and rudely studied by the infantry in
+other parts of Europe. Arthur could hear Rudolph take his friend
+Rudiger to task for not meeting him at the halting-place appointed.
+"It leads to new revelry on your arrival," he said, "and to-morrow
+must find us cool and determined."
+
+"Cool as an icicle, noble Hauptman," answered the son of the
+Landamman, "and determined as the rock it hangs upon."
+
+Rudolph again recommended temperance, and the young Biederman promised
+compliance. The two parties passed each other with friendly though
+silent greeting; and there was soon a considerable distance between
+them.
+
+The country was more open on the side of the castle, around which
+their duty now led them, than where it lay opposite to the principal
+gate. The glades were broad, the trees thinly scattered over pasture
+land, and there were no thickets, ravines, or similar places of
+ambush, so that the eye might, in the clear moonlight, well command
+the country.
+
+"Here," said Rudolph, "we may judge ourselves secure enough for some
+conference; and therefore may I ask thee, Arthur of England, now thou
+hast seen us more closely, what thinkest thou of the Switzer youth? If
+thou hast learned less than I could have wished, thank thine own
+uncommunicative temper, which retired in some degree from our
+confidence."
+
+"Only in so far as I could not have answered, and therefore ought not
+to have received it," said Arthur. "The judgment I have been enabled
+to form amounts, in few words, to this: Your purposes are lofty and
+noble as your mountains; but the stranger from the low country is not
+accustomed to tread the circuitous path by which you ascend them. My
+foot has been always accustomed to move straight forward upon the
+greensward."
+
+"You speak in riddles," answered the Bernese.
+
+"Not so," returned the Englishman. "I think you ought plainly to
+mention to your seniors (the nominal leaders of young men who seem
+well disposed to take their own road) that you expect an attack in the
+neighbourhood of La Ferette, and hope for assistance from some of the
+townsmen of Bâle."
+
+"Ay, truly," answered Donnerhugel; "and the Landamman would stop his
+journey till he despatched a messenger for a safe-conduct to the Duke
+of Burgundy; and should he grant it, there were an end of all hope of
+war."
+
+"True," replied Arthur; "but the Landamman would thereby obtain his
+own principal object, and the sole purpose of the mission--that is,
+the establishment of peace."
+
+"Peace--peace?" answered the Bernese, hastily. "Were my wishes alone
+to be opposed to those of Arnold Biederman, I know so much of his
+honour and faith, I respect so highly his valour and patriotism, that
+at his voice I would sheathe my sword, even if my most mortal enemy
+stood before me. But mine is not the single wish of a single man; the
+whole of my canton, and that of Soleure, are determined on war. It was
+by war, noble war, that our fathers came forth from the house of their
+captivity--it was by war, successful and glorious war, that a race,
+who had been held scarce so much worth thinking on as the oxen which
+they goaded, emerged at once into liberty and consequence, and were
+honoured because they were feared, as much as they had been formerly
+despised because they were unresisting."
+
+"This may be all very true," said the young Englishman; "but, in my
+opinion, the object of your mission has been determined by your Diet
+or House of Commons. They have resolved to send you with others as
+messengers of peace; but you are secretly blowing the coals of war;
+and while all, or most of your senior colleagues are setting out
+to-morrow in expectation of a peaceful journey, you stand prepared for
+a combat, and look for the means of giving cause for it."
+
+"And is it not well that I do stand so prepared?" answered Rudolph.
+"If our reception in Burgundy's dependencies be peaceful, as you say
+the rest of the deputation expect, my precautions will be needless;
+but at least they can do no harm. If it prove otherwise, I shall be
+the means of averting a great misfortune from my colleagues, my
+kinsman Arnold Biederman, my fair cousin Anne, your father,
+yourself--from all of us, in short, who are joyously travelling
+together."
+
+Arthur shook his head. "There is something in all this," he said,
+"which I understand not, and will not seek to understand. I only pray
+that you will not make my father's concerns the subject of breaking
+truce; it may, as you hint, involve the Landamman in a quarrel, which
+he might otherwise have avoided. I am sure my father will never
+forgive it."
+
+"I have pledged my word," said Rudolph, "already to that effect. But
+if he should like the usage of the Bandog of Burgundy less than you
+seem to apprehend he will, there is no harm in your knowing that, in
+time of need, he may be well and actively supported."
+
+"I am greatly obliged by the assurance," replied the Englishman.
+
+"And thou mayst thyself, my friend," continued Rudolph, "take a
+warning from what thou hast heard: Men go not to a bridal in armour,
+nor to a brawl in silken doublet."
+
+"I will be clad to meet the worst," said Arthur; "and for that purpose
+I will don a light hauberk of well-tempered steel, proof against spear
+or arrow; and I thank you for your kindly counsel."
+
+"Nay, thank not me," said Rudolph; "I were ill deserving to be a
+leader did I not make those who are to follow me--more especially so
+trusty a follower as thou art--aware of the time when they should
+buckle on their armour, and prepare for hard blows."
+
+Here the conversation paused for a moment or two, neither of the
+speakers being entirely contented with his companion, although neither
+pressed any further remark.
+
+The Bernese, judging from the feelings which he had seen predominate
+among the traders of his own country, had entertained little doubt
+that the Englishman, finding himself powerfully supported in point of
+force, would have caught at the opportunity to resist paying the
+exorbitant imposts with which he was threatened at the next town,
+which would probably, without any effort on Rudolph's part, have led
+to breaking off the truce on the part of Arnold Biederman himself, and
+to an instant declaration of hostilities. On the other hand, young
+Philipson could not understand or approve of Donnerhugel's conduct,
+who, himself a member of a peaceful deputation, seemed to be animated
+with the purpose of seizing an opportunity to kindle the flames of
+war.
+
+Occupied by these various reflections, they walked side by side for
+some time without speaking together, until Rudolph broke silence.
+
+"Your curiosity is then ended, Sir Englishman," said he, "respecting
+the apparition of Anne of Geierstein?"
+
+"Far from it," replied Philipson; "but I would unwillingly intrude any
+questions on you while you are busy with the duties of your patrol."
+
+"That may be considered as over," said the Bernese, "for there is not
+a bush near us to cover a Burgundian knave, and a glance around us
+from time to time is all that is now needful to prevent surprise. And
+so, listen while I tell a tale, never sung or harped in hall or bower,
+and which, I begin to think, deserves as much credit, at least, as is
+due to the Tales of the Round Table, which ancient troubadours and
+minne-singers dole out to us as the authentic chronicles of your
+renowned namesake.
+
+"Of Anne's ancestors on the male side of the house," continued
+Rudolph, "I dare say you have heard enough, and are well aware how
+they dwelt in the old walls at Geierstein beside the cascade, grinding
+their vassals, devouring the substance of their less powerful
+neighbours, and plundering the goods of the travellers whom ill luck
+sent within ken of the vulture's eyry, the one year; and in the next,
+wearying the shrines for mercy for their trespasses, overwhelming the
+priests with the wealth which they showered upon them, and, finally,
+vowing vows, and making pilgrimages, sometimes as palmers, sometimes
+as crusaders as far as Jerusalem itself, to atone for the iniquities
+which they had committed without hesitation or struggle of
+conscience."
+
+"Such, I have understood," replied the young Englishman, "was the
+history of the house of Geierstein, till Arnold, or his immediate
+ancestors, exchanged the lance for the sheep-hook."
+
+"But it is said," replied the Bernese, "that the powerful and wealthy
+Barons of Arnheim, of Swabia, whose only female descendant became the
+wife to Count Albert of Geierstein, and the mother of this young
+person, whom Swiss call simply Anne, and Germans Countess Anne of
+Geierstein, were nobles of a different caste. They did not restrict
+their lives within the limits of sinning and repenting--of plundering
+harmless peasants, and pampering fat monks; but were distinguished
+for something more than building castles with dungeons and
+folter-kammers, or torture-chambers, and founding monasteries with
+Galilees and Refectories.
+
+"These same Barons of Arnheim were men who strove to enlarge the
+boundaries of human knowledge, and converted their castle into a
+species of college, where there were more ancient volumes than the
+monks have piled together in the library of St. Gall. Nor were their
+studies in books alone. Deep buried in their private laboratories,
+they attained secrets which were afterwards transmitted through the
+race from father to son, and were supposed to have approached nearly
+to the deepest recesses of alchemy. The report of their wisdom and
+their wealth was often brought to the Imperial footstool; and in the
+frequent disputes which the Emperors maintained with the Popes of old,
+it is said they were encouraged, if not instigated, by the counsels of
+the Barons of Arnheim, and supported by their treasures. It was,
+perhaps, such a course of politics, joined to the unusual and
+mysterious studies which the family of Arnheim so long pursued, which
+excited against them the generally received opinion, that they were
+assisted in their superhuman researches by supernatural influences.
+The priests were active in forwarding this cry against men who,
+perhaps, had no other fault than that of being wiser than themselves.
+
+"'Look what guests,' they said, 'are received in the halls of Arnheim!
+Let a Christian knight, crippled in war with the Saracens, present
+himself on the drawbridge, he is guerdoned with a crust and a cup of
+wine, and required to pass on his way. If a palmer, redolent of the
+sanctity acquired by his recent visits to the most holy shrines, and
+by the sacred relics which attest and reward his toil, approach the
+unhallowed walls, the warder bends his crossbow, and the porter shuts
+the gate, as if the wandering saint brought the plague with him from
+Palestine. But comes there a greybearded, glib-tongued Greek, with his
+parchment scrolls, the very letters of which are painful to Christian
+eyes--comes there a Jewish Rabbin, with his Talmud and Cabala--comes
+there a swarthy sun-burnt Moor, who can boast of having read the
+language of the Stars in Chaldea, the cradle of astrological
+science--Lo, the wandering impostor or sorcerer occupies the highest
+seat at the Baron of Arnheim's board, shares with him the labours of
+the alembic and the furnace, learns from him mystic knowledge, like
+that of which our first parents participated to the overthrow of their
+race, and requites it with lessons more dreadful than he receives,
+till the profane host has added to his hoard of unholy wisdom all that
+the pagan visitor can communicate. And these things are done in
+Almain, which is called the Holy Roman Empire, of which so many
+priests are princes!--they are done, and neither ban nor monition is
+issued against a race of sorcerers, who, from age to age, go on
+triumphing in their necromancy!'
+
+"Such arguments, which were echoed from mitred Abbots to the cell of
+Anchorites, seem, nevertheless, to have made little impression on the
+Imperial council. But they served to excite the zeal of many a Baron
+and Free Count of the Empire, who were taught by them to esteem a war
+or feud with the Barons of Arnheim as partaking of the nature, and
+entitled to the immunities, of a crusade against the enemies of the
+Faith, and to regard an attack upon these obnoxious potentates as a
+mode of clearing off their deep scores with the Christian Church. But
+the Lords of Arnheim, though not seeking for quarrel, were by no means
+unwarlike, or averse to maintaining their own defence. Some, on the
+contrary, belonging to this obnoxious race, were not the less
+distinguished as gallant knights and good men-at-arms. They were,
+besides, wealthy, secured and strengthened by great alliances, and in
+an eminent degree wise and provident. This the parties who assailed
+them learned to their cost.
+
+"The confederacies formed against the Lords of Arnheim were broken up;
+the attacks which their enemies meditated were anticipated and
+disconcerted; and those who employed actual violence were repelled
+with signal loss to the assailants: until at length an impression was
+produced in their neighbourhood, that by their accurate information
+concerning meditated violence, and their extraordinary powers of
+resisting and defeating it, the obnoxious Barons must have brought to
+their defence means which merely human force was incapable of
+overthrowing; so that, becoming as much feared as hated, they were
+suffered for the last generation to remain unmolested. And this was
+the rather the case, that the numerous vassals of this great house
+were perfectly satisfied with their feudal superiors, abundantly ready
+to rise in their defence, and disposed to believe that, whether their
+lords were sorcerers or no, their own condition would not be mended by
+exchanging their government, either for the rule of the crusaders in
+this holy warfare, or that of the churchmen by whom it was instigated.
+The race of these barons ended in Herman von Arnheim, the maternal
+grandfather of Anne of Geierstein. He was buried with his helmet,
+sword, and shield, as is the German custom with the last male of a
+noble family.
+
+"But he left an only daughter, Sybilla of Arnheim, to inherit a
+considerable portion of his estate; and I never heard that the strong
+imputation of sorcery which attached to her house, prevented numerous
+applications, from persons of the highest distinction in the Empire,
+to her legal guardian, the Emperor, for the rich heiress's hand in
+marriage. Albert of Geierstein, however, though an exile, obtained the
+preference. He was gallant and handsome, which recommended him to
+Sybilla; and the Emperor, bent at the time on the vain idea of
+recovering his authority in the Swiss mountains, was desirous to show
+himself generous to Albert, whom he considered as a fugitive from his
+country for espousing the imperial cause. You may thus see, most noble
+King Arthur, that Anne of Geierstein, the only child of their
+marriage, descends from no ordinary stock; and that circumstances in
+which she may be concerned are not to be explained or judged of so
+easily, or upon the same grounds of reasoning, as in the case of
+ordinary persons."
+
+"By my honest word, Sir Rudolph of Donnerhugel," said Arthur,
+studiously labouring to keep a command upon his feelings, "I can see
+nothing in your narrative, and understand nothing from it, unless it
+be that because in Germany, as in other countries, there have been
+fools who have annexed the idea of witchcraft and sorcery to the
+possession of knowledge and wisdom, you are therefore disposed to
+stigmatise a young maiden, who has always been respected and beloved
+by those around her, as a disciple of arts which, I trust, are as
+uncommon as unlawful."
+
+Rudolph paused ere he replied.
+
+"I could have wished," he said, "that you had been satisfied with the
+general character of Anne of Geierstein's maternal family, as offering
+some circumstances which may account for what you have, according to
+your own report, this night witnessed, and I am really unwilling to go
+into more particular details. To no one can Anne of Geierstein's fame
+be so dear as to me. I am, after her uncle's family, her nearest
+relative, and had she remained in Switzerland, or should she, as is
+most probable, return thither after the present visit to her father,
+perhaps our connection might be drawn yet closer. This has, indeed,
+only been prevented by certain prejudices of her uncle's respecting
+her father's authority, and the nearness of our relationship, which,
+however, comes within reach of a licence very frequently obtained. But
+I only mention these things, to show you how much more tender I must
+necessarily hold Anne of Geierstein's reputation, than it is possible
+for you to do, being a stranger, known to her but a short while since,
+and soon to part with her, as I understand your purpose, for ever."
+
+The turn taken in this kind of apology irritated Arthur so highly,
+that it required all the reasons which recommended coolness to enable
+him to answer with assumed composure.
+
+"I can have no ground, Sir Hauptman," he said, "to challenge any
+opinion which you may entertain of a young person with whom you are so
+closely connected, as you appear to be with Anne of Geierstein. I only
+wonder that, with such regard for her as your relationship implies,
+you should be disposed to receive, on popular and trivial traditions,
+a belief which must injuriously affect your kinswoman, more especially
+one with whom you intimate a wish to form a still more close
+connection. Bethink you, sir, that in all Christian lands, the
+imputation of sorcery is the most foul which can be thrown on
+Christian man or woman."
+
+"And I am so far from intimating such an imputation," said Rudolph,
+somewhat fiercely, "that, by the good sword I wear, he that dared give
+breath to such a thought against Anne of Geierstein must undergo my
+challenge, and take my life, or lose his own. But the question is not
+whether the maiden herself practises sorcery, which he who avers had
+better get ready his tomb, and provide for his soul's safety; the
+doubt lies here, whether, as the descendant of a family whose
+relations with the unseen world are reported to have been of the
+closest degree, elfish and fantastical beings may not have power to
+imitate her form, and to present her appearance where she is not
+personally present--in fine, whether they have permission to play at
+her expense fantastical tricks, which they cannot exercise over other
+mortals, whose forefathers have ever regulated their lives by the
+rules of the Church, and died in regular communion with it. And as I
+sincerely desire to retain your esteem, I have no objection to
+communicate to you more particular circumstances respecting her
+genealogy, confirming the idea I have now expressed. But you will
+understand they are of the most private nature, and that I expect
+secrecy under the strictest personal penalty."
+
+"I shall be silent, sir," replied the young Englishman, still
+struggling with suppressed passion, "on everything respecting the
+character of a maiden whom I am bound to respect so highly. But the
+fear of no man's displeasure can add a feather's weight to the
+guarantee of my own honour."
+
+"Be it so," said Rudolph; "it is not my wish to awake angry feelings;
+but I am desirous, both for the sake of your good opinion, which I
+value, and also for the plainer explanation of what I have darkly
+intimated, to communicate to you what otherwise I would much rather
+have left untold."
+
+"You must be guided by your own sense of what is necessary and proper
+in the case," answered Philipson; "but remember I press not on your
+confidence for the communication of anything that ought to remain
+secret, far less where that young lady is the subject."
+
+Rudolph answered, after a minute's pause,--"Thou hast seen and heard
+too much, Arthur, not to learn the whole, or at least all that I know,
+or apprehend, on the mysterious subject. It is impossible but the
+circumstances must at times recur to your recollection, and I am
+desirous that you should possess all the information necessary to
+understand them as clearly as the nature of the facts will permit. We
+have yet, keeping leftward to view the bog, upwards of a mile to make
+ere the circuit of the castle is accomplished. It will afford leisure
+enough for the tale I have to tell."
+
+"Speak on--I listen!" answered the Englishman, divided between his
+desire to know all that it was possible to learn concerning Anne of
+Geierstein, and his dislike to hear her name pronounced with such
+pretensions as those of Donnerhugel, together with the revival of his
+original prejudices against the gigantic Swiss, whose manners, always
+blunt, nearly to coarseness, seemed now marked by assumed superiority
+and presumption. Arthur listened, however, to his wild tale, and the
+interest which he took in it soon overpowered all other sensations.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[5] The chivalry of Cornwall are generally undervalued in the
+Norman-French romances. The cause is difficult to discover.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+DONNERHUGEL'S NARRATIVE.
+
+     These be the adept's doctrines--every element
+     Is peopled with its separate race of spirits.
+     The airy Sylphs on the blue ether float;
+     Deep in the earthy cavern skulks the Gnome;
+     The sea-green Naiad skims the ocean-billow,
+     And the fierce fire is yet a friendly home
+     To its peculiar sprite--the Salamander.
+                                        ANONYMOUS.
+
+
+I told you (said Rudolph) that the Lords of Arnheim, though from
+father to son they were notoriously addicted to secret studies, were,
+nevertheless, like the other German nobles, followers of war and the
+chase. This was peculiarly the case with Anne's maternal grandfather,
+Herman of Arnheim, who prided himself on possessing a splendid stud of
+horses, and one steed in particular, the noblest ever known in these
+circles of Germany. I should make wild work were I to attempt a
+description of such an animal, so I will content myself with saying
+his colour was jet black, without a hair of white either on his face
+or feet. For this reason, and the wildness of his disposition, his
+master had termed him Apollyon; a circumstance which was secretly
+considered as tending to sanction the evil reports which touched the
+house of Arnheim, being, it was said, the naming of a favourite animal
+after a foul fiend.
+
+It chanced, one November day, that the Baron had been hunting in the
+forest, and did not reach home till nightfall. There were no guests
+with him, for, as I hinted to you before, the castle of Arnheim seldom
+received any other than those from whom its inhabitants hoped to gain
+augmentation of knowledge. The Baron was seated alone in his hall,
+illuminated with cressets and torches. His one hand held a volume
+covered with characters unintelligible to all save himself. The other
+rested on the marble table, on which was placed a flask of Tokay wine.
+A page stood in respectful attendance near the bottom of the large and
+dim apartment, and no sound was heard save that of the night wind,
+when it sighed mournfully through the rusty coats of mail, and waved
+the tattered banners which were the tapestry of the feudal hall. At
+once the footstep of a person was heard ascending the stairs in haste
+and trepidation; the door of the hall was thrown violently open, and,
+terrified to a degree of ecstasy, Caspar, the head of the Baron's
+stable, or his master of horse, stumbled up almost to the foot of the
+table at which his lord was seated, with the exclamation in his
+mouth,--
+
+"My lord, my lord, a fiend is in the stable!"
+
+"What means this folly?" said the Baron, arising, surprised and
+displeased at an interruption so unusual.
+
+"Let me endure your displeasure," said Caspar, "if I speak not truth!
+Apollyon"----
+
+Here he paused.
+
+"Speak out, thou frightened fool," said the Baron; "is my horse sick,
+or injured?"
+
+The master of the stalls again gasped forth the word, "Apollyon!"
+
+"Say on," said the Baron; "were Apollyon in presence personally, it
+were nothing to shake a brave man's mind."
+
+"The devil," answered the master of the horse, "is in Apollyon's
+stall!"
+
+"Fool!" exclaimed the nobleman, snatching a torch from the wall; "what
+is it that could have turned thy brain in such silly fashion? Things
+like thee, that are born to serve us, should hold their brains on a
+firmer tenure, for our sakes, if not for that of their worthless
+selves."
+
+As he spoke, he descended to the court of the castle, to visit the
+stately range of stables which occupied all the lower part of the
+quadrangle on one side. He entered, where fifty gallant steeds stood
+in rows, on each side of the ample hall. At the side of each stall
+hung the weapons of offence and defence of a man-at-arms, as bright as
+constant attention could make them, together with the buff-coat which
+formed the trooper's under garment. The Baron, followed by one or two
+of the domestics, who had assembled full of astonishment at the
+unusual alarm, hastened up to the head of the stable, betwixt the rows
+of steeds. As he approached the stall of his favourite horse, which
+was the uppermost of the right-hand row, the gallant steed neither
+neighed, nor shook his head, nor stamped with his foot, nor gave the
+usual signs of joy at his lord's approach; a faint moaning, as if he
+implored assistance, was the only acknowledgment he gave of the
+Baron's presence.
+
+Sir Herman held up the torch, and discovered that there was indeed a
+tall dark figure standing in the stall, resting his hand on the
+horse's shoulder. "Who art thou," said the Baron, "and what dost thou
+here?"
+
+"I seek refuge and hospitality," replied the stranger; "and I conjure
+thee to grant it me, by the shoulder of thy horse, and by the edge of
+thy sword, and so as they may never fail thee when thy need is at the
+utmost!"
+
+"Thou art, then, a brother of the Sacred Fire," said Baron Herman of
+Arnheim; "and I may not refuse thee the refuge which thou requirest of
+me, after the ritual of the Persian Magi. From whom, and for what
+length of time, dost thou crave my protection?"
+
+"From those," replied the stranger, "who shall arrive in quest of me
+before the morning cock shall crow, and for the full space of a year
+and a day from this period."
+
+"I may not refuse thee," said the Baron, "consistently with my oath
+and my honour. For a year and a day I will be thy pledge, and thou
+shalt share with me roof and chamber, wine and food. But thou too must
+obey the law of Zoroaster, which, as it says, Let the Stronger protect
+the weaker brother, says also, Let the Wiser instruct the brother who
+hath less knowledge. I am the stronger, and thou shalt be safe under
+my protection; but thou art the wiser, and must instruct me in the
+more secret mysteries."
+
+"You mock your servant," said the strange visitor; "but if aught is
+known to Dannischemend which can avail Herman, his instructions shall
+be as those of a father to a son."
+
+"Come forth, then, from thy place of refuge," said the Baron of
+Arnheim. "I swear to thee by the sacred fire which lives without
+terrestrial fuel, and by the fraternity which is betwixt us, and
+by the shoulder of my horse, and the edge of my good sword, I will be
+thy warrand for a year and a day, if so far my power shall extend."
+
+  [Illustration: IN THE STABLE.
+   Drawn and Etched by R. de los Rios.]
+
+The stranger came forth accordingly; and those who saw the singularity
+of his appearance, scarce wondered at the fears of Caspar, the
+stall-master, when he found such a person in the stable, by what mode
+of entrance he was unable to conceive. When he reached the lighted
+hall to which the Baron conducted him, as he would have done a welcome
+and honoured guest, the stranger appeared to be very tall, and of a
+dignified aspect. His dress was Asiatic, being a long black caftan, or
+gown, like that worn by Armenians, and a lofty square cap, covered
+with the wool of Astracan lambs. Every article of the dress was black,
+which gave relief to the long white beard, that flowed down over his
+bosom. His gown was fastened by a sash of black silk network, in
+which, instead of a poniard or sword, was stuck a silver case,
+containing writing-materials, and a roll of parchment. The only
+ornament of his apparel consisted in a large ruby of uncommon
+brilliancy, which, when he approached the light, seemed to glow with
+such liveliness as if the gem itself had emitted the rays which it
+only reflected back. To the offer of refreshment the stranger replied,
+"Bread I may not eat, water shall not moisten my lips, until the
+avenger shall have passed by the threshold."
+
+The Baron commanded the lamps to be trimmed, and fresh torches to be
+lighted, and, sending his whole household to rest, remained seated in
+the hall along with the stranger, his suppliant. At the dead hour of
+midnight, the gates of the castle were shaken as by a whirlwind, and a
+voice, as of a herald, was heard to demand a herald's lawful prisoner,
+Dannischemend, the son of Hali. The warder then heard a lower window
+of the hall thrown open, and could distinguish his master's voice
+addressing the person who had thus summoned the castle. But the night
+was so dark that he might not see the speakers, and the language which
+they used was either entirely foreign, or so largely interspersed with
+strange words, that he could not understand a syllable which they
+said. Scarce five minutes had elapsed, when he who was without again
+elevated his voice as before, and said in German, "For a year and a
+day, then, I forbear my forfeiture;--but coming for it when that time
+shall elapse, I come for my right, and will no longer be withstood."
+
+From that period, Dannischemend, the Persian, was a constant guest at
+the castle of Arnheim, and, indeed, never for any visible purpose
+crossed the drawbridge. His amusements, or studies, seemed centred in
+the library of the castle, and in the laboratory, where the Baron
+sometimes toiled in conjunction with him for many hours together. The
+inhabitants of the castle could find no fault in the Magus, or
+Persian, excepting his apparently dispensing with the ordinances of
+religion, since he neither went to mass nor confession, nor attended
+upon other religious ceremonies. The chaplain did indeed profess
+himself satisfied with the state of the stranger's conscience; but it
+had been long suspected that the worthy ecclesiastic held his easy
+office on the very reasonable condition of approving the principles,
+and asserting the orthodoxy, of all guests whom the Baron invited to
+share his hospitality.
+
+It was observed that Dannischemend was rigid in paying his devotions,
+by prostrating himself in the first rays of the rising sun, and that
+he constructed a silver lamp of the most beautiful proportions, which
+he placed on a pedestal, representing a truncated column of marble,
+having its base sculptured with hieroglyphical imagery. With what
+essences he fed this flame was unknown to all, unless perhaps to the
+Baron; but the flame was more steady, pure, and lustrous than any
+which was ever seen, excepting the sun of heaven itself, and it was
+generally believed that the Magian made it an object of worship in the
+absence of that blessed luminary. Nothing else was observed of him,
+unless that his morals seemed severe, his gravity extreme, his general
+mode of life very temperate, and his fasts and vigils of frequent
+recurrence. Except on particular occasions, he spoke to no one of the
+castle but the Baron; but, as he had money and was liberal, he was
+regarded by the domestics with awe indeed, but without fear or
+dislike.
+
+Winter was succeeded by spring, summer brought her flowers, and autumn
+her fruits, which ripened and were fading, when a foot-page, who
+sometimes attended them in the laboratory to render manual assistance
+when required, heard the Persian say to the Baron of Arnheim, "You
+will do well, my son, to mark my words; for my lessons to you are
+drawing to an end, and there is no power on earth which can longer
+postpone my fate."
+
+"Alas, my master!" said the Baron, "and must I then lose the benefit
+of your direction, just when your guiding hand becomes necessary to
+place me on the very pinnacle of the temple of wisdom?"
+
+"Be not discouraged, my son," answered the sage; "I will bequeath the
+task of perfecting you in your studies to my daughter, who will come
+hither on purpose. But remember, if you value the permanence of your
+family, look not upon her as aught else than a helpmate in your
+studies; for if you forget the instructress in the beauty of the
+maiden, you will be buried with your sword and your shield, as the
+last male of your house; and further evil, believe me, will arise; for
+such alliances never come to a happy issue, of which my own is an
+example.--But hush, we are observed."
+
+The household of the castle of Arnheim having but few things to
+interest them, were the more eager observers of those which came under
+their notice; and when the termination of the period when the Persian
+was to receive shelter in the castle began to approach, some of the
+inmates, under various pretexts, but which resolved into very terror,
+absconded, while others held themselves in expectation of some
+striking and terrible catastrophe. None such, however, took place; and
+on the expected anniversary, long ere the witching hour of midnight,
+Dannischemend terminated his visit in the castle of Arnheim, by riding
+away from the gate in the guise of an ordinary traveller. The Baron
+had meantime taken leave of his tutor with many marks of regret, and
+some which amounted even to sorrow. The sage Persian comforted him by
+a long whisper, of which the last part only was heard--"By the first
+beam of sunshine she will be with you. Be kind to her, but not over
+kind." He then departed, and was never again seen or heard of in the
+vicinity of Arnheim.
+
+The Baron was observed during all the day after the departure of the
+stranger to be particularly melancholy. He remained, contrary to his
+custom, in the great hall, and neither visited the library nor the
+laboratory, where he could no longer enjoy the company of his departed
+instructor. At dawn of the ensuing morning, Sir Herman summoned his
+page, and, contrary to his habits, which used to be rather careless in
+respect of apparel, he dressed himself with great accuracy; and as he
+was in the prime of life, and of a noble figure, he had reason to be
+satisfied with his appearance. Having performed his toilet, he waited
+till the sun had just appeared above the horizon, and, taking from the
+table the key of the laboratory, which the page believed must have
+lain there all night, he walked thither, followed by his attendant. At
+the door the Baron made a pause, and seemed at one time to doubt
+whether he should not send away the page, at another to hesitate
+whether he should open the door, as one might do who expected some
+strange sight within. He pulled up resolution, however, turned the
+key, threw the door open, and entered. The page followed close behind
+his master, and was astonished to the point of extreme terror at what
+he beheld, although the sight, however extraordinary, had in it
+nothing save what was agreeable and lovely.
+
+The silver lamp was extinguished, or removed from its pedestal, where
+stood in place of it a most beautiful female figure in the Persian
+costume, in which the colour of pink predominated. But she wore no
+turban or headdress of any kind, saving a blue riband drawn through
+her auburn hair, and secured by a gold clasp, the outer side of which
+was ornamented by a superb opal, which, amid the changing lights
+peculiar to that gem, displayed internally a slight tinge of red like
+a spark of fire.
+
+The figure of this young person was rather under the middle size, but
+perfectly well formed; the Eastern dress, with the wide trousers
+gathered round the ankles, made visible the smallest and most
+beautiful feet which had ever been seen, while hands and arms of the
+most perfect symmetry were partly seen from under the folds of the
+robe. The little lady's countenance was of a lively and expressive
+character, in which spirit and wit seemed to predominate; and the
+quick dark eye, with its beautifully formed eyebrow, seemed to presage
+the arch remark to which the rosy and half-smiling lip appeared ready
+to give utterance.
+
+The pedestal on which she stood, or rather was perched, would have
+appeared unsafe had any figure heavier than her own been placed there.
+But, however she had been transported thither, she seemed to rest on
+it as lightly and safely as a linnet, when it has dropped from the sky
+on the tendril of a rose-bud. The first beam of the rising sun,
+falling through a window directly opposite to the pedestal, increased
+the effect of this beautiful figure, which remained as motionless as
+if it had been carved in marble. She only expressed her sense of the
+Baron of Arnheim's presence by something of a quicker respiration, and
+a deep blush, accompanied by a slight smile.
+
+Whatever reason the Baron of Arnheim might have for expecting to see
+some such object as now exhibited its actual presence, the degree of
+beauty which it presented was so much beyond his expectation, that for
+an instant he stood without breath or motion. At once, however, he
+seemed to recollect that it was his duty to welcome the fair stranger
+to his castle, and to relieve her from her precarious situation. He
+stepped forward accordingly with the words of welcome on his tongue,
+and was extending his arms to lift her from the pedestal, which was
+nearly six feet high; but the light and active stranger merely
+accepted the support of his hand, and descended on the floor as light
+and as safe as if she had been formed of gossamer. It was, indeed,
+only by the momentary pressure of her little hand that the Baron of
+Arnheim was finally made sensible that he had to do with a being of
+flesh and blood.
+
+"I am come as I have been commanded," she said, looking around her.
+"You must expect a strict and diligent mistress, and I hope for the
+credit of an attentive pupil."
+
+After the arrival of this singular and interesting being in the castle
+of Arnheim, various alterations took place within the interior of the
+household. A lady of high rank and small fortune, the respectable
+widow of a Count of the Empire, who was the Baron's blood relation,
+received and accepted an invitation to preside over her kinsman's
+domestic affairs, and remove, by her countenance, any suspicions which
+might arise from the presence of Hermione, as the beautiful Persian
+was generally called.
+
+The Countess Waldstetten carried her complaisance so far as to be
+present on almost all occasions, whether in the laboratory or library,
+when the Baron of Arnheim received lessons from, or pursued studies
+with, the young and lovely tutor who had been thus strangely
+substituted for the aged Magus. If this lady's report was to be
+trusted, their pursuits were of a most extraordinary nature, and the
+results which she sometimes witnessed were such as to create fear as
+well as surprise. But she strongly vindicated them from practising
+unlawful arts, or overstepping the boundaries of natural science.
+
+A better judge of such matters, the Bishop of Bamberg himself, made a
+visit to Arnheim, on purpose to witness the wisdom of which so much
+was reported through the whole Rhine-country. He conversed with
+Hermione, and found her deeply impressed with the truths of religion,
+and so perfectly acquainted with its doctrines, that he compared her
+to a doctor of theology in the dress of an Eastern dancing-girl. When
+asked regarding her knowledge of languages and science, he answered,
+that he had been attracted to Arnheim by the most extravagant reports
+on these points, but that he must return confessing "the half thereof
+had not been told unto him."
+
+In consequence of this indisputable testimony, the sinister reports
+which had been occasioned by the singular appearance of the fair
+stranger were in a great measure lulled to sleep, especially as her
+amiable manners won the involuntary good-will of every one that
+approached her.
+
+Meantime a marked alteration began to take place in the interviews
+between the lovely tutor and her pupil. These were conducted with the
+same caution as before, and never, so far as could be observed, took
+place without the presence of the Countess of Waldstetten, or some
+other third person of respectability. But the scenes of these meetings
+were no longer the scholar's library, or the chemist's laboratory;--the
+gardens, the groves, were resorted to for amusement, and parties of
+hunting and fishing, with evenings spent in the dance, seemed to
+announce that the studies of wisdom were for a time abandoned for the
+pursuits of pleasure. It was not difficult to guess the meaning of
+this; the Baron of Arnheim and his fair guest, speaking a language
+different from all others, could enjoy their private conversation,
+even amid all the tumult of gaiety around them; and no one was
+surprised to hear it formally announced, after a few weeks of gaiety,
+that the fair Persian was to be wedded to the Baron of Arnheim.
+
+The manners of this fascinating young person were so pleasing, her
+conversation so animated, her wit so keen, yet so well tempered with
+good nature and modesty, that, notwithstanding her unknown origin, her
+high fortune attracted less envy than might have been expected in a
+case so singular. Above all, her generosity amazed and won the hearts
+of all the young persons who approached her. Her wealth seemed to be
+measureless, for the many rich jewels which she distributed among her
+fair friends would otherwise have left her without ornaments for
+herself. These good qualities, her liberality above all, together with
+a simplicity of thought and character which formed a beautiful
+contrast to the depth of acquired knowledge which she was well known
+to possess--these, and her total want of ostentation, made her
+superiority be pardoned among her companions. Still there was notice
+taken of some peculiarities, exaggerated perhaps by envy, which seemed
+to draw a mystical distinction between the beautiful Hermione and the
+mere mortals with whom she lived and conversed.
+
+In the merry dance she was so unrivalled in lightness and agility that
+her performance seemed that of an aërial being. She could, without
+suffering from her exertion, continue the pleasure till she had tired
+out the most active revellers; and even the young Duke of
+Hochspringen, who was reckoned the most indefatigable at that exercise
+in Germany, having been her partner for half an hour, was compelled to
+break off the dance, and throw himself, totally exhausted, on a couch,
+exclaiming he had been dancing not with a woman, but with an _ignis
+fatuus_.
+
+Other whispers averred that while she played with her young companions
+in the labyrinth and mazes of the castle gardens at hide-and-seek, or
+similar games of activity, she became animated with the same
+supernatural alertness which was supposed to inspire her in the dance.
+She appeared amongst her companions, and vanished from them, with a
+degree of rapidity which was inconceivable; and hedges, treillage, or
+such like obstructions, were surmounted by her in a manner which the
+most vigilant eye could not detect; for, after being observed on the
+side of the barrier at one instant, in another she was beheld close
+beside the spectator.
+
+In such moments, when her eyes sparkled, her cheeks reddened, and her
+whole frame became animated, it was pretended that the opal clasp
+amid her tresses, the ornament which she never laid aside, shot forth
+the little spark, or tongue of flame, which it always displayed, with
+an increased vivacity. In the same manner, if in the half-darkened
+hall the conversation of Hermione became unusually animated, it was
+believed that the jewel became brilliant, and even displayed a
+twinkling and flashing gleam which seemed to be emitted by the gem
+itself, and not produced in the usual manner, by the reflection of
+some external light. Her maidens were also heard to surmise that when
+their mistress was agitated by any hasty or brief resentment (the only
+weakness of temper which she was sometimes observed to display), they
+could observe dark-red sparks flash from the mystic brooch, as if it
+sympathised with the wearer's emotions. The women who attended on her
+toilet further reported that this gem was never removed but for a few
+minutes, when the Baroness's hair was combed out; that she was
+unusually pensive and silent during the time it was laid aside, and
+particularly apprehensive when any liquid was brought near it. Even in
+the use of holy water at the door of the church she was observed to
+omit the sign of the cross on the forehead, for fear, it was supposed,
+of the water touching the valued jewel.
+
+These singular reports did not prevent the marriage of the Baron of
+Arnheim from proceeding as had been arranged. It was celebrated in the
+usual form, and with the utmost splendour, and the young couple seemed
+to commence a life of happiness rarely to be found on earth. In the
+course of twelve months, the lovely Baroness presented her husband
+with a daughter, which was to be christened Sybilla, after the Count's
+mother. As the health of the child was excellent, the ceremony was
+postponed till the recovery of the mother from her confinement. Many
+were invited to be present on the occasion, and the castle was
+thronged with company.
+
+It happened that amongst the guests was an old lady, notorious for
+playing in private society the part of a malicious fairy in a
+minstrel's tale. This was the Baroness of Steinfeldt, famous in the
+neighbourhood for her insatiable curiosity and overweening pride. She
+had not been many days in the castle, ere, by the aid of a female
+attendant, who acted as an intelligencer, she had made herself
+mistress of all that was heard, said, or suspected, concerning the
+peculiarities of the Baroness Hermione. It was on the morning of the
+day appointed for the christening, while the whole company were
+assembled in the hall, and waiting till the Baroness should appear, to
+pass with them to the chapel, that there arose between the censorious
+and haughty dame whom we have just mentioned, and the Countess
+Waldstetten, a violent discussion concerning some point of disputed
+precedence. It was referred to the Baron von Arnheim, who decided in
+favour of the Countess. Madame de Steinfeldt instantly ordered her
+palfrey to be prepared, and her attendants to mount.
+
+"I leave this place," she said, "which a good Christian ought never to
+have entered; I leave a house of which the master is a sorcerer, the
+mistress a demon who dares not cross her brow with holy water, and
+their trencher companion one who, for a wretched pittance, is willing
+to act as match-maker between a wizard and an incarnate fiend!"
+
+She then departed, with rage in her countenance and spite in her
+heart.
+
+The Baron of Arnheim then stepped forward, and demanded of the knights
+and gentlemen around if there were any among them who would dare to
+make good with his sword the infamous falsehoods thrown upon himself,
+his spouse, and his kinswoman.
+
+There was a general answer, utterly refusing to defend the Baroness of
+Steinfeldt's words in so bad a cause, and universally testifying the
+belief of the company that she spoke in the spirit of calumny and
+falsehood.
+
+"Then let that lie fall to the ground which no man of courage will
+hold up," said the Baron of Arnheim; "only, all who are here this
+morning shall be satisfied whether the Baroness Hermione doth or doth
+not share the rites of Christianity."
+
+The Countess of Waldstetten made anxious signs to him while he spoke
+thus; and when the crowd permitted her to approach near him, she was
+heard to whisper, "Oh, be not rash! try no experiment! there is
+something mysterious about that opal talisman; be prudent, and let the
+matter pass by."
+
+The Baron, who was in a more towering passion than well became the
+wisdom to which he made pretence--although it will be perhaps allowed
+that an affront so public, and in such a time and place, was enough to
+shake the prudence of the most staid, and the philosophy of the most
+wise--answered sternly and briefly, "Are you, too, such a fool?" and
+retained his purpose.
+
+The Baroness of Arnheim at this moment entered the hall, looking just
+so pale from her late confinement as to render her lovely countenance
+more interesting, if less animated, than usual. Having paid her
+compliments to the assembled company, with the most graceful and
+condescending attention, she was beginning to inquire why Madame de
+Steinfeldt was not present, when her husband made the signal for the
+company to move forward to the chapel, and lent the Baroness his arm
+to bring up the rear. The chapel was nearly filled by the splendid
+company, and all eyes were bent on their host and hostess, as they
+entered the place of devotion immediately after four young ladies, who
+supported the infant babe in a light and beautiful litter.
+
+As they passed the threshold, the Baron dipped his finger in the
+font-stone, and offered holy water to his lady, who accepted it, as
+usual, by touching his finger with her own. But then, as if to confute
+the calumnies of the malevolent lady of Steinfeldt, with an air of
+sportive familiarity which was rather unwarranted by the time and
+place, he flirted on her beautiful forehead a drop or two of the
+moisture which remained on his own hand. The opal, on which one of
+these drops had lighted, shot out a brilliant spark like a falling
+star, and became the instant afterwards lightless and colourless as a
+common pebble, while the beautiful Baroness sank on the floor of the
+chapel with a deep sigh of pain. All crowded around her in dismay. The
+unfortunate Hermione was raised from the ground, and conveyed to her
+chamber; and so much did her countenance and pulse alter, within the
+short time necessary to do this, that those who looked upon her
+pronounced her a dying woman. She was no sooner in her own apartment
+than she requested to be left alone with her husband. He remained an
+hour in the room, and when he came out he locked and double locked the
+door behind him. He then betook himself to the chapel, and remained
+there for an hour or more, prostrated before the altar.
+
+In the meantime, most of the guests had dispersed in dismay, though
+some abode out of courtesy or curiosity. There was a general sense of
+impropriety in suffering the door of the sick lady's apartment to
+remain locked; but, alarmed at the whole circumstances of her illness,
+it was some time ere any one dared disturb the devotions of the Baron.
+
+At length medical aid arrived, and the Countess of Waldstetten took
+upon her to demand the key. She spoke more than once to a man, who
+seemed incapable of hearing, at least of understanding, what she said.
+At length he gave her the key, and added sternly, as he did so, that
+all aid was unavailing, and that it was his pleasure that all
+strangers should leave the castle. There were few who inclined to
+stay, when, upon opening the door of the chamber in which the Baroness
+had been deposited little more than two hours before, no traces of her
+could be discovered, unless that there was about a handful of
+light-grey ashes, like such as might have been produced by burning
+fine paper, found on the bed where she had been laid. A solemn funeral
+was nevertheless performed, with masses, and all other spiritual
+rites, for the soul of the high and noble Lady Hermione of Arnheim;
+and it was exactly on that same day three years that the Baron
+himself was laid in the grave of the same chapel of Arnheim, with
+sword, shield, and helmet, as the last male of his family.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here the Swiss paused, for they were approaching the bridge of the
+castle of Graffs-lust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+                         Believe me, sir,
+     It carries a rare form.--But 'tis a spirit.
+                                  _The Tempest._
+
+
+There was a short silence after the Bernese had concluded his singular
+tale. Arthur Philipson's attention had been gradually and intensely
+attracted by a story which was too much in unison with the received
+ideas of the age to be encountered by the unhesitating incredulity
+with which it must have been heard in later and more enlightened
+times.
+
+He was also considerably struck by the manner in which it had been
+told by the narrator, whom he had hitherto only regarded in the light
+of a rude huntsman or soldier; whereas he now allowed Donnerhugel
+credit for a more extensive acquaintance with the general manners of
+the world than he had previously anticipated. The Swiss rose in his
+opinion as a man of talent, but without making the slightest progress
+in his affections. "The swashbuckler," he said to himself, "has
+brains, as well as brawn and bones, and is fitter for the office of
+commanding others than I formerly thought him." Then, turning to his
+companion, he thanked him for the tale, which had shortened the way in
+so interesting a manner.
+
+"And it is from this singular marriage," he continued, "that Anne of
+Geierstein derives her origin?"
+
+"Her mother," answered the Swiss, "was Sybilla of Arnheim, the infant
+at whose christening the mother died--disappeared--or whatever you may
+list to call it. The barony of Arnheim, being a male fief, reverted to
+the Emperor. The castle has never been inhabited since the death of
+the last lord, and has, as I have heard, become in some sort ruinous.
+The occupations of its ancient proprietors, and, above all, the
+catastrophe of its last inhabitant, have been thought to render it no
+eligible place of residence."
+
+"Did there appear anything preternatural," said the Englishman, "about
+the young Baroness, who married the brother of the Landamman?"
+
+"So far as I have heard," replied Rudolph, "there were strange
+stories. It was said that the nurses, at the dead of night, have seen
+Hermione, the last Baroness of Arnheim, stand weeping by the side of
+the child's cradle, and other things to the same purpose. But here I
+speak from less correct information than that from which I drew my
+former narrative."
+
+"And since the credibility of a story, not very probable in itself,
+must needs be granted, or withheld, according to the evidence on which
+it is given, may I ask you," said Arthur, "to tell me what is the
+authority on which you have so much reliance?"
+
+"Willingly," answered the Swiss. "Know that Theodore Donnerhugel, the
+favourite page of the last Baron of Arnheim, was my father's brother.
+Upon his master's death he retired to his native town of Berne, and
+most of his time was employed in training me up to arms and martial
+exercises, as well according to the fashion of Germany as of
+Switzerland, for he was master of all. He witnessed with his own
+eyes, and heard with his own ears, great part of the melancholy and
+mysterious events which I have detailed to you. Should you ever visit
+Berne, you may see the good old man."
+
+"You think, then," said Arthur, "that the appearance which I have this
+night seen is connected with the mysterious marriage of Anne of
+Geierstein's grandfather?"
+
+"Nay," replied Rudolph, "think not that I can lay down any positive
+explanation of a thing so strange. I can only say, that unless I did
+you the injustice to disbelieve your testimony respecting the
+apparition of this evening, I know no way to account for it, except by
+remembering that there is a portion of the young lady's blood which is
+thought not to be derived from the race of Adam, but more or less
+directly from one of those elementary spirits which have been talked
+of both in ancient and modern times. But I may be mistaken. We will
+see how she bears herself in the morning, and whether she carries in
+her looks the weariness and paleness of a midnight watcher. If she
+doth not, we may be authorised in thinking, either that your eyes have
+strangely deceived you, or that they have been cheated by some
+spectral appearance, which is not of this world."
+
+To this the young Englishman attempted no reply. Nor was there time
+for any, for they were immediately afterwards challenged by the
+sentinel from the drawbridge.
+
+The question, "Who goes there?" was twice satisfactorily answered,
+before Sigismund would admit the patrol to cross the drawbridge.
+
+"Ass and mule that thou art," said Rudolph, "what was the meaning of
+thy delay?"
+
+"Ass and mule thyself, Hauptman!" said the Swiss, in answer to this
+objurgation. "I have been surprised by a goblin on my post once
+to-night already, and I have got so much experience upon that matter
+that I will not easily be caught a second time."
+
+"What goblin, thou fool," said Donnerhugel, "would be idle enough to
+play his gambols at the expense of so very poor an animal as thou
+art?"
+
+"Thou art as cross as my father, Hauptman," replied Sigismund, "who
+cries fool and blockhead at every word I speak; and yet I have lips,
+teeth, and tongue to speak with, just like other folk."
+
+"We will not contest the matter, Sigismund," said Rudolph. "It is
+clear, that if thou dost differ from other people, it is in a
+particular which thou canst hardly be expected to find out or
+acknowledge. But what, in the name of simplicity, is it which hath
+alarmed thee on thy post?"
+
+"Marry, thus it was, Hauptman," returned Sigismund Biederman. "I was
+something tired, you see, with looking up at the broad moon, and
+thinking what in the universe it could be made of, and how we came to
+see it just as well here as at home, this place being so many miles
+from Geierstein. I was tired, I say, of this and other perplexing
+thoughts, so I drew my fur cap down over my ears, for I promise you
+the wind blew shrill; and then I planted myself firm on my feet, with
+one of my legs a little advanced, and both my hands resting on my
+partisan, which I placed upright before me to rest upon; and so I shut
+mine eyes."
+
+"Shut thine eyes, Sigismund, and thou upon thy watch!" exclaimed
+Donnerhugel.
+
+"Care not thou for that," answered Sigismund; "I kept my ears open.
+And yet it was to little purpose, for something came upon the bridge
+with a step as stealthy as that of a mouse. I looked up with a start
+at the moment it was opposite to me, and when I looked up--whom think
+you I saw?"
+
+"Some fool like thyself," said Rudolph, at the same time pressing
+Philipson's foot to make him attend to the answer; a hint which was
+little necessary, since he waited for it in the utmost agitation. Out
+it came at last.
+
+"By St. Mark, it was our own Anne of Geierstein!"
+
+"It is impossible!" replied the Bernese.
+
+"I should have said so too," quoth Sigismund, "for I had peeped into
+her bedroom before she went thither, and it was so bedizened that a
+queen or a princess might have slept in it; and why should the wench
+get out of her good quarters, with all her friends about her to guard
+her, and go out to wander in the forest?"
+
+"May be," said Rudolph, "she only looked from the bridge to see how
+the night waned."
+
+"No," said Sigismund; "she was returning from the forest. I saw her
+when she reached the end of the bridge, and thought of striking at
+her, conceiving it to be the devil in her likeness. But I remembered
+my halberd is no birch switch to chastise boys and girls with; and had
+I done Anne any harm, you would all have been angry with me, and, to
+speak truth, I should have been ill pleased with myself; for although
+she doth make a jest of me now and then, yet it were a dull house ours
+were we to lose Anne."
+
+"Ass," answered the Bernese, "didst thou speak to this form, or goblin
+as you call it?"
+
+"Indeed I did not, Captain Wiseacre. My father is ever angry with me
+when I speak without thinking, and I could not at that particular
+moment think on anything to the purpose. Neither was there time to
+think, for she passed me like a snow-flake upon a whirlwind. I marched
+into the castle after her, however, calling on her by name; so the
+sleepers were awakened, and men flew to their arms, and there was as
+much confusion as if Archibald of Hagenbach had been among us with
+sword and pike. And who should come out of her little bedroom, as much
+startled and as much in a bustle as any of us, but Mrs. Anne herself!
+And as she protested she had never left her room that night, why I,
+Sigismund Biederman, was made to stand the whole blame, as if I could
+prevent people's ghosts from walking. But I told her my mind when I
+saw them all so set against me. 'And, Mistress Anne,' quoth I, 'it's
+well known the kindred you come of; and, after this fair notice, if
+you send any of your double-gangers[6] [_g_] to me, let them put iron
+skull-caps on their heads, for I will give them the length and weight
+of a Swiss halberd, come in what shape they list.' However, they all
+cried 'Shame on me!' and my father drove me out again, with as little
+remorse as if I had been the old house-dog, which had stolen in from
+his watch to the fireside."
+
+The Bernese replied, with an air of coldness approaching to contempt,
+"You have slept on your watch, Sigismund--a high military offence,
+and you have dreamed while you slept. You were in good luck that the
+Landamman did not suspect your negligence, or, instead of being sent
+back to your duty like a lazy watch-dog, you might have been scourged
+back like a faithless one to your kennel at Geierstein, as chanced to
+poor Ernest for a less matter."
+
+"Ernest has not yet gone back, though," said Sigismund, "and I think
+he may pass as far into Burgundy as we shall do in this journey. I
+pray you, however, Hauptman, to treat me not dog-like, but as a man,
+and send some one to relieve me, instead of prating here in the cold
+night air. If there be anything to do to-morrow, as I well guess there
+may, a mouthful of food, and a minute of sleep, will be but a fitting
+preparative, and I have stood watch here these two mortal hours."
+
+With that the young giant yawned portentously, as if to enforce the
+reasons of his appeal.
+
+"A mouthful and a minute?" said Rudolph,--"a roasted ox, and a
+lethargy like that of the Seven Sleepers, would scarce restore you to
+the use of your refreshed and waking senses. But I am your friend,
+Sigismund, and you are secure in my favourable report; you shall be
+instantly relieved, that you may sleep, if it be possible, without
+disturbances from dreams.--Pass on, young men" (addressing the others,
+who by this time had come up), "and go to your rest. Arthur of England
+and I will report to the Landamman and the Banneret the account of our
+patrol."
+
+The patrol accordingly entered the castle, and were soon heard joining
+their slumbering companions. Rudolph Donnerhugel seized Arthur's arm,
+and, while they went towards the hall, whispered in his ear,--
+
+"These are strange passages!--How think you we should report them to
+the deputation?"
+
+"That I must refer to yourself," said Arthur; "you are the captain of
+our watch. I have done my duty in telling you what I saw--or thought I
+saw--it is for you to judge how far it is fitting to communicate it to
+the Landamman; only, as it concerns the honour of his family, to his
+ear alone I think it should be confided."
+
+"I see no occasion for that," said the Bernese, hastily; "it cannot
+affect or interest our general safety. But I may take occasion
+hereafter to speak with Anne on this subject."
+
+This latter hint gave as much pain to Arthur as the general proposal
+of silence on an affair so delicate had afforded him satisfaction. But
+his uneasiness was of a kind which he felt it necessary to suppress,
+and he therefore replied with as much composure as he could assume:--
+
+"You will act, Sir Hauptman, as your sense of duty and delicacy shall
+dictate. For me, I shall be silent on what you call the strange
+passages of the night, rendered doubly wonderful by the report of
+Sigismund Biederman."
+
+"And also on what you have seen and heard concerning our auxiliaries
+of Berne?" said Rudolph.
+
+"On that I shall certainly be silent," said Arthur; "unless thus far,
+that I mean to communicate to my father the risk of his baggage being
+liable to examination and seizure at La Ferette."
+
+"It is needless," said Rudolph; "I will answer with head and hand for
+the safety of everything belonging to him."
+
+"I thank you in his name," said Arthur; "but we are peaceful
+travellers, to whom it must be much more desirable to avoid a broil
+than to give occasion for one, even when secure of coming out of it
+triumphantly."
+
+"These are the sentiments of a merchant, but not of a soldier," said
+Rudolph, in a cold and displeased tone; "but the matter is your own,
+and you must act in it as you think best. Only remember, if you go to
+La Ferette without our assistance, you hazard both goods and life."
+
+They entered, as he spoke, the apartment of their fellow-travellers.
+The companions of their patrol had already laid themselves down
+amongst their sleeping comrades at the lower end of the room. The
+Landamman and the Bannerman of Berne heard Donnerhugel make a report,
+that his patrol, both before and after midnight, had been made in
+safety, and without any encounter which expressed either danger or
+suspicion. The Bernese then wrapped him in his cloak, and, lying down
+on the straw, with that happy indifference to accommodation, and
+promptitude to seize the moment of repose, which is acquired by a life
+of vigilance and hardship, was in a few minutes fast asleep.
+
+Arthur remained on foot but a little longer, to dart an earnest look
+on the door of Anne of Geierstein's apartment, and to reflect on the
+wonderful occurrences of the evening. But they formed a chaotic
+mystery, for which he could see no clue, and the necessity of holding
+instant communication with his father compelled him forcibly to turn
+his thoughts in that direction. He was obliged to observe caution and
+secrecy in accomplishing his purpose. For this he laid himself down
+beside his parent, whose couch, with the hospitality which he had
+experienced from the beginning of his intercourse with the
+kind-hearted Swiss, had been arranged in what was thought the most
+convenient place of the apartment, and somewhat apart from all others.
+He slept sound, but awoke at the touch of his son, who whispered to
+him in English, for the greater precaution, that he had important
+tidings for his private ear.
+
+"An attack on our post?" said the elder Philipson. "Must we take to
+our weapons?"
+
+"Not now," said Arthur; "and I pray of you not to rise or make
+alarm--this matter concerns us alone."
+
+"Tell it instantly, my son," replied his father; "you speak to one too
+much used to danger to be startled at it."
+
+"It is a case for your wisdom to consider," said Arthur. "I had
+information, while upon the patrol, that the Governor of La Ferette
+will unquestionably seize upon your baggage and merchandise, under
+pretext of levying dues claimed by the Duke of Burgundy. I have also
+been informed that our escort of Swiss youth are determined to resist
+this exaction, and conceive themselves possessed of the numbers and
+means sufficient to do so successfully."
+
+"By St. George, that must not be!" said the elder Philipson. "It would
+be an evil requital to the true-hearted Landamman, to give the fiery
+Duke a pretext for that war which the excellent old man is so
+anxiously desirous to avoid, if it be possible. Any exactions, however
+unreasonable, I will gladly pay. But to have my papers seized on were
+utter ruin. I partly feared this, and it made me unwilling to join
+myself to the Landamman's party. We must now break off from it. This
+rapacious governor will not surely lay hands on the deputation, which
+seeks his master's court under protection of the law of nations; but I
+can easily see how he might make our presence with them a pretext for
+quarrel, which will equally suit his own avaricious spirit and the
+humour of these fiery young men, who are seeking for matter of
+offence. This shall not be taken for our sake. We will separate
+ourselves from the deputies, and remain behind till they are passed
+on. If this De Hagenbach be not the most unreasonable of men, I will
+find a way to content him so far as we are individually concerned.
+Meanwhile, I will instantly wake the Landamman," he said, "and
+acquaint him with our purpose."
+
+This was immediately done, for Philipson was not slow in the execution
+of his resolutions. In a minute he was standing by the side of Arnold
+Biederman, who, raised on his elbow, was listening to his
+communication, while, over the shoulder of the Landamman, rose the
+head and long beard of the deputy from Schwitz, his large clear blue
+eyes gleaming from beneath a fur cap, bent on the Englishman's face,
+but stealing a glance aside now and then to mark the impression which
+what was said made upon his colleague.
+
+"Good friend and host," said the elder Philipson, "we have heard for a
+certainty that our poor merchandise will be subjected to taxation or
+seizure on our passage through La Ferette, and I would gladly avoid
+all cause of quarrel, for your sake as well as our own."
+
+"You do not doubt that we can and will protect you?" replied the
+Landamman. "I tell you, Englishman, that the guest of a Swiss is as
+safe by his side as an eaglet under the wing of its dam; and to leave
+us because danger approaches is but a poor compliment to our courage
+or constancy. I am desirous of peace; but not the Duke of Burgundy
+himself should wrong a guest of mine, so far as my power might prevent
+it."
+
+At this the deputy from Schwitz clenched a fist like a bull's
+knuckles, and showed it above the shoulders of his friend.
+
+"It is even to avoid this, my worthy host," replied Philipson, "that I
+intend to separate from your friendly company sooner than I desire or
+purposed. Bethink you, my brave and worthy host, you are an ambassador
+seeking a national peace, I a trader seeking private gain. War, or
+quarrels which may cause war, are alike ruinous to your purpose and
+mine. I confess to you frankly, that I am willing and able to pay a
+large ransom, and when you are departed I will negotiate for the
+amount. I will abide in the town of Bâle till I have made fair terms
+with Archibald de Hagenbach; and even if he is the avaricious
+extortioner you describe him, he will be somewhat moderate with me
+rather than run the risk of losing his booty entirely, by my turning
+back or taking another route."
+
+"You speak wisely, Sir Englishman," said the Landamman; "and I thank
+you for recalling my duty to my remembrance. But you must not,
+nevertheless, be exposed to danger. So soon as we move forward, the
+country will be again open to the devastations of the Burgundian
+Riders and Lanz-knechts, who will sweep the roads in every direction.
+The people of Bâle are unhappily too timorous to protect you; they
+would yield you up upon the Governor's first hint; and for justice or
+lenity, you might as well expect it in hell as from Hagenbach."
+
+"There are conjurations, it is said, that can make hell itself
+tremble," said Philipson; "and I have means to propitiate even this De
+Hagenbach, providing I can get to private speech with him. But I own I
+can expect nothing from his wild riders, but to be put to death for
+the value of my cloak."
+
+"If that be the case," said the Landamman, "and if you must needs
+separate from us, for which I deny not that you have alleged wise and
+worthy reasons, wherefore should you not leave Graffs-lust two hours
+before us? The roads will be safe, as our escort is expected; and you
+will probably, if you travel early, find De Hagenbach sober, and as
+capable as he ever is of hearing reason--that is, of perceiving his
+own interest. But after his breakfast is washed down with Rhine-wine,
+which he drinks every morning before he hears mass, his fury blinds
+even his avarice."
+
+"All I want, in order to execute this scheme," said Philipson, "is the
+loan of a mule to carry my valise, which is packed up with your
+baggage."
+
+"Take the she-mule," said the Landamman; "she belongs to my brother
+here from Schwitz; he will gladly bestow her on thee."
+
+"If she were worth twenty crowns, and my comrade Arnold desired me to
+do so," said the old whitebeard.
+
+"I will accept her as a loan with gratitude," said the Englishman.
+"But how can you dispense with the use of the creature? You have only
+one left."
+
+"We can easily supply our want from Bâle," said the Landamman. "Nay,
+we can make this little delay serve your purpose, Sir Englishman. I
+named for our time of departure the first hour after daybreak; we will
+postpone it to the second hour, which will give us enough of time to
+get a horse or mule, and you, Sir Philipson, space to reach La
+Ferette, where I trust you will have achieved your business with De
+Hagenbach to your contentment, and will join company again with us as
+we travel through Burgundy."
+
+"If our mutual objects will permit our travelling together, worthy
+Landamman," answered the merchant, "I shall esteem myself most happy
+in becoming the partner of your journey.--And now resume the repose
+which I have interrupted."
+
+"God bless you, wise and true-hearted man," said the Landamman, rising
+and embracing the Englishman. "Should we never meet again, I will
+still remember the merchant who neglected thoughts of gain, that he
+might keep the path of wisdom and rectitude. I know not another who
+would not have risked the shedding a lake of blood to save five ounces
+of gold.--Farewell thou too, gallant young man. Thou hast learned
+among us to keep thy foot firm while on the edge of a Helvetian crag,
+but none can teach thee so well as thy father to keep an upright path
+among the morasses and precipices of human life."
+
+He then embraced and took a kind farewell of his friends, in which, as
+usual, he was imitated by his friend of Schwitz, who swept with his
+long beard the right and left cheeks of both the Englishmen, and
+again made them heartily welcome to the use of his mule. All then once
+more composed themselves to rest, for the space which remained before
+the appearance of the autumnal dawn.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[6] Double-walkers, a name in Germany for those aërial duplicates of
+humanity who represent the features and appearance of other living
+persons.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     The enmity and discord, which of late
+     Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your Duke
+     To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,--
+     Who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives,
+     Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods,
+     Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks.
+                                      _Comedy of Errors._
+
+
+The dawn had scarce begun to touch the distant horizon, when Arthur
+Philipson was on foot to prepare for his father's departure and his
+own, which, as arranged on the preceding night, was to take place two
+hours before the Landamman and his attendants proposed to leave the
+ruinous castle of Graffs-lust. It was no difficult matter for him to
+separate the neatly arranged packages which contained his father's
+effects from the clumsy bundles in which the baggage of the Swiss was
+deposited. The one set of mails was made up with the neatness of men
+accustomed to long and perilous journeys; the other, with the rude
+carelessness of those who rarely left their home, and who were
+altogether inexperienced.
+
+A servant of the Landamman assisted Arthur in this task, and in
+placing his father's baggage on the mule belonging to the bearded
+deputy from Schwitz. From this man also he received instructions
+concerning the road from Graffs-lust to Brisach (the chief citadel of
+La Ferette), which was too plain and direct to render it likely that
+they should incur any risk of losing their way, as had befallen them
+when travelling on the Swiss mountains. Everything being now prepared
+for their departure, the young Englishman awakened his father, and
+acquainted him that all was ready. He then retired towards the
+chimney, while his father, according to his daily custom, repeated the
+prayer of St. Julian, the patron of travellers, and adjusted his dress
+for the journey.
+
+It will not be wondered at, that, while the father went through his
+devotions, and equipped himself for travel, Arthur, with his heart
+full of what he had seen of Anne of Geierstein for some time before,
+and his brain dizzy with the recollection of the incidents of the
+preceding night, should have kept his eyes riveted on the door of the
+sleeping-apartment at which he had last seen that young person
+disappear; that is, unless the pale and seemingly fantastic form which
+had twice crossed him so strangely should prove no wandering spirit of
+the elements, but the living substance of the person whose appearance
+it bore. So eager was his curiosity on this subject, that he strained
+his eyes to the utmost, as if it had been possible for them to have
+penetrated through wood and walls into the chamber of the slumbering
+maiden, in order to discover whether her eye or cheek bore any mark
+that she had last night been a watcher or a wanderer.
+
+"But that was the proof to which Rudolph appealed," he said
+internally, "and Rudolph alone will have the opportunity of remarking
+the result. Who knows what advantage my communication may give him in
+his suit with yonder lovely creature? And what must she think of me,
+save as one light of thought and loose of tongue, to whom nothing
+extraordinary can chance, but he must hasten to babble it into the
+ears of those who are nearest to him at the moment? I would my tongue
+had been palsied ere I said a syllable to yonder proud yet wily
+prize-fighter! I shall never see her more--that is to be counted for
+certain. I shall never know the true interpretation of those mysteries
+which hang around her. But to think I may have prated something
+tending to throw her into the power of yonder ferocious boor will be a
+subject of remorse to me while I live."
+
+Here he was startled out of his reverie by the voice of his father.
+"Why, how now, boy? Art thou waking, Arthur, or sleeping on thy feet
+from the fatigue of last night's service?"
+
+"Not so, my father," answered Arthur, at once recollecting himself.
+"Somewhat drowsy, perhaps; but the fresh morning air will soon put
+that to flight."
+
+Walking with precaution through the group of sleepers who lay around,
+the elder Philipson, when they had gained the door of the apartment,
+turned back, and, looking on the straw couch which the large form of
+the Landamman, and the silvery beard of his constant companion,
+touched by the earliest beams of light, distinguished as that of
+Arnold Biederman, he muttered between his lips an involuntary adieu.
+
+"Farewell, mirror of ancient faith and integrity,--farewell, noble
+Arnold,--farewell, soul of truth and candour--to whom cowardice,
+selfishness, and falsehood are alike unknown!"
+
+And farewell, thought his son, to the loveliest, and most candid, yet
+most mysterious of maidens!--But the adieu, as may well be believed,
+was not, like that of his father, expressed in words.
+
+They were soon after on the outside of the gate. The Swiss domestic
+was liberally recompensed, and charged with a thousand kind words of
+farewell and of remembrance to the Landamman from his English guests,
+mingled with hopes and wishes that they might soon meet again in the
+Burgundian territory. The young man then took the bridle of the mule,
+and led the animal forward on their journey at an easy pace, his
+father walking by his side.
+
+After a silence of some minutes, the elder Philipson addressed Arthur.
+"I fear me," he said, "we shall see the worthy Landamman no more. The
+youths who attend him are bent upon taking offence--the Duke of
+Burgundy will not fail, I fear, to give them ample occasion--and the
+peace which the excellent man desires for the land of his fathers will
+be shipwrecked ere they reach the Duke's presence; though, even were
+it otherwise, how the proudest prince in Europe will brook the moody
+looks of burgesses and peasants (so will Charles of Burgundy term the
+friends we have parted from) is a question too easily answered. A war,
+fatal to the interests of all concerned, save Louis of France, will
+certainly take place; and dreadful must be the contest, if the ranks
+of the Burgundian chivalry shall encounter those iron sons of the
+mountains, before whom so many of the Austrian nobility have been
+repeatedly prostrated."
+
+"I am so much convinced of the truth of what you say, my father,"
+replied Arthur, "that I judge even this day will not pass over without
+a breach of truce. I have already put on my shirt of mail, in case we
+should meet bad company betwixt Graffs-lust and Brisach; and I would
+to Heaven that you would observe the same precaution. It will not
+delay our journey; and I confess to you, that I, at least, will travel
+with much greater consciousness of safety should you do so."
+
+"I understand you, my son," replied the elder Philipson. "But I am a
+peaceful traveller in the Duke of Burgundy's territories, and must not
+willingly suppose that, while under the shadow of his banner, I must
+guard myself against banditti, as if I were in the wilds of Palestine.
+As for the authority of his officers, and the extent of their
+exactions, I need not tell you that they are, in our circumstances,
+things to be submitted to without grief or grudging."
+
+Leaving the two travellers to journey towards Brisach at their
+leisure, I must transport my readers to the eastern gate of that small
+town, which, situated on an eminence, had a commanding prospect on
+every side, but especially towards Bâle. It did not properly make a
+part of the dominions of the Duke of Burgundy, but had been placed in
+his hands in pawn, or in pledge, for the repayment of a considerable
+sum of money, due to Charles by the Emperor Sigismund of Austria, to
+whom the seigniory of the place belonged in property. But the town lay
+so conveniently for distressing the commerce of the Swiss, and
+inflicting on that people, whom he at once hated and despised, similar
+marks of his malevolence, as to encourage a general opinion, that the
+Duke of Burgundy, the implacable and unreasonable enemy of these
+mountaineers, would never listen to any terms of redemption, however
+equitable or advantageous, which might have the effect of restoring
+to the Emperor an advanced post of such consequence to the
+gratification of his dislike as Brisach.
+
+The situation of the little town was in itself strong, but the
+fortifications which surrounded it were barely sufficient to repel any
+sudden attack, and not adequate to resist for any length of time a
+formal siege. The morning beams had shone on the spire of the church
+for more than an hour, when a tall, thin, elderly man, wrapped in a
+morning gown, over which was buckled a broad belt, supporting on the
+left side a sword, on the right a dagger, approached the barbican of
+the eastern gate. His bonnet displayed a feather, which, or the tail
+of a fox in lieu of it, was the emblem of gentle blood throughout all
+Germany, and a badge highly prized by those who had a right to wear
+it.
+
+The small party of soldiers who had kept watch there during the course
+of the preceding night, and supplied sentinels both for ward and
+outlook, took arms on the appearance of this individual, and drew
+themselves up in the form of a guard, which receives with military
+reverence an officer of importance. Archibald de Hagenbach's
+countenance, for it was the Governor himself, expressed that settled
+peevishness and ill temper which characterise the morning hours of a
+valetudinary debauchee. His head throbbed, his pulse was feverish, and
+his cheek was pale--symptoms of his having spent the last night, as
+was his usual custom, amid wine-stoups and flagons. Judging from the
+haste with which his soldiers fell into their ranks, and the awe and
+silence which reigned among them, it appeared that they were
+accustomed to expect and dread his ill humour on such occasions. He
+glanced at them, accordingly, an inquisitive and dissatisfied look, as
+if he sought something on which to vent his peevishness, and then
+asked for the "loitering dog Kilian."
+
+Kilian presently made his appearance, a stout hard-favoured
+man-at-arms, a Bavarian by birth, and by rank the personal squire of
+the Governor.
+
+"What news of the Swiss churls, Kilian?" demanded Archibald de
+Hagenbach. "They should, by their thrifty habits, have been on the
+road two hours since. Have the peasant-clods presumed to ape the
+manners of gentlemen, and stuck by the flask till cock-crow?"
+
+"By my faith, it may well be," answered Kilian; "the burghers of Bâle
+gave them full means of carousal."
+
+"How, Kilian?--They dared not offer hospitality to the Swiss drove of
+bullocks, after the charge we sent them to the contrary?"
+
+"Nay, the Bâlese received them not into the town," replied the squire;
+"but I learned, by sure espial, that they afforded them means of
+quartering at Graffs-lust, which was furnished with many a fair gammon
+and pasty, to speak naught of flasks of Rhine-wine, barrels of beer,
+and stoups of strong waters."
+
+"The Bâlese shall answer this, Kilian," said the Governor. "Do they
+think I am for ever to be thrusting myself between the Duke and his
+pleasure on their behalf?--The fat porkers have presumed too much
+since we accepted some trifling gifts at their hands, more for gracing
+of them, than for any advantage we could make of their paltry
+donations. Was it not the wine from Bâle which we were obliged to
+drink out in pint goblets, lest it should become sour before morning?"
+
+"It was drunk out, and in pint goblets too," said Kilian; "so much I
+can well remember."
+
+"Why, go to, then," said the Governor; "they shall know, these beasts
+of Bâle, that I hold myself no way obliged by such donations as these,
+and that my remembrance of the wines which I carouse rests no longer
+than the headache which the mixtures they drug me with never fail of
+late years to leave behind, for the next morning's pastime."
+
+"Your excellency," replied the squire, "will make it, then, a quarrel
+between the Duke of Burgundy and the city of Bâle, that they gave this
+indirect degree of comfort and assistance to the Swiss deputation?"
+
+"Ay, marry will I," said De Hagenbach, "unless there be wise men among
+them, who shall show me good reasons for protecting them. Oh, the
+Bâlese do not know our Noble Duke, nor the gift he hath for chastising
+the gutter-blooded citizens of a free town. Thou canst tell them,
+Kilian, as well as any man, how he dealt with the villains of Liège,
+when they would needs be pragmatical."
+
+"I will apprise them of the matter," said Kilian, "when opportunity
+shall serve, and I trust I shall find them in a temper disposed to
+cultivate your honourable friendship."
+
+"Nay, if it is the same to them, it is quite indifferent to me,
+Kilian," continued the Governor; "but, methinks, whole and sound
+throats are worth some purchase, were it only to swallow
+black-puddings and schwarz-beer, to say nothing of Westphalian hams
+and Nierensteiner--I say, a slashed throat is a useless thing,
+Kilian."
+
+"I will make the fat citizens to understand their danger, and the
+necessity of making interest," answered Kilian. "Sure, I am not now to
+learn how to turn the ball into your excellency's lap."
+
+"You speak well," said Sir Archibald;--"but how chanced it thou hast
+so little to say to the Switzers' leaguer? I should have thought an
+old trooper like thee would have made their pinions flutter amidst the
+good cheer thou tellest me of."
+
+"I might as well have annoyed an angry hedgehog with my bare finger,"
+said Kilian. "I surveyed Graffs-lust myself;--there were sentinels on
+the castle walls, a sentinel on the bridge, besides a regular patrol
+of these Swiss fellows who kept strict watch. So that there was
+nothing to be done, otherwise, knowing your excellency's ancient
+quarrel, I would have had a hit at them, when they should never have
+known who hurt them. I will tell you, however, fairly, that these
+churls are acquiring better knowledge in the art of war than the best
+Ritter knight."
+
+"Well, they will be the better worth the looking after when they
+arrive," said De Hagenbach; "they come forth in state doubtless, with
+all their finery, their wives' chains of silver, their own medals, and
+rings of lead and copper.--Ah, the base hinds, they are unworthy that
+a man of noble blood should ease them of their trash!"
+
+"There is better ware among them, if my intelligence hath not deceived
+me," replied Kilian; "there are merchants"----
+
+"Pshaw! the packhorses of Berne and Soleure," said the Governor, "with
+their paltry lumber, cloth too coarse to make covers for horses of
+any breeding, and linen that is more like hair-cloth than any
+composition of flax. I will strip them, however, were it but to vex
+the knaves. What! not content with claiming to be treated like an
+independent people, and sending forth deputies and embassies forsooth,
+they expect, I warrant, to make the indemnities of ambassadors cover
+the introduction of a cargo of their contraband commodities, and thus
+insult the noble Duke of Burgundy, and cheat him at the same time? But
+De Hagenbach is neither knight nor gentleman if he allow them to pass
+unchallenged."
+
+"And they are better worth being stopped," said Kilian, "than your
+excellency supposes; for they have English merchants along with them,
+and under their protection."
+
+"English merchants!" exclaimed De Hagenbach, his eyes sparkling with
+joy; "English merchants, Kilian! Men talk of Cathay and Ind, where
+there are mines of silver, and gold, and diamonds; but, on the faith
+of a gentleman, I believe these brutish Islanders have the caves of
+treasure wholly within their own foggy land! And then the variety of
+their rich merchandise,--Ha, Kilian! is it a long train of mules--a
+jolly tinkling team?--By Our Lady's glove! the sound of it is already
+jingling in my ears, more musically than all the harps of all the
+minne-singers at Heilbron!"
+
+"Nay, my lord, there is no great train," replied the squire;--"only
+two men, as I am given to understand, with scarce so much baggage as
+loads a mule; but, it is said, of infinite value, silk and samite,
+lace and furs, pearls and jewellery-work--perfumes from the East, and
+gold-work from Venice."
+
+"Raptures and paradise! say not a word more," exclaimed the rapacious
+knight of Hagenbach; "they are all our own, Kilian! Why, these are the
+very men I have dreamed of twice a week for this month past--ay, two
+men of middle stature, or somewhat under it--with smooth, round, fair,
+comely visages, having stomachs as plump as partridges, and purses as
+plump as their stomachs--Ha, what say'st thou to my dream, Kilian?"
+
+"Only, that, to be quite soothfast," answered the squire, "it should
+have included the presence of a score, or thereabouts, of sturdy young
+giants as ever climbed cliff, or carried bolt to whistle at a
+chamois--a lusty plump of clubs, bills, and partisans, such as make
+shields crack like oaten cakes, and helmets ring like church-bells."
+
+"The better, knave, the better!" exclaimed the Governor, rubbing his
+hands. "English pedlars to plunder! Swiss bullies to beat into
+submission! I wot well, we can have nothing of the Helvetian swine
+save their beastly bristles--it is lucky they bring these two island
+sheep along with them. But we must get ready our boar-spears, and
+clear the clipping-pens for exercise of our craft.--Here, Lieutenant
+Schonfeldt!"
+
+An officer stepped forth.
+
+"How many men are here on duty?"
+
+"About sixty," replied the officer. "Twenty out on parties in
+different directions, and there may be forty or fifty in their
+quarters."
+
+"Order them all under arms instantly;--hark ye, not by trumpet or
+bugle, but by warning them individually in their quarters, to draw to
+arms as quietly as possible, and rendezvous here at the eastern gate.
+Tell the villains there is booty to be gained, and they shall have
+their share."
+
+"On these terms," said Schonfeldt, "they will walk over a spider's web
+without startling the insect that wove it. I will collect them without
+loss of an instant."
+
+"I tell thee, Kilian," continued the exulting commandant, again
+speaking apart with his confidential attendant, "nothing could come so
+luckily as the chance of this onslaught. Duke Charles desires to
+affront the Swiss,--not, look you, that he cares to act towards them
+by his own direct orders, in such a manner as might be termed a breach
+of public faith towards a peaceful embassy; but the gallant follower
+who shall save his prince the scandal of such an affair, and whose
+actions may be termed a mistake or misapprehension, shall, I warrant
+you, be accounted to have done knightly service. Perchance a frown may
+be passed upon him in public, but in private the Duke will know how to
+esteem him.--Why standest thou so silent, man, and what ails thy ugly
+ill-looking aspect? Thou art not afraid of twenty Switzer boys, and we
+at the head of such a band of spears?"
+
+"The Swiss," answered Kilian, "will give and take good blows, yet I
+have no fear of them. But I like not that we should trust too much to
+Duke Charles. That he would be, in the first instance, pleased with
+any dishonour done the Swiss is likely enough; but if, as your
+excellency hints, he finds it afterwards convenient to disown the
+action, he is a prince likely to give a lively colour to his disavowal
+by hanging up the actors."
+
+"Pshaw!" said the commandant, "I know where I stand. Such a trick were
+like enough to be played by Louis of France, but it is foreign to the
+blunt character of our Bold one of Burgundy.--Why the devil stand'st
+thou still, man, simpering like an ape at a roasted chestnut, which he
+thinks too warm for his fingers?"
+
+"Your excellency is wise as well as warlike," said the esquire, "and
+it is not for me to contest your pleasure. But this peaceful
+embassy--these English merchants--if Charles goes to war with Louis,
+as the rumour is current, what he should most of all desire is the
+neutrality of Switzerland, and the assistance of England, whose King
+is crossing the sea with a great army. Now you, Sir Archibald of
+Hagenbach, may well do that in the course of this very morning which
+will put the Confederated Cantons in arms against Charles, and turn
+the English from allies into enemies."
+
+"I care not," said the commandant; "I know the Duke's humour well, and
+if he, the master of so many provinces, is willing to risk them in a
+self-willed frolic, what is it to Archibald de Hagenbach, who has not
+a foot of land to lose in the cause?"
+
+"But you have life, my lord," said the esquire.
+
+"Ay, life!" replied the knight; "a paltry right to exist, which I have
+been ready to stake every day of my life for dollars--ay, and for
+kreutzers--and think you I will hesitate to pledge it for
+broad-pieces, jewels of the East, and goldsmith's work of Venice? No,
+Kilian; these English must be eased of their bales, that Archibald de
+Hagenbach may drink a purer flask than their thin Moselle, and wear a
+brocade doublet instead of greasy velvet. Nor is it less necessary
+that Kilian should have a seemly new jerkin, with a purse of ducats to
+jingle at his girdle."
+
+"By my faith," said Kilian, "that last argument hath disarmed my
+scruples, and I give up the point, since it ill befits me to dispute
+with your excellency."
+
+"To the work then," said his leader. "But stay--we must first take the
+church along with us. The Priest of St. Paul's hath been moody of
+late, and spread abroad strange things from the pulpit, as if we were
+little better than common pillagers and robbers. Nay, he hath had the
+insolence to warn me, as he termed it, twice, in strange form. It were
+well to break the growling mastiff's bald head; but since that might
+be ill taken by the Duke, the next point of wisdom is to fling him a
+bone."
+
+"He may be a dangerous enemy," said the squire dubiously; "his power
+is great with the people."
+
+"Tush!" replied Hagenbach, "I know how to disarm the shaveling. Send
+to him, and tell him to come hither to speak with me. Meanwhile have
+all our force under arms; let the barbican and barrier be well manned
+with archers; station spearmen in the houses on each hand of the
+gateway; and let the street be barricaded with carts, well bound
+together, but placed as if they had been there by accident--place a
+body of determined fellows in these carts, and behind them. So soon as
+the merchants and their mules enter (for that is the main point), up
+with your drawbridge, down with the portcullis, send a volley of
+arrows among those who are without, if they make any scuffle; disarm
+and secure those who have entered, and are cooped up between the
+barricade before, and the ambush behind and around them--And _then_,
+Kilian"----
+
+"And then," said his esquire, "shall we, like merry Free Companions,
+be knuckle deep in the English budgets"----
+
+"And, like jovial hunters," replied the knight, "elbow-deep in Swiss
+blood."
+
+"The game will stand at bay though," answered Kilian. "They are led by
+that Donnerhugel whom we have heard of, whom they call the Young Bear
+of Berne. They will turn to their defence."
+
+"The better, man--wouldst thou kill sheep rather than hunt wolves?
+Besides, our toils are set, and the whole garrison shall assist. Shame
+on thee, Kilian, thou wert not wont to have so many scruples!"
+
+"Nor have I now," said Kilian. "But these Swiss bills, and two-handed
+swords of the breadth of four inches, are no child's play.--And then
+if you call all our garrison to the attack, to whom will your
+excellency intrust the defence of the other gates, and the circuit of
+the walls?"
+
+"Lock, bolt, and chain up the gates," replied the Governor, "and bring
+the keys hither. There shall no one leave the place till this affair
+is over. Let some score of the citizens take arms for the duty of
+guarding the walls; and look they discharge it well, or I will lay a
+fine on them which they shall discharge to purpose."
+
+"They will grumble," said Kilian. "They say, that not being the Duke's
+subjects, though the place is impledged to his Grace, they are not
+liable to military service."
+
+"They lie! the cowardly slaves," answered De Hagenbach. "If I have not
+employed them much hitherto, it is because I scorn their assistance;
+nor would I now use their help, were it for anything save to keep a
+watch, by looking out straight before them. Let them obey, as they
+respect their property, persons, and families."
+
+A deep voice behind them repeated the emphatic language of
+Scripture,--"I have seen the wicked man flourish in his power even
+like unto a laurel, but I returned and he was not--yea, I sought him,
+but he was not to be found."
+
+Sir Archibald de Hagenbach turned sternly, and encountered the dark
+and ominous looks of the Priest of St. Paul's, dressed in the
+vestments of his order.
+
+"We are busy, father," said the Governor, "and will hear your
+preachment another time."
+
+"I come by your summons, Sir Governor," said the priest, "or I had not
+intruded myself where I well knew my preachments, if you term them so,
+will do no good."
+
+"Oh, I crave your mercy, reverend father," said De Hagenbach. "Yes, it
+is true that I did send for you, to desire your prayers and kind
+intercession with Our Lady and St. Paul, in some transactions which
+are likely to occur this morning, and in which, as the Lombard says, I
+do espy _roba di guadagno_."
+
+"Sir Archibald," answered the priest calmly, "I well hope and trust
+that you do not forget the nature of the glorified Saints so far as to
+ask them for their blessing upon such exploits as you have been too
+oft engaged in since your arrival amongst us--an event which of itself
+gave token of the divine anger. Nay, let me say, humble as I am, that
+decency to a servant of the altar should check you from proposing to
+me to put up prayers for the success of pillage and robbery."
+
+"I understand you, father," said the rapacious Governor, "and you
+shall see I do. While you are the Duke's subject, you must by your
+office put up your prayers for his success in matters that are fairly
+managed. You acknowledge this with a graceful bend of your reverend
+head? Well, then, I will be as reasonable as you are. Say we desire
+the intercession of the good Saints, and of you, their pious orator,
+in something a little out of the ordinary path, and, if you will,
+somewhat of a doubtful complexion,--are we entitled to ask you or them
+for their pains and trouble without a just consideration? Surely no.
+Therefore I vow and solemnly promise, that if I have good fortune in
+this morning's adventure, St. Paul shall have an altar-cloth and a
+basin of silver, large or little, as my booty will permit--Our Lady a
+web of satin for a full suit, with a necklace of pearl for
+holidays--and thou, priest, some twenty pieces of broad English gold,
+for acting as go-between betwixt ourselves and the blessed Apostles,
+whom we acknowledge ourselves unworthy to negotiate with in our
+profane person. And now, Sir Priest, do we understand each other, for
+I have little time to lose? I know you have hard thoughts of me, but
+you see the devil is not quite so horrible as he is painted."
+
+"Do we understand each other?" answered the Black Priest of St.
+Paul's, repeating the Governor's question--"Alas, no! and I fear me we
+never shall. Hast thou never heard the words spoken by the holy
+hermit, Berchtold of Offringen, to the implacable Queen Agnes, who had
+revenged with such dreadful severity the assassination of her father,
+the Emperor Albert?"
+
+"Not I," returned the knight; "I have neither studied the chronicles
+of emperors, nor the legends of hermits; and therefore, Sir Priest, an
+you like not my proposal, let us have no further words on the matter.
+I am unwont to press my favours, or to deal with priests who require
+entreaty, when gifts are held out to them."
+
+"Hear yet the words of the holy man," said the priest. "The time may
+come, and that shortly, when you would gladly desire to hear what you
+scornfully reject."
+
+"Speak on, but be brief," said Archibald de Hagenbach; "and know,
+though thou mayst terrify or cajole the multitude, thou now speakest
+to one whose resolution is fixed far beyond the power of thy eloquence
+to melt."
+
+"Know, then," said the Priest of St. Paul's, "that Agnes, daughter of
+the murdered Albert, after shedding oceans of blood in avenging his
+bloody death, founded at length the rich abbey of Königsfeldt; and,
+that it might have a superior claim to renowned sanctity, made a
+pilgrimage in person to the cell of the holy hermit, and besought of
+him to honour her abbey by taking up his residence there. But what was
+his reply?--Mark it and tremble. 'Begone, ruthless woman,' said the
+holy man; 'God will not be served with blood-guiltiness, and rejects
+the gifts which are obtained by violence and robbery. The Almighty
+loves mercy, justice, and humanity, and by the lovers of these only
+will He be worshipped.' And now, Archibald of Hagenbach, once, twice,
+thrice, hast thou had warning. Live as becomes a man on whom sentence
+is passed, and who must expect execution."
+
+Having spoken these words with a menacing tone and frowning aspect,
+the Priest of St. Paul's turned away from the Governor, whose first
+impulse was to command him to be arrested. But when he recollected the
+serious consequences which attached to the laying violent hands on a
+priest, he suffered him to depart in peace, conscious that his own
+unpopularity might render any attempt to revenge himself an act of
+great rashness. He called, therefore, for a beaker of Burgundy, in
+which he swallowed down his displeasure, and had just returned to
+Kilian the cup, which he had drained to the bottom, when the warden
+winded a blast from the watch-tower, which betokened the arrival of
+strangers at the gate of the city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+     I will resist such entertainment, till
+     My enemy has more power.
+                             _The Tempest._
+
+
+"That blast was but feebly blown," said De Hagenbach, ascending to the
+ramparts, from which he could see what passed on the outside of the
+gate. "Who approaches, Kilian?"
+
+The trusty squire was hastening to meet him with the news.
+
+"Two men with a mule, an it please your excellency; and merchants, I
+presume them to be."
+
+"Merchants? 'Sdeath, villain! pedlars you mean. Heard ever man of
+English merchants tramping it on foot, with no more baggage than one
+mule can manage to carry? They must be beggarly Bohemians, or those
+whom the French people call Escossais. The knaves! they shall pay with
+the pining of their paunches for the poverty of their purses."
+
+"Do not be too hasty, an please your excellency," quoth the squire;
+"small budgets hold rich goods. But, rich or poor, they are our men,
+at least they have all the marks--the elder, well-sized and
+dark-visaged, may write fifty and five years, a beard somewhat
+grizzled;--the younger, some two-and-twenty, taller than the first,
+and a well-favoured lad, with a smooth chin and light-brown
+mustaches."
+
+"Let them be admitted," said the Governor, turning back in order again
+to descend to the street, "and bring them into the folter-kammer of
+the toll-house."
+
+So saying, he betook himself to the place appointed, which was an
+apartment in the large tower that protected the eastern gateway, in
+which were deposited the rack, with various other instruments of
+torture, which the cruel and rapacious Governor was in the habit of
+applying to such prisoners from whom he was desirous of extorting
+either booty or information. He entered the apartment, which was dimly
+lighted, and had a lofty Gothic roof which could be but imperfectly
+seen, while nooses and cords hanging down from thence announced a
+fearful connection with various implements of rusted iron that hung
+round the walls or lay scattered on the floor.
+
+A faint stream of light through one of the numerous and narrow slits,
+or shot-holes, with which the walls were garnished, fell directly upon
+the person and visage of a tall swarthy man, seated in what, but for
+the partial illumination, would have been an obscure corner of this
+evil-boding apartment. His features were regular, and even handsome,
+but of a character peculiarly stern and sinister. This person's dress
+was a cloak of scarlet; his head was bare, and surrounded by shaggy
+locks of black, which time had partly grizzled. He was busily employed
+in furbishing and burnishing a broad two-handed sword, of a peculiar
+shape, and considerably shorter than the weapons of that kind which we
+have described as used by the Swiss. He was so deeply engaged in his
+task, that he started as the heavy door opened with a jarring noise,
+and the sword, escaping from his hold, rolled on the stone floor with
+a heavy clash.
+
+"Ha! Scharfgerichter," said the Knight, as he entered the
+folter-kammer, "thou art preparing for thy duty?"
+
+"It would ill become your excellency's servant," answered the man, in
+a harsh deep tone, "to be found idle. But the prisoner is not far off,
+as I can judge by the fall of my sword, which infallibly announces the
+presence of him who shall feel its edge."
+
+"The prisoners are at hand, Francis," replied the Governor; "but thy
+omen has deceived thee for once. They are fellows for whom a good rope
+will suffice, and thy sword drinks only noble blood."
+
+"The worse for Francis Steinernherz," replied the official in scarlet:
+"I trusted that your excellency, who have ever been a bountiful
+patron, should this day have made me noble."
+
+"Noble!" said the Governor; "thou art mad--Thou noble! The common
+executioner!"
+
+"And wherefore not, Sir Archibald de Hagenbach? I think the name of
+Francis Steinernherz _von_ Blut-acker will suit nobility, being fairly
+and legally won, as well as another. Nay, do not stare on me thus. If
+one of my profession shall do his grim office on nine men of noble
+birth, with the same weapon, and with a single blow to each patient,
+hath he not a right to his freedom from taxes, and his nobility by
+patent?"
+
+"So says the law," said Sir Archibald, after reflecting for a
+moment,--"but rather more in scorn than seriously, I should judge,
+since no one was ever known to claim the benefit of it."
+
+"The prouder boast for him," said the functionary, "that shall be the
+first to demand the honours due to a sharp sword and a clean stroke.
+I, Francis Steinernherz, will be the first noble of my profession,
+when I shall have despatched one more knight of the Empire."
+
+"Thou hast been ever in _my_ service, hast thou not?" demanded De
+Hagenbach.
+
+"Under what other master," replied the executioner, "could I have
+enjoyed such constant practice? I have executed your decrees on
+condemned sinners since I could swing a scourge, lift a crowbar, or
+wield this trusty weapon; and who can say I ever failed of my first
+blow, or needed to deal a second? Tristrem of the Hospital, and his
+famous assistants, Petit André and Trois Eschelles, are novices
+compared with me in the use of the noble and knightly sword. Marry, I
+should be ashamed to match myself with them in the field practice with
+bowstring and dagger; these are no feats worthy of a Christian man who
+would rise to honour and nobility."
+
+"Thou art a fellow of excellent address, and I do not deny it,"
+replied De Hagenbach. "But it cannot be--I trust it cannot be--that
+when noble blood is becoming scarce in the land, and proud churls are
+lording it over knights and barons, I myself should have caused so
+much to be spilled?"
+
+"I will number the patients to your excellency by name and title,"
+said Francis, drawing out a scroll of parchment, and reading with a
+commentary as he went on,--"There was Count William of Elvershoe--he
+was my assay-piece, a sweet youth, and died most like a Christian."
+
+"I remember--he was indeed a most smart youth, and courted my
+mistress," said Sir Archibald.
+
+"He died on St. Jude's, in the year of grace 1455," said the
+executioner.
+
+"Go on--but name no dates," said the Governor.
+
+"Sir Miles of Stockenborg"----
+
+"He drove off my cattle," observed his excellency.
+
+"Sir Louis of Riesenfeldt"--continued the executioner.
+
+"He made love to my wife," commented the Governor.
+
+"The three Yung-herren of Lammerbourg--you made their father, the
+Count, childless in one day."
+
+"And he made me landless," said Sir Archibald, "so that account is
+settled.--Thou needest read no further," he continued: "I admit thy
+record, though it is written in letters somewhat of the reddest. I had
+counted these three young gentlemen as one execution."
+
+"You did me the greater wrong," said Francis; "they cost three good
+separate blows of this good sword."
+
+"Be it so, and God be with their souls," said Hagenbach. "But thy
+ambition must go to sleep for a while, Scharfgerichter, for the stuff
+that came hither to-day is for dungeon and cord, or perhaps a touch of
+the rack or strappado--there is no honour to win on them."
+
+"The worse luck mine," said the executioner. "I had dreamed so surely
+that your honour had made me noble;--and then the fall of my sword?"
+
+"Take a bowl of wine, and forget your auguries."
+
+"With your honour's permission, no," said the executioner; "to drink
+before noon were to endanger the nicety of my hand."
+
+"Be silent, then, and mind your duty," said De Hagenbach.
+
+Francis took up his sheathless sword, wiped the dust reverently from
+it, and withdrew into a corner of the chamber, where he stood leaning
+with his hands on the pommel of the fatal weapon.
+
+Almost immediately afterwards, Kilian entered at the head of five or
+six soldiers, conducting the two Philipsons, whose arms were tied down
+with cords.
+
+"Approach me a chair," said the Governor, and took his place gravely
+beside a table, on which stood writing-materials. "Who are these men,
+Kilian, and wherefore are they bound?"
+
+"So please your excellency," said Kilian, with a deep respect of
+manner, which entirely differed from the tone, approaching to
+familiarity, with which he communicated with his master in private,
+"we thought it well that these two strangers should not appear armed
+in your gracious presence; and when we required of them to surrender
+their weapons at the gate, as is the custom of the garrison, this
+young gallant must needs offer resistance. I admit he gave up his
+weapon at his father's command."
+
+"It is false!" exclaimed young Philipson; but his father making a sign
+to him to be silent, he obeyed instantly.
+
+"Noble sir," said the elder Philipson, "we are strangers, and
+unacquainted with the rules of this citadel; we are Englishmen, and
+unaccustomed to submit to personal mishandling; we trust you will
+have excuse for us, when we found ourselves, without any explanation
+of the cause, rudely seized on by we knew not whom. My son, who is
+young and unthinking, did partly draw his weapon, but desisted at my
+command, without having altogether unsheathed his sword, far less made
+a blow. For myself, I am a merchant, accustomed to submit to the laws
+and customs of the countries in which I traffic; I am in the
+territories of the Duke of Burgundy, and I know his laws and customs
+must be just and equitable. He is the powerful and faithful ally of
+England, and I fear nothing while under his banner."
+
+"Hem! hem!" replied De Hagenbach, a little disconcerted by the
+Englishman's composure, and perhaps recollecting, that, unless his
+passions were awakened (as in the case of the Swiss, whom he
+detested), Charles of Burgundy deserved the character of a just though
+severe prince,--"Fair words are well, but hardly make amends for foul
+actions. You have drawn swords in riot, and opposition to the Duke's
+soldiers, when obeying the mandates which regulate their watch."
+
+"Surely, sir," answered Philipson, "this is a severe construction of a
+most natural action. But, in a word, if you are disposed to be
+rigorous, the simple action of drawing, or attempting to draw a sword,
+in a garrison town, is only punishable by pecuniary fine, and such we
+must pay, if it be your will."
+
+"Now, here is a silly sheep," said Kilian to the executioner, beside
+whom he had stationed himself, somewhat apart from the group, "who
+voluntarily offers his own fleece to the clipper."
+
+"It will scarcely serve as a ransom for his throat, Sir Squire,"
+answered Francis Steinernherz; "for, look you, I dreamed last night
+that our master made me noble, and I knew by the fall of my sword that
+this is the man by whom I am to mount to gentility. I must this very
+day deal on him with my good sword."
+
+"Why, thou ambitious fool," said the esquire, "this is no noble, but
+an island pedlar--a mere English citizen."
+
+"Thou art deceived," said the executioner, "and hast never looked on
+men when they are about to die."
+
+"Have I not?" said the squire. "Have I not looked on five pitched
+fields, besides skirmishes and ambuscades innumerable?"
+
+"That tries not the courage," said the Scharfgerichter. "All men will
+fight when pitched against each other. So will the most paltry
+curs--so will the dunghill fowls. But he is brave and noble who can
+look on a scaffold and a block, a priest to give him absolution, and
+the headsman and good sword which is to mow him down in his strength,
+as he would look upon things indifferent; and such a man is that whom
+we now behold."
+
+"Yes," answered Kilian, "but that man looks not on such an
+apparatus--he only sees our illustrious patron, Sir Archibald de
+Hagenbach."
+
+"And he who looks upon Sir Archibald," said the executioner, "being,
+as yonder man assuredly is, a person of sense and apprehension, looks
+he not upon sword and headsman? Assuredly that prisoner apprehends as
+much, and being so composed as he is under such conviction, it shows
+him to be a nobleman by blood, or may I myself never win nobility!"
+
+"Our master will come to compromise with him, I judge," replied
+Kilian; "he looks smilingly on him."
+
+"Never trust to me, then," said the man in scarlet; "there is a glance
+in Sir Archibald's eye which betokens blood, as surely as the dog-star
+bodes pestilence."
+
+While these dependants of Sir Archibald de Hagenbach were thus
+conversing apart, their master had engaged the prisoners in a long
+train of captious interrogatories concerning their business in
+Switzerland, their connection with the Landamman, and the cause of
+their travelling into Burgundy, to all which the senior Philipson gave
+direct and plain answers, excepting to the last. He was going, he
+said, into Burgundy, for the purpose of his traffic--his wares were at
+the disposal of the Governor, who might detain all, or any part of
+them, as he might be disposed to make himself answerable to his
+master. But his business with the Duke was of a private nature,
+respecting some particular matters of commerce, in which others as
+well as he himself were interested. To the Duke alone, he declared,
+would he communicate the affair; and he pressed it strongly on the
+Governor, that if he should sustain any damage in his own person or
+that of his son, the Duke's severe displeasure would be the inevitable
+consequence.
+
+De Hagenbach was evidently much embarrassed by the steady tone of his
+prisoner, and more than once held counsel with the bottle, his
+never-failing oracle in cases of extreme difficulty. Philipson had
+readily surrendered to the Governor a list or invoice of his
+merchandise, which was of so inviting a character that Sir Archibald
+absolutely gloated over it. After remaining in deep meditation for
+some time, he raised his head and spoke thus:--
+
+"You must be well aware, Sir Merchant, that it is the Duke's pleasure
+that no Swiss merchandise shall pass through his territories; and
+that, nevertheless, you having been, by your own account, some time in
+that country, and having also accompanied a body of men calling
+themselves Swiss Deputies, I am authorised to believe that these
+valuable articles are rather the property of those persons, than of a
+single individual of so poor an appearance as yourself, and that,
+should I demand pecuniary satisfaction, three hundred pieces of gold
+would not be an extravagant fine for so bold a practice; and you might
+wander where you will with the rest of your wares, so you bring them
+not into Burgundy."
+
+"But it is to Burgundy, and to the Duke's presence, that I am
+expressly bound," said the Englishman. "If I go not thither my journey
+is wrecked, and the Duke's displeasure is certain to light on those
+who may molest me. For I make your excellency aware, that your
+gracious Prince already knows of my journey, and will make strict
+inquiry where and by whom I have been intercepted."
+
+Again the Governor was silent, endeavouring to decide how he might
+best reconcile the gratification of his rapacity with precaution for
+his safety. After a few minutes' consideration he again addressed his
+prisoner.
+
+"Thou art very positive in thy tale, my good friend; but my orders are
+equally so to exclude merchandise coming from Switzerland. What if I
+put thy mule and baggage under arrest?"
+
+"I cannot withstand your power, my lord, to do what you will. I will
+in that case go to the Duke's footstool, and do my errand there."
+
+"Ay, and my errand also," answered the Governor. "That is, thou wilt
+carry thy complaint to the Duke against the Governor of La Ferette,
+for executing his orders too strictly?"
+
+"On my life and honest word," answered the Englishman, "I will make no
+complaint. Leave me but my ready money, without which I can hardly
+travel to the Duke's court, and I will look no more after these goods
+and wares than the stag looks after the antlers which he shed last
+year."
+
+Again the Governor of La Ferette looked doubtful, and shook his head.
+
+"Men in such a case as yours," he said, "cannot be trusted, nor, to
+say truth, is it reasonable to expect they should be trustworthy.
+These same wares, designed for the Duke's private hand, in what do
+they consist?"
+
+"They are under seal," replied the Englishman.
+
+"They are of rare value, doubtless?" continued the Governor.
+
+"I cannot tell," answered the elder Philipson; "I know the Duke sets
+great store by them. But your excellency knows, that great princes
+sometimes place a high value on trifles."
+
+"Bear you them about you?" said the Governor. "Take heed how you
+answer--Look around you on these engines, which can bring a dumb man
+to speak, and consider I have the power to employ them!"
+
+"And I the courage to support their worst infliction," answered
+Philipson, with the same impenetrable coolness which he had maintained
+throughout the whole conference.
+
+"Remember, also," said Hagenbach, "that I can have your person
+searched as thoroughly as your mails and budgets."
+
+"I do remember that I am wholly in thy power; and that I may leave
+thee no excuse for employing force on a peaceful traveller, I will own
+to you," said Philipson, "that I have the Duke's packet in the bosom
+of my doublet."
+
+"Bring it forth," answered the Governor.
+
+"My hands are tied, both in honour and literally," said the
+Englishman.
+
+"Pluck it from his bosom, Kilian," said Sir Archibald; "let us see
+this gear he talks of."
+
+"Could resistance avail," replied the stout merchant, "you should
+pluck forth my heart first. But I pray all who are present to observe
+that the seals are every one whole and unbroken at this moment when it
+is forcibly taken from my person."
+
+As he spoke thus he looked around on the soldiers, whose presence De
+Hagenbach had perhaps forgotten.
+
+"How, dog!" said Sir Archibald, giving way to his passion, "would you
+stir up mutiny among my men-at-arms?--Kilian, let the soldiers wait
+without."
+
+So saying, he hastily placed under cover of his own robe the small but
+remarkably well-secured packet which Kilian had taken from the
+merchant's person. The soldiers withdrew, lingering, however, and
+looking back, like children brought away from a show before its final
+conclusion.
+
+"So, fellow!" again began De Hagenbach, "we are now more private. Wilt
+thou deal more on the level with me, and tell me what this packet is,
+and whence it comes?"
+
+"Could all your garrison be crowded into this room, I can only answer
+as before.--The contents I do not precisely know--the person by whom
+it was sent I am determined not to name."
+
+"Perhaps your son," said the Governor, "may be more compliant."
+
+"He cannot tell you that of which he is himself ignorant," answered
+the merchant.
+
+"Perchance the rack may make you both find your tongues;--and we will
+try it on the young fellow first, Kilian, since thou knowest we have
+seen men shrink from beholding the wrenched joints of their children,
+that would have committed their own old sinews to the stretching with
+much endurance."
+
+"You may make the trial," said Arthur, "and Heaven will give me
+strength to endure"----
+
+"And me courage to behold," added his father.
+
+All this while the Governor was turning and re-turning the little
+packet in his hand, curiously inspecting every fold, and regretting,
+doubtless, in secret, that a few patches of wax, placed under an
+envelope of crimson satin, and ligatures of twisted silk cord, should
+prevent his eager eyes from ascertaining the nature of the treasure
+which he doubted not it concealed. At length he again called in the
+soldiers, and delivered up the two prisoners to their charge,
+commanding that they should be kept safely, and in separate holds, and
+that the father, in particular, should be most carefully looked
+after.
+
+"I take you all here to witness," exclaimed the elder Philipson,
+despising the menacing signs of De Hagenbach, "that the Governor
+detains from me a packet, addressed to his most gracious lord and
+master, the Duke of Burgundy."
+
+De Hagenbach actually foamed at the mouth with passion.
+
+"And should I _not_ detain it?" he exclaimed, in a voice inarticulate
+with rage. "May there not be some foul practice against the life of
+our most gracious sovereign, by poison or otherwise, in this
+suspicious packet, brought by a most suspicious bearer? Have we never
+heard of poisons which do their work by the smell? And shall we, who
+keep the gate, as I may say, of his Grace of Burgundy's dominions,
+give access to what may rob Europe of its pride of chivalry, Burgundy
+of its prince, and Flanders of her father?--No! Away with these
+miscreants, soldiers--down to the lowest dungeons with them--keep them
+separate, and watch them carefully. This treasonable practice has been
+meditated with the connivance of Berne and Soleure."
+
+Thus Sir Archibald de Hagenbach raved, with a raised voice and
+inflamed countenance, lashing himself as it were into passion, until
+the steps of the soldiers, and the clash of their arms, as they
+retired with the prisoners, were no longer audible. His complexion,
+when these had ceased, waxed paler than was natural to him--his brow
+was furrowed with anxious wrinkles--and his voice became lower and
+more hesitating than ordinary, as, turning to his esquire, he said,
+"Kilian, we stand upon a slippery plank, with a raging torrent beneath
+us--What is to be done?"
+
+  [Illustration: THE EXAMINATION.
+   Drawn and Etched by R. de Los Rios.]
+
+"Marry, to move forward with a resolved yet prudent step," answered
+the crafty Kilian. "It is unlucky that all these fellows should have
+seen the packet, and heard the appeal of yonder iron-nerved trader.
+But this ill luck has befallen us, and the packet having been in your
+excellency's hands, you will have all the credit of having broken the
+seals; for, though you leave them as entire as the moment they were
+impressed, it will only be supposed they have been ingeniously
+replaced. Let us see what are the contents, before we determine what
+is to be done with them. They must be of rare value, since the churl
+merchant was well contented to leave behind all his rich mule's-load
+of merchandise, so that this precious packet might pass unexamined."
+
+"They may be papers on some political matter. Many such, and of high
+importance, pass secretly between Edward of England and our bold
+Duke." Such was the reply of De Hagenbach.
+
+"If they be papers of consequence to the Duke," answered Kilian, "we
+can forward them to Dijon.--Or they may be such as Louis of France
+would purchase with their weight of gold."
+
+"For shame, Kilian!" said the Knight. "Wouldst thou have me betray my
+master's secrets to the King of France? Sooner would I lay my head on
+the block."
+
+"Indeed? And yet your excellency hesitates not to"----
+
+Here the squire stopped, apparently for fear of giving offence, by
+affixing a name too broad and intelligible to the practices of his
+patron.
+
+"To plunder the Duke, thou wouldst say, thou impudent slave? And,
+saying so, thou wouldst be as dull as thou art wont to be," answered
+De Hagenbach. "I partake, indeed, in the plunder which the Duke takes
+from aliens; and reason good. Even so the hound and the hawk have
+their share of the quarry they bring down--ay, and the lion's share
+too, unless the huntsman or falconer be all the nearer to them. Such
+are the perquisites of my rank; and the Duke, who placed me here for
+the gratification of his resentment, and the bettering of my fortune,
+does not grudge them to a faithful servant. And, indeed, I may term
+myself, in so far as this territory of La Ferette extends, the Duke's
+full representative, or, as it may be termed, ALTER EGO--and,
+thereupon, I will open this packet, which, being addressed to him, is
+thereby equally addressed to me."
+
+Having thus in a manner talked himself up to an idea of his own high
+authority, he cut the strings of the packet which he had all this
+while held in his hand, and, undoing the outer coverings, produced a
+very small case made of sandalwood.
+
+"The contents," he said, "had need to be valuable, as they lie in so
+little compass."
+
+So saying he pressed the spring, and the casket, opening, displayed a
+necklace of diamonds, distinguished by brilliancy and size, and
+apparently of extraordinary value. The eyes of the avaricious
+Governor, and his no less rapacious attendant, were so dazzled with
+the unusual splendour, that for some time they could express nothing
+save joy and surprise.
+
+"Ay, marry, sir," said Kilian, "the obstinate old knave had reasons
+for his hardihood. My own joints should have stood a strain or two ere
+I surrendered such sparklers as these.--And now, Sir Archibald, may
+your trusty follower ask you how this booty is to be divided between
+the Duke and his Governor, according to the most approved rules of
+garrison towns?"
+
+"Faith, we will suppose the garrison stormed, Kilian; and in a storm,
+thou know'st, the first finder takes all--with due consideration
+always of his trusty followers."
+
+"As myself, for example," said Kilian.
+
+"Ay, and myself, for example," answered a voice, which sounded like
+the echo of the esquire's words, from the remote corner of the ancient
+apartment.
+
+"'Sdeath! we are overheard," exclaimed the Governor, starting and
+laying his hand on his dagger.
+
+"Only by a faithful follower, as the worthy esquire observes," said
+the executioner, moving slowly forward.
+
+"Villain, how didst thou dare watch me?" said Sir Archibald de
+Hagenbach.
+
+"Trouble not yourself for that, sir," said Kilian. "Honest
+Steinernherz has no tongue to speak, or ear to hear, save according to
+your pleasure. Indeed, we must shortly have taken him into our
+counsels, seeing these men must be dealt upon, and that speedily."
+
+"Indeed!" said De Hagenbach; "I had thought they might be spared."
+
+"To tell the Duke of Burgundy how the Governor of La Ferette accounts
+to his treasurer for the duties and forfeitures at his custom-house?"
+demanded Kilian.
+
+"'Tis true," said the Knight; "dead men have neither teeth nor
+tongue--they bite not, and they tell no tales. Thou wilt take order
+with them, Scharfgerichter."
+
+"I will, my lord," answered the executioner, "on condition that, if
+this must be in the way of dungeon execution, which I call cellar
+practice, my privilege to claim nobility shall be saved and reserved
+to me, and the execution shall be declared to be as effectual to my
+claim, as it might have been if the blow had been dealt in broad
+daylight, with my honourable blade of office."
+
+De Hagenbach stared at the executioner, as not understanding what he
+meant; on which Kilian took occasion to explain, that the
+Scharfgerichter was strongly impressed, from the free and dauntless
+conduct of the elder prisoner, that he was a man of noble blood, from
+whose decapitation he would himself derive all the advantages proposed
+to the headsman who should execute his function on nine men of
+illustrious extraction.
+
+"He may be right," said Sir Archibald, "for here is a slip of
+parchment, commending the bearer of this carcanet to the Duke,
+desiring him to accept it as a true token from one well known to him,
+and to give the bearer full credence in all that he should say on the
+part of those by whom he is sent."
+
+"By whom is the note signed, if I may make bold to ask?" said Kilian.
+
+"There is no name--the Duke must be supposed to collect that
+information from the gems, or perhaps the handwriting."
+
+"On neither of which he is likely to have a speedy opportunity of
+exercising his ingenuity," said Kilian.
+
+De Hagenbach looked at the diamonds, and smiled darkly. The
+Scharfgerichter, encouraged by the familiarity into which he had in a
+manner forced himself, returned to his plea, and insisted on the
+nobility of the supposed merchant. Such a trust, and such a letter of
+unlimited credence, could never, he contended, be intrusted to a man
+meanly born.[7]
+
+"Thou art deceived, thou fool," said the Knight; "kings now use the
+lowest tools to do their dearest offices. Louis has set the example of
+putting his barber, and the valets of his chamber, to do the work
+formerly intrusted to dukes and peers; and other monarchs begin to
+think that it is better, in choosing their agents for important
+affairs, to judge rather by the quality of men's brains than that of
+their blood. And as for the stately look and bold bearing which
+distinguish yonder fellow in the eyes of cravens like thee, it belongs
+to his country, not his rank. Thou think'st it is in England as in
+Flanders, where a city-bred burgher of Ghent, Liège, or Ypres is as
+distinct an animal from a knight of Hainault as a Flanders wagon horse
+from a Spanish jennet. But thou art deceived. England has many a
+merchant as haughty of heart, and as prompt of hand, as any noble-born
+son of her rich bosom. But be not dejected, thou foolish man; do thy
+business well on this merchant, and we shall presently have on our
+hands the Landamman of Unterwalden, who, though a churl by his choice,
+is yet a nobleman by blood, and shall, by his well-deserved death,
+aid thee to get rid of the peasant slough which thou art so weary of."
+
+"Were not your excellency better adjourn these men's fate," said
+Kilian, "till you hear something of them from the Swiss prisoners whom
+we shall presently have in our power?"
+
+"Be it as you will," said Hagenbach, waving his hand, as if putting
+aside some disagreeable task. "But let all be finished ere I hear of
+it again."
+
+The stern satellites bowed obedience, and the deadly conclave broke
+up; their chief carefully securing the valuable gems, which he was
+willing to purchase at the expense of treachery to the sovereign in
+whose employment he had enlisted himself, as well as the blood of two
+innocent men. Yet, with a weakness of mind not uncommon to great
+criminals, he shrank from the thoughts of his own baseness and
+cruelty, and endeavoured to banish the feeling of dishonour from his
+mind, by devolving the immediate execution of his villany upon his
+subordinate agents.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[7] Louis XI. was probably the first king of France who flung aside
+all affectation of choosing his ministers from among the nobility. He
+often placed men of mean birth in situations of the highest trust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     And this place our forefathers built for man!
+                                       _Old Play._
+
+
+The dungeon in which the younger Philipson was immured was one of
+those gloomy caverns which cry shame on the inhumanity of our
+ancestors. They seem to have been almost insensible to the distinction
+betwixt innocence and guilt, as the consequences of mere accusation
+must have been far more severe in those days than is in our own that
+species of imprisonment which is adjudged as an express punishment for
+crime.
+
+The cell of Arthur Philipson was of considerable length, but dark and
+narrow, and dug out of the solid rock upon which the tower was
+founded. A small lamp was allowed him, not, however, without some
+grumbling, but his arms were still kept bound; and when he asked for a
+draught of water, one of the grim satellites by whom he was thrust
+into this cell answered surlily that he might endure his thirst for
+all the time his life was likely to last--a gloomy response, which
+augured that his privations would continue as long as his life, yet
+neither be of long duration. By the dim lamp he had groped his way to
+a bench, or rough seat, cut in the rock; and, as his eyes got
+gradually accustomed to the obscurity of the region in which he was
+immured, he became aware of a ghastly cleft in the floor of his
+dungeon, somewhat resembling the opening of a draw-well, but irregular
+in its aperture, and apparently the mouth of a gulf of Nature's
+conformation, slightly assisted by the labour of human art.
+
+"Here, then, is my death-bed," he said, "and that gulf perhaps the
+grave which yawns for my remains! Nay, I have heard of prisoners being
+plunged into such horrid abysses while they were yet alive, to die at
+leisure, crushed with wounds, their groans unheard, and their fate
+unpitied!"
+
+He approached his head to the dismal cavity, and heard, as at a great
+depth, the sound of a sullen and, as it seemed, subterranean stream.
+The sunless waves appeared murmuring for their victim. Death is
+dreadful at all ages; but in the first springtide of youth, with all
+the feelings of enjoyment afloat, and eager for gratification, to be
+snatched forcibly from the banquet to which the individual has but
+just sat down, is peculiarly appalling, even when the change comes in
+the ordinary course of nature. But to sit, like young Philipson, on
+the brink of the subterranean abyss, and ruminate in horrid doubt
+concerning the mode in which death was to be inflicted, was a
+situation which might break the spirit of the boldest; and the
+unfortunate captive was wholly unable to suppress the natural tears
+that flowed from his eyes in torrents, and which his bound arms did
+not permit him to wipe away. We have already noticed that, although a
+gallant young man in aught of danger which was to be faced and
+overcome by active exertion, the youth was strongly imaginative, and
+sensitive to a powerful extent to all those exaggerations which, in a
+situation of helpless uncertainty, fancy lends to distract the soul
+of him who must passively expect an approaching evil.
+
+Yet the feelings of Arthur Philipson were not selfish. They reverted
+to his father, whose just and noble character was as much formed to
+attract veneration, as his unceasing paternal care and affection to
+excite love and gratitude. He too was in the hands of remorseless
+villains, who were determined to conceal robbery by secret murder--he
+too, undaunted in so many dangers, resolute in so many encounters, lay
+bound and defenceless, exposed to the dagger of the meanest stabber.
+Arthur remembered, too, the giddy peak of the rock near Geierstein,
+and the grim vulture which claimed him as its prey. Here was no angel
+to burst through the mist, and marshal him on a path of safety--here
+the darkness was subterranean and eternal, saving when the captive
+should behold the knife of the ruffian flash against the lamp which
+lent him light to aim the fatal blow. This agony of mind lasted until
+the feelings of the unhappy prisoner arose to ecstasy. He started up,
+and struggled so hard to free himself of his bonds, that it seemed
+they should have fallen from him as from the arms of the mighty
+Nazarene. But the cords were of too firm a texture; and after a
+violent and unavailing struggle, in which the ligatures seemed to
+enter his flesh, the prisoner lost his balance, and, while the feeling
+thrilled through him that he was tumbling backward into the
+subterranean abyss, he fell to the ground with great force.
+
+Fortunately he escaped the danger which in his agony he apprehended,
+but so narrowly, that his head struck against the low and broken fence
+with which the mouth of the horrible pit was partly surrounded. Here
+he lay stunned and motionless, and, as the lamp was extinguished in
+his fall, immersed in absolute and total darkness. He was recalled to
+sensation by a jarring noise.
+
+"They come--they come--the murderers! Oh, Lady of Mercy! and oh,
+gracious Heaven, forgive my transgressions!"
+
+He looked up, and observed, with dazzled eyes, that a dark form
+approached him, with a knife in one hand and a torch in the other. He
+might well have seemed the man who was to do the last deed upon the
+unhappy prisoner, if he had come alone. But he came not alone--his
+torch gleamed upon the white dress of a female, which was so much
+illuminated by it that Arthur could discover a form, and had even a
+glimpse of features, never to be forgotten, though now seen under
+circumstances least of all to be expected. The prisoner's unutterable
+astonishment impressed him with a degree of awe which overcame even
+his personal fear--"Can these things be?" was his muttered reflection.
+"Has she really the power of an elementary spirit? Has she conjured up
+this earthlike and dark demon to concur with her in my deliverance?"
+
+It appeared as if his guess were real; for the figure in black, giving
+the light to Anne of Geierstein, or at least the form which bore her
+perfect resemblance, stooped over the prisoner, and cut the cord that
+bound his arms, with so much despatch that it seemed as if it fell
+from his person at a touch. Arthur's first attempt to arise was
+unsuccessful, and a second time it was the hand of Anne of
+Geierstein--a living hand, sensible to touch as to sight--which aided
+to raise and to support him, as it had formerly done when the
+tormented waters of the river thundered at their feet. Her touch
+produced an effect far beyond that of the slight personal aid which
+the maiden's strength could have rendered. Courage was restored to his
+heart, vigour and animation to his benumbed and bruised limbs; such
+influence does the human mind, when excited to energy, possess over
+the infirmities of the human body. He was about to address Anne in
+accents of the deepest gratitude. But the accents died away on his
+tongue, when the mysterious female, laying her finger on her lips,
+made him a sign to be silent, and at the same time beckoned him to
+follow her. He obeyed in silent amazement. They passed the entrance of
+the melancholy dungeon, and through one or two short but intricate
+passages, which, cut out of the rock in some places, and built in
+others with hewn stone of the same kind, probably led to holds similar
+to that in which Arthur was so lately a captive.
+
+The recollection that his father might be immured in some such horrid
+cell as he himself had just quitted, induced Arthur to pause as they
+reached the bottom of a small winding staircase, which conducted
+apparently from this region of the building.
+
+"Come," he said, "dearest Anne, lead me to his deliverance! I must not
+leave my father."
+
+She shook her head impatiently, and beckoned him on.
+
+"If your power extends not to save my father's life, I will remain and
+save him or die!--Anne, dearest Anne"----
+
+She answered not, but her companion replied, in a deep voice, not
+unsuitable to his appearance, "Speak, young man, to those who are
+permitted to answer you; or rather, be silent, and listen to my
+instructions, which direct to the only course which can bring thy
+father to freedom and safety."
+
+They ascended the stair, Anne of Geierstein going first; while Arthur,
+who followed close behind, could not help thinking that her form gave
+existence to a part of the light which her garment reflected from the
+torch. This was probably the effect of the superstitious belief
+impressed on his mind by Rudolph's tale respecting her mother, and
+which was confirmed by her sudden appearance in a place and situation
+where she was so little to have been expected. He had not much time,
+however, to speculate upon her appearance or demeanour, for, mounting
+the stair with a lighter pace than he was able at the time to follow
+closely, she was no longer to be seen when he reached the
+landing-place. But whether she had melted into the air, or turned
+aside into some other passage, he was not permitted a moment's leisure
+to examine.
+
+"Here lies your way," said his sable guide; and at the same time
+dashing out the light, and seizing Philipson by the arm, he led him
+along a dark gallery of considerable length. The young man was not
+without some momentary misgivings, while he recollected the ominous
+looks of his conductor, and that he was armed with a dagger, or knife,
+which he could plunge of a sudden into his bosom. But he could not
+bring himself to dread treachery from any one whom he had seen in
+company with Anne of Geierstein; and in his heart he demanded her
+pardon for the fear which had flashed across him, and resigned himself
+to the guidance of his companion, who advanced with hasty but light
+footsteps, and cautioned him by a whisper to do the same.
+
+"Our journey," he at length said, "ends here."
+
+As he spoke, a door gave way, and admitted them into a gloomy Gothic
+apartment, furnished with large oaken presses, apparently filled with
+books and manuscripts. As Arthur looked round, with eyes dazzled with
+the sudden gleam of daylight from which he had been for some time
+excluded, the door by which they had entered disappeared. This,
+however, did not greatly surprise him, who judged that, being formed
+in appearance to correspond with the presses around the entrance which
+they had used, it could not when shut be distinguished from them; a
+device sometimes then practised, as indeed it often is at the present
+day. He had now a full view of his deliverer, who, when seen by
+daylight, showed only the vestments and features of a clergyman,
+without any of that expression of supernatural horror which the
+partial light and the melancholy appearance of all in the dungeon had
+combined to impress on him.
+
+Young Philipson once more breathed with freedom, as one awakened from
+a hideous dream; and the supernatural qualities with which his
+imagination had invested Anne of Geierstein having begun to vanish, he
+addressed his deliverer thus: "That I may testify my thanks, holy
+father, where they are so especially due, let me inquire of you if
+Anne of Geierstein"----
+
+"Speak of that which pertains to your house and family," answered the
+priest, as briefly as before. "Hast thou so soon forgot thy father's
+danger?"
+
+"By heavens, no!" replied the youth. "Tell me but how to act for his
+deliverance, and thou shalt see how a son can fight for a parent!"
+
+"It is well, for it is needful," said the priest. "Don thou this
+vestment, and follow me."
+
+The vestment presented was the gown and hood of a novice.
+
+"Draw the cowl over thy face," said the priest, "and return no answer
+to any man who meets thee. I will say thou art under a vow.--May
+Heaven forgive the unworthy tyrant who imposes on us the necessity of
+such profane dissimulation! Follow me close and near--beware that you
+speak not."
+
+The business of disguise was soon accomplished, and the Priest of St.
+Paul's, for such he was, moving on, Arthur followed him a pace or two
+behind, assuming as well as he could the modest step and humble
+demeanour of a spiritual novice. On leaving the library, or study, and
+descending a short stair, he found himself in the street of Brisach.
+Irresistibly tempted to look back, he had only time, however, to see
+that the house he had left was a very small building of a Gothic
+character, on the one side of which rose the church of St. Paul's, and
+on the other the stern black gate-house, or entrance-tower.
+
+"Follow me, Melchior," said the deep voice of the priest; and his keen
+eyes were at the same time fixed upon the supposed novice, with a look
+which instantly recalled Arthur to a sense of his situation.
+
+They passed along, nobody noticing them, unless to greet the priest
+with a silent obeisance, or muttered phrase of salutation, until,
+having nearly gained the middle of the village, the guide turned
+abruptly off from the street, and, moving northward by a short lane,
+reached a flight of steps, which, as usual in fortified towns, led to
+the banquette, or walk behind the parapet, which was of the old Gothic
+fashion, flanked with towers from space to space, of different forms
+and various heights at different angles.
+
+There were sentinels on the walls; but the watch, as it seemed, was
+kept not by regular soldiers, but by burghers, with spears, or swords,
+in their hands. The first whom they passed said to the priest, in a
+half-whispered tone, "Holds our purpose?"
+
+"It holds," replied the Priest of St. Paul's.--"Benedicite!"
+
+"_Deo Gratias!_" replied the armed citizen, and continued his walk
+upon the battlements.
+
+The other sentinels seemed to avoid them; for they disappeared when
+they came near, or passed them without looking, or seeming to observe
+them. At last their walk brought them to an ancient turret, which
+raised its head above the wall, and in which there was a small door
+opening from the battlement. It was in a corner, distinct from and
+uncommanded by any of the angles of the fortification. In a
+well-guarded fortress, such a point ought to have had a sentinel for
+its special protection, but no one was there upon duty.
+
+"Now mark me," said the priest, "for your father's life, and, it may
+be, that of many a man besides, depends upon your attention, and no
+less upon your despatch.--You can run?--you can leap?"
+
+"I feel no weariness, father, since you freed me," answered Arthur;
+"and the dun deer that I have often chased shall not beat me in such a
+wager."
+
+"Observe then," replied the Black Priest of St. Paul's, "this turret
+contains a staircase, which descends to a small sallyport. I will give
+you entrance to it--The sallyport is barred on the inside, but not
+locked. It will give you access to the moat, which is almost entirely
+dry. On crossing it, you will find yourself in the circuit of the
+outer barriers. You may see sentinels, but they will not see
+you--speak not to them, but make your way over the palisade as you
+can. I trust you can climb over an undefended rampart?"
+
+"I have surmounted a defended one," said Arthur. "What is my next
+charge?--All this is easy."
+
+"You will see a species of thicket, or stretch of low bushes--make for
+it with all speed. When you are there, turn to the eastward; but
+beware, while holding that course, that you are not seen by the
+Burgundian Free Companions, who are on watch on that part of the
+walls. A volley of arrows, and the sally of a body of cavalry in
+pursuit, will be the consequence, if they get sight of you; and their
+eyes are those of the eagle, that spy the carnage afar off."
+
+"I will be heedful," said the young Englishman.
+
+"You will find," continued the priest, "upon the outer side of the
+thicket a path, or rather a sheep-track, which, sweeping at some
+distance from the walls, will conduct you at last into the road
+leading from Brisach to Bâle. Hasten forward to meet the Swiss, who
+are advancing. Tell them your father's hours are counted, and that
+they must press on if they would save him; and say to Rudolph
+Donnerhugel, in especial, that the Black Priest of St. Paul's waits to
+bestow upon him his blessing at the northern sallyport. Dost thou
+understand me?"
+
+"Perfectly," answered the young man.
+
+The Priest of St. Paul's then pushed open the low-browed gate of the
+turret, and Arthur was about to precipitate himself down the stair
+which opened before him.
+
+"Stay yet a moment," said the priest, "and doff the novice's habit,
+which can only encumber thee."
+
+Arthur in a trice threw it from him, and was again about to start.
+
+"Stay yet a moment longer," continued the Black Priest. "This gown may
+be a tell-tale--Stay, therefore, and help me to pull off my upper
+garment."
+
+Inwardly glowing with impatience, Arthur yet saw the necessity of
+obeying his guide; and when he had pulled the long and loose upper
+vestment from the old man, he stood before him in a cassock of black
+serge, befitting his order and profession, but begirt, not with a
+suitable sash such as clergymen wear, but with a most uncanonical
+buff-belt, supporting a short two-edged sword, calculated alike to
+stab and to smite.
+
+"Give me now the novice's habit," said the venerable father, "and over
+that I will put the priestly vestment. Since for the present I have
+some tokens of the laity about me, it is fitting it should be covered
+with a double portion of the clerical habit."
+
+As he spoke thus he smiled grimly; and his smile had something more
+frightful and withering than the stern frown, which suited better with
+his features, and was their usual expression.
+
+"And now," said he, "what does the fool tarry for, when life and death
+are in his speed?"
+
+The young messenger waited not a second hint, but at once descended
+the stairs, as if it had been by a single step, found the portal, as
+the priest had said, only secured by bars on the inside, offering
+little resistance save from their rusted state, which made it
+difficult to draw them. Arthur succeeded, however, and found himself
+at the side of the moat, which presented a green and marshy
+appearance. Without stopping to examine whether it was deep or
+shallow, and almost without being sensible of the tenacity of the
+morass, the young Englishman forced his way through it, and attained
+the opposite side, without attracting the attention of two worthy
+burghers of Brisach, who were the guardians of the barriers. One of
+them indeed was deeply employed in the perusal of some profane
+chronicle, or religious legend; the other was as anxiously engaged in
+examining the margin of the moat, in search of eels, perhaps, or
+frogs, for he wore over his shoulder a scrip for securing some such
+amphibious booty.
+
+Seeing that, as the priest foretold, he had nothing to apprehend from
+the vigilance of the sentinels, Arthur dashed at the palisade, in hope
+to catch hold of the top of the stockade, and so to clear it by one
+bold leap. He overrated his powers of activity, however, or they were
+diminished by his recent bonds and imprisonment. He fell lightly
+backward on the ground, and, as he got to his feet, became aware of
+the presence of a soldier, in yellow and blue, the livery of De
+Hagenbach, who came running towards him, crying to the slothful and
+unobservant sentinels, "Alarm!--alarm!--you lazy swine! Stop the dog,
+or you are both dead men."
+
+The fisherman, who was on the farther side, laid down his eel-spear,
+drew his sword, and, flourishing it over his head, advanced towards
+Philipson with very moderate haste. The student was yet more
+unfortunate, for, in his hurry to fold up his book and attend to his
+duty, he contrived to throw himself (inadvertently, doubtless) full in
+the soldier's way. The latter, who was running at top speed,
+encountered the burgher with a severe shock which threw both down; but
+the citizen, being a solid and substantial man, lay still where he
+fell, while the other, less weighty, and probably less prepared for
+the collision, lost his balance and the command of his limbs at once,
+and, rolling over the edge of the moat, was immersed in the mud and
+marsh. The fisher and the student went with deliberate speed to assist
+the unexpected and unwelcome partner of their watch; while Arthur,
+stimulated by the imminent sense of danger, sprang at the barrier with
+more address and vigour than before, and, succeeding in his leap,
+made, as he had been directed, with his utmost speed for the covert of
+the adjacent bushes. He reached them without hearing any alarm from
+the walls. But he was conscious that his situation had become
+extremely precarious, since his escape from the town was known to one
+man at least who would not fail to give the alarm in case he was able
+to extricate himself from the marsh--a feat, however, in which it
+seemed to Arthur that the armed citizens were likely to prove rather
+his apparent than actual assistants. While such thoughts shot across
+his mind, they served to augment his natural speed of foot, so that in
+less space than could have been thought possible, he reached the
+thinner extremity of the thicket, whence, as intimated by the Black
+Priest, he could see the eastern tower and the adjoining battlements
+of the town--
+
+     With hostile faces throng'd, and fiery arms.
+
+It required, at the same time, some address on the part of the
+fugitive to keep so much under shelter as to prevent himself from
+being seen in his turn by those whom he saw so plainly. He therefore
+expected every moment to hear a bugle wind, or to behold that bustle
+and commotion among the defenders which might prognosticate a sally.
+Neither, however, took place, and heedfully observing the footpath, or
+track, which the priest had pointed out to him, young Philipson
+wheeled his course out of sight of the guarded towers, and soon
+falling into the public and frequented road, by which his father and
+he had approached the town in the morning, he had the happiness, by
+the dust and flash of arms, to see a small body of armed men advancing
+towards Brisach, whom he justly concluded to be the van of the Swiss
+deputation.
+
+He soon met the party, which consisted of about ten men, with Rudolph
+Donnerhugel at their head. The figure of Philipson, covered with mud,
+and in some places stained with blood (for his fall in the dungeon had
+cost him a slight wound), attracted the wonder of every one, who
+crowded around to hear the news. Rudolph alone appeared unmoved. Like
+the visage on the ancient statues of Hercules, the physiognomy of the
+bulky Bernese was large and massive, having an air of indifferent and
+almost sullen composure, which did not change but in moments of the
+fiercest agitation.
+
+He listened without emotion to the breathless tale of Arthur
+Philipson, that his father was in prison, and adjudged to death.
+
+"And what else did you expect?" said the Bernese, coldly. "Were you
+not warned? It had been easy to have foreseen the misfortune, but it
+may be impossible to prevent it."
+
+"I own--I own," said Arthur, wringing his hands, "that you were wise,
+and that we were foolish.--But oh! do not think of our folly in the
+moment of our extremity! Be the gallant and generous champion which
+your Cantons proclaim you--give us your aid in this deadly strait!"
+
+"But how, or in what manner?" said Rudolph, still hesitating. "We have
+dismissed the Bâlese, who were willing to have given assistance, so
+much did your dutiful example weigh with us. We are now scarce above a
+score of men--how can you ask us to attack a garrison town, secured by
+fortifications, and where there are six times our number?"
+
+"You have friends within the fortifications," replied Arthur--"I am
+sure you have. Hark in your ear--The Black Priest sent to you--to you,
+Rudolph Donnerhugel of Berne--that he waits to give you his blessing
+at the northern sallyport."
+
+"Ay, doubtless," said Rudolph, shaking himself free of Arthur's
+attempt to engage him in private conference, and speaking so that all
+around might hear him, "there is little doubt on't; I will find a
+priest at the northern sallyport to confess and absolve me, and a
+block, axe, and headsman to strike my throat asunder when he has done.
+But I will scarce put the neck of my father's son into such risk. If
+they assassinate an English pedlar, who has never offended them, what
+will they do with the Bear of Berne, whose fangs and talons Archibald
+de Hagenbach has felt ere now?"
+
+Young Philipson at these words clasped his hands together, and held
+them up to heaven, as one who abandons hope, excepting thence. The
+tears started to his eyes, and, clenching his hands and setting his
+teeth, he turned his back abruptly upon the Swiss.
+
+"What means this passion?" said Rudolph. "Whither would you now?"
+
+"To rescue my father, or perish with him," said Arthur; and was about
+to run wildly back to La Ferette, when a strong but kindly grasp
+detained him.
+
+"Tarry a little till I tie my garter," said Sigismund Biederman, "and
+I will go with you, King Arthur."
+
+"You? oaf!" exclaimed Rudolph. "You?--and without orders?"
+
+"Why, look you, cousin Rudolph," said the youth, continuing, with
+great composure, to fasten his garter, which, after the fashion of the
+time, was somewhat intricately secured--"you are always telling us
+that we are Swiss and freemen; and what is the advantage of being a
+freeman, if one is not at liberty to do what he has a mind? You are my
+Hauptman, look you, so long as it pleases me, and no longer."
+
+"And why shouldst thou desert me now, thou fool? Why at this minute,
+of all other minutes in the year?" demanded the Bernese.
+
+"Look you," replied the insubordinate follower, "I have hunted with
+Arthur for this month past, and I love him--he never called me fool or
+idiot, because my thoughts came slower, maybe, and something duller,
+than those of other folk. And I love his father--the old man gave me
+this baldrick and this horn, which I warrant cost many a kreutzer. He
+told me, too, not to be discouraged, for that it was better to think
+justly than to think fast, and that I had sense enough for the one if
+not for the other. And the kind old man is now in Hagenbach's
+butcher-shambles!--But we will free him, Arthur, if two men may. Thou
+shalt see me fight, while steel blade and ashen shaft will hold
+together."
+
+So saying, he shook in the air his enormous partisan, which quivered
+in his grasp like a slip of willow. Indeed, if Iniquity was to be
+struck down like an ox, there was not one in that chosen band more
+likely to perform the feat than Sigismund; for though somewhat shorter
+in stature than his brethren, and of a less animated spirit, yet his
+breadth of shoulders and strength of muscles were enormous, and if
+thoroughly aroused and disposed for the contest, which was very rarely
+the case, perhaps Rudolph himself might, as far as sheer force went,
+have had difficulty in matching him.
+
+Truth of sentiment and energy of expression always produce an effect
+on natural and generous characters. Several of the youths around began
+to exclaim that Sigismund said well; that if the old man had put
+himself in danger, it was because he thought more of the success of
+their negotiation than of his own safety, and had taken himself from
+under their protection, rather than involve them in quarrels on his
+account. "We are the more bound," they said, "to see him unscathed;
+and we will do so."
+
+"Peace! all you wiseacres," said Rudolph, looking round with an air of
+superiority; "and you, Arthur of England, pass on to the Landamman,
+who is close behind. You know he is our chief commander, he is no less
+your father's sincere friend, and, whatever he may determine in your
+father's favour, you will find most ready executors of his pleasure in
+all of us."
+
+His companions appeared to concur in this advice, and young Philipson
+saw that his own compliance with the recommendation was indispensable.
+Indeed, although he still suspected that the Bernese, by his various
+intrigues, as well with the Swiss youth as with those of Bâle, and, as
+might be inferred from the Priest of St. Paul's, by communication even
+within the town of La Ferette, possessed the greater power of
+assisting him at such a conjuncture; yet he trusted far more in the
+simple candour and perfect faith of Arnold Biederman, and pressed
+forward to tell to him his mournful tale, and crave his assistance.
+
+From the top of a bank which he reached in a few minutes after he
+parted from Rudolph and the advanced guard, he saw beneath him the
+venerable Landamman and his associates, attended by a few of the
+youths, who no longer were dispersed upon the flanks of the party, but
+attended on them closely, and in military array, as men prepared to
+repel any sudden attack.
+
+Behind came a mule or two with baggage, together with the animals
+which, in the ordinary course of their march, supported Anne of
+Geierstein and her attendant. Both were occupied by female figures as
+usual, and, to the best of Arthur's ken, the foremost had the
+well-known dress of Anne, from the grey mantle to a small heron's
+plume, which, since entering Germany, she had worn in compliance with
+the custom of the country, and in evidence of her rank as a maiden of
+birth and distinction. Yet, if the youth's eyes brought him true
+tidings at present, what was the character of their former
+information, when, scarce more than half an hour since, they had
+beheld, in the subterranean dungeon of Brisach, the same form which
+they now rested upon, in circumstances so very different! The feeling
+excited by this thought was powerful, but it was momentary, like the
+lightning which blazes through a midnight sky, which is but just seen
+ere it vanishes into darkness. Or, rather, the wonder excited by this
+marvellous incident only maintained its ground in his thoughts by
+allying itself with the anxiety for his father's safety, which was
+their predominant occupation.
+
+"If there be indeed a spirit," he said, "which wears that beautiful
+form, it must be beneficent as well as lovely, and will extend to my
+far more deserving father the protection which his son has twice
+experienced."
+
+But ere he had time to prosecute such a thought further, he had met
+the Landamman and his party. Here his appearance and his condition
+excited the same surprise as they had formerly occasioned to Rudolph
+and the vanguard. To the repeated interrogatories of the Landamman he
+gave a brief account of his own imprisonment, and of his escape, of
+which he suffered the whole glory to rest with the Black Priest of St.
+Paul's, without mentioning one word of the more interesting female
+apparition, by which he had been attended and assisted in his
+charitable task. On another point also Arthur was silent. He saw no
+propriety in communicating to Arnold Biederman the message which the
+priest had addressed to Rudolph's ear alone. Whether good should come
+of it or no, he held sacred the obligation of silence imposed upon him
+by a man from whom he had just received the most important assistance.
+
+The Landamman was struck dumb for a moment with sorrow and surprise at
+the news which he heard. The elder Philipson had gained his respect,
+as well by the purity and steadiness of the principles which he
+expressed, as by the extent and depth of his information, which was
+peculiarly valuable and interesting to the Switzer, who felt his
+admirable judgment considerably fettered for want of that knowledge of
+countries, times, and manners, with which his English friend often
+supplied him.
+
+"Let us press forward," he said to the Banneret of Berne and the other
+deputies; "let us offer our mediation betwixt the tyrant De Hagenbach
+and our friend, whose life is in danger. He must listen to us, for I
+know his master expects to see this Philipson at his court. The old
+man hinted to me so much. As we are possessed of such a secret,
+Archibald de Hagenbach will not dare to brave our vengeance, since we
+might easily send to Duke Charles information how the Governor of La
+Ferette abuses his power, in matters where not only the Swiss but
+where the Duke himself is concerned."
+
+"Under your reverend favour, my worthy sir," answered the Banneret of
+Berne, "we are Swiss Deputies, and go to represent the injuries of
+Switzerland alone. If we embroil ourselves with the quarrels of
+strangers, we shall find it more difficult to settle advantageously
+those of our own country; and if the Duke should, by this villany done
+upon English merchants, bring upon him the resentment of the English
+monarch, such breach will only render it more a matter of peremptory
+necessity for him to make a treaty advantageous to the Swiss Cantons."
+
+There was so much worldly policy in this advice, that Adam Zimmerman
+of Soleure instantly expressed his assent, with the additional
+argument, that their brother Biederman had told them scarce two hours
+before how these English merchants had, by his advice and their own
+free desire, parted company with them that morning, on purpose that
+they might not involve the Deputies in the quarrels which might be
+raised by the Governor's exactions on his merchandise.
+
+"Now what advantage," he said, "shall we derive from this same parting
+of company, supposing, as my brother seems to urge, we are still to
+consider this Englishman's interest as if he were our fellow-traveller,
+and under our especial protection?"
+
+This personal reasoning pinched the Landamman somewhat closely, for he
+had but a short while before descanted on the generosity of the elder
+Philipson, who had freely exposed himself to danger, rather than that
+he should embarrass their negotiation by remaining one of their
+company; and it completely shook the fealty of the white-bearded
+Nicholas Bonstetten, whose eyes wandered from the face of Zimmerman,
+which expressed triumphant confidence in his argument, to that of his
+friend the Landamman, which was rather more embarrassed than usual.
+
+"Brethren," said Arnold at length with firmness and animation, "I
+erred in priding myself upon the worldly policy which I taught to you
+this morning. This man is not of our country, doubtless, but he is of
+our blood--a copy of the common Creator's image--and the more worthy
+of being called so, as he is a man of integrity and worth. We might
+not, without grievous sin, pass such a person, being in danger,
+without affording him relief, even if he lay accidentally by the side
+of our path; much less should we abandon him if the danger has been
+incurred in our own cause, and that we might escape the net in which
+he is himself caught. Be not, therefore, downcast--We do God's will in
+succouring an oppressed man. If we succeed by mild means, as I trust
+we shall, we do a good action at a cheap rate;--if not, God can assert
+the cause of humanity by the hands of few as well as of many."
+
+"If such is your opinion," said the Bannerman of Berne, "not a man
+here will shrink from you. For me, I pleaded against my own
+inclinations when I advised you to avoid a breach with the Burgundian.
+But as a soldier, I must needs say, I would rather fight the garrison,
+were they double the number they talk of, in a fair field, than
+undertake to storm their defences."
+
+"Nay," said the Landamman, "I sincerely hope we shall both enter and
+depart from the town of Brisach, without deviating from the pacific
+character with which our mission from the Diet invests us."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     For Somerset, off with his guilty head!
+                      _3d Part of Henry VI._
+
+
+The Governor of La Ferette stood on the battlements of the eastern
+entrance-tower of his fortress, and looked out on the road to Bâle,
+when first the vanguard of the Swiss mission, then the centre and
+rear, appeared in the distance. At the same moment the van halting,
+the main body closed with it, while the females and baggage, and mules
+in the rear, moved in their turn up to the main body, and the whole
+were united in one group.
+
+A messenger then stepped forth, and winded one of those tremendous
+horns, the spoils of the wild-bulls, so numerous in the Canton of Uri,
+that they are supposed to have given rise to its name.
+
+"They demand admittance," said the esquire.
+
+"They shall have it," answered Sir Archibald de Hagenbach. "Marry, how
+they may pass out again, is another and a deeper question."
+
+"Think yet a moment, noble sir," continued the esquire. "Bethink you,
+these Switzers are very fiends in fight, and have, besides, no booty
+to repay the conquest--some paltry chains of good copper, perchance,
+or adulterated silver. You have knocked out the marrow--do not damage
+your teeth by trying to grind the bone."
+
+"Thou art a fool, Kilian," answered De Hagenbach, "and it may be a
+coward besides. The approach of some score, or at most some score and
+a half, of Swiss partisans, makes thee draw in thy horns like a snail
+at a child's finger! Mine are strong and inflexible as those of the
+Urus, of whom they talk so much, and on which they blow so boldly.
+Keep in mind, thou timid creature, that if the Swiss deputies, as they
+presume to call themselves, are permitted to pass free, they carry to
+the Duke stories of merchants bound to his court, and fraught with
+precious commodities, specially addressed to his Grace! Charles has
+then at once to endure the presence of the ambassadors, whom he
+contemns and hates, and learns by them that the Governor of La
+Ferette, permitting such to pass, has nevertheless presumed to stop
+those whom he would full gladly see; for what prince would not
+blithely welcome such a casket as that which we have taken from yonder
+strolling English pedlar?"
+
+"I see not how the assault on these ambassadors will mend your
+excellency's plea for despoiling the Englishmen," said Kilian.
+
+"Because thou art a blind mole, Kilian," answered his chief. "If
+Burgundy hears of a ruffle between my garrison and the mountain
+churls, whom he scorns, and yet hates, it will drown all notice of the
+two pedlars who have perished in the fray. If after-inquiry should
+come, an hour's ride transports me with my confidants into the
+Imperial dominions, where, though the Emperor be a spiritless fool,
+the rich prize I have found on these islanders will ensure me a good
+reception."
+
+"I will stick by your excellency to the last," returned the esquire;
+"and you shall yourself witness that, if a fool, I am at least no
+coward."
+
+"I never thought thee such when it came to hand-blows," said De
+Hagenbach; "but in policy thou art timid and irresolute. Hand me mine
+armour, Kilian, and beware thou brace it well. The Swiss pikes and
+swords are no wasp-stings."
+
+"May your excellency wear it with honour and profit," said Kilian;
+and, according to the duty of his office, he buckled upon his
+principal the complete panoply of a knight of the empire. "Your
+purpose of assaulting the Swiss then holds firm," said Kilian. "But
+what pretext will your excellency assign?"
+
+"Let me alone," said Archibald de Hagenbach, "to take one, or to make
+one. Do you only have Schonfeldt and the soldiers on their stations.
+And remember the words are--'Burgundy to the Rescue!' When these words
+are first spoken, let the soldiers show themselves,--when repeated,
+let them fall on. And now that I am accoutred, away to the churls and
+admit them."
+
+Kilian bowed and withdrew.
+
+The bugle of the Switzers had repeatedly emitted its angry roar,
+exasperated by the delay of nearly half an hour, without an answer
+from the guarded gate of Brisach; and every blast declared, by the
+prolonged echoes which it awakened, the increased impatience of those
+who summoned the town. At length the portcullis arose, the gate
+opened, the drawbridge fell, and Kilian, in the equipage of a
+man-at-arms arrayed for fight, rode forth on an ambling palfrey.
+
+"What bold men are ye, sirs, who are here in arms before the fortress
+of Brisach, appertaining in right and seignorie to the thrice noble
+Duke of Burgundy and Lorraine, and garrisoned for his cause and
+interest by the excellent Sir Archibald, Lord of Hagenbach, Knight of
+the most Holy Roman Empire?"
+
+"So please you, Sir Esquire," said the Landamman, "for such I
+conjecture you to be by the feather in your bonnet, we are here with
+no hostile intentions; though armed, as you see, to defend us in a
+perilous journey, where we are something unsafe by day, and cannot
+always repose by night in places of security. But our arms have no
+offensive purpose; if they had such, our numbers had not been so few
+as you see them."
+
+"What, then, is your character and purpose?" said Kilian, who had
+learned to use, in his master's absence, the lordly and insolent tone
+of the Governor himself.
+
+"We are Delegates," answered the Landamman, in a calm and even tone of
+voice, without appearing to take offence at, or to observe, the
+insolent demeanour of the esquire, "from the Free and Confederated
+Cantons of the Swiss States and provinces, and from the good town of
+Soleure, who are accredited from our Diet of Legislature to travel to
+the presence of his Grace the Duke of Burgundy, on an errand of high
+importance to both countries, and with the hope of establishing with
+your master's lord--I mean with the noble Duke of Burgundy--a sure and
+steadfast peace, upon such terms as shall be to the mutual honour and
+advantage of both countries, and to avert disputes, and the effusion
+of Christian blood, which may otherwise be shed for want of timely and
+good understanding."
+
+"Show me your letters of credence," said the esquire.
+
+"Under your forgiveness, Sir Esquire," replied the Landamman, "it will
+be time enough to exhibit these, when we are admitted to the presence
+of your master the Governor."
+
+"That is as much as to say, wilful will to it. It is well, my masters;
+and yet you may take this advice from Kilian of Kersberg. It is
+sometimes better to reel backwards than to run forwards.--My master,
+and my master's master, are more ticklish persons than the dealers of
+Bâle, to whom you sell your cheeses. Home, honest men, home! your way
+lies before you, and you are fairly warned."
+
+"We thank thee for thy counsel," said the Landamman, interrupting the
+Banneret of Berne, who had commenced an angry reply, "supposing it
+kindly meant; if not, an uncivil jest is like an overcharged gun,
+which recoils on the cannoneer. Our road lies onward through Brisach,
+and onward we propose to go, and take such hap as that which we may
+find before us."
+
+"Go onward then, in the devil's name," said the squire, who had
+entertained some hope of deterring them from pursuing their journey,
+but found himself effectually foiled.
+
+The Switzers entered the town, and, stopped by the barricade of cars
+which the Governor had formed across the street, at about twenty yards
+from the gate, they drew themselves up in military order, with their
+little body formed into three lines, the two females and the fathers
+of the deputation being in the centre. The little phalanx presented a
+double front, one to each side of the street, while the centre line
+faced so as to move forward, and only waited for the removal of the
+barricade in order to do so. But while they stood thus inactive, a
+knight in complete armour appeared from a side door of the great
+tower, under the arch of which they had entered into the town. His
+visor was raised, and he walked along the front of the little line
+formed by the Swiss, with a stern and frowning aspect.
+
+"Who are you," he said, "who have thus far intruded yourselves in arms
+into a Burgundian garrison?"
+
+"With your excellency's leave," said the Landamman, "we are men who
+come on a peaceful errand, though we carry arms for our own defence.
+Deputies we are from the towns of Berne and Soleure, the Cantons of
+Uri, Schwitz, and Unterwalden, come to adjust matters of importance
+with the gracious Duke of Burgundy and Lorraine."
+
+"What towns, what cantons?" said the Governor of La Ferette. "I have
+heard no such names among the Free Cities of Germany.--Berne, truly!
+when became Berne a free state?"
+
+"Since the twenty-first day of June," said Arnold Biederman, "in the
+year of grace one thousand three hundred and thirty-nine, on which day
+the battle of Laupen was fought."
+
+"Away, vain old man!" said the Knight. "Thinkest thou that such idle
+boasts can avail thee here? We have heard, indeed, of some insurgent
+villages and communities among the Alps, and how they rebelled against
+the Emperor, and by the advantage of fastnesses, ambuscades, and
+lurking-places, how they have murdered some knights and gentlemen sent
+against them by the Duke of Austria; but we little thought that such
+paltry townships and insignificant bands of mutineers had the
+insolence to term themselves Free States, and propose to enter into
+negotiation as such with a mighty prince like Charles of Burgundy."
+
+"May it please your excellency," replied the Landamman, with perfect
+temper; "your own laws of chivalry declare, that if the stronger wrong
+the weaker, or the noble does injury to the less gentle, the very act
+levels distinctions between them, and the doer of an injury becomes
+bound to give condign satisfaction, of such kind as the wronged party
+shall demand."
+
+"Hence to thy hills, churl!" exclaimed the haughty Knight; "there comb
+thy beard and roast thy chestnuts. What! because a few rats and mice
+find retreat among the walls and wainscoting of our dwelling-houses,
+shall we therefore allow them to intrude their disgusting presence,
+and their airs of freedom and independence, into our personal
+presence? No, we will rather crush them beneath the heel of our
+ironshod boots."
+
+"We are not men to be trodden on," said Arnold Biederman, calmly;
+"those who have attempted it have found us stumbling-blocks. Lay, Sir
+Knight, lay aside for an instant this haughty language, which can only
+lead to warfare, and listen to the words of peace. Dismiss our
+comrade, the English merchant Philipson, on whom you have this morning
+laid unlawful hands; let him pay a moderate sum for his ransom, and
+we, who are bound instantly to the Duke's presence, will bear a fair
+report to him of his Governor of La Ferette."
+
+"You will be so generous, will you!" said Sir Archibald, in a tone of
+ridicule. "And what pledge shall I have that you will favour me so
+kindly as you propose?"
+
+"The word of a man who never broke his promise," answered the stoical
+Landamman.
+
+"Insolent hind!" replied the Knight, "dost thou stipulate? _Thou_
+offer thy paltry word as a pledge betwixt the Duke of Burgundy and
+Archibald de Hagenbach? Know that ye go not to Burgundy at all, or you
+go thither with fetters on your hands and halters round your
+necks.--So ho, Burgundy to the Rescue!"
+
+Instantly, as he spoke, the soldiers showed themselves before, behind,
+and around the narrow space where the Swiss had drawn themselves up.
+The battlements of the town were lined with men, others presented
+themselves at the doors of each house in the street, prepared to
+sally, and, at the windows, prepared to shoot, as well with guns as
+with bows and crossbows. The soldiers who defended the barricade also
+started up, and seemed ready to dispute the passage in front. The
+little band, encompassed and overmatched, but neither startled nor
+disheartened, stood to their arms. The centre rank under the Landamman
+prepared to force their way over the barricade. The two fronts stood
+back to back, ready to dispute the street with those that should issue
+from the houses. It could not fail to prove a work of no small blood
+and toil to subdue this handful of determined men, even with five
+times their number. Some sense of this, perhaps, made Sir Archibald
+delay giving the signal for onset, when suddenly behind arose a cry
+of, "Treason, treason!"
+
+A soldier, covered with mud, rushed before the Governor, and said, in
+hurried accents, that, as he endeavoured to stop a prisoner who had
+made his escape some short time since, he had been seized by the
+burghers of the town, and well-nigh drowned in the moat. He added,
+that the citizens were even now admitting the enemy into the place.
+
+"Kilian," said the Knight, "take two score of men--hasten to the
+northern sallyport; stab, cut down, or throw from the battlements,
+whomsoever you meet in arms, townsmen or strangers. Leave me to settle
+with these peasants by fair means or foul."
+
+But ere Kilian could obey his master's commands, a shout arose in the
+rear, where they cried, "Bâle! Bâle!--Freedom! freedom!--The day is
+our own!"
+
+Onward came the youth of Bâle, who had not been at such a distance but
+that Rudolph had contrived to recall them--onward came many Swiss who
+had hovered around the embassy, holding themselves in readiness for
+such a piece of service; and onward came the armed citizens of La
+Ferette, who, compelled to take arms and mount guard by the tyranny of
+De Hagenbach, had availed themselves of the opportunity to admit the
+Bâlese at the sallyport through which Philipson had lately made his
+escape.
+
+The garrison, somewhat discouraged before by the firm aspect of the
+Swiss, who had held their numbers at defiance, were totally
+disconcerted by this new and unexpected insurrection. Most of them
+prepared rather to fly than to fight, and they threw themselves in
+numbers from the walls, as the best chance of escaping. Kilian and
+some others, whom pride prevented from flying, and despair from asking
+quarter, fought with fury, and were killed on the spot. In the midst
+of this confusion the Landamman kept his own bands unmoved, permitting
+them to take no share in the action, save to repel such violence as
+was offered to them.
+
+"Stand fast all!" sounded the deep voice of Arnold Biederman along
+their little body. "Where is Rudolph?--Save lives, but take
+none.--Why, how now, Arthur Philipson! stand fast, I say."
+
+"I cannot stand fast," said Arthur, who was in the act of leaving the
+ranks. "I must seek my father in the dungeons; they may be slaying him
+in this confusion while I stand idle here."
+
+"By our Lady of Einsiedlen, you say well," answered the Landamman;
+"that I should have forgot my noble guest! I will help thee to search
+for him, Arthur--the affray seems well-nigh ended.--Ho, there, Sir
+Banneret, worthy Adam Zimmerman, my good friend Nicholas Bonstetten,
+keep our men standing firm--Have nothing to do with this affray, but
+leave the men of Bâle to answer their own deeds. I return in a few
+minutes."
+
+So saying, he hurried after Arthur Philipson, whose recollection
+conducted him, with sufficient accuracy, to the head of the dungeon
+stairs. There they met an ill-looking man clad in a buff jerkin, who
+bore at his girdle a bunch of rusted keys, which intimated the nature
+of his calling.
+
+"Show me the prison of the English merchant," said Arthur Philipson,
+"or thou diest by my hand!"
+
+"Which of them desire you to see?" answered the official;--"the old
+man, or the young one?"
+
+"The old," said young Philipson. "His son has escaped thee."
+
+"Enter here then, gentlemen," said the jailer, undoing the spring-bolt
+of a heavy door.
+
+At the upper end of the apartment lay the man they came to seek for,
+who was instantly raised from the ground, and loaded with their
+embraces.
+
+"My dear father!"--"My worthy guest!" said his son and friend at the
+same moment, "how fares it with you?"
+
+"Well," answered the elder Philipson, "if you, my friend, and son,
+come, as I judge from your arms and countenance, as conquerors, and at
+liberty--ill, if you come to share my prison-house."
+
+"Have no fear of that," said the Landamman; "we have been in danger,
+but are remarkably delivered.--Your evil lair has benumbed you. Lean
+on me, my noble guest, and let me assist you to better quarters."
+
+Here he was interrupted by a heavy clash, as it seemed, of iron, and
+differing from the distant roar of the popular tumult, which they
+still heard from the open street, as men hear the deep voice of a
+remote and tempestuous ocean.
+
+"By St. Peter of the fetters!" said Arthur, who instantly discovered
+the cause of the sound, "the jailer has cast the door to the staple,
+or it has escaped his grasp. The spring-lock has closed upon us, and
+we cannot be liberated saving from the outside.--Ho, jailer dog!
+villain! open the door, or thou diest!"
+
+"He is probably out of hearing of your threats," said the elder
+Philipson, "and your cries avail you nothing. But are you sure the
+Swiss are in possession of the town?"
+
+"We are peaceful occupants of it," answered the Landamman, "though
+without a blow given on our side."
+
+"Why, then," said the Englishman, "your followers will soon find you
+out. Arthur and I are paltry ciphers, and our absence might easily
+pass over unobserved; but you are too important a figure not to be
+missed and looked after, when the sum of your number is taken."
+
+"I well hope it will prove so," said the Landamman, "though methinks I
+show but scurvily, shut up here like a cat in a cupboard when he has
+been stealing cream.--Arthur, my brave boy, dost thou see no means of
+shooting back the bolt?"
+
+Arthur, who had been minutely examining the lock, replied in the
+negative; and added, that they must take patience perforce, and arm
+themselves to wait calmly their deliverance, which they could do
+nothing to accelerate.
+
+Arnold Biederman, however, felt somewhat severely the neglect of his
+sons and companions.
+
+"All my youths, uncertain whether I am alive or dead, are taking the
+opportunity of my absence, doubtless, for pillage and licence--and the
+politic Rudolph, I presume, cares not if I should never reappear on
+the stage--the Banneret, and the white-bearded fool Bonstetten, who
+calls me his friend--every neighbour has deserted me--and yet they
+know that I am anxious for the safety of the most insignificant of
+them all, as dearer to me than my own. By heavens! it looks like
+stratagem; and shows as if the rash young men desired to get rid of a
+rule too regular and peaceful to be pleasing to those who are eager
+for war and conquest."
+
+The Landamman, fretted out of his usual serenity of temper, and afraid
+of the misbehaviour of his countrymen in his absence, thus reflected
+upon his friends and companions, while the distant noise soon died
+away into the most absolute and total silence.
+
+"What is to do now?" said Arthur Philipson. "I trust they will take
+the opportunity of quiet to go through the roll-call, and inquire then
+who are a-missing."
+
+It seemed as if the young man's wish had some efficacy, for he had
+scarce uttered it before the lock was turned, and the door set ajar by
+some one who escaped upstairs from behind it, before those who were
+set at liberty could obtain a glance of their deliverer.
+
+"It is the jailer, doubtless," said the Landamman, "who may be
+apprehensive, as he has some reason, that we might prove more incensed
+at our detention in the dungeon, than grateful for our deliverance."
+
+As they spoke thus they ascended the narrow stairs, and issued from
+the door of the Gate-house tower, where a singular spectacle awaited
+them. The Swiss Deputies and their escort still remained standing fast
+and firm on the very spot where Hagenbach had proposed to assail them.
+A few of the late Governor's soldiers, disarmed, and cowering from the
+rage of a multitude of the citizens, who now filled the streets, stood
+with downcast looks behind the phalanx of the mountaineers, as their
+safest place of retreat. But this was not all.
+
+The cars, so lately placed to obstruct the passage of the street, were
+now joined together, and served to support a platform, or scaffold,
+which had been hastily constructed of planks. On this was placed a
+chair, in which sat a tall man, with his head, neck, and shoulders
+bare, the rest of his body clothed in bright armour. His countenance
+was as pale as death, yet young Philipson recognised the hard-hearted
+Governor, Sir Archibald Hagenbach. He appeared to be bound to the
+chair. On his right, and close beside him, stood the Priest of St.
+Paul's, muttering prayers, with his breviary in his hand; while on his
+left, and somewhat behind the captive, appeared a tall man, attired in
+red [_h_], and leaning with both hands on the naked sword, which has
+been described on a former occasion. The instant that Arnold Biederman
+appeared, and before the Landamman could open his lips to demand the
+meaning of what he saw, the priest drew back, the executioner stepped
+forward, the sword was brandished, the blow was struck, and the
+victim's head rolled on the scaffold. A general acclamation and
+clapping of hands, like that by which a crowded theatre approves of
+some well-graced performer, followed this feat of dexterity. While the
+headless corpse shot streams from the arteries, which were drunk up by
+the sawdust that strewed the scaffold, the executioner gracefully
+presented himself alternately at the four corners of the stage,
+modestly bowing, as the multitude greeted him with cheers of
+approbation.
+
+"Nobles, knights, gentlemen of free-born blood, and good citizens," he
+said, "who have assisted at this act of high justice, I pray you to
+bear me witness that this judgment hath been executed after the form
+of the sentence, at one blow, and without stroke missed or repeated."
+
+The acclamations were reiterated.
+
+"Long live our Scharfgerichter Steinernherz, and many a tyrant may he
+do his duty on!"
+
+"Noble friends," said the executioner, with the deepest obeisance, "I
+have yet another word to say, and it must be a proud one.--God be
+gracious to the soul of this good and noble knight, Sir Archibald de
+Hagenbach. He was the patron of my youth, and my guide to the path of
+honour. Eight steps have I made towards freedom and nobility on the
+heads of freeborn knights and nobles, who have fallen by his authority
+and command; and the ninth, by which I have attained it, is upon his
+own, in grateful memory of which I will expend this purse of gold,
+which but an hour since he bestowed on me, in masses for his soul.
+Gentlemen, noble friends, and now my equals, La Ferette has lost a
+nobleman and gained one. Our Lady be gracious to the departed knight,
+Sir Archibald de Hagenbach, and bless and prosper the progress of
+Stephen Steinernherz von Blutsacker, now free and noble of right!"[8]
+
+With that he took the feather out of the cap of the deceased, which,
+soiled with the blood of the wearer, lay near his body upon the
+scaffold, and, putting it into his own official bonnet, received the
+homage of the crowd in loud huzzas, which were partly in earnest,
+partly in ridicule of such an unusual transformation.
+
+Arnold Biederman at length found breath, which the extremity of
+surprise had at first denied him. Indeed, the whole execution had
+passed much too rapidly for the possibility of his interference.
+
+"Who has dared to act this tragedy?" he said indignantly. "And by what
+right has it taken place?"
+
+A cavalier, richly dressed in blue, replied to the question--
+
+"The free citizens of Bâle have acted for themselves, as the fathers
+of Swiss liberty set them an example; and the tyrant, De Hagenbach,
+has fallen by the same right which put to death the tyrant Geysler. We
+bore with him till his cup was brimming over, and then we bore no
+longer."
+
+"I say not but that he deserved death," replied the Landamman; "but
+for your own sake, and for ours, you should have forborne him till the
+Duke's pleasure was known."
+
+"What tell you us of the Duke?" answered Laurenz Neipperg, the same
+blue cavalier whom Arthur had seen at the secret rendezvous of the
+Bâlese youth, in company with Rudolph. "Why talk you of Burgundy to
+us, who are none of his subjects? The Emperor, our only rightful lord,
+had no title to pawn the town and fortifications of La Ferette, being
+as it is a dependency of Bâle, to the prejudice of our free city. He
+might have pledged the revenue indeed; and supposing him to have done
+so, the debt has been paid twice over by the exactions levied by
+yonder oppressor, who has now received his due. But pass on, Landamman
+of Unterwalden. If our actions displease you, abjure them at the
+footstool of the Duke of Burgundy; but, in doing so, abjure the memory
+of William Tell and Stauffacher, of Furst and Melchtal, the fathers of
+Swiss freedom."
+
+"You speak truth," said the Landamman; "but it is in an ill-chosen and
+unhappy time. Patience would have remedied your evils, which none felt
+more deeply, or would have redressed more willingly, than I. But oh,
+imprudent young man, you have thrown aside the modesty of your age,
+and the subjection you owe to your elders. William Tell and his
+brethren were men of years and judgment, husbands and fathers, having
+a right to be heard in council, and to be foremost in action.
+Enough--I leave it with the fathers and senators of your own city, to
+acknowledge or to reprove your actions.--But you, my friends,--you,
+Banneret of Berne,--you, Rudolph,--above all, you, Nicholas
+Bonstetten, my comrade and my friend, why did you not take this
+miserable man under your protection? The action would have shown
+Burgundy that we were slandered by those who have declared us desirous
+of seeking a quarrel with him, or of inciting his subjects to revolt.
+Now, all these prejudices will be confirmed in the minds of men,
+naturally more tenacious of evil impressions than of those which are
+favourable."
+
+"As I live by bread, good gossip and neighbour," answered Nicholas
+Bonstetten, "I thought to obey your injunctions to a tittle; so much
+so, that I once thought of breaking in and protecting the man, when
+Rudolph Donnerhugel reminded me that your last orders were, to stand
+firm, and let the men of Bâle answer for their own actions; and
+surely, said I to myself, my gossip Arnold knows better than all of us
+what is fitting to be done."
+
+"Ah, Rudolph, Rudolph," said the Landamman, looking on him with a
+displeased countenance, "wert thou not ashamed thus to deceive an old
+man?"
+
+"To say I deceived him is a hard charge; but from you, Landamman,"
+answered the Bernese, with his usual deference, "I can bear anything.
+I will only say, that, being a member of this embassy, I am obliged
+to think, and to give my opinion as such, especially when he is not
+present who is wise enough to lead and direct us all."
+
+"Thy words are always fair, Rudolph," replied Arnold Biederman, "and I
+trust so is thy meaning. Yet there are times when I somewhat doubt
+it.--But let disputes pass, and let me have your advice, my friends;
+and for that purpose go we where it may best profit us, even to the
+church, where we will first return our thanks for our deliverance from
+assassination, and then hold counsel what next is to be done."
+
+The Landamman led the way, accordingly, to the church of St. Paul's,
+while his companions and associates followed in their order. This gave
+Rudolph, who, as youngest, suffered the others to precede him, an
+opportunity to beckon to him the Landamman's eldest son, Rudiger, and
+whisper to him to get rid of the two English merchants.
+
+"Away with them, my dear Rudiger, by fair means, if possible; but away
+with them directly. Thy father is besotted with these two English
+pedlars, and will listen to no other counsel; and thou and I know,
+dearest Rudiger, that such men as these are unfit to give laws to
+free-born Switzers. Get the trumpery they have been robbed of, or as
+much of it as is extant, together as fast as thou canst, and send them
+a-travelling, in Heaven's name."
+
+Rudiger nodded intelligently, and went to offer his services to
+expedite the departure of the elder Philipson. He found the sagacious
+merchant as desirous to escape from the scene of confusion now
+presented in the town, as the young Swiss could be to urge his
+departure. He only waited to recover the casket of which De Hagenbach
+had possessed himself, and Rudiger Biederman set on foot a strict
+search after it, which was the more likely to be successful, that the
+simplicity of the Swiss prevented them from setting the true value
+upon its contents. A strict and hasty search was immediately
+instituted, both on the person of the dead De Hagenbach, on which the
+precious packet was not to be found, and on all who had approached him
+at his execution, or were supposed to enjoy his confidence.
+
+Young Arthur Philipson would gladly have availed himself of a few
+moments to bid farewell to Anne of Geierstein. But the grey wimple was
+no longer seen in the ranks of the Switzers, and it was reasonable to
+think that, in the confusion which followed the execution of De
+Hagenbach, and the retreat of the leaders of the little battalion, she
+had made her escape into some of the adjacent houses, while the
+soldiers around her, no longer restrained by the presence of their
+chiefs, had dispersed, some to search for the goods of which the
+Englishmen had been despoiled, others doubtless to mingle with and
+join in the rejoicings of the victorious youths of Bâle, and of those
+burghers of La Ferette by whom the fortifications of the town had been
+so gently surrendered.
+
+The cry amongst them was universal, that Brisach, so long considered
+as the curb of the Swiss confederates, and the barrier against their
+commerce, should henceforth be garrisoned, as their protection against
+the encroachments and exactions of the Duke of Burgundy and his
+officers. The whole town was in a wild but joyful jubilee, while the
+citizens vied with each other in offering to the Swiss every
+species of refreshment, and the youths who attended upon the mission
+hurried gaily, and in triumph, to profit by the circumstances, which
+had so unexpectedly converted the ambuscade so treacherously laid for
+them, into a genial and joyous reception.
+
+  [Illustration: THE EXECUTION.
+   Drawn and Etched by R. de Los Rios.]
+
+Amid this scene of confusion, it was impossible for Arthur to quit his
+father, even to satisfy the feelings which induced him to wish for a
+few moments at his own disposal. Sad, thoughtful, and sorrowful, amid
+the general joy, he remained with the parent whom he had so much
+reason to love and honour, to assist him in securing and placing on
+their mule the various packages and bales which the honest Switzers
+had recovered after the death of De Hagenbach, and which they emulated
+each other in bringing to their rightful owner; while they were with
+difficulty prevailed on to accept the guerdon which the Englishman,
+from the means which he had still left upon his person, was disposed
+not merely to offer but to force upon the restorers of his property,
+and which, in their rude and simple ideas, seemed greatly to exceed
+the value of what they had recovered for him.
+
+This scene had scarcely lasted ten or fifteen minutes, when Rudolph
+Donnerhugel approached the elder Philipson, and in a tone of great
+courtesy invited him to join the council of the Chiefs of the Embassy
+of the Swiss Cantons, who, he said, were desirous of having the
+advantage of his experience upon some important questions respecting
+their conduct on these unexpected occurrences.
+
+"See to our affairs, Arthur, and stir not from the spot on which I
+leave you," said Philipson to his son. "Look especially after the
+sealed packet of which I was so infamously and illegally robbed: its
+recovery is of the utmost consequence."
+
+So speaking, he instantly prepared himself to attend the Bernese, who
+in a confidential manner whispered, as he went arm-in-arm with him
+towards the church of St. Paul's,--
+
+"I think a man of your wisdom will scarce advise us to trust ourselves
+to the mood of the Duke of Burgundy, when he has received such an
+injury as the loss of this fortress, and the execution of his officer.
+You, at least, would be too judicious to afford us any further the
+advantage of your company and society, since to do so would be
+wilfully to engage in our shipwreck."
+
+"I will give my best advice," answered Philipson, "when I shall be
+more particularly acquainted with the circumstances under which it is
+asked of me."
+
+Rudolph muttered an oath, or angry exclamation, and led Philipson to
+the church without further argument.
+
+In a small chapel adjoining to the church, and dedicated to St. Magnus
+the Martyr, the four deputies were assembled in close conclave, around
+the shrine in which the sainted hero stood, armed as when he lived.
+The Priest of St. Paul's was also present, and seemed to interest
+himself deeply in the debate which was taking place. When Philipson
+entered, all were for a moment silent, until the Landamman addressed
+him thus: "Seignor Philipson, we esteem you a man far travelled, well
+versed in the manners of foreign lands, and acquainted with the
+conditions of this Duke Charles of Burgundy; you are therefore fit to
+advise us in a matter of great weight. You know with what anxiety we
+go on this mission for peace with the Duke; you also know what has
+this day happened, which may probably be represented to Charles in the
+worst colours. Would you advise us, in such a case, to proceed to the
+Duke's presence, with the odium of this action attached to us? or
+should we do better to return home, and prepare for war with
+Burgundy?"
+
+"How do your own opinions stand on the subject?" said the cautious
+Englishman.
+
+"We are divided," answered the Banneret of Berne. "I have borne the
+banner of Berne against her foes for thirty years; I am more willing
+to carry it against the lances of the knights of Hainault and
+Lorraine, than to undergo the rude treatment which we must look to
+meet at the footstool of the Duke."
+
+"We put our heads in the lion's mouth if we go forward," said
+Zimmerman of Soleure;--"my opinion is, that we draw back."
+
+"I would not advise retreat," said Rudolph Donnerhugel, "were my life
+alone concerned; but the Landamman of Unterwalden is the father of the
+United Cantons, and it would be parricide if I consented to put his
+life in peril. My advice is, that we return, and that the Confederacy
+stand on their defence."
+
+"My opinion is different," said Arnold Biederman; "nor will I forgive
+any man who, whether in sincere or feigned friendship, places my poor
+life in the scale with the advantage of the Cantons. If we go forward,
+we risk our heads--be it so. But if we turn back, we involve our
+country in war with a power of the first magnitude in Europe. Worthy
+citizens! you are brave in fight--show your fortitude as boldly now;
+and let us not hesitate to incur such personal danger as may attend
+ourselves, if by doing so we can gain a chance of peace for our
+country."
+
+"I think and vote with my neighbour and gossip, Arnold Biederman,"
+said the laconic deputy from Schwitz.
+
+"You hear how we are divided in opinion," said the Landamman to
+Philipson. "What is your opinion?"
+
+"I would first ask of you," said the Englishman, "what has been your
+part in this storming of a town occupied by the Duke's forces, and
+putting to death his Governor?"
+
+"So help me, Heaven!" said the Landamman, "as I knew not of any
+purpose of storming the town until it unexpectedly took place."
+
+"And for the execution of De Hagenbach," said the Black Priest, "I
+swear to you, stranger, by my holy order, that it took place under the
+direction of a competent court, whose sentence Charles of Burgundy
+himself is bound to respect, and whose proceedings the deputies of the
+Swiss mission could neither have advanced nor retarded."
+
+"If such be the case, and if you can really prove yourselves free of
+these proceedings," answered Philipson, "which must needs be highly
+resented by the Duke of Burgundy, I would advise you by all means to
+proceed upon your journey; with the certainty that you will obtain
+from that prince a just and impartial hearing, and it may be a
+favourable answer. I know Charles of Burgundy; I may even say that,
+our different ranks and walks of life considered, I know him well. He
+will be deeply incensed by the first tidings of what has here
+chanced, which he will no doubt interpret to your disfavour. But if,
+in the course of investigation, you are able to clear yourselves of
+these foul imputations, a sense of his own injustice may perhaps turn
+the balance in your favour, and in that case he will rush from the
+excess of censure into that of indulgence. But your cause must be
+firmly stated to the Duke, by some tongue better acquainted with the
+language of courts than yours; and such a friendly interpreter might I
+have proved to you, had I not been plundered of the valuable packet
+which I bore with me in order to present to the Duke, and in testimony
+of my commission to him."
+
+"A paltry fetch," whispered Donnerhugel to the Banneret, "that the
+trader may obtain from us satisfaction for the goods of which he has
+been plundered."
+
+The Landamman himself was perhaps for a moment of the same opinion.
+
+"Merchant," he said, "we hold ourselves bound to make good to
+you--that is, if our substance can effect it--whatever loss you may
+have sustained, trusting to our protection."
+
+"Ay, that we will," said the old man of Schwitz, "should it cost us
+twenty zechins to make it good."
+
+"To your guarantee of immunity I can have no claim," said Philipson,
+"seeing I parted company with you before I sustained any loss. And I
+regret the loss, not so much for its value, although that is greater
+than you may fancy; but chiefly because, that the contents of the
+casket I bore being a token betwixt a person of considerable
+importance and the Duke of Burgundy, I shall not, I fear, now that I
+am deprived of them, receive from his grace that credence which I
+desire, both for my own sake and yours. Without them, and speaking
+only in the person of a private traveller, I may not take upon me as I
+might have done, when using the names of the persons whose mandates I
+carried."
+
+"This important packet," said the Landamman, "shall be most rigorously
+sought for, and carefully re-delivered to thee. For ourselves, not a
+Swiss of us knows the value of its contents; so that if they are in
+the hands of any of our men, they will be returned of course as
+baubles, upon which they set no value."
+
+As he spoke, there was a knocking at the door of the chapel. Rudolph,
+who stood nearest to it, having held some communication with those
+without, observed with a smile, which he instantly repressed, lest it
+had given offence to Arnold Biederman,--"It is Sigismund, the good
+youth--Shall I admit him to our council?"
+
+"To what purpose, poor simple lad?" said his father, with a sorrowful
+smile.
+
+"Yet let me undo the door," said Philipson; "he is anxious to enter,
+and perhaps he brings news. I have observed, Landamman, that the young
+man, though with slowness of ideas and expression, is strong in his
+principles, and sometimes happy in his conceptions."
+
+He admitted Sigismund accordingly; while Arnold Biederman felt, on the
+one hand, the soothing compliment which Philipson had paid to a boy,
+certainly the dullest of his family, and, on the other, feared some
+public display of his son's infirmity, or lack of understanding.
+Sigismund, however, seemed all confidence; and he certainly had
+reason to be so, since, as the shortest mode of explanation, he
+presented to Philipson the necklace of diamonds, with the casket in
+which it had been deposited.
+
+"This pretty thing is yours," he said. "I understand so much from your
+son Arthur, who tells me you will be glad to have it again."
+
+"Most cordially do I thank you," said the merchant. "The necklace is
+certainly mine; that is, the packet of which it formed the contents
+was under my charge; and it is at this moment of greater additional
+value to me than even its actual worth, since it serves as my pledge
+and token for the performance of an important mission.--And how, my
+young friend," he continued, addressing Sigismund, "have you been so
+fortunate as to recover what we have sought for hitherto in vain? Let
+me return my best acknowledgments; and do not think me over-curious if
+I ask how it reached you."
+
+"For that matter," said Sigismund, "the story is soon told. I had
+planted myself as near the scaffold as I could, having never beheld an
+execution before; and I observed the executioner, who I thought did
+his duty very cleverly, just in the moment that he spread a cloth over
+the body of De Hagenbach, snatch something from the dead man's bosom,
+and huddle it hastily into his own; so, when the rumour arose that an
+article of value was a-missing, I hurried in quest of the fellow. I
+found he had bespoke masses to the extent of a hundred crowns at the
+high altar of St. Paul's; and I traced him to the tavern of the
+village, where some ill-looking men were joyously drinking to him as
+a free citizen and a nobleman. So I stepped in amongst them with my
+partisan, and demanded of his lordship either to surrender to me what
+he had thus possessed himself of, or to try the weight of the weapon I
+carried. His lordship, my Lord Hangman, hesitated, and was about to
+make a brawl. But I was something peremptory, and so he judged it best
+to give me the parcel, which I trust you, Seignor Philipson, will find
+safe and entire as it was taken from you. And--and--I left them to
+conclude their festivities--and that is the whole of the story."
+
+"Thou art a brave lad," said Philipson; "and with a heart always
+right, the head can seldom be far wrong. But the Church shall not lose
+its dues, and I take it on myself, ere I leave La Ferette, to pay for
+the masses which the man had ordered for the sake of De Hagenbach's
+soul, snatched from the world so unexpectedly."
+
+Sigismund was about to reply; but Philipson, fearing he might bring
+out some foolery to diminish the sense which his father had so
+joyously entertained of his late conduct, immediately added, "Hie
+away, my good youth, and give to my son Arthur this precious casket."
+
+With simple exultation at receiving applause to which he was little
+accustomed, Sigismund took his leave, and the council were once more
+left to their own privacy.
+
+There was a moment's silence; for the Landamman could not overcome the
+feeling of exquisite pleasure at the sagacity which poor Sigismund,
+whose general conduct warranted no such expectations, had displayed on
+the present occasion. It was not, however, a feeling to which
+circumstances permitted him to give vent, and he reserved it for his
+own secret enjoyment, as a solace to the anxiety which he had hitherto
+entertained concerning the limited intellect of this simple-minded
+young man. When he spoke, it was to Philipson, with the usual candour
+and manliness of his character.
+
+"Seignor Philipson," he said, "we will hold you bound by no offer
+which you made while these glittering matters were out of your
+possession; because a man may often think that if he were in such and
+such a situation he would be able to achieve certain ends which, that
+position being attained, he may find himself unable to accomplish. But
+I now ask you, whether, having thus fortunately and unexpectedly
+regained possession of what you say will give you certain credence
+with the Duke of Burgundy, you conceive yourself entitled to mediate
+with him on our behalf, as you formerly proposed?"
+
+All bent forward to hear the merchant's answer.
+
+"Landamman," he replied, "I never spoke the word in difficulty which I
+was not ready to redeem when that difficulty was removed. You say, and
+I believe, that you had no concern with this storming of La Ferette.
+You say also, that the life of De Hagenbach was taken by a judicature
+over which you had no control, and exercised none--let a protocol be
+drawn up, averring these circumstances, and, as far as possible,
+proving them. Intrust it to me--under seal if you will--and if such
+points be established, I will pledge my word as a--as a--as an honest
+man and a true-born Englishman, that the Duke of Burgundy will neither
+detain nor offer you any personal injury. I also hope to show to
+Charles strong and weighty reasons why a league of friendship betwixt
+Burgundy and the United Cantons of Helvetia is, on his grace's part, a
+wise and generous measure. But it is possible I may fail in this last
+point; and if I do, I shall deeply grieve for it. In warranting your
+safe passage to the Duke's court, and your safe return from it to your
+own country, I think I cannot fail. If I do, my own life, and that of
+my beloved and only child, shall pay the ransom for my excess of
+confidence in the Duke's justice and honour."
+
+The other deputies stood silent, and looked on the Landamman; but
+Rudolph Donnerhugel spoke.
+
+"Are we then to trust our own lives, and, what is still dearer to us,
+that of our honoured associate, Arnold Biederman, on the simple word
+of a foreign trader? We all know the temper of the Duke, and how
+vindictively and relentlessly he has ever felt towards our country and
+its interests. Methinks this English merchant should express the
+nature of his interest at the court of Burgundy more plainly, if he
+expects us to place such implicit reliance in it."
+
+"That, Seignor Rudolph Donnerhugel," replied the merchant, "I find
+myself not at liberty to do. I pry not into your secrets, whether they
+belong to you as a body or as individuals. My own are sacred. If I
+consulted my own safety merely, I should act most wisely to part
+company with you here. But the object of your mission is peace; and
+your sudden return, after what has chanced at La Ferette, will make
+war inevitable. I think I can assure you of a safe and free audience
+from the Duke, and I am willing, for the chance of securing the peace
+of Christendom, to encounter any personal peril which may attach to
+myself."
+
+"Say no more, worthy Philipson," said the Landamman; "thy good faith
+is undoubted on our part, and ill luck is his who cannot read it
+written on thy manly forehead. We go forward, then, prepared to risk
+our own safety at the hand of a despotic prince, rather than leave
+undischarged the mission which our country has intrusted us with. He
+is but half a brave man who will risk his life only in the field of
+battle. There are other dangers, to front which is equally honourable;
+and since the weal of Switzerland demands that we should encounter
+them, not one of us will hesitate to take the risk."
+
+The other members of the mission bowed in assent, and the conclave
+broke up to prepare for their farther entrance into Burgundy.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[8] Note I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     Upon the mountain's heathery side,
+       The day's last lustre shone,
+     And rich with many a radiant hue,
+       Gleam'd gaily on the Rhone.
+                               SOUTHEY.
+
+
+The English merchant was now much consulted by the Swiss Commissioners
+in all their motions. He exhorted them to proceed with all despatch on
+their journey, so as to carry to the Duke their own account of the
+affair of Brisach, and thus anticipate all rumours less favourable to
+their conduct on the occasion. For this purpose Philipson recommended
+that the Deputies, dismissing their escort, whose arms and numbers
+might give umbrage and suspicion, while they were too few for defence,
+should themselves proceed by rapid journeys on horseback towards
+Dijon, or wherever the Duke might chance to be for the time.
+
+This proposal was, however, formally resisted by the very person who
+had hitherto been the most ductile of the party, and the willing echo
+of the Landamman's pleasure. On the present occasion, notwithstanding
+that Arnold Biederman declared the advice of Philipson excellent,
+Nicholas Bonstetten stood in absolute and insurmountable opposition;
+because, having hitherto trusted to his own limbs for transporting
+himself to and fro on all occasions, he could by no means be
+persuaded to commit himself to the discretion of a horse. As he was
+found obstinately positive on this subject, it was finally determined
+that the two Englishmen should press forward on their journey, with
+such speed as they might, and that the elder of them should make the
+Duke acquainted with so much as to the capture of La Ferette as he had
+himself witnessed of the matter. The particulars which had attended
+the death of De Hagenbach, the Landamman assured him, would be sent to
+the Duke by a person of confidence, whose attestation on the subject
+could not be doubted.
+
+This course was adopted, as Philipson expressed his confidence of
+getting an early and private audience with his grace of Burgundy.
+
+"My best intercession," he said, "you have a good right to reckon
+upon; and no one can bear more direct testimony than I can to the
+ungovernable cruelty and rapacity of De Hagenbach, of which I had so
+nearly been the victim. But of his trial and execution I neither know
+nor can tell anything; and as Duke Charles is sure to demand why
+execution was done upon his officer without an appeal to his own
+tribunal, it will be well that you either provide me with such facts
+as you have to state, or send forward, at least, as speedily as
+possible, the evidence which you have to lay before him on that most
+weighty branch of the subject."
+
+The proposal of the merchant created some visible embarrassment on the
+countenance of the Swiss, and it was with obvious hesitation that
+Arnold Biederman, having led him aside, addressed him in a whisper--
+
+"My good friend," he said, "mysteries are in general like the hateful
+mists which disfigure the noblest features of nature; yet, like mists,
+they will sometimes intervene when we most desire their absence, when
+we most desire to be plain and explicit. The manner of De Hagenbach's
+death you saw--we will take care that the Duke is informed of the
+authority by which it was inflicted. This is all that I can at present
+tell you on the subject; and let me add, that the less you speak of it
+with any one, you will be the more likely to escape inconvenience."
+
+"Worthy Landamman," said the Englishman, "I also am by nature, and
+from the habits of my country, a hater of mysteries. Yet, such is my
+firm confidence in your truth and honour, that you shall be my guide
+in these dark and secret transactions, even as amongst the mists and
+precipices of your native land, and I rest contented in either case to
+place unlimited confidence in your sagacity. Let me only recommend
+that your explanation with Charles be instant, as well as clear and
+candid. Such being the case, I trust my poor interest with the Duke
+may be reckoned for something in your favour. Here then we part, but,
+as I trust, soon to meet again."
+
+The elder Philipson now rejoined his son, whom he directed to hire
+horses, together with a guide, to conduct them with all speed to the
+presence of the Duke of Burgundy. By various inquiries in the town,
+and especially among the soldiers of the slain De Hagenbach, they at
+length learned that Charles had been of late occupied in taking
+possession of Lorraine, and, being now suspicious of unfriendly
+dispositions on the part of the Emperor of Germany, as well as of
+Sigismund Duke of Austria, had drawn a considerable part of his army
+together near Strasburg, in order to be prepared against any attempt
+of these princes, or of the Free Imperial Cities, which might
+interfere with his course of conquest. The Duke of Burgundy, at this
+period, well deserved his peculiar epithet of the Bold, since,
+surrounded by enemies, like one of the nobler animals of the chase, he
+yet astounded, by his stern and daring countenance, not only the
+princes and states we have mentioned, but even the King of France,
+equally powerful, and far more politic, than himself.
+
+To his camp, therefore, the English travellers bent their way, each
+full of such deep and melancholy reflection as, perhaps, prevented his
+bestowing much attention on the other's state of mind. They rode as
+men deeply immersed in their own thoughts, and with less intercourse
+than had been usual betwixt them on their former journeys. The
+nobleness of the elder Philipson's nature, and his respect for the
+Landamman's probity, joined with gratitude for his hospitality, had
+prevented him from separating his cause from that of the Swiss
+deputies, nor did he now repent his generosity in adhering to them.
+But when he recollected the nature and importance of the personal
+affairs which he himself had to despatch with a proud, imperious, and
+irritable prince, he could not but regret the circumstances which had
+involved his own particular mission, of so much consequence to himself
+and his friends, with that of persons likely to be so highly obnoxious
+to the Duke as Arnold Biederman and his companions; and, however
+grateful for the hospitality of Geierstein, he regretted,
+nevertheless, the circumstances which had obliged him to accept of it.
+
+The thoughts of Arthur were no less anxious. He found himself anew
+separated from the object to which his thoughts were, almost against
+his own will, constantly returning. And this second separation had
+taken place after he had incurred an additional load of gratitude, and
+found new as well as more mysterious food for his ardent imagination.
+How was he to reconcile the character and attributes of Anne of
+Geierstein, whom he had known so gentle, candid, pure, and simple,
+with those of the daughter of a sage, and of an elementary spirit, to
+whom night was as day, and an impervious dungeon the same as the open
+portico of a temple? Could they be identified as the same being? or,
+while strictly alike in shape and lineament, was the one a tenant of
+the earth, the other only a phantom, permitted to show itself among
+those of a nature in which she did not partake? Above all, must he
+never see her more, or receive from her own lips an explanation of the
+mysteries which were so awfully entwined with his recollections of
+her? Such were the questions which occupied the mind of the younger
+traveller, and prevented him from interrupting, or even observing, the
+reverie in which his father was plunged.
+
+Had either of the travellers been disposed to derive amusement from
+the country through which their road lay, the vicinity of the Rhine
+was well qualified to afford it. The ground on the left bank of that
+noble river is indeed rather flat and tame; and the mountains of
+Alsace, a ridge of which sweeps along its course, do not approach so
+near as greatly to vary the level surface of the valley which divides
+them from its shores. But the broad stream itself, hurrying forward
+with dizzy rapidity, and rushing around the islets by which its course
+is interrupted, is one of the most majestic spectacles in nature. The
+right bank is dignified at once, and adorned, by the numerous
+eminences covered with wood, and interspersed with valleys, which
+constitute the district so well known by the name of the Black Forest,
+to which superstition attached so many terrors, and credulity such a
+variety of legends. Terrors, indeed, it had, of a real and existing
+character. The old castles, seen from time to time on the banks of the
+river itself, or on the ravines and large brooks which flow into it,
+were then no picturesque ruins, rendered interesting by the stories
+which were told about their former inhabitants, but constituted the
+real and apparently impregnable strongholds of that Robber-chivalry
+whom we have already frequently mentioned, and of whom, since Goethe,
+an author born to arouse the slumbering fame of his country, has
+dramatised the story of Goetz of Berlichingen, we have had so many
+spirit-stirring tales. The danger attending the vicinity of these
+fortresses was only known on the right, or German bank of the Rhine,
+for the breadth and depth of that noble stream effectually prevented
+any foray of their inhabitants from reaching Alsace. The former was in
+possession of the Cities or Free Towns of the Empire, and thus the
+feudal tyranny of the German lords was chiefly exerted at the expense
+of their own countrymen, who, irritated and exhausted with their
+rapine and oppression, were compelled to erect barriers against it, of
+a nature as interesting and extraordinary as were the wrongs from
+which they endeavoured to protect themselves.
+
+But the left bank of the river, over great part of which Charles of
+Burgundy exercised his authority, under various characters, was under
+the regular protection of the ordinary magistrates, who were supported
+in the discharge of their duty by large bands of mercenary soldiers.
+These were maintained by Charles out of his private revenue; he, as
+well as his rival Louis, and other princes of the period, having
+discovered that the feudal system gave an inconvenient degree of
+independence to their vassals, and thinking, of course, that it was
+better to substitute in its place a standing army, consisting of Free
+Companies, or soldiers by profession. Italy furnished most of these
+bands, which composed the strength of Charles's army, at least the
+part of it in which he most trusted.
+
+Our travellers, therefore, pursued their way by the banks of the
+river, in as great a degree of security as could well be enjoyed in
+that violent and distracted time, until at length the father, after
+having eyed for some time the person whom Arthur had hired to be their
+guide, suddenly asked of his son who or what the man was. Arthur
+replied that he had been too eager to get a person who knew the road,
+and was willing to show it, to be very particular in inquiring into
+his station or occupation; but that he thought, from the man's
+appearance, he must be one of those itinerant ecclesiastics, who
+travel through the country with relics, pardons, and other religious
+trinkets, and were in general but slightly respected, excepting by the
+lower orders, on whom these vendors of superstitious wares were often
+accused of practising gross deceptions.
+
+The man's appearance was rather that of a lay devotee, or palmer,
+bound on his pilgrimage to different shrines, than of a mendicant
+friar, or questionary. He wore the hat, scrip, staff, and coarse
+dalmatic, somewhat like the military cloak of the modern hussar, which
+were used by such persons on their religious peregrinations. St.
+Peter's keys, rudely shaped out of some scarlet rag of cloth, appeared
+on the back of his mantle, placed, as heralds say, saltire wise. This
+devotee seemed a man of fifty and upwards, well-made, and stout for
+his age, with a cast of countenance which, though not positively ugly,
+was far from being well-favoured. There was shrewdness, and an alert
+expression in his eye and actions, which made some occasional contrast
+with the sanctimonious demeanour of the character he now bore. This
+difference betwixt his dress and physiognomy was by no means uncommon
+among persons of his description, many of whom embraced this mode of
+life, rather to indulge roving and idle habits, than from any
+religious call.
+
+"Who art thou, good fellow?" said the elder Philipson; "and by what
+name am I to call thee while we are fellow-travellers?"
+
+"Bartholomew, sir," said the man; "Brother Bartholomew--I might say
+Bartholomæus, but it does not become a poor lay brother like me to
+aspire to the honour of a learned termination."
+
+"And whither does thy journey tend, good Brother Bartholomew?"
+
+"In whichever direction your worship chooses to travel, and to require
+my services as guide," answered the palmer; "always premising, you
+allow me leisure for my devotions at such holy stations as we pass on
+our route."
+
+"That is, thine own journey hath no professed or pressing object or
+end?" said the Englishman.
+
+"None, as your worship says, peculiar," said the itinerant; "or I
+might rather say, that my journey, good sir, embraces so many objects,
+that it is matter of indifference to me which of them I accomplish
+first. My vow binds me for four years to travel from one shrine, or
+holy place, to another; but I am not directly tied to visit them by
+any precise rule of rotation."
+
+"That is to say, thy vow of pilgrimage does not prevent thee from
+hiring thyself to wait upon travellers as their guide," replied
+Philipson.
+
+"If I can unite the devotion I owe to the blessed saints whose shrines
+I visit, with a service rendered to a wandering fellow-creature who
+desires to be directed upon his journey, I do maintain," replied
+Bartholomew, "that the objects are easily to be reconciled to each
+other."
+
+"Especially as a little worldly profit may tend to cement the two
+duties together, if otherwise incompatible," said Philipson.
+
+"It pleases your honour to say so," replied the pilgrim; "but you
+yourself may, if you will, derive from my good company something more
+than the mere knowledge of the road in which you propose to travel. I
+can make your journey more edifying by legends of the blessed saints
+whose holy relics I have visited, and pleasing, by the story of the
+wonderful things which I have seen and heard in my travels. I can
+impart to you an opportunity of providing yourself with his
+Holiness's pardon, not only for the sins which you have committed,
+but also granting you indulgence for future errors."
+
+"These things are highly available doubtless," replied the merchant;
+"but, good Bartholomew, when I desire to speak of them, I apply to my
+father confessor, to whom I have been uniformly regular in committing
+the charge of my conscience, and who must be, therefore, well
+acquainted with my state of mind, and best accustomed to prescribe
+what its case may require."
+
+"Nevertheless," said Bartholomew, "I trust your worship is too
+religious a man, and too sound a Catholic, to pass any hallowed
+station without endeavouring to obtain some share of the benefits
+which it is the means of dispensing to those who are ready and willing
+to deserve them. More especially as all men, of whatever trade and
+degree, hold respect to the holy saint who patroniseth his own
+mystery; so I hope you, being a merchant, will not pass the Chapel of
+Our Lady of the Ferry, without making some fitting orison."
+
+"Friend Bartholomew," said Philipson, "I have not heard of the shrine
+which you recommend to me; and, as my business is pressing, it were
+better worth my while to make a pilgrimage hither on purpose to make
+mine homage at a fitter season, than to delay my journey at present.
+This, God willing, I will not fail to do, so that I may be held
+excused for delaying my reverence till I can pay it more respectfully,
+and at greater leisure."
+
+"May it please you not to be wroth," said the guide, "if I say that
+your behaviour in this matter is like that of a fool, who, finding a
+treasure by the road-side, omits to put it in his bosom and carry it
+along with him, proposing to return from a distance on a future day,
+of express purpose to fetch it."
+
+Philipson, something astonished at the man's pertinacity, was about to
+answer hastily and angrily, but was prevented by the arrival of three
+strangers, who rode hastily up from behind them.
+
+The foremost of these was a young female, most elegantly attired, and
+mounted upon a Spanish jennet, which she reined with singular grace
+and dexterity. She wore on her right hand such a glove as that which
+was used to carry hawks, and had a merlin perched upon it. Her head
+was covered with a montero cap, and, as was frequently the custom at
+the period, she wore on her face a kind of black silk vizard, which
+effectually concealed her features. Notwithstanding this disguise,
+Arthur Philipson's heart sprang high at the appearance of these
+strangers, for he was at once certain he recognised the matchless form
+of the Swiss maiden by whom his mind was so anxiously occupied. Her
+attendants were a falconer with his hunting-pole, and a female, both
+apparently her domestics. The elder Philipson, who had no such
+accuracy of recollection as his son manifested upon the occasion, saw
+in the fair stranger only some dame or damsel of eminence engaged in
+the amusement of hawking, and, in return to a brief salutation, merely
+asked her, with suitable courtesy, as the case demanded, whether she
+had spent the morning in good sport.
+
+"Indifferent, good friend," said the lady. "I dare not fly my hawk so
+near the broad river, lest he should soar to the other side, and so I
+might lose my companion. But I reckon on finding better game when I
+have crossed to the other side of the ferry, which we are now
+approaching."
+
+"Then your ladyship," said Bartholomew, "will hear mass in Hans'
+Chapel, and pray for your success?"
+
+"I were a heathen to pass the holy place without doing so," replied
+the damsel.
+
+"That, noble damsel, touches the point we were but now talking of,"
+said the guide Bartholomew; "for know, fair mistress, that I cannot
+persuade this worthy gentleman how deeply the success of his
+enterprise is dependent upon his obtaining the blessing of Our Lady of
+the Ferry."
+
+"The good man," said the young maiden, seriously, and even severely,
+"must know little of the Rhine. I will explain to the gentleman the
+propriety of following your advice."
+
+She then rode close to young Philipson, and spoke in Swiss, for she
+had hitherto used the German language, "Do not start, but hear me!"
+and the voice was that of Anne of Geierstein. "Do not, I say, be
+surprised--or at least show not your wonder--you are beset by dangers.
+On this road, especially, your business is known--your lives are laid
+in wait for. Cross over the river at the Ferry of the Chapel, or Hans'
+Ferry, as it is usually termed."
+
+Here the guide drew so near to them that it was impossible for her to
+continue the conversation without being overheard. At that same moment
+a woodcock sprang from some bushes, and the young lady threw off her
+merlin in pursuit.
+
+"Sa ho--sa ho--wo ha!" hollowed the falconer, in a note which made the
+thicket ring again; and away he rode in pursuit. The elder Philipson
+and the guide himself followed the chase eagerly with their eyes, so
+attractive was the love of that brave sport to men of all ranks. But
+the voice of the maiden was a lure, which would have summoned Arthur's
+attention from matters more deeply interesting.
+
+"Cross the Rhine," she again repeated, "at the Ferry to Kirch-hoff, on
+the other side of the river. Take your lodgings at the Golden Fleece,
+where you will find a guide to Strasburg. I must stay here no longer."
+
+So saying, the damsel raised herself in her saddle, struck her horse
+lightly with the loose reins, and the mettled animal, already
+impatient at her delay, and the eager burst of its companions, flew
+forward at such a pace, as if he had meant to emulate the flight of
+the hawk, and of the prey he pursued. The lady and her attendants soon
+vanished from the sight of the travellers.
+
+A deep silence for some time ensued, during which Arthur studied how
+to communicate the warning he had received, without awakening the
+suspicions of their guide. But the old man broke silence himself,
+saying to Bartholomew, "Put your horse into more motion, I pray you,
+and ride onward a few yards; I would have some private conference with
+my son."
+
+The guide obeyed, and, as if with the purpose of showing a mind too
+profoundly occupied by heavenly matters to admit a thought concerning
+those of this transitory world, he thundered forth a hymn in praise of
+St. Wendelin the Shepherd, in a strain so discordant as startled every
+bird from every bush by which they passed. There was never a more
+unmelodious melody, whether sacred or profane, than that under
+protection of which the elder Philipson thus conferred with his son.
+
+"Arthur," he said, "I am much convinced that this howling hypocritical
+vagrant has some plot upon us; and I had well-nigh determined that the
+best mode to baffle it would be to consult my own opinion, and not
+his, as to our places of repose, and the direction of our journey."
+
+"Your judgment is correct, as usual," said his son. "I am well
+convinced of yonder man's treachery, from a whisper in which that
+maiden informed me that we ought to take the road to Strasburg, by the
+eastern side of the river, and for that purpose cross over to a place
+called Kirch-hoff, on the opposite bank."
+
+"Do you advise this, Arthur?" replied his father.
+
+"I will pledge my life for the faith of this young person," replied
+his son.
+
+"What!" said his father, "because she sits her palfrey fairly, and
+shows a faultless shape? Such is the reasoning of a boy--and yet my
+own old and cautious heart feels inclined to trust her. If our secret
+is known in this land, there are doubtless many who may be disposed to
+think they have an interest in barring my access to the Duke of
+Burgundy, even by the most violent means; and well you know that I
+should on my side hold my life equally cheap, could I discharge mine
+errand at the price of laying it down. I tell thee, Arthur, that my
+mind reproaches me for taking hitherto over little care of insuring
+the discharge of my commission, owing to the natural desire I had to
+keep thee in my company. There now lie before us two ways, both
+perilous and uncertain, by which we may reach the Duke's Court. We may
+follow this guide, and take the chance of his fidelity, or we may
+adopt the hint of yonder damsel-errant, and cross over to the other
+side of the Rhine, and again repass the river at Strasburg. Both roads
+are perhaps equally perilous. I feel it my duty to diminish the risk
+of the miscarriage of my commission, by sending thee across to the
+right bank, while I pursue my proposed course upon the left. Thus, if
+one of us be intercepted, the other may escape, and the important
+commission which he bears may be duly executed."
+
+"Alas, my father!" said Arthur, "how is it possible for me to obey
+you, when by doing so I must leave you alone, to incur so many
+dangers, to struggle with so many difficulties, in which my aid might
+be at least willing, though it could only be weak? Whatever befall us
+in these delicate and dangerous circumstances, let us at least meet it
+in company."
+
+"Arthur, my beloved son," said his father, "in parting from thee I am
+splitting mine own heart in twain; but the same duty which commands us
+to expose our bodies to death, as peremptorily orders us not to spare
+our most tender affections. We must part."
+
+"Oh, then," replied his son, eagerly, "let me at least prevail in one
+point. Do thou, my father, cross the Rhine, and let me prosecute the
+journey by the route originally proposed."
+
+"And why, I pray you," answered the merchant, "should I go one of
+these roads in preference to the other?"
+
+"Because," said Arthur eagerly. "I would warrant yonder maiden's faith
+with my life."
+
+"Again, young man?" said his father. "And wherefore so confident in
+that young maiden's faith? Is it merely from the confidence which
+youth reposes in that which is fair and pleasing, or have you had
+further acquaintance with her than the late brief conversation with
+her admitted?"
+
+"Can I give you an answer?" replied his son. "We have been long absent
+from lands of knights and ladies, and is it not natural that we should
+give to those who remind us of the honoured ties of chivalry and
+gentle blood, the instinctive credence which we refuse to such a poor
+wretch as this itinerant mountebank, who gains his existence by
+cheating, with false relics and forged legends, the poor peasants
+amongst whom he travels?"
+
+"It is a vain imagination, Arthur," said his father; "not unbefitting,
+indeed, an aspirant to the honours of chivalry, who draws his ideas of
+life and its occurrences from the romances of the minstrels, but too
+visionary for a youth who has seen, as thou hast, how the business of
+this world is conducted. I tell thee, and thou wilt learn to know I
+say truth, that around the homely board of our host the Landamman were
+ranged truer tongues, and more faithful hearts, than the _cour
+plénière_ of a monarch has to boast. Alas! the manly spirit of ancient
+faith and honour has fled even from the breast of kings and knights,
+where, as John of France said, it ought to continue to reside a
+constant inhabitant, if banished from all the rest of the world."
+
+"Be that as it may, dearest father," replied the younger Philipson,
+"I pray you to be persuaded by me; and if we must part company, let it
+be by your taking the right bank of the Rhine, since I am persuaded it
+is the safest route."
+
+"And if it be the safest," said his father, with a voice of tender
+reproach, "is that a reason why I should spare my own almost exhausted
+thread of life, and expose thine, my dear son, which has but begun its
+course?"
+
+"Nay, father," answered the son with animation, "in speaking thus you
+do not consider the difference of our importance to the execution of
+the purpose which you have so long entertained, and which seems now so
+nigh being accomplished. Think how imperfectly I might be able to
+discharge it, without knowledge of the Duke's person, or credentials
+to gain his confidence. I might indeed repeat your words, but the
+circumstances would be wanting to attract the necessary faith, and of
+consequence, your scheme, for the success of which you have lived, and
+now are willing to run the risk of death, would miscarry along with
+me."
+
+"You cannot shake my resolution," said the elder Philipson, "or
+persuade me that my life is of more importance than yours. You only
+remind me that it is you, and not I, who ought to be the bearer of
+this token to the Duke of Burgundy. Should you be successful in
+reaching his court or camp, your possession of these gems will be
+needful to attach credit to your mission; a purpose for which they
+would be less necessary to me, who can refer to other circumstances
+under which I might claim credence, if it should please Heaven to
+leave me alone to acquit myself of this important commission, which,
+may Our Lady, in her mercy, forefend! Understand, therefore, that,
+should an opportunity occur by which you can make your way to the
+opposite side of the Rhine, you are to direct your journey so as again
+to cross to this bank at Strasburg, where you will inquire for news of
+me at the Flying Stag, a hostelry in that city, which you will easily
+discover. If you hear no tidings of me at that place, you will proceed
+to the Duke, and deliver to him this important packet."
+
+Here he put into his son's hand, with as much privacy as possible, the
+case containing the diamond necklace.
+
+"What else your duty calls on you to do," continued the elder
+Philipson, "you well know; only I conjure you, let no vain inquiries
+after my fate interfere with the great duty you have there to
+discharge. In the meantime, prepare to bid me a sudden farewell, with
+a heart as bold and confident as when you went before me, and
+courageously led the way amid the rocks and storms of Switzerland.
+Heaven was above us then, as it is over us now. Adieu, my beloved
+Arthur! Should I wait till the moment of separation, there may be but
+short time to speak the fatal word, and no eye save thine own must see
+the tear which I now wipe away."
+
+The painful feeling which accompanied this anticipation of their
+parting was so sincere on Arthur's part, as well as that of his
+father, that it did not at first occur to the former, as a source of
+consolation, that it seemed likely he might be placed under the
+guidance of the singular female, the memory of whom haunted him. True
+it was, that the beauty of Anne of Geierstein, as well as the
+striking circumstances in which she had exhibited herself, had on that
+very morning been the principal occupation of his mind; but they were
+now chased from it by the predominant recollection, that he was about
+to be separated in a moment of danger from a father so well deserving
+of his highest esteem and his fondest affection.
+
+Meanwhile, that father dashed from his eye the tear which his devoted
+stoicism could not suppress, and, as if afraid of softening his
+resolution by indulging his parental fondness, he recalled the pious
+Bartholomew, to demand of him how far they were from the Chapel of the
+Ferry.
+
+"Little more than a mile," was the reply; and when the Englishman
+required further information concerning the cause of its erection, he
+was informed, that an old boatman and fisherman, named Hans, had long
+dwelt at the place, who gained a precarious livelihood by transporting
+travellers and merchants from one bank of the river to the other. The
+misfortune, however, of losing first one boat and then a second, in
+the deep and mighty stream, with the dread inspired in travellers by
+the repetition of such accidents, began to render his profession an
+uncertain one. Being a good Catholic, the old man's distress took a
+devotional turn. He began to look back on his former life, and
+consider by what crimes he had deserved the misfortunes which darkened
+the evening of his days. His remorse was chiefly excited by the
+recollection that he had, on one occasion, when the passage was
+peculiarly stormy, refused to discharge his duty as a ferryman, in
+order to transport to the other shore a priest, who bore along with
+him an image of the Virgin, destined for the village of Kirch-hoff,
+on the opposite or right bank of the Rhine. For this fault Hans
+submitted to severe penance, as he was now disposed to consider as
+culpable his doubt of the Virgin's power of protecting herself, her
+priest, and the bark employed in her service; besides which, the
+offering of a large share of his worldly goods to the church of
+Kirch-hoff expressed the truth of the old man's repentance. Neither
+did he ever again permit himself to interpose any delay in the journey
+of men of holy Church; but all ranks of the clergy, from the mitred
+prelate to the barefooted friar, might at any time of day or night
+have commanded the services of him and his boat.
+
+While prosecuting so laudable a course of life, it became at length
+the lot of Hans to find, on the banks of the Rhine, a small image of
+the Virgin, thrown by the waves, which appeared to him exactly to
+resemble that which he had formerly ungraciously refused to carry
+across, when under charge of the sacristan of Kirch-hoff. He placed it
+in the most conspicuous part of his hut, and poured out his soul
+before it in devotion, anxiously inquiring for some signal by which he
+might discover whether he was to consider the arrival of her holy
+image as a pledge that his offences were forgiven. In the visions of
+the night, his prayers were answered, and Our Lady, assuming the form
+of the image, stood by his bedside, for the purpose of telling him
+wherefore she had come hither.
+
+"My trusty servant," she said, "men of Belial have burned my dwelling
+at Kirch-hoff, spoiled my chapel, and thrown the sacred image which
+represents me into the swoln Rhine, which swept me downward. Now, I
+have resolved to dwell no longer in the neighbourhood of the profane
+doers of this deed, or of the cowardly vassals who dared not prevent
+it. I am, therefore, compelled to remove my habitation, and, in
+despite of the opposing current, I determined to take the shore on
+this side, being resolved to fix my abode with thee, my faithful
+servant, that the land in which thou dwellest may be blessed, as well
+as thou and thy household."
+
+As the vision spoke, she seemed to wring from her tresses the water in
+which they had been steeped, while her disordered dress and fatigued
+appearance was that of one who has been buffeting with the waves.
+
+Next morning brought intelligence that, in one of the numerous feuds
+of that fierce period, Kirch-hoff had been sacked, the church
+destroyed, and the church treasury plundered.
+
+In consequence of the fisherman's vision being thus remarkably
+confirmed, Hans entirely renounced his profession; and, leaving it to
+younger men to supply his place as ferryman, he converted his hut into
+a rustic chapel, and he himself, taking orders, attended upon the
+shrine as a hermit, or daily chaplain. The figure was supposed to work
+miracles, and the ferry became renowned from its being under the
+protection of the Holy Image of Our Lady, and her no less holy
+servant.
+
+When Bartholomew had concluded his account of the Ferry and its
+Chapel, the travellers had arrived at the place itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     Upon the Rhine, upon the Rhine they cluster,
+       The grapes of juice divine,
+     Which make the soldier's jovial courage muster;
+       O blessed be the Rhine!
+                                 _Drinking Song._[9]
+
+
+A cottage or two on the side of the river, beside which were moored
+one or two fishing-boats, showed the pious Hans had successors in his
+profession as a boatman. The river, which at a point a little lower
+was restrained by a chain of islets, expanded more widely, and moved
+less rapidly, than when it passed these cottages, affording to the
+ferryman a smoother surface, and a less heavy stream to contend with,
+although the current was even there too strong to be borne up against,
+unless the river was in a tranquil state.
+
+On the opposite bank, but a good deal lower than the hamlet which gave
+name to the ferry, was seated on a small eminence, screened by trees
+and bushes, the little town of Kirch-hoff. A skiff departing from the
+left bank was, even on favourable occasions, carried considerably to
+leeward ere it could attain the opposite side of the deep and full
+stream of the Rhine, so that its course was oblique towards
+Kirch-hoff. On the other hand, a boat departing from Kirch-hoff must
+have great advantage both of wind and oars, in order to land its
+loading or crew at the Chapel of the Ferry, unless it were under the
+miraculous influence which carried the image of the Virgin in that
+direction. The communication, therefore, from the east to the west
+bank was only maintained by towing boats up the stream, to such a
+height on the eastern side that the leeway which they made during the
+voyage across might correspond with the point at which they desired to
+arrive, and enable them to attain it with ease. Hence it naturally
+happened that, the passage from Alsace into Suabia being the most
+easy, the ferry was more used by those who were desirous of entering
+Germany, than by travellers who came in an opposite direction.
+
+When the elder Philipson had by a glance around him ascertained the
+situation of the ferry, he said firmly to his son,--"Begone, my dear
+Arthur, and do what I have commanded thee."
+
+With a heart rent with filial anxiety, the young man obeyed, and took
+his solitary course towards the cottages, near which the barks were
+moored, which were occasionally used for fishing, as well as for the
+purposes of the ferry.
+
+"Your son leaves us?" said Bartholomew to the elder Philipson.
+
+"He does for the present," said his father, "as he has certain
+inquiries to make in yonder hamlet."
+
+"If they be," answered the guide, "any matters connected with your
+honour's road, I laud the Saints that I can better answer your
+inquiries than those ignorant boors, who hardly understand your
+language."
+
+"If we find that their information needs thy commentary," said
+Philipson, "we will request it--meanwhile, lead on to the chapel,
+where my son will join us."
+
+They moved towards the chapel, but with slow steps, each turning his
+looks aside to the fishing-hamlet; the guide as if striving to see
+whether the younger traveller was returning towards them, the father
+anxious to descry, on the broad bosom of the Rhine, a sail unloosed,
+to waft his son across to that which might be considered as the safer
+side. But though the looks of both guide and traveller were turned in
+the direction of the river, their steps carried them towards the
+chapel, to which the inhabitants, in memory of the founder, had given
+the title of Hans-Kapelle.
+
+A few trees scattered around gave an agreeable and silvan air to the
+place; and the chapel, that appeared on a rising ground at some
+distance from the hamlet, was constructed in a style of pleasing
+simplicity, which corresponded with the whole scene. Its small size
+confirmed the tradition that it had originally been merely the hut of
+a peasant; and the cross of fir-trees, covered with bark, attested the
+purpose to which it was now dedicated. The chapel and all around it
+breathed peace and solemn tranquillity, and the deep sound of the
+mighty river seemed to impose silence on each human voice which might
+presume to mingle with its awful murmur.
+
+When Philipson arrived in the vicinity, Bartholomew took the advantage
+afforded by his silence to thunder forth two stanzas to the praise of
+the Lady of the Ferry, and her faithful worshipper Hans, after which
+he broke forth into the rapturous exclamation,--"Come hither, ye who
+fear wreck, here is your safe haven!--Come hither, ye who die of
+thirst, here is a well of mercy open to you!--Come, those who are
+weary and far-travelled, this is your place of refreshment!"--And more
+to the same purpose he might have said, but Philipson sternly imposed
+silence on him.
+
+"If thy devotion were altogether true," he said, "it would be less
+clamorous; but it is well to do what is good in itself, even if it is
+a hypocrite who recommends it.--Let us enter this holy chapel, and
+pray for a fortunate issue to our precarious travels."
+
+The pardoner caught up the last words.
+
+"Sure was I," he said, "that your worship is too well advised to pass
+this holy place without imploring the protection and influence of Our
+Lady of the Ferry. Tarry but a moment until I find the priest who
+serves the altar, that he may say a mass on your behalf."
+
+Here he was interrupted by the door of the chapel suddenly opening,
+when an ecclesiastic appeared on the threshold. Philipson instantly
+knew the Priest of St. Paul's, whom he had seen that morning at La
+Ferette. Bartholomew also knew him, as it would seem; for his
+officious hypocritical eloquence failed him in an instant, and he
+stood before the priest with his arms folded on his breast, like a man
+who waits for the sentence of condemnation.
+
+"Villain," said the ecclesiastic, regarding the guide with a severe
+countenance, "dost thou lead a stranger into the houses of the Holy
+Saints, that thou mayst slay him, and possess thyself of his spoils?
+But Heaven will no longer bear with thy perfidy. Back, thou wretch,
+to meet thy brother miscreants, who are hastening hitherward. Tell
+them thy arts were unavailing, and that the innocent stranger is under
+MY protection--under my protection, which those who presume to violate
+will meet with the reward of Archibald de Hagenbach!"
+
+The guide stood quite motionless, while addressed by the priest in a
+manner equally menacing and authoritative; and no sooner did the
+latter cease speaking, than, without offering a word either in
+justification or reply, Bartholomew turned round, and retreated at a
+hasty pace by the same road which had conducted the traveller to the
+chapel.
+
+"And do you, worthy Englishman," continued the priest, "enter into
+this chapel, and perform in safety those devotions, by means of which
+yonder hypocrite designed to detain you until his brethren in iniquity
+came up.--But first, wherefore are you alone? I trust naught evil hath
+befallen your young companion?"
+
+"My son," said Philipson, "crosses the Rhine at yonder ferry, as we
+had important business to transact on the other side."
+
+As he spoke thus, a light boat, about which two or three peasants had
+been for some time busy, was seen to push from the shore, and shoot
+into the stream, to which it was partly compelled to give way, until a
+sail stretched along the slender yard, and supporting the bark against
+the current, enabled her to stand obliquely across the river.
+
+"Now, praise be to God!" said Philipson, who was aware that the bark
+he looked upon must be in the act of carrying his son beyond the reach
+of the dangers by which he was himself surrounded.
+
+"Amen!" answered the priest, echoing the pious ejaculation of the
+traveller. "Great reason have you to return thanks to Heaven."
+
+"Of that I am convinced," replied Philipson; "but yet from you I hope
+to learn the special cause of danger from which I have escaped?"
+
+"This is neither time nor place for such an investigation," answered
+the Priest of St. Paul's. "It is enough to say, that yonder fellow,
+well known for his hypocrisy and his crimes, was present when the
+young Switzer, Sigismund, reclaimed from the executioner the treasure
+of which you were robbed by Hagenbach. Thus Bartholomew's avarice was
+awakened. He undertook to be your guide to Strasburg, with the
+criminal intent of detaining you by the way till a party came up,
+against whose numbers resistance would have been in vain. But his
+purpose has been anticipated.--And now, ere giving vent to other
+worldly thoughts, whether of hope or fear--to the chapel, sir, and
+join in orisons to Him who hath been your aid, and to those who have
+interceded with him in your behalf."
+
+Philipson entered the chapel with his guide, and joined in returning
+thanks to Heaven, and the tutelary power of the spot, for the escape
+which had been vouchsafed to him.
+
+When this duty had been performed, Philipson intimated his purpose of
+resuming his journey, to which the Black Priest replied, "That far
+from delaying him in a place so dangerous, he would himself accompany
+him for some part of the journey, since he also was bound to the
+presence of the Duke of Burgundy."
+
+"You, my father!--you!" said the merchant, with some astonishment.
+
+"And wherefore surprised?" answered the priest. "Is it so strange that
+one of my order should visit a prince's court? Believe me, there are
+but too many of them to be found there."
+
+"I do not speak with reference to your order," answered Philipson,
+"but in regard of the part which you have this day acted, in abetting
+the execution of Archibald de Hagenbach. Know you so little of the
+fiery Duke of Burgundy as to imagine you can dally with his resentment
+with more safety than you would pull the mane of a sleeping lion?"
+
+"I know his mood well," said the priest; "and it is not to excuse but
+to defend the death of De Hagenbach that I go to his presence. The
+Duke may execute his serfs and bondsmen at his pleasure, but there is
+a spell upon my life which is proof to all his power. But let me
+retort the question--You, Sir Englishman, knowing the conditions of
+the Duke so well--you, so lately the guest and travelling companion of
+the most unwelcome visitors who could approach him--you, implicated,
+in appearance at least, in the uproar at La Ferette--what chance is
+there of your escaping his vengeance? and wherefore will you throw
+yourself wantonly within his power?"
+
+"Worthy father," said the merchant, "let each of us, without offence
+to the other, keep his own secret. I have, indeed, no spell to secure
+me from the Duke's resentment--I have limbs to suffer torture and
+imprisonment, and property which may be seized and confiscated. But I
+have had in former days many dealings with the Duke; I may even say I
+have laid him under obligations, and hope my interest with him may in
+consequence be sufficient, not only to save me from the consequences
+of this day's procedure, but be of some avail to my friend the
+Landamman."
+
+"But if you are in reality bound to the court of Burgundy as a
+merchant," said the priest, "where are the wares in which you traffic?
+Have you no merchandise save that which you carry on your person? I
+heard of a sumpter-horse with baggage. Has yonder villain deprived you
+of it?"
+
+This was a trying question to Philipson, who, anxious about the
+separation from his son, had given no direction whether the baggage
+should remain with himself, or should be transported to the other side
+of the Rhine. He was, therefore, taken at advantage by the priest's
+inquiry, to which he answered with some incoherence,--"I believe my
+baggage is in the hamlet--that is, unless my son has taken it across
+the Rhine with him."
+
+"That we will soon learn," answered the priest.
+
+Here a novice appeared from the vestiary of the chapel at his call,
+and received commands to inquire at the hamlet whether Philipson's
+bales, with the horse which transported them, had been left there, or
+ferried over along with his son.
+
+The novice, being absent a few minutes, presently returned with the
+baggage-horse, which, with its burden, Arthur, from regard to his
+father's accommodation, had left on the western side of the river. The
+priest looked on attentively, while the elder Philipson, mounting his
+own horse, and taking the rein of the other in his hand, bade the
+Black Priest adieu in these words,--"And now, father, farewell! I
+must pass on with my bales, since there is little wisdom in travelling
+with them after nightfall, else would I gladly suit my pace, with your
+permission, so as to share the way with you."
+
+"If it is your obliging purpose to do so, as indeed I was about to
+propose," said the priest, "know I will be no stay to your journey. I
+have here a good horse; and Melchior, who must otherwise have gone on
+foot, may ride upon your sumpter-horse. I the rather propose this
+course, as it will be rash for you to travel by night. I can conduct
+you to an hostelry about five miles off, which we may reach with
+sufficient daylight, and where you will be lodged safely for your
+reckoning."
+
+The English merchant hesitated a moment. He had no fancy for any new
+companion on the road, and although the countenance of the priest was
+rather handsome, considering his years, yet the expression was such as
+by no means invited confidence. On the contrary, there was something
+mysterious and gloomy which clouded his brow, though it was a lofty
+one, and a similar expression gleamed in his cold grey eye, and
+intimated severity and even harshness of disposition. But
+notwithstanding this repulsive circumstance, the priest had lately
+rendered Philipson a considerable service, by detecting the treachery
+of his hypocritical guide, and the merchant was not a man to be
+startled from his course by any imaginary prepossessions against the
+looks or manners of any one, or apprehensions of machinations against
+himself. He only revolved in his mind the singularity attending his
+destiny, which, while it was necessary for him to appear before the
+Duke of Burgundy in the most conciliatory manner, seemed to force upon
+him the adoption of companions who must needs be obnoxious to that
+prince; and such, he was too well aware, must be the case with the
+Priest of St. Paul's. Having reflected for an instant, he courteously
+accepted the offer of the priest to guide him to some place of rest
+and entertainment, which must be absolutely necessary for his horse
+before he reached Strasburg, even if he himself could have dispensed
+with it.
+
+The party being thus arranged, the novice brought forth the priest's
+steed, which he mounted with grace and agility, and the neophyte,
+being probably the same whom Arthur had represented during his escape
+from La Ferette, took charge, at his master's command, of the
+baggage-horse of the Englishman; and crossing himself, with a humble
+inclination of his head, as the priest passed him, he fell into the
+rear, and seemed to pass the time, like the false brother Bartholomew,
+in telling his beads, with an earnestness which had perhaps more of
+affected than of real piety. The Black Priest of St. Paul's, to judge
+by the glance which he cast upon his novice, seemed to disdain the
+formality of the young man's devotion. He rode upon a strong black
+horse, more like a warrior's charger than the ambling palfrey of a
+priest, and the manner in which he managed him was entirely devoid of
+awkwardness and timidity. His pride, whatever was its character, was
+not certainly of a kind altogether professional, but had its origin in
+other swelling thoughts which arose in his mind, to mingle with and
+enhance the self-consequence of a powerful ecclesiastic.
+
+As Philipson looked on his companion from time to time, his
+scrutinising glance was returned by a haughty smile, which seemed to
+say, "You may gaze on my form and features, but you cannot penetrate
+my mystery."
+
+The looks of Philipson, which were never known to sink before mortal
+man, seemed to retort, with equal haughtiness, "Nor shall you, proud
+priest, know that you are now in company with one whose secret is far
+more important than thine own can be."
+
+At length the priest made some advance towards conversation, by
+allusion to the footing upon which, by a mutual understanding, they
+seemed to have placed their intercourse.
+
+"We travel then," he said, "like two powerful enchanters, each
+conscious of his own high and secret purpose; each in his own chariot
+of clouds, and neither imparting to his companion the direction or
+purpose of his journey."
+
+"Excuse me, father," answered Philipson; "I have neither asked your
+purpose, nor concealed my own, so far as it concerns you. I repeat, I
+am bound to the presence of the Duke of Burgundy, and my object, like
+that of any other merchant, is to dispose of my wares to advantage."
+
+"Doubtless, it would seem so," said the Black Priest, "from the
+extreme attention to your merchandise, which you showed not above half
+an hour since, when you knew not whether your bales had crossed the
+river with your son, or were remaining in your own charge. Are English
+merchants usually so indifferent to the sources of their traffic?"
+
+"When their lives are in danger," said Philipson, "they are sometimes
+negligent of their fortune."
+
+"It is well," replied the priest, and again resumed his solitary
+musings; until another half-hour's travelling brought them to a
+_dorf_, or village, which the Black Priest informed Philipson was that
+where he proposed to stop for the night.
+
+"The novice," he said, "will show you the inn, which is of good
+reputation, and where you may lodge with safety. For me, I
+have to visit a penitent in this village who desires my ghostly
+offices;--perhaps I may see you again this evening, perhaps not till
+the next morning;--at any rate, adieu for the present."
+
+So saying, the priest stopped his horse, while the novice, coming
+close up to Philipson's side, conducted him onward through the narrow
+street of the village, whilst the windows exhibited here and there a
+twinkling gleam, announcing that the hour of darkness was arrived.
+Finally, he led the Englishman through an archway into a sort of
+courtyard, where there stood a car or two of a particular shape, used
+occasionally by women when they travel, and some other vehicles of the
+same kind. Here the young man threw himself from the sumpter-horse,
+and placing the rein in Philipson's hand, disappeared in the
+increasing darkness, after pointing to a large but dilapidated
+building, along the front of which not a spark of light was to be
+discovered from any of the narrow and numerous windows, which were
+dimly visible in the twilight.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[9] This is one of the best and most popular of the German ditties:--
+
+     "Am Rhein, am Rhein, da wachsen unsere Reben,
+     Gesegnet sei der Rhein," &c.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTES.
+
+
+Note I. p. 300.
+
+There is abundant evidence that in the Middle Ages the office of
+public executioner was esteemed highly honourable all over Germany. It
+still is, in such parts of that country as retain the old custom of
+execution by stroke of sword, very far from being held discreditable
+to the extent to which we carry our feelings on the subject, and which
+exposed the magistrates of a Scotch town, I rather think no less a one
+than Glasgow, to a good deal of ridicule when they advertised, some
+few years ago, on occasion of the death of their hangman, that "none
+but persons of respectable character" need apply for the vacant
+situation. At this day in China, in Persia, and probably in other
+Oriental kingdoms, the Chief Executioner is one of the great officers
+of state, and is as proud of the emblem of his fatal duty as any
+European Lord Chamberlain of his Golden Key.
+
+The circumstances of the strange trial and execution of the Knight of
+Hagenbach are detailed minutely by M. de Barante, from contemporary
+MS. documents; and the reader will be gratified with a specimen of
+that writer's narrative. A translation is also given for the benefit
+of many of my kind readers.
+
+     "De toutes parts on était accourus par milliers pour
+     assister au procès de ce cruel gouverneur, tant la haine
+     était grande contre lui. De sa prison, il entendait
+     retentir sur le pont le pas des chevaux, et s'enquérait à
+     son geôlier de ceux qui arrivaient: soit pour être ses
+     juges, soit pour être témoins de son supplice. Parfois le
+     geôlier répondait, 'Ce sont des étrangers; je ne les
+     connais pas.' 'Ne sont-ce pas,' disait le prisonnier, 'des
+     gens assez mal vêtus, de haute taille, de forte apparence,
+     montés sur des chevaux aux courtes oreilles?' et si le
+     geôlier répondait: 'Oui.'--'Ah ce sont les Suisses,'
+     s'écriait Hagenbach; 'Mon Dieu, ayez pitié de moi!' et il
+     se rappelait toutes les insultes qu'il leur avait faites,
+     toutes ses insolences envers eux. Il pensait, mais trop
+     tard, que c'était leur alliance avec la maison d'Autriche
+     qui était cause de sa perte. Le 4 Mai, 1474, après avoir
+     été mis à la question, il fut, à la diligence d'Hermann
+     d'Eptingen, gouverneur pour l'archiduc, amené devant ses
+     juges, sur la place publique de Brisach. Sa contenance
+     était ferme et d'un homme qui ne craint pas la mort. Henri
+     Iselin de Bâle porta la parole au nom d'Hermann
+     d'Eptingen, agissant pour le seigneur du pays. Il parla à
+     peu près en ces termes: 'Pierre de Hagenbach, chevalier,
+     maître d'hôtel de Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, et son
+     gouverneur dans le pays de Sératte et Haute Alsace, aurait
+     dû respecter les privilèges reservés par l'acte
+     d'engagement; mais il n'a pas moins frotté aux pieds les
+     lois de Dieu et des hommes, que les droits jurés et
+     garantis au pays. Il a fait mettre à mort sans jugement
+     quatre honnêtes bourgeois de Sératte; il a depouillé la
+     ville de Brisach de sa juridiction, et y a établi juges et
+     consuls de son choix; il a rompu et dispersé les
+     communautés de la bourgeoisie et des métiers; il a levé
+     des impôts par sa seule volonté; il a, contre toutes les
+     lois, logé chez les habitans des gens de guerre--Lombards,
+     Français, Picards, ou Flamands; et a favorisé leur
+     désordres et pillages. Il leur a même commandé d'égorger
+     leurs hôtes durant la nuit, et avait fait préparer, pour y
+     embarquer les femmes et les enfans, des bateaux qui
+     devaient être submergés dans le Rhin. Enfin, lors même
+     qu'il rejetterait de telles cruautés sur les ordres qu'il
+     a reçus, comment pourrait il s'excuser d'avoir fait
+     violence et outrage à l'honneur de tant de filles et
+     femmes, et même de saintes religieuses?'
+
+     "D'autres accusations furent portées dans les
+     interrogatoires; et des témoins attestèrent les violences
+     faites aux gens de Mulhausen et aux marchands de Bâle.
+
+     "Pour suivre toutes les formes de la justice, on avait
+     donné un avocat à l'accusé. 'Messire Pierre de Hagenbach,'
+     dit-il, 'ne reconnaît d'autre juge et d'autre seigneur que
+     Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne, dont il avait commission,
+     et recevait les commandemens. Il n'avait nul droit de
+     contrôler les ordres qu'il était chargé d'exécuter; et son
+     devoir était d'obéir. Ne sait-on pas quelle soumission les
+     gens de guerre doivent à leur seigneur et maître? Croit-on
+     que le landvogt de Monseigneur le Duc eût à lui remontrer
+     et à lui résister? Et monseigneur n'a-t-il pas ensuite,
+     par sa présence, confirmé et ratifié tout ce qui avait été
+     fait en son nom? Si des impôts ont été demandés, c'est
+     qu'il avait besoin d'argent. Pour les recueillir, il a
+     bien fallu punir ceux qui se refusaient à payer. C'est ce
+     que Monseigneur le Duc, et même l'empereur, quand ils sont
+     venus, ont reconnu nécessaire. Le logement des gens de
+     guerre était aussi la suite des ordres du Duc. Quant à la
+     juridiction de Brisach; le landvogt pouvait-il souffrir
+     cette résistance? Enfin, dans une affaire si grave, où il
+     y va de la vie, convient-il de produire comme un
+     véritable grief, le dernier dont a parlé l'accusateur?
+     Parmi ceux qui écoutent, y en a-t-il un seul qui puisse se
+     vanter de ne pas avoir saisi les occasions de se divertir?
+     N'est-il pas clair que Messire de Hagenbach a seulement
+     profité de la bonne volonté de quelques femmes ou filles;
+     ou, pour mettre les choses au pis, qu'il n'a exercé
+     d'autre contrainte envers elles qu'au moyen de son bon
+     argent?'
+
+     "Les juges siégèrent long temps sur leur tribunal. Douze
+     heures entières passèrent sans que l'affaire fût terminée.
+     Le Sire de Hagenbach, toujours ferme et calme, n'allégua
+     d'autres défenses, d'autres excuses, que celles qu'il
+     avait donné déjà sous la torture--les ordres et la volonté
+     de son seigneur, qui était son seul juge, et le seul qui
+     pût lui demander compte.
+
+     "Enfin, à sept heures du soir, à la clarté des flambeaux,
+     les juges, après avoir déclaré qu'à eux appartenait le
+     droit de prononcer sur les crimes imputés au landvogt, le
+     firent rappeler; et rendirent leur sentence qui le
+     condamna à mort. Il ne s'émeut pas davantage; et demanda
+     pour toute grace d'avoir seulement la tête tranchée. Huit
+     bourreaux des diverses villes se présentèrent pour
+     exécuter l'arrêt. Celui de Colmar, qui passait pour le
+     plus adroit, fut préféré. Avant de le conduire à
+     l'échafaud, les seize chevaliers qui faisaient partie des
+     juges requirent que Messire de Hagenbach fût dégradé de sa
+     dignité de chevalier et de tous ses honneurs. Pour lors
+     s'avança Gaspard Hurter, héraut de l'empereur; et il dit:
+     'Pierre de Hagenbach, il me déplaît grandement que vous
+     ayez si mal employé votre vie mortelle: de sorte qu'il
+     convient que vous perdiez non-seulement la dignité et
+     ordre de chevalerie, mais aussi la vie. Votre devoir était
+     de rendre la justice, de protéger la veuve et l'orphelin;
+     de respecter les femmes et les filles, d'honorer les
+     saints prêtres; de vous opposer à toute injuste violence;
+     et, au contraire, vous avez commis tout ce que vous deviez
+     empêcher. Ayant ainsi forfait au noble ordre de
+     chevalerie, et aux sermens que vous aviez jurés, les
+     chevaliers ici présens m'ont enjoint de vous en ôter les
+     insignes. Ne les voyant pas sur vous en ce moment, je vous
+     proclame indigne chevalier de Saint George, au nom et à
+     l'honneur duquel on vous avait autrefois honoré de l'ordre
+     de chevalerie.' Puis s'avança Hermann d'Eptingen: 'Puis
+     qu'on vient de te dégrader de chevalerie, je te dépouille
+     de ton collier, chaîne d'or, anneau, poignard, éperon,
+     gantelet.' Il les lui prit et lui en frappa le visage, et
+     ajouta: 'Chevaliers, et vous qui désirez le devenir,
+     j'espère que cette punition publique vous servira
+     d'exemple, et que vous vivrez dans la crainte de Dieu,
+     noblement et vaillamment, selon la dignité de la
+     chevalerie et l'honneur de votre nom.' Enfin, le prévôt
+     d'Einsilheim et maréchal de cette commission de juges se
+     leva, et s'adressant au bourreau, lui dit: 'Faites selon
+     la justice.'
+
+     "Tous les juges montèrent à cheval ainsi qu'Hermann
+     d'Eptingen. Au milieu d'eux marchait Pierre de Hagenbach,
+     entre deux prêtres. C'était pendant la nuit. Des torches
+     éclairaient la marche; une foule immense se pressait
+     autour de ce triste cortège. Le condamné s'entretenait
+     avec son confesseur d'un air pieux et recueilli, mais
+     ferme; se recommandant aussi aux prières de tous ceux qui
+     l'entouraient. Arrivé dans une prairie devant la porte de
+     la ville, il monta sur l'échafaud d'un pas assuré; puis
+     élevant la voix:--
+
+     "'Je n'ai pas peur de la mort,' dit-il; 'encore que je ne
+     l'attendisse pas de cette sorte, mais bien les armes à la
+     main; que je plains c'est tout le sang que le mien fera
+     couler. Monseigneur ne laissera point ce jour sans
+     vengeance pour moi. Je ne regrette ni ma vie, ni mon
+     corps. J'étais homme--priez pour moi.' Il s'entretint
+     encore un instant avec son confesseur, présenta la tête et
+     reçut le coup."--M. DE BARANTE, tom. x. p. 197.
+
+
+     TRANSLATION.
+
+     "Such was the detestation in which this cruel governor was
+     held, that multitudes flocked in from all quarters to be
+     present at his trial. He heard from his prison the bridge
+     re-echo with the tread of horses, and would ask of his
+     jailer respecting those who were arriving, whether they
+     might be his judges, or those desirous of witnessing his
+     punishment. Sometimes the jailer would answer, 'These are
+     strangers whom I know not.'--'Are not they,' said the
+     prisoner, 'men meanly clad, tall in stature, and of bold
+     mien, mounted on short-eared horses?' And if the jailer
+     answered in the affirmative, 'Ah, these are the Swiss,'
+     cried Hagenbach. 'My God, have mercy on me!' and he
+     recalled to mind all the insults and cruelties he had
+     heaped upon them. He considered, but too late, that their
+     alliance with the house of Austria had been his
+     destruction.
+
+     "On the 4th of May, 1474, after being put to the torture,
+     he was brought before his judges in the public square of
+     Brisach, at the instance of Hermann d'Eptingen, who
+     governed for the Archduke. His countenance was firm, as
+     one who fears not death. Henry Iselin of Bâle first spoke
+     in the name of Hermann d'Eptingen, who acted for the lord
+     of the country. He proceeded in nearly these
+     terms:--'Peter de Hagenbach, knight, steward of my lord
+     the Duke of Burgundy, and his governor in the country of
+     Seratte and Haute Alsace, was bound to observe the
+     privileges reserved by act of compact, but he has alike
+     trampled under foot the laws of God and man, and the
+     rights which have been guaranteed by oath to the country.
+     He has caused four worshipful burgesses of Seratte to be
+     put to death without trial; he has spoiled the city of
+     Brisach, and established there judges and consuls chosen
+     by himself; he has broken and dispersed the various
+     communities of burghers and craftsmen; he has levied
+     imposts of his own will; contrary to every law, he has
+     quartered upon the inhabitants soldiers of various
+     countries, Lombards, French, men of Picardy and Flemings,
+     and has encouraged them in pillage and disorder; he has
+     even commanded these men to butcher their hosts during
+     night, and had caused boats to be prepared to embark
+     therein women and children to be sunk in the Rhine.
+     Finally, should he plead the orders which he had received
+     as an excuse for these cruelties, how can he clear himself
+     of having dishonoured so many women and maidens, even
+     those under religious vows?'
+
+     "Other accusations were brought against him by
+     examination, and witnesses proved outrages committed on
+     the people of Mulhausen, and the merchants of Bâle.
+
+     "That every form of justice might be observed, an advocate
+     was appointed to defend the accused. 'Messire Peter de
+     Hagenbach,' said he, 'recognises no other judge or master
+     than my lord the Duke of Burgundy, whose commission he
+     bore and whose orders he received. He had no control over
+     the orders he was charged to execute;--his duty was to
+     obey. Who is ignorant of the submission due by military
+     retainers to their lord and master? Can any one believe
+     that the landvogt of my lord the Duke could remonstrate
+     with or resist him? And has not my lord confirmed and
+     ratified by his presence all acts done in his name? If
+     imposts have been levied, it was because he had need of
+     money; to obtain it, it was necessary to punish those who
+     refused payment: this proceeding my lord the Duke, and the
+     Emperor himself, when present, have considered as
+     expedient. The quartering of soldiers was also in
+     accordance with the orders of the Duke. With respect to
+     the jurisdiction of Brisach, could the landvogt permit any
+     resistance from that quarter? To conclude, in so serious
+     an affair,--one which touches the life of the
+     prisoner,--can the last accusation be really considered a
+     grievance? Among all those who hear me, is there one man
+     who can say he has never committed similar imprudences? Is
+     it not evident that Messire de Hagenbach has only taken
+     advantage of the good-will of some girls and women, or, at
+     the worst, that his money was the only restraint imposed
+     upon them?'
+
+     "The judges sat for a long time on the tribunal. Twelve
+     hours elapsed before the termination of the trial. The
+     Knight of Hagenbach, always calm and undaunted, brought
+     forward no other defence or excuse than what he had before
+     given when under the torture; viz. the orders and will of
+     his lord, who alone was his judge, and who alone could
+     demand an explanation. At length, at seven in the evening,
+     and by the light of torches, the judges, after having
+     declared it their province to pronounce judgment on the
+     crimes of which the landvogt was accused, caused him to be
+     called before them, and delivered their sentence
+     condemning him to death. He betrayed no emotion, and only
+     demanded as a favour, that he should be beheaded. Eight
+     executioners of various towns presented themselves to
+     execute the sentence; the one belonging to Colmar, who was
+     accounted the most expert, was preferred.
+
+     "Before conducting him to the scaffold, the sixteen
+     knights, who acted as judges, required that Messire de
+     Hagenbach should be degraded from the dignity of knight,
+     and from all his honours. Then advanced Gaspar Hurter,
+     herald of the Emperor, and said:--'Peter de Hagenbach, I
+     deeply deplore that you have so employed your mortal life,
+     that you must lose not only the dignity and honour of
+     knighthood, but your life also. Your duty was to render
+     justice, to protect the widow and orphan, to respect women
+     and maidens, to honour the holy priests, to oppose every
+     unjust outrage: but you have yourself committed what you
+     ought to have opposed in others. Having broken, therefore,
+     the oaths which you have sworn, and having forfeited the
+     noble order of knighthood, the knights here present have
+     enjoined me to deprive you of its insignia. Not perceiving
+     them on your person at this moment, I proclaim you
+     unworthy Knight of St. George, in whose name and honour
+     you were formerly admitted in the order of knighthood.'
+     Then Hermann d'Eptingen advanced. 'Since you are degraded
+     from knighthood, I deprive you of your collar, gold chain,
+     ring, poniard, spur, and gauntlet.' He then took them from
+     him, and, striking him on the face, added:--'Knights, and
+     you who aspire to that honour, I trust this public
+     punishment will serve as an example to you, and that you
+     will live in the fear of God, nobly and valiantly, in
+     accordance with the dignity of knighthood, and the honour
+     of your name.' At last the provost of Einselheim, and
+     marshal of that commission of judges, arose, and
+     addressing himself to the executioner,--'Let justice be
+     done.'
+
+     "All the judges, along with Hermann d'Eptingen, mounted on
+     horseback; in the midst of them walked Peter de Hagenbach
+     between two priests. It was night, and they marched by the
+     light of torches; an immense crowd pressed around this sad
+     procession. The prisoner conversed with his confessor,
+     with pious, collected, and firm demeanour, recommending
+     himself to the prayers of the spectators. On arriving at a
+     meadow without the gate of the town, he mounted the
+     scaffold with a firm step, and elevating his voice,
+     exclaimed:--
+
+     "'I fear not death, I have always expected it; not,
+     indeed, in this manner, but with arms in my hand. I
+     regret alone the blood which mine will cause to be shed;
+     my lord will not permit this day to pass unavenged. I
+     regret neither my life nor body. I was a man--pray for
+     me!' He conversed an instant more with his confessor,
+     presented his head, and received the blow."--M. DE
+     BARANTE, tom. x. p. 197.
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S NOTES.
+
+
+(_a_) p. 3. Laupen and Sempach. The former battle was fought in 1339,
+and resulted in a triumph of the city of Berne over the neighbouring
+_noblesse_. Sempach (July 9, 1386) was the famous victory of Uri,
+Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Lucerne over a much larger force of Austrian
+chivalry. Leopold III. and Arnold von Winkelried fell in this action.
+
+(_b_) p. 6. "A large body of whom had long since invaded the Forest
+Cantons." This foray was called the English, or Gugler, war (1374-75).
+Enguerrand (Ingelram) de Coucy, husband of Isabella, daughter of
+Edward III., was endeavouring to gain some towns in the Aargau, which
+he claimed through his mother, Catherine, daughter of Leopold III.,
+who fell at Sempach in 1386. Many Englishmen served under Enguerrand:
+they were routed in the Entlibuch, in 1375, by the men of Lucerne,
+Schwyz, Berne, and Unterwalden.
+
+(_c_) p. 65. "The war of Zurich." Civil war, mainly arising from the
+conquests and ambitions of the Cantons, broke out in 1436, and, with
+intervals, lasted till 1450. Zurich renounced the Hapsburg alliance,
+and most of her lost lands were restored by her opponents, the
+Confederates.
+
+(_d_) p. 86. "The Chapel of St. Jacob." Zurich was defeated at St.
+Jacob, on the Sihl, in 1443. There was also a battle near the Leper
+hospital of St. Jacob on the Birs, on August 26, 1444.
+
+(_e_) p. 100. "_Usum non habeo._" The reference, of course, is to
+David's refusal of armour before his duel with Goliath.
+
+(_f_) p. 113. "The Duke of Burgundy's possessions in Alsatian
+territory." A history of these complex matters cannot be written in a
+note to a romance. The reader who is anxious for information may
+consult Mr. Kirk's "Charles the Bold," vol. ii. book iv. ch. iv.
+(London, 1863). Mr. Kirk supplies an interesting defence of Hagenbach,
+and does not believe in a spontaneous popular insurrection, caused by
+his tyranny. The intrigues of Louis XI. receive the credit, or
+discredit, of the whole affair, which culminated in the ruin of
+Burgundy. The Swiss declared war "simply as the strong, intelligent,
+hired bravoes of a foreign potentate, too weak, too timid, or too
+crafty to strike with his own hand."
+
+(_g_) p. 214. "Double gangers." This is the appearance described and
+criticised by Mr. Kirk in his "Secret Commonwealth" (1691) as "The
+Co-Walker." The learned author explains that we have all our spiritual
+shadows in the "Secret Commonwealth": it is these which are sometimes
+seen when the real human being is not present. The end of the
+"Co-Walker" is that he "goes to his own herd." Goethe is said to have
+seen his own co-walker, and the same experience occurred to a living
+person of the Editor's acquaintance, in the open air, where no mirror
+could account for the hallucination. Even the sceptical Lucretius
+admits the existence of such apparitions, which he explains by what
+Kirk calls "exuvious fumes." The passage is not very intelligible,
+because the author's ideas were not very distinct.
+
+(_h_) p. 299. "A tall man, attired in red." The headsman was, in fact,
+"a short man with a short sword," the executioner of Colmar (Kirk,
+"Charles the Bold," ii. 240). Hagenbach was racked four times before
+his death. "Schilling confesses that a general sympathy was excited by
+Hagenbach's Christian-like demeanour." His real name was Peter. Mr.
+Kirk endeavours to "whitewash" Hagenbach. As that unfortunate hero had
+"a gaunt countenance deeply caved between the jaw-bones, and restless
+searching blood-shot eyes" ("Vitæ SS. Gervasii et Prothasii," 1506),
+we may presume that his character was unamiable.
+
+          ANDREW LANG.
+
+     _May 1894._
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY.
+
+
+     =Abye=, to pay the penalty of, to atone for.
+
+     =Aigrette=, a plume of feathers.
+
+     =Alembic=, an old chemical apparatus or vessel, used for
+     distilling.
+
+     =Astucious=, astute, shrewd, cunning.
+
+
+     =Baaren-hauter=, a nickname for a German private soldier.
+
+     =Ban-dog=, a large fierce dog.
+
+     =Banneret=, a standard-bearer.
+
+     =Banquette=, the walk behind the parapet of a fortress.
+
+     =Barbican=, the outwork defending the gate of a fortress.
+
+     =Bartizan=, a small overhanging turret or projecting
+     parapet.
+
+     =Brache=, a kind of sporting dog.
+
+     =Braggadocio=, a blusterer, a boaster.
+
+
+     =Caftan=, a long robe worn by men in the East.
+
+     "=Cour plénière=," in ancient French history a gathering of
+     all a king's vassals.
+
+     =Cresset=, a large kind of candlestick for holding a small
+     fire or illuminant.
+
+
+     =Dalmatic=, =dalmatique=, a long ecclesiastical robe.
+
+     =Diet=, the national assembly.
+
+     =Doomsmen=, all who gathered at the doom, or great popular
+     court of the ancient Scandinavians.
+
+     =Dorf=, a village.
+
+     =Double-ganger=, =Doppelgänger=, a spectral counterpart of a
+     living person.
+
+
+     =Earth-shoot=, a landslip.
+
+     =Emprise=, feat, enterprise.
+
+     =Espadon=, a long heavy sword.
+
+
+     "=Fain, to make one=," to please, to give pleasure or joy
+     to.
+
+     =Faustrecht=, the right claimed by the petty barons of the
+     Empire to wage private warfare.
+
+     =Folter-kammer=, a torture-chamber.
+
+
+     =Gammon=, a smoked ham.
+
+     =Gauds=, trinkets, ornaments.
+
+     =Gear=, business, affair; property.
+
+     =Geierstein=, vulture-stone.
+
+     =Graffs-lust=, the count's delight.
+
+
+     =Hauberk=, a shirt of mail.
+
+     =Hauptman=, a captain.
+
+     =Hundred=, an old subdivision of the English counties.
+
+
+     =Kreutzer=, a German copper coin, worth one third of a penny
+     English.
+
+
+     =Lammer-geier=, the bearded vulture.
+
+     =Landamman=, the chief magistrate in a Swiss canton.
+
+     =Landvogt=, a bailiff.
+
+     =Lanzknecht=, a German mercenary soldier.
+
+     =Largesse=, a free distribution of money.
+
+     =Leaguer=, a camp.
+
+     =Losel=, a slothful person.
+
+     =Lyme-hound=, a large dog.
+
+
+     "=Maen Gorsedd=," the stone of the British bards.
+
+     =Mail=, a trunk.
+
+     =Mainour=, a thing stolen, discovered in the hands of the
+     thief.
+
+     =Malecredence=, mistrust.
+
+     =Merlin=, a kind of hawk, formerly trained to hunt game
+     birds.
+
+     =Minnesinger=, a poet-minstrel of mediæval Germany.
+
+     =Montero-cap=, a horseman's scarlet cap of fine Spanish
+     cloth trimmed with fur.
+
+     =Morisco=, a Moor of Spain.
+
+
+     =Palmer=, a pilgrim to the Holy Land.
+
+     "=Par amours=," forbidden love.
+
+     =Partisan=, a kind of pike or halberd.
+
+     =Peltry=, skins and furs of wild animals.
+
+     =Pight=, pitched, placed, fixed.
+
+     =Ptisan=, a decoction of barley.
+
+
+     =Rigadoon=, a dance with a peculiar hopping step.
+
+     "=Roba di guadagno=," profitable goods.
+
+     =Romaunt=, a story or tale in verse.
+
+
+     =Saltire-wise=, two lines crossing one another diagonally
+     like a St. Andrew's cross.
+
+     =Samite=, a textile made of gold cloth or satin.
+
+     =Schlaf-trunk=, a sleeping-draught.
+
+     =Schwarz-bier=, black beer.
+
+     =Schwarz-reiter=, a German mercenary horse-soldier
+
+     =Seigniory=, the right of ownership vested in a feudal
+     superior or lord.
+
+     =Shaveling=, a priest.
+
+     =Soothfast=, true, worthy of belief.
+
+     =Stoup=, a drinking-cup.
+
+     =Strappado=, a cruel form of military punishment.
+
+     =Strick-kind=, the child of the cord--the prisoner on trial
+     before the Vehmic Tribunal.
+
+     =Switzer=, a native of Switzerland.
+
+
+     =Thane=, intermediate between a freeman and a noble.
+
+     =Treillage=, trellis-work.
+
+
+     =Vail=, to doff, to lower, to take off.
+
+     =Verjämbt=, condemned by the Vehmic Tribunal.
+
+     =Vestiary=, a room for keeping vestments.
+
+     =Visne=, venue, the place where a law action can be tried.
+
+
+     =Wapentake=, an old subdivision of the English counties.
+
+     =Warrand=, a defender.
+
+     =Wassail=, ale or wine sweetened and flavoured with spices.
+
+     =Welked=, marked with protuberances or ridges.
+
+     =Wimple=, a shawl worn by women out of doors.
+
+     =Wroge=, =Vroge=, lists of offences that called for the
+     attention of the court.
+
+
+     =Yung-herr=, =Jung-her=, =Junker=, a young man.
+
+
+     =Zechin=, a Venetian gold coin, worth from 9_s._ to 10_s._
+
+
+
+
+     END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+     _Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+     _Edinburgh and London._
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization (e.g. his
+grace/Grace) in the original document have been preserved.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43678 ***