"Who spilleth life, shall forfeit life,

So bid thy lord believe;

That lawless love is guilt above,

This awful sign receive."

He laid his left palm on an oaken beam;
His right upon her hand;

The lady shrunk, and fainting sunk,
For it scorched like a fiery brand.

The sable score, of fingers four,
Remains on that board impressed;
And for evermore that lady wore
A covering on her wrist. 11

There is a Nun in Dryburgh bower,
Ne'er looks upon the sun:
There is a Monk in Melrose tower,
He speaketh word to none.

That Nun, who ne'er beholds the day,
That Monk, who speaks to none-
That Nun was Smaylho'me's Lady gay,

That Monk the bold Baron.

11. On her wrist. There is an old tradition that the bodies of certain spirits and devils are scorchingly hot, so that they leave upon anything they touch an impression as of red-hot iron.

43

ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED 1

JAMES MONTGOMERY

"Make way for Liberty!"-he cried: Made way for Liberty, and died!

In arms the Austrian phalanx stood,
A living wall, a human wood!

A wall, where every conscious stone
Seemed to its kindred thousands grown;
A rampart all assaults to bear,

Till time to dust their frame should wear;
A wood, like that enchanted grove

In which with fiends Rinaldo 2 strove,
Where every silent tree possessed
A spirit prisoned in its breast,

Which the first stroke of coming strife
Would startle into hideous life;

So dense, so still, the Austrians stood,
A living wall, a human wood!
Impregnable their front appears,
All horrent with projected spears,

Whose polished points before them shine,
From flank to flank, one brilliant line,
Bright as the breakers' splendors run
Along the billows to the sun.

1. This poem is based upon the achievement of Arnold von Winkelried at the battle of Sempach, in which the Swiss insurgents in the fourteenth century secured the freedom of their country from Austria.

2. Rinaldo. A hero of many early romances, French and Italian.

3.

Opposed to these, a hovering band

Contended for their native land:

Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke
From manly necks the ignoble yoke,
And forged their fetters into swords,
On equal terms to fight their lords,
And what insurgent rage had gained
In many a mortal fray maintained;
Marshalled once more at Freedom's call,
They came to conquer or to fall,
Where he who conquered, he who fell,
Was deemed a dead, or living Tell! 3
Such virtue had that patriot breathed,
So to the soil his soul bequeathed,
That wheresoe'er his arrows flew,
Heroes in his own likeness grew,
And warriors sprang from every sod
Which his awakening footsteps trod.

And now the work of life and death
Hung on the passing of a breath;
The fire of conflict burnt within,
The battle trembled to begin;

Yet, while the Austrians held their ground,
Point for attack was nowhere found,
Where'er the impatient Switzers gazed,
The unbroken line of lances blazed;
That line 't were suicide to meet,

And perish at their tyrants' feet,-
How could they rest within their graves,
And leave their homes the homes of slaves?
Would they not feel their children tread
With clanging chains above their head?

Tell. William Tell, a famous Swiss legendary patriot.

It must not be: this day, this hour,
Annihilates the oppressor's power;
All Switzerland is in the field,
She will not fly, she cannot yield,--
She must not fall; her better fate
Here gives her an immortal date.
Few were the number she could boast;
But every freeman was a host,
And felt as though himself were he
On whose sole arm hung victory.

It did depend on one indeed;
Behold him,-Arnold Winkelried!
There sounds not to the trump of fame
The echo of a nobler name.

Unmarked he stood amid the throng,
In rumination deep and long,

Till you might see, with sudden grace,
The very thought come o'er his face,
And by the motion of his form
Anticipate the bursting storm,
And by the uplifting of his brow

Tell where the bolt would strike, and how.

But 't was no sooner thought than done,
The field was in a moment won:-

"Make way for Liberty!" he cried,
Then ran, with arms extended wide,
As if his dearest friend to clasp;
Ten spears he swept within his grasp.

"Make way for Liberty!" he cried; Their keen points met from side to side; He bowed amongst them like a tree, And thus made way for Liberty.

Swift to the breach his comrades fly;
"Make way for Liberty!" they cry,
And through the Austrian phalanx dart,
As rushed the spears through Arnold's heart;
While, instantaneous as his fall,
Rout, ruin, panic, scattered all;
An earthquake could not overthrow
A city with a surer blow.

Thus Switzerland again was free;
Thus death made way for Liberty!

44

THE DEFENSE OF THE ALAMO 1

JOAQUIN MILLER

Santa Anna came storming, as a storm might come;
There was rumble of cannon; there was rattle of blade;
There was cavalry, infantry, bugle and drum—
Full seven proud thousand in pomp and parade,
The chivalry, flower of all Mexico;

And a gaunt two hundred in the Alamo !

1. At the beginning of the war for the independence, of Texas, Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, attacked the Alamo, a fortified convent, held by about a hundred and fifty men under William Travis. February 24, 1836, Travis sent out a letter "to the people of Texas and all Americans in the World," as follows:

"Fellow citizens and compatriots-I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I call on you in the name of Liberty, of Patriotism, and everything dear to American character, to come to our aid with all despatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country, Victory or Death!"

The little garrison at the Alamo held the Mexicans in check until other Texan forces were organized. When, however, Houston hurried forward to relieve the besieged, he received word that Santa Anna had captured the Alamo and that every man who defended its walls had died at his post.