ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



485 



Rudolph held the Swiss in high 

 estimation, and was accustomed to 

 tell them ' that he should ever con- 

 sider them as his meritorious and 

 darling children ; and as such would 

 maintain them in the immediate 

 protection of the empire, and re- 

 serve themforthe most important of 

 its services.' 



The author thus expresses him- 

 self, when speaking of the house of 

 Austria : ' Few virtues, and a stUl 

 smaller share of magnanimity, but a 

 happy coincidence of circumstances, 

 and above all an inflexible adhe- 

 rence to a system of aggrandizement, 

 have since raised this house to the 

 highest rank in the Christian world.' 



When the bishop of Basle heard 

 of Rudolph's elevation, he is said to 

 have exclaimed ; " Sit firm, good 

 lord of Heaven, or this man will 

 drag thee from thy throne." 



In a note, we met with the fol- 

 lowing passage : ' The line of dukes 

 was of the Capetian race ; the 

 father of Hugh Capet appearing in 

 the tenth century with the title of 

 duke of Burgundy. Otho his 

 second son, continued this branch, 

 which descended through twenty 

 generations to Charles the Bold, 

 who perished at Nancy, and left 

 his extensive dominions to his only 

 daughter Mary, by whose marriage 

 with the emperor Maximilian the 

 first, they devolved to the house of 

 Austria.' Whether this inaccuracy, 

 which in point of language is obvi- 

 ous, extends to the author's mean- 

 ing, we shall not presume to ascer- 

 tain. Mr. Planta must know that, 

 in the above period, the duchy of 

 Burgundy reverted twice to the 

 crown, and that there were two 

 distinct dynasties of reigning dukes ; 

 both, indeed, of the Capetian 

 race. 



Chap. VI. is occupied by coun- 

 cils, scenes, and names worthy of 

 the best days of ancient Greece. 

 The reader of sensibility will not 

 peruse it without feeling his mind 

 inspired with patriotic ardour, with 

 a noble disdain of slavery, with a 

 proud sense of the rights of hu- 

 manity, with a calm fortitude, and 

 with a firm repose in Providence, 

 such as animated the venerable 

 fathers of Swiss liberty ; nor can it 

 fail to excite reverence bordering 

 on idolatry, for those persons whose 

 names, as Voltaire observes, would 

 have been better known to fame, 

 had they been less uncouth. The 

 traits which distinguish an artless, 

 courageous, free-born people, the 

 goading and w\inton oppressions of 

 petty authority, and the lofty des- 

 potism of a high-minded prince, are 

 here ably sketched. The author 

 transports us to the period of which 

 he writes ; we engage in the deli- 

 berations of the time ; we assist in 

 expelling the bailiffs ; we re- 

 joice over Geisler's fall ; we forget 

 the crime while we feel the distrac- 

 tions of Albert's assassins ; and our 

 blood freezes at the recital of the 

 horrors committed under the orders 

 of the relentless Agnes. 



In Chap. VII. the heroism of the 

 Schwitzers, or the people of 

 Schwitz, Uri, and Underwalden, is 

 seen in action. The following is 

 the account of the important and 

 memorable battle of Morgarten : 



'The fifteenth of October, of 

 the year thirteen hundred and fif- 

 teen, dawned. The sun darted its 

 first rays on the shields and armour 

 of the advancing host : their spears 

 and helmets glistened from afar ; 

 and, this being the first army ever 

 known to have attempted the fron- 

 tiers of the cantoris, the Swiss view- 



