486 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



ed its long protracted line with vari- 

 ous emotions. Montfort de Tett- 

 mang led the cavalry into the nar- 

 row pass, and soon filled the whole 

 space between the mountain and 

 the lake. The fifty exiles on the 

 eminence raised a sudden shout, 

 and rolled down heaps of stones and 

 fragments of rocks among the 

 crowded ranks. The confederates 

 on the mountain, perceiving theim- 

 pression made hy this attack, rushed 

 down full speed, but in close array, 

 and fell upon the flank of the disor- 

 dered column. With massy clubs 

 they dashed in pieces the armour of 

 the enemy; and with long pikes 

 they dealt out blows and thrusts 

 wherever opportunities offered. — 

 Here fell Rudolph of Hapsburg 

 LaufFenburg, three barons of Bon- 

 stetten, two Hallwyls, three Uri- 

 kons, and four of the house of 

 Tockenburg : two Geislers were 

 likewise found among the slain; and 

 the vindictive Landenberg met his 

 doom from the hands of those he had 

 long wantonly oppressed. The 

 confederates lost a son, or cousin of 

 Walter Furst, of Uri, the lord of 

 Beroldingen, and the aged baron of 



T T • ^ 



Hospital, whom his son had in vain 

 endeavoured to dissuade from en- 

 gagingin the perilous contest. The 

 narrowness of the defile admitted of 

 noevolutions; and a slight frost hav- 

 ing injured the road, the horses 

 were impeded in all their motions : 

 many leaped from this unusual con- 

 flict into the lake ; all were startled; 

 and at length the whole column 

 gave way, and fell suddenly back 

 on the infantry, which had already 

 advanced into the pass : these saCv 

 the precipitate retreat before they 

 could Icuru its cause ; and as the 



nature of the country did not allow 

 them to open their files, they were 

 run over by the fugitives, and many 

 of them trampled to death by the 

 horses. A general rout now ensu- 

 ed : the Swiss pursued, and conti- 

 nued the slaughter : all the fifty 

 auxiliaries from Zuric fell on the 

 post that had been assigned them : 

 and Leopold was, with much diffi- 

 culty, rescued from the carnage by 

 a peasant, who, knowing the bye- 

 paths in the mountains, led him to 

 Winterthur, where the historian of 

 the times* saw him arrive in the 

 evening, pale, sullen, and dismay- 

 ed. Thus did the confederates, in 

 less than three hours, without much 

 loss, but by skilfully availing them- 

 selves of the imprudence of their 

 enemy, and by their own timely 

 and vigorous exertions, gain at 

 once a complete and decisive 

 victory.' 



From Chap. VIII. we learn that 

 Zuric, at the early period of 1335, 

 could boast of a patron of letters in 

 Roger Manesse. Political dissen- 

 sions arose, however, and chased 

 away the muses. Though it is ad- 

 mitted that power had been abused, 

 the reader is made to regret the 

 departed calm of long established 

 authority. The demagogue is ably 

 drawn in the person of Rudolph 

 Brun. Next opens before us a 

 scene in miniature not unlike that 

 which it is the misfortune of the 

 present times to witness. The free- 

 dom which the cities asserted, and 

 their rising prosperity and power, 

 roused the jealousy of surrounding 

 chieftains, united their forces and 

 councils, and impelled them to 

 hostile attacks ; and Helvetia seems 

 to have been at that time what Eu- 



* ' John of Winterthur.' 



