CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF THE TYROLESE. 



131 



riously equipped, and for the most part but half-armed, all were 

 animated by the same spirit, and all felt not only the strongest 

 determination in their own mind, but the surest reliance on the 

 fidehty and courage of their associates. 



The poetical description which Mr. Scott has given of the gath- 

 ering of the Clan Alpin in Balquhidder, by the order of Roderick 

 Dhu, was here realized on a far greater scale, and in the prosecu- 

 tion of a nobler purpose. 



** From the grey sire whose trembling hand, 



Could hardly buckle on his brand ; 



To the raw boy whose shaft and bow 



Were yet scarce terror to the crow ; 



Each valley, each sequestered glen, 



Mustered its little horde of men, 



That met as torrents from the height, 



In Highland dale their streams unite ; 



Still gathering as they pour along, 



A voice more loud, a tide more strong." 



The peasantry who assembled round Inspruck amounted to 

 above 20,000 ; and having formed such hasty arrangements as 

 the exigency of the moment would permit, they commenced an 

 attack on the town. It is difficult sufficiently to admire the courage 

 of these brave men in this their first encounter with the French 

 troops. They had to cross a narrow bridge of great length, in 

 front of a battery of cannon, supported on either side by files of 

 infantry, securely posted behind walls, or within the houses. The 

 storming of the celebrated bridge of Lodi, of which so much has 

 been said, was not so perilous an enterprise as this was ; and the 

 French grenadiers who there rushed upon the Austrian battery, 

 did not require the same individual determination which was here 

 evinced by these undiscipHned mountaineers. Their first essay in 

 arms was an achievement at which the courage of most veteran 

 soldiers would have failed. 



The leaders of the charge were instantly destroyed by the mur- 

 derous fire of grape-shot, which swept the bridge ; but the firm- 

 ness and enthusiasm of the people overcame every obstacle, and 

 they succeeded in forcing the pass, and capturing the cannon 

 which defended it. The immediate consequence was, the evacua- 

 tion of the town and the lower Inn Thai by the French troops. 

 To this day, the inhabitants speak of this achievement, as well 

 they may, with exultation ; and point with pride to the walls 



