H E L V 
man induftry, confining of vaft rocks, partly covered 
with eternal ice and friow-. Even of this country tlie 
boundaries are rather arbitrary than natural; though 
on the welt the mountains of Jura form a grand divifion 
from France, and on the fouth the Pennine Alps a par¬ 
tial barrier from Italy. On the eaft lies the territory of 
Tyrol; and on the north is Suabia, containing as it were 
an excrefcence of SwifTerland on the other fide of the 
Rhipe, the fmall canton of Schaff haufen. 
Modern Helvetia included, in addition to the ancient, 
a large part of Rhaetia. The Helvetii,.after their re- 
pulfe by Caefar, found on their return that their numbers 
were reduced to a third ; and that the Rhseti, who, till 
the reign of Aitguftus, remained unmolefted, were then 
almoft totally extirpated. In the divifion of the pro¬ 
vinces which Augultus made with the fenate, Gaul, 
including Helvetia, was one of thole which he referved 
for his own cognizance'; and, in forming this feleCtion, 
lie had particularly in view the military forces which 
its fituation rendered necelfary, and of which he would 
have the difpofal. The civil government was admi- 
niftered by lieutenants immediately dependant on the 
emperor, who were the commanders in chief of the 
forces, and invefled'with the fupreme judicial authority. 
The financial department was intruded to officers de¬ 
nominated the procurators of Casfar ; who were gene¬ 
rally freedmen, devoid of all lhame, and guilty of 
boundlefs oppreffions. The multiplied imports charged 
on the Helvetians rendered them dear purchafers of the 
fine arts, the fciences, the civilization, and the improved 
police, which it was the boaft of the Romans to have 
introduced among them. An infcription found in the 
ruins of ^he ancient Vindonitfa commemorates Manlius 
Cordus, who had been a receiver of the taxes, and 
gives him the furname of Rapax. The modern Helve¬ 
tians have been vifited by exactors in no degree inferior 
to Cordus: but we believe that they have been lefs in¬ 
genuous,, and have notfo honeftly defignated themielves 
as the Roman pillager did. 
In a later divifion of Gaul by Augurtus, Helvetia 
^formed a part of the great Lyonefe Province, of which 
Lyons was the capital.. It next formed a part of the 
new kingdom of Burgundy ; the laft monarch of which, 
Rodolph III. bequeathed it to the emperor Henry II. 
This bequeft was the origin of the fupremacy of the 
empire over Helvetia. 
Among the families which had early ftruck deep 
root in Helvetia, were the towering houfe of Hapfburg, 
that of SavOy, fo well known to hirtory, and that of 
Zaeringen, fo honorably dirtinguifhed in the early annals 
of this country ; the dukes "of which houfe were the 
beneficent founders of its cities, and the liberal grantors 
of the privileges to which thefe owed their fubfequent 
profperity. . Early in the thirteenth century, died Ber- 
thold V. laft duke of Zaeringen, and the imperial 
vicegerent over Burgundian Helvetia. At this time, 
the Helvetic territory was divided between counts, 
great barons, and religious houfes, who were in almoft 
all refpeCts independent. The counts of greateft note 
were thofe of Kyburg,. Hap.'burg, and Tockenburg; 
and.fcarcely inferior to thefe, were thofe of 'Rapper- 
fchwyl and Neufchatel : from the latter of which 
the houfe of Orange derives its origin. Among the pre¬ 
lates, the mod dirtinguifhed were the bi/hops of Lau- 
fanne, Sion, Bafil, Coire, and the abbot of St. Gall. 
Among the cities, Zurich held the fit ft place, for it was 
the ftaple of the commerce between France and Italy. 
Conftance was a bifliop’s fee ; the emperor often re- 
fided there ; an imperial governor held his tribunal, in 
which juftice was adminiftered according to the written 
law of the Germans ; his decrees were confirmed by the 
people; and the fubjeCts enjoyed the privilege of 
being tried by their peers. Bafil was the largeft city in 
Helvetia. Soleure and Schaffhaufen were free and 
ftourifhkig. Berne was diltingui'ftied by the polleflion 
E T I A, 367 
of the moft liberal franchifes. The counts of Savoy 
were rifing to a great power in the fouth of Helvetia. 
The inhabitants of Uri, Schwitz, Underwalden, and the 
Upper Hafli, formed communities which enjoyed great 
privileges, and were governed by magiftrates of their 
own. The extinction of the houfe of Suabia, and the 
confequent feeble ftate into which the empire fell, which 
continued till the acceffion of Rodolph, greatly favoured 
the attempts at independence made by the chiefs and free 
communities of Helvetia, as well as thofe of other powers. 
The Schwitzers, the valiant founders of Helvetic li¬ 
berty, and of the confederacy which afterwards became 
fo formidable a power, believe themfelves to be of 
Scandinavian origin: but they were fo inconfiderable 
about the beginning of the twelfth century, that nei¬ 
ther they nor their valleys were known to the imperial 
court. Mr. Planta’s recent defeription of theftn, and 
of their refidence, well deferves to be tranferibed: 
“ Amidft gay meadows, at the foot of a lofty mountain, 
the Hakin, and not far from the banks of the lake of 
Lucerne, flood its capital burgh Schwitz, from which 
all Helvetia has fince derived its name and independence. 
The fides of the furrounding mountains are variegated 
with gay verdure, and the dufky hue of pine foreft’s : 
leveral of their fummits are bare rocks. This alternate 
mixture of dreary wafte, of fertile lawns', of fcatteied 
dwellings, and peaceful flocks and lhepherds wandering 
on the downy turf; the variety of glowing tints dis¬ 
played by the funbeams on the mafly rocks; the fplendour 
of the lake, the purenefs of the air; the confcioufnefs. 
of fecurity, derived, not from artificial fences, but from 
the perpetual bulwarks of infurmountable precipices ;■ 
the eafe and freedom of a paftoral life ; all tended to- 
infpire this people with a contented cheerfulnefs, and 
dauntlefs intrepidity, to which they owed the ardent 
love of independence, which to our days has eminently 
dirtinguifhed them even from their free-minded neigh¬ 
bours and confederates.” 
The early hirtory of Rodolph count of Hapfburg 
(i. e. previous to. his being elected emperor of Germany J; 
belongs to the hirtory of Helvetia. He had reached 
only his twenty-fecond year, when his father Albert, 
who was odious to the Swifs on account of his rigour in 
the office of imperial commiffary, died on a diftant 
pilgrimage. Albert’s fhaie of the eftates of Hapfburg 
devolved to Rodolph ; but a great part of the hereditary 
domains <?f his houfe was in the hands of Tiis paternal 
uncle, likewife named Rodolph, who, with his five 
fons, lived at Lauffenburg on the Rhine. The property 
Rodolph inherited was moderate : his lands were all in 
fight of the great hall in his caftle. Some advocacies 
extended his influence to moTe diftant parts; but the 
power annexed to the title of landgrave of Alface, to 
which he fucceeded, was, by the refractory fpirit of the 
times, rendered almofj nugatory. In the eager purfuit 
of his ambitious views, he defpifed the tardy means of 
prudence, and fuftered the vehemence of his temper to 
betray him into indiferetions, which, in men lefs auda¬ 
cious, would have led to ruin. Before the age of forty 
he had already incurred the odium of his whole family, 
been difinherited by, his maternal uncle the count of 
Kyburg, and twice excommunicated by the church. 
His firft coriteft was with his uncle of Lauffenburg, whom 
he taxed with having made an unfair partition of the 
family eftates : but the helplefs debility of the old 
count was fo effectually protected by his fon Godfiied 1 ,. 
that Rodolph foop beheld from his- caftle the flames 
which confumed his principal town of Bruckand was 
compelled to acquiefce in the grant the old count made 
of the caftle of New Hapftmfg, on the lake of Lucerne, 
to the nunnery at Zurich. He next gave offence to his 
uncle Hartman, who had no iflue; and extorted from 
him a large fu’m, as-a compenfation for his claim upon 
the eftates of Kyburg : Hartman complied, that he 
might transfer the bulk of his property to the lee of 
Stralburg; 
