; 
564° 
- fir rank, determined to bear the honour 
of the day. Several of his friends withed 
to perfuade the duke to remain on horfe- 
back a fpectator of the battle; but the 
~gallant chief refufed ; «*I fight,”* faid he, 
** for my friends and my inheritance— 
God forbid that you fhould die and I live 
in profverity: I will divide with you the 
good and the bad—to- day I will e:ther die 
with my knights and my febjeéts, or 
enjoy the victory with them.” The two 
bands advanced—the Aufirian confifted of 
4000 men, the flower of Germany ; their 
cuirafies were proof, and their long lances 
kept the enemy at a diftance: forming an 
‘oblong battalion, they advanced flowly, 
in clofe array, like a moving citadel of 
fteel. The Swifs were about 1300 men, 
il armed, witheut cuirafles, having only 
‘a fhort halbert and fword, and a little 
target on their arms to parry the firft 
blows. ‘They drew up im a triangular 
ficure; and, prefenting one angle, they 
began theattack. But all their attempts 
‘were vain to penetrate the hoftile battalion; 
they were transfixed by the long lances of 
the Auftrians before their fhort halberts 
€ould reach them. They had already 
made feveral unfuccefsful attacks, 60 of 
them had fallen, and not one of the enemy 
had perified: Helvetic liberty had per- 
haps been at anend, but Arnold Win- 
chelried turned towards his countrymen, 
“CT. will die,” faid he, ‘¢for you and for 
eur country—take. care of my wife and 
children, remember me—and follow !”’ 
At thefe words he put himfelf at the head 
ef the triancle—threw down his arms— 
caught hold of as many lances as he couid 
graip, and fuffered himfelf to be naiied 
cown to the fpot where he fell, to open 
the path of victory to his countrymen. 
The Swifs then pierced the Auftrian bat- 
tallion—wielded their halberts on all fides, 
and foon put the foe torout. The Auf- 
tiians; heavily armed, overcome with laf- 
fitude and heat, and encumbered with 
their loog lances, had in their turn the 
difzdvantage: the nobles regretted their 
horfes when it was tco_late—they were 
now abandoned to the mercy of the enemy: 
they conjured the Duke at leaft to retire; 
bur the magnanimous prince replied, «God 
forbid that IT fhould fly—-have fo many 
brave men, counts, lords, knights, and 
infantry, expofed their lives for me, and 
fuali I abandon them ?—No, I had rather 
Sonour than live withowr it.” 
feeing the Auftrian banner in dan- 
: the 
dig with 
T bea 
ger of being takeng and hegri: 
fanca:id-beascrs call for at 
; 
From the Port. folio of a Man of Letters. 
! “ 
-[fulyt 
threw him(elf into thé thickeft of the fight,” 
ran ‘to his banner, and perifhed in its 
defence. Such was the glorious end of 
this prince, in the 30th year of his age. 
Near ‘700 gentlemen remained ftretched 
aroun’ him on the field of battle. Many 
great houfes were annihilated, and there 
was fcarce a family in Upper Germany, 
Alface, and Swabia,which was not plunged - 
in mourning. The ftandard-bearer was 
found dead, with part of the fiag ftill in 
his mouth; he had fwallowed the reft to 
prevent it from falling into the hands of the 
enemy. The Duke’s body was carried 
away in a cheft that had been filled with. 
ropes, deftined to hang the inhabitants of 
Sempach. Melanges Helvetiques. 
SWISS-HEROISM. 
In 1499, during the wars of Swabia, 
a heroic act was performed in a fkirmifh 
near Werdenbers, by a Swifs named’ 
Jehan Vonvals. This gallant foldier made 
head alone, and defended a-pafs againt& 
20 men atarms. He.had already oyver- 
thrown three of them with his pike, when. 
the others, aftonifhed at his valour, pro- 
mifed him good quarter, took him back 
with them into their camp, and returned 
him without doing him the leaft harm. 
He had more generous foes to deal wittt 
than Ulric Rothae cf Appenzel. In the 
wars of his country againft the Houfe of 
Auftiia, this brave man, being furprifed 
by twelve Aulirians, fought alone again& 
them, and killed five ; the ‘even, defpairing 
of victory, fet fire to the cabin on the top of , 
which he had pofted himfelf, and bafely 
deftroyed- him in the flames. A chureh 
has fince been built on the fpot. Ibid. 
AN, AMICABLE SUIT. 
In the canton of Schwitz, many years 
ago, a perfon named Frantz came one 
evening to Gafpard, who was working is 
his field, and faid to him, ‘* Friend, it is 
now mowing-time; we have a difference 
about a meadow, you know, and I have 
got the judges to meet at Schwitz to 
determine the caufe, fince we cannot do it 
for ourfelves ; fo you muft come with me 
‘before them tomorrow.”? ‘“ You fee, 
rantz,’? replied Gafpard, “that I have 
mown all this field, I mut get in this hay 
to.morrow, I cannot poflibly leave it.” 
<¢ And” rejoined Franiz, “ I cannot fend 
away the judges now they have fixed the 
day ; and, belides, oneought toknow whom 
the ficid belongs to before it is mown,” 
They difouted the matter fome time: at 
length Gafpard faid to Frauz, “ I will 
. teld 
Ses = 
