Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/127

Rh the threatening words to the cruel bailiff, who had compelled him to do it. A statue of Tell stands in the market-place, which represents him at the moment after the fortunate flight of the arrow, with his child pressed to his heart. The paintings, both within and without the houses, represent passages from his life. One of these gives Bürglen as the place of his birth, not far from Schächenbach, where he met his death, as tradition states, in an attempt to save the life of a child during a flood. In a word, every thing here teems with the memory of Tell, who, singularly enough, became in the popular mind, the peculiar hero of the contest for Swiss liberty, whilst, in fact, there is not any thing particularly great or noble in the actions which are related of him, and whilst the learned critic doubts whether he ever had an existence at all; but, with all due respect to his superior wisdom, it seems to me a little short-sighted and stupid; for a great smoke does not rise without any fire, and that which has taken such firm hold of the popular mind and feeling, must, of a certainty, have its root in reality, however poetry may, of late, have adorned or misstated it. Even if there be no mention of Tell in the chronicles or narratives of those times amongst the men who formed the Confederacy of Grutli; nay, if his name never appeared with these until long afterwards, that is no argument against his still being in direct connection with the Sworn-Confederates, through his actions, as a man of courage and lover of freedom, who fought for freedom in his own way, and in that manner which Providence and the occasion inspired. The picturesque and