Page:The Diary of Dr John William Polidori.djvu/173

Rh years against the French in 93. It was the only part of the country in which they did so, except Unterwalden, and then it was only the peasants, and in every village there was a French party. The cruelty of the French was dreadful; they stuck their prisoners in a variety of ways like sheep. One old man of eighty, who had never left his house but whom they found eating, they strangled, and then put meat and bottles by him as if he had died apoplectic. They fought very hard and bravely, but such was the power of numbers united to the force of treachery that they were obliged to yield. In 1813, after the French had quitted Brieg, they again attempted to penetrate from Italy by the Simplon; when the Brieg, Kelor[?], and other villagers, joined by only one company of Austrians, surrounded them in the night, and took them prisoners. In Schwytz[?] and Unterwalden the division was more strongly marked. In Unterwalden (where was the scene) the men[?] divided and fought against each other, some joining the French from Stanz[?] to Engelberg. They were for freedom, and fought as the cause deserved. They killed 5000 French, more than double their own number; women fought; they were in all 2100 Swiss. One maid in the ranks, when her comrades were obliged to retreat, seeing a cannon yet unfired, went with a rope-end and fired it, killing