WILLIAM, a celebrated Swiss patriot, was born at the village of Bürglen, near Altorf, towards the end of the thirteenth century. All that is known regarding him is, that he was a simple countryman, whom the tyranny of Austria roused to madness, and whom foreign persecution galled into an heroic resistance, on which all Europe, and indeed all the world, has since not ceased to look and take courage. The common account of his story is, that Tell and his boy passing one day through the market-place of Altorf, in which was erected, by order of Hermann Gessler, one of the bailiffs of Albert I., the ducal hat of Austria, that every Swiss who passed by might show the tokens of his surrender, it was observed that Tell neglected to uncover his head as he passed beneath the imperial symbol of submission. He was seized and taken before Gessler. The German tyrant having learned that Tell was an excellent Bowman, ordered him to shoot an apple from his own child's head, under penalty of immediate death. He performed the feat. Disappointed and chagrined at his success, Gessler demanded why a second arrow was still in his quiver. "Had the first hit my boy," replied Tell, boldly, "the second was designed for thy heart." The offender was at once seized, bound, and preparations made to convey him in a boat across the lake of Lucerne to the Castle of Küssnacht, where Gessler resided, and whither he was himself proceeding. One of those sudden squalls, which are so apt to vex inland lakes, overtook the boat, unmanned the rowers, and rendered the craft quite unmanageable. Tell, who was known to be an experienced boatman, was unfettered, the rudder put into his hand, and immediately, as by magic, the little ship wore round, and stood steadily for a flat shelf which jutted forth on the rocky margin of the lake. As she neared the shore Tell started to his feet, clutched his trusty bow, and by a nimble spring gained the rock, and pushed back the boat into the surf. The storm was steadily abating, and Gessler and his men got safely landed. Tell selected a narrow defile where he knew Gessler must pass, and, true to his resolution, shot the tyrant through the heart. This occurred in 1307, and the wars of the Swiss and the Austrians did not terminate till 1499. Tell sinks from view with this event, and nothing more is heard of him, save that he fought at the battle of Morgarten, and was drowned in 1350 while fording the swollen river Schächen.

Many modern historians, while admitting the unquestionable picturesqueness and beauty of Tell's story, feel bound to reject it as an authentic historical record. In proof of their position, they allege that a similar story is told in the Wilkina Saga, and by Saxo Grammaticus, of a Danish king Harold and one Toko. They affirm that substantially the same story occurs in Swiss history as early as the twelfth century. And to crown the pile of counter argument, it has recently been found, they aver, in 1835, that the name of Gessler does not occur as an Austrian bailiff in the records of that age. In the face of all this scepticism of Grimm, Ideler, and others, there are nevertheless a number of facts of undoubted genuineness regarding Tell still left, on which the poetical and patriotic, with Johann von Müller among their number, may erect as trustworthy a belief as almost any which is disclosed to

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1 Annual Biography and Obituary, vol. xix. p. 298. us by the stern historical muse. Foremost of those facts is this, that no later than 1388, when the celebrated Tell chapel was built, some hundred and fourteen persons visited the place who had known the hero himself. Add to this, that all the chroniclers of the time allude to Tell's adventure as something of quite notorious occurrence.

The story has no doubt received a few embellishments, and perhaps inconsiderable alterations, as it has floated down the stream of centuries. All the essentials of the Swiss hero's adventures are very likely to have transpired upon Swiss soil. In truth, the narrative is (like many other traditions found in the page of history) properly representative, and as such it may well take its place among the semi-fabulous, semi-historical traditions, of which early history is in a great measure composed.

Tell's adventures have frequently been the subject both of poems and of dramas. The only one of those poetical compositions that claims mention here is the celebrated drama of Wilhelm Tell, by the poet Schiller.