Chillon thy prison is a holy place, And thy sad floor an altar-for 'twas trod, Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, ADVERTISEMENT. WHEN this poem was composed, I was not sufficiently aware of the history of Bonnivard, or I should have endeavoured to dignify the subject by an attempt to celebrate his courage and his Vues. With some account of his life I have been furnished, by the kindness of a citizen of that republic, which is still proud of the memory of a man worthy of the best age of ancient freedom :'François de Bonnivard, fils de Louis de Bonnivard, originaire de Seyssel et Seigneur de Lunes, naquit en 1496. Il fit ses études à Turin: en 1510 Jean Aimé de Bonnivard, son oncle, La résigna le Prieuré de St Victor, qui aboutissait aux murs de Genève, et qui formait un bénéice considérable. 'Ce grand homme-(Bonnivard mérite ce titre par la force de son âme, la droiture de son cur, la noblesse de ses intentions, la sagesse de ses conseils, le courage de ses démarches, Itendue de ses connaissances, et la vivacité de son esprit), - -ce grand homme, qui excitera l'admaration de tous ceux qu'une vertu héroïque peut encore émouvoir, inspirera encore la plus vive reconnaissance dans les cœurs des Génévois qui aiment Genève. Bonnivard en fut toujours un des plus fermes appuis pour assurer la liberté de notre République, il ne craignit pas de perdre sucvent la sienne; il oublia son repos; il méprisa ses richesses; il ne négligea rien pour affermir le bonheur d'une patrie qu'il honora de son choix: dès ce moment il la chérit comme le plus zevé de ses citoyens; il la servit avec l'intrépidité d'un héros, et il écrivit son Histoire avec la naveté d'un philosophe et la chaleur d'un patriote.. I. dit dans le commencement de son Histoire de Genève, que, dès qu'il eut commencé de lire Ikistoire des nations, il se sentit entraîné par son goût pour les Républiques, dont il épousa toupurs les intérêts: c'est ce goût pour la liberté qui lui fit sans doute adopter Genève pour sa patrie. Bonnivard, encore jeune, s'annonça hautement comme le défenseur de Genève contre le Duc De Savoye et l'Evêque. En 1519, Bonnivard devient le martyr de sa patrie. Le Duc de Savoye étant entré dans Geneve avec cinq cent homines, Bonnivard craint le ressentiment du Duc; il voulut se retirer à Fribourg pour en éviter les suites; mais il fut trahi par deux hommes qui l'accompagnaient, et aduit par ordre du Prince à Grolée, où il resta prisonnier pendant deux ans. Bonnivard était ruheureux dans ses voyages: comme ses malheurs n'avaient point ralenti son zèle pour Genève, était toujours un ennemi redoutable pour ceux qui la menaçaient, et par conséquent il devait re exposé à leurs coups. Il fut rencontré en 1530 sur le Jura par des voleurs, qui le dépouilléPat et qui le mirent encore entre les mains du Duc de Savoye : ce Prince le fit enfermer dans le hâteau de Chillon, où il resta sans être interrogé jusques en 1536; il fut alors delivré par les Pois, qui s'emparèrent du Pays de Vaud. Bonnivard, en sortant de sa captivité, eut le plaisir de trouver Genève libre et réformée : la erublique s'empressa de lui témoigner sa reconnaissance, et de le dédommager des maux qu'il it soufferts; elle le reçut Bourgeois de la ville au mois de Juin, 1536; elle lui donna la maison chée autrefois par le Vicaire-Général, et elle lui assigna une pension de deux cent écus d'or at qu'il séjournerait à Genève. Il fut admis dans le Conseil de Deux-Cent en 1537. Ennivard n'a pas fini d'être utile: après avoir travaillé à rendre Genève libre, il réussit à la zdre tolérante. Bonnivard engagea le Conseil à accorder aux ecclésiastiques et aux paysans Items suffisant pour examiner les propositions qu'on leur faisait; il réussit par sa douceur : prêche toujours le Christianisme avec succès quand on le prêche avec charité. Bonnivard fut savant: ses manuscrits, qui sont dans la bibliothèque publique, prouvent qu'il Et bien lu les auteurs classiques Latins, et qu'il avait approfondi la théologie et l'histoire. Ce and homme aimait les sciences, et il croyait qu'elles pouvaient faire la gloire de Genève; aussi De négligea rien pour les fixer dans cette ville naissante; en 1551 il donna sa bibliothèque au hic; elle fut le commencement de notre bibliothèque publique; et ces livres sont en partie les es et belles éditions du quinzième siècle qu'on voit dans notre collection. Enfin, pendant la me année, ce bon patriote institua la République son héritière, à condition qu'elle employerait Liens à entretenir le collège dont on projettait la fondation. Il parait que Bonnivard mourut en 1570; mais on ne peut l'assurer, parcequ'il y a une lacune as le Nécrologe depuis le mois de Juillet, 1570, jusques en 1571. I. My hair is grey, but not with years; Nor grew it white In a single night,* As men's have grown from sudden fears: My limbs are bow'd, though not with toil, But rusted with a vile repose, For they have been a dungeon's spoil, And mine has been the fate of those I suffer'd chains and courted death: Proud of Persecution's rage; For the God their foes denied ;- II. There are seven pillars of Gothic mould, And in each ring there is a chain; For in these limbs its teeth remain, With marks that will not wear away, Till I have done with this new day, Which now is painful to these eyes, Which have not seen the sun so rise For years-I cannot count them o'er; I lost their long and heavy score When my last brother droop'd and died, And I lay living by his side. III. They chain'd us each to a column stone, Ludovico Sforza, and others.-The same is asserted of Marie Antoinette's, the wife of Louis XVI., though not in quite so short a period. Grief is said to have the same effect; to such, and not to fear, this change in hers was to be attri buted. And thus together-yet apart, A grating sound-not full and free As they of yore were wont to be: It might be fancy-but to me They never sounded like our own. IV. I was the eldest of the three; And to uphold and cheer the rest I ought to do-and did-my best, And each did well in his degree. The youngest, whom my father loved, Because our mother's brow was given To him-with eyes as blue as heaven, For him my soul was sorely moved. And truly might it be distress'd To see such bird in such a nest; For he was beautiful as day (When day was beautiful to me As to young eagles, being free)A polar day, which will not see A sunset till its summer's gone, Its sleepless summer of long light, The snow-clad offspring of the sun : And thus he was as pure and bright, And in his natural spirit gay, With tears for nought but others' i.ls. And then they flow'd like mountain ris Unless he could assuage the wee Which he abhorr'd to view below. V. The other was as pure of mind. With joy-but not in chains to pine: And so perchance in sooth did mine. But yet I forced it on to cheer Those relics of a nome so dear. He was a hunter of the hills, Had follow'd there the deer and wolf; To him this dungeon was a guif, And fetter'd feet the worst of ills. VI. Lake Leman lies by Chillon's walls: A thousand feet in depth below Its massy waters meet and flow; Thus much the fathom-line was sent And then the very rock hath rock'd, VII. I said my nearer brother pined, I said his mighty heart declined, He loathed and put away his food: It was not that 'twas coarse and rude, For we were used to hunters' fare, And for the like had little care: The milk drawn from the mountain goat Was changed for water from the moat; Our bread was such as captives' tears Have moisten'd many a thousand years, Since man first pent his fellow-men Like brutes within an iron den; But what were these to us or him? These wasted not his heart or limb; My brother's soul was of that mould Which in a palace had grown cold, Had his free-breathing been denied The range of the steep mountain's side. But why delay the truth?-he died. I saw, and could not hold his head, Nor reach his dying hand-nor deadThough hard I strove, but strove in vain, To rend and gnash my bonds in twain. He died-and they unlock'd his chain, And scoop'd for him a shallow grave Even from the cold earth of our cave. I begg'd them, as a boon, to lay His corse in dust whereon the day The Chateau de Chillon is situated between Clarens and Eleneuve, which last is at one extremity of the Lake of Gea. On its left are the entrances of the Rhone, and opte are the heights of Meillerie and the range of Alps above overet and St Gingo. Near it, on a hill behind, is a torrent; below it, washing its all, the lake has been fathomed to the depth of 800 feet French measure); within it are a range of dungeons, in which e early reformers, and subsequently prisoners of state, were ested Across one of the vaults is a beam black with age, which we were informed that the condemned were formerly ecuted In the cells are seven pillars, or rather eight, one g half merged in the wall; in some of these are rings for eters and the fettered. In the pavement, the steps of anvard have left their traces. He was confined here eral years. by this castle that Rousseau has fixed the catastrophe This Heloise, in the rescue of one of her children by Julie the water; the shock of which, and the illness produced the immersion, is the cause of her death. The chateau is large, and seen along the lake for a great tence. The walls are white. Might shine-it was a foolish thought, VIII. But he, the favourite and the flower, I knew 'twas hopeless, but my dread I call'd, and thought I heard a sound- I only lived-I only drew The accursed breath of dungeon-dew; |