in the Burgundian wars, the Swiss could have but little confidence in imperial rulers. The position of the Eidgenossen was indeed much like that of the Americans three hundred years later. They refused allegiance to a government which placed burdens upon them, but in which they had little or no share. Maximilian threatened the Swiss with invasion, whilst his chancellor proposed to bring his pen to bear upon them. But a Swiss envoy replied to the monarch that he would be very ill-advised to start on such a venture, whilst to the chancellor he said, "Why, sir, should we fear your goose quills? We are known not to have feared your Austrian lances." For the first time, perhaps, the Swiss truly realized that they were in a singularly independent position, and needed no foreign support for their protection. The truant child had grown strong and self-reliant, and would certainly decline to give up his dearly-bought and much-cherished freedom. This stout refusal, the great friendship of the Swiss for France--for since the days of St. Jacques they had been slowly drifting to the French side--and their independent bearing, nettled beyond measure their Swabian neighbours. Mutual recriminations and accusations followed, and the desire of both sides for war was intensified by vexatious lawsuits, and by serious troubles in the Grisons. At last the flame burst forth. That "Rocky Island" where three Swiss nationalities mingle peacefully together, afraid of falling beneath the Habsburg sway--for the Austrian and Rhætian lands were still inextricably mixed together--sought shelter with the Eidgenossen as Zugewandte connections (1497 and 1498), the Zehngerichte excepted. The Tyrolese Government, seizing on this occurrence as a pretext, summoned the Swabian League to its aid, and sent troops into the Münsterthal in the absence of the monarch. The Bündner replied by calling in the Confederates, and war was soon raging along the whole line of the Rhine, from Basel to the borders of Voralberg and the Grisons. The deliverance of Rhætia (Graubünden) thus went step by step with the separation of the Swiss League from the empire. This war, called the Swabian war, from the people who took the most prominent part in it, glorious though it was in many ways, cannot be described in detail here. Maximilian was drawn into the struggle, but his troops never entered into the spirit of the enterprise, and were completely routed. No Swiss war has been more fruitful in glorious deeds and acts of self-sacrifice. As an example we may just allude to the noble courage of Benedict Fontana, the chieftain of the Gotteshausbund. He led the charge on the strong fortress deemed impregnable in the narrow valley, An der Calven (Chialavaina), on the Tyrolean frontier. Lacerated by a bullet he nevertheless covered his wounds with one hand, fighting with the other till he fell exhausted, calling to his troops, "Onward, comrades! I count but for one man; to-day we are Rhætians and