Macaulay holds that intense patriotism and high courage are peculiar to people congregated in small spaces. Acts of unflinching bravery and of a noble self-immolation in the cause of conscience, duty, and freedom have been conspicuous in Swiss history. As habits of courage are formed by continual exposure to danger, the hazardous state, the perils and hardships which they hourly encountered, braced their nerves to enterprises of hardihood and daring. Turbulent times created a necessity for great sacrifices and daring exploits, and on the same principle, that the supply of a commodity in transactions of commercial life is generally found to be commensurate with the demand, the frequent call for heroic achievements raised up the patriots who were to perform them. There may be something in the deeply religious character of the Swiss favorable to this virtue. Cicero maintained that a belief in the immortality of the soul and a future state of rewards and punishments was indispensable to the steady sacrifice of private interests and passions to the public good. Some, perhaps, in their brighter visions of fancy, would aspire to those blessed abodes amidst the laurel groves of Paradise, which the poet of Mantua has assigned to the self-devoted victims of patriotic enthusiasm: “Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi.”[107] The renown, likewise, of the heroes of ancient stories is indebted for no inconsiderable portion of its brightness to their mode of warfare, which, by rendering personal courage more effective, rendered it at the same time the object of higher estimation. Prodigies of valor, by which the fate of a kingdom is decided, are now rarely performed, and victory inclines much more to the side of skill than either of physical strength or individual prowess. With the Swiss no fable hangs about the deeds of William Tell and Arnold Winkelried or the battles of Morgarten, Sempach, and St. Jacob. They are the common glory of the people, their most cherished heritage; but it is in William Tell their pride centres. His very name to this day stirs the Swiss heart with the deepest emotions of pride and patriotism. All the mementoes connected with his history are cherished with the fondest affection and veneration. Tell’s chapel is the Mecca of all Switzerland. The admiration for his character is an unbounded national passion. Every emotion of patriotism, national gratitude, and ardent love of liberty seems to find its readiest mode of utterance in passionate expressions regarding this heroic man. Ballads are sung to his memory, and in every popular gathering one may hear the familiar words from the old Swiss song,-- “William Tell, he scorned the hat, To death condemned was he for that, Unless an apple, on the spot, From his own child’s head he shot.”