THE first of the above series of works | of Zwingli's works. However, the task is an act of somewhat tardy justice to the great national Reformer of Switzerland. It was hardly to have been anticipated that three centuries should pass before the appearance of a really complete edition

has now been competently performed;
and although we could have wished for a
Latin translation of the two volumes of
German writings, so that the entire por-
tion might be intelligible to those who
could read three quarters of the whole,
we are bound to speak in favorable terms
of the manner in which Messrs. Schuler
and Schulthess have performed their
office. The introductory notices are at
once terse and full of information; and
the collection, especially under the head
many
of Epistolæ, has been enriched with
additions. It was in this latter most
unpretending portion of the volumes that
the greatest amount of research was in-
volved; and M. Schulthess did not live
to see the issue of the last volume from
the press.
It is a favorable sign that

1

2

ZWINGLI AND THE SWISS REFORMATION.

[September,

there should exist so great a demand for | In the summer season its inhabitants drive

the writings of the Protestant champion
as to authorize such an undertaking.

It is of no small moment to the knowledge of any important epoch, that we should be thoroughly acquainted with the lives of the principal actors on the scene. Great and energetic men give an impulse to the events of their times; and this was especially true in the case of Zwingli. Yet although he commenced preaching the Gospel at so early a period as to make it doubtful whether he or Luther sounded the first note of war against Rome--although his views on the sacraments, and other most important subjects, are identical with those held by a vast body amongst ourselves town of Zurich, of which he was pastor, and although the became united to the English Reformers by closer ties than any other city on the continent of Europe, we believe that the facts of Zwingli's life are very little known in this country, as compared with the fame of Martin Luther. It will be from no lack of interest in the mode of treatment, or in the subject-matter itself, if this reproach be not largely remedied by Messrs. Clarks' edition of Christoffel's memoir. But other lives of Zwingli are not wanting: there is one by M. Schulthess, the same (unless we are mistaken) who was joint editor of the works; another, by Hess, had been given in an English dress; Hottinger's admirable volume, perhaps even now the most popular of all in Switzerland, is a third; whilst the short sketches of Myconius, Zwingli's intimate friend, and that of Melchior Adam in the Vita Germanorum Theologorum are now lying before us.

Zwingli was born at Wildhaus, in the valley of Toggenburg, on the first of January, 1484. His father was Ammann or magistrate of the village; his mother, Margaritha Meili, came of an honorable family. Eight sons and two daughters sprang from this worthy pair, of whom Ulrich was the third in order of birth. The house of Zwingli was in good repute amongst its neighbors, and to their free election the Ammann owed his magisterial rank; whilst two uncles, whose kindness greatly influenced Zwingli's future career, were respectively dean of Wesen and abbot of Fischingen, in the Canton Thurgau.

The little village of Wildhaus lies high beneath the summit of the snow-clad Alps.

their cattle to the loftiest regions, and, attendants, hasten to gather in their leaving them under the charge of a few scanty harvest. In the winter, round the blazing log-fire, they recount the perils borne in defense of their freedom, or while away the long dark hours with the strains of rustic music. mode nearly three hundred years ago, Such was the such is their habit at the present day. The effects of such an early training may be traced in Zwingli's career. told that when he heard how their liberty We are had been won against the hosts of Charles the Bold, the young child eagerly seized a weapon, and vowed to fight for home showed any lack of boldness; that his and freedom: we know that he never heaviest cares in future life were soothed by his great musical skill; and we may readily believe that, as he owed these traits to his early associations, so also, (as Oswald Myconius writes,) from those sublime mountain hights, which stretch upwards towards heaven, he took something heavenly and divine. Certain it is, that at an early age the boy showed a great aptitude for learning. He soon surpassed his fellows at the village school at Wesen, and was thence sent to Basle, where he was placed under the care of George Binzli, a man remarkable for the sweetness of his disposition, and one who soon became attached to his young pupil. After a three years' residence at Basle, Zwingli was removed to Berne, to attend the lectures of Henry Lupulus.

period were not of a very satisfactory The scholastic establishments of that vagabonds, settling at any place where character. The masters roamed about as they could obtain permission from the authorities; and, for the most, were themselves grossly ignorant of the topics they professed to teach. In an inscription on a painting of such a school still preserved at Basle, the master gives the following advertisement of his powers: "Is there any one here who wants to learn to read and write German in the most expeditious method imaginable? You need not know a single letter of the alphabet, but in less than no time you shall be able to keep your accounts: and if any one is unable to learn this, I agree to give him my present besides of whatever he may delessons for nothing, and to make him a mand. Any shopkeeper or apprentice,

married woman or maiden, who needs instruction, let him knock and enter; he shall be faithfully cared for, and at a fair price. But boys and young girls must write down their names to begin their lessons at the Ember Fast-days, since it is the custom. 1516." It was in classes formed under such instructors as these, where children and grown-up persons were intermingled, that the great mass of the people were instructed.

went in a body to the woods, and, having there cut plants of birch rods, they returned with their spoils, singing a song, the burden of which was, that the birch was the appointed means of directing children in the right path, and that they accordingly presented a voluntary offering of this necessary and useful implement.

But, despite this seeming severity, a frightful laxity prevailed in the manageAbove these, were the Latin colleges ment of most schools. The scholars such as that to which Zwingli resorted at wandered from place to place under the Basle. The masters were for the most pretext of seeking for instruction, but part priests, whose remuneration was pro- really in order that they might lead a vided for by some religious foundation, dissolute and vagabond life. In these or from the scanty payments of the wandering troops the eldest and strongest scholars. The educational curriculum ruled; and often, after having induced embraced Latin grammar, music, and some younger children to join them under dialectics; the latter being especially a promise of aid in their studies, no sooner valued as accustoming to a distinctive had they crossed the frontiers of their mode of expression, but which constantly canton than the latter were compelled to degenerated into the most pompous become the servants of their teachers, and verbiage. The most explicit instructions were laid down by the local governments for the guidance of the master, and the behavior of his pupils. He was to use his utmost diligence to get each one forward; was to examine them at convenient intervals; was to commence work at five in summer, six in winter; to have from ten to eleven for dinner, and to continue teaching from thence to four o'clock, except on saints' days, when there might be a half-holiday; was to teach psalms, chants, canticles, intonations, hymns, and requiems; and was to see that his pupils went quietly home, and did not become quarrelers, bravadoes, or turbulent. The pupils were to speak Latin only, save in case of necessity, in and out of school; they were to behave with decency and reverence in the church, belfry, cemetery, etc., and were not to touch or climb upon any of these ecclesiastical appurtenances. To fight with their book-bags, or to tear their clothes, or to throw stones, was strictly forbidden. For disobedience they might be birched; but the master was forbidden to hit them on the head, because, since they were young, it might injure their memory.

In those days the rod was the essential instrument of discipline. There was no sparing it and spoiling the child. There was an annual fête observed even some time after the period of the Reformation, called the "procession of the rods." On a fine summer's day, the school children

beg or steal provisions for them. Hottinger mentions the diary of a young Valaisan, who in his ninth year so attached himself to an older student, and was compelled to follow him through Germany and Poland, without learning even how to read; and who did not find any opportunity to teach himself for nine years. This person describes the miseries he endured, sleeping in winter on the bare boards of a school-house, and in summer in the long grass of the church-yards. When a band of scholars passed by, woe to the fowls, and eggs, and fruit trees in the neighborhood. Sometimes the peasants let loose their dogs upon their heels; sometimes they entertained them, listened to the story of their adventures, and joined in their debaucheries; sometimes a pedagogue appeared, strongly supported by a body-guard of attendants, who drove them into the school-room: in this latter case, the rebels would load their pockets with stones, and commence such an attack upon the enemy, that the police had to interfere.

Such were many of the schools of Switzerland in the day of Zwingli's childhood; but, by his uncle's care in the selection of a master, he was preserved from such evil influence. His mind was soon so imbued with a passion for study, that when he passed from Berne to Vienna, and at the latter place gained his first knowledge of Greek literature, (though at present only through the medium of a