ch or the cock, according to the means of the owner. A white
cross was stitched on the clothing in conspicuous places, and served as
a common uniform badge with the confederates.

Victories so brilliant as those of Granson, Morat, and Giornico, with a
defeat so advantageous as that of St. Jacques, spread the fame of the
mountaineers through Europe--princes eagerly sought their aid as
mercenaries; they were frequently opposed to each other in rival armies,
and as their fidelity became as well known as their courage, they were
solicited to form the body-guards of royalty.

The Swiss guards of the kings of France have a place in history. Their
honorable fidelity to Louis XVI. is known the world over. Even within
the present century the Swiss have watched at the gates of the
Tuileries, Louis XVIII. having revived the custom on his return to
France. After the Hundred Days, however, the body was finally disbanded.
To the present hour it is understood that the King of Naples and the
Pope are still (or were very shortly since) surrounded by body-guards
from the confederacy.

But much as these different wars added to Swiss glory, they were
followed by serious evils to the nation. A warlike, rapacious spirit,
and with it the love of a roving, restless life, spread with wonderful
rapidity among the people. Their mountain homes were deserted, their
lands lay fallow, their flocks were sold to procure the means of arming
themselves, employment among foreign powers was eagerly sought, and when
it could not be obtained, parties of disbanded soldiers and idle
camp-followers spread disorder through the country to such an extent
that the severest measures were resorted to, and in the space of a few
months as many as fifteen hundred vagabonds of this description were
publicly executed.

The rich spoils of the Burgundian army produced a very unhappy effect.
The gold, and silver, and jewels found in the deserted camp gave the
conquerors a taste for riches to which they had hitherto been strangers.
Formerly they had been a frugal and contented people, but a few short
years produced a very striking change in this respect; a thirst for gold
became general, bribes were openly offered and received, and foreign
coin had an all-powerful influence in directing the course of their
politics. Not only were the military openly in the pay of their
neighbors, but the public men of the different cantons were only too
well acquainted with German florins