Like the rest of northern Switzerland, Lucerne was subject to the house of Austria until 1332, when its people joined the league of the forest cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, thus forming the fourth in date of the confederation. They bore their share in the brilliant victory of Sempach, fought in ] 386 near the village of that name, ami in 1402 acquired the Entlebuch by purchase from the Austrian duke. The government was until the end of the 18th century an oligarchy in the hands of a few families, but in 1798 the French invasion substituted democratic institutions. These, with several changes all tending to give more complete power to the people, have continued to the present time. The constitution now in force dates from the 17th February 1869, and is based on the principle which prevails throughout the whole of Switzerland, that the sovereign power is vested exclusively in the people, but may be exercised either directly or through delegates elected by universal suffrage. Lucerne formerly sent a contingent of 1734 men to the federal army, but according to the latest return the number of men belonging to the canton on the rolls (in 1879) was 5176. In 1846 Lucerne took a leading part in the formation of the Soηderbuηd, a league of several of the Catholic cantons to oppose forcible resistance to the decree of the federal government for the expulsion of the Jesuits from Switzerland. In the brief campaign that ensued in the following year, the forces of the Sonderbund were utterly routed, and after a few days the conflict ceased. Since that date the canton seems to have enjoyed complete internal tranquillity. Lucerne has produced a fair proportion of men who have distinguished themselves in science, literature, philosophy, and art. Among many others whose reputation is confined to their own country, the names of the naturalists Cappeler and Lange, the historians Etterlin and Balthasar, and the philosopher Troxlerhave acquired more permanent reputation.

Lucerne, the chief town of the Swiss canton of that name, stands on both banks of the Reuss, where that river issues from the north-west end of the chief arm of the lake of Lucerne. The position of the town is singularly beautiful. Beyond the lower hills, rich with planting and cultivation, which slope towards the shores of the lake and the river, loftier summits of very varied form rise in the background. Most prominent of these is the many-peaked Pilatus, only about 7 miles distant, while the double summit of the Mythen, at the opposite end of the lake, is flanked by other less imposing summits, amongst which the Righi draws attention, owing to the fame of its panoramic view. The picturesque aspect of the town is much enhanced by the ancient walls, now partly removed, and the circular or octagonal towers which surround it. One of these, called the Wasserthurm, rising from the water’s edge, is said to have served as a lighthouse (lucerna), and to have originated the name of the town and canton. The town appears to owe its origin to a Benedictine monastery which stood on the site of the present Hofkirche. The buildings which clustered round gradually increased, until, early in the 14th century, the walls were erected for protection, and bridges were carried across the river. The Rathhaus, which is the seat of the cantonal Government, is an ancient building adorned with wood carving and quaint pictures. In a large hall are preserved the portraits of the chief magistrates (Schultheissen) from the earliest times to the year 1814. The libraries of Lucerne are said to possess the most complete and important collection of documents connected with the history of Switzerland during the Middle Ages. The town library, now in the museum, contains about 12,000 volumes, and is especially rich in manuscript chronicles. The cantonal library, reckoned at over 80,000 volumes, with many incunabula, was chiefly formed from the libraries of suppressed monasteries. Other curious books are to be found in the library of the Capuchins at Wesemlin outside the town.

Besides two modern bridges which span the river, there are two wooden causeways, roofed over, and passable only on foot, which anciently served the wants of the inhabitants; a third, the longest of all, was removed in the progress of modern improvements. Of those remaining, the more ancient, called the Mühlbrücke, was adorned with illustrations of the “Dance of Death,” a favourite subject with German and Swiss mediaeval artists; though much injured by time, they are still visible. The other wooden bridge—the Kapellbrücke—is decorated with numerous paintings representing events in Swiss history and in the lives of Saints Leodegar and Mauritius, the patrons of the city. The principal church, which has little architectural merit, possesses a fine organ. Along with various religious and charitable institutions which seem fully adequate to the wants of the population, a museum has been opened of late years which, among various other objects, contains an interesting archaeological collection, going back to the prehistoric period, and including relics of historical interest, such as trophies taken on the field of Sempâch, formerly preserved in the arsenal. The town contains one object of genuine artistic interest—the colossal lion designed to commemorate the men of the Swiss guard who fell in the defence of the Tuileries in Paris on the 10th August 1792. The idea, which might easily have led an inferior artist into extravagance and vulgarity, was well suited for the simple and manly genius of Thorwaldsen, who supplied the model; and, although the execution is necessarily somewhat rude, the effect is touching and impressive. In an architectural point of view the most notable part of the town is the wide quay formed on land reclaimed from the lake in 1852, planted on one side with trees, and on the other showing a succession of those great hotels which everywhere in Switzerland have been built to accommodate and to tempt the strangers who annually resort to the country. This constant flow of visitors has led to a large increase of population; that of Lucerne, which twenty years before was little over 10,000, was 17,850 at the census of 1880. (j. b.)

LUCERNE, Lake of, the name given by foreigners to the Vierwaldstättersee, or lake of the four forest cantons of Switzerland. Only a small portion of its shores lie within the canton of Lucerne, but the name has been taken from the most considerable town which it approaches. Lying on the north-west side of the Alps of central Switzerland, this lake has extraordinary interest for the physical geographer, for the lover of natural scenery, and for all who feel sympathy with the story of Swiss independence. Like most of the other Alpine lakes, it lies altogether among the Voralpen, or outer ranges of the Alps, but is remarkable for the extreme irregularity of its form, which suggests problems of much difficulty to the orographer. The great majority of the Alpine lakes occupy depressions or excavations in a single line of valley; and, so far as their form is concerned, the facts appear to be equally reconcilable with the views of those geologists who believe the lake basins to have been hollowed out by great glaciers as with those which refer their origin to disturbances of relative level, and restrict the action of the ancient glaciers to a secondary part in the result. The Lake of Lucerne, however, appears to occupy portions of four different valleys, orographically distinct, and connected only by narrow and tortuous channels. Commencing at its eastern extremity, we have the portion called the Bay of Uri, which at its southern end receives the considerable stream of the Reuss, bearing down the drainage of the Alps adjoining the pass of St Gotthard. This extends from south to north about 8 miles, with an average breadth of less than 2 miles, enclosed between steep limestone mountains rising from 4000 to 5000 feet above its surface. At the north end of the Bay of Uri a low tract, only a few miles in width, divides the shore of the lake from the little Lake of Lowerz, and another similar tract divides the latter from the Lake of Zug, so that it seems natural to conclude that if the Bay of Uri had been excavated by ice action it would have retained its original direction and carried the waters of the Reuss to the Lake of Zug. In point of fact the channel of the lake is bent abruptly westward round the promontory of Treib, and extends in the same direction nearly 10 miles, with the local designation of Buochsersee. But this channel is closed at its western end by a low neck of land, and the passage for navigation is through a narrow strait, less than half a mile wide, which connects the Buochsersee, lying south of the Bürgenstein and the Vitznauerstock, with a third basin occupying the bottom of the valley which lies north of those ridges. Proceeding westward along this latter portion of the lake, we find two deep bays, several miles in length, opening on either hand, while a third extends somewhat north of west to the town of Lucerne. The bay on the left hand, opening towards the south west, is called the Alpnachersee, while that on the opposite or north-east side is the Bay of Küssnacht. At the central point where these meet it is seen that they lie in a continuous line of valley extending from the Briinig Pass to the Lake of Zug, as the Bay of Küssnacht is separated from the latter only by a low isthmus. Those who refuse to regard glaciers as the chief agents in the excavation of lake basins ask how it can be supposed that a glacier from the valley of the Reuss could have accomplished the hollowing out of the middle portions of the lake, and further inquire whether the glacier from the valley of Sarnen, which is supposed to have excavated the bays of Alpnach and Küssnacht, should not have also cleared away the isthmus between the latter and the Lake of Zug, leading the drainage of the lake in that direction. The question as to the true origin of lake basins in the Alps cannot be satisfactorily discussed until their forms have been determined by numerous and accurate soundings, and this has as yet been done for the Lake of Como alone. The greatest depth hitherto measured in the Lake of Lucerne is 1040 feet, but no connected series of soundings appear to have as yet been macle. The mean height of the surface above the sea-level is 1437 feet, or 68 feet higher than the L ike of Zug.

The irregularity of its form is the chief cause of the unequalled variety which characterizes the scenery of the Lake of Lucerne, but the geological structure of the mountains that enclose it much enhances the effect. Its eastern portion lies amid the Secondary limestone rocks which are everywhere in the Alps marked by sharp peaks and ridges and precipitous crags; the middle part is enclosed by great masses of Tertiary conglomerate, called in Switzerland Nagelfluhe, which constitutes such mountains as the Righi and the Bürgenstein, showing steep faces with gently sloping summits; while the western extremity is surrounded by swelling hills richly planted and dotted with bright looking hamlets or solitary farm-houses. The forests which once covered the greater part of this region, and give the local designation to the four original cantons of Switzerland, have been extensively thinned, but enough yet remain to add another element to the charms of the scenery. Vineyards with their formal rows of stakes are scarcely seen on the shores of the lake, but orchards surround most of the houses, and the walnut grows to great perfection. Lucerne is the only town on the lake. Altdorf, the chief town of Uri, stands nearly 2 miles from the head of the Bay of Uri, and Schwyz, capital of the canton of that name, is more than 3 miles from the shore; but since the introduction of steam navigation several of the villages on its coast have largely increased in population.

Modern scepticism has thrown doubt upon many of the details in the popular history of the origin of Swiss independence; but it is certain that the shores of this lake nurtured the men who commenced the heroic efforts that secured freedom for their country. Here, at the beginning of the 14th century, in an age when nearly all Europe was in the hands of feudal oppressors, a handful o z mountaineers drove out the local tyrants and levelled their strong holds, and a few years later, on the fields of Morgarten and Sempach, confronted and put to flight the chivalry of Austria. The man who can visit unmoved the Griitli, the spot, overlooking the Bay of Uri, consecrated by popular tradition as the scene of the first meeting of the confederates on the night of the 7th October 1307, must be devoid of all sense of the sublime in natural scenery and of the heroic in human action.