m:
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 MAY TREAT MORRISON 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 ALEXANDER F MORRISON
 
 M.
 
 JOAN OF ARC.
 
 HISTORY POR BOYS ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 ANNALS OF THE NATIONS OF 
 MODERN EUROPE. 
 
 JOHN G. EDGAR, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the BOYHOOD OF GREAT MEN" AND "THE FOOT- 
 
 PEINTS OF FAMOUS MEN.' 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE.
 
 ?^ 
 
 i 
 
 0>I05 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The expediency of directing the attention of boys 
 to historical knowledge will hardly be questioned by 
 any one capable of forming an opinion on such a 
 subject; and the object of the following pages is to 
 exhibit, in a manner attractive to juvenile readers, 
 the most interesting and important events in the 
 
 ^ history of modern Europe. While the most striking 
 v\ and illustrative incidents in the annals of each coun- 
 
 ^ try have been carefully selected for narration, every 
 
 ^. circumstance essential to be known in regard to the 
 rise and progress of the different European States has 
 
 ^ been mentioned, if not fully related ; and as narrating 
 "^ events which must necessarily excite interest from 
 
 ^ their magnitude and importance, from the light which 
 they throw on the period when they occurred, and 
 .from the eliccts which they have produced on suc- 
 
 ^Vvi ceeding ages, this volume will be found to contain a 
 
 ^^.^^brief, but iLsefid compendium of modern history. 
 
 '^ The advantage of such a work will not be lightly 
 
 estimated by those who are impressed with the im- 
 
 Vi
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 portance of history as a branch of education, and 
 with the still greater importance, for future enjoyment 
 and improvement, of an early taste for historical in- 
 formation. The great truths, it is true, which are 
 proclaimed by the annals of nations — the views which 
 they unfold of the systems of government under which 
 we live, the guidance which they afford in politics and 
 legislation, the peculiarities of human nature which 
 they disclose, and the lessons which they enforce by 
 examples — the last and most precious fruits of this 
 important study — are scarcely the natural and proper 
 objects of the juvenile understanding. But to enter 
 into the spirit of stirring events, to form vivid concep- 
 tions of character and incidents, to sympathize with 
 the illustrious actors on the stage of the world, and to 
 see with the mind's eye the transactions which history 
 has to record, constitute the appropriate exercise of 
 youth, and the best preparation for a more profound 
 and comprehensive knowledge. 
 
 Nor, independently of higher considerations, is this 
 exercise of small benefit, as the means of preparing 
 an unfailing source of intellectual gratification ; for, 
 wherever we turn our eyes, historical events are 
 stamped on almost every object that meets our view. 
 The galleries of art, the volumes of poetry and elo- 
 quence, the books of the law, parliamentary debates,
 
 PREFACE. « 
 
 domestic and foreign occurrences, mountains and val- 
 leys, colleges and cathedrals, the schools of learning, 
 the marts of commerce, the shores of ocean, the very- 
 stones of cities, are replete with historical associations, 
 and calculated to recall the events of by-gone ages. 
 A famiharity with history, therefore, is essential to 
 every one who would understand the world in which 
 he moves, and derive intellectual gratification from 
 the places he frequents ; and to store up such knowl- 
 edge in the mind — not bare facts, but definite and 
 adequate ideas of mighty events, and clear conceptions 
 of heroic personages — is to accumulate a treasure, 
 which will be often called for, and always found 
 invaluable. Every thing which tends to this great 
 end, a wise and judicious guide of youth will apply 
 with care and vigilance. 
 
 To assist in rendering historical knowledge interest- 
 ing, M-ithout the smallest sacrifice of accuracy, is the 
 aim of this book. The history of each of the States 
 of Europe is briefly sketched, commencing Avith that 
 of France, which is regarded by philosophers as the 
 great centre of European affairs. She has not, it is 
 true, on all occasions, marched at the head of the 
 nations of Europe. Italy took the lead of her in the 
 arts ; Germany was foremost in repressing the Papal 
 power, and paving the way for the Reformation in
 
 X PREP^ACE 
 
 religion ; while in wealth, commerce, Jiational indus- 
 try, and, above all, in self-government, England has 
 left every rival and competitor immeasurably behind. 
 Yet the whole of modern history' may, with propriety, 
 be grouped around that of France ; for even where the 
 influence of that great country has not been conspicu- 
 ously displayed, it has never ceased to affect ideas, 
 find to determine the character of that civilization, 
 which is now in full and auspicious progress. 
 
 Limited as is the compass within which so many 
 events are brought, I am not without hope that this 
 "History for Boys" will not be altogether ineffectual 
 in encouraging the youthful reader to pursue, on a 
 more extended scale, the study of that great branch 
 of human science, which one of its ancient cultivators 
 aptly described as " philosophy teaching by examples." 
 
 J. (;. E.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FA.QV 
 
 FRANCE , 13 
 
 ENGLAND 133 
 
 SPAIN 280 
 
 PORTUGAL 314 
 
 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA 323 
 
 ITA ^Y 353 
 
 SWITZERLAND 365 
 
 IJt)LLAND AND BELGIUM 375 
 
 PRUSSIA 385 
 
 DENMARK 397 
 
 SWEDEN 408 
 
 TURKEY AND GREECE 423 
 
 RUSSIA 432
 
 HISTORY FOR BOYS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 In tlic fifth century, when the Roman Empire was 
 rapidly decUuing, when the Roman legions had been 
 withdrawn from Britain, and replaced by the Saxon 
 followers of Hengist, and when the Gaulish provinces, 
 though nominally under the power and protection of 
 the Imperial eagles, only felt the weight of their 
 shadow — foremost among the Salian Franks, a fierce 
 and vigorous Germanic tribe that had forcibly occu- 
 pied the territory extending from the Rhine to the 
 Somme, was a stripling known and trusted among his 
 barbaric comrades as Clovis, the grandson of Merowig. 
 
 This military chief, though renowned as the founder 
 of a great monarchy, appears to have been in reality 
 an unmitigated savage ; but his courage was indomi- 
 table ; his skill was sufficient for a rude species of 
 warfare ; and in the eyes of associates a degree more 
 ignorant and superstitious than himself, his long, rich,
 
 14 HISTORY FOR BOYS —FRANCE. 
 
 unpolled hair, indicated a mysterious descent from the 
 Scandinaviap deities. And thus it happened, that 
 being in ■want of a king, the t-kin-clad Franks form- 
 ally el?»-aced i,he uiidri,aated Clovis on a buckler, and 
 signified, by loud acclamaliona, that he was the man 
 chosen to lead them to carnage, conquest, and plunder. 
 
 The prelates then residing in Gaul aspired, as faith- 
 ful sons of Rome, to substitute ecclesiastical ties for 
 the Imperial chain that had hitherto bound nations to 
 the Eternal City ; and were, therefore, quite the re- 
 verse of inattentive to this worshiper of Odin. AMiile 
 paying visits to the Frankish camp, they treated him 
 with flattering politeness ; and though Clovis was at 
 first so provokingly insensible to their compliments as 
 to continue the pillage of churches, Fortune ere long 
 conducted him into their subtle toils. While pursuing 
 his conquests, the untamed son of Merowig was in- 
 spired with emotions of tenderness by the charms of 
 Clotilda, daughter of a Burgundian king, and was 
 thus induced to marry the only woman of German 
 extraction who had embraced the Catholic faith. 
 
 No event could have harmonized more completely 
 with the aims and objects of the holy fathers. The 
 love and blandishments of the captivating princess not 
 only exercised a softenmg influence on the heart of 
 her untutored husband, but dissipated the heathen 
 prejudices in which he had been nurtured ; and thus 
 it came to pass, that in a conflict with some Germans 
 who rashly aspired to imitate the example of the
 
 JffONARCHY FOUNDED BY CLOVIS. 15 
 
 Franks, and appropriate the lands of the defenseless 
 Gauls, Clovis, thinking his soldiers were on the point 
 of giving way, invoked the aid of Clotilda's God, with 
 an oath to adopt the religion of his spouse if he came 
 off the field a conqueror. He was victorious, and 
 proved faithful to his vow. 
 
 The Cathedral of Rheims was the scene of the 
 Prankish warrior's admission into the Christian fold. 
 Roman art was ungrudgingly used to lend effect to so 
 signal a triumph over the powers of darkness, and to 
 render the occasion forever memorable. The edifice 
 was decorated with the images and relics of saints ; 
 garlands and tapestiy adorned the vestibule, vails of 
 divers colors modified the glare of the sun, and, in 
 costly vessels of gold and silver, quantities of the most 
 exquisite perfume burned with grateful fragrance. 
 Every thing was calculated to touch the imaginations 
 of the pagan warriors, and Clovis was impressed with 
 awe and wonder at so much pomp and splendor. 
 " Father," asked the bewildered neophyte, as the 
 Bishop of Rheims, in imposing pontificals, led him by 
 the hand to the baptistery, " is not this itself that king- 
 dom of heaven to which you have promised to con- 
 duct me?" The example of a leader so tried and tri- 
 umphant as Clovis proved contagious, and several thou- 
 sands of the sacrilegious Franks were forthwith added 
 to the Romish communion. Messengers straightway 
 conveyed to the successor of St. Peter intelhgence of 
 this important ceremony, as well as rich presents by
 
 16 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 way of tribute from the newly-converted king ; and 
 in return the Pope sent Clovis letters of congratula- 
 tion, besides conferring on him the title of " Eldest 
 Son of the Church." 
 
 From this date the progress of the Franks was 
 comparatively easy. Towns and. cities opened their 
 gates ; the Roman garrisons, with their arms and 
 standards, passed over to the service of Clovis ; and 
 at length, flushed with enthusiasm, he resolved to 
 enter Burgundy with fire and sword. Terrible was 
 the consequence. The inhabitants were mercilessly 
 slaughtered, the vines and fruit-trees wildly torn up, 
 and the convents unscrupulously pillaged. At length 
 the Burgundian king, having submitted and sworn to 
 be a tributary, Clovis retraced his steps to the north 
 of the Loire, with an enormous booty. Time passed 
 on, and the beautiful provinces occupied by the Visi- 
 goths tempted the Frankish monarch's cupidity. He 
 assembled his followers in a field, and addressed them 
 in a circle : "I like not," he said, " that these Goths, 
 who are Arians, should possess the best part of Gaul. 
 Let us go against them." The Franks were, of course, 
 delighted at the prospect of fresh plunder, and experi- 
 enced no slight joy in being led southward. Their 
 campaign was short, but decisive ; for in an engage- 
 ment at Vouglc, their arms once more proved irresist- 
 ible : Alaric, the Gothic king, fell fighting ; and the 
 countiy, as far as the Garonne, yielded to the victor. 
 
 The monarchy thus gained, with Paris for its
 
 MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 17 
 
 capital, was, on the decease of Clovis, inherited by his 
 four sons ; who, after a series of criminal, civil wars, 
 left successors so degenerate, that their noblest ambi- 
 tion was to be dragged in an easy wagon by M'ell- 
 trained oxen, their highest gratification to sit at a 
 board covered with savory viands. Thus the su- 
 preme power passed to Pepin of Heristal, and his son, 
 Charles Martel, who, as Mayors of the Palace, gov- 
 erned France and repulsed the Saracens with ability 
 and courage for a considerable period. The progeny 
 of the bold and conquering Clovis retained nothing 
 but the name of King ; and in the middle of the 
 eighth century, Pepin Ic Bref, son of Charles Martel, 
 tired of ruhng without a sceptre, dismissed Childeric, 
 the last of the Merovingians, to a monastery, and 
 openly aspired to royal rank. 
 
 In that age of rapacity, insecurity, and invasion, 
 when old empires were passing away and all things 
 becoming new, physical prowess and the defiance of 
 danger were, with reason, valued at a high rate ; and 
 Pepin, though short in stature, was endowed with 
 thews and sinews, as Mell as surpassing valor. On 
 one occasion, being present at an encounter between 
 a lion and a wild bull, which seemed on the point of 
 terminating in the fall of the ignobler beast, he sud- 
 denly turned to the assembled nobles, and pointing to 
 the combatants exclaimed, " Which of you dares to 
 separate them ?" There was no reply ; but Pepin, 
 drawing his sword, fearlessly leaped into the arena, 
 B
 
 18 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 and killed both animals. Then flinging down the 
 bloody weapon, he faced the marvehng spectators, and 
 asked, with a smile of triumph, " Well, am I not 
 worthy to be your king ?" 
 
 Arguments different, doubtless, but not less con- 
 vincing, were addressed to the Pope, whose alliance 
 was indispensable. His right to dispose of temporal 
 crowns was fully recognized ; and in requital he gave 
 a solemn sanction to the Mayor of the Palace being 
 elected King of the Franks. At the coronation, cere- 
 monies observed in the case of the Jewish kings were 
 revived. Pepin was consecrated by St. Boniface, the 
 apostle of Germany, and began to reign in 752. In 
 recompense for the Pope's timely support, he turned 
 his arms against the Lombards ; and being conscious 
 of his defective title, he strove by all legitimate means 
 to enhst the affection and sympathy of his subjects. 
 After occupying the throne with the sagacity and reso- 
 lution which characterized four generations of that 
 great Austrasian family, Pepin departed this life, hav- 
 ing, with the consent of his nobles, divided the kingdom 
 between his sons, and fimily established what was after- 
 ward known through good and evil report as the Carlo- 
 vingian dynasty. The younger of Pepin's successor 
 died soon after their wise and provident sire ; the other 
 being thereupon acknowledged as sovereign by the whole 
 nation, long survived to add a worthy mark of uni- 
 versal respect to his name of Charles, and to render that 
 of Charlemagne illustrious in the annals of the world.
 
 EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 19 
 
 Chaiiemague was, both iu a personal and intel- 
 lectual point of view, admirably fitted to be a popu- 
 lar prince and a ruler of millions. His stature was 
 tall, his countenance open, his eye large with thought 
 and beaming with intelligence, and his head shaped 
 like a dome. Within was a spirit active, ambitious, 
 and energetic ; an eager appetite for knowledge, a 
 soul that scorned danger, and a keen sense of enjoy- 
 ment. Tn an age of darkness he had so high an 
 appreciation of the blessings of education, and so much 
 care for the future, that he not only supported a mul- 
 titude of schools, but maintained a seminary in his 
 palace for the sons of magnates, to whom he is re- 
 ported to have spoken words of wisdom and enlighten- 
 ment. 
 
 The military enterprises of Charlemagne were 
 equally extensive and victorious. He first buckled 
 on his armor at the request of the Pope, dethroned the 
 King of the Lombards, and terminated their long 
 dominion in Italy. Tlien, believing himself ordained 
 to subdue the barbarians of Europe to Christianity, 
 lie resolved to prove the orthodoxy of his doctrines by 
 an appeal to the sword. The Saxons of Germany, 
 forming a number of small republics, were the first 
 whom he sought to convert. Charlemagne defeated 
 their heroic captain, Witikind, in a tough battle, 
 compelled them to receive baptism, and appointed 
 abbots and bishops to their various principalities. He 
 next marched against the Saracens, and was success-
 
 20 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 ful in subduing a portion of their territory ; but in re- 
 turning through the mountams he was worsted at 
 Roncesvalles, where perished Roland and Ohver, the 
 most famous of his twelve paladins. He redeemed 
 this disaster by new and victorious exploits ; and in 
 795 had the merit of reinstating Leo III. on the papal 
 throne, from which he had been rudely dragged. 
 The Pope proved by no means uugi'ateful for so emi- 
 nent a service. On the Christmas of 800, while 
 Charlemagne was kneeling at prayer within the 
 basilica of St. Peter, Leo approached, and placed the 
 imperial crown on his brow. He Avas immediately 
 saluted with the title of Augustus, and from that day 
 considered himself a true successor of the Roman 
 Emperors of the AVest. For the purpose of watching 
 and restraining the Saxons, who were not fully sub- 
 dued till 804, he made Aix-la-Chapelle the capital of 
 his empire, and enriched his palace with the marbles 
 of Ravenna and the spoils of the other Italian cities. 
 After a brilliant and distinguished career, Charle- 
 magne expired in his seventy-second year, and went 
 down to his tomb in imperial robes, leaving the crown, 
 won with valor and defended with genius, to his sole 
 surviving son, Louis le T>choyinaire. 
 
 The first measure to which the new Emperor — a 
 weak, but beneficent man — asked the assent of the 
 Cliamp cle Mars — the Frankish comitia — was one to 
 associate his heir, Lothaire, with him on the throne ; 
 while to the other sons, Pepin and Louis, he granted
 
 SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 21 
 
 Aquitaine and Bavaria. The three princes thus 
 handsomely provided for were perpetually at feud, till 
 they discovered a bond of union in the unnatural reso- 
 lution to make war against their too-indulgent father. 
 Alleging that he intended to create out of their king- 
 doms a patrimony for their youngest brother, Charles 
 the Bald, they cast the Emperor into prison, and 
 compelled him publicly to perform a humiliating 
 penance in the cathedral of Soissons. The exemplary 
 Louis regained his liberty, but the memory of the 
 shame and abuse he had undergone brought him 
 down with sorrow to the grave, and his parricidal 
 son, Lothaire, assumed the imperial diadem. 
 
 A new civil war broke out among the brothers, and 
 a sanguinary battle was fought in the vicinity of Au- 
 xerre, when no fewer than a hundred thousand men are 
 said to have fallen. At last, after a long period of 
 fearful anarchy and confusion, Charles the Bald ob- 
 tained the imperial crown, shorn as it was of dignity ; 
 and he diminished its influence still farther by ren- 
 dering titles and tenures hereditary. 
 
 It was during this reign, while the impetuous Sara- 
 cens were desolating the southern frontiers, that the 
 fierce pirates of the North commenced their depreda- 
 tions on the coast of France. They had appeared as 
 early as the time of Charlemagne, and excited that 
 vigilant, far-seeing monarch's apprehensions for the 
 future ; but the ships of war which, for the protection 
 of trade, were stationed at the mouths of rivers, and
 
 22 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 the terror of his arms, had effectually checked their in- 
 roads. These Danes, as they were called, if from the 
 islands of the Baltic, or Normans, if from the coast of 
 Norway, were not, indeed, men to be frightened with 
 the shadow of a name or by royal ciphers. They 
 were the most reckless and barbarous of mortals, 
 prided themselves on having never slept under the 
 smoke-dried roof, nor emptied the brimming can by 
 the chimney-corner. They guided their frail barks, on 
 whose prows were gilt figures of lions, bulls, dragons, 
 or dolphins, with as much ease as a dexterous horse- 
 man reins his steed, regarded the ocean as their home, 
 and called the tempest their servant. They espe- 
 cially delighted in shedding the blood of Christian 
 priests, in desecrating churches, and in converting 
 royal chapels into stables. They tossed, without a 
 thought of mercy, unweaned infants on the points 
 of their ensanguined spears, amidst hoarse laughter ; 
 mocked the idea of tears or mourning ; and rejoiced 
 beyond measure in the din of battle and the clash 
 of steel. At the approach of death they knew no 
 fear ; for, in imagination, they saw goddesses beckon- 
 ing them to the halls of Odin, and regaled their fan- 
 cies with the anticipation of feasting in a circle in their 
 Valhalla, or paradise of heroes, waited on by the love- 
 liest of damsels, and quaffing flowing draughts of beer 
 out of huge horn cups. 
 
 In quest of, or with a view to plunder, for which 
 their appetite was insatiable, these Scandinavian
 
 EXPLOITS OF THE SEA-KINGS. 23 
 
 pirates braved countless perils, and made blood flow 
 like water. Uegner Lodbrog, one of their most cele- 
 brated and incorrigible sea-kings, after committing 
 depredations in almost every part of E urope, sailed up 
 the Seine to Paris, ravaging and slaughtering all the 
 way. He was, after thirty years of piracy, stung to 
 death by venomous snakes in the dungeoir of a Nor- 
 thumbrian prince, chanting in the hour of agony a 
 song full of savage spirit and wild hope. Hasting, 
 another sea-king, hardly less famous, though the son 
 of a peaceful peasant near Troyes, was for a time the 
 terror of the English coast. He was forced to retire 
 before the white-horse standard, under which Allied 
 the Great ranged his light-haired Saxons ; but the 
 fearless pirate indefatigably crossed the Channel, and 
 long after, while standing on the prow of his ship, 
 struck consternation into the hearts of Prankish lords 
 and Gaulish slaves. The dread blast of the ivory 
 horn, which hung from his neck to summon his cor- 
 sair fleet, awed them more than the sound of thmider. 
 But none of these rovers rendered himself more formi- 
 dable than Eric, king of Demnark. Penetrating to 
 Paris with three hundred barks, he plundered the city, 
 devastated the adjacent villages, drove the inhabitants 
 like herds of cattle to the forests, and executed his 
 work so thoroughly, that where he had passed hardly 
 even a cur remained to howl at the solitude. A sub- 
 sequent attempt on Paris, however, was so gallantly 
 and resolutely resisted by Count Eudes, that an as-
 
 24 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 sembly of the States, in defiance of hereditary rights, 
 rewarded the gallant warrior's services on the occasion 
 by voting him the crown, which on his death, ten 
 years later, reverted to that Charles whom history 
 calls the Simple, hut whom his rude contemporaries 
 characterized as the Fool. 
 
 At this period Harold, distinguished by a profusion 
 of beautiful hair, succeeded in forming the petty states 
 of Norway into a kingdom, and, for the security of his 
 realm against the chiefs whom he had dispossessed, 
 enacted stern laws against piracy. Among the noble 
 Scandinavians still frequenting his court, none was 
 more faithful or beloved than an Earl named Rognvald. 
 All this man's sons were noted for valor, and the 
 tallest, bravest, and most remarkable of the family, 
 was Roll the Walker, so called because no horse in his 
 country was high enough to carry him. It happened 
 that this young Norwegian, during a cruise, had man- 
 ifested so utter a disregard for the rights of property, 
 that King Harold, in anger, doomed him to a hfe-long 
 exile. The sentence seemed harsh to his relatives, 
 doubtless, but Roll was not a man to waste time in 
 regretting what could not be remedied, or to die on a 
 foreign strand of that hope deferred which maketh the 
 heart sick. On the contraiy, he prepared for a hfe of 
 adventure ; fitted out some vessels, and steered for 
 the Hebrides, where many of the expatriated Norwe- 
 gians had found an asylum. They readily agreed to 
 take part in his adventures, and soon with sails and
 
 NORMAN INVASION. 25 
 
 oars were iinpelliug their little ships up the Seine, 
 only resting for the purpose of ruthlessly ravaging its 
 margin. 
 
 The inhabitants of Rouen were filled with terror 
 and dismay at the approach of such visitors ; but the 
 Archbishop ventured, somewhat desperately, upon an 
 interview with the Norman chiefs, and after a long 
 parley persuaded them to spare the city. This being 
 agreed to, they moored their vessels, entered at one of 
 the gates, minutely inspected the place, and finding 
 every thing to their taste, determined to make it the 
 capital of the land they had come to conquer. Mean- 
 time they continued their voyage up the Seine to the 
 place where it is joined by the river Euro. There on 
 its left bank they encamped, threw up fortifications, 
 and calmly awaited the approach of a French army, 
 which was now in full march. 
 
 King Charles was under the hallucination, that by 
 one strenuous eflbrt the ruthless spoilers might be 
 crushed ; and with this view mustered his forces and 
 intrusted the command to Regnauld, duke of France. 
 With him went many noble counts, and took up a 
 position on the right bank of the Eure, at some dis- 
 tance from the Kings of the North. Conspicuous 
 among the banners there displayed in favor of law 
 and order was that of Hasting, the old sea-king, who 
 had long since in weariness deserted the pine-plank, 
 become a decorous citizen, and commenced a new 
 career as Count of Chartres. Hastina: advised his
 
 26 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 friends not needlessly to risk a battle, and though 
 many regarded such counsel from him with suspicion, 
 it prevailed so far, that on the principle perhaps of 
 setting one thief to catch another, he was empower- 
 ed, with two Franks who understood the Northern 
 tongue, to negotiate with the wild and reckless in- 
 vaders. 
 
 Following the river's course, the Frankish envoys 
 were soon opjoosite the camp of the Normans, and 
 there Hasting halted, with the air of a man who per- 
 fectly comprehended his position. 
 
 " Ho, my brave warriors I what is the name of 
 your chiefs ?" he shouted across the stream. 
 
 " "We acknowledge none," replied the Normans, 
 proudly ; " we are all equals." 
 
 " "Wherefore did you come into this realm? What 
 seek you ?" 
 
 " We came to expel or subjugate the natives and 
 make the country our own. But who art thou who 
 canst so readily speak in our tongue?" 
 
 The Count smiled grimly, and memory brought the 
 light of other days around him as he said — " Heard 
 you never of Hasting the famous pirate, who so long 
 scoured the sea and terrified the land ?" 
 
 "Yes," the Normans cried; "we have heard of 
 Hasting, who began like a lion and ended like a 
 lamb." 
 
 " Well, you must submit to King Charles, who for 
 faithful service will grant you fiefs and honors."
 
 NEUSTRIA CEDED TO ROLL. 27 
 
 " No — we'll submit to no man," replied the Nor- 
 mans ; " but whatever we win with our swords, we 
 can maintain by the same means. Thou hast our 
 answer I" 
 
 Hasting returned to the royal army, and reported the 
 result of his mission, at the same time expressing his 
 opinion that any attempt to force the Norman fortifi- 
 cations would be perilous. A Count named Holland 
 stood forth, and exclaimed — " That is the judgment 
 of a traitor I" Several lords repeated the cry, and the 
 old sea-king was cut to the heart. He instantly 
 quitted the camp, deliberately abandoned his county 
 of Chartres, and was never more recognized in the 
 haunts of living men. His prescience soon appeared ; 
 for an assault on the Norman intrenchments was re- 
 pulsed with loss, the royal army totally defeated, and 
 the Duke of France slain by a fisherman of Rouen. 
 
 The Normans now navigated the Seine without 
 interruption, besieged Paris, and surprising Bayeux, 
 killed Beranger, its count. The latter had a beauti- 
 ful daughter, who fell to the share of Roll, and became 
 his wife. Evreux, with several other towns, fell into 
 the hands of the Normans. Roll was elected their 
 lord ; and becoming more civilized, he soon rendered 
 himself wonderfully popular with the natives of the 
 conquered district. 
 
 ' The Normans, however, were undesirable neigh- 
 bors. Reinforced by congenial allies, they preyed 
 upon the territory between the Loire and the Seine,
 
 28 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 and the people began to murmur bitterly against ll:c 
 useless strife ; and at length, in 912, matters were 
 satisfactorily accommodated. Charles ceded to Roll 
 the province of Neustria, one of the most fruitful divi- 
 sions of France. The Norman chief vowed reforma- 
 tion, accepted Gisla, the king's daughter, in mamage, 
 and was received into the bosom of the Catholic 
 Church. On the occasion of his taking the oath of 
 allegiance at the village of St. Clair a ludicrous inci- 
 dent occurred. After swearing, it vi'as intimated, that 
 to complete the ceremony he must kneel before the 
 King and kiss his foot. Roll declared disdainfully 
 that he would perform no such ceremony for any man 
 living ; but the lords insisting on it, as a piece of 
 etiquette observed in the court of the Frankish Ceesar, 
 he ordered one of his soldiers to do homage in his stead. 
 The Norman soldier unhesitatingly obeyed ; but neg- 
 lecting to bend his knee, he lifted the royal foot so 
 high in the efi'ort to bring it up to his mouth, that the 
 heir of Charlemagne fell sprawling on the ground, 
 and shouts of derisive laughter burst from the new 
 liegemen. 
 
 Roll soon divided his territory into fiefs, changed 
 its name to Normandy, maintained internal order by 
 severe laws, and was deemed the most vigorous justi- 
 ciary of his day. Such was the feeling of security, 
 that laborers and mechanics flocked to establish 
 themselves in the newly-founded state, and Roll's re- 
 pute became widely popular. His followers applied
 
 CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY. 29 
 
 themselves to agriculture, with as much ardor as they 
 had previously exhibited in their predatoiy exploits; 
 and from a band of grim pirates, these Normans, 
 adopting the French tongue, gradually, and by degrees, 
 were transformed into the most refined race in Chris- 
 tendom — orators from their cradle, wise statesmen in 
 the cabinet, and valiant warriors in the field. 
 
 Meantime, the condition of France was wretched 
 in the extreme. The descendants of Charlemagne 
 were the most impotent of princes, and totally inca- 
 pable of ruhng with credit. Indeed the royal prero- 
 gatives had gradually passed to the eighteen great 
 feudatories, who, as was natural in the circumstances, 
 considered that might was right, owned no rule of 
 conduct but their iron wills, and acknowledged no 
 law but the length of their swords. They dwelt in 
 castles strongly fortified, levied troops, administered 
 justice, coined money, and made peace or declared 
 war. In imitation of their superiors, the rich proprie- 
 tors flanked their manor-houses with turrets and sur- 
 rounded them with deep ditches. Around the ram- 
 parts rose the miserable huts or cabins of the serfs, 
 who were employed as craftsmen or tillers of the soil. 
 The walls of the old Roman towns had fallen to 
 decay ; the bluff, wealthy, industrious burgher no- 
 where existed ; the urban population were poor, 
 servile, and timorous ; and commerce had almost dis- 
 appeared. The trader, with a pack on his shoulder, 
 trudged nervously from place to place, hawking his
 
 30 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 wares, in perpetual dread of losing his hoarded gains. 
 The district long preyed upon by the Normans was 
 for a time in the worst plight. From Blois to Senhs 
 not an acre was cultivated ; and such was the terror 
 inspired by the comrades of Roll before their conver- 
 sion, that no peasant was courageous enough to labor 
 either in the fields or in the vineyards. This state 
 of matters cast a gloom over the spirits of the men of 
 that generation. A frightful idea prevailed that the 
 world was about to end ; the very year was stated ; 
 and certain phenomena were regarded as infallible 
 omens of the approaching dissolution. 
 
 In the midst of this general misery and depression, 
 the representative of the Carlovingian dynasty, which 
 had long been condemned in the public mind, was set 
 aside ; and in 987 Hugh Capet, count of Paris, with 
 the consent of a large majority of the nobles and 
 people, was crowned king by the Archbishop of 
 Rheims, chief of the French clergj'. A national roy- 
 alty being thus created, the feudal system originated 
 by Charles Martel was rapidly developed, and had 
 the effect of rescuing the country from utter chaos and 
 anarchy. King Hugh, however, was entirely under 
 the control of the priests, and exercised no perceptible 
 influence on the age in which he lived. Neither did 
 his successor, Robert, a pious, feeble, and benevolent 
 man, who, ever the sport of circumstances, was in 
 later years com])letely swayed by his haughty consort, 
 Constance of Toulouse. That royal termagant, on
 
 ROMAN CONQUEST OF SICILY. 31 
 
 becoming a widow, waged war against her eldest son, 
 Henry 1., with the object of dethroning him in favor 
 of his younger brother. She was quite unsuccessful ; 
 for Robert, duke of Normandy, came to the aid of his 
 nominal sovereign ; and the rebel prince, being defeat- 
 ed in his aspirations, was consoled with the investiture 
 of the Duchy of Burgundy. 
 
 Henry's reign was not altogether undistinguished by 
 warlike achievements. While civil war, fear, famine, 
 wild beasts, and ferocious nobles were desolating the 
 realm, his Norman subjects were rendering their valor 
 widely famous. A party of Normans, in the guise of 
 pilgrims, but eager for martial enterprise, landed on 
 the south coast of Italy, and assisted the dwellers in 
 Salerno to vanquish an army of Saracens. Allured 
 by the report of their exploits, Robert Guiscard, and 
 his brother Richard, led thither a band of martial 
 adventurers, won a series of battles, and founded, in 
 1052, the Norman kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 Philip I., son of Henry, succeeded in lOGO, on the 
 eve of an event which was destined not only to stimu- 
 late that love of adventure inherent in the heai'ts of 
 men, but to raise up a succession of fonuidable rivals 
 to the lineage of Hugh Capet, and, more than once, 
 reduce the kingdom of France to the unhappy condi- 
 tion of a conquered province. 
 
 Five centuries and a half from the period when the 
 huge axes and white-horse baimer of Hengist and 
 Horsa liad driven the painted Caledonians to crouch
 
 32 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 in their Highland fastnesses, and the Cambrian Bri- 
 tons to hn-k in the mountains of Wales, and more than 
 two centuries from the period when Alfred the Great 
 had overcome the terrible Danes — Ethelred, king of 
 England, espoused Emma, sister of E-ichard, duke of 
 Normandy. From that day all went wrong in the 
 country which oM'ned his sway. Swen, king of Den- 
 mark, landed on the shores, unfurled a mystic flag of 
 white silk, in the centre of which was a black raven 
 with open beak and outspread wings, and drove 
 Ethelred into exile. The dethroned king sought ref- 
 uge in Normandy, and there his son, afterward known 
 as Edward the Confessor, was brought up from in- 
 fancy. 
 
 At that time there was being educated with no 
 slight care, in the palace of Rouen, a spirited urchin, 
 named William, whose mother, Arlete, had been 
 daughter of a skinner in Falsaise. When this lad 
 was about eight years old, Duke Robert, seized with 
 a desire of undertaking a penitential pilgrimage on foot 
 to Jerusalem, was told by his barons that it would be 
 unsafe to leave them without a chief. " By my faith," 
 answered the Duke, " I'll not leave you in that posi- 
 tion. I have a little boy, who will grow a gallant 
 man, if it please God. Take my son then as your 
 chief, for I declare him my heir, and give him from 
 this time the whole Duchy of Normandy." It suited 
 the barons to raise no objections. They placed their 
 hands in the young bastard's, and pledged their fidel-
 
 WILLIAM OF NORMANDY. 33 
 
 ity. Duke Robert breathed his last Avhile a pilgrim ; 
 several barons protested against William's succession ; 
 and two seigneurs, prouder than the others of their 
 pure Northern blood, headed the malcontents. But 
 the King of France, from motives of policy, aided 
 William against his enemies, and secured the boy in 
 his duchy. 
 
 The young Duke shovv^ed himself very vi^arlike, and 
 excessively ambitious. He soon assumed armor, learn- 
 ed to mount his war-steed without placing his foot in 
 the stirrup, and attacked the provinces of Brittany and 
 Anjou. He was at great pains to enrich his mother's 
 relations ; he espoused Matilda, daughter of Baldwin, 
 count of Flanders ; and he exacted from the Saxon 
 Edward a promise of being heir to the English crown, 
 in case of that exiled prince ever being restored to the 
 dignity enjoyed by his kingly ancestors. The arms 
 and policy of the great Earl Godwin placed Edward 
 on his father's throne, and the English king married 
 liis restorer's daughter — the beautiful, excellent, and 
 learned Edith. Nevertheless, though receiving the 
 hand of an English bride, King Edward was wholly 
 wedded to Norman ideas and sentiments, and speedily 
 surrounded himself with favorites from the country in 
 which he had been reared. Norman warriors gov- 
 erned his fortresses ; Norman prelates were preferred 
 to bishoprics ; and Norman politicians figured as the 
 king's councilors. Nay, more : Norman-French was 
 spoken, not only in the palace of Westminster, but in 
 C
 
 34 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 the residences of the English patricians ; and many of 
 the latter, forgetting which was in reality the greater 
 race, servilely imitated the strangers, even to the ex- 
 tent of donning short mantles with wide sleeves, in- 
 stead of long cloaks, and in appending their seals to 
 documents instead of signing their names. 
 
 Against these extremely unpopular innovations, 
 Earl Godwin and his son Harold scornfully and im- 
 compromisingly set their faces, and their contumacy 
 was punished hy an irksome banishment. They sought 
 refuge in Flanders ; and it was then that "William of 
 Normandy repaired to England on a visit to his old 
 comrade, Edward the Confessor. He found the coun- 
 try pleasant and wealthy, but very different, both in 
 climate and condition, from what it is in the nine- 
 teenth century. Good and wholesome wine was pro- 
 duced by the vineyards of Glastonbury, by whose rich 
 abbey grew the miraculous thorn, said to have bloom- 
 ed annually at Christmas. The mountains of Crag 
 Eyriri were whitened with perpetual snow ; a large 
 portion of the island was covered with forests, which 
 were ranged by the bear, boar, and wild bull ; and 
 yellow wolves still infested the sheepfold, though an 
 English king hail done his utmost to extirpate the 
 breed by enjoining his Welsh subjects to bring in 
 wolves' heads to the treasury instead of tribute-money. 
 Winchester was the true constitutional capital of the 
 realm, in whose palace the old Saxon kings had re- 
 sided, and in whose cathedral the Confessor had been
 
 WILLIAM'S AMBITIOUS VIEWS. 35 
 
 crowned. But London had been resorted to by foreij^n 
 traders as early as the seventh century, and was re- 
 garded as a most populous and flourishing city. The 
 conamerce of the country was extensive, relatively to 
 the period ; and the stufis embroidered by English 
 Avomen were wonderful in the eyes of strangers. Of 
 the magnificence of the English nobles some concep- 
 tion may be formed from the statement that Earl God- 
 win, on one occasion, bribed a dominant Dane with a 
 vessel adorned with gilt metal, manned with eighty 
 soldiers, each of them wearing a gold helmet, a gilt ax 
 on his left shoulder, a javelin in his right hand, and 
 on each arm a bracelet of gold, weighing six ounces. 
 Well might the avarice and ambition of the Norman 
 duke be stimulated by such a land, especially at the 
 time when the energy of the fiery Dane was being ad- 
 vantageously engrafted on the sagacity of the wealthy 
 Saxon, and when hostile races were gradually sitting 
 down in peace together. 
 
 Before the sudden restoration of Earl Godwin to his 
 country ^Yilliam had returned to Normandy, bringing 
 with him presents of dogs, horses, and falcons, and an 
 ardent ambition to rule over rich England. Events 
 favored his bold aspirations. When Harold had suc- 
 ceeded to the influence and possessions of his father 
 Godwin, he was imprudent enough, in company Avith 
 several gay companions, to undertake a voyage to Nor- 
 mandy. William, who was as skillful in discerning 
 his interest as crafty and unwavering in pursuing it.
 
 36 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 received his notle guest with joy, carried him about 
 from town to towTi, and from castle to castle, and en- 
 rolled his English followers in the Norman militia. 
 Harold accompanied his host, and signahzed his prow- 
 ess in a war against the Bretons. The English earl 
 and the Norman duke became intimate, fought as 
 brothers-in-arms, slept in the same tent, and dined at 
 the same table. At length Wilham lured Harold into 
 a promise, and afterward, by a cunningly-devised cer- 
 emony, made him swear, to aid his ducal host in ob- 
 taining the English crown. The oath was taken over 
 holy rehcs, in presence of the assembled barons, and 
 Harold departed with an idea that, as it had been 
 sworn under compulsion, it was not binding on liis 
 conscience. 
 
 In the year lOGG, Edward the Confessor died, hav- 
 ing previously named Earl Harold as the man most 
 worthy to reign. Accordingly, the rich and popular 
 son of Godwin was elected king, and from the day of 
 his elevation proved himself a wise, just, and energetic 
 ruler. 
 
 When news of Harold's election was carried to the 
 court of Rouen, the Duke of Normandy immediately 
 dispatched messengers to remind his former guest of the 
 engagement under which he had so solemnly come. 
 But the mission proving fruitless, William resolved to 
 make good his claim by force ; and having obtained 
 the sanction of the Papal court to his daring enterprise, 
 he landed an army without resistance at Pevensey,
 
 NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. 37 
 
 near Hastings. It was about the close of September, 
 when Harold, the Enghsh monarch, having previously 
 defeated Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, who fell 
 dead on the banks of the Humber, while riding through 
 the ranks on his coal-black steed, chanting extempore 
 verse, brought his army, flushed with recent victory, 
 but weary with long marches, against the well-disci- 
 plined Norman host at Hastings, on the spot where 
 Battle Abbey was subsequently erected. The issue 
 was extremely disastrous to the English. Their brave 
 king, with two of his brothers, fell fighting at the foot 
 of their standard ; and after a struggle, which was con- 
 tinued in desperation till sunset, the English army dis- 
 persed in confusion. Some expired of sheer fatigue by 
 the way ; and otliers were chased to death and tram- 
 pled down by the fierce Norman horsemen, who grant- 
 ed no quarter. The victors marched on to London, 
 and William, being crowned in the abbey of West- 
 minster, planted the three-lion banner of Normandy 
 on the battlements of the Tower, which became his 
 residence in summer, as the castle of Gloucester 
 was in winter, and the palace of Winchester in 
 spring. 
 
 Having portioned out the English territory in the 
 south and eastern provinces among his adventurous 
 followers, and, indeed, so distributed rewards and 
 honors that the natives of England were at the feet 
 of nobles who had been drovers in Normandy, and of 
 knights who had been weavers in Flanders, William 
 
 438147
 
 38 HISTORY FOR BOYS.-FRANCE. 
 
 returned in triumph to his continental dominions. He 
 brought thither a larger quantity of the precious metals 
 than was to be found in the whole of Gaul, and sever- 
 al of the English who had been delivered to him as 
 hostages. He was received with the utmost enthu- 
 siasm by the crowds who flocked from Rouen to the 
 sea-shore. A kinsman of the French monarch, in- 
 spired by curiosity, went with a numerous train to the 
 Norman court ; and the French vied with the Nor- 
 mans in their admiration of the personal beauty of the 
 long-haired hostages ; and not less, it may be taken 
 for granted, in their appreciation of the chased gold 
 and silver plate, and the massive horn drinkiiig-cups, 
 which enabled the Conqueror to display his bounty 
 and munificence. "William's vanity was gratified ; no 
 one dared now to allude to his grandsire's occupation : 
 he had, in fact, made himself the most independent 
 eovereign in Europe. Repairing to England, he 
 marched into the west, despoiled the Enghsh inhabit- 
 ants, divided their lands, and took them as subjects 
 on liis own terms. 
 
 The Noraian king had not yet, however, any reason 
 to sigh for another world to conquer. There still lay 
 beyond the Humber a vast tract of land, where no 
 Norman horse-shoe had ever left its print ; where tall 
 Danes and wise Saxons were plowing, sowing, and 
 reaping, and marrj'ing and giving in marriage ; and 
 where Edgar Atheling, the rightful heir of the old 
 Saxon dynasty, was acknowledged as King of En-
 
 PHILIP'S JEALOUSY OF WILLIAM. 39 
 
 gland, and celebrated by bards as the brave, beauti- 
 ful darling of his country. Thither William went 
 with a vow of extermination, and precipitating his 
 army on Northumberland, he deliberately burned 
 towns, villages, and fields of corn, including in his 
 vengeance the flocks and herds, as well as human 
 beings. Having in this manner spread desolation to 
 the borders of the Tweed, though without subduing 
 the natives, the foreign king turned his arms against 
 Chester, entered the city, and rode through the echoing 
 streets as a conqueror, estabhshed a fortress to awe the 
 inhabitants, and conferred the surrounding district on 
 one of his numerous followers. 
 
 As may be supposed, Philip, king of France, though 
 leading a scandalous life, and indulging in the utmost 
 license, did not contemplate without jealousy and un- 
 easiness the increase of wealth and authority which 
 his great subject, "William of Normandy, had derived 
 from a military expedition, at once daring, speculative, 
 and successful. As early as 1073 he had entered into 
 communications with Edgar Athelmg, and tempted 
 that luckless prince to make one heroic venture for 
 his ancestral crown. The royal Saxon was satisfied 
 with Philip's friendly proposals, and accepted the invi- 
 tation of that monarch to visit France. But hardly 
 had he sailed from the territories of his hospitable 
 kinsman, Malcolm, king of Scots, when a violent 
 tempest wrecked his ships, and the exile was persuad- 
 ed to yield to his fate, and submit to the Conqueror.
 
 40 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 William, who was at the time achieving triumphs in 
 Maine, invited the suppliant heir of kings to repair to 
 Normandy, and Edgar took up his residence at the 
 court of Rouen. While there he wore the Conqueror's 
 Hvery, received one mark a day from the treasury, and 
 amused himself with dogs and horses. He even con- 
 ceived so strong a fancy for a celebrated charger in 
 the king's stables, that he purchased the animal by 
 abandoning his pension. Such a being was evidently 
 no fit instrument for Philip's purposes. 
 
 But when the territorial subjugation of England 
 had been xjompleted by lawless force, when the grand 
 roll, which the natives with too much reason called 
 Doomsday Book, had created feuds among the Nor- 
 mans, and when William was worn out with the cares 
 and fatigues of a twenty -years' straggle, an enemy to 
 his peace started from out of his own household. 
 This was no less near a relative than his eldest son, 
 Robert, who on the Conqueror's refusing to abdicate 
 Normandy in his favor, quarreled with his brothers, 
 attacked Rouen, and went about publishing his 
 grievances till he enlisted Philip's aid. He was thus 
 enabled to raise a body of mercenaries, and fortify 
 himself in a strong castle. There the rebel prince 
 was besieged, and encountered hand to hand by his 
 stern sire. Peace between them was restored, but 
 soon after Robert, with a father's curse upon his head, 
 fared forth to seek new adventures. 
 
 In 1087, William, for the tlrird and last time, left
 
 WAR WITH NORMANDY. 41 
 
 England, groaning under the yoke he had imposed, 
 and repaired to Normandy, which he liad enriched 
 with the plunder of the ancient kingdom. He was 
 eager to terminate his diflerences with the King of 
 France, and while confined to his bed in the palace of 
 E-ouen directed negotiations with that view. At the 
 same time two of his sons, Robert and Henry, hap- 
 pened to visit the French court. One day while there, 
 they began to play at chess with Louis, the heir-ap- 
 parent to the crown of France. Henry, who is known 
 in history by the surname of Beauclerc, appears to 
 have been marvelously successful in gaming, and it 
 is more than probable that on this occasion fctftune 
 did not desert him. At all events, Louis, somehow or 
 other, lost his temper, and high words ensuing, he not 
 only taunted the Norman princes with their father's 
 base birth, but contemptuously threw the chessmen in 
 their faces. This was more than Henry's flesh and 
 blood could bear. He seized the chessboard with both 
 hands, and hurled it with so much fury at the head 
 of Louis, that the latter fell bleeding on the floor. 
 The Norman princes started up in alarm, hurried to 
 the stables, mounted their horses, and eflected their 
 escape. 
 
 Jests, too coarse to be repeated now, passed between 
 the kings of England and France. William arose 
 from his sick-bed, assembled an army, and entered 
 his feudal superior's dominions in the last week of 
 July. The corn was waving on the fields ; the grapes
 
 42 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 were swelling in the vineyards ; and the fruit was 
 ripening on the trees. William's horsemen trod down 
 the corn, destroyed the vines, cut up the fruit-trees, 
 and set the town of Mantes on fire. In a state of 
 frantic joy he rode through the flames, enjoying the 
 scene of destruction, and encoui'aging his soldiers in 
 the work of conflagration. But as he was cantering 
 among the ruins his courser stumbled over some burn- 
 ing embers, and fell with a start, which proved fatal 
 to the corpulent rider. The excitement he had un- 
 dergone while galloping about and hounding on his 
 men rendered the wound incurable, and, in a hapless 
 plight, he was carried back to Rouen. Finding the 
 noise from the streets intolerable, he was conveyed to 
 the priory of St. Gervase, standing quietly on a hill 
 outside the city. There, under the care of his physi- 
 cians, the Bishop of Lysieux and the Abbot of Jumieges, 
 WiUiam prepared for death, received the sacrament, 
 and settled his affairs. To his eldest son, who was 
 then at Abbeville, he left Normandy, but expressed his 
 conviction that the land would be wretched over which 
 Robert ruled. In regard to William Rufus, the second 
 son, who stood by his uneasy couch, the Conqueror 
 spoke in accents of filial afi'ection, and expressed an 
 earnest wish that he should inherit the crown of En- 
 gland. Rufus took the palatable hint, received the 
 dying man's blessing, and embarked forthwith to urge 
 his claim. To Henry, his youngest and favorite son, 
 William then granted five thousand pounds in white
 
 END Ot WILLIAM THE CONQUEUOU. 43 
 
 silver, told and weighed ; and to the young prince's 
 complaint of having neither houses nor land, gave the 
 comfortable assurance that they would all be his when 
 the others had run their course. Besides, he ordered 
 all his prisoners to be set free, and then awaited the 
 great destroyer. 
 
 About sunrise on the morning of September the 
 10th, the Conqueror of England, after languishing for 
 six weeks, opened his eyes for the last time to the 
 light of day. As he awoke, the sound of bells and the 
 voices of the monks singing their Latin hymn to the 
 hour of prime, filled his ear. The exhausted warrior 
 turned on his bed, and his hands, so often imbrued in 
 blood, were still raised in prayer, when his fierce soul 
 winged its way from earth. The news spread, and 
 confusion reigned throughout the palace. Henry rush- 
 ed to the treasury to secure his legacy ; the barons 
 mounted and rode off to their castles ; and the do- 
 mestics carried away the armor, plate, and household 
 stuffs. The corpse was unattended, save by a solitary 
 menial ; but at length a private country gentleman 
 took measures for its inhumation ; and being placed 
 in a boat on the Seine, it was conveyed for interment 
 to a cathedral which the Conqueror had built at Caen, 
 and dedicated to St. Stephen. 
 
 The dead king had, before rising from his bed and 
 setting out on his last expedition, vowed, in answer to 
 a rough speech of the French monarch, that he would 
 be churched at Notre Dame, with ten thousand lances
 
 44 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 for his caudles ; and he was not a man likely to forego 
 his threat. It is not wonderful, therefore, that Philip 
 talked more freely, and experienced a feeling of joyful 
 relief, when so formidable a foe breathed his last. 
 However, he speedily found a new enemy in the Pope, 
 who passed on the licentious king a sentence of ex- 
 communication ; and Philip, a victim to the fear of 
 death and to a haunting superstition, finished his days 
 in the garb of a Benedictine monk. 
 
 His successor, Louis VI. — he who had insulted the 
 Conqueror's sons — did much to redeem the Capetian 
 line of kings from the reproach of ignorance, inertness, 
 and worthlessness. "With a comprehension of the 
 spirit of that age, he accomplished himself in warlike 
 exercises, and won renown and admiration as the first 
 knight in France. His position was arduous, for his 
 great barons were in open rebellion, and at their head 
 was Henry Beauclerc, who, when his brother "William 
 E-ufus was accidentally shot in the New Forest, not 
 only seized upon the English crown, but deprived 
 Robert of the duchy of Normandy. King Louis 
 ravaged Normandy with an army, and was successful 
 in exacting favorable conditions from a council con- 
 vened at Rheims, and presided over by the Pope. The 
 nobles had of late become so lawless, that they in- 
 fested the roads between Paris and Orleans, plunder- 
 ing the villages and robbing the merchants ; but the 
 King, after a desperate efibrt, reduced many to sub- 
 mission, and established public security. Louis was
 
 ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE. 45 
 
 careful also to aid the middle class, then struggling into 
 existence. During his reign several Communes were 
 enfranchised ; the schools of Paris became famous ; 
 and students, attracted by the eloquence of Abelard, 
 still guiltless of Heloise's ruin, thronged the gardens 
 of Ste. Genevieve. 
 
 Henry I., king of England, dying in 1135, left the 
 crown to his daughter Maude, who having survived 
 her first husband, the Emperor of Germany, had 
 afterward become the wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, 
 count of Anjou. But her martial cousin, Stephen, 
 count of Boulogne, claimed the English throne, and es- 
 tablished himself thereon by force of will and force of 
 arms. In revenge, Geoffrey Plantagenet, invoked the 
 aid of William, duke of Aquitaine, and together they 
 laid waste Noi-mandy with fire and sword. The mal- 
 edictions heaped on them by the sufl'ering inhabitants 
 reached the heart of even so hardened a sinner as 
 "William, and remorse took possession of his soul. 
 Thus it happened, that, moved by the preaching of 
 Saint Bernard, then Abbot of Cluirvaux, the Duke 
 fell penitently on his face, and, divesting himself of all 
 liis dominions in favor of his daughter Eleanor, under- 
 took a pilgrimage to CompostcUa, in the course of 
 which he died. Eleanor was thereupon affianced to 
 the son of King Louis, who, with a splendid retinue, 
 went to Aquitaine and celebrated the marriage, in 
 1137, the year in the course of which he ascended the 
 tlirone.
 
 46 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Louis YII. at first exhibited a spirit not unequal in 
 warlike enthusiasm to that which had distinguished 
 his knightly father. He aided Geoffrey Plantagenet 
 to conquer Normandy, checked the power of Stephen, 
 and opposed the usurpations of the Pope. But in the 
 midst of these successes he was induced to take part 
 in an enterprise which proved fatal to his pride and 
 his popularity. 
 
 In the previous century the pious zeal of an enthu- 
 siast, known as Peter the Hermit, had been elevated 
 by a visit to Palestine to so lofty a pitch, that on re- 
 turning to Europe he inflamed the minds of men with 
 an eager desire to deliver the Holy Sepulchre from 
 the Saracens. "With that view, and countenanced by 
 Pope Urban, a multitude of serfs, women, and labor- 
 ers, assumed the cross, which was a piece of red stuff 
 worn on the right shoulder, and under the guidance 
 of Peter the Hermit, and a knight surnamed Walter 
 the Penniless, went forth to perish of fatigue and hun- 
 ger by the way. This band was succeeded by a dis- 
 ciplined host, led by Robert, son of William the Con- 
 queror, Godfrey of Bouillon, the hero of the " Jerusa- 
 lem Delivered," and Count Raymond. They were 
 successful in founding a Christian state in Palestine, 
 of which Godfrey became king, and the feudal system 
 was thus organized in the East. Such was the first 
 crusade : but the second was less favorable in its re- 
 Eults. 
 
 Intelligence of the capture of Edessa having reach-
 
 CRUSADE PREACHED BY ST. BERNARD. 47 
 
 ed Europe, Bernard of Clairvaux called upon the Pope 
 to unsheathe the sword of Christendom, and at the 
 same time appealed to King Louis. In the spring of 
 1146 the saintly Abhot appeared at Vezelay, and on 
 one of the hills near the town addressed an immense 
 concourse, conspicuous in which were the King and 
 (iueen of France, surrounded by their barons and 
 prelates. Never was an oratorical triumph more com- 
 plete. His appeal was enthusiastically responded to 
 by a simultaneous shout from the swelling hearts of 
 the excited listeners, and they cast themselves at Ber- 
 nard's feet to receive from his hands the blessed cross. 
 Louis, eager to expiate the crime of a French army 
 in burning the church of Vitry, set out forthwith at 
 the head of a hundred thousand soldiers ; but the 
 whole expedition was marked by disaster, and having 
 resolved itself into a devotional pilgrimage to the holy 
 places, terminated in the return of Louis with a mere 
 fragment of the noble army he had led forth under the 
 national baimer, with its flame-shaped edges and staff' 
 of gold. 
 
 The deplorable result of the second crusade totally 
 changed the character of Louis, who became so soft 
 and sluggish a monarch, that dueen Eleanor, a wo' 
 man of high spirit, turbulent temper, and perverse dis- 
 position, was mortified with his loss of dignity. Thi.s 
 led to important consequences ; for, having procured 
 a divorce, Eleanor gave her hand to Henry II. of En- 
 gland, son of the Empress Maude, the first of tho
 
 48 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Plantagenet kings ; and he acquired in her right, as 
 heiress of Aquitaine, a vast tract of land, extending 
 from the Loire to the Pyrenees. 
 
 It would indeed have heen something novel in the 
 lilstory of human nature, if under such circumstances 
 jealousy had not arisen between the two sovereigns; 
 and war ere long broke out. While Henry was fight- 
 ing with success on the Continent, his warlike baron, 
 Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, was engaged with the 
 conquest of Ireland ; and Henry's position was ren- 
 dered still more formidable by the capture and sub- 
 mission of William, king of Scots, when suddenly the 
 French king found a potent auxiliary in Thomas a 
 Becket, the Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury, 
 who ultimately expiated his zeal for the Church and 
 his determined hostility to the Crown, by falling at 
 the foot of the altar, wounded with the swords of four 
 Norman knights. From that day all went wrong 
 with the King of England. Deserted by his wife, 
 rebelled against by his sons, and humiliated by the 
 clergy, his life became a continual scene of mortifica- 
 tion. 
 
 Louis died after causing his eldest son to be crown- 
 ed, and sealing an equivocal triumph over his royal 
 rival by a pilgrimage to Becket's shrine ; and Philip 
 Augustus soon made his neighbors feel, that France 
 was under a ruler at once more able and energetic 
 than any of those who had reigned since the days of 
 Charlemagne. By setting the sons against the father,
 
 THE THIKU CllUSADE. 49 
 
 he continued an inveterate struggle with the active 
 King of England, till Hemy was succeeded by his son 
 Richard, surnamed Cccur dc Lion. 
 
 At that time the heart of Christian Europe was 
 beating with impatience for a third crusade ; and no 
 man was more zealous than the fiery, impetuous 
 Richard. Having, therefore, obtained from the En- 
 glish what money he could, the royal knight-errant 
 hastened to the Continent, to complete arrangements 
 in concert with Philip. The two kings, as well as 
 the Emperor of Germany, fared forth at the head of 
 splendid and well-appointed armies ; but their alliance 
 was hollow, and disputes speedily arose. Philip and 
 Richard quarreled while wintering in Sicily ; and 
 Richard, repudiating a matrimonial contract with 
 Philip's sister, the Lady Alice, received as his bride 
 Berengaria, daughter of the King of Navarre, whose 
 beauty had inspired him with a romantic attachment. 
 To make matters worse, the Emperor was drowned 
 while crossing the river Senef ; and after the capture 
 of Acre the French king, finding that two stars of such 
 magnitude as himself and Richard could not keep their 
 motion in one sphere, withdrew amid the hisses and 
 jeers of the Crusaders, returned home, and left his 
 lion-hearted rival to pursue the career of glory, to 
 carry on the war against Saladin, the heroic sultan of 
 Egypt, and to fill the East with the fame of brilliant 
 exploits. 
 
 After winning a series of victories, and exhausting 
 D
 
 50 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 the patience of his brothers-in-arrns, Richard signed » 
 treaty with Saladin, and bent his steps homeward. 
 Disguised as a merchant, and attended by a single 
 page, he was resting from his fatigues at a village near 
 Vienna, when forcibly seized by Leopold of Austria, 
 whom he had insulted at Acre. The Duke sold his 
 redoubted foe to the Emperor, who cast Richard into 
 prison, and then informed the King of France that 
 their dread enemy was immured and fettered in a 
 mountam castle, with no other means of whiling away 
 the tedious hours than exercising his art as a poet and 
 troubadour in the composition of verses, or indulging his 
 jovial disposition in a carouse wth his armed guards. 
 
 Philip mourned not at the news, but soon after was 
 visited at Paris by Richard's unw'orthy brother, John, 
 wdth whom, in violation of a sacred pledge, he formed 
 a scheme for the partition of the captive king's various 
 dominions, and for the perpetuation of his durance. 
 Their plots proved vain : for such was the indignation 
 felt throughout Christendom that the boldest champion 
 of the cross should languish in a dungeon, that the 
 Emperor, yielding to European opinion and the Pope's 
 threat of anathema, after exacting an enormous ran- 
 som, set the great Crusader free ; and Philip, in alarm, 
 wrote to his ally. Prince John, " Beware I for the devil 
 has got loose." 
 
 Richard, restored to liberty, forgave his treacherous 
 brother, but toward Philip he Ava.s by no means so 
 charitable. Bent on revenge, he formed an alliance
 
 WAR BETWEEN PHILIP AND RICHARD. 51 
 
 with the French barons, and, supported by the popular 
 feeling in England, commenced a war, which was 
 carried on with varying success till 1198, when the 
 two kings met in arms near Gisors, and a fierce fight 
 took place. Richard signally displayed his martial 
 prowess, unhorsed three knights at a single charge, 
 and drove the enemy across the Ejite, in whose waters 
 Philip, while flying, was well-nigh drowned. Dur- 
 ing a truce agreed to for the space of five years, one of 
 the belligerents was cut ofF^ in his forty-second year. 
 
 A peasant plowing in a field near Limoges, discov- 
 ered a treasure, consisting of several remains of an- 
 tiquity, the most curious of which was a massive gold- 
 en ornament, representing an emperor with his family 
 seated at table. The viscount of the district seized on 
 these, and, in spite of Richard's claim as lord-para- 
 mount, refused to surrender the treasure. Richard in- 
 vested the castle of Chaluz, within whose walls the 
 relics were understood to be concealed ; but on the 
 fourth day of the siege, while riding round the fortress 
 with no defensive armor save a breast-plate, his shoul- 
 der was pierced by an arrow from a cross-bow, and the 
 slight wound proved fatal to the hero, at whose name 
 monarchs had often grown pale. 
 
 Before going to Palestine, Richard had nominated 
 Arthur, duke of Brittany, the son of his brother Geof- 
 frey, as heir to his dominions ; but subsequently he 
 had been induced to favor the claims of Prince John, 
 who, having secured the fealty of the English bar-
 
 62 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 ons by fallacious promises, crossed to Normandy, of 
 which he took temporary possession. King Philip was 
 quite determined, for his own interest, that Arthur's 
 claim should not be left unvindicated. He, therefore, 
 espoused the boy-duke's cause, promised him a French 
 princess m marriage, and came to a rupture with 
 John. Hostilities commenced, but, unhappily, at the 
 siege of Mirabeau, Arthur and his sister fell into the 
 hands of their unnatural kinsman. The young prin- 
 cess, known as the Maid of Brittany, was sent to the 
 castle of Bristol, where she remained a prisoner for 
 life. The ill-fated Arthur was still more summarily 
 dealt with. Being conveyed to Falaise, he was told 
 by John to confide in him as a kind and loving uncle, 
 but replied, with spirit and promptitude, that he must, 
 in the first place, have his rightful inheritance, the 
 kingdom of England. Thereupon John sent him to 
 E-ouen, with orders as to his being closely guarded ; 
 and going thither in the Easter of 1203, the usurper 
 is reported to have then perpetrated that foul crime 
 which has rendered his name infamous. 
 
 The tyrant having one day, at dinner, drunk freely, 
 and lashed himself into fury, went to his nephew's 
 prison, and after a futile attempt to force from the boy 
 a surrender of his rights, drew a sword and malignant- 
 ly murdered him, tied, with bloody hands, a heavy 
 stone about his neck, and threw the corpse into the 
 Seine. The body, being afterward cast ashore, was 
 secretly interred in the abbey of Bee.
 
 SEIZURE OF NORMANDY. 53 
 
 This atrocious crime roused general indignation, and 
 John was summoned as a vassal of France, to answer 
 for the murder before his peers, the great barons. 
 Failing to appear when thus cited, he was pronounced 
 guilty, and condemned to forfeit his continental domin- 
 ions. This sentence squared perfectly with Philip's 
 ambitious views. The desire to establish his suprem- 
 acy over the Nomian rulers of England had ever been 
 that aspiring monarch's ruling passion ; and, infinitely 
 rejoicing at the opportunity of gratifying it, he took 
 up arms with a prescience of victory. John was pass- 
 ing his hours in scandalous indulgences at Rouen when 
 Philip marched into Normandy, and, after capturing 
 many towns and castles, appeared before the capital. 
 The tyrant, roused from his lair, fled to England, 
 leaving the inhabitants of Rouen to defend themselves. 
 After an eflbrt, they yielded ; and, ere a year passed, 
 no continental soil, beyond his mother's province of 
 Guieinie, remained in possession of the sovereign of 
 England. 
 
 After a year or two had passed, John plucked up 
 courage to land an army at Rochelle, take a strong 
 castle, burn a town, ravage the banks of the Loire, 
 and sit down before Nantes. Thither came Philip to 
 ofl'er battle ; and John, raising the siege, advanced to 
 accept the challenge. But in the hour of trial his 
 heart shrunk within liim : he pretended to negotiate, 
 and meanwhile stealing away to England, exhibited 
 the unwonted spectacle of a crowned descendant of
 
 54 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 Roll the Walker flying before a kingly representative 
 of Hugh Capet. 
 
 At this period was occurring the religious war 
 against the Albigenses. In this crusade, which was 
 led by Simon de Montfort, afterward killed while 
 besieging Toulouse, Philip, albeit unscrupulous about 
 persecuting Jews and blasphemers, refrained from 
 taking part, even though the work of extermination 
 was carried on by fire and sword under the auspices 
 of the Church of Rome. Indeed, he repeatedly ven- 
 tured on resisting the Pope's authority, especially in 
 regard to his third marriage with Agnes de Meranie : 
 but his realm being laid under interdict, and his sub- 
 jects seized with terror, he was under the necessity of 
 reluctantly submitting. 
 
 After a reign of forty years, during which he 
 humbled the barons, encouraged literature, and em- 
 bellished Paris, Philip died in 1233, leaving a son, 
 Jjouis YIIL, who only survived three years. While 
 marching on Toulouse against the unfortunate Albi- 
 genses, he was carried ofl' by an epidemic, and left his 
 son, Louis IX., at the age of eleven years, under the 
 guardianship of the widow, Blanche of Castile, a 
 haughty but high-minded princess, who educated the 
 youthful king with care, inspired that religious devotion 
 which won him a place in the calendar of saints, and 
 united him to Margaret of Provence, whose sister was 
 dueen of England and mother of the first Edward. 
 
 Q,ueen Blanche, durmg her boy's minority, held the
 
 CRUSADE OF ST. LOUIS. 55 
 
 reins of power so vigorously, and was so faithfully 
 supported by her devoted admirer, the Count of Cham- 
 pagne, that the power of the feudal barons was ef- 
 fectually curbed. But in 1242 they induced Henry 
 III. to enter into their views ; and he, landing with 
 thirty casks of silver, mustered an army of foreigners, 
 and regaled his fancy with the hope of regaining the 
 provinces his father had lost. On the banks of the 
 Charente, near the bridge of Taillebourg, Louis in- 
 flicted on his adversaries a signal defeat, and Henry 
 retreated down the river to Saintes, before which town 
 his motley force was so thoroughly beaten that he 
 hurried from the scene of action. The English, though 
 they had declined to support this war by men or 
 money, did not learn without a blush of their king 
 being twice defeated. 
 
 The crusades had not hitherto been so happy in 
 their results as to tempt warriors again to the East ; 
 but Louis, stretched on a bed of sickness, swore to 
 assume the cross in the event of recovery, and per- 
 formed his vow in defiance of all dangers. Litrusting 
 the regency to his mother, and receiving the ori- 
 flamme from the abbey of St. Denis, he embarked for 
 the Holy Land. On arriving before Damietta he 
 leaped into the sea, sword in hand, followed by a 
 number of knights, and took possession of that Egj'ptian 
 stronghold. There the rise of the Nile caused the 
 Crusaders to delay for months their n:iarcli on Man- 
 Bourrah, where, in attempting to surprise the towai, the
 
 50 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 king's brother was slain by the Saracens ; and Louis, 
 after losing half his army, while retreating was taken 
 by the enemy's galleys, chained in a dungeon, and 
 informed that he must either die or abjure Christianity. 
 There was still a glimmering of hope, however ; for 
 Q,ueen Margaret held Damietta with a strong garrison, 
 and she consented to give up the city and a large sum 
 of money for her husband's freedom. Louis was thus 
 restored to liberty, and lingered in Syria for several 
 years. But his barons and knights betaking them- 
 selves home, he achieved nothing of importance. 
 
 At length, in 1253, on the death of his mother, the 
 king returned to his realm, devoted his time to salutary 
 reforms, and proved himself an able and conscientious 
 legislator. Louis delighted to administer justice while 
 seated under an oak-tree near his chateau in the forest 
 of Vincennes. He established a public libraiy in Paris, 
 and an hospital for the bhnd ; while at the same 
 period the college was founded by Robert de Sorbon. 
 But the attention of Louis being still bent toward 
 Sjnria, he ventured on a second crusade ; when, turn- 
 ing aside to attack the Bey of Tunis, he landed among 
 the ruins of Carthage. There, after enduring severe 
 hardships from the heat of the climate. Saint Louis 
 expired on a bed of ashes in 1270. 
 
 Philip III., his eldest surviving son, though sur- 
 named the Bold, did not perform any thing particular- 
 ly memorable. He was long under the influence of 
 his barber, Pierre ; who, after figuring as prime min-
 
 COURTS OF PARLIAMENT. 57 
 
 ister, dangled on a gibbet. After returning on a litter 
 from a disastrous expedition in support of his uncle, 
 Charles of Anjou, who had seized the croAvn of Sicily, 
 he closed his earthly career in 1284, and was succeed- 
 ed by his son, Philip IV. The young king, then in his 
 sixteenth year, prosecuted the war which his father had 
 commenced against Arragon ; but the results were 
 unimportant. Philip, though the most absolute and 
 extortionate monarch that France had ever seen, sum- 
 moned the Third Estate to the national assemblies, 
 which had previously been composed of nobles and 
 clergy. He likewise estabhshed Courts of Parliament 
 — being judicial assemblies, over which that of Paris 
 possessed a jurisdiction by appeal. He courageously 
 subjected the clergy to their share of the public bur- 
 dens, and prohibited the agents of Rome from levy- 
 ing contributions within his dominions. The Pope 
 incautiously excommunicated Philip for these offenses, 
 and even transferred the crown of France to the 
 Emperor. "Whereupon Philip undauntedly marched 
 to Rome, and seized upon the successor of Peter, who 
 died of surprise and indignation. From the next Pope, 
 Benedict XL, Philip procured a bull, warranting the 
 suppression of the Order of the Templars in all Chris- 
 tian countries. Having been charged with horrible 
 crimes, these warrior monks — so long rich and power- 
 ful — were condemned without trial, and exterminated 
 by the sword, fire, or famine. Their property was 
 transferred to the Knights of Malta. In 1314 Philip
 
 58 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 closed his career, leaviiog three sons and a daughter, 
 Isabella, who became the wife of the second Edward 
 of England. 
 
 Louis X., eldest son of Philip, was a prince of disor- 
 derly life. Disliking his father's system of bestowing 
 the high offices of state on men of obscure origin, he 
 surrounded himself with luxurious nobles, who used 
 their ascendency to obtain the restoration of their 
 ancient privileges. Having, durmg his brief reign, 
 weakened the monarchy, he died in 131G, leaving 
 one daughter, who might have succeeded. But his 
 brother Philip, after grasping the regency, procured 
 a decree of the States-general, excluding females from 
 the succession, and in virtue thereof became sovereign 
 of France, with the prospect of the kingly dignity be- 
 ing inherited by his son. 
 
 Philip V. preserved peace, and devoted himself to 
 the internal improvements of the realm. Several of 
 his edicts indicate the progress of law, order, and 
 civilization. But he was baffled in the object of 
 settling his descendants on the throne ; for his son 
 dying before him, four daughters were excluded by 
 the very decree he had in his eagerness procured, and 
 the sceptre passed to his brother, Charles IV. That 
 monarch, after aiding his sister, the English queen, to 
 humble her husband, also expired without male heirs 
 at the Christmas of 1327 ; and the crown then re- 
 verted to Pliilip of Valois, grandson of Philip the Bold.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 "With the accession of the House of Valois com- 
 menced a long struggle between England and France ; 
 not a series of mere feuds between kings for the sov- 
 ereignty of provinces — like those which the Norman 
 rulers of the Enghsh people had maintained against 
 the successors of Hugh Capet — but great and terrible 
 wars, waged for a century and a half, by kings 
 genuinely English and kings thorouglily French, on 
 behalf, and with the earnest sympathies, of two pow- 
 erful countries, hostilely ambitious of national superi- 
 ority. 
 
 Edward HI., as nearest male heir to his uncles, 
 who had last occupied the French throne, claimed the 
 crown as his by hereditary descent, and resolved, right 
 or wrong, to obtain it by force of arms. With this 
 object, and having long before proved his skill and 
 courage against the Scots — already the allies of France 
 — he assembled an army ; and after a signal victory 
 over the French fleet, which lost ninety ships and 
 thirty thousand men, he entered Normandy, and 
 marched m hostile array to the very walls of Paris.
 
 60 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Philip of Valois was far from being destitute of per- 
 sonal courage, but he was as far from possessing 
 sufficient knowledge of the military art to cope with 
 an antagonist of so much valor, talent, and policy. 
 However, he summoned his nobles, and, in alliance 
 A^■ith the old blind King of Bohemia, assembled a for- 
 midable force ; which, on an August Saturday, met 
 the embattled host of England at the village of Crecy. 
 With far inferior numbers Edward gained a complete 
 victory ; and Philip, followed by five knights, fled to 
 Abbeville. Edward besieged and took Calais, which 
 continued in possession of England till the reign of 
 " the bloody Mary ;" and the capture of that import- 
 ant stronghold, together with the exhaustion of the 
 French finances, resulted in a truce, which lasted 
 till 1350 ; at which date the grave closed over Philip, 
 and his son John ascended the throne. 
 
 King John the Good was as valiant a knight as 
 ever laid lance in rest, and as true a son of chivalry 
 as was ever taught to serve God and the ladies, but 
 much too irresolute and improvident to rule with suc- 
 cess at a difficult crisis. About the commencement 
 of his reign he violently seized the Constable of France, 
 and caused him to be executed without trial ; and he 
 despotically confiscated to his own use the debts due 
 to the Jews and Lombards settled in his kingdom. 
 Edward vowed to avenge the fate of the Constable, 
 who had been a prisoner on parole ; and about the 
 same time Charles, king of Navarre, declared war
 
 VICTORIES OF EDWARD III. Gl 
 
 against France. In order to raise funds, the King 
 convoked the States-general at Paris in 1355; and 
 the Third Estate, after having its equaUty with the 
 nobles and clergy formally recognized, and redressing 
 grievances, concurred in furnishing the sinews of war 
 They were, indeed, necessary : for Edward, prince 
 of Wales, who at the age of fifteen had gloriously sig- 
 nahzed his prowess at Crecy, and was now known as 
 the Black Prince from the color of his armor, soon 
 appeared in France with sixty thousand men ; and 
 John, swearing that he would give the young Islander 
 battle, mustered his army on the plain of Chartres, 
 and encountered the foe, on a September morning, 
 near the city of Poictiers. John sustained a most dis- 
 astrous defeat, and his army fled precipitately before 
 the EngUsh archers. The French monarch fought 
 on foot with a battle-ax, and exhibited singular cour- 
 age ; but after receiving two wounds in the face, and 
 being beaten down, he yielded his sword and was 
 carried by his youthful conqueror as a prisoner to 
 London. 
 
 During his captivity, while famine, pestilence, dis- 
 banded soldiers, and civil war, were desolating the 
 sunny fields of France, there occurred an insurrection, 
 at once revolting and instructive. The condition of 
 the rural peasantry had ever been wretched, and they 
 at length rose in a mass to avenge their wrongs. 
 Half-naked serfs, entering feudal castles, killed the 
 territorial magnates, outraged their wives and daugh-
 
 62 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 ters, forced children to eat the flesh of their parent? 
 and burned and phmdered wherever they went.' This 
 terrible outbreak, which is known in histoiy as the 
 Jacquerie — from Jacques Bonnehomme, a name ap- 
 plied in derision to the French peasantry' — was sup- 
 pressed with the aid of the King of Navarre, whose 
 mail-clad men slaughtered thousands of the defense- 
 less insurgents. 
 
 John, in 1360, signed an agreement, whereby he ob- 
 tained his liberty on condition of paying three milhons 
 of golden crowns, while Edward resigned his preten- 
 sions to the French throne. Soon after his return 
 home, by the demise of Philip de Rouvre, duke of Bur- 
 giuidy, that important province reverted to the crowTi, 
 and, blind to the advantages of this acquisition, the 
 King bestowed the duchy on his fourth son, PhiUp 
 the Bold, and thus established that house of Burgundy 
 whose chiefs, as years passed, became formidable rivals 
 to the sovereigns of France. Incited by the Pope, 
 John assumed the cross at Avignon, and was on the 
 point of joining a new crusade undertaken by the King 
 of Cyrus, when he was informed of his son, the Duke 
 of Anjou, who had been given as a hostage, having 
 broken his word and fled from Calais. The cliival- 
 rous monarch, to whom is ascribed the fine maxim, so 
 rarely practiced, that if honor were banished from all 
 the rest of the world it ought still to be found in the 
 heart of sovereigns, considered himself bound to return 
 to England, where, consoled with the love of an En-
 
 REVERSES OF THE ENGLISH. 63 
 
 glish lady, he resided till his death in 1364. Ho left 
 twenty volumes, with which his successor founded the 
 royal library. 
 
 Charles V., who had already governed France for 
 eight years as regent, became king at the age of 
 twenty-nine. He attached to his service several able 
 statesmen, as well as brave captains — Du Guesclin 
 being among the latter. Thus Charles, who was one 
 of the most literate men of his time, won the title of 
 the Wise. His first successes were achieved against 
 the King of Navarre ; and he next aided ill driving 
 Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile, into exile. He then 
 applied himself to wrench from the English the prov- 
 inces they held in France. The period was most 
 propitious, for Edward was by this time old, and the 
 heroic Black Prince sufi^ering from a mortal disease. 
 Under such circumstances the enterprises of the French 
 were, in the main, successful ; but a fresh army of 
 English had been sent into the kingdom, when Charles 
 suddenly died in 1380, leaving as heir to the crown 
 a boy of eleven years. 
 
 Charles VI. was consigned to the guardianship of 
 his uncles, who agreed that the office of regent should 
 be held by the Duke of Anjou. That prince was of 
 so fierce and covetous a nature, that, bursting into 
 the royal bed-chamber, almost before his brother's 
 eyes were closed, he greedily seized upon the jewels, 
 and plundered the palace. The first act of his re- 
 gency was to appropriate to himself a sum of sixteen
 
 CI HISTORY FOR B£>YS.— FRANCE. 
 
 millions, which, during the reign of Charles V., had 
 been amassed in the trejisury ; and with this money 
 he fitted out an expedition to seize upon the throne 
 of Naples, in the course of which both the Duke and 
 his army perished in Italy. Under the inspiration of 
 his surviving uncles, the young king was guilty of 
 various tyramries ; and he was still pursuing a most 
 unpopular career, when he suddenly exhibited infal- 
 lible signs of insanity. The consequences were dis- 
 astrous ; and the country was suffering under an ac- 
 cumulation of evils, when, in 141-'), Henry V., who 
 had just ascended the English throne, cast off his 
 dissipated habits and become a hero, landed near 
 Harfleur, took that town after a siege of six weeks, 
 and then, with an army which sickness had dimin- 
 ished to nine thousand, marched toward Calais. On 
 the 24th of October, however, after crossing the 
 Somme, he was challenged by the Constable of 
 France, who, with sixty thousand fighting men, oc- 
 cupied the village of Agincourt ; and next day at 
 noon, having made all preparations, Henry placed a 
 golden crown over his steel helmet, donned a surcoat, 
 on which were embroidered the arms of England and 
 France, rode along his lines on a gray charger, and 
 declared his resolution to conquer or die. He then 
 spoke the words, " Banners, advance I" and the En- 
 glish, with a loud cheer, rushed onward. The arch- 
 ers did terrible execution ; the men-at-arms diplayed 
 equal courage ; and, after a fierce struggle, the En-
 
 WARS OF HENRY V. 65 
 
 glish were completely victorious. They embarked at 
 Calais, with much booty and a host of noble captives; 
 and, two years later, Henry, returning with a gallant 
 army, subdued Normandy — and pursuing his career, 
 concluded, in 1420, the famous treaty of Troyes, by 
 which it was stipulated that he should many Cathe- 
 rine, daughter of the French monarch, and inherit on 
 the death of Charles the crown of France. Henry's 
 brother-in-law, the Dauphin, reduced to extreme dis- 
 tress, hardly knew where to turn for a dinner, and 
 wandered from place to place about the southern 
 provinces. Perplexed in the extreme, he craved aid 
 from the Scots, who readily granted him the service 
 of seven thousand men, under the Earls of Buchau 
 and "Wigton. The Duke of Clarence, Henry's brother, 
 met the Scots at Beauge, and the latter, ardent to 
 disprove the annoying charge made by their French 
 allies, of being only fit to eat and drink, fought with 
 great energy. Clarence, recognized by his coronet of 
 gold which glistened in the evening sun, was borne 
 to the ground by the lance of Sir John Swinton, and 
 killed by the mace of Buchan. The English, seeing 
 their leader fall, desisted from the conflict ; and after 
 this victory Buchan was nominated Marshal, and 
 "Wigton Constable of France. 
 
 The King of England was at Beverley when he 
 
 heard of this defeat, and straightway crossed to France 
 
 to redeem it. In order to sever the Scots from their 
 
 allies, he. carried with him, as a volunteer, their cap- 
 
 E
 
 66 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 tive sovereign, James I., without, however, deterring 
 his subjects from action. Henry's presence changed 
 the face of matters ; but, in the midst of his glories, 
 he was cut off by a mysterious malady, and named 
 as regent his brother, the Duke of Bedford — Shaks' 
 peare's Prince John of Lancaster. 
 
 Falstaff, in the page of that greatest of dramatists, 
 is made to pronounce the royal youth one of those 
 demure boys who never come to any proof; but the 
 opinion of the fat knight was completely falsified. 
 Bedford was recognized throughout Europe as a 
 statesman of ability and a soldier of renown, and per- 
 formed his functions with valor as well as judgment. 
 The duty became more arduous on the death of the 
 French monarch, for Henry VI. of England was a 
 mere infant ; yet Bedford succeeded in attaching to 
 his interest the Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, so 
 that when the Dauphin assumed the title of Charles 
 Vn. he was so contemptible in point of power as to 
 be called, in derision, the King of Berry, from his 
 residence at Bourges. Nevertheless, Charles was 
 aided by fresh troops from Scotland, under the Earl 
 of Douglas, an aged warrior, who had fought without 
 success at Homeldon and Shrewsbury, and who now 
 tried his fortune at Verneuil. But the army that 
 went into the field was defeated with enormous loss ; 
 the cause of Charles appeared desperate ; and a final 
 blow seemed to be struck when the Scots were van- 
 quished before Orleans in the battle of Herrings.
 
 JOAN OF ARC. 67 
 
 At this crisis appeared Joan of Arc, celebrated as 
 the Maid of Orleans, who excited the popular enthu- 
 siasm by announcing that internal voices had com- 
 manded her to raise the siege of Orleans, and conduct 
 the Dauphin to be crowned at Rheims. Being brought 
 into his presence, she repeated her preternatural man- 
 date ; and Charles provided her with a suit of armor, 
 and sent her to join his troops. The French hailed 
 her arrival as that of a being raised up by Heaven for 
 their deliverance ; while the English, having a totally 
 different opinion as to her origin, were terrified at the 
 idea of combating with an agent of the powers of 
 darkness. Inspired by her example, the French sol- 
 diers were successful in various enterprises. But be- 
 ing taken prisoner at the siege of Compiegne, she was 
 burned by her captors as a sorceress. Her death 
 caused a detestation of the English rule, which even 
 the presence of young Henry could not overcome. In 
 1435 the Regent Bedford departed this Hfe ; the Duke 
 of Burgundy seized that occasion to break with the 
 English ; the French were at last thoroughly united ; 
 the Dauphin threw off his indolence ; and Paris, 
 opening her gates, received him as King. 
 
 Charles VII. governed with wisdom and prudence, 
 though he was somewhat despotic, and levied supplies 
 without summoning the States-general, whom he 
 feared. Commerce began to flourish ; agriculture was 
 carried on with success ; the King was hailed as the 
 restorer of order ; and he secured the liberties of the
 
 08 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Gallican Church by promulgating the Pragmatic 
 Sanction. The princes of the blood, with Louis the 
 Dauphin, in 1440, raised a revolt, termed the Pra- 
 guerie, which was soon suppressed. Internal peace 
 being established, Charles succeeded in driving the 
 English out of Normandy and Guienne, and raised a 
 standing army of twenty-five thousand men. The 
 close of his life was embittered by the suspicions he 
 entertained of the crafty Dauphin, who had sought 
 refuge at the court of Philip, duke of Burgundy. The 
 King became possessed v/ith a morbid dread of being 
 poisoned by his son's emissaries ; and at length re- 
 fusing to take food, he died of hunger, in his fifty- 
 eighth year. 
 
 Louis XL, a man of crafty and subtle character, 
 and with a profound knowledge of human nature, ex- 
 ercised no slight influence on his age. Conscious of 
 the dislike felt toward him by the nobles, he com- 
 menced his reign with popular promi.ses to reduce the 
 taxes and submit the national expenditure to the 
 States-general, which he never performed. Though 
 vicious, cruel, and superstitious, Louis was, in some 
 respects, an admirable politician. He encouraged 
 commerce, regulated the courts of justice, established 
 the first printing-press in Paris, was the author of 
 postal commimication, and restrained the power of his 
 overgrown feudatories — the Dukes of Brittany and 
 Burgundy. Francis of Brittany, having invited Ed- 
 ward IV. of England to invade France, was attacked
 
 DEATH OF LOUIS XI. 60 
 
 and compelled to submit. Charles of Burgundy, a 
 rash and violent man, was thrice defeated by the 
 Swiss, whose country he sought to subjugate, and fall- 
 ing in battle, his fief was seized by Louis ; but Mary, 
 daughter and heiress of the fiery duke, being the wife 
 of Maximilian of Austria, claimed Burgundy as a fief 
 not limited to males. An indecisive battle at Guinne- 
 gate was followed by a treaty, which betrothed the 
 daughter of Maximilian to the Dauphin. Louis thus 
 retained his prize, and soon after, under the will of 
 King Rene, inherited Provence and the empty title of 
 Sovereign of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 As he grew old, Louis became nervously apprehen- 
 sive of death. Surrounded by his Swiss corps and 
 Scotch guard, and in the company of his barber and 
 his gossip, the strange man hved hidden in his chateau, 
 cheating himself into the belief that gross superstition 
 M'as religion, and that the most solemn oaths might 
 be violated if not sworn upon a certain relic. His 
 wretched life closed in 1483, and the sceptre passed 
 to his son, Charles VIIL, who, after a turbulent 
 minority, espoused Anne, the young Duchesa of Brit' 
 tany, and thus brought back her fief to the crown. 
 The young monarch had, like Don duixote, brooded 
 over tales of chivalry till he believed them to be real, 
 and conceived a burning desire to emulate the ex- 
 ploits of Charlemagne. With this view he thouglit 
 of conquering Constantinople, but limiting his ambi- 
 tion for the present to Naples, he commenced those
 
 70 HISTORY FOR BOYS-FRANCE. 
 
 wars which shook the foundations, tortured the in- 
 dustry and diminished the wealth of the Itahan States. 
 
 In the year 1494, having borrowed money from the 
 bankers of Milan and Genoa, Charles, with an army 
 of thirty-two thousand men, and the best artillery in 
 Europe, crossed the Alps. The dismembered state of 
 Italy was favorable to his schemes. Pisa and Flor- 
 ence opened their gates to him as an ally, and he en- 
 tered those cities as a conqueror. Then besieging 
 Rome, he forced the Pope to submit, entered Naples 
 in triumph, and received the submission of all Sicily. 
 Meantime a league to check his progress being formed 
 by the Pope with Spain, Austria, and Venice, Charles, 
 on being informed of this by the celebrated Comines, 
 sounded a retreat ; his troops were soon after driven 
 north of the Alps, and he died at the age of twenty- 
 eight. Leaving no children, the crown reverted to 
 Louis, duke of Orleans, great-grandson of Charles V., 
 who began to reign in 1498. 
 
 Louis XII. had attained the age of thirty-six when 
 he came to the throne, and his earhest acts were wise 
 and beneficent. He behaved with magnanimity to- 
 ward those who had been his enemies in former days, 
 declaring that the wrongs of the Duke of Orleans 
 were forgotten by the King of France ; and he devised 
 measures to restore order in the finances and adminis- 
 tration. When accused by the court of parsimony, he 
 calmly remarked, that he would rather see the cour- 
 tiers laughing at his avarice than the people weeping
 
 PARTITION OF NAPLES. 71 
 
 at hJ3 p/ofusion ; and he was rewarded by the States- 
 general with the proud and noble title of " Father of 
 his people." 
 
 In his foreign policy, this king was less worthy of 
 eulogy. In order to attach Brittany to the crown, he 
 procured a divorce from the deformed daughter of 
 the crafty Louis XL, and espoused Anne, duchess of 
 Brittany, who, on the decease of her husband, Charles, 
 had returned into her province, and hastened to exer- 
 cise acts of sovereignty. Ambitious of increasing his 
 territory, he applied himself with eagerness to the 
 conquest of Naples. Having secured the support of 
 Pope Alexander, and crossed the Alps, he took Milan 
 and Genoa ; when, apprehensive of the interference of 
 Spain, he invited Ferdinand to a partition of Naples, 
 and that politic sovereign dispatched to his assistance 
 the renowned Gonsalvo de Cordova, the conqueror of 
 Grenada, who introduced the Spaniards into the prin- 
 cipal fortresses. But this alliance was of brief dura- 
 tion ; for the French and Spaniards quarreling, Cor- 
 dova defeated the heroic Chevalier Bayard, and de- 
 prived Louis of his division of Naples. 
 
 About this period, the death of Pope Alexander, 
 closely followed by his son, Caesar Borgia — men whose 
 names are associated with countless crimes — deprived 
 Louis of his most powerful ally ; but, in spite of all 
 reverses, his eyes were still turned toward Italy, 
 when Genoa, offended at tlie haughty bearing of her 
 foreign masters, rose in revolt and expelled tlie French.
 
 72 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Louis vowing vengeance, appeared in 1507 under her 
 walls, entered the gates sword in hand, hanged several 
 of the citizens, and inflicted on the republic a ruinous 
 fine. 
 
 ; The martial Pope Julius, in 1508, projected the 
 League of Cambray, which Avas entered into by the 
 Kings of France, Spain, and Hungary, for the de- 
 struction of Venice, and a division of the territories of 
 that wealthy and high-flying republic. The French 
 thereupon marched against the devoted city, gained 
 a victory at AgnadeUo ; and Venice was on the verge 
 of annihilation, when the Pope, who had used his allies 
 merely to render his sway universal in Italy, formed 
 the Holy League with the Venetians, the Swiss, and 
 the Kings of Spain and England, against the French. 
 Their united forces attacked the army of Louis, which 
 under his brave and impetuous nephew, Gaston de 
 Foix, won several victories. But the young hero, 
 perishing in his fame at Ravenna, Louis was under the 
 necessity of abandoning Italy. Genoa revolted. Fer- 
 dinand of Spain not only conquered Navarre, but 
 formed, along with Henry of England, the Pope, and 
 the Emperor Maximilian, the League of Mahns. After 
 a struggle, Louis signed a peace in 1514, and at the 
 same time espoused the Princess Mary of England ; 
 but dying on the 1st January, 1515, without male 
 issue, the crown went to his cousin and son-in-law, 
 Francis, duke of Angouleme. 
 
 Francis I., .=o renowned for his braver)', gallantry.
 
 SUBJUGATION OF MILAN. T„ 
 
 and magnificence, was twenty years of age when Iw 
 assumed the sceptre, and directed his amhitioii to 
 the conquest of Milan. In order to accomphsh his 
 object, he assembled an army of thirty-five thousand 
 men. These were commanded by several eminent 
 warriors, of whom the most accomplished were the 
 Constable Bourbon, and Bayard the chevalier sans 
 peur et sans reprochc ; and they crossed the Alps by 
 a way never before attempted. The surprise and cap- 
 ture of Colonna, the Milanese general, while he sat at 
 table, threw confusion into the enemy's ranks ; but the 
 Swiss rushing from their mountains fiercely attacked 
 the invaders at Marignano. Brandishing their long 
 pikes and ponderous two-handed swords, they rushed 
 with impetuosity on the French artillery, and soon 
 succeeded in cutting off Francis from his soldiers ; but 
 he fought like a hero of romance, and his troops closing 
 their ranks, the Swiss were forced to retire after a 
 bloody contest, during which twelve thousand of them 
 fell. Next day, Francis having fairly won his spurs, 
 took knighthood from the sword of the Chevalier 
 Bayard, and tliis decisive victoiy was followed by the 
 rapid subjugation of Milan, and an important alUance 
 with the Swiss. 
 
 Leo X., son of Lorenzo de Medici the Magnificent, 
 now occupied the papal throne, and distinguished him- 
 self as the patron of art and literature. With him 
 Francis signed a concordat, by which he agreed to the 
 abolition of the Pratrmatic Sanction.
 
 74 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 At this date, a rival to the chivah-ous King of France 
 arose in the person of Charles of Austria, who on the 
 death of his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand, in 1516, 
 ascended the throne of Spain. The first transaction 
 between these great princes, whose emulation was to 
 deluge Europe with blood, was a treaty of alliance, 
 whereby Charles engaged to espouse the infant daugh- 
 ter of Francis when she attained her twelfth year ; 
 but the election of the young King of Spain to the 
 Imperial throne in opposition to the claims of Francis, 
 produced an immediate change of relations, and the 
 peaceful treaty was utterly disregarded. 
 
 Francis, whose pride was deeply wounded, demand- 
 ed the restoration of Naples, which had been seized 
 by Ferdinand ; while Charles, in retahation, claimed 
 Milan and the duchy of Burgundy, as the inheritance 
 of his ancestress, Mary, the daughter and heiress of 
 Charles the Rash. Both of the rival monarchs courted 
 with so much eagerness the support of Henry VIII. of 
 England, that, in a spirit of exultation, he adopted for 
 motto, " He whom I defend is master." In the first 
 instance Heruy manifested an inclination toward an 
 alliance with Francis, and on the marches of Calais 
 held with liim a series of conferences, so distinguished 
 by all the pomp and splendor of the age, that the 
 scene was henceforth called " the field of the cloth of 
 gold." 
 
 The hostile sovereigns, in 1521, betook themselves 
 to action. Francis commenced hostilities by an attack
 
 STRUGGLE WITH THE EMPEROR. 75 
 
 on the little kingdom of Navarre, ■wliicli was invaded 
 and ravaged ; while the armies of Charles, after tak- 
 ing Mouson and Tournay, drove the French out of 
 Milan. Amid these operations Pope Leo died, and 
 Charles not only seated Adrain VI. in the chair of St. 
 Peter, hut by tempting Wolsey with the prospect of 
 the pontifical tiara, succeeded through the aspiring 
 cardinal in making Henry change sides. 
 
 At this critical period, the indiscretion of Louise of 
 Savoy, mother of Francis, involved him in a most 
 serious loss. Louise, at the age of forty-eight, weary 
 of widowhood, became enamored of the Constable 
 Bourbon, who was considerably her junior, and taking 
 the initiative in love, oflered to accompany him to the 
 hymeneal altar. Bourbon rejected the proposal, with 
 a scornful allusion to the fact of her being stricken in 
 years. The amorous dame, deeply mortified, vowed 
 revenge, and prevailed on Francis to deprive the Con- 
 stable of his possessions. No step could have been 
 more imprudent. Bourbon entered into correspondence 
 with the Emperor, and was soon at the head of the 
 Imperial troops. 
 
 The French frontiers, now assailed simultaneously 
 by the English, Spanish, and German armies, were 
 successfully defended ; and in the presence of so many 
 dangers the gallant spirit of Francis rose high, and his 
 aspiration still pointed to the sovereignty of Italy. He 
 therefore dispatched an army to capture Milan, but 
 his troops were reduced to the necessity of retreating-
 
 76 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 Oa that memorable occasion the French rearguard 
 was commanded by the illustrious Bayard, who, mor- 
 tally wounded by a shot, ordered himself to be laid at 
 the root of a tree, to die with his face to the foe. The 
 Constable Bourbon receiving intelligence of the melan- 
 choly event, hastened forward and expressed his con- 
 dolence. " It is not I who should be pitied," exclaim- 
 ed the expiring chevalier, as the fire within for a last 
 time lighted up his glazing eye ; " but you — you, 
 who fight against your country, your king, and your 
 God !" 
 
 Bourbon, advancing, oveiTan Provence, till his pro- 
 gress was checked at Marseilles, which after heroical- 
 ly sustaining a siege of forty days, was relieved by the 
 approach of Francis, who thence marched into Italy, 
 and encamped before Pavia. Francis had been there 
 for three months when the Imperial forces approached, 
 in February 1525, and he awaited them within his 
 lines. At first the French artillery played upon the 
 Imperial troops with an efl^ect so deadly, that they 
 retired so seek shelter in a hollow hard by. The im- 
 petuous monarch, mistaking their retreat for flight, 
 charged at the head of his knights, and was suddenly 
 in the midst of the enemy. He fought with romantic 
 valor ; but wounded, covered with blood, and flung 
 from his courser, he gave up his sword, along with 
 Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre. Francis, after 
 writing to his mother the celebrated letter in which, 
 with hLs natural elevation of character, he said, " Mad-
 
 THE KING TAKEN PRISONER. 77 
 
 am, all is lost save honor," was by order of the Em- 
 peror conveyed to Madrid. 
 
 And now Charles had in his grasp the only living 
 prince who was daring and potent enough to challenge 
 his supremacy or check his career ; and he seemed 
 determined to make the most of a circumstance so 
 advantageous. For a time he refused even to see his 
 captive rival ; hut Francis falling sick, the Emperor 
 relented, visited him in prison, and consoled him with 
 words of kindness. The consequence of their inter- 
 course was the treaty of Madrid, by which Francis re- 
 gained his liberty on condition of yielding to Charles 
 the duchy of Burgundy, and liis right of feudal supe- 
 riority over Flanders and Artois. Francis gave his 
 two sons as hostages ; but the States refusing to sanc- 
 tion any such alienation of territory, the matter was 
 — not without a loss of honor on the King's part — 
 compromised by a sum of money. 
 
 Hostilities broke out in 1527 with redoubled vio- 
 lence. The Imperialists laid siege to Rome, and 
 Bourbon was killed while placing a ladder to scale the 
 ramparts ; but his fall was avenged by the sack of the 
 city, the massacre of the inhabitants, and the incarce- 
 ration of the Pope. These occurrences kindled the re- 
 ligious ire of Henry of England, who, in conjunction 
 with Francis, resolved to liberate the Pontiff' and Italy 
 from the Emperor's colossal grasp. This expedition 
 proved peculiarly disastrous ; but Charles was so hard 
 pressed at the time by the Lutherans on one hand and
 
 78 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 the Turks on the other, that he moderated his preten- 
 sions and signed a treaty, which being negotiated ty 
 Margaret of Austria and Louise of Savoy, was deris- 
 ively described as " the Ladies' Peace." The mother 
 of Francis dying soon after this transaction, left a pro- 
 digious sum of hoarded treasure, a large portion of 
 which he expended to attract artists and men of letters 
 from Italy, and thus earned the reputation of being the 
 " Father and Restorer of Letters." 
 
 Europe was already torn by the religious strife 
 which preceded the Reformation, and Francis was at 
 first undecided which side to take. His court was di- 
 vided in opinion ; and the Protestant principles were 
 supported by his distinguished sister, the Glueen of 
 Navarre. But having still the conquest of Milan in 
 view, and being reluctant, therefore, to break with the 
 supreme Pontiff, Francis determined on adhering to 
 the ancient faith. Moreover, he sought a personal in- 
 terview with Clement VIL at Marseilles ; and there 
 gave a pledge of his fidelity in a compact by which his 
 second son, Henry, was united to the Pope's niece, 
 Catherine de Medici. 
 
 Unfortunately the Reformers of Paris, in an evil 
 hour, affixed to the doors of the King's palace a 
 placard containing a violent invective against the 
 mass. The haughty spirit of Francis could not brook 
 the insult thus offered to his creed as a Christian, or 
 to liis dignity a:? a King, and resolved to have his re- 
 venge. Accordingly, on a January day, in 1555, when
 
 PERSECUTION OF PROTESTANTS. 79 
 
 Henry VIII. was constituting himself head of the 
 Church of England, and when Ignatius Loyola was 
 instituting the Society of the Jesuits, a countless mul- 
 titude thronged the streets, and balconies, and house- 
 tops of the capital, which, since the accession of 
 Francis, had assumed a new and improved aspect. 
 And from the church of St. Geraiain there issued a 
 procession, headed by cardinals, bishops, and abbots, 
 before whom were carried sacred relics, and behind 
 whom marched the King, with his head bare and a 
 torch in his hand. Then followed the Glueen, the 
 Princes of the blood, the embassadors, the various 
 officers of state, and two hundred gentlemen. Trav- 
 ersing the city, they halted in each of the six squares, 
 wliere were erected altars, on which the sacrament 
 was administered to faithful sons of Rome, side by 
 side with fiery furnaces for the destruction of heretics. 
 Six being selected as sacrifices were, amidst the curses 
 and hooting of the populace, fastened to an elevated 
 machine, so constructed with a pivot as to lower the 
 victim to the flames, and then by raising him aloft 
 for a while to prolong the tortures by repeated im- 
 mersions in this bath of fire. On that cruel spectacle 
 Francis gazed with an idea that he was doing God a 
 service ; and then falling on the ground, he supplicated 
 the blessing of Heaven on his subjects. When the 
 ceremony was closed by the performance of mass, 
 there was served a banquet, where the King presiding, 
 declared his determination to extirpate heresy, and not
 
 80 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 cveu to spare the lives of his own children, if they 
 strayed from the fold of Rome. Soon after a royal 
 edict appeared, proscribing all Protestants, confiscating 
 their property, and menacing with death any of them 
 Vvho should print a book. 
 
 Vain, assuredly, proved the prohibition ; for John 
 Calvin, though denied a residence in the dominions of 
 Francis, was no farther away than the banks of the 
 Rhine. While a mere boy, that eminent Reformer, 
 who, to a despotic intellect, added a natural impatience 
 of contradiction, had been presented to a benefice ; 
 but while searching the Scriptures, with reason for his 
 guide, he had arrived at opmions utterly at variance 
 with the doctrines of Rome. Banished from Paris by 
 the Doctors of the Sorbonne, Calvin fled to the vicinity 
 of Poitiers, and in the recesses of a dark cave near the 
 little river Clain, for a time preached the Gospel. 
 Compelled at length to quit the soil of France, he 
 sought refuge at Basil in Switzerland, celebrated as the 
 town where the art of making paper was first exer- 
 cised, and where Holbein, the famous painter, first 
 saw the light. "While residing at Basil, Calvin read 
 the apology wrritten by Francis to his alhes, the Luth- 
 erans of Germany, in which the Protestants of France 
 were represented as resembhng in their views the 
 Anabaptists, whom John of Leyden was then headmg 
 at Munster. Calvin's temper, accordmg to his own 
 account, was by no means celestial ; and on this occa- 
 sion, with logic for his weapon, he indignantly sat down
 
 THE p:mperor's visit. 81 
 
 with his characteristic industry to defend the right. 
 Ere the harvest-moon was reflected in the waters of 
 Ihe Seine, his " Institution Chretienne," dedicated to 
 Ihe King of France, was pubhshed. The treatise was 
 l-ceeivcd by the French Protestants as a text-book ; and 
 tire author, soon after estabhshed at Geneva, was re- 
 cognized as the apostle of the Reformation in France. 
 
 While war was raging between Francis and the 
 Emperor, the Dauphin suddenly died from the efiects 
 of poison. A cup-bearer being put to the rack, named 
 Charles as his accomplice ; and Francis led an army 
 of fifty thousand men to support the Turkish invasion 
 of Italy, when the Pope prevailed on the belligerents 
 not only to consent to a peace, but to have a friendly 
 meeting, which accordingly took place. Ere long 
 Charles, in passing from Spain to Flanders, visited his 
 rivals dominions, and was magnificently entertained. 
 It appears that the Emperor's situation was not quite 
 pleasant ; for his detention was so probable, that the 
 courtiers mocked and laughed at their sovereign's re- 
 spect for the rights of hospitality. When the king's 
 jester heard of the arrival of Charles in Provence, that 
 privileged functionaiy remarked that he had inscribed 
 the Emperor on his tablets in the list of fools. 
 
 " But suppose," asked Francis, " that I let him pass 
 free, what then ?" 
 , The jester looked wise, shook his head, and replied, 
 
 " In that case I'll blot out his name from my tablets, 
 and put yours in its stead." 
 F
 
 82 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 . Francis, however, allowed the Emperor to depart 
 in peace, and the Emperor promised to invest the 
 second son of his rival with the duchy of Milan ; hut 
 as he refused to fulfill the engagement verbally made 
 to that effect with the Constable Montmorency, the 
 King of France renewed the war with more than the 
 old hatred and animosity. Allying himself with the 
 Turks, their fleets attacked Nice, but were repulsed 
 by the Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria, whom Francis 
 had formerly driven from his service. Charles, with 
 an army of eighty thousand men, penetrated into 
 Champagne ; and Henry of England, equally fickle in 
 warlike, amatory, and ecclesiastical alliances, sent an 
 army to attack Picardy. Nevertheless, the French 
 were victorious at Cerisoles in Piedmont, and Fortune 
 favored them against this double invasion ; for dis- 
 sension and want of provision in the Imperial ranks 
 made Charles too glad to teraiinate the war by the 
 treaty signed at Crespy in 1544. Francis, on the 
 brink of his grave, was guilty of new severities against 
 his Protestant subjects. He sent into Provence the 
 Baron Ompeda, who, among the unfortunate Vaudois, 
 enacted scenes of cruelty that threw the doings of 
 Montfort into the shade. Twenty-two towns and vil> 
 lages were given to the flames ; the timber was cu| 
 down ; the fmit-trecs were torn up by the root ; anO 
 the inhabitants slain in cold blood, or burned with 
 their houses. 
 
 At the time, these atrocitie."* were supposed to bo
 
 RECOVERY OF CALAIS. 83 
 
 committed with the sanction of Francis, but when 
 dying, in 1547, his day-dreams passing away, he de- 
 clared that Oinpeda had far exceeded his insti'uctions. 
 Henry II., eldest surviving son and heir of the gallant 
 but faulty monarch, ascended the throne at the age of 
 twenty-nine, and was soon involved in a war with the 
 Emperor. On the abdication of that mighty prince, 
 however, a truce for five years was agreed to with his 
 successor, Philip ; and the French people, fatigued and 
 exhausted with perpetual contests, rejoiced in the pros- 
 pect of repose. 
 
 Vain was the hope I A quarrel between the Pope 
 and Philip speedily dissipated these dreams. The 
 most Christian sovereign of France was called to rescue 
 his Holiness from the fangs of the most Catholic King ; 
 and while one French army, under the Constable 
 Montmorency, entered Artois and was defeated at St. 
 duentin, another, under the Duke of Guise, after in- 
 vading Italy captured Calais, which had been in pos- 
 session of the English for more than two centuries. 
 A peace, signed in 1559, put an end to the wars, 
 which, for fourscore years, had utterly exhausted the 
 finances of France, while they desolated the fruitful 
 plains and the wealthy cities of Italy. 
 
 The absence of an Inquisition and the foreign wars 
 had recently saved the Huguenots of France from the 
 persecutions to which Protestants were subject in 
 other countries. Thus many persons of high rank 
 had given in their adhesion to the reformed doctrines.
 
 84 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 The King, however, had sworo to eradicate heresy, 
 when, m 1559, he was killed in the pride of manhood 
 at a tovmiament by a wound in his eye from the lance 
 of Count Montgomery, captain of the Guards. 
 
 Francis II., son of the graceful, luxurious, and 
 good-humored monarch thus accidently slain, was then 
 a boy of sixteen ; and among his subjects no family 
 was more aspiring than that of Guise, though its 
 founder, Claude of Lorraine, had as recently as the 
 reign of Louis XII., left his native district with a staff" 
 in his hand and one servant behind him, to improve 
 his condition in a wealthier region. It w^ould seem 
 that the adventurous Claude had taken the tide of his 
 affairs at the flood which leads on to fortune ; and in 
 any case he left a numerous progeny, who found it 
 convenient to claim for him a descent from Charle- 
 magne. Of his children the most conspicuous were 
 Francis, duke of Guise, a warrior of high courage, 
 and as little troubled with scruples as fears ; Charles, 
 cardinal of Lorraine, who, to a cowardly temperament, 
 united much prescience, subtlety, and ambition ; and 
 Mary, who, after figuring as the wife of James V. of 
 Scotland, had, as dueen-rcgent of that realm, main- 
 tained for the interests of France an obstinate struggle 
 against the Protestant Lords, whose iron hands se- 
 conded the preaching of Knox in shattering the an- 
 cient fabric of svipcrstition and tyranny. This royal 
 dame was mother of the beautiful and unfortunate 
 Mary Stuart, who had been recognized as dueen of
 
 CONSPIRACY OF AMBOISE. 85 
 
 Scots at the age of a week ; affianced to Edward, 
 prince of" Wales, before a year had passed over licr 
 head ; fought for at Piidcey while an infant in the 
 cradle ; and removed in childhood to be educated at 
 the court of France. The Duke and the Cardinal 
 perceiving how their niece might advance their ambi- 
 tious vicM's, bestowed her on the sickly Dauphin. On 
 the latter becoming king they propitiated Catherine 
 de Medici by sacrificing their benefactress, the notori- 
 ous Diana of Poitiers. They shared the supreme power 
 with that Italian woman, so skillful in falsehood and 
 unscrupulous in intrigue, and did whatever their un- 
 faltering ambition or gross bigotry dictated. 
 
 Against this usurpation of all authority there was 
 soon formed a confederacy, at the head of which were 
 the Bourbon princes — the feeble and mutable Anthony, 
 who, in right of his spouse, was titular King of Na 
 varre, and his brother, Louis of Conde — with the Ad- 
 miral Coligny and the Constable Montmorency. Theii! 
 conspiracy of Amboise terminated so fatally for the 
 Huguenots, that the waters of the Loire ran purple 
 with Protestant blood ; but while fresh plots were be- 
 ing formed and civil strife seemed imminent, the poor 
 young King was cut ofi' by a languishing malady. 
 His brother Charles succeeded at the age of ten ; and 
 his mother, Catherine de Medici, assuming the Re- 
 gency, entered upon the darkest stage of her terrible 
 and mysterious career. At first, with Italian guile, 
 she trimmed between the two religious parties ; feign-
 
 86 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 ed a desire to be converted, appointed Anthony of Na- 
 varre to be Lieutenant-general of France, and balanced 
 the princes of the house of Bourbon against those of 
 the family of Guise. She even, by the Edict of Janu- 
 ary 1562, framed by the Chancellor I'Hopital, granted 
 the Huguenots permission to worship outside the walls 
 of fortified cities, and gave them legal protection against 
 reproach or interruption. 
 
 Anthony of Navarre now seceded from the lead of 
 the Huguenots, and entered into a scheme for their 
 suppression with the King of Spain and the Duke of 
 Guise. However, his brother Conde was a little more 
 faithful to the Protestant cause ; and the court favor- 
 displayed, in spite of his heresy, toward that prince, 
 excited the jealousy of the Catholics so much, that 
 they hastily summoned Guise from Joinville to Paris. 
 While traveling through Champagne in company 
 with his brother the Cardinal, the Duke chanced to 
 ride near the village of Vassy, just as the church bells 
 were ringing and assembling the Huguenots to their 
 religious exercises. The irascible Duke forgot all 
 about the Edict of January, and, sword in hand, dash- 
 ed into the congregation with his armed retinue ; 
 while the Cardinal, whose heart shrank within him at 
 the thought of blows and bloodshed, crept behind a 
 wall for shelter. The Huguenots attempted to defend 
 themselves with stones, and Guise was wounded in 
 the cheek. The attendants, at his bidding, then slew 
 sixty Protestants, besides wounding a great number ;
 
 MASSACRE AT VASSY. 87 
 
 and this massacre, performed in defiance of all law, 
 by a noljleman who aspired to the crown, became the 
 signal for a religious war. 
 
 Intoxicated with this taste of Protestant blood, 
 Guise entered Paris with the port and bearing of a 
 conqueror, and was so enthusiastically received by a 
 deluded populace, that Catherine, in alarm, invoked 
 the aid of the Huguenot chiefs, and implored Conde 
 to protect her and her son — to save the mother and 
 the child. It was too late, however, for Guise carried 
 ofi'the young king from Fontainebleau ; while the Con- 
 stable Montmorency, whose Catholic zeal, when stim- 
 ulated by the recollection of his ancestor having been 
 the first Christian magnate in France, swallowed up 
 all other considerations, advanced into the suburbs of 
 Paris at the head of his army, attacked the Huguenot 
 pastors, and set fire to their chapels, amidst the fran- 
 tic yells of a fanatical multitude. 
 
 Civil war having been thus commenced, both par- 
 ties had recourse to ibreign powers for aid. Philip of 
 Spain, who had married the King's sister, sent troops 
 to support Guise, while Conde and Coligny were 
 strengthened by Q,ueen Ehzabeth and by the Palati- 
 nate. Ere long the armies of Conde and Montmorency 
 were drawn up in hostile lines near the town of Dreux. 
 Coligny assailed the opposing squadrons so effectually, 
 that Montmorency was taken. But while the Catho- 
 lics were flying and the Huguenots dispersing in 
 pursuit, the Duke of Guise, at the head of his fiery
 
 C9 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 cavalry, charged down vipon the scattered bands with 
 such rapidity, that Conde was captured, and the 
 rout turned into a victory. Guise then laid siege to 
 Orleans ; but while there he was killed by the pistol 
 of Poltrot, an assassin, who, being put to the torture, 
 in his excruciations accused Coligny as an accomplice. 
 The charge thus made was unsupported by any proof 
 and opposed by all probability, but it was believed by 
 Henry, the son and heir of the murdered Duke, who 
 swore to avenge the deed. 
 
 Catherine at this stage procured, through the facUe 
 Conde, a cessation of hostilities, on terms very far 
 from satisfactory to the leading Huguenots, who cer- 
 tainly gained little by putting their trust in princes. 
 But in 1567, alarmed at preparations for their de- 
 struction, they determined to anticipate their enemies. 
 Their movement was marvelously sudden. One Sep- 
 tember day, Coligny might have been seen in the dress 
 of a husbandman occupied with getting in his vintage, 
 and in forty-eight hours he was in possession of fifty 
 towns. The King, escaping from Monceaux, fled to 
 Paris, the cavalry of Conde ever visible in the rear of 
 his Swiss guards. Then came the battle on the plain 
 of St. Denis, where, in November 15G7, Montmorency 
 fell, though his side triumphed, followed by that of 
 Jamae, where, on the 16th March, 1569, the young 
 Duke of Anjou, afterward Henry HI., but then in his 
 eighteenth year, and counseled by Strozzi, an Italian 
 soldier of fortune, encountered and defeated the Hugue-
 
 THE RELIGIOUS WARS. 89 
 
 nots. Conde, having had his leg broken in the artion, 
 was taken and treacheroiisly shot. 
 
 The Cathohcs were thus triumphant ; hut the pious 
 and courageous Jean d'Albret, widowed Q.ueen of Na- 
 varre — for Anthony had fallen at Rouen — repaired 
 to the town of Saintes, and animated the wreck of the 
 Huguenot aniiy with her own lofty and masculine 
 spirit. Thither she brought her son Henry, from the 
 fields of Beam, where he had spent his childhood. 
 The royal boy had not yet seen his sixteenth summer, 
 but his knowledge of men was already considerable, 
 and his courage of the highest order. He was enthu- 
 siastically proclaimed General-m-chief, and gallantly 
 distinguished himself in the battle of Roche-Abeille, 
 where his party had the advantage. But at Mont- 
 contour the fortune of the day was different, and the 
 Huguenots were exposed to fearful carnage. Coligny, 
 though severely wounded, fought like a hero ; and 
 ever skillful in repairing his disasters, conducted the 
 remnant of his army into Languedoc, where they were 
 joined by the troops of the brave Montgomery. Thus 
 sufficiently formidable to demand honorable terms, the 
 Huguenots marching toward Paris, obtained by the 
 treaty of St. Germain a confirmation of the privileges 
 formerly enjoyed, and the possession of four cities, of 
 which Rochelle was the chief 
 
 The order that for a time prevailed was peculiarly 
 grateful to a people wearied with a sanguinary strug- 
 gle, that had not only desolated both city and plain,
 
 90 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 but filled the countiy with fierce predatory bands, di- 
 lapidated its finances, and destroyed its commerce. 
 Moreover, every blandishment was lavished on the 
 Huguenot chiefs : the widowed Q/Ueen of Navarre, 
 with her son Henry, and her nephew, the young Prince 
 of Conde, were invited to court ; and thither with 
 them, as sheep to the slaughter, went the austere Co- 
 ligny. The heroic Q,ueen of Navarre was the first 
 victim. On the eve of the marriage between her son 
 and Margaret of Valois, the beautiful sister of Charles 
 IX., and the most brilliant ornament of that scandal- 
 ous court, Jean died, poisoned, as was suspected, by 
 the treacherous Catherine. Nevertheless, the bridal 
 ceremony was performed with extraordinary magnifi- 
 cence at Notre Dame, and Coligny appeared as the 
 most trusted adviser of the juvenile King of France. 
 
 And yet that diabolical day, never to be remem- 
 bered without a shudder, was at hand. Catherine 
 and the victor of Jarnac had resolved upon the most 
 horrible violation of the laws of God and man 
 ever perpetrated under color of religion — nothing less 
 than the extermination of the Huguenots throughout 
 France at a given signal. Charles, unprepared for 
 Euch atrocity, exhibited irresolution ; but at length, in 
 gloomy anger, he consented that the Huguenots should 
 perish, on condition that none of them were left alive 
 to reproach him with the butchery of their brethren. 
 
 The blow once decided on, the great point was to 
 render the massacre as general as possible ; and with
 
 MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 91 
 
 this design, the Huguenots were hired from all quar- 
 ters to the capital. A suhorned ruffian wounded Co- 
 ligny in the street. The venerahle Admiral was car- 
 ried home covered with blood, and the preparations 
 for slaughter were thus made without being subjected 
 to his practiced eye. 
 
 The appointed hour arrived. At break of day on| 
 the 24th of August, 1572, being the feast of St. 
 Bartholomew, at a dismal tolling from the belfry of 
 the church of St. Germain I'Auxerrois, which was 
 answered from the Palace of Justice, and continued 
 through all that terrible night, the Catholics, who 
 recognized each other in the darkness by white crosses 
 in their hats and scarfs on the left arm, sallied forth 
 and began the work of murder. Coligny was among 
 the earliest victims. A band of ruffians, led by Henry, 
 duke of Guise, surrounded the Admiral's house, and on 
 the gates being opened in the King's name they rushed 
 up stairs and found him at prayer. The brave old 
 man was immediately pierced with several wounds. 
 Not the slightest respect was paid to his gray hairs, 
 and his lifeless body being tossed into the street was 
 trampled under foot by Guise, who had remained out- 
 side. The work thus begun was carried on with all 
 the energy of fanaticism. The startled Huguenots, 
 rushing from their dwellings half-dressed, were mas- 
 sacred by hundreds. Royal dukes and wealthy citizens 
 were alike active in the work of extermination, which 
 lasted for three long days ; and his most Christian
 
 92 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 Majesty was observed at a window of the Louvre 
 enjoying the scene, and firing with zeal on the flying 
 Huguenots. He summoned to his presence the King 
 of Navarre and the Prince of Conde, teUing them to 
 choose between death and the mass. Surrounded by 
 snares, the young King of Navarre had hitherto borne 
 himself with more than the wariness of age. His 
 equanimity did not, perhaps, desert him even in this 
 moment of trial, though along with Conde he mut- 
 tered an abjuration, which so calmed the cruel tyrant, 
 that they were merely committed to prison. Charles, 
 with a brilliant cortege, with the court ladies and the 
 queen's maids of honor, rode to Montfaucon to survey 
 the gibbets erected on the rising mound of masonry. 
 On seeing the half-consumed remains of the Admiral 
 he remarked, " that the body of a slain enemy has 
 always a pleasant smell," and appeared to feel delight 
 at the spectacle. In several of the provinces, scenes 
 equally inhuman had been perpetrated ; and it has 
 been computed that on the occasion not fewer than 
 sixty thousand Frenchmen met an untimely end. 
 
 The intelligence of the massacre of St. Bartholo- 
 mew was received in Rome with enthusiastic rejoic- 
 ings. The Pope ordered guns to be fired from the Cas- 
 tle of St. Angelo, a solemn mass to be chanted in the 
 church of St. Mark, and a painting of the scene to be 
 hung in the Vatican. But in countries where rehgious 
 light had shed its civihzing influence, the atrocious 
 bloodshed excited horror and indignation. In En-
 
 DEATH OF CHARLES IX. 93 
 
 gland, though the Great Q,ueen was under the necessity 
 of temporizing, there was on the part of her subjects 
 a stern shout of execration and defiance ; in the sister 
 kingdom, the Scots hhished at the heinous excesses in 
 which their ancient aUies were indulging ; and the 
 Protestant princes of Germany took np arms to assist 
 their imperiled brethren in France. 
 
 Charles IX. did not long survive that black and 
 accursed day. While Rochelle, the stronghold of the 
 Huguenots, was making a brave defense, the remoi-se- 
 ful prince became a prey to violent deliriums. The 
 ghosts of bleeding victims haunted his couch, and in 
 1574 a bloody flux consigned him to an early and un- 
 honored grave. 
 
 His brother, the Duke of Anjou, who had previous- 
 ly been elected to the throne of Poland, was proclaim- 
 ed King. Until his arrival Catherine resumed the 
 regency, and exercised her brief authority to order the 
 execution of the Count Montgomery, a cavalier of 
 Scottish extraction, who having in other days slain 
 the second Henry while tilting, had since given more 
 mortal offense by taking part with the persecuted 
 Huguenots. 
 
 Meantime, Henry III., on receiving intelligence of 
 his brother's death, left Poland ; but lingered so long 
 at foreign courts that he wasted four months by the 
 way, and on his arrival found civil war on the point 
 of breaking out. Henry, though an agent in the atro- 
 city of 1572, purchased a peace with the Confederates
 
 94 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 by delivering into their hands six towns, and then 
 gave up his time to folly and debauchery. He divert- 
 ed himself with a number of pets, in the shape of 
 parrots, donkeys, puppy dogs, and women of scandal- 
 ous reputation, and soon rendered himself an object of 
 scorn and aversion to his subjects. An association, 
 known as the Holy League, was formed by the Cath- 
 olics for deposing and cloistering the worthless and 
 licentious monarch, and placing the crown on the 
 brows of the Duke of Guise, as the heir of Charle- 
 magne. The Duke's friends compared him to Pepin, 
 and the fiery Duchess of Montpensier, his sister, carried 
 in her girdle a pair of golden scissors, with which she 
 vowed to shape the monkish crown of the modern 
 Childeric. 
 
 Henry bethought him of taking the wind out of the 
 aspirant's sails, and Avith that intent assembled the 
 States-general at Blois. There, by the advice of his 
 too subtle mother, the King of France proclaimed 
 himself head of the Holy League, hoping thus to un- 
 dermine his great subject's influence. 
 
 About this period a fresh element of discord was 
 introduced into France. The King's brother, the Duke 
 d'Alencon, who had been a suitor for the hand of the 
 Glueen of England, expired, a victim to intemperance, 
 and Henry of Navarre became next heir to the crown, 
 as lineal descendant of Robert de Clermont, a younger 
 son of St. Louis. The Leaguers, furious as wounded 
 bulls at the prospect of a Huguenot reigning, applied
 
 WARS OF THE LEAGUE. 95 
 
 to the Pope, who issued a bull excommunicating the 
 King of Navarre, and declaring him incapable of occu- 
 pying the throne. Thereupon the weak and irresolute 
 sovereign of France prohibited the profession of any 
 other than the Romish faith, and the Huguenots flew 
 to arms. The King of Navarre, at their head, sub- 
 dued several of the southern provinces, and at Coutras 
 was encountered by Joyeuse, a royal favorite, in whose 
 ranks were a multitude of light-hearted gallants, with 
 gold and precious metals sparkling on their armor. 
 Henry of Navarre could make no such glittermg dis- 
 play ; but he had the swords of the Bourbon princes, 
 his cousins, and the counsels of the faithful E.osnj'', 
 who had sold his timber and brought the money it 
 realized, through a thousand perils, to the great hero 
 whom it delighted his soul to serve. Henry, as was 
 his custom, knelt down with his troops and besought 
 the aid of Heaven. He then addressed them in his 
 own high and inspiriting accents, and they rushed 
 bravely forward, sweeping the whole of the royal 
 army away. Joyeuse himself fell in the battle, and 
 Henry proved not less humane in the moment of 
 victor)^ than he had been courageous in the hour of 
 danger. 
 
 This triumph was barren of results, for a body of 
 German auxiliaries were cut off by the Duke of Guise, 
 and the King of Navarre's troops separated for want 
 of pay. Guise, gradually increasing in power and 
 audacity, entered Paris amidst the applause of thou-
 
 96 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 sands, proceeded to the Louvre, and demanded that 
 the King should forthwith undertake a war of exter- 
 mination against his Protestant subjects. Henry's 
 assent did not satisfy the agitator ; for, the popiilace 
 rising, threw barricades across the streets, and the inso- 
 lence of CTuise rose to the utmost height. He demanded 
 that the Bourbons should be disinherited, and that he 
 should be nominated Lieutenant of the Kingdom ; but 
 he was, for the time, baffled. "VAliile making these 
 demands of the dueen-mother, he received intelligence 
 that the King had escaped, at full gallop, for Chartres. 
 " I am a dead man," exclaimed the Duke, on hearing 
 the tidings : "the King has dejjarted for my destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 He was not far wrong in his idea ; though the 
 immediate consequence of Henry's flight was his re- 
 fractory subject's aggrandizement. Guise assumed the 
 regal functions, and even persuaded the fugitive King 
 to accede to his impudent terms. By an edict Guise 
 was appointed Generalissimo, with absolute powers, 
 Heniy of Navarre disinherited, and the heretics given 
 over to vengeance. 
 
 But the king, Henry HL, while professing to do all 
 that his enemy asked, was playing a deep game. Ho 
 summoned a parliament at Blois, and there all eyes 
 were turned toward Guise, who on his part hardly 
 condescended to conceal his intention of seizing the 
 crown. Without thinking of the Italian subtlety 
 with which he had to contend, he was assassinated
 
 ASSASSINATION OF GUISE. 9? 
 
 by the King's instructions at the door of the royal 
 closet. Henry trampled on his bleeding body, as the 
 Duke had formerly trampled on that of the brave 
 Coligny ; and soon after the Cardinal of Lorraine was 
 put to death in prison. 
 
 Having been guilty of these murders, Henry had not 
 the energy to avail himself of the advantage bought 
 so dearly. A fierce storm was gathering at Paris ; but, 
 instead of marching upon the capital, he allowed the 
 Dukes of Mayenne and Aumale to hasten thither and 
 influence the passions of the excitable populace, who, 
 rising in a mass, clamored savagely for the extinction 
 of the accursed race of Valois. Nor had they long to 
 wait for that event. 
 
 Mayenne was proclaimed Lieutenant-general of the 
 Kingdom, and the Pope issued a bull against the 
 wretched King. The latter was safe in the fair city 
 of Tours, but in extreme perplexity ; for Mayenne 
 was almost at the gates, and as Catherine de Medici 
 had gone to her long account, he knew not where to 
 turn for counsel. In this emergency he allied himself 
 with Henry of Navarre, and craved his advice. 
 " There is but one remedy against the thunders of 
 Rome," answered that great man, who in the midst 
 of adversity never held counsel with despair — •' that 
 remedy is victory." 
 
 The honesty and frankness of his new ally was re- 
 freshing to Henry, after so much guile and deceit, and 
 the cousin-kings advanced on Paris. But while en- 
 G
 
 98 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 camped on the heights of St. Cloud, a fanatic named 
 Clement, incited by the Jesuits and influenced by the 
 charms of the Duchess of Montpensier, gained admis- 
 sion to the royal pavilion, and stabbed the King with 
 a knife. The assassin was instantly dispatched by the 
 guard ; but the wound proved mortal, and the mur- 
 dered monarch expired in the arms of his kinsman of 
 Navarre, whom he nominated as his successor. 
 
 The Pope, in the plenitude of his poM'cr, pro- 
 iiounced the corpse oi the King unworthy of Christian 
 burial, while a high place in the army of martyrs was 
 awarded to his murderer. So unhappy and humiliating 
 was the extinction of the royal line of Valois, after its 
 representatives had swayed the sceptre of France for 
 a period of two hundred and sixty-one years. 
 
 The condition of the country was not less miserable. 
 France had fallen in the scale of nations ; her finances 
 were dilapidated ; her commerce was destroyed ; her 
 fields lay uncultivated ; and the great body of her 
 people were ignorant, vnretched, and oppressed with 
 taxes which never reached the exhausted treasury.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 Henry IV. was regarded as the bravest captain, 
 the greatest prince, and the frankest gentleman of his 
 age. But no quahties, however brilhant and undenia- 
 ble, could set him on the throne of France, to which 
 he was the rightful heir, so long as he professed a 
 faith opposed to that of the people over whom he as- 
 pired to rule. The CathoUcs sternly denied him al- 
 legiance ; and their refusal caused rival claimants to 
 grow like hydra's heads. Of these the most fonxiida- 
 ble was Philip of Spain, who not only insisted, iu de- 
 fiance of the Salic law, on the right of his daughter 
 to wear the crown, as niece to the three last monarchs 
 of France, but by a systematic corruption created a 
 strong party m har favor. 
 
 Mayenne, brother of the murdered Duke of Guise, 
 took the field, boasting that he would bring Henry in 
 chains to Paris ; whither, even after being defeated at 
 Arques, he sent three flags as proofs of victory. But 
 while his misguided partisans in the capital were still 
 intoxicated "vvith the imaginary triumph, their formida' 
 ble foe suddenly appeared at their gates.
 
 100 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 At length, on the 14th of March, 1590, while 
 Henry was besiegmg Dreux, Mayenne crossed the 
 Seine, and the two armies met on the plain of Ivry 
 for a decisive conflict. By daybreak on the following 
 morning all was in readiness. The troops on both 
 sides betook themselves to prayer, and then Henry, 
 riding in front of his array, told his soldiers, in case 
 they lost sight of their standards, to follow the white 
 plume on his crest, which they would always find on 
 the road to honor. He then gave the signal for attack> 
 and charged bravely upon the foe. The army of 
 Mayenne and his Spanish auxiliaries went down, both 
 horse and man. The sixteen thousand Leaguers were 
 so utterly discomfited, that not a fourth of them left 
 the ground. The Duke narrowly escaped. Flying 
 from the lost field, and pretending that the King had 
 fallen, he was admitted through the gate of Mante 
 and allowed to cross the river. 
 
 The victor again marched on Paris ; but the siege 
 was long and arduous. The war, in which England 
 and Spain had so much at stake, continued to rage 
 with fury ; and Henry at length comprehended that 
 he must choose between his creed and the crown. The 
 hero, whose eye had glanced with the triumph of 
 genius at Coutras, and whose plume had waved in the 
 thickest of the fray at Ivry, made a selection which is 
 not capable of being successfully defended. At the 
 foot of the altar at St. Denis he promised to live and 
 die in the bosom of the Church of Rome, and, in spite
 
 HENRY IV. 101 
 
 of the rancorous enmity of the League, Paris was de- 
 livered to his troops.' ]',^-',''\ ' 
 
 Henry's position Wa^' iteVertheless the reverse of 
 agreeable ; for hU abjuration c-f the llcfcirn^'ed doctrines 
 had partially ofiended tlie Huguenots, without wholly 
 conciliating the Catholics. He therefore entered into 
 a negotiation with the Pope, which resulted in his 
 being acknowledged King of France ; and he convoked 
 an assembly of notables at Rouen, to receive their 
 counsels in regard to the war with Spain. The nota« 
 bias, however, did nothing ; and the King remained 
 inactive, till the surprise of Amiens roused him to 
 energy. With the aid of Rosny, now Duke of Sully, 
 he collected an army, with which he speedily retook 
 Amiens, and made Philip fain to sign a peace at 
 Vervins, in 1598. 
 
 Freed from the anxieties of a foreign war, Henry, 
 in 1598, promulgated the famous Edict of Nantes, 
 which not only guaranteed the existing rights of the 
 Huguenots, but insured them the free exercise of wor- 
 ship, and admission to all public employments. 
 
 With all his high qualities, this great monarch was, 
 like all the Bourbons, the slave of degrading passior.s. 
 His hereditary tendency to profligate amours was a 
 source of perpetual annoyance to his favorite minister. 
 Sully, and even the cause of dangerous conspiracies. 
 However, his administration was, on the whole, con- 
 ducted with so sincere a regard for the interests of his 
 subjects, that a miraculous change was effected in the
 
 102 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRA^CE. 
 
 condition of France. Henry declared, that if he hved, 
 there should })e-no pegis^ntir the kingdom who could 
 not afford to eat meat every week-day, and to put a 
 fowl inici birtf^Dt ^\eiy ."Sunday. By a wise course of 
 policy, economy, and vigilance, he not only dragged 
 back France from the brink of bankruptcy, but raised 
 her to an unprecedented condition of material pros- 
 perity ; and so apparent was the improvement, that 
 foreigners, on visiting the capital, could hardly recog- 
 nize the place where they had formerly seen much 
 woe and wretchedness. 
 
 In the mean time, so far from being inattentive to 
 European affairs, while clearly perceiving the station 
 France should occupy, he meditated the project of a 
 perpetual peace among the various states ; but was 
 suddenly assassinated, while revolving his mighty 
 schemes. 
 
 He had at the time declared war against Spain and 
 Austria, and was on the point of setting forth to take 
 the command. Impatience to find himself at the head 
 of the army had so agitated liis spirits, that he was 
 saddened by mournful presentiments ; and on the 14th 
 of May, 1610, the exempt of his guard, whose presence 
 he had commanded, suggested that an airing might 
 be beneficial. Henry agreed, and ordered his coach, 
 that he might call on the Duke of Sully. The coach 
 issued from the Louvre, attended by a few gentle- 
 men and runners, and the weather being fine the 
 equipage was open on all sides. On turning a comer,
 
 REGENCY OF MARY DE MEDICI. 103 
 
 the royal equipage was stopped by a wine-dray and a 
 hay-cart. Then au enthusiast, named Ravaillac, 
 availing himself of the momentary dispersion of the 
 attendants, and climbing on the wheel, twice stabbed 
 the King, who died instantly. 
 
 Henry had previously been separated from his first 
 queen, Margaret of Valois, a woman of dissolute mor- 
 als, and united to Mary de Medici, daughter of the 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany. On liis death, their son, 
 Louis XIII., was proclaimed King, and his mother 
 became Regent. Mary was of an imperious and rest- 
 less temper, and she now offended the nobility by the 
 exaltation of Concini — an Italian adventurer — to the 
 highest honors. 
 
 Enraged at this foreign influence, the princes of 
 the blood withdrew from court. SuUy retired to his 
 estates ; all was confusion ; and then was fulfilled the 
 prophetic saying of Henry, " Men will know my value 
 when I am gone." 
 
 In 1614, when Louis was in his fourteenth year, 
 the Glueen-regent convoked the States-general : but 
 that body was so much divided, that they dissolved 
 without doing any thing. Indeed, so humble was 
 still the position of the Third Estate, that the Mayor 
 of Paris, its president, was only permitted to address 
 the King on his knees. He was rebuked for compar- 
 ing the three orders to one family ; but when the 
 States next met, in 1789, the relative importance of 
 their constituent parts was considerably altered.
 
 104 HISTORY FOR BOYS.-FRANCE. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, the youthful monarch wa?, 
 in violent opposition to the wishes of Condt', who 
 headed the malcontent nohles, united to the Infanta 
 of Spain, celebrated as Anne of Austria ; and he soon 
 after freed himself from tutelage, by causing Concini 
 to be shot as he was entering the Louvre, and banish- 
 ing the dueen-dowager to Blois. It was then that 
 Richelieu appeared prominently on the stage where 
 he was henceforth to play so mighty a part. Born 
 about the time when Henry of Navarre became heir 
 to the crown, of an old provincial family, and trained 
 to the profession of arms, he had, nevertheless, been 
 appointed Bishop of Lucon, and apjieared in that ca- 
 pacity in the States-general. There he had been 
 conspicuous among the clergy, and in his impressive 
 address, had exhorted the boy-king to follow the coun- 
 sels of his mother. Subsequently he had been a min- 
 ister under Concini ; and now, following Mary de 
 Medici into exile, he distinguished himself by effect- 
 ing a reconciliation between the mother and the son. 
 Of that timely service, a cardinal's hat was the re- 
 ward ; and the skillful politician, admitted into the 
 council-chamber, speedily acquired such a sway over 
 the mind of Louis, that his services could not be dis- 
 pensed with. Richelieu soon changed the face of af- 
 fairs, repressed the power of the nobles, foiled the ef- 
 forts of the Huguenots to form a republic with Ro- 
 chelle for its capital, and contracted the King's eldest 
 eister with Charles I. of England.
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF RICHELIEU. 105 
 
 The ascendency of Richelieu created jealousy. The 
 two queens, and Gaston of Orleans, the King's broth- 
 er, formed a combination for his downfall ; but the 
 defeat of every attempt to that end only served to in- 
 crease his power. i 
 
 E-ochelle, the stronghold of the Huguenots, was the 
 scene of ever-recurring plots ; but Richelieu, resolving 
 that it should be so no longer, seized a favorable occa- 
 sion, and marched against it in person. The inhab- 
 itants, enthusiastic for civil and religious freedom, 
 made a stout resistance, but in vain. After holding 
 out for a year they were compelled to surrender, and 
 resign their municipal privileges, though retaining 
 freedom of worship. 
 
 The genius of Richelieu was displayed as well in 
 foreign as in domestic affairs. He assailed the power 
 of Austria all over Europe, and Louis perceived the 
 expediency of supporting so able, though unscrupulous 
 a minister. Mary de Medici, however, now regarded 
 him with a perfect hatred ; and at one period, when 
 her son was suflering from sickness, procured the Car- 
 dinal's dismissal. But Richelieu went to Versailles — 
 then a simple hunting-seat — and vindicated his policy 
 to the King with so much success, that he was re- 
 tained at the helm of affairs, and again appeared as 
 first minister, while his enemies were yet triumphing 
 in his overthrow. The occasion is celebrated in his- 
 tory as " The Day of Dupes." 
 
 Richelieu signalized the renewal of his lease of
 
 106 HISTORY FOR BOYS.-FRANCE. 
 
 power by an act of daring intrepidity. He seized tlie 
 Marshal Marillac, at the head of the army, and, by a 
 lawless stretch of authority, had him put to death ; 
 and, besides, banished Mary of Medici from court. 
 She died in poverty at Cologne, ten years later, hav- 
 ing endured many mortifications. Her son Gaston 
 still continued to conspire, but he had neither head 
 nor heart to contend with such a statesman as Riche- 
 lieu. 
 
 At length there occurred an event replete with in- 
 terest and importance. On the 5th of September, 
 1638, Anne of Austria became mother of a son, des- 
 tined, as Louis XIV., to raise the French monarchy 
 to its highest point of grandeur, to involve Europe in 
 terrible wars, to bribe alike the kings and patriots of 
 England to his purposes, to overrun the provinces of 
 Holland, and to seize upon the crown of Spain. 
 
 War still raged fiercely ; and on aU sides the policy 
 of Richeheu was triumphant. His declared enemies 
 were in prison or in exile. A strong will, and immu- 
 table purpose, had placed king, clergy, nobihty, and 
 parliaments at his feet. Cinq Mars, Master of the 
 Horse, in 1642 made an effort to restore the King's 
 authority ; but his plot was discovered ; the young 
 nobleman was executed, and the Cardinal undertook 
 a triumphal progress through France, with a pride, 
 pomp, and circumstance, far exceeding those of roy- 
 alty. 
 
 There is one enemy, however, which neither kings
 
 WARS OF THE FRONDE. 107 
 
 nor cardinals can evade ; and, in the midst of his ex- 
 ultation, Death carried Richelieu to the tomb. Louis 
 followed in 1643 ; and the crown was placed on the 
 brow of his son, a boy of five years old. 
 
 Louis XIV. was, during a long minority, represent- 
 ed by his mother, Anne of Austria, who in her capac- 
 ity as regent, selected for minister Cardinal Mazarin, 
 an Italian of craft and courage, but distasteful to the 
 nation as a foreigner. The nobles whom Richelieu 
 had exiled, on their return complained that the Glueen, 
 who had formerly been a fellow-suflerer, failed to mark 
 her appreciation of their claims, and leagued them- 
 selves against Mazarin ; but their efforts were for the 
 time unavailing. 
 
 Meanwhile, Louis of Bourbon, renowned as " the 
 Great Conde," had won a brilliant victory over the 
 Spaniards at Rocroy, utterly routing that cavalry 
 which, since the days of Charles V., had been consid- 
 ered invincible. Conde, who was only twenty-two, 
 along with Turenne followed up his triumph by other 
 feats equally distinguished ; till, in 1648, the Peace of 
 Westphalia put an end to the Thirty Years' War. 
 
 At that period France was the scene of the in- 
 ternal commotions known as the Wars of the Fronde, 
 which terminated in the triumph of Mazarin. Conde 
 had, during their continuance, flung himself into the 
 arms of the Spaniards ; and, taking advantage of the 
 civil dissensions, the latter advanced in hostile array 
 under his guidance. But their march was arrested by
 
 103 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Tureiine, who, in a series of military operations, memor- 
 able for the talents of the rival commanders, maintained 
 the honor of France. Thus it happened that the first 
 campaign in which Louis XIV. took part -was against 
 Conde in Picardy, under the auspices of Turenne. 
 The Peace of the Pyrenees ended the struggle ; Conde 
 was restored to favor, and Louis espoused the Infanta, 
 who renounced in her name, and in that of her poster- 
 ity, all claim to the Spanish succession. Soon after 
 these transactions Mazarin died ; and Louis, though 
 he had been previously kept in ignorance of public 
 afiairs, speedily proved himself a consummate master 
 of kingcraft. Inordinately ambitious, and fond to ex- 
 cess of adulation, he entered on his chequered career 
 with vigor and energy. Acting on the advice of 
 Mazarin, he resolved to govern without a prime minis- 
 ter ; and the finances, which had been in great dis- 
 order since the death of Henry IV., were regulated 
 by the celebrated Colbert, son of a merchant at 
 Rheims ; while the war department was presided over 
 by Louvois. 
 
 Under pretext that Spain had failed to pay the 
 dowry of his queen, Louis took several fortified towns 
 in Flanders ; but his expedition was checked by the 
 Triple Alliance, and terminated by the Treaty of Aix- 
 la-Chapelle. Yet such was his passion for self-aggran- 
 dizement that, after having concluded a commercial 
 treaty with Holland in 1C67, the dispute between the 
 Stadtholder and the De Wits tempted him to undertake
 
 CAREER OF LOUIS XIV. 109 
 
 the conquest of that country. He overran the prov- 
 inces to the very gates of Amsterdam ; but, reduced to 
 a state of desperation, the Dutch bored their dykes, let 
 in the ocean, inundated the land, and compelled the 
 French to retreat. De Ruyter maintained the honor 
 of the Dutch flag at sea ; and William of Orange suc- 
 cessfully resisted the efibrts of the great Conde. The 
 other European powers became jealous of the French 
 monarch's ambitious movements, and Louis saw rea- 
 son to consent to an advantageous peace at Nime- 
 guen, in 1678. 
 
 Europe, nevertheless, quailed heforc the power of 
 Louis ; and in France his word was above all law. 
 The monarchy of the houses of Valois and Bourbon 
 was at the height of its splendor ; and yet there were 
 men who, in religious belief, dared to difier from its 
 most magnificent representative. Louis, who had 
 always regarded the Huguenots with dislike, indig- 
 nant at their contumacy, and urged by his spouse, 
 Madame Maintenon, and his confessor, Pere la Chaise, 
 issued in 1685 an ordinance, which repealed the Edict 
 of Nantes. By that impolitic measure France lost 
 five hundred thousand of her most industrious sub- 
 jects, who were received with open arms in other 
 states. 
 
 At this period, "William of Orange, who entertained 
 toward Louis a mortal antipathy, projected a formi- 
 dable league to curb his power. Nevertheless, the 
 French arms were still victorious. Noailles triumph-
 
 110 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 ed in Spain ; a French army ravaged the Palatinate ; 
 and Wilham, though by this time King of England, 
 was defeated by the great Luxembourg in the battle 
 of Steenkirk. But Louis was no longer the man pro- 
 nounced by Mazarin as having stuff enough in him 
 for four kings. His health had broken down ; Col- 
 bert was no more ; and the finances were in disorder. 
 Peace was, therefore, necessaiy ; and, in 1697, it was 
 concluded at Ryswick. Restitution of various con- 
 quests was made to Spain, Lorraine was restored to 
 its duke, and William of Orange was acknowledged 
 as King of England. 
 
 Tranquillity now prevailed for two years, but the 
 death of Charles IL of Spain was the signal for new 
 wars. That feeble sovereign had left no issue, but 
 named as his heir the Duke of Anjou, grandson of 
 Louis. The Grand Monarch could not resist the 
 temptation of placing so brilliant a crown on the head 
 of his descendant, and not only accepted it in viola- 
 tion of the treaty of the Pyrenees, but, on the decease 
 of the banished King of England, proclaimed the 
 Chevalier as James IIL, in violation of the treaty of 
 Ryswick. 
 
 England, unable to forgive two such breaches of 
 faith in one man, combined with the house of Au.s- 
 tria, and prepared for hostilities. On the eve of war 
 William died ; but France found a foe far mightier 
 in John Churchill, the illustrious Marlborough. The 
 struggle was fierce Li Spain, the country whose
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI SCHEME. Ill 
 
 crown had occasioned the war, the French, led by 
 Vendome, were finally victorious ; but in all other 
 quarters the armies of Louis had been worsted. The 
 old King was compelled to humble himself before 
 such disasters, and in 1713 was signed the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, which stipulated that the Bourbon king of 
 Spain should renounce all eventual claim to the throne 
 of France, and that his brother should formally ex- 
 clude himself and his heirs from the Spanish succes- 
 sion. Two years later, at Versailles, which he had 
 converted into a magnificent palace, Louis expired, on 
 the 1st of September, 1715, after the unprecedentedly 
 long reign of seventy-two years. 
 
 Louis XV. was a child when proclaimed king of a 
 wretched and starving people, and Philip of Orleans, 
 a man of scandalous repute, became regent of the 
 kingdom. Philip's aspirations were, in spite of noc- 
 turnal orgies, somewhat ambitious, and he fell upon 
 impolitic means for raising a revenue. Thus he patron- 
 ized Law, a Scotchman, who projected the Mississippi" 
 Scheme, and who, after receiving the homage of all 
 Europe — after being almost worshiped — stole out of 
 France when the bubble burst, and closed his career 
 ni indigence among the gaming-tables of Venice. 
 
 In 1723 Louis was declared of age by the Parlia- 
 ment, and affianced to the Lifanta of Spain, who ar- 
 rived at the court of Versailles. But Orleans dying 
 soon after, and the Duke of Bourbon succeeding as 
 prime minister, the match was broken ofl", the Infanta
 
 112 HISTORY FOR BOYS— FRANCE. 
 
 unceremoniously sent back to her father, and replaced 
 by a daughter of Staiiislaus, the uncrowned King of 
 Poland. 
 
 The affront was so acutely felt in Spain, that Philip 
 entered into a close alliance with Austria ; and En- 
 gland, alarmed at such a conjunction, sided with 
 France, and the Treaty of Hanover was signed in 
 1725. In 172G Louis dismissed Bourbon, and re- 
 solved to rule alone ; but he admitted to his council 
 Cardinal Fleury, his old preceptor, who directed his 
 efforts to the maintenance of peace, and cflccted a 
 recoucihation with Spain. 
 
 The death of the Elector of Saxony, in 1732, threw 
 Europe into a war, which was continued on the de- 
 mise of the Emperor Charles, though Louis seems to 
 have been too deeply engrossed by his sinful pleasures 
 to care much for such matters. At the beginning of 
 his reign he had been particularly popular, but the 
 favor he had enjoyed rested on no sure foundation, 
 and he dissipated it by a profligate career. When 
 Voltaire was scoffing at all divine institutions, and 
 when Rousseau was protesting against the finida- 
 mental {)rinciples of society, Louis, sunk in luxury 
 and licentiousness, was indulging in the ignoble con- 
 volatiou that the throne would last his time. 
 
 In 1757, a war, which had been long threatening, 
 broke out between France and England respecting 
 territorial possessions in America. Peace was not re- 
 stored till after the accession of George III., whoso
 
 ACCESSION OF LOUIS XVI. 113 
 
 afiairs were then administered by John Stuart, carl 
 of Bute. 
 
 Madame Pompadour, the King's female favorite, 
 died in 1765, and was succeeded in his affections by 
 another disreputable woman, who, receiving from he/ 
 royal lover the title of Countess of Barri, hencefortl 
 exercised sovereign sway. Louis shamelessly pursued 
 his debaucheries till 1774, when he was carried off 
 by small-pox, hurriedly interred at St. Denis, and suc- 
 ceeded on the throne by his young, awkward, and in- 
 experienced grandson. 
 
 Louis XVI., doomed to atone for the offenses of 
 several generations, began to reign at the age of 
 twenty. His father, the Dauphin, a prince whose 
 morahty and rectitude estranged him from the disso- 
 lute court, had died in 1765, leaving three sons, suc- 
 cessively sovereigns of France ; and the eldest thus 
 becoming heir-apparent to his grandfather's throne, 
 was imited, in 1770, to Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated 
 daughter of the German Emperor and his distin- 
 guished spouse, Maria Theresa. The Austrian prin- 
 cess was received by the French people with great 
 joy, and in personal appearance was confessed to be 
 singularly captivating. " How beautiful is our Dau- 
 phiness I" was the general exclamation ; and, "Surely 
 never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to 
 touch, a more delightful vision," wrote Burke, sixteen 
 years after he had seen her at Versailles, "just above 
 the horizon, decoratmg and cheering the elevated 
 H
 
 114 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 sphere she had just begun to move in ; glittering like 
 the morning star, full of life, and splendor, and joy." 
 
 With all her personal influence and energy, the 
 lyoung Glueen was not gifted with any excess of pru- 
 ,dence ; and her husband, besides being utterly inex- 
 perienced in aflairs of state, was deficient in decision 
 of character and knowledge of mankind. He com- 
 menced his errors by selecting as minister the aged 
 Maurepas, who had been driven from office in the 
 previous reign for satirizing Madame Pompadour, and 
 who was fully fifty years behind the age. Maurepas 
 soon acquired a complete sway over the King's mind, 
 and persuaded him to recall the old Parliaments, 
 which had been suppressed by Louis XV. This con- 
 cession was the earliest victory gained by the demo- 
 cratic party against the court influence. 
 
 Meantime, the finances had been intrusted to 
 Turgot, who, as a philosopher and economist, medi- 
 tated such a removal of abuses as would have given 
 strength to the throne and liberty to the subject ; but 
 Maurepas, envious of his colleague's popularity, and 
 alarmed at the opposition to his Six Edicts, procured 
 his dismissal. The department over which Turgot 
 had presided, came, after a brief interval, into the 
 hands of Necker, who regulated the finances with 
 much ability and success dm-ing the difficult period 
 when France aided the American insurgents to shake 
 off the English yoke. Necker's celebrated budget of 
 1781 exliibited a surplus of ten millions in Ihc revenue,
 
 ASSEMBLING OF THE STATES-GENERAL. 115 
 
 but, though hailed with general approbation, this 
 financial triumph wounded the vanity of Maurepas ; 
 and Necker, finding that he was no longer treated 
 with confidence, tendered his resignation. 
 
 His successor, Calonne, pursuing a course of policy 
 precisely opposite, was soon in such perplexity, that 
 in 1787 an assembly of the notables was convened ; 
 but the Parliament, after refusing to register the royal 
 edicts, declared that the States-general had the sole 
 power in matters of taxation. The King thereupon 
 consented to the convocation of the States-gent'ral 
 within five years, and, in the mean time, recalled 
 Necker, whose restoration to power was celebrated 
 with tumultuous rejoicing. On his resuming the 
 functions of finance minister matters went somewhat 
 smoothly, and in 1788 an edict was issued for conven- 
 ing the Estates. 
 
 The Clueen with a higher spirit and a more capa- 
 cious mind than her husband, had insisted on the 
 expediency of the States-general meeting at least forty 
 leagues from the capital ; but she was overruled, and 
 on the 5th of May, 1789, they assembled at Versailles, 
 after an interval of seventy-five years. This body, 
 in which the influence of the Third Estate soon be- 
 came predominant, assumed the authority which had 
 previously belonged to the crown, formed itself into a 
 national assembly, and armed the democracy of Paris. 
 Then began in earnest that Revolution which, what- 
 ever its ultimate influence on the destinies of the
 
 no HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 human race, proved so prolific of crime, bloodshed, and 
 wretchedness, as to mortify the most enthusiastic and 
 disappoint the least hopeful. The Bastille was taken 
 by an infuriated mob ; the chief nobles and princes 
 of the blood were driven into exile ; the King, being 
 brought to Paris, was compelled to accept the declara- 
 tion of the Rights of Man ; and titles of nobility were 
 abolished throughout France. Then a general con- 
 federation took place in the Champ de Mars on tho 
 anniversary of the taking of the Bastille — the last day 
 of hope enjoyed by the royal family. 
 
 Clubs were now constituted to carry on the work 
 of agitation. The earliest of these had its meetings 
 at the ancient convent of the Jacobins, from which a 
 body of tho most violent revolutionists afterward 
 derived their name. At this time, Mirabeau, a man 
 of noble birth, irregular habits, and stormy passions, 
 who had exercised unrivaled influence over the Assem- 
 bly, died a victim to his excesses. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emigrants were demanding aid from 
 every court in Christendom, and Louis, alarmed for 
 his personal safety, escaped with his family from the 
 palace of the Tuileries, and eluding the vigilance of 
 guards passed the barrier without hindrance ; but be- 
 ing intercepted at Varennes, he was conveyed back to 
 Paris, where, in spite of a protest on the part of his 
 exiled brothers, the hapless King accepted the new 
 Constitution. 
 
 The year 1792 was still more disastrous to the uit
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 117 
 
 fortmiate monarch. " Liberty, Eqixality, and Frater- 
 nity," became the cry ; and while the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick, at the head of the armies of Austria and Prussia, 
 was advancing to repress the revohition, an armed 
 mob forced the Tuileries, insulted the heir of Henry of 
 Navan-e with impunity, and forced him to place on 
 his head the bonnet range, recognizeil as the emblem 
 of liberty. Soon after this occun-ence the National 
 Assembly decreed the country in danger, and Petion 
 demanded the King's deposition. Another and fiercer 
 assault was made on the Tuileries, and Louis, with 
 that majestic dueen who had first entered the capital 
 through triumphal arches and streets strewn with 
 nosegays, fled for refuge in the National Assembly, 
 while the Swiss Guards were pitilessly butchered by 
 a people rendered cruel by centuries of oppression. 
 
 On the same day the royal authority was suspended, 
 and the work of revolution went rapidly onward. The 
 members of the royal family were imprisoned in tho 
 Temple ; the statues of the kings were thrown down ; 
 the state-prisoners were ferociously massacred ; an- 
 archy reigned ; the National Convention was con- 
 stituted ; the King was deposed ; France was declared 
 a Republic ; and fraternity was decreed to all nations 
 struggling for liberty. 
 
 On the 2d of November the Convention, in the 
 plenitude of its lawless power, decided that Louis 
 should be brought to trial. On the 17th of January, 
 1793, he was condemned, and on the 21st he was led
 
 118 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 forth to execution. On the 1 5th of October his dueen 
 was hkewise beheaded, and two years later their son, 
 Louis XVII., died in prison. 
 
 The French armies, under Dumouriez and Keller- 
 mann, had hitherto been successful against the allies 
 of the Emigrants ; but after the judicial murders of 
 Louis and his (yieen the nations of Europe took up 
 arms. All freedom and order were indeed at an end. 
 Kobespierre, if records do not belie his words and 
 actions, was one of the most extraordinary of those 
 specimens of humanity who luxuriate in the flow of 
 blood. To gratify this thirst, neither age nor sex was 
 spared, and ere long Robespierre fell before the spirit 
 he had invoked. In July, 1794, he was guillotined, 
 along with his principal partisans ; the Jacobin club 
 was suppressed ; the reign of terror was over ; and 
 the world breathed somewhat more freely. 
 
 A new scene was speedily opened up. Napoleon 
 Bonaparte — a native of Corsica — one of the greatest 
 actors who ever appeared on the theatre of the world, 
 having previously distinguished himself at the siege 
 of Toulon, displayed extraordinary capacity in the 
 suppression of a Parisian insurrection in 1795. He 
 was intrusted with the command of the army destined 
 for Italy, and at the age of twenty-six achieved such 
 prodigies of generalship that his troops were considered 
 invincible, and Bonaparte, who had indulged from 
 infancy in ambitious dreams, determined on emulating 
 the actions and acquiring the crown of Charlemagne.
 
 BONAPARTE PROCLAIMED EMPEROR. IID 
 
 He carried all before him, and the combined powers 
 of Europe, with the exception of England, laid down 
 their arms ; and finding on his return from Egypt in 
 1799 a revolution in Paris, he skillfully turned the 
 circumstance to his own advantage, and was declared 
 First Consul. 
 
 Next year Bonaparte crossed the Great St. Ber- 
 nard, at the head of forty thousand soldiers ; and in 
 June, 1800, gained the battle of Marengo, which 
 placed all Italy at his feet. The victory of Moreau 
 at Hohenlinden accelerated a peace with Austria, 
 which was signed in 1801, and followed in 1802 by 
 the Treaty of Amiens, productive of a temporary ces- 
 sation of hostilities between England and France. 
 
 Bonaparte seized the opportunity to apply his gen- 
 ius to the improvement of the general condition of the 
 country, and occupied his attention with operations 
 which entitle him to gratitude. At the Sctme time 
 he altogether departed from the spirit of the Revolu- 
 tion, and stripped the people of every vestige of pow- 
 er. But Frenchmen were so weary of change and 
 tumult, that they preferred crouching at the feet of a 
 victorious despot, to being mercilessly butchered at 
 the bidding of sanguinary demagogues. Accordingly, 
 in 1804, Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor. 
 
 The peace with England was of brief duration. 
 The Emperor, repairing to Boulogne, prepared a for- 
 midable armament for the invasion of the British 
 isles, and Pitt sent forth the Hero of the Nile, who
 
 120 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 gained so complete a victory over the French fleet at 
 Trafalgar, that Bonaparte no longer ventured to dis- 
 pute the sovereignty of the seas. But though unsuc- 
 cessful on that element, the great Emperor was not 
 without his briJhant triumphs. Learning, while at 
 j3oulogne, that the Austrians and Russians M'ere ad- 
 vancing, he suddenly departed thence and crossed the 
 Rhine. After several successes on the part of his 
 generals, Bonaparte compelled the capitulation at 
 Ulm, and entered Vienna as a conqueror. From 
 that city he marched into Moravia ; and on the 2d 
 of December, 1805, the anniversary of his coronation, 
 totally defeated the Austro-Russian army at Auster- 
 Htz. 
 
 Napoleon retraced his steps to Paris, where he was 
 welcomed with intoxicating applause. Ambitious to 
 elevate his family, he bestowed the Neapolitan crown 
 on his brother Joseph ; erected the United Provinces 
 into a kingdom for Louis ; and nominated Murat, his 
 brother-in-law, Grand Duke of Cleves. Untaught by 
 the example of Cromwell, he even attempted to create 
 a hereditary order of nobility ; but the eflbrt was, of 
 course, futile. 
 
 About this date the King of Prussia, resolving on 
 war, insulted the French embassador, and invaded 
 Saxony. Bonaparte undertook a campaign, and an- 
 nihilated the Prussian power at the great battle of 
 Jena, in 1806. He then visited the tomb of Fred- 
 erick the Great, and possessed himself of that royal
 
 NAPOl.EUN AT AUSTERLITZ.
 
 BONAPARTE'S REVERSES. 123 
 
 warrior's sword ; after which he marched into Po- 
 land, and crushed the Russian army at Friedlaud. 
 A conference which took place between the two Em- 
 perors and the King of Prussia resuUed in the Treaty 
 of Tilsit. 
 
 Portugal was the next victim. A proclamation for 
 lier dismemberment being issued, the Prince Regent 
 and royal iiimily embarked, in trepidation, for Brazil. 
 Soon after, the royal family of Spain, who had been 
 singularly servile, were sacrificed to Napoleon's ambi- 
 tion ; and Joseph Bonaparte, resigning the crown of 
 Naples, became King of Spain. 
 
 But the Spaniards would not submit to be thus 
 appropriated. They rose with all their ancient spirit, 
 declared war to the death, and so effectually checked 
 the French progress in the Peninsula, that Joseph 
 was obliged to abandon Madrid a week after he had 
 entered it. Events hurried onward. Portugal revolt- 
 ed : Wellington landed there with an English army, 
 and turned back the tide of conquest that had over- 
 whelmed the whole Continent. In Spain the English 
 were received by their old enemies with open arms, 
 and the star of Napoleon began to pale in its lustre. 
 In his efforts to subjugate Spain, the Emperor lost 
 the flower of his armies ; and his former allies, em- 
 boldened by the success of the English, threw off 
 his yoke, and became so many foes. On the vergo 
 of his fate, he divorced, in 1810, the Empress Jo- 
 sephine, and M'ilhin three months married Maria
 
 124 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 Louisa of Austria. Their son was styled the King of 
 Rome. 
 
 In 1812 the Emperor put his fortune to the test. 
 He declared war against Russia, and undertook a 
 campaign at the head of four hundred thousand men. 
 Having captured and burned Smolensko, he fought a 
 battle before Moscow, and took possession of that city. 
 But the inhabitants, believing their country to be lost 
 if the French found rest and shelter in Moscow, set 
 fire to it in a thousand places during the night ; and 
 in a few hours tlie buildings were in ruins and ashes. 
 After fruitless negotiations Bonaparte withdrew from 
 Moscow, as the winter was setting in with unusual 
 severity ; but in crossing the Berezina twenty thou- 
 sand Frenchmen perished, and the retreat became a 
 fearful rout. On the 5th of December Bonaparte de- 
 serted his shattered army, and on the 18th arrived, at 
 midnight, in Paris. 
 
 New forces being raised, the Emperor again took 
 the field, and gained the battle of Liitzen in 1813 ; 
 but Wellington, having defeated the French generals 
 in Spain, Paris capitulated in March, 1814, and was 
 occupied by the Allied armies. Napoleon, while 
 hurrying thither, received the fatal news, and falling 
 back on Fontainebleau, he there learned that he had 
 been proclaimed a tyrant by the senate. Betrayed 
 and abandoned by his old companions in arms. Napo- 
 leon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which de- 
 clared himself and his descendants to have forfeited
 
 RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS. 125 
 
 the crown. On the 20th of April he prepared to de- 
 part for Elba, addressed his sobbing soldiers in ac- 
 cents tremulous with agitation, and after pressing 
 their standard to his lips, threw liimself into his 
 traveling carriage. 
 
 On the same day, the heir of the Bourbon mon< 
 archs, escorted by the Prince of "Wales, emerged from 
 his seclusion at Hartwell, entered London amidst the 
 applause of a multitude, and four days later was con- 
 ducted to Dover. On the 3d of May he made a sol- 
 emn entrj' into Paris, accompanied by the Duchess 
 of Angouleme, daughter of Louis XVI., and attended 
 by the Old Guard, whose gloom contrasted with the 
 joy exhibited by the long-depressed partisans of the 
 House of Bourbon. But a royal family restored by 
 foreign arms can hardly contmue popular, and the 
 brilliant achievements of Napoleon had rendered the 
 French people ardent lovers of novelty and excite- 
 ment. 
 
 The deposed Emperor perfectly comprehended their 
 character, and next year, with the utmost confidence 
 in the enthusiasm of the army for his person, he land- 
 ed at Cannes with a thousand men. Every where 
 the soldiers responded to his eloquent appeal. Ney, 
 after taking the oath of fidelity to the King, unable 
 to resist the fascination, flung himself in the arms 
 of his former general. The King, in despair, fled to 
 Ghent, and Napoleon took possession of Paris without 
 firing a shot.
 
 120 HISTORV FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 He had soon three hundred thousand men under 
 his command, and yet his position was perilous, for 
 all Europe was in commotion to repress his ambi- 
 tion ; and at Brussels were stationed about thirty 
 thousand British troops, taught from infancy never 
 to turn their back upon a foe, and headed by the 
 most successful captain of the age. Napoleon had 
 now to learn from experience what manner of men 
 these free and famous islanders were, when brought 
 face to face and hand to hand with an enemy, how- 
 ever brave and powerful. 
 
 On the 1st of June he animated the spirits of his 
 followers by an impressive military pageant, in which 
 fifty thousand soldiers were reviewed, and then took 
 the field to achieve, as he anticipated, a crowning 
 victory. 
 
 On the cloudy morning of the 18th of June, 1815, 
 after a night of wind, rain, and thunder, during which 
 their forces had bivouacked within a mile of each 
 other, Wellington and Napoleon met on the plains 
 of Waterloo — the fate of Europe trembling in the 
 balance. Delighted to find that his antagonist, in- 
 stead of retreating, as he had expected, was setting 
 the Allied army in battle order, Napoleon praised the 
 manner in which the enemy took the ground, but 
 added, " They must run." Soult, who better under- 
 stood the character of the English, replied, " They 
 will be cut to pieces first." At half-past ten, a gun 
 fired at an advancmg column of French was the sig-
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 127 
 
 nal for action, and a general and tremendous cannon- 
 ade followed. 
 
 Wellington had calculated on the arrival of Blii- 
 cher, Avith his Prussians, at three o'clock ; but the 
 state of the roads delayed them long beyond that 
 hour, and the Allied troops had thus to stand or fall, 
 mostly in squares, before the murderous play of Na- 
 poleon's artillery, and the terrible charges of his cav- 
 alry. Wellington, vv'hile riding in the thickest of the 
 fire, though his aspect remained composed, was fre- 
 quently observed to look at his watch, and once ex- 
 claim, " Would to God that night or Blixcher would 
 come !" 
 
 Napoleon, on the contrary, was confident of vic- 
 tory ; and about six in the evening, having ordered his 
 whole front line to advance, and led forward his Im- 
 perial Guards, handed over the lead to Ney, pointing 
 to the English ranks, and saying, " There, gentlemen, 
 is the way to Brussels." "Vive l' JSmpereur .'" was 
 the response, and the French dashed onward : but on 
 cresting a hill, behind which the English Foot Guards 
 were sheltered from the fire, a few mounted officers 
 were visible through the smoke ; and one of these 
 Was Wellington, who shouted, " Up, Guards, and at 
 them !" Instantly they sprang to their feet, and 
 after pouring forth a shattering volley, rushed upon 
 the foe with resistless effect. Wellington now per- 
 ceiving that the Prussians were at hand, said, " The 
 hour is come I" and ordered the whole line to charge.
 
 128 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 The command was received with a deafening cheer : 
 the sun, which had been obscured all day, burst 
 forth, and the English troops, whose valor had been 
 so long restrained, pressed onward to glowing victory. 
 
 Napoleon was hvid with rage and despair. Be- 
 wildered and desperate, he rode off" the field, aban- 
 doned the wreck of his army, and carried to Paris the 
 intelligence that all was lost. There, having hastily 
 signed, in favor of his infant son. Napoleon II., an ab- 
 dication, M'hich the Chambers with due caution ac- 
 cepted, he determined to leave France ; and betaking 
 himself with his suite on board the BcUerophon, he 
 wrote to the Prince Regent, demanding permission to 
 take shelter in England. The reply was an order to 
 convey the ex-Emperor to St. Helena, where the 
 great Corsican died in 1821. 
 
 Meantime the conquering army marched to Paris, 
 and Louis XVIII. took possession of his hereditary 
 throne. But it soon appeared that exile had taught 
 him little : he manifested a decided predilection for 
 the order of things under which he had been born, 
 altogether out of place in the sovereign of a people 
 whose history had not been such as to inspire them 
 with any ardent sympathy with the past. There 
 was all the pomp of an ancient monarchy, without 
 that foundation in the hearts of the people, without 
 which even historic dynasties can not endure. In 
 giving toleration to the Jesuits, he raised suspicions, 
 and committed a blunder which had proved fatal to
 
 REIGN OF CHARLES X. 129 
 
 other restored kings. Yet he contrived to steer be^ 
 tween contending parties till his death, which oc- 
 curred on the 16th September, 1824, and left the 
 country in a state of increasing prosperity. 
 
 Charles X., brother of the deceased monarch, was 
 next heir ; and his accession was hailed with enthu- 
 siasm by the Parisians, who regarded his abolition of 
 the censorship of the press, along with his gracious 
 speech and affable manners, as pledges of his affec- 
 tion for a liberal system of government. In 1825 he 
 was ceremoniously crowned at Rheims by the Arch- 
 bishop, and solemnly swore to the Charter ; but for- 
 tune was decidedly against him. The erection of 
 Jesuit colleges, the grant of forty millions to the emi- 
 grants, and the attempted restoration of the law of 
 primogeniture, aroused Republican jealousy ; and the 
 defeat of the latter measure, in 1826, was followed by 
 signal rejoicings. Next year the Church in France, 
 finding how fonnidable was the power of the press, 
 prevailed on. the cabinet to introduce a measure for 
 curtaihng its freedom ; and the attempt, though fu- 
 tile, was productive of much disturbance. 
 
 Charles, who was by no means indifferent to the 
 possession of popularity, resolved to delight the eyes 
 of the Parisians with a review of the National Guard ; 
 and on the last Sunday in April, 1827, nearly the 
 whole population of Paris poured into the Champ de 
 Mars, where sixty thousand men were under arms. 
 The reception of the King was all that could have 
 T
 
 130 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 been wished ; and as he rode along the ranks he was 
 greeted with cries of " Vive h Roi /" But mingled 
 with these were expressions condemnatory of his min- 
 isters, and a few voices even insulted the members of 
 the royal family who happened to be present. Charles, 
 unfortunately, lost his temper. " T come here," he 
 said, angrily, " to receive homage, not lessons." The 
 demonstration thus proved a failure ; the royal party 
 returned home depressed and dejected ; a cabinet coun- 
 cil was forthwith summoned ; and next morning an 
 ordinance was vindictively issued for disbanding the 
 National Guard. 
 
 There was courage, if not prudence, in such a course, 
 and resistance was not attempted. But the press 
 threatened ministers with vengeance ; and the censor- 
 ship was despotically re-established. There were other 
 signs of a coming struggle between revolutionized 
 France and the House of Bourbon ; and with every 
 national sentiment wounded, with the army disaffected, 
 and the revolutionary chiefs at liberty, the issue was 
 not doubtful when the inevitable hour at length ar- 
 rived. 
 
 In 1830, a period pregnant with great events, came 
 into existence the unhappy ministry of Prince Polignac, 
 which was, rightly or wrongly, considered dangerous 
 to the public liberty so dearly bought. Three parties 
 in Paris, were, with different views, eager for the over- 
 throw of the obnoxious government : the Republicans ; 
 the constitutional Conservatives; and the Orleanists,
 
 REVOLUTION OF 1830. 131 
 
 who had the benefit of the potent pen of Thiers and 
 the convenient cofiers of Lafitte. The motley Oppo- 
 sition, supported by a most powerful and eloquent press, 
 had a decided majority in the legislature ; but Polig- 
 nac, however inadequate to the crisis, still persevered. 
 The Algerine war created a slight reaction in the pub- 
 lic mind, and a dissolution of the Chambers was 
 thought advisable. Matters, however, only became 
 worse ; and the King and his ministers determined to 
 divest themselves of fears and scruples, to violate the 
 constitution, and to take the law into their own hands. 
 
 Accordingly on the 26th of July, appeared the 
 memorable and fatal ordinances, by which the new 
 Chamber was dissolved before its meeting, the elec- 
 toral system changed, and the freedom of the press 
 abolished. Murmurs, not loud but deep, were the 
 first rephes ; but next day Paris was in rebellion. 
 Barricades were thrown up, the tri-colored standard 
 was displayed, every street became a scene of cai-- 
 nage and confusion, and the army, in whose ranks 
 had previously been signs of wavering, proved faith- 
 less in the hour of need. 
 
 On the night of the 29th the royal family departed 
 from Versailles, and sought refuge at Rambouillet. It 
 was quite evident, however, that they must begone 
 from among a people with whom they had no senti- 
 ments in common. Before leaving France the aged 
 monarch transmitted to the Chambers an abdication 
 in favor of the Duke of Bordeaux ; but it was too
 
 132 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— FRANCE. 
 
 late. The sentence against the Bourbons had gone 
 forth ; the Deputies had already, in their wisdom, 
 decided, amid salvos of artillery, that the crown should 
 be transferred to the Duke of Orleans, who during 
 the revolution is said to have been hidden in a sum- 
 mer-house of his park ; and accordingly, on the 9 th 
 of August, that eminent personage having, with head 
 uncovered and outstretched hand, sworn to observe 
 the Constitutional Charter, and henceforth act solely 
 with a view to the interests of the people of France, 
 began to reign with the title of Louis Philippe I. 
 
 On the 1 6th of that month, the dethroned king and 
 his family, after being menaced in their asylum by 
 twenty thousand Parisians, embarked at Cherbourg to 
 seek refuge on the shores of England. 
 
 All was delusion, however ; naught was truth. A 
 quarter of a century has well-nigh passed ; but the 
 throne then enthusiastically erected on barricades no 
 longer exists as an eye-sore to Legitimists. Ere eigh- 
 teen years had run their course, a scene somewhat 
 similar to the three days of July was being recklessly 
 enacted. The Orleans dynasty had fallen ; and the 
 prince whom the French citizens had, on that mo- 
 mentous occasion, elevated to sovereignty, was flying, 
 in terror and dismay, with those descendants in the 
 male hne to whom the crovni had been granted for- 
 ever, to seek and find safety on the same free and 
 sacred soil.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HISTOUY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 About the year 451, when the Ancient Britons 
 were enervated by four centuries of servitude under 
 the K,omans — when they were left by their Imperial 
 masters at the mercy of the first invader — and when, 
 unable to repress the inroads of the Scots, they com- 
 plained that the barbarians drove them to the sea, 
 that the sea drove them back on the barbarians, and 
 that they had only the choice of two deaths, either to 
 be swallowed by the waves or slain by the sword — 
 there anchored off the coast of Kent three bulky ships, 
 commanded by Hengist, a martial Saxon, who boast- 
 ed of a descent from Woden, the god of war, and who 
 had been trained to arms in the ranks of Rome. 
 From this chief and his brother, Horsa, the querulous 
 Britons craved assistance against their Northen foes ; 
 and these daimtless strangers, calling over an army 
 of their countrj'men, speedily drove the Picts and 
 Scots to their fastnesses. So far, however, from mani- 
 festing any haste to depart from the fertile and beau- 
 tiful land which he had deUvered, Hengist settled in 
 Lincolnshire ; and there he gave a feast, to which
 
 134 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 went Vortigern, a king among the Britons. The eyes 
 of the royal guest, unused to damsels so fair and fasci- 
 nating, were arrested by E.owena, the youthful daugh- 
 ter of Hengist; and when that alluring nymph, on 
 bended knee, presented to him the wassail cup, her 
 soft accents and graceful movements so chamied Yor- 
 tigern's heart, that he never rested till she became his 
 bride. Her kinsmen thereupon gave indications, not 
 to be mistaken, of aspiring to supremacy in the coun- 
 try. The sword was drawn, and the two races com- 
 menced that struggle which lasted for a hundred and 
 fifty years, which the Britons maintained with the 
 energy of despair, and which gave occasion to the ex- 
 ploits of their king Arthur and those Knights of the 
 Round Table who figure as heroes in chivalrous ro- 
 mances. Their courage and patriotism were vain ; 
 for beneath the white-horse banner of Hengist his 
 strong followers plied their battle-axes so eflectually 
 that their leader became Kuig of Kent, and founded 
 the Saxon rule in Britain. 
 
 During the existence of the Saxon Heptarchy, which 
 included the whole country, subject to seven princes, 
 the Anglo-Saxon chiefs, being converted to Christian- 
 ity, became members of the Catholic Church, discon- 
 tinued the worship of Thor and ^Yoden, and erected 
 monasteries ; and in 627 Egbert, king of Wessex, 
 formed the separate provinces into one state, and 
 reigned over all England. 
 
 The Saxons were waging a fierce civil war, when,
 
 THE SAXON PERIOD. 135 
 
 one morning, a band of adventurers, with shaved 
 beards, and short, well-combed yellow hair, entered a 
 port on the southern coast. A local magistrate going 
 to the harbor demanded their business. The Northern 
 pirates, with a howl of defiance, slew the official and 
 his attendants, plundered the town, placed the booty 
 in their vessels, gave their sails to the wind, tugged 
 at their oars, and were soon out of sight. Such was 
 the ominous commencement of the hostilities which 
 the Danes henceforth carried on against the shores of 
 England. 
 
 At length, in 871, King Ethelred was mortally 
 wounded in a battle with the fierce invaders, and his 
 hopeful son, Alfred the Great, was chosen as successor 
 to the crown. But the young king, proving less 
 popular than was anticipated, received so little sup- 
 port against the sea-kings, that he was under the 
 necessity of relinquishing his throne, and seeking ref- 
 uge in the hut of a swine-herd on the verge of Corn- 
 wall. One day, while in this obscure retreat, the 
 swine-herd's wife, unconscious of her guest's quality, 
 ordered him to watch some cakes which were baking 
 at the fire ; but Alfred was so deeply interested in 
 some bows and arrows that he neglected her instruc- 
 tions. " You stupid man I" exclaimed the enraged 
 woman ; " you will not take the trouble to prevent 
 my bread from burning, though you're always very 
 glad to eat it I" 
 
 Alfred, too great a hero to despair of his fortunes.
 
 136 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 ere long ventured forth, and, disguised as a minstrel, 
 took his way to the Danish camp. AVliile diverting 
 the rude v^^arriors with songs and music, he hecame 
 conversant with their aflairs, and then summoning 
 his subjects to repair to his standard, he defeated the 
 Danes in eight battles, and reduced them to submis- 
 sion by his genius and valor. 
 
 The invasion of Swen, king of Denmark, in 1002, 
 once more changed the position of the antagonistic 
 races ; and his son, Canute the Great, during eighteen 
 years, reigned with distinction in England. How- 
 ever, in 1011, Edward the Confessor, heir of the 
 Saxon line, was restored to his ancestral throne by 
 the arms of Earl Godwin, whom some chroniclers de- 
 scribe as son of a cowherd, while others assert that he 
 was grand-nephew of Edric, the potent Earl of Mcrcia. 
 In cither case, the restored king married Godwin's 
 daughter, the learned and beautiful Edith ; and when 
 Edward died without heirs, the English, as previously 
 related, elected in his stead Godwin's son, the rich 
 and popular Harold. 
 
 The throne which Harold occupied for nine months 
 was utterly unstable. The empire of the Saxons in 
 England was in the last stages of decay. A corrupt 
 church, a lazy, luxurious aristocracy, and a populace 
 oppressed and unscrupulously decimated to supply the 
 Irish slave-market, formed a nation, which, however 
 capable of being resuscitated by an infusion of fresh 
 blood, was deficient in the elements of defense ; when
 
 THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 1J7 
 
 a ship, with the Pope's banner flying at its mast-head 
 and three hons painted on its sails, landed William of 
 Normandy at Pevensey, in Sussex. 
 
 The conquest, which his numerous army com- 
 menced on the 14th of October, 1066, with the victory 
 of Hastings, where King Harold fell fighting, facili- 
 tated by the helplessness of the Saxon prince, Edgar 
 Atheling, and the temporizing of the great Northern 
 earls, Edwin and Morkar, was gradually extended 
 from the coast of Sussex and the downs of Kent to 
 the mountains of Northumberland ; and then no hope 
 remained for the vanquished race but in the Isle of 
 Ely, a marshy district, where, in 1069, among rushes 
 and willows, a band of resolute patriots formed a 
 Camp of Refuge. 
 
 At that date there came from Flanders an En- 
 glishman named Hereward, whose patrimony had, in 
 his absence, been seized by a Norman ; but Here- 
 ward, assembling his friends, speedily expelled the in- 
 truder, and afterward carried on a partisan warfare 
 with so much success, that he became the hero of 
 street ballads, and Captain of the camp at Ely. In 
 that cajiacity he exhibited singular skill, and the 
 place being taken after a struggle, Hereward made a 
 hairbreadth escape, and still kept about him a hun- 
 dred Englishmen, several of whom made a rule of 
 never shrinking from a combat with seven foreigners. 
 The exploits of Hereward so endeared him to an En- 
 glish lady of large property, that she proposed to unite
 
 138 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 her fate with his ; and, after their marriage, she pre- 
 vailed ou him to make his peace with the Conqueror. 
 
 Hereward, who had now the prospect of hving in 
 safety, was one afternoon lazily reposing in his shady 
 orchard, without his coat of mail, but with a sword 
 and pike by his side, when his slumber was broken 
 by the entrance of a troop of Normans. The destined 
 victim, arousing himself, grasped his pike and pierced 
 their leader to the heart ; and then, drawing his 
 sword, he fought desperately, till the blade was shiv- 
 ered on the helmets of his foes. Even then he laid 
 about him with the pommel, and fifteen Normans had 
 fallen, ere, wounded and bleeding, he was beaten to 
 his knee. While the life-blood was flowing. Here-, 
 ward, seizing a buckler, struck a Breton knight so 
 fiercely in the face, that they expired at the same 
 moment ; and from that time it became a popular 
 saying, that if four such men had existed in England, 
 the conquest could never have been accomplished. As 
 it was, Saxons, Danes, and Britons groaned under a 
 foreigu yoke ; William metamorphosed each of his 
 mercenary comrades into a knight or noble ; and En- 
 gland became, for the time, an appanage of the Nor- 
 man duchy. 
 
 The English people, however, though vanquished 
 and plundered, retained sufficient influence to make 
 their alliance worth striving for, and it was exerted 
 on several memorable occasions in favor of Norman 
 princes, who proved most ungrateful. William Hufus.
 
 THE ANGLO-SAXON REIGN. 130 
 
 after being crowned in 1087, appealed to the natives 
 in his hour of need, and promised them, in exchange 
 for aid against the Norman adherents of his elder 
 brother, Robert, whatever laws they should desire. 
 At the siege of Rochester they rendered him triumph- 
 ant ; but when securely seated on the throne, William 
 laughed at his promises, and proved so tyrannical in 
 regard to the Forest Laws, that ho was styled, in de- 
 rision, " the Wild-beast Herd." The English expe- 
 rienced a feeling of relief when, on an August morn- 
 ing in 1100, Rufus fell in a glade of the New Forest, 
 mortally wounded by an arrow, which his cherished 
 friend, Walter Tirel, had shot at a stag. 
 
 Henry T., surnamed Beauclerc, the Conqueror's 
 youngest son, then seized upon the throne. He in- 
 stantly paid court to the Anglo-Saxons, talked of be- 
 ing a native of their country, promised a charter to 
 secure their ancient liberties, and espoused the Prin- 
 cess Maude, niece of Edgar Atheling. The hopes thus 
 excited were cruelly disappointed ; the good cpieen 
 AA'ent to her last account with tlie melancholy reflection 
 that she had sacrificed herself for her race in vain, 
 and her son inherited so little of the maternal spirit, 
 that he vowed to make the English draw plows like 
 oxen when he came to the throne. But in the midst 
 of such threats the youth was drowned, in his passage 
 from Normandy, in the winter of 1120; and King 
 Henry, having with difficulty persuaded the barons to 
 recognize as heir to the crown his daughter, Maude,
 
 140 HISTORY FOR BOYS— ENGLAND. 
 
 married first to the Emperor of Germany, and, on his 
 decease, to the Count of Aiijou, died in 1135, while 
 on a hunting expedition in Normandy. 
 
 Stephen, count of Boulogne, now seized upon the 
 throne, and the Anglo-Saxons held aloof from the 
 civil strife which ensued betAveen that martial prince 
 and the Empress Maude. Believing that they had 
 no interest in the dispute, they continued to plow 
 and toil, without taking part in public affairs, except, 
 perhaps, in erecting those castles, with turrets and 
 pinnacles, which Stephen allowed the barons to raise 
 on every eminence, and which contrasted strangely 
 with the two-storied dwellings, embosomed among 
 oaks, where resided such of the Saxon thanes as had . 
 escaped the Norman sword. 
 
 Henrj' II., son of Maude, and founder of the Plan- 
 tagenet dynasty, succeeded Stephen in 1154; and 
 when he arrived in England the people could not 
 refrain from applauding so young, brave, and hand- 
 some a prince, as he looked when crowiied with his. 
 spouse, Eleanor of Aquitaine. During the same year, 
 Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman, was elevated to 
 the papal throne ; and ere long, gayest and most dis- 
 tinguished among Heniy's courtiers, appeared a man, 
 sprung from the vanquished race, cradled in romance, 
 destined to an extraordinary career, and doomed to a 
 tragical end. 
 
 In Palestine — during one of the earlier crusades, 
 to which he had gone with a warlike baron — Gilbert
 
 THOMAS A BECKET. 141 
 
 Becket, an Anglo-Saxon, was taken prisoner and 
 thrown into a dungeon by the Saracens. An emir's 
 daughter, seeing and loving the captive Englishman, 
 contrived his escape ; and Becket, reaching his native 
 land in safety, became a London trader ; marched, no 
 doubt, with the fighting men oi' the city ; and enjoyed 
 himself at times, like his neighbors, by hunting wild 
 boars in the primeval forest beyond Islington. Mean- 
 time absence made the Eastern lady's heart grow 
 fonder, and she formed the romantic resolution of fol- 
 lowing the object of her affections, though without 
 any other knowledge respecting him than his city and 
 his name. Nevertheless, by repairing to a seaport 
 and repeating the word London, she was taken on 
 board a vessel bound for the Thames, and on arrival 
 went about the streets asking for Gilbert. At that 
 date the population did not exceed forty thousand, and 
 Ludgate was the West End, so that the chance was 
 rather in favor of the enamored damsel meeting with 
 her hero. At all events — so runs the legend — her 
 Oriental accents happened to arrest his ear, and the 
 emir's daughter being converted to Christianity, and 
 immersed in a baptismal font, became the wife of the 
 worthy citizen for whom she had braved perils by 
 sea and land. In due time, about the year 1117, 
 a son was born to them, and named Thomas ; and 
 he, proving a handsome lad, and exhibiting extraordi- 
 nary intelligence, was educated for the priestly office. 
 Going on a mission to Rome from the Archbishop of
 
 142 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Canterbury, Thomas a Becket rendered eminent ser- 
 vices to the Plantagcnet cause ; and being appointed 
 Chancellor of the realm on Henry's accession, he 
 became the King's bosom friend, and lived in a style 
 of unrivaled magnificence. In 1160 Becket was sent 
 to Paris, to negotiate a marriage between the King's 
 eldest son, Henry, and an infant daughter of the 
 French monarch. His retinue was superb. Two hun- 
 dred boys preceded the procession, singing national 
 ballads ; after whom rode the huntsmen with hounds 
 and the falconers with hawks, followed by eight bag- 
 gage wagons, each drawn by five horses. Next, 
 with monkeys on their backs, were twelve sumpter- 
 horses ; behind which came war-steeds, led by esquires 
 bearing shields, and a host of domestics, high and low, 
 all richly attired. Lastly, escorted by hundreds of 
 knights and barons, appeared the observed of all ob- 
 servers, the great Chancellor himself " Surely," ex- 
 claimed the French, dazzled with so much state, " the 
 King of England must be a wondrous prince when his 
 minister travels with so much display I" 
 
 An anecdote, illustrative of the familiarity with 
 which the Norman king treated his Anglo-Saxon 
 favorite has been preserved. One cold and windy 
 day, while they were riding through the streets of 
 London, attended by a gay cavalcade, their attention 
 was attracted by a beggar in tattered garments, upon 
 whose approach Henry asked if it would not be a 
 laudable act to give the old man a warm cloak.
 
 BECKET, AS PRIMATE. 143 
 
 Becket replied, that it would assuredly be well if the 
 King turned his thoughts to such matters. Hcniy 
 observed, that Becket should have the merit of so 
 charitable a deed ; and, sportively laying hand on the 
 Chancellor's fine scarlet cloak, lined with ermine, suc- 
 ceeded, after a tussle, in handing it to the mendicant, 
 who received the gift with equal pleasure and sur- 
 prise, while the courtiers indulged in a merry laugh 
 at Becket' s expense. 
 
 More serious was their subsequent struggle. About 
 1161 Becket was appointed Archbishop of Canter- 
 buiy, and jestingly remarked, " A fine saint I shall 
 make I" He soon, however, became an altered man, 
 renounced the vanities of the world, repented in sack- 
 cloth, subsisted on the coarsest fare, and, instead of 
 keeping the company of princes, was seen, in harvest, 
 assisting the monks of rural abbeys to make their 
 hay, or reap their corn. Gradually, from a champion 
 of the royal prerogative, he appeared as a stickler for 
 the privileges of the priesthood, and assumed toward 
 Henry an attitude of hostility. The dignitaries of the 
 Church deserted their champion in the hour of strife. 
 The bishops took part with the King ; and the abbots, 
 whispering to their older brethren that the Primate 
 was going too far, held aloof from the quarrel, and 
 cared not to stir beyond the regions where their 
 abbeys, shaded by trees and surrounded by gardens, 
 reposed in peaceful solitude. But Becket had won 
 the hearts of the inferior clergy, and became the idoJ
 
 144 HISTORY FOR BOYS,— fiNGLAND. 
 
 of the English people. At Northampton, insulted by 
 the King and disavowed by the prelates, he gave a 
 sumptuous banquet, to which he invited the poor, 
 lowly, and needy ; and, after entertaining them hos- 
 pitably, stole away to the Continent, where he was 
 supported by the Pope and protected by the King of 
 France, both of whom found it convenient to attempt 
 a reconciliation between the contending parties. 
 
 Their eflbrts were for a time fruitless ; but, in 
 1170, a congress was appointed to be held on a sum- 
 mer day, in a pleasant meadow, on the borders of 
 Touraine. Henry was first on the ground, and no 
 sooner espied the Archbishop approaching than he 
 set spurs to his steed, and saluted him cap in hand. 
 They discoursed for a while in the most friendly man- 
 ner, and, when taking leave, Henry even bowed his 
 j)ride to hold the churchman's stirrup. Becket then 
 sailed for England, where his arrival was hailed with 
 enthusiasm by the populace ; but three bishops, whom 
 he had deposed, repairing to the Continent, demanded 
 redress from the King, and represented that Becket 
 was setting the country on fire. Henry, as sometimes 
 happened, lost his temper, and in a fit of violence 
 muttered, " Will no one rid me of this troublesome 
 priest ?" Whereupon four knights, construing the ex- 
 pression literally, crossed the sea, hastened to Canter- 
 bury, and when the shades of a December evening 
 had fallen, and the spacious church was unlighted 
 save by a laiup glimmering before the shrine, Ihey
 
 STRONGBOW'S EXPEDITION TO IRELAND. 145 
 
 rashly slew the haughty Archhishop at the foot of the 
 altar. 
 
 While Henry, horrified at the consequence of his 
 hasty words, was endeavoring, through envoys, to 
 make his peace with E-ome, a series of events resulted 
 in the subjugation of Ireland. In bygone centuries 
 that rich and beautiful island had been the seat of i 
 learning and religion ; her saints had been famed for 
 their piety, and her ecclesiastics venerated throughout 
 Christendom. But the invasion of the Danes caused 
 a relapse to barbarism, and the predatory feuds of the 
 chiefs precluded improvement. An active trade, how- 
 ever, was maintained with Bristol ; and in the sum- 
 mer of 1 1G7, while Henry was struggling with Becket, 
 there landed at that port a tail, stout, rough, odd-look- 
 ing man, with a cunning expression about the mouth 
 and a suspicious glance about the eye, who proclaimed 
 himself as Dermot, prince of Leinster, and express- 
 ed an ardent desire to speak with the King of En- 
 gland. 
 
 That was not always an easy matter ; for Hemy's 
 movements were so singularly rapid, that his enemies 
 suspected him of ubiquity. But Dermot sought out 
 the King in Aquitaine, and made a rambling state- 
 ment, to the efiect that the beautiful dame of a certain 
 chief, named O'Ruarc, had volunteered to play the 
 part of Helen ; that he, albeit somewhat loath, had 
 consented to be her Paris , and that the injured hus- 
 band had, in revenge, driven him from his throne. 
 K
 
 i46 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Henry, with the image of Fair Hosamond iu his mem- 
 ory, was hardly entitled to cast a stone at an erring 
 man ; and it is not likely, therefore, that he took his 
 visitor to task for yielding to temptation : but his self- 
 command must indeed have been great, if, while list- 
 ening to the story told in a hoarse voice, and while sur- 
 veying the speaker's exterior, he did not indulge in a 
 smile or a jest to conceal his surprise at the Hibernian 
 lady's eccentricity of taste. In any case, having no 
 time to deal with the affair himself, he provided his 
 Irish visitor with letters-patent, permitting any of his 
 subjects to render assistance. 
 
 Thus armed, Dermot hied back to Bristol, where he 
 rendered himself conspicuous by having the royal letters 
 publicly read, and making liberal promises to obtain 
 auxiliaries. His efforts were quite vain, till chance 
 threw him in the path of Richard de Clare, better 
 known as Strongbow, earl of Pembroke. A bargain 
 was speedily struck. The Norman earl undertook to 
 restore Dermot to the throne of Lcinster, and the Irish 
 king engaged to bestow upon his ally the hand of his 
 daughter and heiress, the Pruicess Eva. Strongbow, 
 having been preceded by a part of his forces, sailed 
 from Milford Haven, captured the city of Waterford, 
 led to the altar his affianced bride, and conquered l 
 large part of the country. Henry, by no means rel- 
 ishing the news of a subject performing so much, after 
 some preliminaries conducted an army to Ireland in 
 1171, and personally received the homage of the
 
 REBELLION OF THE QUEEN. 147 
 
 various princes among whom that island had been 
 divided. 
 
 Meanwhile the King's position at home was in no 
 respect so pleasant as a bed of roses. Though he had 
 stood for forty-eight hours, fasting and barefooted, on 
 the floor of the cathedral at Canterbury, where Becket 
 had fallen, and even endured the humiliation of being 
 beaten with stripes by the monks, misfortune seemed 
 to haunt him. dueen Eleanor and her sons insti- 
 gated by Bertrand de Born, the knight, poet, and 
 satirist, rose in rebellion, and were abetted in their 
 unnatural course by Louis of France. At the same 
 time, in concert with them, William the Lion, king 
 pf Scots, invaded Henry's dominions, and committed 
 cruel depredations, till he was taken prisoner, while 
 unwarily tilting in a field near Alnwick, by one of the 
 vigilant barons of the North. On being carried to 
 Normandy, a treaty was signed, whereby Scotland 
 was brought under vassalage, and Ermengard, a soft 
 and insinuating kinswoman of Henry's, was given in 
 marriage to the royal Caledonian. 
 
 Soon after this, death laid low several of the royal 
 family. Young Henry, who for some time had shared 
 the throne with his sire, was seized, while leading a 
 rebel army, with a fever, which proved fatal. His 
 brother, Geoffrey, father of the ill-fated Arthur of, 
 Brittany, was kiUed in a tournament at Paris ; and 
 the discovery, while on the bed of sickness, that " the 
 child of his heart," John Lackland, had conspired
 
 148 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— EJN GLAND. 
 
 with his foes, afflicted the King so deeply, that, at tho 
 age of fifty-seven, he closed, with feelings of anguish, 
 a life spent in schemes of ambition. 
 
 E-ichard I., sumamed Coeur de Lion, having attend- 
 ed the hearse which bore his father's corpse to the 
 Abbey of Foutrevalt, repaired to England, and pre- 
 pared for a crusade, to which he departed in three 
 months. While he was absent in Palestine, domineer- 
 ing over his companions in arms, or working like a 
 private soldier at the battering engines, or breaking 
 the bones of Saracens with his ponderous battle-ax, 
 England became the scene of anarchy. A massacre 
 of the Jews, begun in London on the coronation day, 
 was repeated in several towns ; and the. struggles for 
 the regency between Pudsey, bishop of Durham, and 
 Longchamp, bishop of Ely, together with John's as- 
 pirations after the crown, produced endless confusion. 
 At length, in 1194, Richard, escaping from liis prison, 
 landed at Sandwich, after an absence of four years ; 
 but he immediately left England to carry on a war 
 against his continental rival, Philip Augustus. 
 
 Meantime the serious discontent, which the unequal 
 pressure of taxation had long caused in London, ripen- 
 ed into a popular movement, at the head of which 
 was "William Fitzosbert, sumamed Longbeard. Going 
 to Normandy, he had an audience of the King, and 
 admitted that the war with France was just, but 
 demanded that the taxes raised to prosecute it should 
 fall equally on rich and poor. E-ichard promised re-
 
 LONGBEARD, KING OF THE POOR. 149 
 
 dress ; but nothing being clone, Longbeard tried sedi- 
 tious courses, harangued mobs daily at St. Paul's 
 Cross, and styled himself " King of the Poor." The 
 daring demagogue, after being twice dragged at a 
 horse's tail, was hanged, with nine of his confederates, 
 on a gibbet at Smithfield. Plague and famine soon 
 after ravaged the land, and miserable was the condi- 
 tion of its inhabitants. 
 
 "When Richard died of the wounds inflicted by the 
 arrows of Bertrand de Gurdon, Prince John was pro- 
 claimed king ; and it appears — so small was the inter- 
 est taken by the English in the disputed succession 
 — that the name of Arthur of Brittany was not even 
 mentioned when his uncle was crowned. But when 
 that hapless prince had been murdered, and John 
 chased from the Continent by Philip Augustus, the 
 spirit of freedom was aroused, and feelings of mutual 
 interest united the Norman barons and the Anglo- 
 Saxon people against a sovereign at once base, defiant, 
 and cowardly. 
 
 At this critical period John chose to brave the wrath 
 of Rome by exiling Stephen Langton, whom the Pope 
 had appointed to the see of Canterbury, and driving 
 out the monks at the point of the sword. The king- 
 dom was, in consequence, laid under interdict, the 
 King was deposed, and the subjects were absolved 
 from allegiance. The anointed craven was so terrified 
 at the consequence of his defiance, that he solemnly 
 and abjectly went on his knees to the papal legate,
 
 150 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 and resigned his crown to the supreme Pontiff. The 
 Pope thereupon changed sides ; but the spirit of En- 
 ghsh freedom, which now animated both races, was 
 too strong to be resisted. The burghers of the realm 
 formed an aUiance with the barons, and the barons 
 marching to the capital, were joined by knights and 
 nobles from all parts of the kingdom. 
 
 The heart of the tyrant shrank within him, and 
 he consented to grant all the rights and liberties re- 
 quired. Accordingly, on a morning in June, 1215, 
 the dastard King met the Barons of England — for 
 such they now prided themselves on being — at K,un- 
 nymede, a green field near Windsor, hard by the river 
 Thames, and there was presented to him that immor- 
 tal scroll known as Magna Clmrta, in which the 
 privileges of the clergy, the rights of the barons, and 
 the liberties of the people, were formally and solemnly 
 recognized. John, considering it no time to be squeam- 
 ish, signed the charter, as well as that regarding 
 forests, with the utmost promptitude ; but the barons, 
 having no reliance on his good faith, compelled him 
 to name twenty-five of their number as conservators 
 of the hard- won privileges. 
 
 John, having no intention of submitting to the re, 
 Btraint imposed, soon gave indications of defying th« 
 terms dictated. After a futile attempt to surprise 
 London, he gloomily retired to the Isle of Wight, and 
 dispatched agents to the Pope, who readily absolved 
 his vassal from the oath by which he had confirmed
 
 MAGNA CHARTA.
 
 MAGNA CHARTA. 153 
 
 the charters, and directed fulminations against the 
 refractory barons. Thus encouraged, and with the 
 assistance of mercenary soldiers from the Continent, 
 John besieged the baronial castles near London, and 
 then marched to the north, where the Lords De Vesci, 
 Pe Ros, and Percy, were peculiarly contumacious. 
 The cause of the barons appeared desperate ; for, 
 though they could have made head against a royal 
 army composed of hirelings, the spiritual artillery of 
 Rome palsied their eflbrts, and, in extreme perplexity, 
 they formed an alliance with Philip of France, and 
 offered the crown to his son Louis. 
 
 Philip grasped at the proposal; and in May, 1216, 
 Louis, with a gallant army, set foot on the shores of 
 England. After taking the castle of Rochester, the 
 French prince advanced to London. The nobles and 
 citizens, receiving him with joy, conducted him cere- 
 moniously to St. Paul's, where prayers were said and 
 homage performed. John, abandoned by his army 
 and menaced by the King of Scots, was in despair • 
 but his days were numbered. Overtaken by the tide, 
 while crossing the Wash in Lincolnshire, the cruel 
 and faithless tyrant was so disconsolate at the loss of 
 his regalia, baggage, and treasure, that he sought 
 shelter for the night in the Abbey of Swinehead. 
 There he ate so ravenously of fruit, and drank so 
 copiously of cider, that he was seized next day with 
 a fever, of which he died in agony and remorse. 
 
 Henry IIL, son of the deceased king, a boy of eight
 
 154 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 was crowned at Gloucester, under the auspices of the 
 Earl of Pembroke ; and being deserted by his mother, 
 Isabel of Angouleme, who rushed off to the Continent 
 in search of another husband, he soon became an ob- 
 ject of interest to the nation. Thus there arose a 
 feeling, which the clergy, under the inspiration of 
 the Pope's legate, turned to account. Every Sunday 
 the sentence of excommunication was fulminated in 
 the parish churches against the English barons and 
 the French prince. The very helplessness of the royal 
 boy touched the hearts of the people ; the barons grad- 
 ually gathered round him ; Louis, after a vain strug- 
 gle, sailed for France ; and the administration of af- 
 fairs was confided to Pembroke, a nobleman whose 
 courage, wisdom, and moderation pleased all parties. 
 Then the boy-king, entering London amidst the cheers 
 of the citizens, granted them a new charter, and was 
 crowned by Stephen Langton with the golden diadem 
 of Edward the Confessor. 
 
 In 1239, when Henry had arrived at years, with- 
 out learning discretion, there came from beyond sea a 
 queen, in the person of Eleanor of Provence, bringing 
 with her such a swarm of foreigners, male and female, 
 that the English, who had already resented the King's 
 continental sympathies, were, with much reason, 
 alarmed. The men were provided with baronies at 
 the public cost, while their fair sisters selected hus- 
 bands from among the young noblemen who happened 
 to be royal wards. These Gascon adventurers of both
 
 BARONIAL REVOLT. 155 
 
 sexes exercised a baneful influence over the King, 
 grasped at the highest dignities, and emancipated 
 themselves from all respect for charters by frankly 
 declaring that English laws were nothuig to them. 
 So slight was Henry's regard for appearances, that, in 
 1253, when about to embark for Guienne, there to 
 encounter the King of Castile, he committed the cus- 
 tody of the Great Seal to dueen Eleanor ; and thus 
 might have been seen a lady judge presiding in the 
 Court of Chancery, sitting in the old marble chair, 
 over against the marble table, and executing the du- 
 ties of an office which, up to that date, had been held 
 by churchmen of eminence or warriors of renown. 
 
 At length, in 1258, affairs arrived at a crisis. A 
 famine had brought the nation to the verge of despair ; 
 the people unhesitatingly ascribed all their wretched- 
 ness to the foreign courtiers ; and in May a parliament 
 assemmed at Westminster. Henrj', when entering 
 the Hall of Audience, which had been built by Wil- 
 liam Rufus, was surprised to hear the rattling of 
 swords, and to observe that the barons were sheathed 
 in steel. Resistance was out of the question ; they 
 compelled the impotent King, whose hereditary antip- 
 athy to the constitution was notorious, to delegate 
 the regal functions to twenty-four of their league ; and 
 these potentiaries were headed by Simon de Montfort, 
 the famous Earl of Leicester. 
 
 Montfort, a younger son of that leader of the crusade 
 against the Albigenses, who had fallen in his harness
 
 156 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 before Toulouse, had succeeded to the earldom of Lei- 
 cester, as heir to his mother, and wedded a sister of 
 King Henry. But though a Frenchman by birth, he 
 endeared himself so much to the barons and people 
 of England, that they overlooked his foreign origin, 
 and regarded him as the champion of liberty. He 
 had long since quarreled with the King, had no fa- 
 vors to expect from the court, and was eager for the 
 reform of abuses. Montfort first remodeled the Par- 
 liament, by summoning a certain number of knights 
 chosen from each county ; but the representatives thus 
 elected disliked the great baron's authority so much 
 that they determined on restoring Henry to power. 
 
 In fact, though the humbled monarch was a man 
 of a feeble understanding and a credulous disposition, 
 the royal family contained one prince of intrepid spirit 
 in action, and with rare talents for conumand. Ed- 
 ward, the King's eldest son, had first seen the light in 
 1239, and been named after the Confessor, whom 
 Henry regarded as his tutelar samt. In 1255, the 
 Prince had married Eleanor of Castile, who, a few 
 years later, when her husband's life was imperiled in 
 Palestine by the envenomed dagger of an assassin, is 
 reported to have proved her conjugal devotion by suck- 
 ing the poison from the wound. To this gallant youth 
 the knights of the shire complained of the ruling 
 barons having done nothing for the benefit of the state, 
 but every thing for their own advantage ; and Prince 
 Edward answered, that he would stand by the gentle-
 
 MONTFORT'S SWAY. 157 
 
 men of England to the last drop of his blood. In or- 
 der to make good this promise, Edward raised a for- 
 midable force, and encountered Montfort at Lewes, in 
 Sussex, where the royal army was totally defeated, 
 and both the King and the Prince taken prisoners. 
 Upon this, Montfort assumed the position of governor 
 of the realm ; and having, by threats of electing a 
 new king, compelled Henry solemnly to recognize his 
 authority, assembled a Parliament, summoning two 
 knights from each county, and representatives from 
 all the principal boroughs, thus reconstructing the 
 immemorial assembly, since so widely renowned as 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 The Earl's supremacy was so little agreeable to his 
 peers, that some of them, among whom was Gilbert 
 de Clare, earl of Gloucester, conspired to effect his 
 downfall. Montfort, aware of their plot, went west- 
 ward, with the King and the Prince as prisoners in 
 his train, to punish Gloucester ; but while keeping 
 his court during Whitsun week, within the walls of 
 Hereford, a circumstance occurred which opened up 
 a new and interestmg scene. 
 
 On the afternoon of Thursday, the 28th of May, 
 1265, Prince Edward, attended by his guards and 
 escorted by a number of young knights, rode forth 
 from the ancient city, as if to divert a few hours of 
 his irksome captivity with equestrian exercise. The 
 prince, who had then seen about twenty-six summers, 
 looked by far the most remarkable man in the com-
 
 158 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 pany. His countenance was comely, his complexion 
 dark, liis hair black and -curling, his frame strong, 
 though slender, his stature taller by a head and shoul- 
 ders than ordinary men, and his eye brillant with fire, 
 thought, and intelligence. The steed he bestrode was 
 not unworthy of such a rider ; for it had been lately 
 presented to him as a mark of respect by Roger de 
 Mortimer, with a significant hint that its fleetness 
 might be depended on in case of need. And then 
 that frank, handsome personage, whose affable con- 
 versation — whether relating to the field-sports, which 
 he well loved, or to the feats of prowess displayed at 
 the French tournament, in which he took part four 
 years earlier — had inspired those around him, though 
 publicly his enemies, with affection for his person and 
 pity for his misfortunes, pitposed to test the speed of 
 their chargers on Widraarsh. Giving his own steed 
 to be held by a page, he rode so many matches him- 
 self, one after another, that when the shades of even- 
 ing began to fall, there was no fresh horse on the 
 ground but his own noble animal, which proudly 
 pawed the ground at a short distance. Suddenly, on 
 the ascent of Tulington Hill, a man riding a white 
 horse appeared, and waved his bonnet. Prince Ed- 
 ward said nothing ; but mounting his steed, he cour- 
 teously bade adieu to his keepers, and spurred off at 
 a pace which rendered pursuit vain. His guards did 
 indeed, as in duty bound, make an attempt to follow ; 
 but they were glad to turn back, when out of a wood
 
 PRINCE EDWARD'S ESCAPE. 159 
 
 sallied Roger de Mortimer, and joyously conducted 
 the Prince to the castle of Wigmore. At Ludlow 
 they joined the Earl of Gloucester ; and the royal 
 standard being there set up, Edward soon found liim« 
 self at the head of a gallant army. 
 
 Montfort, who had endeavored to terrify the Prince 
 by a threat of perpetual imprisonment, no sooner heard 
 of the escape than he issued orders for a general ren- 
 dezvous at Gloucester — a city which he had strongly 
 fortified ; but ere the appointed day arrived, Edward, 
 after besieging the place for a week, forced his way 
 into it through a wall of the abbot'« orchard. Mont- 
 fort thereupon invoked the aid of Llewellyn, the Cam- 
 brian prince, who sent forward a band of Welshmen, 
 and commenced pillaging the Marches. Montfort ad- 
 vanced to Monmouth, demolished the castle, and after 
 a considerable delay was enabled to cross the Severn, 
 and reach Evesham on the Avon, where he expected 
 the arrival of his eldest son, but meantime the latter 
 was attacked and defeated by the Prince at Kenil- 
 worth. 
 
 Unconscious of that fatal disaster, Montfort was in- 
 formed at sunrise, on the morning of the 4th of August, 
 that the bamiers of his son were rapidly advancing, 
 and ascending a tower he computed the numbers of 
 the approacliing force. On discovering that it was 
 the royal army marching under the captured colors, he 
 remarked — " These men come on bravely ; they have 
 learned that from me :" and then turning to his friends
 
 160 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 he exclaimed, " The Lord have mercy on our souls ; 
 for the Prince will have our bodies I" After taking the 
 sacrament, as was his wont in seasons of peril, Mont- 
 fort prepared for battle. Fierce was the strife, till his 
 horse was killed under him. He cried for quarter ; 
 but being told there was none for such a traitor, fought 
 on foot till he was cut down, sword in hand. With 
 this famous baron, who was long after venerated by 
 the people as Sir Simon the Righteous, fell a multitude 
 of nobles, knights, and gentlemen. 
 
 Prince Edward, having restored Henry III. to the 
 throne, assumed the cross, and followed his maternal 
 uncle. Saint Louis of France, on his last crusade to 
 the East. There the victor of Evesham gave fresh 
 proofs of his valor in the field and his capacity for 
 afiairs. He had concluded an advantageous truce 
 with the Sultan of Babylon, and was at a village in 
 Calabria, on his way home, when informed that his 
 royal father had closed his perturbed career. 
 
 The condition of England, from the Norman con- 
 quest to the close of Henry's reign, had been miser- 
 able. The country had been infested by bands of 
 outlaws who laid waste entire villages ; even the 
 officers of the royal household had shifted for a living 
 on the public highway. The castles of the Normans 
 had been, in many cases, like garrisons in a hostile 
 country, and regarded as the abodes of tyranny and 
 cruelty. The weak and timid had been so frequently 
 exposed to peril and injury, that even ladies found it
 
 ACCESSION OF THE FIRST EDWARD. 161 
 
 expedient to accomplish themselves in martial exer- 
 cises. The authority of the Norman sovereigns had 
 been too fluctuating to be beneficially felt, and the 
 laws too feeble to afford redress. On Henry's death a 
 new scene was to be presented. His son came from 
 romantic adventures in the East, and hair-breadth es- 
 capes on the Continent, to redeem the kingdom from 
 anarchy and confusion ; to render its inhabitants more 
 prosperous than ever they had been before ; to popu- 
 larize his dynasty and his race ; to induce the Men of 
 the Forest — the successors of Robin Hood — to forsake 
 their haunts, and draw their bows of trusty yew 
 against the enemies of their country ; and to win for 
 himself, by his admirable laws, the proud title of the 
 English Justinian. 
 
 In August, 1274, after an absence of years, Ed- 
 ward and his excellent queen landed at Dover, and 
 prepared to present themselves in the capital. Per- 
 haps he might have misgivings as to his reception 
 there ; for, in other days, the Londoners had been on 
 the point of drowning his mother as a witch ; and in 
 retaliation he had, on the downs at Lewes, marked 
 out their militia as the objects of his fiercest attack. 
 Now, however, all was forgiven ; and the royal pair 
 were welcomed with signs of love and honor. The 
 Etreets were gayly hung with silks and tapestry ; wine 
 flowed in bucketfuls ; and the municipal functiona- 
 ries manifested their joy by throwing from the win- 
 dows handfuls of gold and silver. The people, who 
 L
 
 162 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENOLAND. 
 
 had recovered their ancient spirit of loyalty, were 
 proud, as they well might be, of a monarch in tht 
 prime of manhood, so famous and so majestic ; and 
 they felt that, after an interval of two centuries, the 
 crown at length rested on the brows of a prmce who 
 was animated by an English heart and guided by pop- 
 ular sympathies. 
 
 When Edward was crowned, with imprecedented 
 magnificence, in the Abbey of Westminster, the man 
 most likely to create disturbance was Llewellyn, 
 prince of North Wales ; who, unlike the King of 
 Scots, failed to attend and swear allegiance. Soon 
 after, the Cambrian chief's affianced bride — a daugh- 
 ter of his old ally, the great Montfort — being intercept- 
 ed on her passage from the Continent, was retained 
 in gentle captivity about the person of the Q,ueen. 
 Llewellyn, enraged, fell with fire and sword on the 
 English Marches ; and in 1277, Edward, repairing 
 to Chester, crossed the Dee at Midsummer, and re- 
 duced the Welsh to the necessity of suing for peace. 
 
 Thus, when the season of Christmas arrived, Lle- 
 wellyn appeared in Loudon to render homage, and 
 with him the chieftains of Snowdon, whose retinues 
 were so inconveniently numerous, that they were 
 lodged at Islington and the adjoining villages. Tlio 
 testy strangers soon began to grumble. The mode 
 of living, they said, was not agreeable ; the supply 
 of milk was stinted ; the ale and wine were not to 
 their liking ; and the derisive curiosity excited in
 
 CONQUEST OF WALES. 163 
 
 public places by their xiucoutli appearance, wounded 
 their national vanity. Under the pressure of such 
 annoyances they conspired to rebel, and on return- 
 ing to their mountain homes inflamed their kinsmen 
 against English rule. Evening after evening the sept, 
 circling round their harper, listened with delight to 
 songs about their mystic Arthur, and glowed with en- 
 thusiasm at predictions of his return from Fairyland 
 to vindicate their rights, redress their wrongs, and 
 render their race, as Cambrian bards expressed it, 
 " the crown of Britain." Llewellyn, while gratify- 
 ing their superstitious ideas by opening Arthur's tomb, 
 yet expressed himself in terms so plausible, that the 
 English King not only treated him with kindness, but 
 gave back his Norman bride, and bestowed a barony 
 on his brother David. 
 
 A few years passed, and in the spring of 1281 Ed- 
 ward was reposing at Devizes, whither a messenger 
 spurred with the intelligence that, on the stormy 
 night of Palm Sunday, the castle of Hawarden had 
 been surprised, and its garrison put to the sword, by 
 David of Wales. Edward at first refused to believe 
 this of a man whom he had reared and enriched ; but 
 when convinced that the Marches were blazing with 
 fires and deluged with blood, resolving to be no longer 
 trifled with, he vowed to make a final conquest of the 
 provinces. The enterprise was not accomplished with- 
 out difficulty ; but at length, by patience and persever- 
 ance, the English prevailed. Llewellyn was slain in
 
 JC4 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 a fight in the valley of the Wye ; David, being cap- 
 tured, was executed as a traitor ; and the Welsh sub- 
 mitted, after having held out for eight long centuries 
 against Saxon and Norman. To conciliate their af- 
 fections, the King presented to them his second son, 
 Edward — then an infant in the castle of Caernarvon 
 — as a native prince who could not speak a word of 
 Enghsh. But shortly after, the death of Prince Al- 
 phonso — Edward's eldest son, a boy much admired 
 for his beauty and courage — made young Edward 
 heir to the crown, and from that date the King's eld- 
 est son has borne the title of Prince of Wales. 
 
 About the time when Edward succeeded in re- 
 ducing Wales, important events occurred in North 
 Britain. Scotland was a province widely different 
 from that which he had just subjugated ; and it did 
 not, in any respect, present the same scene as when 
 Hengist drove its barbarous tribes to their sterile 
 mountains, or when the expatriated Saxons sought 
 an asylum within its borders. The Picts and Scots 
 — long antagonistic races — had become as one people, 
 and inhabited the regions north of the Forth. Gal- 
 loway had been annexed to the crown ; and Fergus, 
 its last prince, forced to drag out his existence in the 
 cloisters of Holyrood. Lothian, after forming part of 
 Northumberland, had been restored on condition of 
 the inhabitants retaining their English customs and 
 language ; and thither had such multitudes of exiles 
 been driven or tempted northward after the conquest,
 
 AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND. 165 
 
 that from the Frith of Forth to the Tweed's fair bor- 
 ders the population boasted of Norman, Saxon, and 
 Danish blood. Several noblemen had acquired fiefs 
 and exercised influence in both kingdoms ; districts 
 formerly barren had been cultivated ; and arts tend- 
 ing to polish the aborigines had been introduced. Da- 
 vid I., contemporary with Stephen, had done much in 
 the process of civilization. During his long reign had 
 been founded, endoM'ed, and tenanted Avith monks 
 from beyond the seas, the magnificent abbeys of Mel- 
 rose, Dryburgh, and various other places. Orchards 
 and gardens had rapidly appeared. Towns had arisen, 
 in Avhich bluff burghers, by foreign trade, acquired 
 vast wealth. Feudal castles had been erected, with- 
 in whose walls belted barons gave sumptuous feasts, 
 and bright ladies, arrayed in rich garments, sighed or 
 wept at the melting strains drawn by Saxon bards 
 from magic harps. While the country was in this 
 condition, the third Alexander, last of the Scottish 
 kings, was killed, in 1286, by a fall with his horse 
 over a steep cliff, while galloping in a dark night 
 near Kinghorn, in Fife. He left no heirs except his 
 infant grand-daughter, the Maiden of Norway ; and 
 many of the Scottish magnates refusing to accept 
 a female as their sovereign, rendered her succession 
 doubtful. 
 
 Thus it happened that while Edward was in 
 France, during the year 1289, there came to him 
 embassadors from Eric, king of Norway, craving pro-
 
 166 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 tection for his daughter, and from the ParHaraent of 
 Scotland, requesting aid to terminate their intestine 
 disorders. Their negotiations resulted in the Maiden 
 of Norway being betrothed to the Prince of Wales, 
 and setting sail from her native shores in 1290. But 
 falling sick during the voyage, the infant Q,ueen of 
 Scots vias taken ashore at the Orkneys, and there 
 expired in her eighth year. 
 
 Thirteen claimants appearing for the vacant throne, 
 King Edward was invited to arbitrate ; and going to 
 the Borders, he, after several prehminary meetings, 
 assembled the prelates, nobles, and knights, of both 
 countries in the castle of Berwick, where the various 
 claims were duly considered, and found untenable, 
 save those of Baliol, Bruce, and Hastings. Ulti- 
 mately the preference was awarded to John Bahol, 
 who, after swearing fealty to the English king, was 
 crovnied on the stone of destiny in the regal halls of 
 Scone. 
 
 Edward was careful that the Scots should feel the 
 power they had acknowledged, and treated their new 
 king with so much rigor, that Baliol declined the 
 royal summons to repair to Gascony, formally re- 
 nounced his allegiance, and allied himself with Philip 
 of France. 
 
 The King of England, when thus defied, was re- 
 pressing some outrages in Wales ; and he soon after- 
 ward marched northward with an army of forty 
 thousand men. Halting at Newcastle, he summoned
 
 SCOTTISH WARS. 167 
 
 Baliol thither ; but receiving no answer, he proceeded 
 to Barnburgh, where he was exasperated with one of 
 those occurrences which prove that history is stranger 
 and more capricious than fiction. 
 
 Robert De E.os, the young lord of Wark, descended 
 from the old hero of that name, whose effigy may still 
 be seen in the Temple Church, became so violently 
 enamored of a Scottish lady, that, abandoning his 
 castle, he went over to the enemy, and leading the 
 garrison of Roxburgh, assaulted the advance guard of 
 the English army while they were encamped for the 
 night at a Border village. The attack was so sudden, 
 that the leader with difficulty escaped to the English 
 army to tell of the disaster, which kindled the King's 
 ire. He thanked God that his enemies had begun 
 the war, and without delay led his whole forces to 
 Wark. 
 
 Within that strong castle, situated on the south 
 side of the Tweed, Edward kept the festival of Easter, 
 and revolved his plans for the subjugation of Scotland. 
 Many of her chief nobles were favorable to his views ; 
 and among these Patrick, earl of Dunbar and March, 
 was in authority the first. The feudal house of which 
 he was the head had been founded by Cospatrick, a 
 Saxon prince, who sought refuge after the Conquest 
 at the court of Malcolm Canmore. The Earls of 
 Dunbar had hitherto, in peace and war, exercised no 
 inconsiderable influence on the afl^airs of Scotland ; 
 but their hearts had lingered in the land where their
 
 168 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 ancestors had held sway ; and the Earl, whose powei 
 on the Marches was supreme, now came to Wark, 
 with his kinsman Robert Bruce, and Gilbert, carl 
 of Angus, to renew the oath of fealty to the English 
 King. 
 
 Thus strengthened, Edward crossed the Tweed, 
 took Berwick, defeated a Scottish army at Dunbar, 
 accepted Bahol's resignation of the croAvn at Perth, 
 and formally received the allegiance of the nobles and 
 clergy. Soon after the national records were delivered 
 to Cressingham, the English treasurer ; the chair on 
 which the Scottish kings had from time immemorial 
 been crowned was carried out of the realm ; and the 
 banner of St. George was waved in triumph over 
 every castle in the fertile Lothians. 
 
 At this conjuncture arose William Wallace, repre- 
 sented as a leader of prodigious strength, gigantic 
 stature, pleasing aspect, and popular address. He 
 was the son of a knight who had been slain while 
 fighting on his knees against the English. Young 
 Wallace, the inheritor of his sire's animosity to 
 Southern domination, had slain an Englishman of 
 noble parentage and been outlawed. He now pre- 
 sented himself in the character of a Scottish patriot, 
 and the vanquished party rallied round him as their 
 captain. 
 
 The martial King of England had gone to appease 
 some discontents of his nobles and clergy, before un- 
 dertaking a war against France. Those whom he had
 
 EXPLOITS OF WALLACE. 1G9 
 
 left in authority were charged with errors as well 
 as excesses, and the malcontent Scots deemed the 
 period propitious for an outbreak. Wallace, joined 
 by the Lord Douglas, marched to Scone, and expelled 
 the garrison ; the fascination of his successful exploits 
 now drew around him many who had hitherto shrunk 
 back ; and the insurgents were joined by the youn- 
 ger Bruce, the Stewarts, and other persons of emi- 
 nence. 
 
 Edward, on learning of these occurrences, ordered 
 Warrene, earl of Surrey, the guardian of Scotland, to 
 suppress the insurrection without delay ; and the 
 militia north of the Trent were called out for that 
 purpose. AVarrene sent forward his nephew, who, 
 entering Scotland, compelled the combined chieftains 
 to surrender. There was, however, one exception, 
 and that was Wallace, Avho, after defeating Warrene's 
 army while passing over a wooden bridge near Stir- 
 ling, dashed on to Edinburgh, dismantled the strong- 
 holds m Lothian, and compelled the fighting men to 
 enter England in hostile array. He then ravaged 
 Northumberland, killed many of the inhabitants, and 
 secured much spoil ; but, after being successfully de- 
 fied by the townsmen of Newcastle, he deemed it pru- 
 dent to beat a retreat. 
 
 Meantime, King Edward having concluded a truce 
 with France, came from Flanders, convened a parlia- 
 ment at York, and appointed a general rendezvous of 
 his forces at Midsummer, when he led an army against
 
 170 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 the Scots. On the 21st of July, 1298, while encamp- 
 ed at the village of Kirkliston, he was informed that 
 the Scots were in the wood at Falkirk, and gave orders 
 for marchuig in that direction. At this crisis it was 
 reported to him, that the Welsh in his army meditated 
 deserting to the Scots. " I care not a jot," exclaimed 
 Edward, wdth lofty disdain ; " let them go, and on one 
 field I will chastise all mine enemies." Next day he 
 came up with the enemy, and a bloody battle took 
 place. The Scots, for a time, stood their ground 
 bravely ; but, after losing fifteen thousand men, Wal- 
 lace fled from the field, and burned the town of Stir- 
 ling in his way. Nevertheless he continued in arms 
 till 1304, when he was betrayed, and conveyed to 
 London, where, after being tried in the great hall 
 at Westminster, he was condemned as a traitor, and 
 executed. His head was placed on a pole over Lon- 
 don Bridge, and his legs and arras were sent to be 
 pubhcly exhibited in the principal towns of the North. 
 Next year. King Edward published an act of grace 
 to the offenders, and calculated on the duration of 
 peace ; but at this period a new champion presented 
 himself to the strugghng Scots, in the person of E.ob- 
 ert Bruce, the Norman Earl of Carrick. Bi-uce was 
 grandson of the baron of that name who had formerly 
 claimed the crown ; and he was of Scandui avian an- 
 cestry, extraordinary capacit)', a knightly and active 
 frame, and in the flower of Iris age. He had hitherto 
 figured as a waverer between the contending parties,
 
 ADVENTURES OF BRUCE. 171 
 
 but, in reality, was concerting measures for seizing 
 upon the Scottish crown ; and in the winter of 1305 
 his schemes were revealed to Edward. Bruce was 
 then residing in London, and quite unaware of his 
 danger ; when one evening he received from the Earl 
 of Gloucester a small sum of money and a pair of 
 spurs, as a warning to fly. Bruce took the hint, had 
 his horse's shoes inverted, lest he should be tracked 
 in the snow, and next morning set out betimes for 
 Scotland. On the road he encountered a messenger 
 from John Comyn of Badenoch, surnamed the Red ; 
 the man was forced to surrender his dispatches, and 
 Bruce, on perusing them, found that the King was 
 therein urged to put him to death. Enraged beyond 
 measure at Comyn, who had enjoyed and betrayed 
 his confidence, Bruce pressed forward, and on the 
 seventh day of his journey arrived at the castle of 
 Lochmaben, 
 
 On the 10th of February, 130G, a youthful knight, 
 with a graceful figure and broad shoulders, a liand- 
 some countenance, yellow hair, and blue sparkling 
 eyes, reined up his steed before the church of the 
 Gray Friars in the picturesque town of Dumfries, and 
 entered the sacred edifice. That striking personage 
 was E-obert Bruce, earl of Carrick, and in the interior 
 he met by appointment with the Red Comyn. Con- 
 flicting accounts are given of their conversation ; but 
 it appears that, after a violent altercation, Bruce, with 
 a disregard of the sanctuary which his Danish progen-
 
 172 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 itors could not have surpassed, grasped his dagger, 
 plunged the weapon into his enemy's body, and hur- 
 ried from the church. His friends in attendance, per- 
 ceiving his paleness and agitation, anxiously inquired 
 the cause. " I doubt I have slain Comyn," replied 
 Bruce, while nervously mounting his horse. " You 
 doubt?" exclaimed Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick : " I will 
 secure him." And deeming it no time to be squeam- 
 ish, the fearless Borderer rushed into the church, and 
 completed the murder so sternly that part of Comyn's 
 blood was spilt on the altar. Bruce now rode to 
 the castle, and turning out some recently-appointed 
 judges, seized the place. Being joined by a number 
 of the Scots, he achieved such considerable triumphs 
 as to be crovvmed at Scone ; but two successsive de- 
 feats compelled him to seek refuge in the small, neg- 
 lected island of Rachrin, amidst the roaring waves 
 of the Atlantic. "While lurking there he was excom- 
 municated by the Pope ; several of his adherents were 
 executed, and others were imprisoned. His enemies 
 had ceased to fear, and his friends had naturally 
 despaired, when the hero again took the field with 
 a band of devoted followers, twice defeated the En- 
 glish captains, and then recruited his forces in woods 
 and marshes, which enabled him to defy pursuit. 
 
 Edward was keeping Lent at Winchester when the 
 news of Bruce's exploits made him aware that the 
 grand scheme of uniting the two kingdoms was in se- 
 rious danger. Though the reverse of wantonly cruel,
 
 EDWARD'S LAST EXPEDITION. 173 
 
 the great Plantagenet was not so forgiving as to 
 dream of sparing his enemies ; and had he been in 
 the season of youth or manhood, their position would 
 not have been enviable. But the victor of Evesham 
 and Falkirk, the conqueror of bearded Saracens, the 
 English sovereign who had won and retained the 
 hearts of his people against the influence of castle, 
 cathedral, and counting-house, was on the verge of 
 threescore and ten, paralyzed by infirmity, and strug- 
 gling with disease. Conveyed to London in a char- 
 iot, and conscious of decay, he trusted to inspire the 
 Prince of Wales with his martial spirit. Accordingly, 
 on the eve of the feast of Pentecost, the Prince, with 
 a few young nobles, preparatory to taking equestrian 
 rank, watched their arms in the Abbey of Westmin- 
 ster ; while two or three hundred more performed the 
 ceremony in the Temple Church. Next morning, the 
 Prince, after being knighted by his sire, conferred the 
 distinction on his companions ; and at a banquet the 
 King manifested his ruling passion by conjuring the 
 youthful sons of chivalry never to sleep two nights 
 in one place till they had avenged the slaughter of 
 Comyn and punished the perfidy of the Scots. With- 
 out delay, the Prince and his associates set out for 
 the Border. The King prepared to follow more leis- 
 urely. 
 
 Eight years previously, the grave havmg closed 
 over his beloved Glueen Eleanor, Edward had wed- 
 ded a French princess ; and she attended him in his
 
 174 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 last expedition. On arriving at Carlisle his weakness 
 and enthusiasm increased together, and he became 
 fretfully impatient to proceed. But his journeys were 
 necessarily so slow, that after four days' traveling 
 from Carlisle he only reached Burgh-on-the-Sands, a 
 distance of six miles ; and there, on the 7th of July, 
 130G, while raised on his couch to swallow some food, 
 the brave soul of that able, ambitious, and popular 
 monarch parted from the once strong but now shat- 
 tered tenement of clay. 
 
 Edward 11. was a weak, indolent, capricious prince, 
 and utterly incompetent to realize his predecessor's 
 ambitious projects. Bruce is said to have declared, 
 that " he was more afraid of the bones of the dead 
 monarch than of his living son, and that it was more 
 difficult to wrench a foot of land from the first Ed- 
 ward than a kingdom from his successor." Abandon' 
 ing the prosecution of his father's cherished object, 
 and passing over to France, the young King married 
 Isabel, daughter of Phihp the Fair, and speedily dis- 
 gusted his nobles by the partiality shown to Piers 
 Gaveston, a frivolous minion, who, recalled from the 
 exile to which the late king had condemned him, irri- 
 tated the barons to an extreme degree. The reckless 
 favorite being imprisoned, and attempting to escape, 
 was seized and beheaded. 
 
 Meantime Robert Bruce, aided by his nephew, 
 Randolph, earl of Moray, and Sir James Douglas, 
 surnamed " the Good," was so successful in shaking
 
 BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 17f 
 
 off the English yoke, that those inhahitants of Scot- 
 land who had from the beginning of the war stood 
 truly by the King of England, found themselves in a 
 situation of peril and perplexity. To represent their 
 sufferings, the Earl of Dunbar repaired to Edward's 
 court, in the winter of 1313, and was a^ured of re- 
 lief in the ensuing summer. To fulfill his promise, 
 Edward crossed the Tweed with such an army as 
 had never, perhaps, left England before, and on the 
 23d of June his vanguard came in sight of the Scot- 
 tish force, where it had been strongly posted by the 
 rivulet of Bannockburn, near Stirling. 
 
 It was Sunday evening, and the setting sun glanced 
 on the polished armor of that host of warriors, as, with 
 floating ensigns and heraldic emblazonry, they present- 
 ed themselves to the eager gaze of the Scots. In front, 
 on a priceless charger, a gift of the Bishop of Durham, 
 rode Gloucester's Earl, the third knight of his age, 
 contending with Hereford for the honor of leading the 
 van. Under trusty captains, in bodies of ten thousand, 
 the bulk of the army marched onward ; while in the 
 midst of a splendid company waved the royal stand- 
 ard, where, supported by Aymer de Valence, earl of 
 Pembroke, skilled in Scottish struggles, and Sir Giles 
 de Argentine, fresh from the wars of Henry of Lux- 
 embourg, rode the inadequate representative of a fa- 
 ther in the grave who had subdued Wales, and of a 
 son in the cradle who was to subjugate France. 
 
 At this point, Bruce was recognized by his former
 
 176 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 comrades, the English cavahers, riding along the 
 front of his lines on a palfrey ; and Henry de Bohun, 
 sheathed in steel, spurred his barbed courser to the 
 attack. The result was unexpected : for Bruce, after 
 warding off the knight's thrust, raised his ax, and 
 with a single blow stretched Bohun lifeless on the 
 ground. Next morning the battle was begun in 
 earnest, by a charge of English cavalry ; whose 
 shock was so firmly withstood, that victory inclined 
 to the Scots. Gloucester was beaten from his horse, 
 and killed ; Argentine fell while attempting his 
 rescue. Many knights were swallowed up by pits, 
 which had been dug with that view, and covered 
 with brushwood ; and the rout was so complete, that 
 Edward, with a body of horse, left the field closely 
 pursued by Douglas ; and after a ride of sixty miles 
 found security in the castle of Dunbar, whence he es- 
 caped by sea to England. 
 
 Untaught by experience, the weak King found a 
 new favorite in Despenser, whose unmerited elevation 
 completed the disafiection of the nation. Clueen Isa- 
 bel viciously joined the malcontents, and, having in- 
 veigled her son to France, formed a disreputable in- 
 timacy with an exile named Mortimer. Indeed De- 
 spenser and his father had given Isabel such ofiense, 
 that, bent on revenge, she obtained assistance from 
 the French monarch, landed on the coast of Suflblk, 
 and was so successful in her enterprise, that the De- 
 spensers expiated their offences on the scafibld, and
 
 THE THIRD EDWARD. 177 
 
 the King, abandoned at once by nobles and citizens, 
 was reduced to the utmost extremity. After a futile 
 attempt to pass over to Ireland, he was found lurking 
 in Wales, and compelled to resign the crown, which 
 was bestowed on his son. The deposed sovereign was 
 committed to Berkeley Castle, where, after being in- 
 humanly treated, he was put to death in. 1327. 
 
 Edward III., being then only fifteen, was under 
 the control of his mother and Mortimer, who styled 
 themselves Regents ; but next year the young King 
 married Philippa of Hainault, and soon after asserting 
 his authority avenged the assassination of his father, 
 dueen Isabel was imprisoned at Castle Rising ; " her 
 gentle Mortimer" was hanged at Tyburn ; and public 
 affairs were placed iii a more creditable position. 
 
 At this period, Robert Bruce having terminated an 
 eventfid life, and being succeeded on the Scottish 
 throne by his son David, a boy of six years old, 
 guarded by Randolph, earl of Moray, Edward Baliol, 
 who had hitherto resided on his French estates, was 
 inspired with a desire to regain the crown which his 
 father had for a time worn. The King of England 
 opposed a hostile attack on Scotland, which was pro- 
 jected ; but Baliol's confederates eluded his vigilance, 
 made the invasion by sea, and won several victories. 
 Baliol being solemnly crowned at Scone, assumed the 
 title of " The Conqueror ;" and the young Bruce's 
 guardian, with other men of mark among the Scots, 
 having indiscreetly broken the peace with England, 
 M
 
 178 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAiND. 
 
 Edward issued a declaration of war, marched with an 
 army to the Borders, and in May, 1333, laid siege to 
 the town of Berwick, over whose wall, thirty-seven 
 years earlier, his mighty grandsire had leaped his 
 charger, Bayard, into the midst of an exasperated gar- 
 rison. Before its gate the young King remained till 
 the middle of July, when a Scottish army, led hy 
 Archibald Douglas, guardian of the kingdom, who had 
 vainly attempted to w-ithdraw Edward from his posi- 
 tion hy threatening the impregnable castle of Bam- 
 burgh, where the excellent Q,ueen Philippa was, re- 
 crossed the Tweed to offer battle. Edward moved his 
 forces to Halidon Hill, near the town ; and on that 
 eminence — his full, dark eye flashing fire, his lips 
 firmly compressed, and his precociously grave counte- 
 nance shaded by a shower of long black ringlets — he 
 awaited the attack, which was delayed by an unex- 
 pected occurrence. 
 
 Several years previously, King Robert Bruce, while 
 hunting, had been unhorsed by a wild bull, and in the 
 utmost peril of being gored to death ; when forward 
 sprang a huge Scot, who, after grappling fiercely with 
 the animal, prostrated its bulky form on the ground, 
 and thus acquired the name of Turnbull. Being pres- 
 ent at Hahdon, and ambitious of fresh laurels, ke 
 presented himself with long strides between the em- 
 battled hosts, and, accompanied by a huge mastiff, 
 defied any man in the English army to the combat. 
 The challenge was of so novel a kind that there was
 
 IIALIDON HILL. r.u 
 
 a pause, till Sir Robert Beiihalc, a young knight of 
 Norfolk, dismounted, and came into the arena. The 
 monstrous dog flying savagely at him, was instantly 
 killed ; and its master fared no better, for the gallant 
 Benhale, after eluding some fierce blows, first wounded 
 his antagonist in the arm, and then smote ofl'his head. 
 The Scots, seeing their gigantic champion fall, uttered 
 a howl of vengeance, and rushed madly up the hill. 
 For a moment their onslaught seemed irresistible ; but 
 the English spearmen stood firm ; and the archers, 
 bending their bows, sent forth a shower of arrows. 
 The Scots, panic-struck, fled in disorder ; and Edward, 
 at the head of a select body of horse, pursued them 
 five miles into their own country. 
 
 After a victory so signal the town surrendered, and 
 Edward marched into Scotland. David Bruce, the 
 boy-king of Scots, with his queen, Edward's sister, Joan, 
 fled to France ; and Baliol was seated on their throne ; 
 but the nation was so hostile to his pretensions, that, 
 descending from the dangerous eminence, he trans- 
 ferred his claims to the English King, and died in oh 
 scurity. 
 
 King Edward now, however, found a wider field 
 for the exercise of his martial genius, in enforcing his 
 claims to the crown of France, as heir to his maternal 
 uncles, and in 1338 sailed with a fleet and a small 
 army. The campaign was barren of results, for the 
 King was almost dependent on lukewarm foreigners ; 
 and it was not till 1340, when he defeated the French
 
 180 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 fleet oiFSluys, that any thing considerable was accom- 
 phshed. 
 
 At length, in the year 1346, much money having 
 been fruitlessly spent, the Parliament and the people 
 expressed a wish that the King might be no longer 
 duped by foreigners ; and Edward, collecting an En- 
 glish army, embarked for Normandy — many a young 
 knight binding up one side of his face with a silken, 
 vibbon, and swearing before the ladies and the peacock 
 never to see with both eyes till he had performed 
 certain feats of chivalry. In the autumn arrived 
 news, that the King of England, standing on a wind- 
 mill at a village named Crecy, had seen a mighty and 
 magnificent French army give way in consternation 
 before his scanty ranks ; that the famous crossbow- 
 men of Genoa had shrunk back in dismay before a 
 shower of English arrows ; that the chivalry of France 
 and the counts of Germany had been scattered by the 
 knights, and gentlemen, and yeomen, who fought 
 around the juvenile Prince of Wales ; that finding his 
 successive assaults repulsed with fearful loss, the King 
 of France — brave as he was — had been forced to fly 
 from the lost field ; that the blind King of Bohemia, 
 hearing of his son being wounded, and indignant at the 
 idea of yielding to a warrior in his teens, had placed 
 himself, with interlaced bridles, between two knights, 
 and fallen in a desperate charge ; and that the Bohe- 
 mian plume of ostrich-feathers was worn in triumph as 
 the crest of the irresistible heir to the crown of England
 
 VICTORIES OVER THE FRENCH. isi 
 
 "While the Eiighsh at home were elate with these 
 tidings, and the English abroad were besieging Calais, 
 the King of Scots, at the instigation of the French 
 monarch, marched from Perth at the head of a for- 
 midable force, and penetrated to Durham. There, by 
 an English army, said to have been assembled by 
 Q,ueen Philippa, he was defeated with loss, and led 
 captive to the Tower. Intelligence of a greater victo- 
 ry was ere long bruited about, when the Black Prince 
 — so called from the color of his plate-armor — met 
 John of France at Poitiers, and after routing an army 
 incomparably more numerous than his own, brought 
 the French King prisoner to England. The captive 
 and his victor entered London in the spring of 1357 ; 
 the former, riding a stately cream-colored charger, and 
 the latter, at his side, enacting with chivalrous respect, 
 the part of page, on a small black pony. The En- 
 glish King treated John with the utmost courtesy, and 
 lodged him. in the Savoy, where the hapless monarch 
 expired in 1364. 
 
 Edward long survived to experience the instability 
 of human aflairs. In 13G7 the good Glueen Philippa 
 went to the tomb ; the Prince of Wales followed : 
 that hero's son, Richard, became heir apparent at the 
 age of ten ; and the French, though scrupulously 
 avoiding a battle, regained most of their territory. 
 The King's last days were disturbed by a riot, which 
 had its origin in a memorable occurrence. 
 
 John Wiclifle, born about 1324, in the county of
 
 182 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 York, having at Oxford attained a high reputation 
 for learning, assailed the eiTors and corruptions of the 
 Church of Rome. Being brought to trial before the 
 Bishop of London, the reformer was escorted to St. 
 Paul's by Lord Percy, marshal of England, and the 
 King's son, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. The 
 latter, growing violent, threatened to kick the prelate 
 out of the church ; and the populace, in revenge for 
 that insult, after breaking open Percy's house, pro- 
 ceeded to the Duke's palace of the Savoy, which they 
 gutted. The Bishop's influence ultimately put down 
 the riot ; and the Lord Mayor, with the Aldermen of 
 the city, repairing to Richmond, craved pardon for 
 their ofienses. A few months later, in June 1377, 
 the King closed his eyes forever. 
 
 On the 16th of July, Richard IL, a boy of eleven, 
 the inheritor of his father's popularity, was crowned 
 with unusual splendor, and war forthwith commenced 
 with France and Spain. But it was the reverse of 
 glorious ; and hardly had the King been four years on 
 the throne when the imposition of a poll-tax roused 
 the populace to frenzy. 
 
 Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, and 
 the kinsman of John of Gaunt, has, in his " Canter- 
 buiy Tales," drawn a picture of England in his life- 
 time, which extended from 1328 to 1400. There, 
 side by side, at the board of mine host of the Tabard 
 Inn, figure the squire, affluent and full of mirth ; the 
 franklin, rejoicing in a rough plenty ; the rural par-
 
 WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION. 183 
 
 son, truly preaching the Gospel, and revered by his 
 parishioners ; the poor Oxford scholar, with a lean 
 horse, proud of his books and respected for his learn- 
 ing ; the physician, skilled in the art of healing ; the 
 monk, with his bald crown shining like glass ; the 
 friar, who could sweetly listen to confessions, and 
 pleasantly grant absolution ; and the abbess, so ten- 
 der-hearted, that she would weep at the thought of 
 the small hounds she daintily fed being struck, or 
 even at the sight of a mouse caught in a trap. But 
 though the classes represented by the poet's life-like 
 portraits, lived in comfort and freedom, it was far 
 otherwise with that section of the people who were 
 struggling out of serfdom. Thus Jack Straw, a riot- 
 ous priest, was enabled to incite the peasantry of Es- 
 sex to refuse payment of the poll-tax, and four Enghsh 
 counties were speedily in violent agitation. 
 
 At that time there lived at Dartford, a market- 
 town in Kent, a man named Wat Tyler, who sup- 
 ported his humble household by the calling to which 
 his name alludes ; and into his cottage, in the summer 
 of 1381, went a tax-gatherer to demand payment of 
 the impost from his daughter. Wat's wife protested 
 that the girl was under fifteen, and, therefore, not 
 liable ; but the tax-gatherer, saying he would soon 
 ascertain, laid hold of the damsel with indelicate free- 
 dom. Thereupon the indignant good-woman cried to 
 her husband, who was tiling the roof of a house hard 
 by ; and Wat, making his appearance, killed the offi-
 
 184 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 cial on the spot. The neighbors applauded the ac- 
 tion ; and the Kentish men, with Wat as their cap- 
 tain, and John Ball, a demagogic priest, as their 
 chaplain, after creating a riot at Canterbury, march- 
 ed toward London. At Blackheath, where the insur- 
 gents are stated to have numbered a hundred thou- 
 sand, they suddenly met the Princess of Wales, the 
 King's mother ; but even then they retained sufficient 
 respect for the widow of the Black Prince to dismiss 
 her, with her retinue, in safety, after she had allowed 
 a few of them to salute her fair cheek. Entering Lon- 
 don, and indulging to excess in strong potations, the 
 rioters spoiled and burned the Savoy, the stately and 
 beautiful palace of the Duke of Lancaster, who was 
 then absent in Scotland. They next destroyed Ne^A'- 
 gate, the Temple, the Priory of the Knights of St. John, 
 and the Sanctuary of the Flemings, sixty of whom 
 were beheaded, as well as many other wealthy citizens 
 After two days of terror and anarchy, the rioters 
 were informed that the King would confer with them 
 at Mile End ; and issuing from the Tower, Richard 
 gave such satisfactory assurances, that the rioters 
 from Essex and Hertford went quietly home. But 
 the Kentish men, under Wat Tyler, breaking into the 
 Tower, beheaded the Primate, the Treasurer, and 
 other officers of state ; and the posture of affairs was 
 most alarming when the King, next morning, after 
 hearing mass at Westminster, mounted and rode east- 
 ward. Attended by John Walworth, the lord mayor,
 
 DEATH OF WAT TYLER. 185 
 
 and sixty other persons, he encountered the multi^ 
 tude. Wat Tyler came up to speak to the King, and 
 spurred so close, that the head of one horse touched 
 the flank of the other. The daring leader, playing 
 with his dagger, seized Richard's rein ; upon which 
 Walworth rode forward and wounded him severely 
 in the neck. Wat wheeled round to address his fol- 
 lowers, but an esquire, named Standish, felled him to 
 the ground. " You have killed our captain," shouted 
 the Kentish men, and bent their bows ; but at that 
 moment the E.oyal boy rode forward, and lisped out, 
 " My lieges, I am your king, and I will be your cap- 
 tain." The insurgents could not resist such an ap- 
 peal ; some knelt for pardon, and others took to the 
 corn-fields. Unfortunately, the King afterward de- 
 clared that these fair promises meant nothing. 
 
 When John of Gaunt went to pursue his Spanish 
 claims, his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, became 
 all-powerful ; and during his administration the Scots 
 invaded the north of England, and won the battle of 
 Otterburne. Richard then mustered courage to dis- 
 miss Gloucester, intrusted afiairs to tiie guidance of the 
 Duke of York and Henry of Bolingbroke, and, havinw 
 prevailed on Parliament to vote him a revenue for life, 
 became so absolute, that no man durst question what 
 he did. Several noblemen were executed ; and he 
 availed himself of a dispute between Mowbray, duke 
 of Norfolk, and Henry of Bolingbroke, to banish the 
 former for life, and the latter for ten years.
 
 186 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 John Froissart, son of a heraldic painter in Hai- 
 nault, and canon of Chimay, who, in quest of informa- 
 tion, had traveled through England, France, and Scot- 
 land, and who has depicted in glowing pages the 
 chivalrous scenes of his age — the sieges, battles, tour- 
 naments, and banquets — visited the court of Richard, 
 who presented him, on leaving Windsor, with a silver 
 goblet and a hundred nobles. The chronicler, famil- 
 iar from his youth with Edward III., whose institu- 
 tion of the Order of the Garter marks the epoch of 
 English chivalry, states that Richard maintained a 
 household the costliness and splendor of which threw 
 that of all his predecessors utterly into the shade, and 
 contrasts that magnificence with the miserable result. 
 
 The catastrophe was indeed sudden ; for, while 
 Richard was in Ireland in 1399, Henry of Lancaster 
 (his father, John of Gaunt, being dead) landed at 
 Ravenspur, and, favored by the people, broke into 
 open rebellion. Betrayed and abandoned, Richard 
 took refuge in Flint Castle, but being discovered in 
 the guise of a priest, and conveyed to London, a Par- 
 liament, on being summoned, accomplished his depo- 
 sition. He was then committed to Pontefract ; though 
 what was his subsequent fate is still a historic my.s- 
 tery. The politic Henry ascended the throne ; and 
 thus were sown the seeds of dynastic disputes, Avhich 
 sprung up and ripened into the long and sanguinary 
 struggle between the rival Houses of York and Lan- 
 caster.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Henry IV., in seizing the throne, had been mainly 
 indebted for assistance to the powerful Earls of "West- 
 moreland and Northumberland. After landing at 
 Ravenspur, and being joined by those Northern 
 barons, he had sworn in their presence at Doncaster 
 that he claimed nothing beyond his paternal estates, 
 and they were naturally somewhat startled when 
 he grasped at the crown ; but Henry silenced their 
 scruples by nominating Westmoreland marshal of En- 
 gland, and conferring on Northumberland the dignity 
 of Constable, with the lordship of Man. 
 
 Anxious to prove his courage and capacity in the 
 field, the new King made a hostile expedition as far 
 as Edinburgh, but finding the impracticability of bring- 
 ing the Scots to a battle, he returned, without having 
 effected any thing considerable, to suppress a formida- 
 ble rebellion that had broken out in "Wales. 
 
 Several years before this period there had been study- 
 ing law, at one of the Inns of court, an imaginative 
 Welshman, named Owen Glendower, who, through 
 his mother, claimed a descent from the celebrated
 
 188 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Llewell}'!!. The youth had previously been educated 
 at one of the universities, and was sufficiently accom- 
 plished to be admitted as an esquire in the household 
 of King Richard. On the deposition of that monarch 
 Owen retired to his small estate, which lay near the 
 territory of Lord Grey de Ruthin, and a portion of 
 his lands having been seized by that baron, he applied 
 for redress to the House of Lords. His petition being 
 rejected, Owen resolved to take the law into his own 
 hands, and one day, when a fair was being held in 
 Lord Gray's town of Ruthin, he suddenly appeared 
 with a band of wild Welshmen, who, after plundering 
 the merchants, set fire to the place. This achievement 
 was so grateful to his countrymen, that such of them 
 as were students or apprentices in England (locked 
 home to take part in the insurrection ; and Owen, 
 being proclaimed Prince of Wales, not only baffled 
 Henry himself in three campaigns, but defeated and 
 took prisoner Sir Edward Mortimer, uncle of the young 
 Earl of March. 
 
 Such M^as the state of matters, when, at Homeldon, 
 on a September day, a Scottish army, led by the Earl 
 of Douglas, was encountered by the Percies. The 
 Scots occupied a hill, and Harry Percy, surnamed 
 Hotspur, was about to charge up, when the expatria- 
 ted Earl of Dunbar, seizing his rein, hinted that the 
 English archers had better commence the onslaught. 
 The advice was taken ; the Scots fell in heaps ; Doug- 
 las, descending the hill, was captured ; and the flower
 
 OWEN GLENDOWER'S REBELLION. 189 
 
 of the Scottish iiobiHty lay stretched on the acchvily. 
 But a dispute arising in regard to the prisoners taken 
 on this occasion, and about the ransom of Mortimer, 
 Northumberland and his fiery son entered into concert 
 with Owen Glendower, and formed a plot to dethrone 
 Henry, and place on the throne the boy-Earl of March, 
 whose aunt Hotspur had married. Douglas, who had 
 lost an eye at Homcldon, joined the enterprise ; but 
 the rebd army was defeated at Shrewsbury ; Hotspur 
 was slain on the field ; and Northumberland, with his 
 grandson, fled into Scotland. Soon after this, Henry, 
 prince of Wales, whose life had hitherto been the 
 reverse of decorous, defeated the eldest son of Owen 
 Glendower, and so harassed the latter, that he dis- 
 guised himself as a shepherd, and ultimately died in 
 obscurity. 
 
 Scotland was at this period torn by intestine feuds 
 and domestic quarrels. Robert HI., a man of weak 
 and indolent disposition, occupied the throne, but was 
 entirely under the control of his brother, the unscni- 
 pulous Albany, who accused the duke of Rothsay, 
 heir-apparent, of treasonable designs, threw him in a 
 dungeon, and starved him to death. The King's sur- 
 viving son, James, apprehensive of a similer fate, 
 consulted his safety by sailing for France ; and the 
 vessel which conveyed him being captured by an En- 
 glish ship of war, he was brought prisoner to London. 
 Robert sank under these misfortunes ; and Albany, 
 with the title of Governor, continued to exercise
 
 190 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 sovereign authority. Shortly after this, the hfc of 
 Henry, which had been embittered by the plots of his 
 enemies and the juvenile indiscretions of his son, the 
 Prince of "Wales, terminated in 1413. 
 
 Henry V., on ascending the throne, threw ofi^ his 
 follies and his rakish companions, as the wild steed 
 shakes drops of dew from his mane. He magnani- 
 mously removed the body of the second Richard from 
 Langley in Hertfordshire, and had it interred, with the 
 honors due to royalty, in the Abbey of Westminster, 
 where he attended the funeral, and declared that he 
 mourned as if it had been the corpse of his own father. 
 He then released the young Earl of March, who, 
 touched with the kind treatment he met with, became 
 henceforth devoted to Henry's service. 
 
 Having thus created for himself that popular favor 
 which his father had been unable to retain, Henry 
 turned his eyes toward France, and revived the claim 
 of his illustrious grcat-grandsire, the victor of Crecy 
 to the crown of that kingdom. Crossing the sea with 
 an invading army, which a contagious fever wasted 
 to a fifth of its original numbers, he sent a challenge 
 to the Dauphin to decide the succession by single 
 combat. But the French prince declining a persona} 
 encounter, their armies met at Agincourt, where the 
 English, against fearful odds, gained one of the most 
 glorious victories on record. 
 
 Henrjr, after a short visit to his owai kingdom, for 
 the purpose of recruiting his forces, returned to France,
 
 CAREER OF HENRY V. 191 
 
 fought his way to Paris, and succeeded in concluding a 
 treaty, whereby it was agreed that he should espouse 
 Catherine, daughter of the French monarch, and in- 
 herit the crown as her dowry. Catherine's brother, 
 the Dauphin, was not a party to this arrangement, 
 and on Henry's departure for England with his bride 
 the French were victorious in a battle against the 
 royal Duke of Clarence. Henry's return to the scene 
 of action changed the face of matters ; but while pur- 
 suing his triumphant career, the English King, " too 
 famous to live long," was seized with a mortal disease, 
 of which he died in 1422. His body was brought to 
 England, and interred with extraordinary pomp at 
 Westminster, where his tomb was long regarded with 
 peculiar veneration. 
 
 Henry VI. was an infant of nine months old when, 
 on the death of his heroic father, he was proclaimed 
 King at London and Paris. His paternal uncle, the 
 Duke of Bedford, was declared Regent of France and 
 Protector of England ; but in the latter country the 
 administrative functions were delegated to the Duke 
 of Gloucester. Bedford, one of the bravest and most 
 sagacious men of the age, was devoted to the interests 
 of his nephew, and governed France with great abili- 
 ty ; but, unfortunately, he was cut ofi' during the se- 
 vere struggle which followed the death of Henry V., 
 and the English were deprived of all their French ac- 
 quisitions, except Calais and Guignes. 
 
 Meantime, the condition of England was far from
 
 ■j02 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 satisfactory. So long, indeed, as Bedford lived, his 
 influence had been wisely exerted and beneficially 
 felt. At the beginning of the reiga the Scots had 
 invaded the frontiers vv'ith two distinct armies, but 
 peace was secured in that quarter by the liberatiou 
 of their king, James I. With the temperament of a 
 poet, as he was, the royal Scot had, during his pro- 
 longed confinement in the Tower, formed a romantic 
 attachment to Lady Jane Beaufort, daughter of the 
 Duke of Somerset, and cousin of the King. The cap- 
 tivating princess was given to him in marriage, a long 
 peace was agreed to, and so far matters went smooth- 
 ly. But Gloucester possessed neither the judgment 
 nor authority of Bedford ; his schemes were perpetu- 
 ally thwarted by Cardinal Beaufort, a rich, powerful, 
 and intriguing churchman ; and his power was ere 
 long totally destroyed. 
 
 "VYhen Henry had reached his twenty-fourth year, it 
 was found that, though possessed of monastic virtues, 
 he was totally destitute of kingly spirit or intelligence, 
 and it was thought good policy to unite him to some 
 princess of energy and decision. The Earl of Suflblk 
 proposed Margaret of Anjou, cousin of the French 
 Q,ueen, and was empowered, in defiance of Glouces- 
 ter, to negotiate a marriage, and conduct her to En- 
 gland. Margaret's father, Rene, though titular King 
 of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem, was so poor, that 
 Henry had to defray the cost of his bride's voyage 
 homeward ; and she, hating Gloucester for his op-
 
 JACK CADE'S OUTBREAK. 193 
 
 position to her elevation, soon made her dishke evi- 
 dent. 
 
 In the first instance, his beautiful duchess, Eleanor 
 Cobham, was confined to a castle in Man as a sorcer- 
 ess ; and soon after Gloucester himself — " the good 
 Duke Humphrey," as the English called him — was 
 arrested while attending a parliament, and in a few 
 days found dead in his bed. But this rendered the 
 Glueen and Suffolk so unpopular, that the latter was 
 impeached, and banished the realm. However, while 
 sailing toward Calais, his vessels were taken by an 
 English ship-of-war ; the Duke, after remaining on 
 board three days, was transferred to a boat ; there he 
 was lawlessly beheaded, and the people rejoiced that 
 the darling of the dueen, whom they detested as " the 
 foreign woman," had expiated his misdeeds. 
 
 While the national discontent was at its height. 
 Jack Cade, an Irish soldier, pretending to be one of 
 the Mortimers, roused a multitude to insurrection, and 
 called himself the Captain of Kent. On the 24th of 
 June, 1450, Cade defeated the royal forces at Seven- 
 oaks, entered London in triumph, murdered Lord Say, 
 slaughtered many of the city magistrates, and finally, 
 being cast off by his followers, fled for life ; but he 
 was closely pursued, and finally slain, by Alexander 
 Eden, an esquire of Kent. 
 
 The dueen had taken into her confidence the Duke 
 of Somerset, when there appeared a claimant of the 
 crown which the meek Henry wore. This was Rich- 
 N
 
 194 HISTORY FOR BOYS.-ENGLAND. 
 
 ard Plantagenet, duke of York, whose father was de- 
 scended from the fifth, but his mother from the sec- 
 ond, son of Edward III., and whose title was there- 
 fore preferable to that of the line of John of Gaunt. 
 The splendid achievements of Henry V. had more 
 than made up for a defective title ; but, deeming that 
 the hour had arrived for asserting his rights, York, in 
 1452, raised an insurrection, with the avowed object 
 of driving Somerset from power. Being met by the 
 King at Dartford, induced to dismiss his forces, and 
 trust himself at court, he was seized and imprisoned. 
 York's enemies, aware that his eldest son Edward, 
 earl of March, was in arms on the marches of Wales, 
 thought it prudent to set him free ; but the durance 
 had served to inflame his ambition, and the King's 
 derangement encouraged his designs. 
 
 The house of Lancaster had, no doubt, been strongly 
 established ; but York found friends, who would have 
 been formidable to any dynasty. He had married a 
 daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland, chief of the 
 house of Neville, deriving its descent from a Saxon 
 thane, and then by far the most important in England. 
 One of its younger sons had, with the hand of an heir- 
 ess, acquired the earldom of Salisbury, displayed his 
 valor in the wars of France, and earned a reputation 
 for wisdom, knowledge, and experience. Salisbury's 
 eldest son, Richard Neville, was still more eminent ; 
 for he had wedded the heiress of the Beaucharaps, 
 and succeeded at once to their title of Warwick and to
 
 WARWICK, THE KING-MAKER. 195 
 
 their vast possessions. Warwick was, beyond compar- 
 ison, the noblest subject in England, and the most pop- 
 ular personage in Europe. On the field of battle his 
 prowess reminded men of the heroes of romance ; and 
 he was the idol of the soldiery. His nature was gen- 
 erous, his patriotism intense, and his hospitality all but 
 unlimited. In London he kept open house ; six oxen 
 were usually consumed at a breakfast ; and every 
 fighting-man was allowed to walk into the kitcheir 
 and help himself to as much meat as could be carried 
 away on the point of a dagger. At the same time 
 about thirty thousand persons were fed daily at the 
 Earl's mansions and castles in various districts of En- 
 gland. Such was the potent baron, who, with his 
 father and several of their noble kinsmen, warmly es- 
 poused the cause of the Duke of York. 
 
 When Parliament assembled in 1454, after Somer« 
 set had been sent to the Tower, York was nominated 
 Protector, till Edward prince of Wales, who had been 
 born in the previous year, came of age. The author- 
 ity of Henry would thus have been set aside, if Q,ueen 
 Margaret had not been a woman of too defiant a spirit 
 to submit tamely. Availing herself of Henry's partial 
 recovery, she dismissed York and liberated Somerset. 
 Then civil war commenced ; the Yorkists, assuming 
 a white rose as their badge, took up arms ; the Lan- 
 castrians, choosing a red rose, raised the royal banner ; 
 and the hostile forces met at St. Albans. Victory fell 
 to York ; Somerset was slain, and the King taken
 
 196 HISTORY FOR BOYS— ENGLAND. 
 
 prisoner : but Parliament, wliile it confirmed York's 
 authority as Protector, maintained its allegiance to the 
 son of the hero of Agincourt. By the end of 1459, the 
 (iueen's high spirit so effectually sustained the courage 
 of her friends, that the Lancastrians gained considera- 
 ble advantages ; York fled to Ireland ; the Neville 
 barons made their escape to Calais ; and Henry's 
 cause vk^as in the ascendant. York's estates and 
 those of his friends were confiscated ; they were de- 
 clared rebels and traitors ; and in revenge for this se- 
 verity, the Earls of Sahsbury, Warwick, and March, 
 landed in Kent, and marching to London were re- 
 ceived with open arms by the citizens. Proceeding 
 to Northampton, they routed the royal forces, and 
 seized upoii Henry, while his daimtless Q,ueen fled 
 into Wales, and thence into the bishopric of Durham. 
 
 After this victory the Duke of York, returning from 
 Ireland, openly claimed the crown in Parliament, and 
 was declared the rightful heir ; but it was decided 
 that Henry should continue king for hfe, and that 
 York should rule as Protector. Margaret could not 
 submit to a settlement so disadvantageous to her son ; 
 she organized an army in the northern counties, where 
 the barons were devoted to her, and once more scat- 
 tered her foes at Wakefield. York was slain in this 
 battle ; his second son was kiUed when flying ; and 
 the aged Earl of Sahsbury, being captured, was mer- 
 cilessly executed. 
 
 Margaret now threatened to execute vengeance od
 
 WARS OF THE ROSES. 197 
 
 the metropolis for the part it had taken against her, 
 and the citizens were pale with fright as they thought 
 of those spears of the North that had encircled King 
 Henry's crown. Their fear, however, passed away ; 
 for on the 25th of February, 14G1, all eyes were glad- 
 dened with the sight of Edward of York, as he led his 
 forces thither from the slaughter of Lancastrians at 
 Mortimer's Cross. The victorious prince had not seen 
 more than twenty winters ; his face was a model of 
 manly beauty ; his person was singularly handsome ; 
 and his martial bravery was indisputable. The peo- 
 ple declared him the goodliest personage they had 
 ever seen ; the men of Kent and Essex flocked to 
 gaze upon their favorite ; and amidst the enthusiastic 
 shouts of " Long live King Edward !" he rode through 
 the city in triumph, and mounted the throne at West- 
 minster. 
 
 Meantime, from beyond the Humber, barons of 
 great name brought warriors with stout hearts and 
 strong hands to the standard of Glueen Margaret at 
 Towton ; and northward, to encounter them, marched 
 the Yorkist King, mider the inspiration of "Warwick. 
 At nine o'clock on the morning of the 26th of March 
 the two armies met, in the midst of a heavy fall of 
 snow; and Warwick, dismounting, killed his horse, 
 declaring that he would conquer or die. Edward 
 ordered that no quarter should be given, and after 
 a furious fight till the afternoon, victory fell to the 
 Yorkists,- dueen Margaret, attended by the . Dukes
 
 198 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 of Exeter and Somerset, carried her helpless hushand 
 into Scotland, and found refuge at the court of her 
 congenial kinswoman, Mary of Gueldre, while Ed- 
 ward returned to London, where he was crowned 
 with the usual ceremonies. 
 
 At Grafton — under the roof of her father, Sir Rich- 
 ard Woodville, who had long hefore wedded Jacquet- 
 ta, reUct of the Protector-Duke of Bedford — Elizabeth 
 Gray, a young and accomplished widow, was mourn- 
 ing the loss of a husband, slain while fighting for the 
 red rose ; when Edward, going to amuse himself with 
 hunting in the forest of "Vyhittlebury, paid the old 
 knight and his duchess a visit. Elizabeth's beauty 
 fairly captivated the heart of the youthful King ; and 
 the duchess managed matters so skillfully, that the 
 enamored monarch at length proposed a private mar- 
 riage. Accordingly, on the 1st of May, that morning 
 of the year when in meny old England young people 
 went to the fields and gathered may or green boughs 
 to deck their houses, and when milkmaids wreathed 
 their pails with garlands, and prepared to dance round 
 maypoles, the Duchess, with two gentlewomen, con- 
 ducted her daughter to the httle chapel, where they 
 were met by the King, the priest, and the mass-boy ; 
 and there, with the utmost secrecy. King Edward re- 
 ceived the hand of the very charmmg young widow. 
 
 While Edward was thus defying the futiure, civil 
 war was raging in the North ; and on the 15th of 
 May, 1464, Margaret gave battle, at Hexham, to
 
 THE QUEEN'S FLIGHT FROM HEXHAM. 199 
 
 Lord Montagu, the brother of "Warwick. The Lan- 
 castrians were dispersed with great slaughter, and 
 their Q,ueen escaped with difficulty into a wood, lead- 
 ing her little son by the hand. la. the dusk of even- 
 ing they were met by a gang of robbers, who, after 
 seizing the Uueen's rings and jewels, allowed her to 
 escape while they wrangled over the spoil. Margaret 
 continued her flight, till, faint with fatigue, she sat 
 down to rest for a short space. Suddenly she per- 
 ceived coming toward her one of the bandits with his 
 sword drawn, but, mustering up her natural courage, 
 she presented to him the ill-starred prince, saying, 
 with her most majestic manner, " Here, my friend, 
 save your king's son I" The outlaw, touched with 
 compassion, treated them with profound respect, and 
 being acquainted with every avenue of the forest, 
 conducted them to the coast, where he procured a 
 vessel, which landed them in Flanders. Henry was 
 less fortimate : closely pursued from the field, his hel- 
 met and equipage were captured ; and after lurking 
 for a year in the caves and woods of Lancashire he 
 was discovered, and committed to the Tower. 
 
 The result of the encounter at Hexham was such, 
 and the dispersion of the vanquished so complete, that 
 when September arrived Edward ventured to reveal 
 his marriage, summoned a great council of barons 
 and prelates in. the abbey of Reading, induced his 
 brother George, duke of Clarence, and the Earl of 
 "Warwick, to present Elizabeth to the assembled peers
 
 200 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 as their queen, and in the spring of 1465 had her 
 crowned at "Westiiiinster, amidst feasts and tourna- 
 ments. 
 
 So far all was well; but, in 1467, unpropitious 
 events occurred. The hand of Edward's sister, Mar- 
 garet, was sought for by the son of Louis XI. of 
 France, and by Charles, Duke of Burgundy. War- 
 wick urged the policy of an alliance with France, 
 and was sent to Rouen to negotiate a marriage. But 
 while the stout Earl was on the Continent, an illegit- 
 imate brother of Charles appeared at the English 
 court, and was successful in obtaining from Edward 
 a promise that Margaret should become Duchess of 
 Burgundy. Warwick, considering that he had been 
 insulted, retired in wrath to his castle of Middleham ; 
 and subsequent affairs so exasperated his proud spirit, 
 that, in 1470, he repaired to France with the Duke 
 of Clarence, who had married his daughter Isabel. 
 There, in the castle of Amboise, Warwick made his 
 peace with Q.ueen Margaret, and contracted his 
 daughter Anne to Edward the Lancastrian prince 
 of Wales. Landing in England, the Earl drove Ed- 
 ward to seek shelter in Burgundy, and restored the 
 monkish Henry to the throne ; but the royal exile re- 
 turning suddenly, gathered a numerous army, and 
 took the field at Barnet. Warwick, though deserted 
 on the eve of battle by the perjured -Clarence, made 
 a noble struggle, and fell, fighting bravely on foot, 
 along with Lord Montagu.
 
 ROUT OF THE LANCASTRIANS. 201 
 
 Margaret, arriving at "Weymouth on the evening 
 after Barnet had been lost, was defeated by Edward 
 at Tewkesbury, on the banks of the Severn. Prince 
 Edward fell into the hands of the Yorkist King, by 
 whose brothers he is said to have been stabbed. 
 Henry was already in their power, and is supposed 
 to have been murdered by the Duke of Gloucester. 
 Margaret took refuge in a convent, but was seized 
 and imprisoned in the Tower, where she remained till 
 ransomed by her father. The position of the Lancas- 
 trian lords was sad in the extreme. Somerset was 
 beheaded ; Oxford was sent to a castle in Picardy, 
 and confined for the next twelve years, while his 
 Countess supported herself by needlework. Exeter, 
 who had been left for dead on the field of Barnet, 
 escaped to Flanders, where, reduced to poverty, he 
 was observed running after Charles of Burgundy. 
 The two Dukes had married sisters ; but so wretched 
 was Exeter's condition, that Burgundy could not rec- 
 ognize in the bare-legged mortal before him the once 
 proud and exalted representative of the great House 
 of Holand. On learning that his brother-in-law w^as 
 so depressed. Burgundy settled a small pension on the 
 hapless nobleman ; but the latter did not survive to 
 gee the smile of fortune's better day, his corpse being 
 goon after found floating in the sea near Dover. 
 
 The throne of Edward was now secure ; and col- 
 lecting an army of eighteen thousand men, he landed 
 at Calais to attempt the conquest of France. Louis,
 
 202 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 however, contrived to have an interview with the 
 invader on a bridge near Amiens, with a strong bar- 
 ricade of wood between them, and bribed and pen- 
 sioned the King of England to go home. 
 
 From that date the hfe of Edward was spent in 
 liunting, dressing, and love-making. But, in 1478, 
 becoming suspicious of his brother Clarence, he sum- 
 moned a Parliament, and appeared as prosecutor. 
 The Duke was pronounced guilty, and afterward 
 drowned in a butt of malmsey. Two years later, 
 Edward went to his grave in the new chapel at 
 Windsor, leaving two sons and several daughters. 
 
 Edward V. was a boy of thirteen when his father 
 died. Richard, duke of Gloucester, who was then 
 Warden of the West Marches, immediately moved 
 southward with five thousand men, and being im- 
 bued with the maxims of Italian policy, entertained 
 the design of using his authority as Lord Protector to 
 seize upon the crown. It was therefore given out 
 that the late King had been, in boyhood, married to 
 the Lady Eleanor Talbot, and therefore that tlueen 
 Elizabeth's children were illegitimate, while the at- 
 tainder of Clarence had disqualified his offspring. 
 Lord Hastings, who stood by the sons of his departed 
 master, was accused of treason and executed, as the 
 Lords Rivers and Grey had aheady been. The King 
 and his brother were in the hands of Gloucester, who 
 had lodged them in the Tower. 
 
 Of late years, the city of London, from always
 
 MURDER OF THE PRINCES. 203 
 
 favoring the house of York, had acquired much influ- 
 ence in the destinies of the nation. Gloucester, there- 
 fore, gained over the Duke of Buckingham ; and that 
 prince of the blood being a man of power and intel- 
 lect, induced the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to ofier 
 the throne to the Protector, who accepted it with ap- 
 parent reluctance. 
 
 Richard III. was crowned on the 6th of July, 1483, 
 with his wife Anne, daughter of the great Warwick, 
 and immediately undertook a royal progress through 
 the country. Learning that, dm'ing his absence from 
 London, plots were formed to free the young princes, 
 Richard, while at Gloucester, sent a messenger to 
 Brackenbury, governor of the Tower, commanding 
 him to make away with the royal boys. Brackenbuiy 
 declined the business, as altogether too perilous ; and 
 Richard thereupon sent Tyrrel, his Master of the Horse* 
 with a commission to get and keep possession of the 
 Tower for twenty-four hours. Tyrrel, accompanied by 
 his groom and another ruffian, went on an evenmg in 
 August to the chamber where the princes were asleep, 
 and remained outside till his accomphces smothered the 
 unfortunate boys. Tyrrel then entered, viewed the 
 lifeless bodies, and had them buried beneath the stairs. 
 
 Richard had scarcely attained the object of his 
 ambition when he seized and beheaded the Duke of 
 Buckingham, on the charge of conspiracy ; and on 
 the death of his only son in 1484, he is accused of 
 having murdered his Clueen, in order to strengthen
 
 204 HISTORY P^OR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 his position by a new matrimonial alliance. But the 
 usurper, however vigilant and unscrupulous, could not 
 resist his fate ; and men began, in the hour of extreme 
 need, to look for deliverance to a prince who had a 
 very slight claim to be considered as the heir of the 
 Lancastrian kings. 
 
 Three or four years after the death of the conqueror 
 of Agincourt. his graceful and beautiful widow, Cath- 
 erine of France, became the wife of Owen Tudor, a 
 Welsh gentleman of obscure position, but of ancient 
 descent. They had, besides other children, two sons, 
 Henry, earl of Richmond, and Jasper, earl of Pem- 
 broke ; and the former, having married Margaret Beau- 
 fort, daughter of the first Duke of Somerset, grandson 
 of John of Gaunt, became the father of a boy named 
 Henry. From his fifth year, the lad had always been 
 a captive or a fugitive ; and when double that age, 
 his existence had been all but forgotten. In 1471, 
 however, his inicle, the Earl of Pembroke, whose spot- 
 less loyalty to the house of Lancaster had entailed on 
 him the harsh necessity of wandering over Europe as 
 a vagabond, happened to visit his Welsh estates, which 
 had been bestowed during his exile on a Yorkist named 
 Herbert. There, in the custody of Herbert's lady, he 
 found the young Earl of Richmond, whom he brought 
 to London, and presented at the court of Henry VL 
 But when the result of Tewkesbury had wrecked the 
 hopes of the Lancastrians, Pembroke and his nephew 
 embarked to seek refuge from Lovxis of France ; and
 
 BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. 205 
 
 their vessel being driven on the coast of Brittany, they 
 were detained as captives, but still treated handsome- 
 ly, by Duke Francis, who steadily resisted Edward's 
 eflbrts to procure their extradition. At length Rich- 
 ard, by corrupting Landois, the Breton minister, was 
 on the point of securing Richmond, when the latter, 
 warned of the plot, fled by forest-paths to the French 
 court, and was supplied with men and money by King 
 Charles. In Normandy he was met by the Earl of 
 Oxford, who had escaped from prison. They landed 
 their little force in Wales, and were speedily joined by 
 the natives and several English noblemen. Richard 
 assembled a large army ; and about a mile south of 
 Bosworth, on a spacious plain encompassed by hills, 
 the two armies met on an August morning. Richard, 
 with the crown on his head, advanced his lines ; and 
 the new Duke of Norfolk commenced the attack. But 
 the rest of his army wavering, Richard shouted " Trea- 
 son I" and, spurring his war-steed, made a fiery and 
 impetuous charge. Carrying all before him, he pen- 
 etrated even to his competitor's banner, killed Sir 
 William Brandon, who bore the standard, and smote 
 another knight to the ground. He then raised his 
 weapon to slay Richmond himself; but the host closed 
 upon him, and being unhorsed he was pierced with 
 many wounds. Lord Stanley picked up the crown, 
 and placed it on Richmond's head. A cry of " Long 
 live King Henry I" rung over the field ; and the 
 mangled corpse of the last Plantagenet king, being
 
 206 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 placed on horseback, was conveyed to Leicester, and 
 there exposed to the public gaze, that none should en- 
 tertain doubts about the tyrant's death. 
 
 Henry YIL, fast king of the Tudor line, when seat- 
 ed on the throne, espoused Elizabeth, eldest daughter 
 of the fourth Edward, but manifested so little affec- 
 tion for her family that the partisans of York were far 
 from satisfied ; and the Duchess of Burgundy, aunt to 
 the new Q.ucen, encouraged them to rebellion. 
 
 The first attempt to disturb Henry's peace was 
 made by Lambert Simnel, the son of a jouier, who 
 pretended to be the Earl of AYarwick, son of the Duke 
 of Clarence ; but as Heniy had that guileless young 
 nobleman in captivity, he took means to satisfy the 
 public of the imposture, and did something toward 
 suppressing the rising spirit of discontent by crowning 
 his Glueen as the rightful heiress of the line of York. 
 Nevertheless, Simnel having passed over to Ireland, 
 was proclaimed King at Dublin ; and the Duchess of 
 Burgundy, having furnished him with a body of Ger- 
 man auxiliaries, he landed in England, and Avas sup- 
 ported by the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Lovel, and other 
 • men of rank. But they were totally defeated, and 
 their leader, Martin Sevart, killed, at the village of 
 Stoke, near Newark. Lincoln was slain on the field ; 
 Lovel swam the Trent on horseback, and is supposed 
 to have afterward lived concealed in a subterranean 
 apartment of his house in Oxfordshire ; while Sim- 
 nel, being taken, was employed to carry wood to the
 
 PERKIN WARBECK. 207 
 
 royal kitchen, and finally appointed one of the fal- 
 coners. 
 
 Simnel's insurrection was succeeded by one of a 
 more serious character. King Henry had, at tho 
 Emperor's request, undertaken an expedition against 
 France ; and the opportunity was seized to bring for- 
 ward a new claimant in the person of Perkin "War- 
 beck, the son of a Flemish Jew, but born in London. 
 Perkin had in childhood been taken by his parents to 
 Tournay, between which place and Antwerp he long 
 roved, living much in the company of Englishmen, 
 and acquiring proficiency in their language. On ap- 
 proaching manhood he became known to the Duchess 
 of Burgundy, who, considering him a fitting instru- 
 ment for her purpose, maintained him in secrecy till 
 he was fully instructed in the part he had to play. It 
 was then announced that he was the Duke of York, 
 youngest of the princes smothered in the Tower ; and 
 the likeness was acknowledged to be striking. The 
 Duchess publicly called the " Flemish counterfeit" her 
 nephew, gave him the title of " The "White Rose of 
 England," and appointed him a guard of halberdiers. 
 On the breaking out of the war he was invited by 
 King Charles to Paris, and there received with the 
 honors due to royalty. But Henry, having agreed to 
 a peace with France, the aspiring youth repaired to 
 Flanders, where he was openly joined by many York- 
 ists. Hitherto the disaffected in England had been 
 like a rope of sand, and incapable of acting in concert.
 
 208 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 They were now inspired with the hope of making head 
 against King Henry's power. 
 
 A descent on the coast of Kent was first attempted, 
 but proved vuisuccessful ; and an expedition to Ireland 
 was not more fortunate. Perkin then sailed to Scot- 
 land, persuaded King James that he was a real prince. 
 That chivalrous monarch testified implicit behef in 
 the cunningly-devised fable, by giving him the hand 
 of Lady Catherine Gordon, a lady of rare excellence 
 and exquisite beauty ; and then mustering an army, 
 he marched over the border to support AVarbeck's pre- 
 tensions. The latter, professing the tenderness of a 
 sovereign for his natural subjects, protested against 
 the ravages of the Scots ; on which James, beginning 
 to suspect the imposture, replied that his ally was too 
 solicitous about what, perhaps, was none of his own, 
 and returned home. To avenge this inroad, the Earl 
 of Surrey crossed the Tweed, took the fortress of Ay- 
 toun, and ravaged the Merse. 
 
 "Warbeck, landing again near Exeter, was joined by 
 some Cornish insurgents; but on Henry's taking the 
 field in person he fled in the darkness of night, and his 
 adherents dispersed. Pursued, and taken at the sanc- 
 tuary of Beaulieu, Perkin was sent under a guard to 
 London, confined in the Tower, and hanged as a traitor 
 at Tyburn. About the same time, the unfortunate 
 Earl of Warwick was unjustly condemned and be- 
 headed. The Lady Catherine was found, on War- 
 beck's flight, at St. Michael's Mount, and retained
 
 STATE MARRIAGES. 209 
 
 for a while in gentle captivity about the person of the 
 Q,ueen. 
 
 Order being restored, Henry appHed himself to form- 
 ing royal alliances for his children. His eldest son, 
 Arthur, prince of Wales, was united to Catherine, 
 daughter of Fei'dinand of Spain ; and the Princess 
 Margaret was bestowed upon the Scottish King. This 
 state marriage was destined to exercise no small influ- 
 ence on the future of England. Henry now felt secure, 
 and having boasted that a wall of brass was built 
 around the kingdom, he expired in 1509. 
 
 Arthur, prince of Wales, having died soon after his 
 marriage, the crown was inherited by his brother 
 Henry VHI., who was regarded as a prince of great 
 promise. The Yorkist faction were content to recog- 
 nize him as the true representative of his maternal 
 grandfather ; and the young King considered his right 
 to the crown of England as so much better than his 
 father's, that he determined to take part in the Con- 
 tinental wars, with the view of recovering the ancient 
 possessions of the English kings in France. In the 
 mean time, having obtained a dispensation from the 
 Pope, he espoused Catherine, widow of his deceased 
 brother, and their nuptials were succeeded by six 
 months' feasting, jousts, and tournaments. 
 
 In order to draw Henry into the Italian league, the 
 
 Pope sent him a golden rose dipped in chrism and 
 
 perfumed with musk, accompanied by letters full of 
 
 complaints against Louis of France. Upon this, 
 

 
 210 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Henry landed at Calais with an army, and com- 
 menced hostilities. In this emergency, Louis invoked 
 the aid of his single ally ; and his queen, Anne of 
 Brittany, -wTote the Scottish monarch a letter, entreat- 
 ing him to march into England for her sake, and sent 
 him a ring from her own fair hand, with fourteen 
 thousand crowns in money. 
 
 From the period of the hridal of James and the 
 Princess Margaret, his kingdom had enjoyed an un- 
 wonted degree of repose ; the arts of peace had been 
 cultivated with encouraging success ; and the populace 
 had been delighted with tournaments and other ex- 
 citing spectacles. This invitation could not, therefore, 
 have been highly relished. Yet, so fantastic were 
 his ideas of chivalry, that James assembled a nume- 
 rous army, and entering England in August, 1513, 
 took Fordcastle, with other strongholds, and ravaged 
 Northumberland without opposition. Henry was still 
 in France ; but the Earl of Surrey, having mustered 
 a force, and being joined by his son, the Admiral of 
 England, gave the Scots battle at Flodden, on the 
 banks of the Till, and gained a decisive victory. The 
 King of Scots fought with heroic valor, but on seeing 
 his standard-bearer fall rushed into the thickest of the 
 fray, and fell pierced with many wounds. Ten thou- 
 sand of his subjects, including a large proportion of 
 his nobles, were slain ; and his eldest son being a 
 child of seventeen months old, the state of Scotland 
 was so deplorable, that Henry, from motives of pcJ-
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 211 
 
 icy and humanity, agreed to a suspension of hostili- 
 ties. 
 
 Next year a peace was conckided with France, 
 and Louis, having in the mean time lost his queen, 
 espoused Henry's sister, the Princess Mary. Louis 
 dying soon afterward, his royal widow, in the bloom 
 and heauty of seventeen, was bestowed upon the Duke 
 of Suflblk ; and from this marriage sprung the vuifor- 
 tunate Lady Jane Grey. 
 
 "When King Francis, in his impetuous pursuit of 
 glory, commenced with the Emperor Charles that 
 struggle which cost so much blood and treasure, Hen- 
 ry inclined to an alliance with France, renewed the 
 treaty of peace, and appointed a conference with the 
 chivalrous monarch at Calais ; but his politics were 
 soon changed to meet the ambitious views of Cardinal 
 Wolsey, his powerful minister. "VVolsey's father — a 
 substantial butcher in Ipswich — had educated his ex- 
 traordinary son for the Cburch ; and in due time the 
 youth had become chaplain to the Treasurer of Calais, 
 through whose influence he had come under the notice 
 of the seventh Henry, by whom he had been employed 
 as embassador to the Emperor Maximilian. On the 
 accession of Henry VHL, Wolsey had become the 
 young king's bosom friend, and gradually risen to be 
 Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York. Espous- 
 ing the cause of the Emperor, from a belief that he 
 might, by that course, reach the papal throne, he in- 
 vited Charles to England ; and the latter's arrival
 
 212 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 was suddenly announced on the eve of Henry's ex- 
 pedition to Calais. Charles, after being magiiifi- 
 cently entertained, departed with a conviction that 
 he had won Henry from the cause of his rival ; and 
 Henry sailed to keep liis appointment with the King 
 of France on " the Field of the Cloth of Gold." No- 
 thing could exceed the splendor of the festivities on 
 the occasion, but no sooner were they at an end than 
 Hcniy went to visit the Emperor at Gravelines ; and 
 the latter, returning with the English King to Calais, 
 was overjoyed at the good fortune of his aunt, dueen 
 Catherine, in being the spouse of so magnificent a 
 prince. 
 
 Ere long, however, Henry began to give utterance 
 to doubts in regard to the validity of his marriage 
 with Catherine, from the awkward fact of her hav- 
 ing formerly been the wife of his brother Arthur. 
 Accordingly, he solicited the Pope for a divorce ; but 
 being apprehensive of either mortally offending Henry 
 by a refusal and the Emperor by compliance, his Ho- 
 liness sought refuge in delay. All artifices were vain ; 
 for Henry, falling violently in love with Lord Roch- 
 ford's daughter, Anne Boleyn, who had been educated 
 at the French court, and impatient to make her queen, 
 took the law into his own hands, disgraced Wolsey, 
 and caused Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury-, to 
 annul his former marriage. The Pope, enraged at 
 this step, issued a bull condemnatory of Cranmcr's 
 proceedings, but this interference was met with a
 
 THE REFORMATION. 213 
 
 vigor and attended with consequences hardly antici- 
 pated. 
 
 The doctrines taught by WicUfie, and the trans- 
 lation of Scripture into the vernacular tongue, had 
 prepared the minds of Englishmen for that revolu- 
 tion in religious opinions which was now to be ac- 
 complished. Under a system of persecution, indeed, 
 the Lollards, or professed followers of Wiclifle, were 
 few ; and Henry VIII. was not of their number. On 
 the contrary, he had displayed his intellectual prow- 
 ess by writing " A Defense of the Seven Sacraments," 
 in answer to Luther's treatise, " The Babylonish Cap- 
 tivity." The work had been dedicated to the Pope, 
 who gratefully conferred on its royal author the title 
 of " Defender of the Faith." Nevertheless, he now 
 set the papal power at defiance, and proclaimed him- 
 self Supreme Head of the Church of England. Par- 
 hament ratified this title : the Pope's jurisdiction with- 
 in the realm was suppressed : monasteries were abol- 
 ished ; and their confiscated revenues granted to the 
 King's favorite minions. 
 
 Meanwhile Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn 
 was solemnized, but, capricious in his afiections, he 
 mercilessly sent her to the scafibld to make way for 
 Jane Seymour, a maid of honor ; on whose death, 
 alarmed at the complimentarj'^ visits passing between 
 the Emperor and the King of France, he courted the 
 alliance of the Protestant powers of Germany by 
 wedding Anne of Cleves. This lady was divorced in
 
 214 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 a few months, and succeeded by Catlierine Howard, 
 whom he beheaded to marry Catherine Parr. She 
 was fortunate enough to maintain her perilous emi- 
 nence, and outhve the violent and blood-thirsty ty- 
 rant. 
 
 On the death of his nephew, the fifth James of 
 Scotland, celebrated as the King of the Commons, 
 Henry conceived hopes of peaceably uniting that 
 country to England. With this view he proposed to 
 affiance Edward, prince of Wales, his son by Jane 
 Seymour, to Mary, the infant Q,ueen of Scots. But 
 the French faction, and the clergy, headed by Cardi- 
 nal Beaton, an artful, ambitious, and luxurious pre- 
 late, were successful in defeating this scheme, and 
 arraying the national prejudices against the English 
 alliance. Henry endeavored to prevail on Arran, the 
 governor, to send the infant Q,ueen to England, and, 
 to facilitate matters, offered to give the Princess Eliz- 
 abeth in marriage to Arran's son, and make him King 
 of Scotland beyond the Forth. But this project being 
 frustrated by a liberal distribution of French gold 
 among the Scottish nobles, and the Clueen conveyed 
 to France, Henry sent an array northward under the 
 command of the Duke of Somerset, who pillaged Ed- 
 inburgh and rode roughshod through a great part of 
 Scotland. The dawn of the Reformation and the 
 murder of Cardinal Beaton involved that unhappy 
 country in fresh troubles, and at this momentous cri- 
 sis, in 1547, Henry closed his eventful life.
 
 REIGN OF THE BOY-KING. 215 
 
 Edward VI. was a mere child when he ascended 
 the throne, having just completed his first decade of 
 years. His maternal uncle, the Duke of Somerset, 
 was appointed Protector, and hastened to fulfill the 
 intentions of the late King in regard to Scotland. The 
 French had sent a fleet to the aid of their ancient 
 alhes, and reduced the castle of St. Andrews, within 
 whose walls the party who had dispatched Beaton, 
 since joined by the famous John Knox, had shut them- 
 selves up ; when Somerset, entering Scotland, gained 
 a complete victory at Pinkey, visited the capital, and 
 then returning, encamped at the confluence of the 
 Tweed and the Tevoit. Observing the strong and 
 convenient situation of the ruinous castle of Rox- 
 burgh, he had its walls roughly but rapidly rebuilt, 
 and there received the submission of the chief men in 
 the vicinage. 
 
 The reign of Edward, brief as it was, did not pass 
 without popular commotions and civil broils. The 
 reformed liturgy having been established by Parlia- 
 ment, and aia act for uniformity in the use of it passed, 
 the priests of the ancient faith instigated the people in 
 jN'orfolk and Devonshire to oppose the innovations in 
 religion ; but the rebellions thus created were put 
 down with a strong hand. Moreover, a plot against 
 Somerset was formed by his brother. Lord Sudely, 
 who was thereupon sent to the block. He found an 
 avenger in Dudley, duke of Northumberland, who, 
 after impeaching Somerset, had him beheaded, and
 
 216 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 seized the reins of government. Northumberland's 
 sway was not of long duration ; for in the summer of 
 1553 the excellent and rehgious young King expired, 
 and the ambitious duke, having been baffled in an at- 
 tempt to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, 
 on the throne, fell a victim to his own devouring am- 
 bition. Being totally ruined, and ultimately behead- 
 ed, his possessions reverted to the rightful owners. 
 
 Mary, the daughter of the eighth Henry and Cath- 
 erine of Arragon, then became Clueen of England. 
 She had been severely treated during her brother's 
 reign for breaking a law which prohibited Papists 
 from worshiping after their ovm forms. But, on at- 
 tempting to escape from the country, she was allowed 
 to have mass performed privately ; and she adhered, 
 wdth peculiar bigotry, to the superstitions of Rome. 
 On succeedmg to the throne she restored the Romish 
 religion. Preparatory to their being committed to the 
 flames, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, were lodged 
 in the Tower. Cardinal Pole, and Gardiner, bishop 
 of Winchester, became the Clueen's principal advisers ; 
 fire and fagot were miscrupulously used ; two hun- 
 dred and eighty-eight persons were burnt at the stake ; 
 the blood of Protestants was shed like water ; and 
 eight hundred Englishmcix betook themselves to a 
 voluntary exile rather than do violence to their con- 
 scientious convictions. In the course of the year suc- 
 ceeding her succession, the Clueen, having availed 
 herself of the excuse afibrded by Wyatt's rebellion to
 
 ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH. 217 
 
 put Lady Jane Grey and her husband to deatli, be- 
 stowed her blood-stained hand on the King of Spain, 
 whose cruelty and bigotry were fully equal to her 
 own. Though Philip treated Mary with neglect and 
 aversion, she was extravagantly fond of him, even 
 meditated making England a fief of Spain, and de- 
 clared war against France for liis gratification. After 
 losing Calais, which the English had held for two 
 centuries, and earning the epithet of " the Bloody," 
 Mary died at the end of 1558, and was succeeded by 
 a very difierent personage, her sister Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of Anne Boleyn. 
 
 The able and politic princess who now ascended 
 the English throne had during the preceding reigri 
 been kept in confinement at Hatfield, and she had 
 refrained from interfering in public affairs ; but her 
 first act was to restore the Protestant religion, in 
 which she had been bred ; and as the bulk of the na- 
 tion still halted between two opinions, the example 
 of the sovereign was quietly followed. She chose for 
 her chief minister William Cecil, lord Burghley, a 
 cool, cautious, shrewd, and industrious man, who, 
 having during former troubles saved his head by 
 yielding willow-like to each storm, enjoyed Eliza- 
 beth's favor to the day of his death. 
 
 Scarcely had the crown been placed on Elizabeth's 
 head, when Maiy, queen of Scots, was persuaded by 
 her relatives of the house of Guise to claim the En- 
 glish throne, as the legitimate heiress of the seventh
 
 218 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAKD. 
 
 Hquj. a poretesct for this was fimnd in the citcmn- 
 stance of Anne Boleyn's marriage not having been 
 sanctioned by the Pope. The afi^tion exhibited by 
 the "Ruglish people d all elates £)r their great dneen 
 fax a time prevented her en^nies taking anr public 
 steps in the matter i bnt on the acceaaon of Marys 
 hnsband to the thiraie of France, -with the title of 
 Frands II., the royal pair asfumed the arms and style 
 of King and Q^eaa of England aad Ireland ; and Eliz- 
 abeth retaliated by giving aid to the Scottish Protest- 
 ants. 
 
 "When Francis was cnt oS, in 1561, his beauttfol 
 widow having: foond hex sabeeqnent residence in 
 Fiance the reverse of pleasant, returned to her native 
 land, where the Selbxmaticai, under the auspices of 
 Enos, was in fidl and violent progress. Shortly after- 
 vrard a c on ie s ptHidenre, espresave of motnal esteem 
 and a^eticHi, caaDomenced between the royal ladies, 
 and a peisanal interview was agreed to, but prevented 
 by the breaking out of the religions wars in France, 
 when Elizabeth openly esponsed the canse of the Ha- 
 gnenots. Notwithstanding their continnal jealoosy, 
 and yiwiftli female ^nidation, harmony was maintain- 
 ed between the Q^een and her £ur con^ till the 
 latter lotted abroad fx a hnsband. The Earl of 
 Leicester, a man of courtly graces, and high in Eliza- 
 beth's £ivor, vFas proposed for that distinction; but 
 circumstances were adveise, and Mary, in great haste, 
 made an unlucky choice.
 
 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 219 
 
 "When the fourth James fell on Flodden Field, he 
 left a -vridow in the person of Margaret, daughter of 
 the serenth H€airT, and she giving her hand to the 
 Earl of Angns, became mother of a daughter, who 
 ■was espoused bv the Earl of Lennox, an expatriated 
 Scottish nobleman. Lord Damley, the son of Lennox, 
 was thus nearest male heir to the victor of Bosworth, 
 and bv manv thcus'ht to have a strong claim to the 
 English crown. Mary, forming the resolution of mai- 
 rving the young lord, Lennox, after an exile of twenty 
 veaE, was invited home, and Damley, "with some dif- 
 ncnhy, obtained leave to aocom^pany him. The youth 
 w^s twentv, verv tall, and wcaiderfully handsome : 
 Marv's amorcus heart was immediately captivated : 
 their nuptials vrere forthwith celebrated ; and &can 
 this point Marys career tended toward its wofnl ca- 
 tastrophe. B.i2zio, an Italian mvorite, was sdzed. in 
 her presence, and stabbed at the door of her cham- 
 ber ; Damley, who had been the principal actor in 
 that stranffe scene, was a few months after the birth 
 of her son mysterioudy murdered : and the Earl of 
 Bothwell, " a roan sold to all wickedness," and sus- 
 pected of havins been guilty of that fcul crime, be- 
 came her third husband. 
 
 Then there arose a loud clamor ; and the Scottish 
 barons, being, or pretending to be, incensed at their 
 sovereign for wedding a maTi so mfanxras, combined 
 to disolve the maniaffe. Bothwell escaped beyood 
 seas, and draesed out his existence in r^nmark. Marv
 
 220 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 surrendered, and, while a prisoner in Lochleven Castle, 
 was compelled to resign the crown to her son, who 
 began to reign as James VI. Her illegitimate brother, 
 the Earl of Moray, -was declared Regent during his 
 nephew's minority, and in that capacity displayed 
 consummate ability and vigor. But Mary's charms 
 having made a deep impression on the heart of her 
 keeper's brother, she contrived to escape, and was soon 
 at the head of a force so formidable, that the friends 
 of the Regent advised him not to hazard a battle. 
 Moray wisely deciding otherwise, so effectually routed 
 the insurgent army at Langside, that the hapless 
 princess, flying precipitately into England, suppliantly 
 craved protection from the woman whose legitimacy 
 she had denied, whose arms she had assimied, and 
 whose crown she had claimed. 
 
 EUzabeth had now a golden opportunity of showing 
 her magnanimity, by acting toward her erring kins- 
 woman with the kindness and consideration due to the 
 fallen ; but, unhappily, her disposition was imperious 
 and unforgiving. Mary had taken shelter in the castle 
 of Carlisle, and the Glueen professed her readiness to 
 afford proper aid, provided the fugitive could clear 
 herself of the imputed crimes, one of which was no less 
 atrocious than participation in the murder of Darnley, 
 A conference being appointed, the Regent Moray came 
 from Scotland ; but the proceedings were suddenly cut 
 short, and the dethroned Glueen meantime succeeded 
 in engaging the affections of the Duke of Norfolk, who.
 
 REBELLION OF THE NORTHERN EARLS. 221 
 
 though a Protestant, was considered by her adherents 
 as a most ehgible match. The parties most nearly 
 concerned were, it appears, favorable to the scheme, 
 which was pursued with much ardor by the friends 
 of both ; but no sooner was it revealed to Elizabeth 
 than slie manifested the utmost displeasure, and re- 
 proached the enamored Duke so fiercely, that he re- 
 tired from her coiu't without leave. While on the 
 road to Windsor he was taken into custody, and after 
 a severe examination, marched off to the Tower. 
 
 At this time, the great northern earls, Northumber- 
 land and Westmoreland, raised the standard of rebell- 
 ion. Both were Catholics, had large estates, and spent 
 their incomes in supporting a system of hospitality 
 which rendered them popular, and both had so little 
 ready money that they were described as " bankrupt 
 earls." Northumberland, who had recently felt in- 
 jured by a rich mine of copper on his territory being 
 adjudged as the property of the crown, in the middle 
 of October entered Dvxrham, displaying a banner on 
 which was a cross with the five wounds of Christ. 
 The bells were rung backward ; the country was 
 roused ; the Bible and Common Prayer-book were pub- 
 licly torn in pieces ; and mass was openly performed. 
 They proclaimed to some that, in common with the 
 English nobles, they wei'e resolved to restore the an- 
 cient religion, and liberate the Q/Ueen of Scots ; and 
 they hinted to others that they had taken up arms 
 to prevent upstarts from trampling down the old
 
 222 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 patricians of the land. At first, they mustered seven- 
 teen thousand followers, two thousand of M'hom were 
 tall horsemen, well aniied and accoutred. But the 
 Catholics in other counties not rising, the ardor of the 
 insurgents soon cooled, and their numbers so dimin- 
 ished, that when Sussex, tlie (iueen's lieutenant, took 
 the field, they confusedly dispersed. Many of them 
 were put to death by martial law ; Westmoreland, 
 flying into Scotland, took refuge among the Scots and 
 Kers, and afterward escaped to Flanders. Northum- 
 berland, after being stripped and maltreated by some 
 borderers, reached the abode of Hector of Harelaw, one 
 of the Armstrong clan, where he believed himself safe, 
 his host being under obligations to him, and engaged 
 upon his honor to be true. Nevertheless, Hector 
 treacherously delivered the unfortunate Earl into the 
 hands of Moray, by whom he was sent to the castle 
 of Lochleven, and ultimately executed at York. But 
 we are assured that from that day Hector, who had 
 formerly been rich and prosperous, fell into poverty ; 
 and he became so degraded in the eyes of his neigh- 
 bors, that " to take Hector's cloak" passed into a pro- 
 verb, as indicative of one who betrayed his confiding 
 guest. 
 
 Next year Mtray perished by the hand of an assas- 
 sui named Hamilton, and EUzabeth was deeply 
 grieved at the untimely end of a friend so stout and 
 true. He had shortly before been deserted by two of 
 his principal adherents — Maitland of Ledington, a
 
 EXECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH QUEEN. 223 
 
 crafty politician, and Kirkaldy of Grange, the first 
 soldier in Scotland ; and the kingdom relapsed into 
 anarcliical confusion. 
 
 Meanwhile Norfolk had regained his liberty, and 
 solemnly promised to abandon his mati'imonial pro- 
 ject. But Mary, entering into a secret correspondence 
 with the Duke of Alva, who was zealously attached 
 to her cause, as were also the Pope and the Kings of 
 France and Spain, the infatuated nobleman was 
 drawn into fresh plots, brought to trial, condemned, 
 and beheaded. Soon after, the horrible massacre of 
 St. Bartholomew, by proving the extremities to which 
 Papists were prepared to go, shocked and confounded 
 all England, and exercised a baneful influence on the 
 affairs of the captive dueen. Elizabeth was, more 
 distinctly than ever, recognized throughout Europe as 
 the bulwark of the Protestant faith ; her life became 
 doubly important in the eyes of her subjects ; and, in 
 accordance with the precepts of the Holy League, 
 dark plots were formed for her destruction. To de- 
 feat these, multitudes of her people of all ranks form- 
 ed associations for the defense of her person, and Par- 
 liament passed new and severe laws against conspir- 
 ators. Mary, having entered into the ambitious views 
 of the house of Guise, whose members were furious at 
 the prospect of Henry of Navarre mounting the French 
 throne, was subjected to a closer and more rigorous 
 imprisonment. At length she rushed headlong on 
 her fate. In 1586, Anthony Babington, a deluded
 
 224 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 gentleman of Derbyshire, being discovered in a con- 
 spiracy against the life of Elizabeth, confessed that 
 he had imparted his designs to Mary, and that she 
 had expressed her approval. Some letters, which 
 had been written by the unfortunate woman, but in- 
 tercepted by the vigilance of Walsingham, were, by 
 her secretaries, sworn to be genuine. Commissioners 
 were thereupon sent to the place of her confuiement. 
 She appeared before them with reluctance, asserting 
 her royal prerogative, but was condemned as privy 
 to the plot against the Clueen's life. The Kings of 
 Scotland and France interfered to prevent the sen- 
 tence being executed, but their remonstrances were 
 unavailing. 
 
 On the 7th of February, 1587, a scaffold three feet 
 in height, and covered with black cloth, was erected 
 in the hall of Fotheringay Castle ; and there the vn- 
 happy Q,ueen, kneeling on a cushion, laid on the block 
 her head, which, after three strokes, was severed from 
 the body. 
 
 She met her melancholy fate with a dignity and 
 resignation worthy of her rank, and was interred with 
 much pomp in the cathedral of Peterborough. 
 
 When a rumor of tliis event reached Holyrood, 
 James, who was mounting his steed, refused to credit 
 the possibility of its being true, and rode off to hunt 
 the deer at Calder ; but two days later he was in- 
 formed that Sir Robert Carey was on his way from 
 the court of England to explain and apologize f<jr the
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH.
 
 THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. 227 
 
 transaction. The King sent two of his council to 
 meet the embassador on the Border, and a letter from 
 Elizabeth was delivered, wherein she expressed her 
 regret at what had occurred, and stated that it was 
 contrary to her wishes. James was fain to discourage 
 all aspirations on the part of his subjects after that re- 
 venge, for which several of them panted ; and he after- 
 ward gave evidence of his desire for friendship with 
 his powerful neighbor by ofiers of active aid against 
 the power of Spain, which was particularly alarming. 
 In 1585 Elizabeth had entered into a league with 
 the Protestant princes and states on the Continent, 
 and sent troops under the command of Leicester, to 
 assist the United Provinces, then struggling against 
 Philip ; and Sir Francis Drake had taken some 
 Spanish settlements in America. The Most Catholic 
 King, in revenge, during 1588, fitted out what he called 
 the Invincible Armada, consisting of a hundred and 
 fifty ships of war, for the invasion and conquest of 
 England ; and Elizabeth exhibited high spirit and 
 splendid courage. She assembled an army at Tilbury, 
 mounted her horse, rode through the ranks, and by 
 her patriotic speeches inspired her militia with ex- 
 traordinary enthusiasm. However, Lord Howard of 
 Effingham, the Admiral of England, attacked the 
 Spanish squadron, and destroyed a great number of. 
 the ships. A storm completed the discomfiture, and 
 hardly more than one-third of the shattered arma- 
 ment returned to Spain,
 
 228 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 In the following year Henry of Navarre ascended 
 the throne of France, and it became Elizabeth's prin- 
 cipal object to support him in the difficulties which, 
 as a Huguenot, he had to encounter. Her timely and 
 judicious aid enabled him to gain a temporary ascen- 
 dency, and in the battle of Ivry he destroyed the 
 power of the League. The illustrious Ciueen was 
 somewhat annoyed when her ally abjured the doctrines 
 of Protestantism, but they nevertheless maintained a 
 close union against their common enemy Philip, whose 
 heart's desire was to humble the English Q,ueen and 
 make a conquest of her realm. With this delusive 
 hope, the gloomy tyrant, in 159G, prepared a second 
 armada. Elizabeth armed her subjects to guard the 
 coasts, and fitted out two fleets ; one to defend the 
 British seas, and the other, under Drake and Hawkins, 
 to attack the Spanish settlements in America. In this 
 expedition, Drake, long the scourge of Spain, died. 
 About the same time, the young Earl of Essex and 
 Lord Howard, accompanied by Sir Walter Raleigh 
 and other warriors, undertook an expedition against 
 Cadiz, which was taken and sacked ; while the winds 
 scattered a Spanish fleet bound for Ireland to support 
 Tyrone's rebellion. To suppress this, the wealthy, 
 accomplished, and aspiring Essex, who had succeeded 
 Leicester in the dueen's good graces, was sent across 
 the Channel as lieutenant. The brave and dashing 
 nobleman, whose exploits on the Continent had been 
 of a most brilliant character, did not possess the quali-
 
 EXECUTION OF ESSEX. 223 
 
 ties necessary for bringing a war with the native Cehf> 
 to a satisfactory conchision, and he completely faiM 
 in his object. Being recalled, he was summoned be- 
 fore the Council to answer for his conduct ; and at 
 length, rendered reckless by despair, he attempted the 
 rash and dangerous enterprise of seizing Elizabeth's 
 person. He was tried and convicted, along with his 
 friend, Lord Southampton, whose memory is preserved 
 and respected as the generous patron of William 
 Shakspeare, the prince of poets and dramatists. 
 Southampton's life was spared, and he subsequently 
 regained his liberty : but Essex was executed, not- 
 withstanding the estimation in which he was held by 
 the multitude. Lord Mountjoy, his successor in Ire- 
 land, conducted the war with so much ability for 
 three years, that Tyrone was forced to surrender, and, 
 to terminate the strife, Elizabeth was prevailed on 
 reluctantly to sign his pardon. 
 
 The great princess did not long survive these occur- 
 rences. As late as the autumn of 1602 she hunted, 
 without regard to wind, weather, or evening dews, 
 and even danced the galliard with the Duke of Nevers, 
 with a grace and attitude which excited boundless 
 admiration. But M'hen dark November arrived she 
 exhibited visible signs of decay, and being removed 
 on a stormy day to Richmond, she there expired ou 
 the 23d March, 1603, in the seventieth year of her 
 life, having previously nominated the King of Scots 
 as successor to the crown which she had worn with
 
 230 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 so much glory to herself and advantage to her sub- 
 jects. 
 
 The body that had contained her great and impetu- 
 ous soul, was interred with much magnificence in the 
 beautiful chapel which her politic grandfather had 
 founded at Westminster. Centuries have passed since 
 the mortal remains of the popular Q,ueen mingled 
 with the kindred dust of those absolute Tudors, of 
 whom she was by far the most illustrious ; but still 
 her lofty spirit and patriotic pride seem to guard the 
 coast and rest upon the seas. Her memory is vener- 
 ated by Englishmen of each succeeding generation ; 
 and, while thinking of her dauntless bearing, they 
 learn, in seasons of darkness and peril, to hurl defiance 
 at the enemies of their country and their religion.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Hardly had Q,ueen Elizabeth breathed her last, 
 •when Sir Robert Carey, warden of the Middle 
 Marches, leapt into his saddle at Richmond, and rode 
 northward to convey the news to her successor ; and 
 soon after Carey's arrival at Holyrood, messengers 
 from the Council appeared to request James to repair 
 to England without delay. Doubtless, the King of 
 Scots had no objection to escape from the scenes as- 
 sociated in his memory with the Raid of Ruthven and 
 the Gowrie Conspiracy, to a fairer and wealthier realm. 
 On an April morning he set forth with a retinue of 
 five hundred horsemen, and entering England through 
 the gates of Berwick, proceeded to the metropolis by 
 such easy stages, that a whole month was consumed 
 on the journey. His personal appearance was not 
 such as to attract popular admiration. He had goggle 
 eyes, a tongue too large for his mouth, and legs too 
 tliin for his body. His dress was slovenly, his bear- 
 ing ungainly, and his speech " in the full dialect of 
 his nation." Yet he could boast of being received by 
 the English with joy, and of coming as in a hunting 
 party. On the 25th of July, 1603, he was crowned
 
 232 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 at Westminster, and took occasion to confer knight- 
 liood on tluree hundred gentlemen, among whom was 
 the immortal Francis Bacon, " the wisest, brightest, 
 meanest, of mankind." 
 
 During the first year of the reign of James, plots 
 were formed for placing Lady Arabella Stuart on 
 the throne. Though innocent, the unfortunate lady 
 was cast into prison, where she remained till her 
 death. Sir Walter Raleigh, warrior, courtier, orator, 
 and man of letters, being implicated, was condemned 
 and sent to the Tower. After an interval of fifteen 
 years, on infringing the peace with Spain by attack- 
 ing one of her settlements, he was beheaded on this 
 sentence. 
 
 This affair was followed by the far darker and 
 more terrible conspiracy known as the Gunpowder 
 Plot. James had commenced his reign by restoring 
 his mother's partisans to their titles and estates ; but 
 he afterward enforced the penal statutes with a rigor 
 which caused the Catholics to mutter treason ; and 
 they found a daring leader in Robert Catesby, a gen- 
 tleman of ancient blood and good estate. Catesby 
 conceived the project of destroying at one swoop the 
 King, Lords, and Commons of the realm, and commu- 
 nicated liis views to Thomas Winter, who had fought 
 in the Low Countries. Winter, going to the Conti- 
 nent, drew into the plot a fanatical soldier of fortune, 
 named Guy Fawkes. These three being joined by 
 Thomas Percy, of the house of Northumberland, as-
 
 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 233 
 
 gembled at a lonely dwelling near St. Clement's Inn, 
 and took a solemn oath of secrecy and perseverance. 
 Percy then hired a residence adjoining the Houses 
 of Parliament, and they commenced cutting a hole 
 through the wall of partition. The wall was discov- 
 ered to be enormously thick, and the bearded conspir- 
 ators finding the digging no easy matter, began to 
 feel the influence of superstitious fears. One day they 
 imagined that a hell was tolling deep in the earth 
 beneath them, and sprinkled holy water to stop the 
 sound ; but, ere long, a noise of less doubtful reality 
 over their lieads made them start and pause, till 
 Fawkes brought intelligence that it was caused by 
 the removal of a stock of coals, which had been 
 kept by a dealer in a vault under the House of 
 Lords. The conspirators, deeming the vault precisely 
 the place for their purpose, hired it from the coal- 
 dealer, and stowed therein thirty-six barrels of gun- 
 powder, with large stones, bars of iron, and billets 
 of wood. By May, 1G05, every thing was in readi- 
 ness for the work of destruction. Parliament was 
 to meet on the 5th of November, and Guy Fawkes 
 undertook to fire the mine with a slow match. It 
 happened, however, that the number of conspirators 
 had much increased ; several of these had relatives 
 among the desthied victims ; and Sir Francis Tresh- 
 am expressed his anxiety to save Lord Monteagle. 
 
 Ten days before the appointed time, Monteagle was 
 supping in his mansion at Hoxton, when a page placed
 
 234 HISTORY FOR BOYS— ENGLAND. 
 
 iu his hand a letter, which a tall man, whose feat- 
 ures were concealed by the darkness, had just de- 
 livered at the gate. The epistle, which was without 
 date or signature, warned his Lordship that " God 
 and man had concurred to punish the wickedness of 
 the time," and that the " Parhament should receive 
 a terrible blow, and yet not see who hurt them." 
 Monteagle carried the letter to Secretary Cecil ; a 
 search being made, Fawkes was found standing in a 
 corner with a dark lantern ; and being afterward ar- 
 rested, he was put to the torture. Catesby and Percy 
 were killed while resisting the sheriff of "Worcester ; 
 Tresham expired in prison ; and G uy Fawkes, with 
 Winter, and six others, suffered the death of traitors 
 at St. Paul's Church-yard. 
 
 Polemics divided James's time with the bottle and 
 field-sports, so that he cared Uttle for the tournaments 
 that had been revived by Henry VIIL, and annually 
 solemnized in the golden reign of Elizabeth. Yet he 
 still continued to hold them, though without their for- 
 mer splendor ; and at one of these a Scottish gentle- 
 man, named Carr, having broken his leg while tilting, 
 the King indulged his hereditary tendency by making 
 a favorite of the youth, who, after being unworthily 
 elevated to the earldom of Somerset, was convicted 
 of participation in a diabolical murder. James next 
 attached himself to George Villiers, who figured as 
 Duke of Buckingham, and exercised an influence to 
 which he was in no respect entitled.
 
 MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 233 
 
 Henry, Prince of Wales, on whom the hopes of the 
 nation fondly rested, died in 1612, at the age of eight- 
 een, and his brother Charles becoming heir, Bucking- 
 ham planned a journey to Spain to negotiate a match 
 with the Infanta ; but his folly and presumption frus- 
 trated the treaty on the eve of its conclusion. The 
 Princess Elizabeth had previously been married to 
 the Elector Palatine, and the latter being deprived 
 of his electorate for accepting the crown of Bohemia, 
 till then an appanage of the empire. Parliament, con- 
 sidering that he was at once their sovereign's son-in- 
 law and a Protestant prince, urged James to strike a 
 blow in his behalf But the royal pupil of the learn- 
 ed Buchanan had not in his composition one particle 
 of that chivalry which had led his ancestor to die, 
 sword in hand, on the purple heath of Flodden. He 
 did, indeed, in the last year of his reign, send an ar- 
 mament ; but it was far too feeble to retrieve the 
 Elector's shattered fortunes. 
 
 Though James was a man of learning and talent, 
 he possessed none of that influence which arises from 
 a thorough knowledge of the wants, wishes, and re- 
 quirements of the English people. He cherished the- 
 ories respecting the royal prerogative utterly unsuited 
 to the age in which he lived, and which the ablest 
 of the Tudors could not have put in practice. Never- 
 theless, his inglorious reign passed over in compara- 
 tive quiet — it was the calm which precedes the storm. 
 Having sown the wind, he departed this life on the
 
 236 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND, 
 
 27th March, 1625, leaving his descendants to reap 
 the M'hirlwind. 
 
 Charles I. was crowned at the age of twenty-five, 
 having previously espoused Henrietta, daughter of 
 Henry the Great of France. The (iueen, as a Cath- 
 olic, was extremely unpopular, and is thought to have 
 exercised a disastrous influence in regard to the events 
 which led to the King's tragic end. Charles was not 
 disfigured hy any of the peculiarities, mental or bod- 
 ily, which had rendered his father an object of de- 
 rision. Indeed, he was a prince of high jjir^n il ac- 
 complishments and exquisite artistic taste, blameless 
 in private life, and eminently regal in demeanor. 
 "VYith few hereditary claims to popular respect, he 
 inspired a large portion of the Enghsh nation with 
 an attachment to his name, which induced them to 
 face death, exile, poverty, and want in his cause, and 
 run all risks lor his posterity to the fourth generation. 
 
 James, however, had irritated the Puritans by his 
 foolish talk, and Charles was fated to exasperate them 
 into open resistance by attempting to administer af- 
 fairs on a system antagonistic to the spirit of the age. 
 He differed with his first Parliament on their refusal 
 to vote adequate supplies for the war undertaken on 
 behalf of the Elector. This was something so novel, 
 that the high temper of the Parliament became a 
 general subject of conversation, and it was dissolved. 
 Letters under the privy seal were then issued for bor- 
 rowing money from the subject ; but the sum lliu.s
 
 THE KING AND THE PARLIAMENT. 23? 
 
 raised being insufficient, a new Parliament was sum- 
 moned, and not only proved refractory, but evinced 
 its spirit of hostility to the crown by impeaching Buck- 
 ingham, who had rashly undertaken the duties of 
 minister. The King deemed this step so unwarrant- 
 able an interference that he imprisoned its chief au- 
 thors ; and the contest, thus coimnenced, was foment- 
 ed by various causes. 
 
 An expedition against Rochelle, undertaken by 
 Buckingham, ended in disaster. Parliament com- 
 pelled the King to consent to the Petition of E.ights, 
 which declared the illegality of raising taxes without 
 the consent of the Legislature, of imprisoning save by 
 legal process, and of billeting soldiers on the people. 
 When Parliament assembled, in 1629, the weak and 
 undeserving Buckmgham had fallen by the dagger of 
 Felton, an officer of some disbanded regiment ; and 
 Charles, perceiving the necessity of having ministers 
 of a difierent stamp, allured from the ranks of the 
 opposition Thomas Wentworth, subsequently created 
 Earl of Strafibrd, a statesman distinguished by his 
 energetic parts, brilliant eloquence, dauntless enter- 
 prise, and defiant courage. 
 
 Meantime the King still persevered in levying ton- 
 nage, poundage, and ship-money ; while the Star 
 Chamber, without trial, imposed large fines for vari- 
 ous offenses. But the spirit of liberty had grown too 
 strong to be braved with impunity, and the Commons, 
 bent on the redress of grievances, were in no accom-
 
 238 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 modating frame of mind. They proceeded to consider 
 the measures taken by the Government, and a resolu- 
 tion condemnatory of tonnage and poundage was pro- 
 posed. Sir John Ehot, as the mover, was sent to 
 prison, and the Parhament dissolved. I 
 
 To fill the exchequer, Noy, the attorney-general, 
 devised a scheme of raising supplies by levying ship- 
 money, and extending the impost to the inland coun- 
 ties ; and John Hampden, an esquire of Bucks, re- 
 fusing to pay the amount at which he was assessed, 
 resolved to have a judicial decision as to the legality 
 of the tax. Accordingly, in 1636, the case was tried 
 in the Exchequer Chamber, before all the judges, and 
 decided against Hampden ; but so clear did the law 
 appear in his favor, that the public discontent grew 
 deeper and more earnest. Hampden, in disgust, re- 
 solved upon emigrating to Connecticut, in company 
 with his kinsman, Oliver Cromwell. Their passages 
 were quickly taken in a vessel lying in the Thames, 
 and they had even gone on board, when an order of 
 council prohibited the ship from sailing, and they were 
 under tne necessity of remaining in England. 
 
 Events now hastened to a crisis. Since the first 
 James had left his native soil, Scotland, though nom- 
 inally ranking as an independent state, had virtually 
 been a subject province, and the ancient barons, whose 
 progenitors had startled Robert Bruce with the ex- 
 clamation that their swords were their charters, felt 
 deep resentment at the neglect which they sufiered.
 
 THE SCOTTISH COVENANT. 239 
 
 and at the insignificance into which they were sink- 
 ing. The impohtic attempt which the King, by the 
 advice of Archbishop Laud, made to introduce the 
 Anghcan hturgy into their churches, enraged the Pres- 
 byterians, and the occasion was deemed favorable lor 
 the vindication of Scottisli rights, under the color of 
 religion. A bond, termed tlie National Covenant, was 
 subscribed by persons of all ranks ; and an army being 
 mustered, was placed under the command of Alexan- 
 der Leslie, an experienced soldier of fortune. Charles, 
 in the spring of 1639, levied a force, and marched 
 northward to suppress this rising ; but terms of pacifi- 
 cation being agreed to, he returned. However, the 
 Scottish Covenanters refusing to disarm, and the King 
 not having the means of reassembling his force, in 
 1G40, after an interval of eleven years, convoked a 
 Parliament, which, on refusing the supplies demand- 
 ed, was imprudently dissolved by the King in person, 
 with an indignant speech. 
 
 It was now openly said that matters must be worse 
 before they could be better. Leslie again crossed the 
 border, and the King advanced to meet him ; but at 
 Newburn the royal army fled before the Scottish in- 
 vaders, who occupied the northern counties. Charles 
 now retreated to York, where the G-reat Council of 
 Peers was held ; and, no other course remaining open, 
 it was resolved to summon a Parliament, which met 
 in November, 1G40, and went to work in a fierce and 
 uncompromising mood. A bill for the abolition of
 
 210 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 tonnage and poundage was forthwith passed ; monopo- 
 lies of every kind were terminated ; the Star Cham- 
 ber, the High Commission Court, the Forest Court, 
 and the Council of York, were abolished. Laud and 
 Straflbrd were impeached and imprisoned. Laud was 
 'allowed to linger in a dungeon previous to execution, 
 but Strafford was too formidable a foe to escape swift 
 destruction ; and as a trial by his peers would have 
 resulted in acquittal, his death was secured by a bill 
 of attainder, to which the unhappy King, in an evil 
 hour, gave a reluctant assent. The victim met his 
 fate wltlt a proud courage and calm dignity, which 
 have elicited involuntary admiration from those who 
 most strongly reprobate the policy he pursued. 
 
 Parliament having passed a law declaring that it 
 could not be prorogued or dissolved but by its own 
 decree, adjourned in September, 16 il ; and the King 
 paid a conciliatory visit to Scotland, and created 
 Leslie Earl of Leven. While there — indeed, it is said, 
 while playing the national game of golf on the Links 
 of Leith — a letter was put into his hands, stating that 
 the L'ish, freed from the iron rule of Strafford, former- 
 ly Lord-lieutenant, had broken into a sanguinary re- 
 bellion, and attempted, in a single day, to massacre 
 every Protestant in their island. To suppress the re- 
 bellion, Charles consigned full powers to Parliament, 
 and these were afterward interpreted into a transfer- 
 ence of the military authority of the crown. 
 
 The Long Parliament, during its first session, acted
 
 THE KING AND THE FIVE MEMBERS. 241 
 
 with unanimity ; but, after the legislative changes 
 which it had brought about, difierences of opinion 
 arose among its leading members. On meeting after 
 the recess, it became evident that there existed a large 
 party headed by Falkland and Hyde, who not only 
 considered that matters had gone far enough, but 
 would hardly have inscribed on their banners the do- 
 vice of Hampden, Nulla vestigia rctrorsum. The 
 followers of Hampden, however, were more nntract- 
 able than ever ; and that address to the throne, known 
 as th* Grand Remonstrance, was moved and carried, 
 after a long and stormy debate. Indeed, public 
 opinion was inclining to the King's side, when he 
 sent the Attorney-general to impeach of high-treasou 
 Hampden, Pym, and three other senators, at the bar 
 of the House of Lords. The Commons, however, re- 
 fused to surrender their members, and the King re- 
 solved upon a forcible arrest. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 4th of January, 1G42, the 
 House of Commons had assembled, when intelligence 
 was brought that the King, with an armed force of 
 several hundreds, was advancing toward Westminster 
 Hall. The five members had hardly escaped when 
 His Majesty knocked at the door, and entering with 
 his nephew, the Prince Palatine, looked around, and 
 then took possession of the chair. The Speaker fell 
 on his knees, the mace was removed, and the mem- 
 bers taking off their hats stood up. The King then 
 interrogated the Speaker, who answered, that he was 
 
 a
 
 842 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLA^■D. 
 
 the organ of the House, and had neither eyes to see 
 nor tongue to speak, save at their request. After 
 addressing to the Commons a speech, in which he 
 expressed his respect for the laws of the realm and 
 the privileges of Parliament, the King retired, amid 
 cries of " Privilege !" and returned to AVhitehall. 
 
 The five members took refuge in the city of Lon- 
 don, whose inhabitants were devoted to their cause 
 and furious at the attempt to seize their persons. 
 Charles, besides being baffled of his prey, lost much 
 of his reviving influence by this fatal error. He fled 
 from WhitehaU, and, there remaining no other appeal 
 save to the God of battles, set up the royal standard 
 at Nottingham. His nephews, Rupert and Maurice, 
 younger sons of the unfortunate Q,ueen of Bohemia, 
 arriving to tender their services, were appointed to 
 commands ; the King's friends, or Cavaliers, were 
 composed chiefly of the landed gentry and the church ; 
 and the Parliament w^as supported by the city of Lon- 
 don, the large towns, and a portion of the yeomanry. 
 Prince Rupert commanded the royal troops, and the 
 Earl of Essex was at the head of the Parhamentary 
 forces. Blood was first shed at Edgehill, in October, 
 1G42, and victory fell to the Royalists, who took 
 Barnsbury, and entered Oxford in triumph. For the 
 first year the Cavaliers had the advantage, and the 
 fall of Hampden at Chalgrove, while leading a charge 
 against Rupert's fieiy cavalry, deprived the Parlia- 
 ment of their ablest leader ; but the tide of fortune
 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 243 
 
 soon turned. On the 2d. of July, 1644, Rupert, liav- 
 ino^ compelled the Parliamentary generals to raise the 
 siege of York, gave them battle on Marston Moor, and 
 was successful in driving Essex and Manchester from 
 the field ; but Cromwell and David Leslie redeemed 
 the disaster, changed Rupert's success into a rout, 
 and obtained possession of York. 
 
 At this period, the Marquis of Montrose, reaching 
 the Highlands in disguise, gathered an army, and in- 
 spired the Cavaliers with hope by making himself 
 master of all Scotland, till he was defeated by David 
 Leslie at Philiphaugh. Meanwhile, on the 14:th June, 
 1465, t!ie Cavaliers and Roundheads met at Naseby, 
 near Northampton ; and Rupert, making a furious 
 onslaught, chased the left wing of the Parliamentary 
 forces from the field : but while he was eager in the 
 pursuit the Royalists had the worst of the engagement, 
 and the King, escaping, ultimately delivered himself 
 to the Scots, who, for a sum of money, gave him up 
 to the Parliamentary Commissioners. Charles was 
 then lodged in the Palace of Hampton Court ; but, 
 dreading foul play, fled to the Isle of Wight, and was 
 imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle, while the chief pow- 
 er fell into the hands of Cromwell, who surrounded the 
 House of Commons with soldiers, and turned the Pres- 
 byterian majority out of doors. 
 
 A Court of Justice was then appointed to judge the 
 King, and he was brought to a trial which ended in 
 his condemnation. On the 30th of January, 1G49,
 
 244 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 the sentence of death was executed in front of WhitC' 
 hall, in the presence of a thronging multitude. The 
 King, in that hour of agony, bore himself with heroic 
 fortitude, regal dignity, martyr-like resignation, and 
 Christian hope. A man in a mask acted as execu- 
 tioner ; and another similarly disguised, holding up 
 the head streaming with blood, cried aloud, " This is 
 the head of a traitor I" 
 
 Shocked as the Cavaliers of England were, they 
 remained inactive. The Irish rushed into rebellion ; 
 but Cromwell, proceeding thither, put them down 
 with his red right hand, and then repaired to the 
 North. The gallant Montrose, while at Brussels, 
 had received intelligence of the King's execution, and 
 having joined the heir of the beheaded monarch at 
 the Hague, he planned a descent on Scotland, and 
 landed in Caithness, displaying a black banner, on 
 which was the bloody head of Charles, and the in- 
 scription, " Judge and avenge my cause, Lord I" 
 However, he was defeated on the river Kyle, taken 
 prisoner, and hanged at Edinburgh on a gallows thir- 
 ty feet high. 
 
 Scarcely had his head been set on the Tolbooth, 
 when Charles H., having been invited by Scottish 
 commissioners, arrived, was proclaimed King at Edin- 
 burgh Cross, and solemnly crowned at Scone. But 
 his motley supporters having been routed by Crom- 
 well at Dunbar, the yomig Charles, entering England, 
 was proclaimed King of Great Britain at the head of
 
 SUPREMACY OF CROMWELL. 245 
 
 his army. On arriving at Worcester, he was joined 
 by the Earl of Derby ; but Cromwell Ibllowing, de- 
 feated them with great havoc. The King, though he 
 fought with gallant bravery, was fain to seek safety 
 in flight. After personating a wood-cutter, quartering 
 in a barn, and concealing himself among the branches 
 of an oak-tree, he succeeded, under various disguises, 
 in baffling his pursuers and reaching the soil of France 
 in safety. 
 
 Cromwell returned in triumph to London, and the 
 crown might have been his, but for the dislike with 
 which the army regarded the name of King. Under 
 these circumstances he resumed his seat in the House 
 of Commons ; but finding that body hostile to his am- 
 bitious views, he at length, in April 1653, appeared 
 Avith his officers and a detachment of soldiers. The 
 Speaker was pulled from his chair ; the mace, de- 
 scribed by the Captain-general as " that bauble," was 
 taken away ; the members were driven from the 
 House ; and the doors were locked on the Long Par- 
 liament. 
 
 Cromwell, having now the game in his own hands, 
 summoned a representative council, consisting of a 
 hundred and thirty-nine persons, which, from one of 
 its conspicuous members, was nicknamed " Barebones' 
 Parliament ;" and, after an existence of five months, 
 was dissolved by its own vote. This occurrence ren- 
 dered the construction of some form of government 
 necessary, and the Captain-general exerted his mighty
 
 24G HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ExNGLAND. 
 
 energies to restore the old institutions of the country 
 un.der new names. Cromwell was nominated Lord 
 Protector, girt with the sword of state, and invested 
 with sovereign power ; and he then formed a new 
 House of Commons, extending the elective privilege, 
 disfranchising small boroughs, increasing the number 
 of county members, and giving representatives to the 
 most considerable towns. He also endeavored to call 
 into existence a House of Lords, but was not success- 
 fill in this effort. The seats offered to the ancient no- 
 bility were disdainfully rejected ; and the Lower House 
 declined to acknowledge, as peers of the realm, the ad- 
 venturers who were suddenly metamorphosed into a 
 privileged class. Cromwell, unwilling to be trifled 
 with, suddenly appeared in the Lower House, and dis- 
 solved the assembly in a short, severe speech. 
 
 The terrible Lord Protector now ruled alone, but 
 with an ability seldom surpassed. Every attempt at 
 insurrection was put down with the arm of military 
 power. The Cavaliers, a tenth part of whose reve- 
 nues had been confiscated, though as loyal to the ex- 
 iled King as ever, knew full well that it was vain to 
 stir ; and the Republicans, though as violently as ever 
 opposed to an absolute government, were equally qui- 
 escent. The foreign policy of the great usurper was 
 so vigorous, that England was both feared and respect- 
 ed abroad. Peace was dictated to Holland ; Jamaica 
 and Dunkirk were taken from Spain ; and Admiral 
 Blake made the English flag dreaded in the ocean.
 
 RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS. 247 
 
 Cromwell expired, in full possession of power, on 
 the 3d September, 1658, and was succeeded by his 
 eldest son Richard, who, after a brief tenure of au- 
 thority, beat a retreat from his hazardous elevation, 
 retired into private life, and lived in obscurity. On' 
 his resignation, the officers of the army, calling- them- 
 selves a provisional government, assumed the direction 
 of affairs, and much confusion was the consequence. 
 Indeed the comitry was so alarmed, that Cavaliers 
 and Roundheads, forgetting for a season their bitter 
 controversy, formed an alliance, and became eager to 
 recall the banished Stuarts. 
 
 The enormous power of the army rendered matters 
 critical in the extreme, and care sat on every face, till 
 General Monk, whom Cromwell had, nine years pre- 
 viously, left in command of the forces north of the 
 Tweed, marched into England, and declared for a free 
 Parliament, which was assembled. A satisfactory 
 message was presented from Charles, who thereupon 
 was once more proclaimed King ; and on the 2oth of 
 May, 16G0, he was received by the populace with 
 boundless enthusiasm. 
 
 Charles II. Avas, indeed, in possession of an amount 
 of popular favor which had been bestowed on few of 
 his predecessors ; and, with all his faults and failings, 
 — his prodigality, mdolence, and luxurious habits — he 
 took care that the monarchy of the Restoration should 
 endure for his hfetime. He made no pretensions to 
 the kingcraft of which his grandfather believed him-
 
 248 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 self so accomplished a master, but he knew that it 
 was better to ghde with the current than to die an 
 exiled king. 
 
 i In 16G1 he espoused Catherine of Portugal, and 
 received as her dower the fortress of Tangier, where 
 were trained some of the best English soldiers, who 
 subsequently fought in the wars with France. In 
 1664, a war against Holland was carried on at such 
 an enormous expense, and attended with so little suc- 
 cess, that a treaty of peace was concluded at Breda, 
 in 1667. This disastrous termination, with the sale 
 of Dunkirk, excited public clamor. Hyde, who, hav- 
 ing shared the King's exile, had since been created 
 Earl of Clarendon, and whose daughter was Duchess 
 of York, being regarded as the cause, was on false pre- 
 tenses disgraced and banished. 
 
 Scarcely was the peace with Holland concluded, 
 when the ministers of Charles formed a triple alliance 
 with that country and Sweden to curb the power of 
 France, then the most formidable in Europe ; but 
 after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Louis XIV. al- 
 lured Charles to his interests. This was not unnatu- 
 ral, for during their long exile Charles and his brother, 
 the Duke of York, had become infected with Popery, 
 each after his own nature. Charles would not risk an 
 open avowal ; but James, having " drank ofi the whole 
 chalice," declared himself a Catholic. This caused so 
 serious an outcry, than an Act was passed by Parlia- 
 ment, requiring a test from all persons in the service
 
 THE POPISH AND RYE-HOUSE PLOTS. 213 
 
 of the state. The Duke, uuablo to take the oath, was 
 deprived of his office of High Admiral. Nor did 
 matters rest there : for Titus Gates, a deposed clergy- 
 man, pretending to have discovered a Popish plot 
 for burning London, murdering the Protestants, and 
 placing James on the throne, several persons, among 
 whom was Lord Stafford, suffered death. The Prot- 
 estant feeling of the country was aroused ; a test was 
 applied to exclude Papists from Parhament ; and the 
 Exclusion Bill, to prevent the Duke of York from suc- 
 ceeding to the crown, passed the Commons, hut was 
 defeated by the Peers. In the same year, 1678, the 
 Habeas Corpus Act became law. 
 
 In 1683, a new conspiracy, known as the Rye- 
 House Plot, from the place where it was formed, 
 came to light ; and for participating in it Lord Rus- 
 sell and Algernon Sydney were executed. 
 
 This detection strengthened the royal influence ; 
 the Duke of York was restored to his official posi- 
 tion ; and he was tacitly acknowledged as lieir to the 
 crown, to which he succeeded on the 6th of February, 
 1685, when Charles expired without a struggle, in 
 the fifty-fourth year of his life. 
 
 James II., having addressed to the Privy Council 
 a speech expressive of his intention to maintain the 
 established government in church and state, was pro- 
 claimed King, and soon after solemnly crowned in 
 "Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Notwithstanding his fair promises, and the latitude
 
 250 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 allowed him in publicly celebrating the Roman Cath- 
 olic rites in his palace, James contemplated the in- 
 sane project of subjugating England to the Church of 
 Rome. His notorious hostility to the Habeas Corpus 
 Act, regarded by all parties as the rampart of liberty, 
 and to the Test Act, recognized as the rampart of re- 
 ligion, excited strong indignation in the breasts of 
 many Cavaliers, who had signalized their loyalty by 
 strenuous opposition to the Exclusion Bill. 
 
 At this period, weary of exile, the Scottish refugees, 
 headed by the Earl of Argyle, landed in Scotland, 
 and attempted a rebellion, which led to nothing more 
 important than the execution of their leader. But a 
 more serious invasion soon took place on the part of 
 the English exiles, under a man who enjoyed an ex- 
 traordinary measure of undeserved popularity. 
 
 James Crofts, duke of Monmouth, was reputed to 
 be a natural son of the second Charles, and had been 
 treated as such by that facile and good-natured mon- 
 arch, who had united him to the rich heiress, in 
 whom terminated the line of the old barons of Buc- 
 cleuch, on whose name Sir Walter Scott has conferred 
 so wide a celebrity. Monmouth had fought so well 
 in the Continental wars, and won so much applause, 
 that the crown seemed within his reach ; but on the 
 discovery of the Rye-House plot, after concealing him- 
 self for some time in England, he repaired to the 
 Hague, where he was hospitably entertained by the 
 Princess of Orange, till the accession of her vindictive
 
 MONMOUTH'S REBELLION. 251 
 
 father rendered it impolitic to protect the exile longer. 
 Monmouth had then retired to Brussels, but was pre- 
 vailed on by the banished English to leave his re- 
 treat, and sailing from Amsterdam, he landed at 
 Lynn, in Dorsetshire, vi^ith no more than a hundred 
 followers. The inhabitants were opposed to the court, 
 and Monmouth, having issued a declaration, accusing 
 James of various crimes, and asserting his own legiti- 
 macy, was joined by six thousand of the peasantry ; 
 and, some days later, he was vain and foolish enough 
 to assume the title of King. Having met with a 
 cordial reception at Taunton, King Monmouth, en- 
 camping at Bridgewater, took up his residence in its 
 castle ; but his progress was ere long interrupted, lor 
 on every side the provincial magnates were muster- 
 ing the militia ; and the news of his landing having 
 reached London, regular troops, under the command of 
 Lord Feversham, arrived at Sedgemoor. Monmouth 
 led his forces to an attack in the darkness of night ; 
 but the genius of Lord Churchill, who was second in 
 command, speedily prevailed, and the ill-starred im- 
 postor, flying in terror from the scene of action, was 
 captured while crouching in a ditch. He implored 
 the gloomy tyrant's mercy, after a fashion sulhciently 
 abject to justify doubts as to the royalty of his parent- 
 age, but was nevertheless beheaded on Tower Hill. 
 
 Soon after the suppression of the rebellion, Jefler- 
 ies, who, from the son of a small proprietor in Wales, 
 had arrived at the dignity of Chi':f Justice of En-
 
 252 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 gland, was sent westward to try the unfortunate be- 
 ings who had taken part in the rebelhou. J cileries 
 hanged several hundreds, and by his proceedings 
 earned a most unenviable celebrity. For his san- 
 guinary services he was promoted to the woolsack, 
 and created Earl of Flint. 
 
 The power of James was now at its height ; but 
 he was surrounded by a small knot of Roman Catho- 
 lics, who urged him on his desperate course. With 
 their advice, and under the inspiration of Petre, a 
 Jesuit, he rushed headlong to destruction. Indeed, 
 his policy was utterly at variance with the feelings of 
 those to whom he looked for support. He expressed 
 a determination of being no longer fettered by the 
 Test Act, and exhibited a resolution to have a stand- 
 ing army, officered by Papists. He restored the 
 Court of High Commission, and audaciously deprived 
 many Protestants of their offices to make way for 
 those of his own faith. 
 
 At length, in 1688, his Declaration of Indulgence, 
 by which he suspended all penal laws against Non- 
 conformists, and abrogated all religious tests, was or- 
 dered to be read in churches. Seven bishops there- 
 upon presented a petition, stating that they could not 
 be parties to the publication. James denounced their 
 document as a standard of rebellion, and the bishops, 
 after being sent to the Tower, were tried in Westmin- 
 ster Hall, but on the 30tb of June acquitted, amids*- 
 rapturous applause.
 
 ARRIVAL OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 253 
 
 The infatuated King's cup was now full. He had 
 played the game of tyranny, and been beaten. Even 
 the old Cavaliers felt that he had forfeited their alle- 
 giance. An invitation was sent to William of Orange 
 to come and deliver the nation from bigotry and tyr- 
 anny. "William, whose spouse was the eldest daugh- 
 ter of James, landed in November at Torbay, on the 
 coast of Devon, with a banner, on which was in- 
 scribed " The Protestant Religion and the Liberties 
 of England." At Exeter there came to him several 
 Cavaliers of rank and distinction in the country, the 
 most conspicuous being Sir Edward Seymour, chief of 
 those high-spirited, untitled patricians, who, through 
 good and evil report, had been, to three generations of 
 the house of Stuart, " true as the dial to the sun." 
 Seymour proposed that a bond should be signed by 
 the assembled Englishmen, pledging themselves to 
 act together, till the religion, laws, and liberties of 
 the realm were secured, in a free parhament, against 
 the perils of Popery and slavery. 
 
 Meantime James, incited by John Grahame of 
 Claverhouse, whom he had recently created Viscount 
 Dundee, was eager to 1ry the event of a stricken 
 field ; but being abandoiied by the Lord Churchill 
 and others, such a course was soon out of his power. 
 His second daughter, Anne, with her husband, George 
 of Denmark, went over to the Prince. " God help 
 me !" exclaimed James ; " my own children have 
 forsaken me I" After a fruitless negotiation to gain
 
 254 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 time, the unhappy sovereign sent his Q,ueen, Maiy of 
 Modena, and her infant son, to France, and learning 
 that they had safely embarked at Gravesend, he at- 
 tempted to follow. Much to the confusion of his son- 
 in-law, he was intercepted, and brought back to Lon- 
 don ; but being sent to Rochester, he was afterward 
 allowed to escape. James joined his (iueen at St. 
 Gerraains, where they were most munilicently re- 
 ceived and entertained by the French monarch. 
 
 Jefieries, who had been the convenient instrument 
 of James's tyranny, was less fortunate in the day of 
 reckoning. In attemptmg to escape he assumed the 
 garb of a sailor, and secured a berth in a trader bound 
 for the Contment. His love of liquor was' so much 
 more potent than his dread of danger, that he insisted 
 on being put ashore in the morning before sailing, to 
 indulge in a refreshing draught of the ale of the Red 
 Cow at Wapping, where he was recognized by an 
 attorney, whom he had lately abused in the Court of 
 Chancery. He was in such danger of being pulled 
 to pieces by the populace, that he implored the Lord 
 Mayor, before whom he was carried, to send him to 
 the Tower, and there closed his disreputable career. 
 
 The throne being vacant by the abdication of the 
 last Popish sovereign of England, a Convention Par- 
 liament was held. At first a proposal was made that 
 Mary, as daughter of the banished King, should be 
 invested with the cymbols of supreme authority, and 
 that her Dutch consort should enact the part of E.e-
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 255 
 
 gent. But William, laying aside for a few moments 
 his sullen reserve, gave a distinct intimation that he 
 should not remain vi^ithin the four seas to occupy any 
 secondary position ; and he acquired the crown by 
 what Lord Bolingbroke called the best of all titles, 
 the free gift of a people whom he had delivered from 
 impending destruction — from Popery and slavery. 
 
 William and Mary were crowned with all due hon- 
 ors on the 13th February, 1689 ; and though the 
 revolution which placed them on the throne was of 
 no violent character, its justice and necessity were not 
 so universally acknowledged as to secure internal re- 
 pose during their reign. 
 
 When the intelligence of William's success reached 
 the Scottish metropolis, the members of govenmieut 
 changed sides with marvelous haste, and the populace 
 rising, attacked the mass-houses and sacked Holyrood ; 
 while in the western shires the peasantry were tempt- 
 ed to commit scandalous outrages. But Claverbouse, 
 who had traversed the whole of England almost with- 
 out escort, suddenly presented himself to the Lords of 
 Convention, whom he gave to understand that he 
 Vvould rather crouch with the fox than own a usurper. 
 After holding a private conference with the Duke of 
 Gordon at the postern of the castle, attended by about 
 fifty horsemen, he directed his course northward, and 
 invoked the loyalty of the clans, with whom he was 
 in the highest favor. General Mackay, an officer of 
 consummate skill and great experience, was dispatch-
 
 256 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 ed by the Government to encounter the Highlanc^ 
 host, and came up with it at the pass of KiUicrankie. 
 Mackay occupied a piece of meadow land, and opened 
 a brisk cannonade ; while the Gaelic warriors, who 
 covered the heights, throwing off their plaids and 
 ehort coats, on a given signal rushed downward in 
 their shirts with so much impetuosity, that the vic- 
 tory was instantaneous. But, in the moment of tri- 
 umph, Claverhouse received a mortal wound, and only 
 survived to wTite a brief account of the battle. By a 
 capitulation with the new Government, the regular 
 troops who had served under him were conveyed to 
 France, and distributed through various garrisons. 
 They were subsequently formed into a regiment, and 
 faced death bravely on many a foreign strand. Some 
 left their bones to whiten fields of fight ; others found 
 a last resting-place in mouldering cloisters. 
 
 Notvdthstanding the fall of Claverhouse, James 
 did not despair. He landed with an army at Dublin, 
 and was so enthusiastically received, that for a time 
 there appeared some slight prospect of success. But 
 William, taking his forces into Ireland, defeated his 
 father-in-law on the banks of the Boyne, and James 
 returned to the dominions of the French king. There- 
 upon a negotiation was entered into for disbanding 
 the Jacobite forces north of the Forth, and a pardon 
 proclaimed to all who should subscribe the oath of 
 allegiance before a certain date. Notwithstanding 
 this fair promise, the Macdonalds of Glencoe were
 
 THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. 'J57 
 
 diabolically butchered one morning before daybreak 
 by a company of the Campbells, placed in their houses 
 for that purpose. This event, known as the Massacre 
 of Glencoe, and the treachery he displayed in the 
 Darien aflair, have rendered the name of William of 
 Orange odious to the Scottish nation. 
 
 Indeed that royal hero — for a hero and the cham- 
 pion of Protestantism he was, in spite of all his faults 
 and failings — had little sympathy with the people over 
 whom he ruled. His attention was, for the most part, 
 occupied with attempts to curtail the power of France, 
 and humble the pride of her grand monarch ; and he 
 chiefly valued his connection with England because it 
 enabled him to raise such sums as his military enter- 
 prises rendered necessary. This led to the national 
 debt, and to complaints, both loud and deep, that, with- 
 out levying a tax on land. Government w'as in no con- 
 dition to send a cock-boat to sea, or keep a sentinel at 
 AVhitehall gate. "William's wars were not, from vari- 
 ous causes, very successful ; yet he maintained himself 
 on the English throne, and compelled the King of 
 France to promise that he should not be disturbed in 
 its possession. 
 
 Nevertheless, when the deposed King died at St. 
 Germains, in 1701, Louis caused his son, the Chevalier, 
 to be proclaimed as James III., and thereby gave 
 /mortal oflense to his austere, sullen, and reserved rival. 
 William prepared to undertake another Avar ; but 
 before it had been actually declared he was killed by 
 E.
 
 258 IIISTORV FOR BOVS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 a fall of his horse over a molehill, and his Glueen, 
 having died several years previously without issue, 
 her sister ascended the throne in 1702. 
 
 Q-ueen Anne boasted of having a thoroughly En- 
 glish heart, and adopted Elizabeth's motto — Scmjx/ 
 eadem. A treaty of union with Scotland was signed 
 in 1706 ; while in conjunction with Holland and the 
 Empire, England prosecuted war against the Bour- 
 bons. Marlborough and Prince Eugene commanded 
 the allied army, and signally defeated the French at 
 Blenheim and Ramilies. The success of the Duke of 
 Berwick, a natural son of James II., in some measure 
 retrieved these disasters ; but Marlborough was again 
 victorious at Oudenarde and Malplaquet. 
 
 In 1710, however, that illustrious captain fell 
 under the dueen's displeasure, and his friends were 
 removed from office. Robert Harley became minister, 
 and claiming descent through a female from the old 
 De Veres, was raised to the peerage as Earl of Oxford ; 
 Henry St. John, the friend of Pope, was appointed 
 Secretary of State, and subsequently created Viscount 
 Bolingbroke ; and, after multitudinous preliminaries, 
 peace was formally established by the treaty signed at 
 Utrecht in 1713. 
 
 From the autumn of that year the Q,ueeu's health, 
 which had previously been precarious, declined daily ; 
 and in the winter she had so severe an attack, that 
 there remained very faint hopes of recovery. She 
 lingered, however, till the summer of 1714, when,
 
 ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 25'J 
 
 liaviiig a lew days earlier deprived Oxford of the 
 Treasurer's waiul, she died of apoplexy on Sunday, 
 the 1st of August. Her children had preceded her to 
 the grave ; and the crown, in accordance with the 
 Act of Settlement, went to the Elector of Hanover, as 
 son of the Princess Sophia, whose mother was the 
 unfortunate Glueen of Bohemia. 
 
 George I. was proclaimed King ; and so perfect 
 was the calm and suhinission throughout the land, that 
 neither riot nor outrage occurred on the occasion. 
 Indeed, there seemed every prospect of a reiffn as 
 bloodless, in a domestic point of view, as that which 
 had just terminated ; Lut the severity exhibited to- 
 ward the late Q,ueen's ministers was by no means cal- 
 culated to reconcile those who cherished any aflection 
 ibr the Stuart race. 
 
 "Within four days after the Q,ueen's funeral, an 
 express arrived from Hanover with instructions to the 
 Council of Eogency to remove Bollugbroke from his 
 place as Secretary of State ; and the doors of his 
 office in the Cockpit were thereupon locked and scaled 
 up. On his majesty's arrival at Greenwich, Oxford, 
 who -w^ent to kiss his hand, Avas treated with marked 
 contempt ; there was an entire change of all persons 
 in employment, and threats of impeachment were 
 openly made by the new servants of the crown. Tiie 
 impolicy of this course was soon apparent ; for on the 
 20th October, when the King's coronation took place 
 with the accustomed pomp and circumstance, riots in
 
 260 HISTORY FOR BUYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 various cities and towns of England indicated, in a 
 manner not to be misunderstood, that a dangerous 
 spirit of disafiection was abroad. 
 
 At the opening of the year 1715 a proclamation 
 was issued for a new election ; reflections were freely 
 made on the conduct of the expelled ministry ; and 
 the constituencies were invoked to return represent- 
 atives who had stood firmly by the Protestant suc- 
 cession. It is worthy of remark, that for rising in his 
 place, when Parliament assembled, to characterize the 
 language employed in the proclamation as unprece- 
 dented and unwarrantable. Sir William Wyr.dham, 
 member for the county of Somerset, who had figured 
 successively as Master of the Buckhounds, Secretary 
 at War, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Avas, on the 
 resolution of the House of Commons, severely repri- 
 manded by the Speaker, after having narrowly escaped 
 being sent to the Tower. 
 
 The management of the House was committed to 
 Robert Walpole, who had for years taken a prominent 
 part in public aflairs. The son of a Norfolk squire, 
 he had been educated at Eton and Cambridge, and 
 given early proofs of high talent. AYalpole had been 
 originally destined for the Church, but on the death 
 of an elder brother he took to the cultivation of the 
 paternal estate of Houghton, sold cattle once a Aveek 
 at the neighboring fairs, and often, along with his 
 worthy sire, indulged with extraordinary freedom in 
 the bottle, and in a style of conversation peculiarly
 
 SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 261 
 
 ofiensive to the ears of the refined. At an early ago 
 he had been chosen member for Castle Rising, and 
 raised himself to consideration and celebrity. During 
 Oxford's tenure of power he had been imprisoned for 
 malversation, and declared incapable of sitting in the 
 existing Parliament ; but his party treated him as a 
 martyr, and he appeared in the new House of Commons 
 with pecidiar zeal for the Hanoverian dynasty, and 
 with no very benevolent feelings toward those who 
 had been his accusers. Under his guidance, the work 
 was carried on with vigor ; a reward of one luindred 
 thousand pounds was voted for the head of the Pre- 
 tender ; and Oxford and Bolingbroke, with several of 
 their colleagues, were impeached of high treason. 
 Oxford, though his friends had urged him to flee to the 
 Continent, refused to confirm by such a step the re- 
 ports circulated to his disadvantage, awaited the event 
 privately about London, and was conveyed, amidst the 
 tumultuous and sympathetic cheers of the populace, to 
 the Tower, and languished there till 1717. Boling- 
 broke pursued a diflerent course. Though strongly 
 suspected of having intrigued with the Chevalier, he 
 betrayed no signs of fear, but took his part in the 
 public business as a peer of the realm, and addressed 
 the House of Lords with all his matchless eloquence. 
 At length, seeing that he need expect no mercy, ho 
 appeared at Drury Lane Theo.tre, and having bespoke 
 a play for the next evening, he left town in the dis- 
 guise of a courier. So obnoxious was he to the
 
 262 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Hanoverian King, that Lord Peterboj-ough, on account 
 of having met him on the road between Calais and the 
 French capital, was forbidden the court. Bolingbroke 
 retired to Dauphine ; but, with the smart of a bill of 
 attainder tingling in every vein, he allowed him.self to 
 be dragged into the Chevalier's service, and accepted 
 the seals as a secretary of state. 
 
 Meantime, in England, popular discontent increased 
 to such a degree, tliat if the heir of the Stuart ]ung.s 
 had been a prince worthy of a great nation's confi- 
 dence, he must have proved a formidable, most likely 
 a successful, foe to the reigning dynasty. But the 
 Chevalier was not a person of that description. His 
 intellect was limited, and he had so inadequate a con- 
 ception of the struggle in which he was about lo em- 
 bark, that he talked like a man who expected every 
 moment to set sail for England or Scotland, without 
 knowing which. Moreover, in his religious views ho 
 was so servilely submissive to the Church of Rome, 
 that reasoning Catholics pronounced him far too much 
 of a Papist. His bigotry blinded him so utterly to 
 his own interest, that while his father passed for a 
 saint, at whose tomb miracles were reported to be 
 wrought, he Avould not have his royal sister described 
 as " of blessed memoiy," and even declined to allow 
 his grandfather to be styled a martyr. His whole 
 education had rendered him unfit to reign. 
 
 The honest Jacobites, with little knowledge of the 
 individual who aspired to sit on the throne and rule
 
 THE REBELLION OF 1715. 2G3 
 
 over the realms of the first Edward, prepared to take 
 up arms in his behalf. The example was set by the 
 Earl of Mar, who, after a vain attempt to curry favor 
 with King George, embarked with a few followers in 
 a collier at Gravesend, and landing in Fife, set up 
 the Chevalier's standard in the autumn of 1 7 1 5. Mar 
 had deluded the people of Scotland into a high ad- 
 miration of his patriotic spirit, and ere long found 
 himself at the head of several thousand men. This 
 excited so much alarm, that orders M'ere dispatched to 
 Edinburgh for the apprehension of suspected persons, 
 in obedience to which several men of mark and likeli- 
 hood were committed to the Castle. 
 
 Nor was enmity to the new Government confined 
 to Scotland. The Chevalier was proclaimed in Corn- 
 wall, where the laboring populace were devoted to 
 his cause ; at Oxford his health was openly drunk ; 
 and a rising was anticipated throughout the M'estern 
 shires. Sir William Wyndham and five other senators 
 were ordered to be arrested ; but one of these, Thomas 
 Forster, member for Northumberland, and a stanch 
 JProtestant, eluded pursuit, raised the Chevalier's stand- 
 ard in the north of England, and was supported by 
 Lords Derwentwater and Widdrington. Crossing the 
 Tweed, they were joined by several Scottish peers — 
 Kenmure, Winton, and Carnwarth ; after which thoy 
 turned southward, the militia under Lords Lonsdale 
 and Carlisle retiring precipitately. The insurgents 
 entered Lancaster unopposed ; from which place they
 
 2GI HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 marched to Preston, a regiment of regular troops and 
 a militia force giving way on their approach. They 
 had now, however, got to the end of their line ; for, 
 being beset by Generals "Wells and Carpenter, they 
 surrendered on the same day which witnessed the 
 drawn battle between Mar and Argyle at Sherifl' 
 Mulr. 
 
 When the Christmas of 1715 arrived, the grave 
 had closed over the magnificent French monarch, who 
 was the best friend the Chevalier possessed. The 
 Jacobites, almost despairing of any thing resembling 
 success, would, no doubt, have been glad to disband, 
 and content themselves by such harmless manifesta- 
 tions of loyalty to the race they loved, not wisely but 
 too well, as drinking the health of the King over the 
 water-bottle, wearing oaken boughs on the anniversary 
 of the Restoration, and white roses on the Chevalier's 
 birthday. Hope had fled, when a small foreign ship, 
 touching at Peterhead, put ashore the ill-fated heir of 
 a long line of kings, attended by a confessor and a 
 few friends. He passed through Aberdeen arrayed 
 like a naval officer ; and being forthwith joined by 
 Mar, made a public entry into Dundee, accompanied 
 by three hundred horsemen, loyal gentlemen and chiefs 
 of ancient names, whom feelings of compassion and ro- 
 mantic honor had led to his side. Having remained 
 for an hour in the market-place, the people thronging 
 to pay him homage, the Chevalier repaired to Perth, 
 in which neighborhood was the palace of Scone, where
 
 LANDING OF THE PRETENDER. 2G5 
 
 forty-eight Scottish kings had been crowned. Ho 
 now issued several proclamations, which produced 
 a momentary flash of enthusiasm ; but the approach 
 of Argyle, who had just been reinforced by six thou- 
 sand Dutch soldiers, brought his council to their 
 senses, and it was resolved that the enterprise should, 
 without further delay, be abandoned. Accordingly 
 they crossed the Tay, which was then covered Avith 
 ice, and repaired to the town of Montrose, where the 
 Chevalier left his adherents to shift for themselves. 
 Having ordered lii-s horses and guard to be drawn np 
 in front of his quarters, he slipped out at the back- 
 door, and taking Mar with him, embarked on board 
 a small vessel, which, eluding the vigilance of the 
 Government cruisers, landed him safely at Gravelines. 
 He afterward went to Avignon, having previously 
 discharged Bolingbroke from his service by a note, 
 whose " kingly laconic style" raised a smile of con- 
 tempt on the intellectual countenance of the expatri- 
 ated statesman. 
 
 Meanwhile the English Parliament assembled, in- 
 troduced the Septennial Bill, and impeached the lords 
 taken at Preston. Derwentwater and Kenmure expi- 
 ated their ollense on the scallbld. Widdrington and 
 Carnwarth were respited, and eventually set at liberty. 
 Winton, scorning the thought of asking mercy, quitted 
 the Tower with the connivance of his keeper, and died 
 long after at Home. Forster escaping from New- 
 gate before his trial, rode with hot basic te Rochford,
 
 266 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 whence a vessel conveyed him to the coast of France. 
 Nithsdale, on the evening before the day appointed for 
 his execution, was visited by his mother, whom he 
 strongly resembled in stature, features, and tone of 
 voice. Disguising himself in the hat, deep black vail, 
 and long mourning cloak of the noble matron, he 
 passed the sentinels without exciting suspicion, and 
 succeeded in making a hair-breadth escape beyond the 
 seas. King George had hitherto turned a deaf ear to 
 the intercessions on Nithsdale's behalf; even the pa- 
 thetic appeal of the young Countess, who had obtain- 
 ed an audience by stratagem, had proved inefiectual ; 
 but on the news of the unfortunate nobleman's escape 
 being carried to him, his majesty pleasantly remarked, 
 in accents remotely resembling broken English, that 
 it was the best thing a man in such circumstances 
 could have done. 
 
 The scene of blood and vengeance over, the King 
 paid a visit to Hanover ; and the Prince of Wales 
 having in his absence, while acting as guardian of the 
 realm, incurred his royal sire's displeasin-e, a bitter 
 quarrel ensued. Next year war was declared against 
 Spain, and the King soon after informed Parliament 
 that an invasion from that country would be at 
 tempted in favor of the Pretender. The fleet sen) 
 was dispersed by a storm, a solitary ship reachinn 
 Scotland. 
 
 One of the most remarkable circumstances of this 
 reign was the projection of the South Sea scheme.
 
 THE SOUTH SEA SCHEME. 2C7 
 
 which speedily involved the nation in ruinous specu- 
 lation, and led to results so disastrous, that the par- 
 tisans of the Chevalier, avaiUng themselves of the tur- 
 moil, began to plot. Several of them were arrested 
 on suspicion ; and the hold, daring Bishop Atterhnry, 
 Avho had, on a former occasion, oflerod to proclaim 
 James III. in full canonicals at the Royal Exchange, 
 was exiled for life, and deprived of the comjiany of 
 British subjects residing abroad. About the same 
 time Bolingbrokc procured a free pardon and the se- 
 curity of his estate ; but being most improperly ex- 
 cluded from his seat in Parliament, ho betook himself 
 to the rural quiet of Dawlcy, where he cultivated the 
 friendship of Pope, read letters from Dean Swift while 
 sitting among haycocks, and contributed to " The 
 Craftsman" political papers distinguished by a felici- 
 tous and flowing diction, and characterized by a bitter 
 enmity to Walpole. 
 
 In 1727 the King set out on a second visit to his 
 German dominions, to which he was tenderly at- 
 tached ; but being attacked with paralysis by the 
 way, his earthly existence terminated at Osnaburg on 
 the 11th of June. The intelligence was, without de- 
 lay, conveyed to Walpole, Avho repaired to Richmond 
 and communicated it to the new King. 
 
 George II. was characterized by two weaknesses, 
 which his advisers found extremely inconvenient — an 
 unprincipled avarice, and an invincible predilection, 
 for his Continental possessions. Like his father, he
 
 2C8 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 strove to pass for a man of spirit in gpitc of nature, 
 and iie indulged in grave improprieties under the silly 
 idea that libertinism was a kingly quality. Though 
 destitute of military skill, he was not without personal 
 courage. He had served as a volunteer under Marl- 
 borough, charged bravely at the head of Hanoverian 
 di'agoons at Oudenarde, and on one occasion boasted, 
 with his strong German accent, that though the house 
 of Hanover might have produced as many fools as any 
 other in Europe, it had never produced a single coward 
 or poltroon. In aflairs of state he Avas entirely under 
 the influence of his rpieen, who perfectly comprehend- 
 ed her own position and the expediency of Walpolc 
 holding the reigns of power. That eminent minister 
 was possessed of singular intelligence and prudence. 
 His extraordinary vigilance baffled every Jacobite 
 plot ; and his love of peace gave England a long sea- 
 son of repose. Unfortunately for himself, he loved 
 power so much that he would not endure a rival ; 
 rather than consent to any partition of influence, he 
 successively drove Pulteney, Cartaret, Townshend, 
 and Chesterfield, from the ministerial ranks, and thus 
 created a formidable opposition distinguished by the 
 appellation of" the Country Party." He experienced 
 its hostility in 1732, on the introduction of his Excise 
 Bill, which excited so violent a clamor that he was 
 compelled to abandon the measure. Shortly after, 
 Frederick, prince of Wales, being estranged from his 
 father, threw his influence into the ranks of opposi'
 
 FALL OF WALPOLE. 269 
 
 lion ; and Walpole was compelled, against his deliber- 
 ate judgment, to enter into a war with Spain to re- 
 taliate the injuries sustained by the commerce of 
 British subjects in South America. The war was at 
 first popular. Vernon destroyed the fortifications of 
 Porto Bello, and Anson distressed the enemy in the 
 South Seas ; but the failure of the expedition against 
 Carthagena brought the ministry into disgrace, and 
 increased the energy of their opponents. Indeed the 
 latter began to take liberties not tolerated during the 
 former reign. In 1717, when William Shippcn, with 
 his glove before his mouth, remarked in a low, rapid 
 tone of voice, that "the King's speech seemed rather 
 calculated for the meridian of Germany than of Great 
 Britain, and that the first George was unacquainted 
 with the laws and constitution of England," he was 
 hurried off to the Tower ; but in 1742, when William 
 Pitt declaimed in a voice that swelled like an organ, 
 and gestures equal to those of Garrick, against the 
 aimual visits of the second George to Hernhausen, and 
 his perfidious partiality to the despicable Electorate, 
 the old Duchess of Marlborough left him a handsome 
 legacy, and the King was under the necessity of ap- 
 pointing him Paymaster of the Forces. 
 
 In 1741 Walpole was driven from power, and 
 created Earl of Orford. He passed his four remain- 
 ing years in retirement ; amused himself with plant- 
 ing, took an interest in the paintings wliicli his son 
 collected, and was laid at re.-t in the paiibh church at
 
 270 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Houghton. A few months later happened tlie last 
 daring and romantic attempt to wrest the British 
 crown from the House of Hanover. 
 
 After Walpole's expulsion from power, and a Lrief 
 ascendency enjoyed by the gifted Cartaret, the King 
 fell into the hands of Henry Pelham and his brother, 
 the Duke of Newcastle. In the year 1743, a body of 
 British and Hanoverian troops were sent to the Con- 
 tinent to assist the Austriaus against France, and they 
 were successful in an engagement at Dcttingen. On 
 that occasion the King, being present, interfered so 
 provokingly that Lord Stair resigned his post as com- 
 mander. It was thereupon bestowed upon the King's 
 second son, AYilliam, duke of Cumberland, who, hav- 
 ing scarcely emerged from boyhood, and being deficient 
 in experience, sustained a defeat at Fontenoy. How- 
 ever, he had soon an opportunity of retrieving his 
 laurels in a different scene. 
 
 The hapless Chevalier, after flying from the land 
 where his ancestors had exercised regal sway, Avas 
 contracted to a Polish princess, who, while passing 
 through the Tyrol on her way to Rome, was seized 
 and conhncd for some time at Inspruck. But, es- 
 caping in 1719, she made her way, disguised as a 
 page, to Bologna, where she was soon joined by her 
 husband. They had two sons : Charles Edward, 
 whose romantic adventures bards and novelists have 
 vied to celebrate, and Henry, known as Cardmal 
 York, at whose death, in 1807, closed the male line
 
 REBELLION OF 1745. 27* 
 
 of Charles 1. The elder resided generally at Home 
 till 1744, when he left that city with the avowed 
 intention of hunting a hoar, hut rode post-haste to 
 Genoa. He continued his journey to Paris, where, 
 after heiug amused by the French Government with 
 vain promises of assistance, he resolved to throw him- 
 self on the loyalty of the Highland clans, embarked in 
 a sixteen-gun frigate, and landed in the Isle of Erslca, 
 assuming the character of a young Irish priest. The 
 most mveterate Jacobites were decidedly averse to 
 take pail in an enterprise which appeared as rash 
 and extravagant as any of those that have rendered 
 the Knight of La Mancha immortal. But Cameron 
 of Lochiel, having, much against his inclination, con- 
 sented to share the Prince's fate, the latter, on an 
 August morning, proceeded to Glenfinnan, where Lo- 
 chiel brought several hundreds of his clan. The 
 Marquis of TuUibardine then unfurled the Prince's 
 standard ; the fiery cross was sent about ; the High- 
 land army increased; and Charles Edward, after en- 
 tering Perth and Dundee, took possession of Edin- 
 burgh, and established his court in the old regal halls 
 of Holyrood. 
 
 George II. was at this time on his yearly visit to 
 Hanover ; but Sir John Cope, putting himself at the 
 head of the royal forces, encountered the Highland army 
 at Prestonpans, where he sufiered a defeat so complete 
 that he was forced to gallop ingloriously from the 
 field, and take refuge within the walls of Berwick ;
 
 272 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 while the Prince, having issued an address, inarched 
 into England by the western frontier, took possession 
 of Carlisle, passed through Manchester, and arrived 
 at Derby. 
 
 Apprehensions were now seriously entertained of a 
 bare-legged Highland host placing a Popish prince on 
 the throne of Great Britain ; but at this critical mo- 
 ment the royal adventurer was providentially prevailed 
 upon to retreat and conduct his dispirited followers 
 into their own country, when he succeeded in occupy- 
 ing Glasgow and achieving a victory over General 
 Hawley at Falkirk. 
 
 At length, in April 1746, the event was brought to 
 a decisive issue. Charles Edward had fixed his head- 
 quarters at Inverness, and the Duke of Cumberland 
 encamped hard by. They met on the wide moor of 
 Cullodcn, where Cumberland achieved a conclusive 
 triumph, Avhich he pursued with so much cruelly that 
 his name was long justly execrated in the glens and 
 momitains of the far north. 
 
 The Prince, seeing all was lost, fled, with a few 
 attendants, from the bloody heath. After many wan- 
 derings, with the aid of Flora Macdonald — a brave 
 Highland damsel — he made his escape to France, un- 
 der circumstances almost miraculous. He is stated 
 to have ventured on visiting England several linaes 
 in after years, and even to have been present at the 
 coronation of George III. His unfortunate adherents 
 were cruelly dealt with. Balmcrino and Kilmarnock
 
 ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. 273 
 
 •were executed in August, and Lovat in the following 
 year. Even as late as 1753, a brother of the gallant 
 Lochiel, having rashly ventured upon his native soil, 
 was beheaded at Tyburn, with every accessory which 
 revenge could suggest to render bloodshed unpopular. 
 
 Internal peace having been restored, the last years 
 of George the Second's reign were replete with events 
 grateful to the national pride. William Pitt, after- 
 ward Earl of Chatham, becoming War-minister, took 
 means to redeem the humiliation which had been felt 
 when Minorca was taken from the English, and Ad- 
 miral Byng retired before the French flag; and he 
 turned a contest thus disastrously begun into one of 
 the most glorious ever entered upon. In the midst of 
 it the King departed this life, and his eldest son hav- 
 ing died in 1751, he was succeeded by his grandson, 
 
 George III., as a native of England, came to the 
 throne in 1760, with advantages infinitely superior to 
 those enjoyed by his immediate predecessors. The 
 Jacobites had ceased to make their influence felt, and 
 those whose abilities had lent weight to the party, 
 Bolingbroke, Wyndham, and Shippen, had been long 
 gathered to their fathers. 
 
 A peace with France and Spain was concluded by 
 a ministry presided over by the Earl of Bute, whoso 
 sudden elevation raised a violent prejudice and loudly- 
 expressed clamor against Scotland, the country of 
 which he was a native. He soon resigned ; and his 
 successor, George Grenville, passed the American 
 S
 
 274 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 Stamp Act, which caused such serious discontent in 
 the Transatlantic possessions of the British crown that 
 the colonists took up arras, and, under the auspices of 
 "Washington, commenced that struggle which, after in- 
 volving England in hostilities with France, termin- 
 ated in American independence being formally re- 
 cognized in a treaty, by which England became more 
 than ever absolute mistress of the sea. 
 
 A bill passed in 1780, for the relief of Roman 
 CathoHcs, was productive in London and Soutbwark 
 of the most daring tumults, encouraged by the weak 
 and eccentric Lord George Gordon, who afterward 
 became a proselyte to Judaism. The rioters, shout- 
 ing the " No Popery" cry, did enormous mischief, and 
 after burning the residence of the illustrious Lord 
 Mansfield were suppressed by the military. 
 
 Li 1783, William Pitt, second son of the great Earl 
 of Chatham, became first Minister of the Crown at 
 the early age of twenty-five, and devoted his energies 
 to the negotiation of commercial treaties and the res- 
 toration of the national finances. In the course of 
 his administration, Burke, one of the greatest of states- 
 men and orators, impeached Warren Hastings, in 
 1787, for misdemeanors in the government of India. 
 Soon after the French Revolution breaking out, the 
 house of Bourbon fell ; and great was the fall thereof. 
 Louis XVI. was brought to trial and beheaded ; the 
 French Convention declared war against England, and 
 a long, arduous struggle was commenced
 
 WAR WITH FRANCE. 275 
 
 Encouraged by aid from France, the Irish, in 1798, 
 raised a rebellion, which led to the legislative union, 
 with much difficulty accomplished in 1800. Having 
 efiected this desirable object, Pitt retired for a while 
 from the helm of affairs, leaving the Addington min- 
 istry to conclude a peace with France, which lasted 
 little more than tAvelve months. 
 
 In May, 1804, Pitt again undertook the duties of 
 Prime Minister of England, and Bonaparte was pro- 
 claimed Emperor of the French. Next year, Nelson, 
 already renowned as the hero of the Nile, defeated the 
 united fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar ; the 
 great admiral himself falling in the engagement, and 
 Pitt only living to hear the news. Thereupon Fox 
 came into office, and endeavored to negotiate peace 
 with France ; but the matter was broken off at his 
 death, and Bonaparte declared the British Isles in a 
 state of blockade. 
 
 For a time the French were signally successful. 
 But in 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had already 
 won celebrity in the East, at Copenhagen, and at 
 Vimiera, was placed in command of the English army. 
 Arriving at Lisbon, he passed the Douro, forced Soult 
 to retreat across the mountains, and won the battles 
 of Talavera and Busaco. In 1812 Ciudad Rodrigo 
 and Badajos were taken by storm ; and in the same 
 year the battle of Salamanca was fought, and Lord 
 Wellington entered Madrid in triumph. 
 
 Next year, following Soult, he entered France, in-
 
 276 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 vested Bayonne, and was victorious at Orthes and 
 Toulouse. Paris capitulated, and Bonaparte being 
 deposed was sent to Elba ; while the Allied Sovereigns 
 were entertained in England. 
 
 Escaping from Elba, Bonaparte took the field, and 
 was finally defeated on the plains of Waterloo. 
 
 The old King, who had sustained an attack of 
 derangement in 1788, was similarly afflicted in 1810, 
 and the royal functions were intrusted to his son, 
 George, prince of Wales, who thereupon became 
 Prince Regent. His majesty survived till 1820. He 
 expired on the 28th January, and his bones were 
 interred amidst ancestral dust in the royal vault at 
 Windsor. 
 
 George IV. had attained the age of fifty-eight, and 
 earned a reputation, in many respects the reverse of 
 enviable, before he was called upon to reign. He 
 had, after a youthful career of exhausting dissipation 
 and extravagant expenditure, consented to receive as 
 his consort Caroline, daughter of the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick. By that lady he had a daughter, the Princess 
 Chai'lotte, wlio died before he came to the throne ; 
 and when the melancholy event occurred, the Princess 
 of Wales left England. But on her husband's acces- 
 sion she returned, and insisted on being crowned ; 
 whereupon a Bill of Pains and Penalties against her 
 majesty was presented to the House of Peers by the 
 Earl of Liverpool, then at the head of the administra- 
 tion. After being read a second time it was aban-
 
 REIGN OF GEORGE IV. 277 
 
 doned, and London was, in consequence, illuminated 
 for two nights ; but ere long the unhappy Glueen 
 had gone where the weary are at rest. 
 
 George IV. manifested no inclination to emulate his 
 sire's virtues. His chief ambition was to be the finest 
 gentleman of Europe, and he succeeded to some ex- 
 tent m this aspiration. Byron remarked, there M^as 
 fascination in his very bow ; and Sir Walter Scott 
 observed, that when presiding at the coronation ban- 
 quet, amidst the long line of nobles, he looked every 
 inch a king. Such being the case, there was sound 
 policy in commencing his reign by visiting different 
 parts of his dominions ; and accordingly, in the autumn 
 of 1821, he went to Ireland, where he was received 
 with every appearance of loyal enthusiasm. H«j next 
 proceeded to Hanover, and subsequently to Edinburgh, 
 where he received such a flattering welcome from his 
 Scottish subjects, that he emphatically pronounced 
 them a nation of gentlemen. 
 
 In 1827, Lord Liverpool's infirmities having in- 
 capacitated him for longer performing the functions of 
 Premier, George Canning, the most brilliant orator of 
 his day, was worthily elevated to power ; but his tenure 
 of office was brief, being cut oft^ in the zenith of his 
 reputation, and in full possession of popularity. In 
 the same year was fought the battle of Navarino, in 
 which the Turkish and Egyptian fleets were almost 
 destroyed by the British, French, and Russians, under 
 Admiral Codrington.
 
 278 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ENGLAND. 
 
 At the beginning of 1828, the necessity for a strong 
 hand holding the reins of government being evident, 
 the Duke of Wellington assumed the post of Prime 
 Minister, and during his administration was carried 
 through Parliament the measure for the Emancipation 
 of Roman Catholics, debated lor a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, and to which his majesty gave a hesitating as- 
 sent. 
 
 At the opening of 1830 the King's health broke 
 down ; his case was soon perceived to be hopeless ; and 
 he expired at Windsor on the 26th June. 
 
 His brother, the Duke of Clarence, who had been 
 educated to the naval profession and seen service, 
 became King, with the title of William IV., and was 
 crowned in September, 1831. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, less successful in the 
 cabinet than the field, had already divested himself 
 of the ministerial functions. His successor was Earl 
 Grey, who had sat in the House of Commons as early 
 as 1785, attached himself to Fox, incurred a castiga- 
 tion from Pitt, appeared as a manager at the memora- 
 ble trial of Hastings, and succeeded his great master 
 in 1806, as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The minis- 
 try of the veteran statesman carried through Parliament 
 the Reform Bill — a measure, which, whatever its 
 merits or demerits, was oire passed with the popular 
 sanction. The slave-trade having been abolished in 
 1806, an act was now passed for the abolition of slav* 
 ery in the British Colonies.
 
 CONCLUSION. 279 
 
 King William died on the 20th June, 1837, at 
 the age of seventy-two, and was succeeded on the 
 throne of Great Britain and Ireland by Her Most 
 Gracious Majesty Glueen Victoria, who was crowned 
 on the 28th June, 1838, within that venerable ab- 
 bey, which has so often witnessed the august cere- 
 mony as to appear almost a part of the British Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Since that date, starthng and violent changes have 
 occurred in Continental countries. Dynasties have 
 been uprooted, and states convulsed. Dethroned kings 
 have fled from their exasperated subjects, and rebel 
 subjects from their infuriated rulers, to take safety 
 on our peaceful shores. But in England, Order and 
 Freedom have walked hand-in-hand ; her immemorial 
 institutions — cautiously reformed to meet the require- 
 ments of each succeeding generation — have maintain- 
 ed their ancient reputation, and her people — proud, 
 prudent, and pacific, yet prompt to spend both blood 
 and treasure in a just and righteous cause — have not 
 forgotten " their precedence of teaching the nationjs 
 bow to live."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 About the opening of the fifth century, when 
 Alaric, the terrible king of the Visigoths, had sacked 
 and burned the City of the Seven Hills, his brother, 
 Adolph, crossing the Pyrenees, penetrated into Spain, 
 and founded, in that secluded province of the Roman 
 Empire, a kingdom, of which the capital was Toledo 
 — situated on a steep rock, that was washed on three 
 sides by the waters of the Tagus. 
 
 The Gothic monarchy, thus established, lasted for 
 three centuries, when Roderick, who wore the crown 
 of Spain, ravished the daughter of a Count named 
 Julian, and thus created an implacable foe. Boiling 
 with resentment, and panting for vengeance, Count 
 Julian crossed to Barbary, and invoked the aid of the 
 adventurous Moors ; and forthwith the sound of Moor- 
 ish horns, and the neighing of war-steeds, and the 
 waving of the Crescent, announced that a Saracenic 
 host had invaded the sunny fields of Spain. 
 
 King Roderick encountered the Moors in several bat- 
 tles ; and at length, in the summer of 711, a decisive 
 conflict took place at Xeres. There the King and
 
 THE MOORISH CONQUEST. 281 
 
 the flower of his chivalry perished ; and the citiea 
 quietly yielding to the turbaned victors, a splendid 
 ^[oorish monarchy was instituted under princes of the 
 ^ne of Omeyades. They exercised a temporal as well 
 as spiritual authority, selected Cordova as their seat 
 of empire, and adorned that city with magnificent 
 palaces, colleges, libraries, hospitals, mosques, bridges, 
 and fountains. 
 
 The vanquished Spaniards, so far from being harsh- 
 ly treated, enjoyed so much civil and religious free- 
 dom, that many remained in their native regions ; 
 and the Spanish women, with the usual partiality of 
 the gentler sex for foreigners, freely availed themselves 
 of the invitation to intermarry with the conquerors. 
 Such of the proud barons, indeed, as disdained to sub- 
 mit, escaped to neighboring countries ; while others, 
 departing from Andalusia, with its sunny skies and 
 fair landscapes, moved northward, and formed them- 
 selves into petty states, at such mortal enmity with 
 each other, and so exposed to the predatory incursions 
 of the Arab cavalry, that the chieftahis were under 
 the necessity of keeping their followers in harness 
 night and day. 
 
 Kotwithstanding their internal feuds, the eyes of 
 the Spaniards were perpetually turned, with the long- 
 ing of exiles, toward the land of corn and wine, ol' 
 which they had been dispossessed : and they contem- 
 plated, with fierce indignation, the Crescent glittering 
 on mosques under which their sires had worshiped
 
 282 HISTORY FOR ROYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 the Christian's God. Invoking as their patron St. 
 James, on his white steed, bearing the banner of the 
 Cross, they deemed themselves the champions at once 
 of their country and Christendom ; and the Spanish 
 nobles, thus trained from infancy to serve against the 
 Moors, were continually advancing southward, and in 
 the stern school of adversity regained among the 
 tnountains of Gallicia so much of their ancestral val- 
 or as to render them formidable foes. 
 
 Thus it came to pass, that in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury the Cordovan empire had been reduced to the 
 little province of Granada, in the midst of which 
 fetood the beautiful city of that name, on one of 
 whose hills rose the far-famed Aiharabra ; while the 
 kingdom of Castile was not only receiving the hom- 
 age of other states, but even that of the Moorish 
 King, who pledged himself to pay an annual rent, to 
 serve in war with a certain number of knights, and 
 to attend the Cortes, or legislative assembly, when 
 summoned. 
 
 A hundred years later, Castile was the scene of 
 fierce civil war. Pedro, surnaraed the Cruel, had 
 rendered himself unpopular by the severity with 
 which he treated his enemies ; and his illegitimate 
 brother, Henry of Trastamare, conceived the idea of 
 seizing the throne. With this view he applied to 
 Charles V. of France, who sent to his aid several 
 companies of Free Lances, commanded by Bertrand 
 Du Guesclin, one of the most valiant warriors of the
 
 FRATRICIDAL WAR. 283 
 
 age. These terrible adventurers, after passing Avig- 
 non, and compelling the Pope to bestow upon them 
 gold and his blessing, entered Spain. Pedro disband- 
 ed his troops and sought shelter in Gascony, at the 
 court of Edward the Black Prince, by whom he was 
 honorably received ; while his rival was proclaimed 
 King in his stead. However, the Prince of Wales 
 took up arms in Pedro's behalf, and marched against 
 Pu Guesclin, who was defeated and made prisoner in 
 the battle of Navaretto, which restored Pedro to his 
 throne. Henry thereupon fled into France, but on the 
 Black Prince's return to England he was once more 
 seated on the throne by the hand of Du Guesclin ; 
 and Pedro, being defeated near Montia, was taken 
 prisoner, and carried into the tent of a French 
 knight. Henry, learning where the captive was, 
 hurried tliither ; and the brothers sprang upon each 
 other with deadly intent. A violent struggle ensued, 
 and Pedro was gaining the advantage, when one of 
 Henry's followers interfering, the latter got the upper 
 hand, and stabbed his unfortunate brother to the 
 heart. Pedro's head was thereupon cut ofi^; but his 
 remains were subsequently interred at Seville with 
 regal honors by his daughter, Constance, the wife of 
 John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. 
 
 Henry of Trastamare transmitted the crown of Cas- 
 tile to his descendants, whose disputed title was de- 
 cidedly favorable to public liberty, and rendered them 
 deferential to popular opinion, till the reign of Henry
 
 284 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 IV., who ascended the Castilian throne with the 
 promise of a crusade against the Moors of Granada. 
 The preparations made by him for that purpose were 
 attended Ly results so inadequate, that he fell into 
 contempt with friends and foes. Having divorced his 
 first wife, Blanche of Aragon, he espoused Joanna, 
 daughter of the King of Portugal. The conduct of 
 the latter princess was so far from discreet, that it 
 gave occasion for grave scandal, and she was accused 
 of a too close intimacy with Beltran de la Cueva, a 
 handsome courtier ; while Henry openly doted on a 
 fascinating maid of honor, who had attended his 
 Q,ueen to the Castilian court. Thus it happened, 
 that when he required the oath of allegiance to be 
 sworn to his daughter Joanna it was objected to, on 
 the suspicion of her being illegitimate, and his sub- 
 jects rebelled with the object of placing his brother 
 Alphonso on the throne 
 
 In the year 1465, on a plain outside the walls of 
 Avila, a platform was erected ; and thereon was 
 placed, in royal robes, an effigy of Henry, with the 
 crown on his head, the sceptre in his hand, and the 
 sword of justice by his side. A sentence of deposition 
 was pronounced : the Archbishop of Toledo tore ofi:" 
 the crown ; one Count snatched away the sword ; 
 another removed the sceptre ; a third tumbled the 
 figure headlong on the ground ; and proclamation 
 was made that Don Alphonso was King of Castile 
 and Leon. But Alphonso died in 1468 ; and Henry,
 
 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 2s5 
 
 though reduced to the depths of despau-, continued to 
 reign till his decease in 1474. 
 
 His daughter Joanna not being considered worthy 
 of occupying the throne, his sister Isabella was recog- 
 nized as heir to the deceased sovereign. The young 
 Glueen, one of the most interesting characters in his- 
 tory, was highly endowed both in mind and person. 
 Intelligence beamed in her mild blue eye, and was 
 displayed in a manner which, though modest, was 
 particularly gracious and dignified. In her nineteenth 
 year she had been united to Ferdinand, the hereditary 
 sovereign of Aragon, in conjunction with whom she 
 now began to reign over the united kingdoms. They 
 were not, however, undisturbed ; for Alphonso, king 
 of Portugal, whose victories over the Barbary Moors 
 had gained for him the cognomen of " the African," 
 having been affianced to the princess Joanna, invaded 
 Castile to vindicate her claim to the crown. Ferdi- 
 nand, by a herald, challenged the invader to fight 
 with his whole army or by single combat, and the 
 hostile ranks encountered. Castilian valor prevailed ; 
 the standard of Portugal was torn to shreds ; the King 
 escaped to a fortified castle, and soon after he withdrew 
 with his youthful bride into Portugal ; but the Pope 
 having forbidden their marriage, the hapless princess 
 sought consolation in a convent. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, being now secure, intro- 
 duced several important reforms for the observance 
 of law, the administration of justice, and the regula-
 
 286 fliSTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 tion of trade. The Moorish kmgdom of Granada waa 
 50 tempting a prize, that they determined on annexing 
 it to their dominions. Hitherto the two nations, in 
 spite of their natural enmity, had enjoyed much, and 
 not unimportant, friendly intercourse. The Spaniards 
 had acquired something of Arabian gravity of demean* 
 or, magnificence of air, and reserve in conversation, 
 from communicating with their Saracenic neighbors. 
 As late as 14G3 Henry had held a personal interview 
 with the King of Granada, under a splendid pavilion 
 erected in the vcga, at the foot of the Alhambra, and 
 after an exchange of presents, the Spanish sovereign 
 had been escorted to his frontiers by Moorish cavaliers ; 
 but in 1476, when the annual tribute was demanded, 
 the Moorish king proudly replied, that the mints of 
 Granada coined gold no longer, but steel ; and he 
 soon after attacked and carried off' the population of 
 the town of Zahara. At this crisis the high-spirited 
 Moor died, and was succeeded by his nephew, the 
 weak and unfortunate Boabdil. Thereupon Ferdi- 
 nand, entering Granada with the whole force of Ar- 
 ragon and Castile, besieged the city for eight months. 
 The Moorish King then came to the gates, and pre- 
 senting the keys on a cushion to Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, implored their protection. The valley of Pior- 
 chena was assigned him as a residence ; but being 
 discontented with his lot, he after a little delay went 
 over to Barbary. On Friday, the Gth of January, 
 1492, Ferdinand and his Q,ueen made tlieir entrance
 
 COLUMBUS
 
 CONQUEST OF GRANADA. 289 
 
 into Granada ; the Moslem crescents were plucked 
 from the minarets of the Alhambra, and the arms of 
 Castile and Aragon were displayed in their stead. 
 
 The conquest of Granada made Ferdinand mastel 
 cf the fairest province in the Peninsula ; and, assum- 
 ing the title of King of Spain, he recovered ficm 
 France the districts of which Louis the Crafty ha(f 
 taken possession. He then established the Court of 
 Inquisition, which consigned thousands of his subjects 
 to the flames for heresy, and was put in force against 
 the Jews, who fled by thousands, with their industry 
 and intelligence, to the other states of Europe. For 
 these services, Ferdinand and Isabella were rewarded 
 by the Pope with the title of Catholic Majesties. 
 
 About this time Christopher Columbus received 
 from the court of Spain the encouragement which 
 led to discoveries so important. A native of Genoa, 
 he had unsuccessfully applied to the Government of 
 that state for aid in his daring project of sailing to 
 the East Indies by the west, and then made proposals 
 to the Kings of England and Portugal, which were 
 rejected. In 1486 he came to urge his schemes upon 
 the sovereigns of Spain ; but after six years of fruit- 
 less entreaty, was on the point of leaving the country, 
 when Isabella, at the instance of her confessor, sum- 
 moned the suitor to her presence. At this interview, 
 the solemn aspect, grave air, and dignified appearance 
 of Columbus, made so favorable an impression on the 
 Glueen, that she ordered a fleet of three vessels to be
 
 290 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 fitted out at Palos. At that port, with a hundred 
 and twenty companions, Cokimbus embarked on the 
 3d of August, 1492; and on the 12th of October, 
 after thirty days' sail from Canary, came in sight of 
 land, which proved to be one of the Bahama Islands. 
 When the sun rose, the adventurers, manning their 
 boats, rowed ashore, playing martial music, and dis- 
 playing the royal standard. Columbus, in a scarlet 
 dress, and bearing a naked sword, set his foot on the 
 soil of the new world, and after taking possession of 
 the island on behalf of the Castilian sovereigns, gave 
 it the name of San Salvador. The natives gazed on 
 in silent surprise, and in the simplicity of their hearts 
 believed the Spaniards to be preternatural beings. 
 
 Pursuing his career of discovery, Columbus took 
 possession of Cuba and St. Domingo, and then re- 
 turned in triumph to Spain. At Barcelona he was 
 received by Ferdinand and Isabella with the utmost 
 favor, and desired to sit covered, like a grandee of the 
 realm. A fleet of seventeen ships was fitted out, and 
 he undertook a second voyage, which ended in disap- 
 pointment ; but during a third, on the 1st of August, 
 1498, he discovered the continent of America, and 
 carried six of the natives to St. Domingo, as evidence 
 of his success. But the great navigator was doomed 
 to humiliating reverses : his enemies prevailed at Mad- 
 rid ; he was displaced from his offices, and sent home 
 in chains. Being set at liberty on arrival, he under- 
 took a fourth expedition, from which, after being ship-
 
 DISCOVERIES BY COLUMBUS. 291 
 
 wrecked on the island of Jamaica, he arrived in Spain 
 in 1505 ; but Isabella having meantime died, he was 
 allow^ed by Ferdinand to drag out his career in obscu- 
 rity at Valladolid. 
 
 Ferdinand, after taking an important part in the 
 Italian wars, where his general, Gonsalvo de Cordova, 
 the Great Captain, signalized his military skill against 
 the French, died in 151G, and an Austrian prince as- 
 cended the Spanish throne. 
 
 It has been already stated that Mary of Burgundy, 
 daughter and heiress of that fiery Duke who fell fight- 
 ing against the Swiss, became wife of Maximilian, 
 afterward Emperor of Germany. In the month of 
 February, 1482, that noble lady was holding her 
 court in the city of Bruges, in Flanders, then a great 
 commercial emporium of Europe ; and, mounting her 
 palfrey one day, she rode forth, with a small retinue, 
 to fly her hawks at the herons, which abounded in 
 the vicinity. While pursuing the sport and leaping 
 a fence, the girths of her saddle burst, and she was 
 thrown violently against a tree. Dying from the 
 effects of the accident, Mary left a son, named Philip, 
 who espoused Ferdinand's daughter, Jane the Fcohsh, 
 and had a son Charles, born at Ghent in 1500. On 
 the demise of Isabella, Jane, as her daughter, became' 
 Q,ueen of Castile ; but immediately after, the sudden 
 death of Philip bereft his young widow of her reason. 
 Her case was hopeless ; and on Ferdinand's death, 
 young Charles of Austria was associated with his in-
 
 292 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 sane mother on the Spanish throne, while the aged 
 Cardinal Ximenes, a consummate statesman, grasped 
 the reins of government with vigor and dexterity. 
 Three years later, on the death of his grandfather, 
 Maximihan, the ambitious King of Spain, was elected 
 Emperor of Germany ; and thus becoming the most 
 powerful monarch in Europe, he commenced that long 
 and arduous struggle with Francis I. which has been 
 previously sketched. 
 
 At the time when Charles received the imperial 
 crown there was residing on the island of Cuba a 
 Spaniard, named Hernandez Cortez, the scion of an 
 ancient and honorable family. He had left the moth- 
 er country at nineteen, become proprietor of a flourish- 
 ing plantation, married a young woman of beauty and 
 excellence, and acquired high favor with Velasquez, 
 governor of the colony. Yet, though apparently des- 
 tined to a prosperous and peaceful career, so adven- 
 turous was the spirit of Cortez, that he sought and 
 obtained the command of a squadron which the gov- 
 ernor was fitting out for a voyage of discovery to the 
 American continent. Dreading the bold and ambi- 
 tious nature of Cortez, the governor recalled this prom- 
 ise, and appointed another as captain ; but Cortez got 
 under way in the night, with the ships half-stored and 
 equipped, and sailed from Cuba, never more to return. 
 Arriving in the river Tabasco, he landed in spite of a 
 desperate resistance, made the natives swear allegiance 
 to the King of Spain, caused mass to be celebrated in
 
 CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND PERU. 293 
 
 the principal temples, formed an alliance with the 
 Tlascalans, a warlike Indian tribe, and rolled the tide 
 of conquest toward the capital of Mexico. 
 
 Montezuma, the Mexican Emperor, received the 
 strangers with veneration, swore fealty to Spain, 
 placed himself in the custody of Cortez, and assigned 
 a temple as a Christian place of worship. This last 
 concession was too much for his heathen subjects, who, 
 instigated by their priests, declared that the Spaniards 
 must perish on the altars they had violated. Cortez 
 was preparing for a fierce struggle, when informed 
 that there had anchored off the coast a fleet, com- 
 manded by Narvaez, a brave officer, commissioned by 
 the Governor of Cuba to supersede him. AM^are that 
 his only chance lay in a sudden stroke, Cortez, with 
 seventy picked men, set out for the camp of Narvaez, 
 and after arresting his rival in a dark night, allured 
 the soldiers to his standard, and returned to the capi- 
 tal. There the fury of the Mexicans had become so 
 great, that Montezuma iu vain attempted to allay the 
 storm ; and mortified at his loss of authority, the Em- 
 peror expired, while the streets were thronged with 
 countless multitudes, who for successive days besieged 
 the palace where the Spaniards were lodged. 
 
 In this terrible situation, Cortez resolved to cut his 
 way to the territory of his Tlascalan allies ; and on a 
 July night, after hearing mass, he led his followers 
 from their quarters in the centre of the city. After a 
 bloody fight on the causeway he effected an escape,
 
 294 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 and reached the open countrj' ; but there his little 
 army was suddenly attacked by an overwhelming 
 force. The position of the Spaniards seemed despe- 
 rate, when Cortez, ever cool and courageous, suddenly, 
 penetrated to where the enemy's banner was displayed, 
 killed with his own hand the Mexican general, and 
 mstantly changed the fortune of the day. Resting 
 from his fatigues till the autumn, he returned to the 
 capital, where Gautemozin now reigned as Emperor, 
 and commenced warlike operations. But in May, 
 1521, Cortez, hopeless of otherwise accomplishing his 
 object, took the terrible resolution of destroying every 
 house as he advanced. Burning palaces and temples, 
 he gradually made his way into the market-place, and 
 then reluctantly gave orders for a general assault. 
 The battle, which lasted for two days, was decisive : 
 the youthful Emperor, being taken in a canoe, %vas 
 executed : and the independence of Mexico was extin- 
 guished. 
 
 Soon after the conquest of Mexico, Francis Pizarro, 
 landing in Peru with a formidable force, subdued that 
 large, powerful, and flourishing empire, compelled the 
 Peruvians to work the mines for their advantage, and 
 added the conquered territory to the possessions of the 
 Spanish crown. 
 
 While his gallant subjects, stimulated by the desire 
 of wealth, were winning for Charles an empire on 
 which the sun never set, war was carried on in Europe ; 
 and his great rival, Francis, taken at Pavia, Avas lying
 
 IGNATIUS LOYOLA. 205 
 
 at liis mercy in Madrid. But though the might of the 
 Emperor overshadowed the princes of Europe, the 
 Spaniards, regarding him as a stranger and foreigner, 
 revolted in defense of their pohtical rights : the civil 
 wars of the ComniU7ieros were the consequence ; and 
 Charles, having excluded the grandees from the repre- 
 sentation, succeeded in withering by his despotism the 
 free spirit that had long animated the ancient institu- 
 tions of Castile and Aragon. 
 
 While the religious reformation was agitating the 
 other states of Europe, the Spanish nation remained 
 unmoved hy the shock, and out of it came Ignatius 
 Loyola, destined not only to rescue the imperiled 
 Papacy, but to breathe new life into the expiring 
 system by which Rome had for centuries held the 
 human intellect in sacerdotal bondage. 
 
 When King Francis began his wars with the Em- 
 peror, by sending an army to recover the little kingdom 
 of Navarre for the family of D'Albret, and when the 
 French General laid siege to the town of Pampeluna, 
 among the Spanish garrison was a gallant knight, 
 about thirty years of age, who had been born in the 
 Castle of Loyola, and educated at the court of Ferdi- 
 nand. His person was handsome, his heart owned 
 the might of beauty's spell, and his soul glowed with 
 the fire of chivalry and ambition. When others talked 
 of capitulating, he treated the idea with disdain, and 
 mounting the ramparts in a suit of glittering mail, re- 
 pelled the assailants. A ball striking the wall where
 
 296 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 he stood, broke his left leg ; and as he fell senseless, 
 the Spaniards surrendered. But the French, with a 
 generous appreciation of the wounded knight's valor, 
 bore him to the Castle of Loyola, where, having un- 
 flinchingly endured an excruciating operation, he slow- 
 ly recovered. To kill the tedious hours while on a 
 sick bed, the prostrate cavalier, in the absence of 
 romantic tomes, read the Life of Christ ; and gradual- 
 ly conceived for the heroism of saints and the suffer- 
 ings of martyrs an admiration which the brightest 
 deeds of chivalry could no longer excite in his breast. 
 On rising, he invited his old companions to a last re- 
 past, and then, betaking himself to a cave among 
 rocks, gave his gay attire to a beggar, clothed himself 
 in sackcloth, and mortified his spirit with fasts and 
 vigils. Thence, with a pilgrim's staff' in his hand, 
 though still lame, he journeyed by secluded paths to 
 the Convent of Mauresa, where, after some natural 
 sighs for the lady he had loved as well as the world 
 he had left, after allowing his hair and his nails to 
 grow, the once blooming and brilliant warrior was, by 
 cruel penances, transformed into a pale Dominican 
 monk. At length, under the influence of the strong 
 delusions he had fostered, this extraordinary man in- 
 stituted, in 1535, a religious brotherhood, not confined 
 to cloisters, but appointed to mix with and influence 
 mankind, to combat the progress of open heresy, to 
 repress mutiny within the Church, to convert the 
 world to the Romish faith, and to estabhsh the
 
 SOCIETY OF THE JESUITS. 297 
 
 supremacy of the Pope. The metamorphosed kiiight 
 was Ignatius Loyola, and the order founded was the 
 Society of the Jesuits. 
 
 Eight years after his rival had gone to the grave, 
 Charles, in 1556, abdicated the Spanish throne in fa- 
 vor of his son Philip, and a few months later, weary 
 of war and disgusted with grandeur, he resigned the 
 imperial crown to his brother Ferdinand, and retired 
 to indulge his melancholy mood in the monastery of 
 St. Just, on the frontiers of Castile. While there he 
 is reported to have enacted no less extraordinary a 
 scene than the celebration of his own funeral obse- 
 quies. After causing a tomb to be erected in the 
 chapel, and making his attendants walk thither in 
 jirocession, the ex-Emperor followed in his shroud, 
 and was laid in his coffin. The monks then chant- 
 ed the service for the dead, prayed for the repose 
 of his soul, and shed tears for his departure. This 
 singular ceremony is said to have thrown Charles 
 into a fever, of which he expired in his fifty-ninth 
 year. 
 
 Philip II. inherited one of the wealthiest and most 
 magnificent empires on which the sun ever shone, and 
 he sought to increase his hereditary influence by es- 
 pousing Mary, queen, of England, who loved him with 
 the utmost tenderness. But, notwithstanding her 
 displays of affection, Philip, tiring of the society of 
 a spouse so destitute of attractions, and indignant 
 that her subjects would not allow England to be
 
 298 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 made a fief of Spain, escaped to his Continental do- 
 minions. However, when the Pope, jealous of the 
 King's enormous power, formed an alliance with Hen- 
 ry n. of France, to detach Milan and the Sicilies 
 from the crown of Spain, Philip considered it expedi- 
 ent to feign some esteem for his Ci-ueen, and paying 
 her a visit at Greenwich, ohtained the aid of England 
 in his struggle. His army was victorious over the 
 French, led by the Constable Montmorency, at St. 
 Q,uentin ; and at Gravelines the Count Egmont van- 
 quished the old Marshal Thermos ; after which the 
 King of France, by the Treaty of Cambresis, surren- 
 dered to Spain eighty-nine fortified towns in Italy and 
 the Low Countries. 
 
 Phihp was destined to deal with a sovereign infi- 
 nitely less accommodating : for, ere the treaty of peace 
 was signed, tlueen Mary had breathed her last, and 
 been succeeded on the English throne by a princess 
 whose policy baffled his schemes, and whose cour- 
 age defied his vengeance. After, in vain, solicit- 
 ing the coveted hand of Elizabeth, Philip wedded a 
 daughter of Catherine de Medici ; and becoming dis- 
 quieted on the score of religion, he resolved to gratify 
 his natural bigotry by extirpating from his dominions 
 every species of heresy. He began with the Nether- 
 lands, where the Reformed doctrines had made con- 
 siderable progress, and established the Inquisition with 
 plenary power : but this alienated the hearts of the 
 inhabitants, who, choosing as their leader William of
 
 REVOLT IN THE NETHERLANDS. 299 
 
 Orange, a Count of the Empire, bravely resisted the 
 power of Spain. Phihp proscribed, and set a iDrico 
 ^n the head of, the Prince of Orange, who was soon 
 Assassinated ; but his son, Maurice, appeared as his 
 cuccessor, and, with the aid of dueen EHzabeth, ere 
 (ong secured the independence of the United Prov- 
 inces. 
 
 PhiHp, exasperated by the assistance which the En- 
 ghsh Glueen had afforded to the revoked Netherlands, 
 having meantime seized on Portugal, commenced fit- 
 ting out the Invincible Armada for the invasion of 
 England ; and preparations were in full progress when 
 suddenly Sir Francis Drake made a dash at Cadiz, 
 and after destroying tliirty vessels scoured the Spanish 
 coast, burning and shattering many castles and ships. 
 The King's naval operations were thus delayed till 
 May, 1588, when the Armada, consisting of a hundred 
 and thirty sail, left ths Tagus under the command of 
 the Duke of Medina, who hoped to steer through the 
 Channel to Flanders, and form a junction with the 
 Duke of Parma. But being attacked by the English 
 Admiral, and after several engagements driven toward 
 Orkney, the fleet was so effectually scattered by a tem- 
 pest, that the Duke returned to Spam with not more 
 than sixty shattered vessels. 
 
 Spanish ambition was soon directed toward an- 
 other country. The extinction of the house of Va- 
 lois, and the enmity of the League to Henry cf 
 Navarre, inspired Philip with the hope of placing
 
 200 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 his daughter Isabella on the throne of her maternal 
 uncle, and he sent into France Alexander Farnese, 
 the great Duke of Parma. That famous general, 
 after nearly seizing Henry at the battle of Aumale, 
 forced him to raise the siege of Rouen ; but the King, 
 by a series of active manoeuvres, hemmed in Parma 
 between the sea, the Seine, and three divisions of 
 his army. In this perilous crisis, the aged warrior, 
 though his frame was bowed down with fever, mani- 
 fested his approved genius. Rousing himself to en- 
 ergy, and eluding the vigilance of the enemy, he erect- 
 ed a bridge in a single night, crossed the river unde- 
 tected, and brought off the Spanish army in safety. 
 The Spaniards still occupied Paris ; but, on the day 
 when Khig Henry entered his capital, they marched 
 out with the honors of war. The hero of Ivry placed 
 himself at a window to see the troops retire. " Gen- 
 tlemen," cried he, with a laughing sneer, "present 
 my compliments to your master, but come no longer 
 here." 
 
 However, in 1596, war being formally declared, the 
 Spaniards seized Calais, with other walled towns ; 
 and in alarm dueen Elizabeth dispatched a fleet to 
 Cadiz, under the young and accomplished Earl of Es- 
 sex. Landing in spite of the fire from the forts and 
 battlements, the English forced the town to capitulate, 
 made the inhabitants pay for their lives, razed the 
 fortifications, and burned the houses. In revenge, 
 Philip sent ships to threaten the English coast, though
 
 FOREIGN WARS. 301 
 
 without any success ; and at length, satiated with the 
 hlood which had been shed in promotion of his vari- 
 ous and ambitious designs, he signed the Peace of 
 Vervins. On the eve of the battle of St. Quentin, 
 Philip had vowed, in the event of victory, to build, 
 in honor of St. Laurence, a church, a monastery, and 
 a palace; and, in fulfdlment of this vow, he erected 
 near Madrid the magnificent palace of the Escurial, 
 which contained the residence and mausoleum of the 
 sovereigns of Spain. Expiring in 1598, he was laid 
 in the cemetery which he had _ formed beneath tho 
 pavement of the church ; and his son, Phihp III., as- 
 cended the throne. 
 
 From that period Spain declined in power and im- 
 portance, though her empire was long, to outward ap- 
 pearance, great and magnificent. The new king, who 
 was not less bigoted than his gloomy sire, prosecuted 
 the war against the "United Provinces, but, in 1G09, 
 was forced to conclude a treaty at the Hague, which 
 secured civil and religious freedom to the new repub- 
 lic, and restored the confiscated estates of the house of 
 Orange. Yet, untaught by experience, and under the 
 inspiration of his minister, the Duke of Lerma, he 
 issued an edict, ordering the Morescoes, or descendants 
 of the Moors, to leave the kingdom within thirty days, 
 and thus farther enfeebled a state which war and emi- 
 gration had previously deprived of so many energetic 
 and industrious inhabitants. The Morescoes had been 
 conspicuous for their skill and ingenuity in arts and
 
 302 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 manufactures, and this depopulation produced a most 
 baneful effect. 
 
 Philip IV. succeeded, on his father's decease, to an 
 empire more extensive indeed than the realms of the 
 Grand Monarch, but corrupt in all its parts, and in 
 a state of hopeless prostration. The result soon ap- 
 peared. Brazil was taken by the Dutch ; Catalonia 
 revolted to France ; and to suppress the rebellion, the 
 Portuguese were intrusted with arms. The latter, 
 turning against their oppressive governors, placed the 
 Duke of Braganza on the throne ; and Philip was one 
 of the last personages in Europe who heard of the im- 
 portant event. Shut up in the recesses of the Escurial, 
 he was indulging in licentious dissipation, when one 
 day his able and artful minister, Olivarez, craved an 
 audience. " I bring," said he, " good news to your 
 majesty. The Duke of Braganza's whole fortune is 
 yours. He has presumptuously got himself declared 
 King of Portugal, and, consequently, you are entitled to 
 the forfeiture of all his estates." Philip, lost in luxu- 
 rious enjoyment, only replied, " Let the sequestration 
 be ordered." And Portugal was lost to him beyond 
 the hope of recovery. 
 
 A war which broke out with France was termin- 
 ated, in 1659, by the Peace of the Pyrenees, which 
 was negotiated by the crafty Mazarin ; and by this 
 treaty it was stipulated that Louis XIV. should es- 
 pouse the King's eldest daughter, she renouncing all 
 claim to the succession.
 
 ACCESSION OF THE BOURBONS. 303 
 
 lu 1665, Philip expired, and his son Charles suc- 
 ceeded. The kingdom was in a deplorable state, and 
 its ruler a prey to listless melancholy and extravagant 
 superstitions ; so the Kings of France and England, 
 seeing that Charles had no heirs, and that his days 
 were numbered, agreed to a treaty of partition. This 
 roused the languishing monarch into temporary in- 
 dignation, which Louis, though the chief ofiender, suc- 
 ceeded in turning entirely against the other powers. 
 Thus it happened, that while the Spanish embassador 
 was so insolent in his remonstrances at the court ol 
 St. James's, that William commanded him to leave 
 England, Charles, in making a destination of his ter- 
 ritories by will, after numerous consultations with the 
 Pope, the Spanish Universities, and his own Council, 
 nominated as his heir Philip, duke of Anjou, second 
 son of tho Dauphin of France, and grandson of 
 Louis. Having thus laid the foundation of a memo- 
 rable war, Charles died on the 3d of November, 
 1700. 
 
 "When it was publicly announced that the kingdom 
 of Spain had been bequeathed to the Duke of Anjou, 
 Louis, with an unscrupulous disregard of the obliga- 
 tions he had incurred by treaties, acknowledged his 
 grandson as Philip V., and rejoiced in the thought of 
 all the rich possessions of the crown of Spain being 
 transferred to the house of Bourbon. Philip hastened 
 to take possession of the magnificent legacy ; his broth- 
 ers accompanied him to the frontier ; and Louis made
 
 304 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 use of the vain, but significant words — " The Pyrenees 
 exist no longer." 
 
 In the reign of Clueen Elizabeth it had been the 
 policy of England to support the house of Bouiboa 
 against that of Austria, then in the fullness of power, 
 but now the pride and ambition of France had grown 
 to such a height that an opposite course was deemed 
 wise and expedient. Moreover, both the King and 
 people of England were stung to the quick at the 
 proclamation, in Paris, of the Pretender as James III.; 
 a cry for war was raised in all parts of the country ; 
 and WiUiam, having formed the G rand Alliance, pre- 
 pared for hostiUties, when the resolute and energetic 
 spirit was separated from its frail and wasted tene- 
 ment of clay. But Ciueen Anne succeeded her broth- 
 er-in-law, and forthwith, to place Charles of Austria 
 on the Spanish throne, was commenced that terrible 
 contest known in history as the War of the Succes- 
 sion. 
 
 While Marlborough began with glory the war in 
 Flanders, Admiral Rooke and the Duke of Ormond 
 made an attack on Cadiz ; but failing in the attempt 
 they sailed to the port of Vigo, and captured some 
 rich Spanish galleons from the Havana. Louis sent 
 to the aid of his feeble and indolent grandson an army 
 commanded by the Duke of Berwick, a natural son 
 of James II., whose mihtary skill held the Allies in 
 check during the campaign of 1704 ; but during that 
 year Admiral Rooke, having appeared before Gibral-
 
 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 305 
 
 tar, made liis men climb the rock, and display the 
 lion flag of England from its heights. 
 
 Next year was distinguished by the brilliant ex- 
 ploits of Charles Mordaunt, earl of Peterborough, a 
 man of singular talent and eccentricity, who, landing 
 ia Catalonia, took Barcelona, and caused the Arch- 
 duke Charles to be proclaimed King of Spain. Short- 
 ly after, an English army appeared on the heights 
 above Madrid, and Phihp Avith his Cluoen, a princess 
 of Savoy, fled in alarm to Burgos, a city of old Cas- 
 tile, while the English, entering Madrid in triumph, 
 proclaimed the Archduke in the streets as Charles 
 III. 
 
 The struggle, for a time, appeared to be termina- 
 ting in favor of the Austrian claimant ; but a reaction 
 was at hand. The spirit of the Spanish peasantry, 
 who during the contest had seemed dormant, burst 
 forth when the affairs of Philip were at the worst. 
 They subscribed money, and took up arms in the 
 cause of their fugitive King ; and about the same time 
 the romantic and volatile Peterborough, having lost 
 all patience with the tardy Archduke, declared that 
 men were great fools to fight for two such blockheads 
 as Charles and Philip, and finally obtained permission 
 to leave the allied army. 
 
 From the day of Peterborough's departure for En- 
 gland the fortunes of Philip brightened and rose. The 
 Duke of Berwick compelled his adversaries to retreat 
 on Valencia, where the inhabitants favored the Aus- 
 U
 
 306 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 trian claim ; and on the plains of Almanza the Allies 
 were so completely defeated, that the French, pursu- 
 ing their conquests, occupied everj' place but Catalo- 
 .•nia. General Stanhope now took the command of 
 ■ the English army. In 1710 bolder enterprises were 
 (Ventured on ; the troops of Philip M'cre twice roiited ; 
 • the Allies again marched into Madrid ; and the King, 
 a second time, fled from his capital. But, once more, 
 the proud, high-spirited peasants of Castile seized 
 their pikes and fire-locks ; and the invaders, finding 
 themselves in the heart of a population haughtily 
 hostile, commenced a retreat in the direction of Ara- 
 gon. 
 
 Louis, perplexed in the extreme by the brilliant 
 victories of Marlborough, had made overtures for 
 peace, little in accordance with his proud spirit, and 
 even offered to abandon the cause of his grandson ; 
 but being unsuccessful, he sent into Spain the famous 
 Duke of Vendome, whose name was the terror of his 
 enemies. Vendome accomplished his march with in- 
 credible speed, and coming up to Brihuega, where 
 Stanhope had arrived with eight squadrons and eight 
 battalions, invested the town, and after a terrible 
 struggle captured the English general and his little 
 army. By a victor}' on the following day he ren- 
 dered the Austrian cause hopeless, and every prospect 
 of seating the Archduke on the Spanish throne was at 
 an end. 
 
 At this period great political changes occurred in
 
 PEACE OF UTRECHT. 307 
 
 England, dueen Anne conceived an aversion toward 
 the Duchess of Marlborough ; the illustrious Duke was 
 disgraced ; Harley and St. John acceded to power ; 
 and negotiations were commenced at Utrecht, which 
 resulted in a European peace. Philip, for himself and 
 his posterity, renounced all claim to the throne of 
 France ; the heirs of Louis precluded themselves from 
 the throne of Spain ; Majorca and Gibraltar remained 
 in possession of England ; and the Archduke Charles 
 succeeded his brother as Emperor of Germany. 
 
 Soon after the peace of Utrecht, a bitter quarrel 
 arose between the two branches of the house of Bour- 
 bon ; a Spanish fleet attacked the coast of Brittany ; 
 a French army, under the Duke of Berwick, entered 
 Spain : but amity was restored by the (Quadruple 
 Treaty, signed at the Hague in 1720. Three years 
 later the Infanta was sent to Paris as the betrothed 
 bride of the young King Louis, and a daughter of the 
 Eegent Orleans arrived at Madrid as the prospective 
 wife of the Prince of Asturias ; but the Duke of Bour- 
 bon, being elevated to the post of Prime Minister, dis- 
 solved these alliances, and returned the Lifanta to her 
 father. 
 
 Philip had in the preceding year, in submission to 
 the Jesuits, abdicated the Spanish throne in favor of 
 his son Ludovico ; but that prince dying after a reign 
 of seven months, and his younger brother being only 
 ten years of age, the old King was prevailed on U 
 yesume the sceptre. He had scarcely reascended the
 
 308 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 tlirone when intelligence was received of Bourbon 
 having broken ofi" the intended marriage — an insult 
 which Castihan pride could not brook. Philip formed 
 an alliance with his former rival, the Emperor Charles ; 
 but the dismissal of Bourbon and the pacific effects 
 bf the Cardinal Fleury restored peace between the 
 royal kinsmen; and in 1734, Philip, invading Italy, 
 placed his son Don Carlos upon the throne of Naples. 
 
 Ferdinand V., a prince of a mild and pacific dis- 
 position, succeeded his father in 1746, and gave much 
 encouragement to arts, commerce, and manufactures ; 
 but the death of his Q,ueen overwhelmed him in such 
 grief that he died in 1759. His brother Don Carlos, 
 ascending the throne with the title of Charles III., 
 was induced to sign, with France, that family com- 
 pact which stipulated for reciprocal aid between the 
 different branches of the Bourbons, and denounced as 
 the enemy of all any power that might hereafter be 
 at war with one. 
 
 Ferdinand and his subjects had soon cause to re- 
 pent of this temerity ; for the Seven Years' AVar be- 
 gan, and the arms of England were signally triumph- 
 ant. Havana was taken by the English in 1762, 
 and Spain suffered enormous losses, till the Treaty of 
 Fontainebleau put an end to the war, and restored 
 her possessions. 
 
 Charles was once more drawn into war with En- 
 gland ; and in 1779 commenced that siege of Gibral- 
 tar, which for two years was persisted in without
 
 SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR. 309 
 
 cfiect. At length, in 1782, when the defense had 
 been hitrusted to General Elliot, a grand attack waa 
 resolved on, and King Charles inquired every morn- 
 ing, on waking, " Is it taken ?" On the 13th of Sep- 
 tember a mighty effort was made : a French engineer 
 'had constructed floating batteries, wliich he said could 
 neither be sunk nor set on fire ; and four hundred 
 pieces of the heaviest artilleiy were brought to bear 
 on the fortress. But the red-hot balls fired by the 
 garrison were irresistible in their eftect ; the hostile 
 batteries were destroyed, the ships sunk, and most of 
 the besiegers with them. Elliot, for his gallant and 
 memorable defense, was ennobled, with the title of 
 Lord Heathfield, and peace was concluded next year. 
 
 Soon after this failure, King Charles made an 
 attempt to reform the dress and manners of his sub- 
 jects, and carried his measures to so imprudent a 
 length, that an insuirection occurred at Madrid, and 
 he was under the necessity of dismissing his favorite 
 minister, Squillace. The earthly career of Charles 
 closed in 1788, and he was eucceeded by his son, 
 Charles IV. 
 
 "When, in 1793, a confederacy was formed against 
 the French Repubhc, Charles joined in the league ; 
 but a French army being sent into Spain, he changed 
 sides, and was soon inspired with a Jiigh admiration 
 of the Emperor Napoleon. His subjects being still 
 animated by their ancient hatred toward England, 
 Charles was not averse to minister to Napoleon's
 
 310 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SPAIN. 
 
 ambition, and in 1805 they declared war in concert ; 
 but their united fleets were destroyed in the great 
 battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 Still it was in Bonaparte's power to exercise a 
 sovereign influence over Spain, without infringing on 
 that national spirit which, a centur)' earlier, had re- 
 sisted the allies of the House of Austria ; till the dis- 
 sensions iir the royal family stimulated his ambition. 
 Charles, a feeble prince, entirely under the influence 
 of Godoy, the Q,ueen's favorite, had fallen into con- 
 tempt. His son, Ferdinand, was the idol of the na- 
 tion ; and Napoleon was entreated to arbitrate in re- 
 gard to their diflerences. He seized the occasion to 
 send an army across the Pyrenees under Murat, who 
 suddenly took possession of Barcelona and several 
 strongholds. Soon after, Napoleon demanded a sur- 
 render of the provinces on the left bank of the Ebro. 
 Charles and his spouse were dumb with surprise ; 
 Godoy advised the King and Queen to embark for 
 their American dominions ; and preparations were 
 made with that view. But their son, Ferdinand, 
 opposing the step, summoned the populace, raised an 
 insurrection, in which the royal troops took part, caused 
 Godoy to be arrested, kept the King prisoner, and after 
 I procuring an abdication in his own favor, entered 
 Madrid in haughty triumph as Sovereign of Spain. 
 
 Brief was his ovation ; for on the following day 
 Murat marched his army into the capital, and Charles 
 protested against his compulsory abdication; but
 
 USURPATION OF BONAPARTE. 311 
 
 though Murat refused to acknowledge the royalty of 
 Ferdinand, he administered no comfort to Charles — 
 " Napoleon alone," he said, " can decide between the 
 father and the son." 
 
 What that meant was ere long heyond all douht ; 
 for the Emperor going to Bayonne, summoned thither 
 the King as well as his vmdutiful heir. He then decided 
 the matter by making Charles abdicate in his own 
 favor, by imprisoning Ferdinand in the Chateau of 
 Valencay, and by assigning that of Compiegne as a 
 residence for the deposed monarch. 
 
 Murat, meanwhile, retained possession of Madrid ; 
 and, under French influence, the Council of Castile 
 demanded as king the Emperor's eldest brother, 
 Joseph. The latter, resigning the crown of Naples to 
 Murat, hastened to Bayonne, where he was acknowl- 
 edged as sovereign of Spain by various deputations. 
 But, ere his entry mto Madrid, the Spanish peasantry 
 had indignantly taken up arms ; the clergy had in- 
 flamed their enthusiasm by representing Napoleon as 
 Antichrist ; the royal troops joined the insurgents ; a 
 cry of vengeance arose throughovxt the land ; and at 
 Cadiz the French fleet was seized and the crew 
 slaughtered. The victory of Bessieres opened the gates 
 tf Madrid to King Joseph ; who, however, was fain, 
 when Dupont capitulated at Bayleu, to leave the city 
 tvithin a week of his triumphant entry ; and he soon 
 possessed in all Spain no more than Navarre, Biscay, 
 and Barcelona.
 
 312 HISTORY FOR BOYS— SPAIN. 
 
 Ambitious of subjugating Spain, the Emperor sum- 
 moned, thither his still unconquered legions, and plac- 
 ing himself at their head, was victorious in three en- 
 gagements. Entering Madrid, he tempted, the inhab- 
 itants with promises of franchises and the abolition 
 of feudalism ; but their ears were closed against all 
 offers. 
 
 The Spaniards were resolutely rising in organized 
 bands, and the English army was approaching, when 
 the news arrived that Austria had formed a new 
 coalition with England, Bonaparte withdrew to the 
 Hhine, while the Spaniards hailed their ancient ene- 
 mies as deliverers, and the English defeated King 
 Jo.?eph in the battle cf Talavera. The victory of 
 AYellington over Marmont at Salamanca, in 1812, and 
 that over King Joseph at Vittoria, in 1813, brought 
 the English to the Pyrenees ; and Spain was irre- 
 claimably lost to the Empire of the French. 
 
 Emerging from his prison at Valencay, Ferdinand 
 VII. returned to take possession of his ancestral 
 throne ; but the princes of restored dynasties are the 
 most infatuated of beings, and the new King of Spain 
 did not escape the general doom. Instead of granting 
 liberal institutions, he, at the instigation of the priests, 
 re-established the hateful Inquisition, and practiced his 
 tyrannies so ruthlessly, that, in 1820, the endurance of 
 his subjects was at an end. Riego, rising in arms, pro- 
 claimed the Constitution which the Cortes had adopted 
 in 1812 ; and, though he was unsuccessful', the greater
 
 THE INSURRECTION OF RIEGO. 313 
 
 part of the nation rose. The army joined the insur- 
 gents, and, though Ferdinand announced his intention 
 of convenmg the Cortes and granting reforms, his 
 ofiers were despised. The populace thronged and 
 clamored around his palace ; and the wretched King 
 was fain to proclaim the Constitution. 
 
 At that time, the Congress of Yerona, convoked to 
 consider the affairs of Greece, found the Spanish revo- 
 lution a much more exciting topic ; a French army on 
 the frontier was ready to aid Ferdinand, but the Duke 
 of Wellington, as representative of England, objected 
 to intervention. Nevertheless, in 1823, the troops, 
 under the Duke of Angouleme, crossed the Pyrenees, 
 and entered Madrid. Ferdinand, who had previously 
 been deposed by the Cortes, on being restored by 
 French arms annulled every act of the Constitutional 
 Government, and Riego was hanged on a very high 
 gibbet, without being permitted to address the people. 
 
 In 1833, Ferdinand, from indulging to excess in 
 eating, died of apoplexy, having previously nominated 
 his Glueen as Regent during the minority of her 
 daughter, Isabella 11., then three years of age. The 
 new reign began with civil strife, for Don Carlos, 
 uncle of the youthful sovereign, aspired to the crown, 
 and on his return from exile the Carlist war for years 
 desolated the unfortunate country.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 "While Spaniard was struggling against Moor — 
 Christian against Saracen — the Cross against the Cres- 
 cent — there came to the aid of Alphonso, king of Cas- 
 tile, a noble volunteer, celebrated as Henry of Bur- 
 gundy, who rendered such efficient assistance, that the 
 Castilian sovereign in gratitude bestowed upon him the 
 hand of his daughter and the province of Portugal. 
 Henry was content with the title of Count ; but his 
 son Alphonso, having achieved a decisive victory over 
 no fewer than five Moorish kings, was, by his soldiers, 
 invested with royal ranlc in 1139. He soon after, 
 with the assistance of the Crusaders, gained possession 
 of Lisbon ; made matters pleasant with the Pope, hy 
 paying annually two marks of gold ; reigned with a 
 high character for courage and wisdom during forty- 
 six years, and transmitted the regal dignity to his de- 
 scendants, who were involved in perpetual w'ar with 
 the Moors. 
 
 In 1383, however, King Ferdinand of Portugal 
 died without male issue ; the King of Castile, who 
 had espoused the Infanta, claimed the throne, and the
 
 DISCOVERIES BY THE PORTUGUESE. 315 
 
 matter remained in abeyance for eighteen months. 
 But at the end of that time the States of Portugal 
 bestowed the crown upon John, a natural brother of 
 the deceased sovereign ; and he, proving quite worthy 
 of his elevation, formed a navy, and maintained the 
 dignity of his kingdom. His third son, Don Henry, 
 was remarkable for enterprise ; and equipping a sin- 
 gle ship, projected discoveries in the Western Ocean. 
 Driven out to sea, he landed on the island of Porto 
 Santo ; and the mariners, emboldened by this acci- 
 dent to venture into the open sea, were rewarded by 
 the discovery, in 1420, of Madeira, where their colo- 
 nists planted the Cyprus vine and the sugar-cane. 
 Encouraged by this success, Henry obtained a papal 
 bull, granting to the Portuguese whatever countries 
 they might discover between Cape Horn and India ; 
 and soon after the Cape de Verd Islands were added 
 to their colonies. 
 
 Edward having succeeded his father John, and 
 Edward's son, Alphonso V., whose victory over the 
 Moors won him the cognomen of " the African," hav- 
 ing occupied the throne, John H., a prince of sagacity 
 and intelligence, but of a hot and enterprising temper, 
 inherited the sceptre, and made Lisbon a free port. 
 The profits derived by the Venetians from their trado 
 with the East tempted the avidity of the Portuguese, 
 who prosecuted discoveries with ardor, made conquests, 
 and established their commerce in the interior of Afri- 
 ca ; and, led by Captain Diaz, in 148G they passed
 
 31G HISTORY FOR BOYS.— PORTUGAL. 
 
 the extreme point of Africa, to which they gave the 
 name of the " Stormy Cape." " No," said King John, 
 who recognized the value of this discovery, " let it be 
 called the Cape of Good Hope." 
 
 The spirit of enterprise was now fully awakened ; 
 and Emanuel the Fortunate, John's successor, sent 
 out a fleet under Vasco de Gama, who, doubhng the 
 Cape, after a voyage of thirteen months achieved the 
 passage to India by sea. Another Portuguese admiral, 
 Alvarez de Cabral, while sailing to India, and keeping 
 out to sea to avoid the calms on the coast of Africa, 
 discovered Brazil. 
 
 These discoveries rendered Lisbon ancl the Portu- 
 guese great and enviable in the eyes o^ European 
 traders. In India they beat down the opposition of 
 the native princes, conquered the coast of Malabar, 
 captured the city of Goa, which, as tlie residnuce of 
 their viceroy, became the seat of their Indian empire, 
 and in fifty years rendered themselves masters of the 
 whole trade of the Indian Ocean. 
 
 John III., in 1521, succeeded his father Emanuel, 
 who, after establishing the Inquisition in his domin' 
 ions, admitted the order of Jesuits recently instituted 
 by Ignatius Loyola, became a member of the society, 
 and sent many of the brethren to convert his Eastern 
 subjects. Dying after a reign of thirty-six years, his 
 sen, the famous Don Sebastian, came to the throne in 
 1557 : and about that period the King of Morocco, 
 having been dethroned by an uncle, solicited the aid
 
 STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN. 317 
 
 of Portugal. Don Sebastian, sailing from Lisbon with 
 a noble armada, and landing with an army in Africa, 
 indulged his military ardor in a crusade against the 
 Moors ; but, being defeated and slain, he was succeed- 
 ed on the throne of Portugal by his rmcle, Don Henry, 
 a cardinal and archbishop, who, after a reign cf two 
 years, died without heirs. 
 
 Upon this there occurred a struggle for the crown 
 between Philip II., king of Spain, as heir of Isabel of 
 Portugal, and Don Antonio, prior of Crato, an illegit- 
 imate representative of the royal line. But Philip, 
 defeating his rival in an engagement at sea, quietly 
 took possession of the prize, and Don Antonio sought 
 refuge in England. There he pined in pinching pov- 
 erty till 1589, when, the Invincible Armada having 
 been defeated, Q,ueen Elizabeth, to annoy Philip, 
 brought the Don before the public, boldly declared 
 him a legitimate prince, and provailcd on Parliament 
 to grant a supply for the purpose of placing him on 
 his ancestral throne. An armament of two hundred 
 sail was, with the aid of the Dutch, collected. Sir 
 Francis Drake took the command ; the Earl of Essex 
 stole away from his royal mistress's apron-string, and 
 hid himself on board ; Don Antonio embarked with 
 royal honors ; and the fleet left the shores of England. 
 After an attempt on Corunna, the English landed at 
 Penicke, and marched with little resistance to Lisbon, 
 proclaiming Don Antonio, whom nobody joined. In- 
 deed, every thing went wrong ; and though the city
 
 318 HISTORY FOR BOYS.—PORTUGAL. 
 
 was almost undefended, the English, having no artil- 
 lery, and sickness having thinned their ranks, came to 
 the conclusion of returning home, -which they did after 
 plundering a couple of towns. 
 
 But though the Portuguese had declined to support 
 the pretensions of Don Antonio, they were by no 
 means contented with their Spanish rulers ; and after 
 Portugal had been treated as a province for sixty 
 years the people revolted, and, by a bloodless revo- 
 lution, placed on the throne the Duke of Braganza, 
 who, as descended from a daughter of Emanuel the 
 Fortunate, began to reign as John IV. Ships were 
 dispatched to expel the Spanish governors from the 
 colonies ; Brazil, which had been taken by the Dutch, 
 was recaptured ; and Portugal was restored to its 
 rank as an independent state. 
 
 When John died, and was succeeded by his sou 
 Alphonso, a strange event occurred. The King, be- 
 ing of a Aveak and profligate character, was deserted 
 by his Q,ueen, who, after taking refuge in a convent, 
 and suing for a divorce, was married to her former 
 husband's brother, who ascended the throne as Pedro 
 11., and reigned in peace for thirty years. By a sec- 
 ond marriage Pedro left a son, John V., who took 
 part in the Grrand Alliance against Louis XIV., and 
 almost ruined the cause by causing the loss of the bat- 
 tle of Almanza in 1707. 
 
 Joseph II. succeeded his father in 1750, and his 
 reign was rendered memorable by a terrible visitation.
 
 EARTHQUAKE AT LISBOxN. 319 
 
 The citizens of Lisbon were in the habit of seeking 
 recreation and finding excitement in those public di- 
 A'ersions which had too long and too often delighted 
 the inhabitants of the Peninsula. In the principal 
 square of the city, with the Kmg's palace on one side 
 ■and the river on the other, they gayly assembled to 
 witness, one day bloody fights between ferocious bulls 
 and brave cavaliers, and on another to cheer on the 
 ministers of the Inquisition while they tortured, roast- 
 ed, and burned helpless heretics. "While from the ele- 
 gant mansions of the nobles, flanked by large gardens, 
 and the meaner houses of the citizens, and the humble 
 dwellings of the children of toil, crowds came forth to 
 feast their eyes and huzza at these barbarous execu- 
 tions, an unexpected calamity laid all in the dust. In 
 November, 1755, an earthquake, which shook Spain 
 and Portugal, reduced Lisbon to a heap of ruins. Ten 
 thousand persons lost their lives ; the sad survivors 
 were deprived at once of their habitations and the 
 means of subsistence ; and many were forced to take 
 up their abode in the open fields. 
 
 Ere Portugal had recovered from this disaster, a 
 dangerous conspiracy was formed ; and on a Septem- 
 ber evening, while the King was driving from his 
 countr)f-seat to the capital, he was dangerously wound- 
 ed by a shot fired through the back of his carriage, 
 and only saved from assassination by returning to his 
 rural retreat instead of venturing forward to Lisbon. 
 Tho principal conspirators were seized and executed ;
 
 320 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— PORTUGAL. 
 
 and the Jesuits, whose agency has been suspected in 
 the most diaboUeal plots recorded in history, being 
 accused on this occasion, were fortliwith banished the 
 realm. 
 
 At this period, while Portugal Avas still in the ut- 
 most disorder, an army of sixty thousand k>paniards 
 marched to the frontier, and the courts of France and 
 Spain demanded that the King should enter into a 
 league with them for humbling England. But Jo- 
 seph, who was bound both by national honor and 
 by commercial interest to the English, refused to 
 take part against the ancient ally of his country, 
 and when pressed, declared, " I would rather see 
 the last tile of my palace fall, and have the last 
 drop of my blood spilt, than sacrifice the honor of my 
 crown." 
 
 "War was immediately declared ; the Spanish troops 
 passed the mountains, and several places were taken ; 
 but ten thousand English soldiers coming to the rescue, 
 the invaders abandoned their conquests, and evacu- 
 ated the country before the close of a campaign. 
 
 On the death of Joseph, which occurred in 1777," 
 his daughter Maria was proclaimed Q,ueen ; and to 
 prevent the crown from falling to a foreign house, she 
 obtained a dispensation from the Pope, and was mar- 
 ried to her inicle, Don Pedro. The latter dying in 
 1786, and the dueen becoming infirm, the functions 
 of government were, in 1792, vested in her son, the 
 Prince of Brazil, who, as Regent, took part in the
 
 EXILE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 321 
 
 wars against the French repubUc, aud maintained a 
 strict aUiance with England. 
 
 In 1807, however, the Emperor Napoleon signed 
 with Spain a treaty for the partition of Portugal, is- 
 sued a proclamation to the effect that " the house of 
 Braganza had ceased to reign," and dispatched an 
 army of twenty-eight thousand men luider Junot tt 
 execute his sentence. In this emergency the Prince 
 Jlegent resolved on retiring to Brazil. 
 
 On the 29th of November, the royal family, to the 
 number of fifteen, including the poor old melancholy 
 Q,ueen, embarked with their attendants, and set sail 
 with httle expectation of ever returning ; the British 
 ships fired a salute ; a crowd mournfully watched the 
 retreating vessels ; and as the last sail was disappeai 
 ing the tread of armed men was heard, and the co\ 
 umns of Junot marched into Lisbon. 
 
 Portugal was now in Napoleon's grasp ; but the 
 inhabitants, instead of patiently submitting, speedily 
 revolted. An English army under Wellington came 
 to their assistance ; the French were driven out of 
 Portugal ; and the house of Braganza was, after an 
 interval, recalled. 
 
 John IV. thereupon, leaving his son, Don Pedro, to 
 govern Brazil, returned to occupy his ancestral throne; 
 and on his death, in 1828, Don Pedro being Emperor 
 of Brazil, abdicated the crown of Portugal in favor 
 of his daughter, Donna Maria. But her uncle, Don 
 Miguel, who had been nominated Regent, on return- 
 X
 
 322 HISTORY FOR BOYS— PORTUGAL. 
 
 ing from his travels assumed the title of King, and the 
 reign commenced with troubles. The young Glueen 
 was brought for safety to England, till 1834, when 
 the Pretender being driven from the Peninsula, she 
 was declared of age. In 183G she gave her hand to 
 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg (lotha; and the 
 next year witnessed the birth of the hopeful youth 
 who now wears the crown of Portugal.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. 
 
 The Empire of the West, which Charlemagne haj 
 constructed at so great a cost of blood and treasure, 
 fell to pieces after he had gone to the grave ; and 
 the crown of Germany, being separated from that of 
 the Frankish monarchy, was worn by one branch of 
 the Carlovingian race, while the members of another 
 were enacting the part, without exercising the au- 
 thority, of Kings on the banks of the Sehie. But in 
 911, the various princes of Germany, assuming an 
 attitude of nidependence, elected Conrad of Franconia 
 to the Imperial throne ; and he, after a reign ren- 
 dered troublous by the inroads of the Hungarians, 
 was succeeded by Henry of Saxony, surnamed the 
 Fowler. 
 
 Previous to the time of Charlemagne, the Germans 
 considered it indicative of servitude to live in cities, 
 and argued that even the fiercest animals lost their 
 courage when confined. The prejudice had gradually 
 worn away ; and Henry, in order to resist the Hun- 
 garian horsemen, induced his subjects to build towns, 
 surrounded them with ramparts, fortified them with
 
 324 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMAN Y, ETC. 
 
 towers, and enjoined a certain number of his nobles, 
 albeit their favorite occupation was hunting, to reside 
 within the walls. 
 
 Otho the Great, son of Henr}% becoming Emperor 
 in 938, checked the indefatigable Hungarians, render- 
 ed Bohemia tributary to the Imperial crown, forced 
 the Danes to receive baptism, and, on the invitation 
 of the Pope, marched to settle the afl'airs of Italy. At 
 Rome he was crowned Emperor, dignified with the 
 title of Ca!sar Augustus, and invested with the right 
 of nominating the Pope. 
 
 The son and grandson of Otho having successively 
 enjoyed the Imperial dignity, it was, on the decease of 
 the latter, conferred on his nephew, Henry of Bavaria, 
 who asserted by arms his claim to the sovereignty of 
 Italy. 
 
 Conrad II., Duke of Bavaria, or the Salic, next 
 enjoyed the crown, and rendered fiefs hereditary. By 
 his wife, (lisella of Swabia, he had a son, who succeed- 
 ed him, in the person of Henry III., sumamed the 
 Black ; and he, being a prince of spirit and ability, 
 vindicated his right to create Popes, nominated three 
 in succession, and departing this life in 10'5G, left an 
 infant son of his own name, under the care of his 
 widow, Agues of Guienne. 
 
 Henry IV. succeeded to the Imperial throne on the 
 eve of a great and momeiit(jus struggle, to which he 
 was sacrificed from his youth upward. Being carried 
 ofi^from his widowed mother and intrusted to intrigu-
 
 CAREER OF HILDEBRAND. 325 
 
 ing prelates, his young mind was deliberately cor- 
 rupted ; and he was encouraged to indulge in vicious 
 courses. He was then commanded by Pope Alex- 
 ander to appear before the tribunal of the Holy See, 
 and answer for his debaucheries. Henry treated this 
 mandate with contempt ; but, soon after, Alexander 
 died, and the papal throne was ascended by Hilde« 
 brand, one of the most remarkable men Europe ever 
 saw. 
 
 Hildebrand, the son of a carpenter in a httle town 
 of Tuscany, had risen to be Prior of Clugny, and in 
 that capacity become conspicuous for austerity and 
 self-denial. On the nomination of Leo IX. to the 
 papal chair, he had persuaded that pious prelate that 
 an Emperor had no i^ht to create a Pope, and even 
 prevailed on Leo's successor to confer on the College 
 of Cardinals the exclusive right of voting at papal 
 elections. For his services to the Church, Hilde- 
 brand had successively been appointed Cardinal and 
 Chancellor of the Holy See, and, in 1073, he was 
 elected as Pope by the Sacred College. But before 
 assuming the tiara, he obtained the youthful Emper- 
 or's assent, and then assuming the title of (iregory 
 Vn. he prepared to throw off his mask, and execute 
 his mission of " pulling down the pride of kings."' 
 
 Meantime the Saxon subjects of the Emperor, on 
 the verge of revolt, sent deputies to demand an audi- 
 ence of him, and explain their grievances. The dep- 
 uties found Henry engaged with a game of hazard.
 
 326 HISTORY FOR BOY^S.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 and he contemptuously bade them wait till it was 
 finished. The Saxons indignantly rose in arms under 
 Otho of Nordhim, and in a few hours the Emperor 
 was a fugitive. A Diet, or Assembly of the States, 
 was held to depose him, and bestow the crown on 
 Rodolph of Swabia ; but a display of excessive loy- 
 alty on the part of the citizens of Worms caused the 
 dissolution of the Diet, and Henry, panting for ven- 
 geance, led, in the depth of a severe winter, his gal- 
 lant array to the Saxon frontier. There, however, he 
 found the insurgent forces of Otho so much superior to 
 his own, that he was mider the necessity of capitula- 
 ting ; but at this point, the great feudatories of the em- 
 pire taking up his quarrel, Henry, with the whole 
 strength of Germany, encountered the rebellious Sax- 
 ons on the banks of the Unstrut, and, at a fearful cost 
 of life, gained a bloody victory. 
 
 Meanwhile, Gregory, having enacted a law for- 
 bidding priests to marry, and another precluding kings 
 from the right of investing spiritual dignitaries, sent 
 two legates to cite Henry to appear before him for his 
 delinquencies, in continuing to bestow and sell investi- 
 tures. This brought the dispute between the Pope 
 and the Emperor to a crisis, for the legates being un- 
 ceremoniously dismissed, and a Diet held at Worms 
 having deposed Hildebrand, he, in retaliation, excom- 
 municated the Emperor, and released all that prince's 
 subjects from their oath of allegiance. 
 
 It was about the opening of the year 1076 that
 
 THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR. 327 
 
 Henry, returning to Utrecht from a campaign against 
 the revolted Saxons, became aware that he was un- 
 der the papal ban ; and in autumn a Diet held at 
 Tribur decided that, in the event ol" the Emperor not 
 being received into the bosom of the Church by the 
 following February, a Diet should be held at Augs- 
 burg, and his crown given to another. Henry there- 
 upon took up his residence at Spire, where, deserted 
 by his courtiers, he was consoled by his injured, but 
 forgiving wife — the pure and faithfid Bertha. When 
 months had worn away, and the Pope still refused to 
 receive him in Italy as a penitent, the proud Emperor, 
 assuming the garb of a pilgrim, and accompanied by 
 Bertha, with their infant child in her arms, undertook, 
 in the midst of a singularly severe winter, to cross the 
 Alps, which, after the utmost danger and fatigue, they 
 almost miraculously accomplished. 
 
 About the end of January the Emperor appeared 
 as a humble suppliant at the gate of the castle of 
 Canossa, in whose feudal halls the Pope was enjoy- 
 ing the hospitality of his faithful adherent, Matilda, 
 countess of Tuscany. In the trenches of that Italiair 
 fortress, while the Apennines were covered with snow 
 and the mountain streams with ice, Henry, cold, fast- 
 ing, barefoot, and unclad, save with a scanty woolen 
 garment, stood for three whole days, imploring, with 
 tears of agony and cries for mercy, the pity of Hilde- 
 brand. As the third day was drawing to a close, the 
 Pope relaxed, admitted the humiliated Emperor to his
 
 328 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 presence, and after subjecting the royal victim to the 
 depth of debasement, revoked the papal anathema. 
 
 The degradation to which the Emperor had been 
 exposed so galled his subjects, that they meditated a 
 removal of the Imperial crown to the head of his 
 mfant son, Conrad ; the Saxons having elected K.o- 
 dolph as their sovereign, defeated Henry in two bat- 
 tles ; and Hildebrand once more pronounced against 
 him the sentence of exconununication. But the Em- 
 peror had his revenge ; for his rival, Rodolph, having 
 fallen in battle by the hand of Godfrey of Bouillon, 
 and the Pope's Norman allies being absent in the 
 East, the banners of Germany were suddenly dis- 
 played before the walls of Rome. In the spring of 
 1084 the besiegers entered the Eternal City." Gregory 
 took refuge in the castle of St. Angelo, and Clement 
 III., a rival pontiff, placed the Imperial crown on 
 Henry's brow. But the return of the warlike Nor- 
 mans caused the Imperial troops to retreat with pre- 
 cipitation ; while the Roman citizens rising against 
 his allies, compelled Hildebrand to fly for shelter to 
 Salerno. There, broken with time and trouble, he 
 expired ; and his last words were, " I have loved 
 righteousness and hated iniquity ; therefore I die in 
 exile." 
 
 Henry returned to Germany, where he reigned for 
 a while undisturbed by civil war ; but Pope Pascal, 
 aspirmg to follow in the footsteps of Hildebrand, 
 incited Henry, the Emperor's eldest son, to rebellion ;
 
 WAR OF INVESTITURE. 329 
 
 and the youth declaring that he could not acknowl- 
 edge as king or father a man who was excommu- 
 nicated, treacherously imprisoned his sire, and as- 
 sembling a Diet was proclaimed in his stead. Two 
 prelates were sent to demand the regalia from the de- 
 posed Emperor ; he, receiving them in his symbols 
 of sovereignty, refused ; but, laying violent hands on 
 him, they dragged him from his chair, and forcibly 
 divested him of the regal robes. Poor and distressed, 
 Henry escaped from prison, and raised a considerable 
 force to assert his rights ; but he died at Liege in 
 1106, before active operations commenced. His body, 
 denied a resting-place in consecrated ground, was in- 
 terred in a cave near Spire. 
 
 Henry V., though indebted to the Pope for support 
 in his parricidal rebellion, was no sooner established 
 on the Imperial throne, than, reviving the claim of 
 investiture for which his father had contended, he 
 invited the Pope to Germany, that they might settle 
 the dispute. But Pascal having appealed to the King 
 of France, and a fruitless conference having been held 
 at Chalons, Henry entered Italy with eighty thou- 
 sand men, and after a tedious interview in the church 
 of St. Peter, ordered his guards to take Pascal into 
 custody. The populace of Rome rushed to the Pope's 
 rescue ; a battle was fought under the walls ; and the 
 carnage was so terrible that the waters of the Tiber 
 were stained with blood. Pascal, taken prisoner, 
 crowned the Emperor, and confirmed the right of in-
 
 330 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 vestiture ; but hardly had Heniy departed when the 
 Pope changed liis tune, and pronounced a sentence of 
 excommunication. The Emperor once more entered 
 Rome, chased the Pope to the territories of the Nor- 
 man princes, and marched to take possession of Tus- 
 cany, which Matilda, during Hildebrand's visit to 
 Canossa, had bequeathed to the Church. Mean- 
 while Pascal died, and the States of the Empire hav- 
 ing implored Henrj'^ to make peace with the new 
 Pope, a Diet was held at Worms, and the matter ac- 
 commodated. In 1125 a pestilential disease carried 
 Henry to the grave ; and the Imperial dignity, after 
 being enjoyed till 1138 by Lothario II., was bestowed 
 iipon Henrj'^'s nephew, Conrad, duke of Franconia. 
 A rival appeared m the person of the haughty Duke 
 of Bavaria, whose followers called themselves Guelphs, 
 from his family name ; while the adherents of the 
 Emperor adopted the appellation of Ghibelines, from 
 Hieghibelin, the village of which Frederick, the brother 
 of Conrad, was a native. Both parties took up arms, 
 and during the contest a romantic incident occurred 
 at the siege of Weinsberg. The Guelphs in the cas- 
 tle, after being long besieged, yielded on condition that 
 the Duke of Bavaria and his officers should be allowed 
 to retire unmolested ; but the noble Duchess, appre- 
 hending a breach of faith, stipulated that she and the 
 other women in the castle should be allowed to come 
 forth and be conducted to a place of safety, with as 
 much as each of them could carry. Conrad, who ex-
 
 THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELINES. 331 
 
 pected to see the ladies loaded with jewels, gold, and 
 silver, was in no small degree surprised when the 
 Duchess and her fair comrades appeared carrying 
 their gallant husbands ; and he was so touched at 
 this display of conjugal affection, that he granted 
 most favorable terms to the Guelphs. 
 
 The preaching of St. Bernard, though in French, 
 and therefore unintelligible to the Germans, had never- 
 theless a powerful eflect on the latter ; and Conrad, 
 resolving to take part in the second Crusade, embarked 
 with a mighty army : but being betrayed by Greek 
 guides in Asia Minor, his forces were surprised and 
 defeated amidst the defiles of Laodicea. The defeated 
 Emperor, returning to Europe, died in 1151, and was 
 succeeded by his nephew, Frederick Barbarossa, who 
 was soon involved in a struggle with Henry the Lion, 
 duke of Saxony, with the Italian cities, and with an- 
 other enemy infinitely more formidable than either. 
 
 Early in the twelfth century, Nicolas Breakspear, 
 an English mendicant, was strolling about from place 
 to place, when chance directed his vagrant steps to the 
 convent of St. Rufus, in Provence, where the canons 
 received him as a servant. Being afterward admitted 
 as a monk, Nicolas rose to the rank of Abbot. In 
 1154, by personal merit and good fortune, the Anglo- 
 Saxon beggar was placed in the papal chair as 
 Adrian IV., and before crowning Frederick he in- 
 sisted that the Emperor should on bended knee kiss his 
 foot, hold his stirrup, and lead his white mule by tho
 
 332 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMAN Y, ETC. 
 
 bridle for nine paces. Frederick reluctantly consented 
 to perform the ceremony at Venice ; but purposely 
 mistaking the stirrup, he remarked with a sneer, " I 
 have yet to learn the business of a groom." 
 
 The Emperor proved himself an able politician and 
 a stout soldier. To abridge the power of the mar- 
 tial nobles, he followed the example of Louis VI. of 
 France, and conferred charters of community, which 
 enfranchised the people and formed them into corpo- 
 rations. 
 
 Going to the third Crusade, this great ruler was 
 drowned in crossing the river SenelT, and succeeded 
 on the Imperial throne by his son, Henry VI., who was 
 speedily involved in Italian wars. 
 
 A few years earlier the throne of Sicily had been 
 filled by "William, a king of the Guiscard line, who 
 had espoused Joan, a sister of Richard of England, 
 without being blessed with heirs. William, however, 
 had an aunt, named Constance, whose chance of being 
 queen appeared so certauT, that Henry, who was at 
 once poor and avaricious, wedded, with great pomp, 
 the princess, though she was thirty-two — an advanced 
 age for a royal Italian bride. But when "VVilham died, 
 so strong was the prejudice against a female sovereign, 
 that his illegitimate son Tancred was proclaimed King. 
 Henry prepared to assert his claim, but the lion- 
 hearted King of England, on his way to Palestine, 
 arrived at Sicily, and indignant to find liis sister 
 deprived at once of her dower and her freedom, com-
 
 ^ 
 
 «l|!c^sP' mk-:-m 
 
 KREDEUICK BARBAROSSA AND POPE ADRIAN.
 
 i 
 
 i
 
 THE EMPEROR IN srCILY. 33a 
 
 menced aggressions. Subsequently, however, Richard 
 concluded with Tancred a league, offensive and defen- 
 sive, and the Emperor, however he might have dealt 
 with the Sicilian King, had no fancy for playing at the 
 game of carnage with Richard Caiir de Lion. He 
 therefore waited till the English King's departure, and 
 entering Italy, laid siege to Naples in the sunmicr 
 of 1091 ; but when a fever, which carried off a large 
 portion of his array, prostrated himself, the Emperor, 
 in alarm, raised the siege, and executed an inglorious 
 retreat. But he treasured up his malice, and his day 
 of triumph came. 
 
 When Richard had been seized, imprisoned, and 
 forced to pay an enormous ransom, Tancred died, and 
 his son was placed on the throne. Availing himself 
 of the money extorted from Richard, Heniy — who had 
 meanwhile incorporated into a regular order the Teu- 
 tonic Imights, originally destined for the service of the 
 sick in Palestine, and built for them a house at Cob- 
 lentz — announced his resolution of undertaking a Cru- 
 sade. But instead of going to the Holy Land, he 
 marched into Sicily, the throne of which he seized, 
 after perpetrating revolting cruelties. At length, one 
 of the Norman princes having been tied naked to a 
 chair of red-hot iron, and crowned with a circle of the 
 same burning metal, the Empress in disgust turned 
 against her husband, incited the inhabitants to rebel, 
 and imposed upon him the most humiliating conditions. 
 Henry died at Messina, poisoned, as was said, by his
 
 30r, HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 Italian spouse, and his- son, Frederick II., was placed 
 on the Imperial throne ; but the German princes, in- 
 digfnant at seeinj; the crown become hereditarv', hem a 
 Diet at Cologne, and elected Otho, duke of Brunswick, 
 son of Henry the Lion. Civil war arose between the 
 princes, and Otho lY. was crowned at Rome by the 
 Pope ; but Frederick allied himself with Philip Au- 
 gustus, king of France, who at the village of Bovines, 
 in 1214, totally defeated and ruined the rival. Upon 
 this disaster Otho retired to Brunswick, where he 
 became a devotee ; while Frederick, having been 
 crowned with unwonted magnificence, afterward un- 
 dertook a Crusade without the papal sanction, and on 
 his return was excommunicated by Gregory IX. From 
 that period his life was one long and vexatious strug- 
 gle with the Popes ; the Dominican friars preached a 
 holy war against him ; a defeat before Parma made 
 him retire to recruit his army in Sicily ; and there he 
 died in the year 1251. 
 
 His son Conrad, last Emperor of the house of 
 Swabia, assumed the Imperial title ; but after his 
 death, in 1254, there was an interregiuim of several 
 years, during which Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother 
 of Henry III. of England, spent large sums to secure 
 his election as King of the Romans, which he deemed 
 a certain step to the Imperial dignity ; but several of 
 the Electors being favorable to Alphouso, king of 
 Castile, Richard's aspiration was not fulfilled. 
 
 At length, in 1274, the German princes, though
 
 KIS£. UF THE HOUSE OF HAPSHURG. 337 
 
 iinputieut of subordination, willing that the throne 
 should be occupied by an emperor whose influence was 
 not such as to excite their jealousy, elected Rodolph 
 of Hapsburg, a Swiss baron ; but the King of Bohemia, 
 of whose household Rodolph had been steward, im- 
 able to brook the sovereignty of his former inferior, 
 not only refused homage for his fiefs, but seized on 
 the Duchy of Austria. He was soon compelled to give 
 up Austria and do homage for Bohemia and Moravia, 
 but bargained for the latter ceremony being performed 
 in private. To gratify him in this particular, a close 
 pavilion was erected on the small island of Cumberg, 
 and thither came the Bohemian, decked with gold and 
 jewels, while the Emperor appeared in plain and 
 simple habiliments. The Bohemian was nervously 
 anxious to avoid a public scene ; but at a critical 
 moment the curtains of the pavilion, falling aside, 
 revealed to thousands of soldiers the proud King on 
 bended knee before his fonner steward. Incited by a 
 haughty spouse, he renounced his allegiance ; but the 
 Emperor taking the field, slew the hapless King in 
 battle, and, to aggrandize the house of Hapsburg, be- 
 stowed Austria on his second son, Count Albert. 
 
 Adolph of Nassau being next elected Emperor, 
 Count Albert of Austria, incited by Philip IV. of 
 France, and supported by a minority of the Electors, 
 rose in arms, slew Adolph in a battle at Spire, and 
 was soon after crowned as Emperor. Thereupon 
 Pope Boniface summoned him to answer for Adolph's 
 Y
 
 338 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 murder ; but a bitter feud arising between the French 
 King and the Pope, the latter found it convenient to 
 court Albert's alliance, and transferred to him the 
 sovereignty of France. However, Albert soon had his 
 hands full at home ; for having, as hereditary sove- 
 reign of several Swiss cantons, made an attempt to 
 seize the whole of the provinces, the natives combined, 
 and with a small army won successive victories. 
 
 The end of Albert was particularly tragical. In 
 1309 he was walking one day on the banks of the 
 Russ, when his companion, a nephew, whose patri- 
 mony he had unjustly retained, drawing his sword, in- 
 flicted a mortal wound ; and the Electors raised to the 
 throne Henry of Luxembourg, the most rcnow^ned 
 knight of an age which boasted of E,obert Bruce and 
 Giles de Argentine. The martial Emperor having 
 avenged his predecessor's assassination, fought his way 
 to Rome, imposed a tribute on the Italian States, and 
 died in 1314 ; poisoned, as was supposed, by emisea- 
 ries of the Pope. Louis of Bavaria was then elected ; 
 and, after a long dispute, defeated and captured Fred- 
 crick the Handsome, of Austria. But successive Popes 
 proved his mortal foes ; and though the death of his 
 Austrian competitor left Louis without a rival, Bene- 
 dict XII., who resided at Avignon, vindictively pur- 
 sued him to the grave. His subjects were made to 
 choose between their sovereign and the pontiff: dis- 
 cord and disorder loosened the frame-work of society ; 
 and the fraternity known as the Friends of God, by the
 
 THE GOLDEN BULL. 339 
 
 (Spread of their doctrines, prepared the way for that 
 rehgious reformation which was accomphshed in the 
 following ccntuiy. 
 
 On the death of Louis, in 1318, the King of 
 Bohemia, favored by the Pope, obtained the vacant 
 throne, with the title of Charles IV. This Emperor 
 issued the celebrated Golden Bull, which limited the 
 number of Electors to seven, because of the seven 
 mortal sins and the candlestick with seven branches. 
 The publication was signalized by an ostentatious 
 ceremony, in which the Electors took their appropriate 
 parts as hereditary officers. The Archbishops of Mentz, 
 Cologne, and Triers, carried the Imperial seals of 
 Germany, Italy, and Gaul ; the Duke of Luxembourg, 
 as proxy of the Bohemian King, officiated as cup- 
 bearer, and pom-ed wine from a golden flagon into 
 the Emperor's golden cup ; the Duke of Saxony, as 
 grand-marshal, appeared with a silver measure of 
 oats ; the Elector of Brandenburg presented the Em- 
 peror and Empress with water in basins of gold ; and 
 the Count Palatine, in presence of the great officers 
 of state, served up the viands in dishes of the most 
 precious metal. 
 
 The Emperor Maximihan, known as the Moneyless, 
 described Charles as "the pest of the empire," and not 
 without cause ; for he first dissipated the Imperial 
 territories in Italy, and in 1376, to secure the election 
 of his son, Wenceslaus, as King of the Romans, he 
 promised each of the Electors a hundred thousand
 
 3 JO HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 crowns. Unable to pay so large a sum, he alienated 
 the ample Imperial domain which stretched along the 
 banks of the Rhine from Basil to Cologne, and dying 
 in 1378, Avas succeeded by the son for whom he had 
 made so great a sacrifice. 
 
 Wenccslaus proved himself the most cruel and vi- 
 cious of mankind. He is said to have walked the 
 streets with an executioner to put to death such persons 
 as incurred his dislike, to have drowned in the Moldau 
 a monk who refused to reveal the confessions of his 
 wife, the Gluecn of Bohemia, and even to have, in an 
 hour of intoxication, ordered his cook to be roasted 
 alive. The tyrant was, in consequence of his gross in- 
 capacity, deprived of the Imperial crown, which was 
 given to Robert, the Count Palatine ; and he, in his 
 turn, was succeeded by Sigismund, brother of "VVences- 
 laus, and King of Hungary. 
 
 Christendom was at that period scandalized by the 
 great schism of the West, produced by the cardmals 
 having elected three rival popes — each considering 
 himself endowed with all the attributes which Hilde- 
 brand had claimed for the Vicar of Christ ; and Sigis- 
 mund, eager to settle the controversy, visited England 
 to consult Henry V. But finding that hero wholly 
 occupied with French wars, the Emperor returned, 
 and in 1418 summoned the Council of Constance, 
 which settled the dispute by degrading the three rivals 
 and electing Martin V. 
 
 The new pontiff was installed by an imposing cere-
 
 THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 341 
 
 mony. Arrayed m pontifical vestments, he mounted 
 a richly-caparisoned mule, which was led hy the reins, 
 with due solemnity, by the Emperor and the Elector 
 of Brandenburg. A magnificent canopy was held over 
 the Pope's head by four Counts ; several princes walked 
 around ; and forty thousand equestrians took part in 
 the procession. The Council then went to more serious 
 work, and summoned John Huss, a disciple of "VYic- 
 lifie. Huss, after defending the articles of his faith, 
 was declared a heretic, stripped of his sacerdotal habit, 
 crowned with a mitre of paper, on which were painted 
 three devils, and condemned to be burned with his 
 virritings. The victim died praising God, and was 
 followed to the stake by Jerome of Prague. 
 
 "When Sigismund went down to his tomb in 143C, 
 his son-in-law, Albert of Austria, who inherited the 
 crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, was raised to the 
 Imperial throne ; and after dividing Germany into six 
 circles, each regulated by a Diet, he was succeeded by 
 his cousin, Frederick HI. At the beginning of this 
 long and languid reign, while war was raging between 
 the Turks and Hmigarians, John Guttenberg invented 
 at Strasburg the art of printing, which brought into 
 operation the power of the pen ; and that potent 
 weapon being, on the revival of learning, directed 
 first against spiritual, and then against temporal 
 despotism, materially influenced those revolutions 
 which have gradually removed ancient landmarks, 
 and changed the face of Continental Europe.
 
 342 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 Maximilian I. succeeded his brother Frederick in 
 1493, and, to terminate the calamities created by pri- 
 vate feuds, instituted, at the stately city of Franklbrt, 
 the Imperial Chamber, consisting of a president ap- 
 pointed by the Emperor, and sixteen judges, chosen 
 by him and the States ; and he prevailed on the Diet 
 to consent to the Aulic Council as the Emperor's Court, 
 and without appeal. After wearing the crown with 
 honor, and exhibiting much enthusiasm for science 
 and literature, Maximih an, in 1519, disappeared from 
 the stage of affairs on the eve of great events ; and 
 his grandson Charles, the juvenile King of Spain, who 
 inherited Austria, became a candidate for the Imperial 
 dignity. In this he was opposed by Francis I., whose 
 embassadors impressed upon the Electors the necessily 
 of showing that the empire was not an heir-loom in 
 the house of Austria ; and the Electors, with whom 
 it was a rule not to select any prince already occupy- 
 ing an important position, caring little for either can- 
 didate, laid the diadem at the feet of Frederick of 
 Saxony, a man of great prudence and popularity. 
 Frederick, however, declined the distinction, and re- 
 commended them to choose the King of Spain, who 
 was accordingly elected on 28th June, 1520, and 
 crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in the following October. 
 Thirty-seven years before that important event, 
 the wife of a miner, named Luther (a worthy, stu- 
 dious, and stubborn man), had, in the little town of 
 Eisleben, become the mother of a boy, who was named
 
 CAREER OF LUTHER. V43 
 
 Martin, from having been born on St. Martin's Eve. 
 Removed iu infancy to Mansfeld, on the banks of the 
 Vipper, young Luther, while standing by his father's 
 forge, or accompanying his mother to gather fagots in 
 the forest, indulged in the anticipation of becoming a 
 scholar, and being sent, after some preparatory train- 
 ing, to Erfurt, he excited by his intellectual powers 
 the admiration of the whole university. One day, 
 while reading keenly in the library, he came upon a 
 Latin copy of the Bible, the pages of M'hich he pe- 
 rused with breathless interest ; and resolving iipon a 
 monastic life, he entered the Convent of St. Augustine 
 at the age of twenty-one. After spending three years 
 in the cloister, Luther accepted a professorship in the 
 University of Wittemberg, which Frederick, the Elector 
 of Saxony, had founded. And in 1512 being sent as 
 envoy to Rome, where Pope Julius then reigned, and 
 his monastic illusions vanishing into air, he commenced 
 his career as a Reformer, and was excommunicated 
 by Leo X., who did not like his hunting, shooting, and 
 fishing to be disturbed by heretics. Luther retaliated 
 by publishing the "Babylonish Captivity;" and the 
 book being burned, he, in 1520, publicly committed 
 to the flames the Pope's bull and decretals. 
 
 The popular spirit in Germany was in Luther'a 
 favor ; for though, from the days of Louis of Bavaria, 
 the Emperors had acknowledged the ascendency of the 
 Popes, the people had exhibited "an increasing dislike 
 to the yoke of Rome, and in 1512 the populace of the
 
 344 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 Rheiiish provinces had displayed their discontent by 
 forming the League of Shoes. Maximihan, it appears, 
 had not manifested any disUke to the professors of the 
 new faith ; but Charles V. had inherited enough of 
 Spanish bigotry to decide his opinions, and in 1521 
 he summoned Luther to appear before the Diet of 
 Worms, and answer for his doctrines. The bold Re- 
 former soon arrived from Wittemberg in a wagon, de- 
 fended himself with gi-eat spirit, and afterward es- 
 caped into Saxony, where, secured by his friend the 
 Elector in the fortress of "VYartburg, while branded by 
 the Pope as " a viper of hell," he commenced liis 
 translation of the Bible. And matters did not rest 
 there, for the mind of Europe was in agitation. 
 
 "While, iu England, Henry was attacking alike the 
 Catholics and Protestants ; while, in Scotland, Car- 
 dinal Beaton was feasting his eyes with the buniing 
 of heretics ; while, in France, the brave and glory- 
 loving Francis was sullying his fame by consenting to 
 the villages of the Vaudois being converted into a des- 
 ert waste ; the Emperor Charles was by no means in- 
 different to the interest of the Romish Church within 
 the Imperial dominions. And when freed by the 
 death of his impetuous rival from apprehensions of 
 war, he gained, at Muhlberg, a victory over the Con- 
 federates at Smalcalde, which placed the venerable 
 Frederick of Saxony in his power. Strangely, at that 
 crisis, the Lutherans turned for aid to Henry H. of 
 France, who, though bent on persecution at home, on
 
 THE REFORMATION 345 
 
 certain conditions proclaimed himself their champion. 
 But ere his services could he rendered, Maurice of 
 Saxony, to whom Charles had given the Electorate, 
 preferring to be a chief of the Protestants to figuring 
 as the Emperor's creature, after much dissimulation 
 marched on Inspruck, and almost succeeded in cap- 
 turing Charles, who, after escaping over the Alps in 
 a litter, sick and solitary, signed the Convention of 
 Passau, which was converted into a definitive peace 
 in 1552 — the era of religious hberty in Germany. 
 
 At the close of this war, weary of the world, the 
 great Emperor, having previously abdicated the Span- 
 ish throne in favor of his son Philip, resigned the Im- 
 perial crown to his brother Ferdinand, king of the 
 Romans. After a reign of eight years, that prince 
 was succeeded by his son, Maximilian II., who died 
 in 1596, while preparing to support his election as 
 King of Poland. 
 
 Rodolph II., son of Maximilian, was so entirely de- 
 voted to the study of astronomy and astrology that he 
 saw with indifierence his dominions usurped by his 
 brother Matthias, who, succeeding to the Empire in 
 1G12, procured the election of his cousin Ferdinand to 
 the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia. Both nations 
 revolted, and the Hungarians were appeased ; but 
 Ferdinand was a pupil of the Jesuits, and the Bohe- 
 mian Protestants, to whom he was obnoxious, ad- 
 vanced in arms to the gates of Vienna ; and, while 
 Matthias was on his dying bed, commenced that ter-
 
 346 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY. ETC. 
 
 rible conflict known in history as tlie Thirty Years' 
 AYar. 
 
 Ferdinand, though elevated to the Imperial throne, 
 was sternly rejected by the Bohemians, who ofiered 
 their crown to Frederick, the Elector Palatine, and 
 Bon-in-law of the first James of England. Frederick, 
 proceeding to Prague, accepted the gift, but rashly, as 
 it soon appeared ; for in November, 1G20, the Impe- 
 rialists coming thither, under Tilly, inflicted a defeat, 
 which made the Elector and his fair spouse, whom 
 men called the Gtueen of Hearts, fly to the Hague, 
 while their friends surrendered town after town in 
 the Palatinate to the Italian general Spinola. The 
 Duke of Bavaria, ere long, took possession of the 
 Electorate ; and its hereditary sovereign, homeless 
 and houseless, in spite of the alliance of the King of 
 Denmark, remained a pensioner on Dutch bounty at 
 the Hague. 
 
 The tyranny of Ferdinand speedily led to the con- 
 federacy of Leipsic, of which Gustavus Adolphus, the 
 heroic King of Sweden, was chief After bearing thg 
 banner of Protestantism in triumph through Germany, 
 that Lion of the North fell in the battle of Lutzen, 
 and the fortunes of the Elector seemed desperate. But 
 when the Emperor had closed his checkered career, 
 and been succeeded by his son Ferdinand III., and 
 when Germany was suflering from famine and pov- 
 erty, the consequence of the long war, the Protestants, 
 with the aid of France, found matters assuming a
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 347 
 
 moie favorable aspect. Turenne won the battle of 
 Somnierhauseu ; Wrangel captured Prague ; and the 
 great Conde's victory at Lens, where the Archduke 
 Leopold, brother of the Emperor, had his anny routed, 
 compelled Ferdinand to consent to the Peace of West- 
 phalia, by which the Palatine family were restored 
 and religious equality decreed. 
 
 The peace was grateful to the inhabitants after 
 their long struggle. Their losses were gradually re- 
 paured, their lands cultivated, and their towns rebuilt ; 
 but on the death of Ferdinand, and the accession of 
 his unamiable son, Leopold, in 1658, the Hungarians 
 rose in insurrection, made Tekeli their prince, and 
 called in the Turks to their aid. The reigning Sul- 
 tan, in 1G83, raised the most formidable force ever 
 sent against Christendom ; and Lorrain, the Imperial 
 general, retired before the Turkish crescent. Leopold 
 and his household fled from Vienna ; two-thirds of the 
 inhabitants followed ; the city was besieged ; and it 
 would have fallen but for the timely arrival of John 
 Sobieski, king of Poland, who defeated the invaders 
 and took the famous standard of Mohammed, which 
 was sent as a present to the Pope. Fearful was the 
 vengeance which Leopold now took on the Hungari- 
 ans. A scaflbld, erected in the market-place of Epc 
 ries, stood there so many months, that the execution- 
 ers were weary of victims. At length, the Hungarian 
 nobles having been summoned to Vienna, declared 
 the cvovn hereditary : the Stater, at Presburg con-
 
 348 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 firmed that decree ; and the Emperors sou, Joseph, 
 at the age of nuie, was acknowledged as King of Hun- 
 gary. 
 
 When Charles, king of Spain, breathed his last, 
 without heirs, and Louis XIV. sent his grandson 
 Philip V. to Madrid, Leopold, whose mother was 
 daughter of Philip IIL, claimed the Spanish throne 
 for his second son, the Archduke Charles. England, 
 as has been stated, supported the Austrian claim, and 
 the war was still raging, when, in 1705, Leopold 
 dying, was succeeded on the Imperial throne by his 
 son Joseph, who seized Mantua and Milan, assailed 
 the temporal power of the Pope, and made every 
 thing bend to his power. In the midst of his suc- 
 cesses he expired, in 1711, and Charles VI., whom 
 the Alhes were attempting to place on the Spanish 
 throne, having obtained the Imperial crown, the 
 Treaty of Utrecht terminated the AVar of Succession. 
 To that treaty Charles at first refused his assent ; 
 but when a French army imder Marshal Villars had 
 passed the Rhine, he acceded to the views of the Al- 
 lies, and obtained Milan, Naples, and the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 One of the greatest and most successful captains of 
 that age was Prince Eugene. His father being a mem- 
 ber of the house of Savoy, and his mother a niece of 
 Cardinal Mazarin, he applied to Louis XIV. first for 
 an abbey, and then for a regiment. The Grand Mon- 
 arch, little understanding the applicant's character.
 
 MARIA THERESA. 349 
 
 refused in both cases. Prince Eugene, taking service 
 with the Emperor, was associated with the iUustrious 
 Marlborough in those brilhant victories that have 
 made the name of the " handsome Enghshman" im- 
 mortal, had the distinction of expelling the French 
 from Italy, and in 1717, undertook the memorable 
 siege of Belgrade, the strongest castle in Europe. Sur- 
 rounded in his camp by a hundred and fifty thousand 
 Turks, he routed them with immense slaughter, and 
 captured the place, which remained in possession of 
 Austria for twenty-two years. 
 
 Charles, anxious that the hereditary dominions of 
 the house of Austria should be settled on his daugh- 
 ter, the celebrated Maria Theresa, obtained the assent 
 of the European powers to a Pragmatic Sanction. But 
 hardly had his eyes closed, in 1740, when events 
 verified the observation of Prince Eugene : " The best 
 guarantee in this case would be an army of a hundred 
 thousand men." Frederick the Great, king of Prus- 
 sia, claimed Silesia, captured Breslau, after winning 
 the battle of Molwitz ; while Charles of Bavaria, 
 whom Louis XV. had caused to be crowned as King 
 of Bohemia, was chosen Emperor, with the title of 
 Charles VII. But Maria Theresa, though deserted by 
 her allies, was a woman of too high spirit to be daunt- 
 ed by adverse circumstances. She convoked the States 
 of Hungary, and taking her infant son in her arms, 
 addressed the assembly in Latin, the idiom of the 
 States — " I place in your hands," she said, " the
 
 350 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— GERMANY, ETC. 
 
 daughter and son of your kings. They look to you fo< 
 succor, and depend on you for safety." 
 
 The Hungarian nobles, too chivalrous to resist sucli 
 an appeal from such lips, drew their glittering swords, 
 and exclaimed with one accord, " We will die for oul 
 Q,ueen," and levied an army which brought her enc- 
 raies to reason. At length, after an English army 
 had won the battle of Dettingen, and Charles VII. had 
 been removed by death, peace was restored, and the 
 husband of the popular Q,ueen was raised, in 1715, to 
 the Imperial throne, with the title of Francis 1. But, 
 in 1756, the Seven Years' War breaking out between 
 France and England, Maria Theresa, regretting the 
 cession of Silesia to the Prussian King, flattered the 
 vanity of Madame Pompadour, and secured the aid of 
 France. The skill and intrepid courage of Frederick 
 prevailed, and after seven bloody campaigns he signed 
 a peace with the Empress-(clueen. 
 
 On the death of his father, Joseph, the son of Maria 
 Theresa, ascended the Imperial throne, and issued some 
 oppressive edicts against the Netherlands, which his 
 grandfather had acquired at the close of the Spanish 
 war. The inhabitants had been contented under the 
 rule of Maria Theresa, but revolted against Joseph's 
 tyranny ; and terrible was the punishment. Their 
 houses were ruthlessly entered at midnight ; women 
 and their infants were slain with one bayonet ; and 
 their husbands were, without trial, carried olf prisoners 
 to Vienna on the banks of the Danube. These cruel-
 
 EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA. 351 
 
 ties prompted the Netherlands to declare themselves 
 forever released from Austrian sway, and to treat 
 every ofler of indemnity with contempt. 
 
 This Emperor's conduct was otherwise praisewor- 
 thy ; he abolished the system ot" torture, with servi- 
 tude and villanage, granted a liberal toleration in re- 
 ligion, and was easy and afliible in communicating 
 with his subjects. He was succeeded in 1790 by his 
 brother Leopold, who, during his brief reign, restored 
 tranquillity in the Netherlands, and was hesitating 
 about the course he should pursue toward revolu- 
 tionary France when he died, in 1792. 
 
 Francis II. then succeeded his father, and took a 
 conspicuous part in the struggle, as has already been 
 related. But in 180G, when fourteen princes of Ger- 
 many formed the Confederation of the Rhine, and ac- 
 knowledged the victorious Napoleon as their protector, 
 Francis, finding hmiself deprived of all his honors as 
 head of the Germanic body, abandoned the ancient 
 title, and styled himself Emperor of Austria. 
 
 When Napoleon, after making the kings of the earth 
 bow down before his mighty energies, fell in 1814, 
 Vienna, the capital of the new empire, was the scene 
 of one of the most important assemblies of modern 
 days. There the Emperors of Austria and Russia, the 
 King of Prussia, and many of the Germanic princes, 
 met the representatives of England and France, to 
 establish the territorial limits of the Continental States 
 upon recognized principles of international policy.
 
 35a HISTORY FOli BUVS— GERMAN Y, ETC. 
 
 That was the celebrated Congress of Vienna ; and 
 while withholdnig the Netherlands from Austria, it 
 restored Lombardy, and added thereto all the ancient 
 possessions of the far-famed Venetian republic. The 
 Germanic Confederation was likewise dealt with, and 
 something done toward harmonizing the interests of 
 the independent states into a nationality. 
 
 The Emperor Francis died in 1835, after an event- 
 ful reign of forty-three years, leaving his dominions to 
 his son Ferdinand, under the auspices of the profound 
 Metternich. But during the revolutionary epoch of 
 1848, while the Hungarians were in arms to assert 
 their independence, he abdicated ; and his brother 
 declining to accept the Imperial crown, it came to 
 the son of the latter, Francis Joseph, who thereupon 
 assumed the titles of Emperor of Austria and King of 
 Hungary.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 When the arms of Pepin and Charlemagne had 
 given the Popes a territorial sovereignty, added a 
 sceptre to their keys, and enriched them with the 
 spoils of the Roman Emperors ; and when Hilde- 
 brand, and other pontiffs of strong will and immuta- 
 ble purpose, had by their spiritual authority rendered 
 themselves independent of the German Caesars, they 
 became ambitious of figuring as considerable temporal 
 princes. But when, in the fourteenth century, the 
 Popes removed their residence from the city of the 
 Seven Hills to Avignon, the inhabitants of Rome, in 
 1347, expelled the nobles, established a democratic 
 government, and elected Nicolas Rienzi tribune of 
 the people. This soon came to an end ; but the tur- 
 bulence of the multitude, and the independent spirit 
 of the patricians, still further diminished the papal 
 authority in the Ecclesiastical States. 
 
 Though the patrimony of St. Peter was the worst- 
 governed section of Europe, though the glory of the 
 Eternal City had departed, the northern and southern 
 provinces of Italy were studded with fair and flourish- 
 Z
 
 354 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ITALY. 
 
 ing cities, the capitals of small states, each of which 
 possessed sovereign and independent jurisdiction. 
 
 Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, by furnishing transports 
 for the Crusaders, and contracting for their military 
 stores, had contrived to secure by commercial enter- 
 prise the chief advantage arising from their successes ; 
 and when these cities became enriched by commerce, 
 the German Emperors were glad to grant them large 
 immunities for sums of money. As soon as the citi- 
 zens felt their own importance, they endeavored to 
 render themselves masters of the territory around 
 their walls, attacked the feudal barons, subjected 
 them to municipal power, and compelled them, as 
 well as the prelates, to reside within the walls for a 
 certain period of each year. Gradually the nobles 
 became citizens from choice, abandoned their ancient 
 castles, acknowledged themselves burgesses, and ap- 
 plied their energies to trade. The Emperors had an- 
 ciently a palace in each Italian city ; but at length 
 the citizens would not brook their presence ; and 
 when the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, alarmed at 
 the encroachments on his authority, attempted to re- 
 store the Imperial jurisdiction, the free cities of Italy 
 stood together, and had their privileges confirmed by 
 the Treaty of Constance, 1183. 
 
 Venice, which was foremost in wealth and power 
 among the Italian cities, has been described as a re- 
 public of nobles with a populace of slaves. Up to 
 999, the State paid the tribute of a mantle of cloth
 
 THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC. 355 
 
 of gold, as a mark of vassalage to the Emperor of Con- 
 stantinople, and within a century from that time she 
 was rich and mfluential. At a later period the Em- 
 peror Frederick Barbarossa attempted to make the Ve- 
 netians lower their tone ; but they obtained over him 
 a naval victory, and the Pope, attended by the Senate, 
 sailing into the Adriatic, on whose small isles the city 
 stands, threw in a ring as a token of gratitude and af- 
 fection. This ceremony was afterward performed an- 
 nually, under the notion of Venice espousing the Adri- 
 atic. Regarding their city as mistress of the sea, and 
 one of the wonders of the world, the Venetians became 
 proud and haughty ; even the greatest monarchs could 
 not vie with the principal citizens in the magnificence 
 of their palaces, the richness of their dress, the ele- 
 gance of their furniture, and their splendid style of 
 living. Their credit was so high, that while the 
 Emperor MaximiUan's utter want of credit procured 
 him the epithet of the Moneyless, and while the 
 King of France was borrowing money at the enor- 
 mous interest of forty per cent., the Venetians could 
 raise as much as they pleased at an eighth of that 
 rate. 
 
 Though the form of government lodged all power 
 in the hands of an oligarchy, industry and trade were 
 encouraged ; and the natives were employed in man-, 
 ufactures and navigation, while the defense of the 
 State was intrusted to condottieri, or the leaders of 
 mercenary bands.
 
 356 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ITALY. 
 
 Florence possessed a constitution much more dem- 
 ocratical, and was remarkable for the frequency and 
 violence of its internal dissensions. The institutions 
 of Florence directed the attention of the inhabitants 
 to mercantile pursuits, and chief among its merchant 
 princes ranked the Medici family, whose founder, 
 Cosmo, had acquired vast wealth by trading with the 
 East. His son was Lorenzo the Magnificent, under 
 whose auspices the republic attained a high degree 
 of splendor ; and a branch of the family afterward 
 obtained the sovereignty of Tuscany. 
 
 Milan, with Genoa, was long subject to the House 
 of the Visconti, who had risen into importance during 
 the protracted quaiTcl between the Guelphs and Ghi- 
 belmes. By a resolute adherence to the Emperor, 
 one of them was distinguished by the title of Duke 
 of Milan ; and aspiring to a royal bride, he sought 
 the hand of a daughter of John, king of France, who 
 consented to gratify the Italian's ambition for a hun- 
 dred thousand florins. The money was paid, the 
 marriage celebrated, and the Duke's daughter Valen- 
 tine subsequently became the wife of her cousin, the 
 Duke of Orleans. Thus, when the male line of Vis- 
 conti became extinct in 1447, the Duke of Orleans 
 was their heir. But other claimants started up. The 
 King of Naples demanded the duchy in right of a 
 will made by the last Duke ; the Emperor contend- 
 ed, that as the Visconti were extinct, the fief should 
 revert to him as feudal superior ; and the people of
 
 FLORENCE AND MILAN. 357 
 
 Milan, wishing to be as free as their neighbors, 
 declared against any foreign master, and constituted 
 a republic. As usual in such cases, a hero soon 
 appeared to vanquish all opposition by his talent and 
 energy. 
 
 Somewhat earlier, a peasant, bearing the name ol 
 Sforza, had raised himself by genius and valor to a 
 high place among those adventurous warriors who 
 sold the blood of their followers for foreign pay ; and 
 he had been succeeded in his command by a natural 
 son, Francis, whose courage well qualified him for the 
 post. Francis Sforza had taken to wife an illegiti- 
 mate daughter of the last Duke of Milan, and though 
 her title was rather defective, the political capacity 
 and martial power of her husband overcame all other 
 considerations, and he seated himself firmly on the 
 ducal throne. 
 
 The only feudal monarchy in Italy was that of 
 Naples, founded in the eleventh century by the Nor- 
 man Guiscard, whose title passed with the Empress 
 Constance to the great house of Swabia. Though 
 Conrad, son of the Emperor Frederick, maintained 
 his claims with an army, the Pope, in order to make 
 Naples a fief of the Church, after hawking the crown 
 all over Europe, offered it to Richard, king of the 
 Romans ; but the sagacious Englishman declined the 
 gift with the memorable observation — " You might 
 as well say, ' I make you a present of the moon ; go 
 up to the sky and bring it down.' " Henry 111., how-
 
 358 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ITALY. 
 
 ever, accepted it for his second son, Edmund, who 
 assumed the empty title, but lacked funds to seize 
 the real prize. Thereupon (Conrad having meantime 
 been murdered by his illegitimate brother Manfred, 
 who proclaimed himself King), the Pope presented 
 the crown to St. Louis's brother, Charles of Anjou, a 
 cruel and ambitious prince, who had espoused Beatrice, 
 countess of Provence. Charles, entering Italy, defeat- 
 ed and killed Manfred at Gaudella in 1266, assumed 
 the crown, and put to death Conradin, the heir of the 
 Swabian line : but when on the scaffold, the youth 
 declared Peter of Aragon his rightful heir, and, throw- 
 ing a glove among the crowd, desired that it might 
 be taken to that prince, as a symbol by which he had 
 conveyed his title. 
 
 Charles now tyrannized without restraint ; and a 
 Conspiracy was formed against him, to aid which the 
 King of Aragon sent a fleet. At the sound of the 
 vesper bell, on Easter Sunday, 1282, the populace of 
 Palermo rose, massacred the French in the streets of 
 that town, and through all Sicily. Charles invoked 
 the aid of his nephew, Philip of France ; and from 
 that time, for two centuries, the Princes of Anjou and 
 Aragon contended for the throne ; but at length the 
 latter seemed so securely seated, that they transmitted 
 the crown to an illegitimate branch. 
 
 The house of Anjou, however, stiU existed, and their 
 right was formally conveyed by the celebrated King 
 Hene to Louis XL of France ; but that crafty mon-
 
 FRENCH INVASION. 359 
 
 arch, while taking possession of the territories of the 
 house of Anjou, wisely ahstained from meddling with 
 their imaginary title. His less prescient son, Charles 
 VIII., eager for adventure, was dreaming of conquest, 
 when Ludovico Sforza, surnamed the Moor, designing 
 to supplant his nephew on the throne of Milan, ap- 
 plied for aid from France, and, without disclosing his 
 own views, prevailed on the youthful sovereign to 
 march into Italy. Accordingly, in the autimrn of 
 1494, Charles appeared south of the Alps, and car- 
 ried all before him. One king of Naples died of 
 fright ; his successor, in terror, abdicated in favor of 
 his son ; and the latter, in the utmost alarm, sought 
 safety in the island of Ischia. But while the invader 
 was wasting his time in Naples, and regaling liis 
 fancy with the anticipation of marvelous exploits 
 in the East, the Italian States combined with the 
 Emperor Maximilian for his expulsion. The French, 
 recognizing no hope, and resolving on a retreat, se- 
 cured their object by the victory at Fornova ; and 
 their sovereign went home a sadder and a wiser 
 man. 
 
 When the French first marched as friends into 
 the city of Milan, Kmg Charles met in the citadel the 
 young Duke, so exhausted by debaucheries that his 
 reason had well-nigh departed, and so languid that 
 suspicions were entertained of his uncle having ad- 
 ministered poison. Soon after he sunk into an un- 
 timely grave, and Ludovico seized the duchy : but, at
 
 360 HISTORY FOR BOYS— ITALY. 
 
 the same time, the Duke of Orleans claimed it as heir 
 to Valentine Visconti ; and no sooner was he seated on 
 the throne of France, as Louis XII., than he appeared 
 with an army to vindicate his title. Sforza, unahle to 
 cope with such a competitor, sought refuge with his 
 son-in-law, the Emperor Maximilian ; while Louis, 
 arrayed in the ducal robes, triumphantly entered Milan. 
 Ludovico, being betrayed by a Swiss in his pay, was 
 shut up in the Castle of Loches ; and it was now that 
 the King of Naples, alarmed by the menaces of the 
 French monarch, entreated the alliance of Ferdinand, 
 king of Spain. The latter sent to his aid Gonsolvo de 
 Cordova, and that " Great Captain" having speedily 
 arrived, introduced his soldiers into the various fort- 
 resses, and then informed the Neapolitan Prince that 
 a treaty of partition had been agreed to between the 
 Kings of France and Spain. This piece of treachery 
 accomplished, Gonsolvo took advantage of a quarrel 
 to drive the French out of their division of Naples. 
 
 In 1497, when a vacancy occurred in the pontifical 
 chair, there was residing at Rome a Cardinal named 
 E-odrigo Borgia, who led a hfe flagrantly dissolute. 
 Nevertheless he aspired to the papal throne, and took 
 sure means to obtain it. Four mules, laden with 
 silver, were, in the face of day, driven to the palace of 
 the most influential Cardinal : the others were bribed, 
 each at his price ; and Borgia became Pope with the 
 title of Alexander VI. To aggrandize his bastard 
 progeny, the new Pope gave his eldest son the duchy
 
 C^SAR BORGIA. 361 
 
 of Benevento ; but the younger brother Caesar, an 
 Archbishop, and one of the handsomest men of his age, 
 not rehshing the grant, after causing his brother to be 
 assassinated, had his body thrown into the Tiber ; and 
 he next ordered the execution of his sister's husband. 
 Csesar achieved the conquest of Romagna, captured 
 Urbino, and was occupied with great schemes, when 
 an accident threw all into confusion. The Pope in- 
 vited to a sumptuous feast a Cardinal, whom he ordered 
 to be poisoned with a box of sweetmeats, but the wary 
 guest, receiving a hint, dexterously contrived that his 
 host should be the victim ; and the poison not only 
 carried off Alexander, but being partaken of by his 
 son, caused such a stupor and lassitude in that " hero 
 of crime," that, incapable of exertion, he lost the fruits 
 of multitudinous intrigues. Stripped of his acquisi- 
 tions, and seized at Naples, Ca;sar was sent by Gon- 
 solvo a prisoner to Spain. 
 
 Venice was at this period an object of terror to her 
 Italian neighbors, as well as of envy to the feudal 
 potentates of Europe; and Julius II., a warlike, 
 onergetic, and resolute pontiff^ resolving to humble 
 her pride, formed for that purpose the celebrated 
 League of Cambray with Louis, Ferdinand, and Max- 
 imilian. The Venetians, in the utmost alarm, aban- 
 doned their Continental territories, and sought refuge 
 in the city ; their army was destroyed by the French 
 in the battle of Agnadello, and the conquest was 
 achieved as far as the Adda ; when the Pope, veer-
 
 362 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ITALY. 
 
 ing round, treacherously hounded on the other Leaguers 
 agamst the French. Louis, enraged, declared war 
 against Julius, and had a medal struck with this 
 legend — Perdam Babylonis natnen ; but his Glueen, 
 Anne of Brittany, entertaining serious scruples in re- 
 gard to a war with the Pontifi^ caused operations to 
 be carried on faintly ; and after gaining the battle of 
 Ravenna, Louis, whose finances were exhausted, found 
 it necessaiy to conclude treaties of peace, which de- 
 prived the French of every place in Italy except the 
 Castle of Milan. 
 
 Two years elapsed, and with the exception of the 
 Emperor Maximilian, the more prominent personages, 
 who had practiced against each other that Italian pol- 
 icy which Machiavel has developed in the "Prince," 
 had disappeared from the stage. Louis had been suc- 
 ceeded by his cousin Francis, Pope Julius by Leo X., 
 Ferdinand the Catholic by his grandson Charles, and 
 Ludovico the Moor by his son, when an army of 
 Frenchmen, guided by their impetuous King, descend- 
 ed the Alps, won the battle of Marignano, and took 
 possession of Milan. But, in 1521, the French were 
 expelled by the forces of Charles V. ; the second ex- 
 pedition of Francis ended in his captivity ; and Andrea 
 Doria, the Genoese admiral, oflended w'ith the haught- 
 iness of the French King, placed Genoa, with its 
 marble palaces, under the Emperor's protection. At 
 length, by the Treaty of Crespy, Francis renounced his 
 claims to Naples and Milan ; and all that his impover-
 
 HER FOREIGN MASTERS. 363 
 
 ished kingdom retained of their French acquisitions waa 
 the person of Catherine de Medici. 
 
 The Emperor Charles was crowned at Rome as 
 King of Italy, which henceforth, though subject to 
 foreign masters, ceased to be the battle-field of Europe. 
 Milan enjoyed some measure of prosperity under the 
 Spaniards ; but Venice fell gradually from her high 
 estate ; and the resources of Naples were allowed to 
 lie dormant. 
 
 The Treaty of Utrecht, which, in 1713, gave totho 
 Austrian princes Milan and the kingdom of Naples, 
 dismembered from the Spanish monarchy, established 
 their overwhelming influence in the Italian peninsula ; 
 but in 173-1, Don Carlos, son of Philip of Spain, in- 
 vading Italy, recovered Naples and Sicily for the 
 house of Bourbon. 
 
 Time passed on, and the marvelous successes of 
 Napoleon overthrew all arrangements. The victory 
 of Marengo placed Italy in his power ; and going 
 thither in 1804, he gratified his ambitious longings 
 and vague presentiments by placing the iron crown 
 of the Lombard Sovereigns on his head, and in adding 
 the title of King of the Romans to that of Emperor of 
 the French. 
 
 Declaring that the Sicilian Bourbons had forfeited 
 the crown of Naples, Napoleon bestowed it on his 
 brother Joseph ; and when the latter was proclaimed 
 King of Spain, the Neapolitan sceptre was handed 
 over to his brother-in-law Murat, who was seized and
 
 3G1 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— ITALY. 
 
 shot for au attempt to efiect a lauding with arms in 
 his hands after Waterloo. 
 
 The Congress of Vienna, in 1815, restored the 
 Bourbons to the throne of Naples, bestowed Tuscany 
 on the Archduke Ferdinand, placed Genoa in posses- 
 sion of the King of Sardinia, re-established the Papal 
 States, and, while restoring to Austria the Lombard 
 dominions, gave her, in addition, the ancient posses- 
 sions of Venice on both sides of the Adriatic. Though 
 the Italians, amidst their beautiful vales and lofty 
 mountains, indulging in dreams of restoring grand- 
 eur and independence to their rich soil, have since 
 striven to throw off the power of Austria and Sardinia, 
 the arrangements made at that great assembly of 
 European potentates have not been permanently dis- 
 turbed.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND. 
 
 When the grave had closed over the Emperor Ro- 
 dolph, founder of the house of Austria, his less popular 
 son, Albert, aspired, as hereditary sovereign of several 
 Swiss cantons, to erect the various provinces into a 
 principality for one of his children. The inhabitants, 
 a Gothic race, offered so resolute a resistance, that the 
 Imperial potentate, in revenge, appointed them rulers 
 characterized by their tyrannical spirit ; and among 
 these none was more unreasonably despotic then 
 Geisler, the Governor of Ury. 
 
 In the market-place of Altorf, the hat of Geisler 
 was placed aloft on a pole, and in the exercise of un- 
 bridled power he ordered every passer-by to bow down 
 before it, on pain of death. He soon, however, found 
 that there were in the canton men bold enough to 
 defy his utmost wrath ; and conspicuous among the 
 recusants was a peasant — the famous "William Tell. 
 For refusing to perform the ridiculous homage that 
 brave man was forthwith sentenced to be hanged ; 
 but he was subsequently promised pardon on the cruel 
 condition of striking with an arrow, at a given dis-
 
 3G6 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWITZERLAND. 
 
 tance, an apple placed on the head of his son. The 
 trial was accepted ; the boy was brought out, and Tell, 
 who was a most expert archer, managed to cleave the 
 apple without mjunng the lad. At that moment, the 
 Austrian governor, perceiving that his victim had a 
 second arrow, inquired with eagerness for what pur- 
 pose it was intended ; and Tell answered with the 
 frank sincerity of his country, " It was to have killed 
 you if 1 had killed my child." Enraged at such a 
 reply, the governor ordered the patriot to be fettered 
 and conveyed in a boat to the dungeon of his castle ; 
 but a storm coming on, the boatmen declared that 
 they should inevitably be lost, unless Tell, the most 
 skillful navigator on the lake, was intrusted with the 
 helm. Geisler then ordered him to be unbound ; and 
 the captive peasant, steering for a point of land, since 
 known as the Rock of Tell, leaped ashore, and made 
 for the mountains. Soon after this escape he shot the 
 obnoxious governor ; and, under the impulse of his 
 daring courage, the Swiss prepared to throw oft' the 
 Austrian yoke. 
 
 Twelve patriotic men, indignant at the cruelties 
 perpetrated, vowed to emancipate their soil ; and, in 
 1308, they surprised the Austrian governors of the 
 cantons of Schewitz, TJry, and Undcrwalden, con- 
 ducted them to their frontiers, and made them swear 
 an oath never to serve against Switzerland. The 
 three cantons having bravely won their freedom, were 
 jomed by the other ten, and thus sprung into existence
 
 WILLIAM TELL.
 
 STRUGGLE WITH AUSTRIA. 369 
 
 the Helvetic Republic. The Swiss fought with heroic 
 patriotism for their national independence ; and, in 
 1315, the battle of Morgaret, where sixteen hundred 
 Swiss defeated twenty thousand Austrians while the 
 latter were attempting to ^ross the mountains, fully 
 established their liberties. They speedily effected a 
 change in the condition of their formerly depressed 
 country ; the neglected soil was carefully cultivated, 
 the barren heath converted into a fertile plain, and 
 the craggy rocks decked with fruitful vines. 
 
 Victorious against terrible odds over the Imperial 
 forces, the Swiss had next to contend, limited as were 
 their resources, face to face with the martial array of 
 Charles the Rash, duke of Burgundy. That haughty 
 personification of feudal pride, baffled in his ambi- 
 tious wish to be recognized as a king by the Emperor, 
 attempted to Avrench Lorraine from Rene, its last sov- 
 ereign ; and the latter sohcited the aid of the Helvetic 
 Republic. Nor were the Swiss insignificant allies. 
 During their long struggle for freedom, they had 
 learned much from experience. Having to encounter 
 heavily-armed cavalry, they gave their soldiers breast- 
 plates and helmets as defensive armor, with long 
 spears, halberts, and heavy swords, as weapons of 
 offense, and ranged them in battalions, so deep and 
 close, that the men-at-arms could make no impres- 
 sion. 
 
 The Swiss now poured from their mountains, and 
 met the Duke's army at Neuss, where the fiery mag- 
 Aa
 
 370 HISTORY P^OR BOYS.— SWITZERLAND. 
 
 nate sustained a bloody defeat ; and, though aban- 
 doned by the King of France, who had appeared as 
 their ally, they were again successful in the fields of 
 Granson and Morat. The decisive engagement took 
 place in 1477, before Nanci, where the shield of 
 Burgundy was broken, her chivalry routed, and her 
 Duke slain. 
 
 The Swiss having thus proved thqir warlike prowess, 
 became famous as mercenaries to Louis XI. and his 
 successors, and signalized their valor in the Italian 
 wars. But Swiss peasants, allured to the banks of 
 the Po and the Rhone, lost much of their primitive 
 simplicity, while foreign intrigues were creating dis- 
 cord in the pastoral hills and valleys of their native 
 country. 
 
 While aflairs were in this untoward condition, Ulric 
 Zwingle was born, in 1484, of an ancient race of 
 Alpine herdsmen in high esteem among the mount- 
 aineers of Tockcnburg ; and, evincing marks of supe- 
 rior intelligence, he was destined to the priestly office. 
 After narrowly escaping the precincts of a convent, 
 Zwingle became, in his twenty-second year, pastor of 
 Glaris ; and in 1515, having previously protested 
 against his countrymen selling their swords for foreign 
 pay, fought, sword in hand, for Rome, in the battle 
 of Marignano. 
 
 The Reformation was just dawning in Switzerland, 
 when, in 1518, Zwingle was elected as preacher at 
 Zurich, where he speedily distinguished himself by
 
 THE REFORMATJON. 371 
 
 the enunciation of religious doctrines which had all 
 the charm of novelty to people who had long been 
 kept in darkness. In 1520, the civil power in that 
 canton interfered to fulfill the work of the Reformation ; 
 and the monks were enjoined to preach only what they 
 found in the Old and New Testaments. But while 
 the truth was gaining ground in Zurich, the warlike 
 canton of Lucerne rushed to the rescue of the imper- 
 iled Church of Rome ; and a Diet, held at Baden, 
 urged the confederated provinces to extirpate the new 
 religion. The Swiss, thereupon, seemed to rise as one 
 man against the Gospel ; at Lucerne Zwingle was 
 burned in effigy ; at Friburg his writings were con- 
 signed to the flames ; and in other districts the popu- 
 lace clamored for his being summarily dealt with. 
 Nevertheless, the Reformation gained ground ; and 
 Farel, a Frenchman, driven from his native soil, 
 decided the western cantons in favor of the new faith. 
 The Franciscans, intrusted with the sale of pardons 
 and indulgences in SwitzerlaiKl, and guilty of the 
 utmost rapacity, were attacked by Zwingle at Zurich ; 
 but, in 1531, that intrepid reformer, placing himself 
 with characteristic courage, at the head of a Protestant 
 army, fell before the victorious Papists, who quartered 
 and burned his lifeless corpse. Subsequently, John 
 Calvin took up his residence at Geneva, and under 
 the inspiration of that Reformer's haughty gloom and 
 mighty intellect, the city on Lake Leman became the 
 asylum for the persecuted, and the cradle of revolt
 
 372 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWITZERLAND. 
 
 against half the powers of Europe. The result of the 
 struggle was, that about one half of Switzerland 
 embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, while the 
 other adhered to the Chuich of Rome. 
 
 By the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, the republic 
 of Switzerland was declared to be a sovereign state, 
 exempt from the jurisdiction of the empire ; but, as 
 time rolled on, new perils arose. After a peace that 
 had endured for ages, war was declared by the French 
 Republic, in 1798, against the confederated cantons, 
 and the latter levied an army of twenty-six thousand 
 men. A French general forthwith entered the terri- 
 tory of Berne, displaced the ruling families, possessed 
 himself of the treasures of the state, and proposed a 
 new constitution, which was designed to change the 
 government from a federal to a united republic. The 
 larger cantons, trusting to gain an ascendency under 
 the new system, were inclined to acquiesce ; but the 
 smaller states, attached to their time-tried institutions, 
 assembled in arms, appointed Paravicini as their lead- 
 er, and drawing the French general into an ambus- 
 cade, by a signal defeat arrested his career. This 
 victory enabled the Swiss to conclude a treaty, where- 
 by the small states agreed to accept the new consti- 
 tution, provided their internal administration contin- 
 ued as before. But the canton of Underwalden re- 
 fused to agree to the terms, and thither was marched 
 a large body of French troops, accompanied by artil- 
 lery.
 
 CONTEST WITH FRANCE. 373 
 
 The hardy peasantry were not to be daunted. On 
 the 8th of September, 1798, began a battle which 
 lasted till the following evening. The Swiss, ardent 
 for liberty and warm with patriotism, fought with 
 desperate valor. Brandishing clubs and spears, they 
 encountered the muskets and bayonets of the invaders ; 
 and answered the thunder of artillery with huge frag- 
 ments of rock. Vain, however, was the stern resist- 
 ance of the gallant mountaineers ; for, the town of 
 Standtz being taken, the houses in its charming valley 
 were given to the flames, and the inhabitants massa- 
 cred without respect to age or sex. 
 
 After this terrible disaster, all Switzerland sub- 
 scribed to the new constitution ; Lucerne was select- 
 ed as the seat of government, and a close alliance was 
 formed between the Helvetic Republic and the French 
 Directory. But the French oppressed the Swiss ; and 
 the Swiss sighed for their ancient laws and institu- 
 tions. Rushing to arms, in 1802, the inhabitants of 
 the cantons, with the impetuosity of their ancestors, 
 wrested Zurich, Friburg, and Berne, from their for- 
 eign masters, and nominated Aloys Reding as their 
 chief At this crisis, Bonaparte proclaiming himself 
 their mediator, ordered that all hostilities should cease. 
 The Helvetic Diet remonstrated ; but the appearance 
 of an army of thirty thousand men, under Ney, si- 
 lenced their complaints, and the publication of a me- 
 diatorial decree suppressed the national independence 
 of Switzerland.
 
 374 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWITZERLAND. 
 
 But a few years wrought a marvelous change in 
 the face of Europe ; the mighty Emperor fell, an(| 
 Switzerland ohtained deliverance. After the Peace 
 of Paris, in 1814, her ancient form of government 
 was restored ; and, hy rendering the allied and sub- 
 ject districts integral parts of the Republic, the num- 
 ber of cantons was increased from thirteen to twenty- 
 two. In 1830, their respective governments, alarmed 
 at the signals of tumult, propitiated popular feeling 
 by reforming abuses, and thus added strength to the 
 guarantees of freedom.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 
 
 In the course of the tenth century the Batavians, 
 or natives of Holland, who had successively submitted 
 to the sway of the Roman and Frankish empires, as- 
 sumed a position of independence, and vested their su- 
 preme authority in the nobles of the land, and the dep- 
 uties from cities, who were presided over by the Earl 
 of Hainault. But, in the fifteenth century, the sov- 
 ereignty of all the Netherlands was surrendered to 
 the house of Burgundy, whose last Duke, Charles the 
 Rash, fell before the serried phalanx of Switzerland 
 in 1477. From that haughty personage's daughter, 
 Mary of Burgundy, the provinces were inherited by 
 her grandson, the Emperor Charles V. ; and he left 
 them, with Spain and the Indies, to his son — the sec- 
 ond Philip. 
 
 The free privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants, and 
 their Protestant leanings, were regarded with feelings 
 the reverse of kindly by the despotic monarch ; and 
 he resolved upon indulging his natural bigotry by es- 
 tablishing the Inquisition to eradicate heresy. The 
 chief nobles, thereupon, assembled at Brussels, and
 
 376 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— HOLLAND, ETC. 
 
 dispatched deputies to represent their grievances at 
 the court of Madrid ; but Phihp, deeming this step a 
 treasonable infringement of his royal authority, sent 
 the Duke of Alva with an army into Flanders to sup- 
 press the discontent by arbitrary means. 
 
 Philip was then deemed by far the most powerful 
 sovereign of Europe, and there was a general dispo- 
 sition among the inhabitants of the Netherlands to 
 submit to his power ; but Wilham of Nassau, Prince 
 of Orange, sumamed the Taciturn, on whom he had 
 conferred the government, was bent on resistance, and 
 the blood, that was ere long shed by Alva, roused the 
 spirit of his countr}Tnen. The Counts of Horn and 
 Egmont, with eighteen gentlemen, were led to the 
 block ; and the Prince of Orange, being destined to a 
 similar fate, escaped to his patrimonial estates in Ger- 
 many. Originally a Lutheran, he had reverted to 
 Popery at the persuasion of the Emperor Charles, but 
 he now embraced the Calvinistic doctrines. With 
 great difficulty "VYilliam raised an army, which, under 
 the command of his brother, perished in Friesland. 
 A second was equally unfortunate, and fortime still 
 seemed so unfavorable, that he went to fight as a 
 volunteer among the Huguenots of France. But the 
 Flemish exiles, unable to find a refuge on foreign 
 shores, made an assault on Brille, of which they ren- 
 dered themselves masters, while the people of Holland 
 and Zealand flew to arms, and declared against Alva's 
 tyranny. The Prince of Orange then arrived to com-
 
 THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN. 377 
 
 plete their liberation, united the revolted provinces into 
 a league, and was declared their Stadtholder. Fired 
 by a love of civil and religious freedom, the inhab- 
 itants resolved to defy all dangers, and suddenly ex- 
 hibiting military prowess, they courageously repulsed 
 Alva. That instrument of tyranny was, at his own 
 request, recalled to Spain ; and, in departing, he 
 indulged in the ignoble boast, of having caused the 
 execution of no fewer than eighteen thousand here- 
 tics. 
 
 Requesens, a man of a milder disposition, was now 
 commissioned to concihate the insurgents; but the 
 war was carried on by the Dutch more heroically 
 than ever. The Spaniards laid siege to Leyden ; and 
 it was defended with desperate courage. The Dutch, 
 opening the dykes and sluices, which preserved their 
 territory from the surrounding sea, endeavored to 
 drive the besiegers from the arduous enterprise ; but 
 the Spaniards continued the siege, and undertook to 
 drain off the water. The besieged were thus reduced 
 to the last stage of misery, and were on the borders 
 of despair, when a violent tempest drove the waters 
 with such fury against the Spaniards, that, seeing 
 themselves in peril of being swallowed up by the 
 waves, they sounded a retreat, after having lost the 
 flower of their army. 
 
 Soon after this memorable disaster, Requesens ex- 
 pired, and was succeeded by Philip's natural brother, 
 Don John of Austria ; but the cruelty and rapacity of
 
 378 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— HOLLAND, ETC. 
 
 the Spanish soldiers had united seven provinces into a 
 formidable combination ; and the ambitious governor, 
 having by his projects aroused the jealousy of the 
 King, was cut off in the midst of his career by pois- 
 on, administered secretly, as was said, by order of 
 Philip. 
 
 A price was noAV set on the head of the Prince of 
 Orange ; and that distinguished champion of freedom 
 perishing by the hand of an assassin at Delft, the 
 States sent an embassy to offer the sovereignty to the 
 dueen of England. Declining the distinction, yet re- 
 solved to maintain the cause of the revolted provinces, 
 that wise princess, with whose welfare were bound 
 up the fate of nations and fortunes of Protestantism, 
 dispatched to their aid an army under her unworthy 
 favorite, the Earl of Leicester. That carpet knight, 
 landing at Flushing, was there received by his neph- 
 ew, the illustrious Sir Philip Sidney ; and while the 
 famous Drake was assailing the Spanish West Indies, 
 Leicester commenced operations, but with little glory : 
 for the renowned Prince of Parma now commanded 
 the Spanish forces, and speedily captured several im- 
 portant strongholds from the insurgents. 
 
 Leicester, to draw off his redoubted antagonist from 
 Rhimberg, sat down before Zutphen, to the relief of 
 which Parma hastened. While the van of the Span- 
 ish army was advancing through a fog, they encoun- 
 tered a body of English cavalr}', and a desperate con- 
 flict took place. Victory fell to the English, but it
 
 STRUGGLE WITH SPAIN. 379 
 
 cost the life of the hrave Sidney. Mortally wounded, 
 the young hero was borne from the field by his mourn- 
 ing soldiers, and laid down to expire. While he was 
 bleeding on the ground, a bottle of water was brought 
 to relieve the dying warrior's burning thirst ; but per- 
 ceiving a wounded man lying in agony by his side, 
 the accomplished cavalier handed him the bottle, say- 
 ing, with that fine chivalry which characterized his 
 life and conduct, " Soldier, thy necessity is greater 
 than mine." 
 
 The Dutch insurgents, while duly recognizing the 
 valor of their English auxiharies, were, with much 
 reason, discontented with the incapacity of Leicester, 
 who at length withdrew from the post of danger. 
 Thereupon Count Maurice, son of the murdered 
 Prince of Orange, was elected Stadtholder ; and he, 
 recovering some towns from the bold grasp of Parma, 
 carried on the struggle with such indomitable determ- 
 ination, that, in 1609, the Kmg of Spaui was under 
 the necessity of treating with the Dutch as a free 
 people, and solemnly renouncing all claim to sover- 
 eignty over the Seven Provinces. The other ten 
 were induced to remain subject to the crown of 
 Spain. For the next half century the United Prov- 
 inces, with the Hague for a capital, increased rapidly 
 in wealth and importance. The marriage of a prince 
 of Orange to an English princess led to a war be- 
 tween Holland and the Commonwealth ; and the 
 Dutch admiral, Tromp, so successfully encountered
 
 380 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— HOLLAND, ETC. 
 
 the renowned Blake, that he fixed a broom on his 
 mainmast to indicate his intention of sweeping the 
 Enghsh navy from the seas. 
 
 This bravado was not to bs patiently endured by 
 " an old and haughty nation proud in arms," and a 
 gallant fleet, fitted out to repair the disaster, anchored 
 ofi' Portland. On the 18th of Februarj', 1663, seven- 
 ty-six Dutch vessels, under Tromp and De Ruyter, 
 sailed up the Channel ; a furious fight began, and 
 was maintained with obstinacy for three winter days. 
 Blake was victorious, but several of his ships were 
 shattered, many of his men were slain, and the Dutch 
 admiral efiectcd a skillful retreat. On the 29th of 
 July — the Dutch having meantime been worsted — 
 they again joined battle ; and Tromp this time vowed 
 to conquer or die. He encountered the foe with his 
 wonted courage, and while cheering on his men sword 
 in hand, was shot through the heart. His fall decided 
 the day in favor of the English ; and, at length, Crom- 
 well, on being invested with the dignity of Protector, 
 restored peace and concord. 
 
 After the Restoration of Charles IL, war again 
 broke out between the Dutch and English, and at 
 first fortune smiled on the latter ; but the measures 
 of the Dutch were then directed by John de Witt, a 
 minister of rare talent, integrity, and magnanimity. 
 To repair their defeats, he went on board the fleet, 
 assumed the command, acquired an intimate knowl- 
 edge of naval affairs, and speedily redeemed the recent
 
 WARS WITH ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 381 
 
 disasters. The Dutch formed an alliance with Louis 
 XIV., and fought with the English during three long 
 days in June, 1666. The conflict was indecisive ; 
 and De Ruyter, posting himself in the Thames, sus- 
 tained a severe defeat ; but De Witt was not to be 
 daunted. Under the command of De Ruyter, a Dutch 
 fleet appeared on the English coast, took Sheerness, 
 burned the ships-of-war at Chatham, and sailed up to 
 Tilbury. The Peace of Breda changed the face of 
 matters, and soon after the TJnited Provinces were ex- 
 posed to an invasion from France. 
 
 The Dutch were a mercantile people. As early as 
 the thirteenth century, they had been known as a 
 frugal and amphibious race, whose industry monopo- 
 lized the fish-trade, and who were extensively occupied 
 with the building and navigating of ships. In spite 
 of jealousy and tyranny, they had extended their trade 
 to the East and West Indies, till, in 1648, the treaty 
 of Westphalia guaranteed them Java, the Moluccas, 
 with aU their factories in India ; and such was their 
 commercial prosperity, that they possessed fifteen 
 thousand ships when France had not more than six 
 hundred. 
 
 In 1667, however, the French Government imposed 
 such import duties, that the Dutch were virtually pro- 
 hibited from disposing of their manufactured goods iu 
 Franco ; and, in retaliation, the States imposed high 
 duties on French wines. For thus imitating his own 
 policy, Lcuis in person invaded the United Provinces
 
 382 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— HOLLAND, ETC. 
 
 with an army of more than 100,000 men, com- 
 manded by Conde, Turenne, Luxembourg, and Vau- 
 ban. The cities, in terror, opened their gates ; the 
 passage of the Rhine was effected ; deputies from the 
 States came to sue for peace ; and Louis demanded 
 that the duties on wine should be remitted, and that 
 he should annually receive a medal, surrounded by a 
 legend, in acknowledgment that the Dutch people 
 held their liberties at his sovereign will and pleasure. 
 His haughty demands exasperated the despairing popu- 
 lace ; the sluices were once more opened, and the 
 country which had been reclaimed from the sea at so 
 vast an expenditure of care and toU, was unhesitating- 
 ly laid under water. In their rage, the inhabitants 
 massacred John de "VVitt, with his brother Cornelius, 
 tried servants of the republic, and placed the govern- 
 ment in the hands of WilUam, the youthful Prince of 
 Orange, who commanded their armies and directed 
 their affairs with a vigor and prudence far beyond his 
 years. After a prolonged war by sea and land, Louis, 
 by the treaty of Nimeguen, revoked the obnoxious tar- 
 iff, and thus succumbed on the original ground of dis- 
 pute. 
 
 At this period the Dutch Republic was at the 
 head of European independence, and supplied William 
 of Orange with forces to accomplish a revolution in 
 England. From that date they took little part in 
 European struggles, and gain became their principal 
 object. The wealthy magnates monopolized the com-
 
 ERECTION INTO MONARCHIES. 383 
 
 merce of Europe, as the merchant princes of Italy had 
 formerly done. Amsterdam, which possessed a bank- 
 ing establishment widely celebrated, was the most 
 important commercial city in Europe, and the coffers 
 of the Dutch treasury seemed as inexhaustible as those 
 of Venice had been in her days of greatness. Toward 
 the close of the eighteenth century, a series of revolu- 
 tions took place under foreign influence, and a French 
 army entered the country ; but these attempts to gain 
 Holland by popular tumult and external intrigue were 
 resented by England and Prussia, who restored the 
 Stadtholder, and suppressed the democratic party. 
 
 In 1805, however, when Bonaparte was every 
 where victorious, he imposed upon Holland a new 
 constitution, of which the chief was styled the Grand 
 Pensionary. This lasted only till ISOG, when the 
 Emperor of the French, in the plenitude of his power, 
 erected the United Provinces into a kingdom for his 
 brother Louis ; and, on the latter's dethronement in 
 1810, declared them an integral part of France. 
 
 At the Congress of Vienna, in ]81o — her com- 
 merce and fisheries, formerly the most extensive in 
 the world, having been all but destroyed in the revo- 
 lutionary wars — Holland became a limited monarchy. 
 The Netherlands were severed from the empire, raised 
 into a kingdom, bestowed on the house of Orange, and, 
 after a long separation, attached to Holland. But in 
 1830, the union never having been properly cemented, 
 Belgium, rising at the earliest indications of Euro-
 
 384 HISTORY FOR BOYS. -HOLLAND. ETC. 
 
 pean revolution, shook off the yoke of Holland, and 
 was formed into a kingdom, the crown of which was 
 bestowed upon Prince Leopold The little monarchy 
 thus created was well-nigh crushed in its infancy by 
 the obstinacy of the King of Holland ; but a French 
 army having forced the Dutch garrison to evacuate 
 Antwerp, security was established
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HISTORY OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 About the eleventh century, the Prussians, or in- 
 habitants of the deserts between Poland and the Bal- 
 tic, were known to the more civihzed nations of Eu- 
 rope as barbarians living on the blood of horses, and 
 gratifying their superstitious imaginations with the 
 worship of serpents ; and, somewhat later, they 
 proved their courage by resisting the inroads of the 
 Polish kings. 
 
 The Prussians were still Pagans, when, in 1227, 
 the Teutonic knights, returning from the Holy Land, 
 undertook their conversion with sword and lance. 
 Many years of bloodshed ensued ; and, in 1453, the 
 Prussians were in danger of utter extirpation, when 
 the King of Poland interfered in their behalf, and 
 compelled the Teutonic order to surrender the east- 
 ern part of the country and do homage for the remain- 
 der. 
 
 The religious knights, from whom descended most 
 
 of the Prussian nobles, made repeated attempts to 
 
 throw off the Polish sovereignty, but in vain ; till, in 
 
 1 525, Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, grand-raas- 
 
 Bb
 
 386 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— PRUSSIA. 
 
 ter of the order, after embracing the Lutheran faith, 
 consented to share the realm with his kinsman, Sigis- 
 mund of Poland, and perform homage, on condition 
 of receiving that sovereign's protection. The domina- 
 tion of the Teutonic knights was thus treacherously 
 terminated ; and Prussia continued in vassalage to 
 Poland till 1657, when it was released from allegi- 
 ance in the time of Frederick WilHam, known as the 
 Great Elector of Brandenburg. 
 
 Frederick, son of the Great Elector, had scarcely 
 succeeded to the paternal authority, when a trifling 
 accident led him to aspire to royal dignity. On the 
 occasion of a Conference at the Hague, in 1695, Wil- 
 liam III., king of England, refused to allow him an 
 arm-chair ; and the Elector, nettled at such treat- 
 ment from one who had lately been only Prince of 
 Orange, resolved on having a regal crown without 
 any unnecessary delay. Every species of influence 
 was exerted with the Emperor and the other Euro- 
 pean princes to obtain their consent to Brandenburg 
 being erected into a kingdom ; and, in 1701, after 
 many negotiations, the Elector was crowned at Kon- 
 ingsberg as King of Prussia. The ceremony was per- 
 formed with the utmost decorum, with a trifling ex- 
 ception. The dueen, a beautiful sister of our first 
 George, seized a favorable opportunity to indulge in 
 a pinch of snuff"; but the King, turning his eyes on 
 her at that very moment, immediately sent one of his 
 gentlemen to ask if she remembered the place in
 
 CONVERSION INTO A KINGDOM. 387 
 
 which she was and the rank she held. In honol 
 of this occasion, Frederick created the order of the 
 Knights of the Black Eagle. This first King of Prus- 
 sia, after a peaceful reign, died in 1713; and he was 
 succeeded by his son, Frederick AYilliain I. 
 
 During the earlier half of the eighteenth century, 
 that extraordinary sovereign, dressed in a long blue 
 coat with copper buttons, spatterdashes of a white 
 color, strong shoes, with square toes and high heels, 
 might have been observed to walk forth from the 
 Palace of Berlin, with a sergeant's cane in his hand, 
 to review his favorite regiment of guards. This was 
 composed of the tallest men who could be procured 
 for love or money, and was the delight of the King's 
 heart. Believing that a state wanted nothing but 
 troops and economy to make it flourish, he collected 
 an army of sixty-six thousand men, and amassed 
 wealth by buying up the estates of the impoverisjied 
 nobility and farming them out to tax-gatherers. He 
 died in 1740, leaving an efficient army and a well- 
 filled treasury to the son who was to continue the 
 creation of the empire, and make it rank in import- 
 ance with the ancient monarchies of Europe. 
 
 On the 24th of January, 1712, that royal person- 
 age, destined to render the name of Prussia great and 
 celebrated among the nations, and to be recognized by 
 posterity as Frederick the Great, first saw the light at 
 Berlin, the capital of his paternal dominions. Though 
 his father hated the French, the boy was intrusted in
 
 388 HISTORY KOR BOYS.-HIUSSIA. 
 
 infancy to a lady of that nation, and became so famil- 
 iar with her language that he afterward entertained 
 for it a peculiar partiality. At the early age of seven 
 he was placed under the tuition of a colonel of dra- 
 goons ; but though the old King's darhng object was 
 to inspire his son with a taste for mihtary affairs, the 
 Prince Royal gave unmistakable indications of being 
 a man of letters as well as a man of action, and ap- 
 plied himself diligently to poetry and music, while 
 drilling young gentlemen cadets for the amusement 
 of his father's visitors. About his eighteenth year, 
 the handsome and popular Prince was so annoyed at 
 the violence and austerity with which the eccentric 
 King treated him, that he resolved to escape to France 
 or England. But the design being discovered, one of 
 his accomplices was beheaded ; another was treated 
 with the utmost severity ; and the Prince, after six 
 months' imprisormient in the marsh-surrounded cita- 
 del of Custrin, narrowly escaped capital punishment. 
 Liberated at the entreaty of his mother, and compel- 
 led to many a German princess, he applied himself 
 to study with great diligence, pacified his sire by pro- 
 curing some tall soldiers, and, in 1734, crossing the 
 Rhine, joined Prince Eugene and the Imperial army. 
 On his father's decease, he ascended the throne ; and 
 as the territories over which he ruled as King and 
 Elector were not extensive enough to satisfy his ar- 
 dent ambition, he commenced his eventful reign by 
 seizing two districts of the Bishopric of Liege ; and
 
 FREDERICK TUE GRFAT.
 
 CONQUEST OF SILESIA. 391 
 
 scarcely had he done so when the Emperor of Ger- 
 many died, leaving the Austrian dominions to his 
 daughter, Maria Theresa. 
 
 "When the news was carried to Frederick, he was 
 at Rhineberg struggling with a fever, but the intelli- 
 gence hastened his recovery ; and, eager for celebrity, 
 lie prepared to make good an ancient claim of his 
 family to the Duchy of Silesia. Thither he forthwith 
 marched at the head of thirty thousand men, before 
 whom he caused the Roman Eagle to be carried on 
 a gilt pole as a token of invincibility. The invaders 
 at first encountered little resistance, but gradually the 
 Austrian troops assembled, and instructions were sent 
 to their general to hazard an engagement. In April, 
 1741, a battle took place at the village of Moldwilz, 
 and victory inchned to the Austrians ; but the Prus- 
 sian infantry stood so firm, that after several hours' 
 conflict, the enemy retreated with immense loss, and 
 Frederick, pursuing his triumph, entered Breslau, the 
 capital of the Duchy. 
 
 The great hall of the state-house was on an early 
 day opened for the reception of the Silesian nobles, 
 clergy, and burghers, to do homage to the conqueror, 
 and thither they repaired in pompous equipages, along 
 streets thronged with people and guarded by soldierp. 
 At noon the victorious King appeared in a phaetoj-, 
 drawn by eight horses, and entered the hall. His 
 stature w^as not remarkable for tallness, but his air 
 was noble, his look sprightly, and his pleasing coun-
 
 392 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— PRUSSIA. 
 
 tenance was set off by large blue eyes, and bright 
 brown hair, negligently curled. The assembled Sile- 
 sians swore fealty to him as their king ; a sumptuous 
 banquet closed the ceremony ; a masquerade ball fol- 
 lowed ; and illuminations threw a brilliancy over the 
 conquered city. 
 
 Great was the joy and loud the welcome of tho in- 
 habitants of Berlin when their King returned from his 
 victorious expedition. His court became particularly 
 splendid ; and fourteen foreign princes were among 
 the crowd of strangers who resorted to Berlin. Mean- 
 while the courage with which the heroic Maria The- 
 resa had faced her difficulties rendered it necessary 
 for Frederick to undertake a campaign for the defense 
 of his conquests, and the victory of Czaslau, where the 
 Prussian infantry redeemed the day which the caval- 
 ry had lost, rendered the Prussian King so formidable, 
 that Maria Theresa concluded a treaty, by which Si- 
 lesia remained in his possession. 
 
 Mindful that peace hath her victories no less re- 
 nowned than war, Frederick now devoted himself to 
 the formation of an Academy of Sciences and Belles- 
 lettres ; but, in 1744, he once more assumed his mar- 
 tial attire, placed himself at tho head of his troops, 
 invaded the kingdom of Bohemia, and took the city 
 of Prague. But Charles of Lorraine, brother-in-law 
 of Maria Theresa, stopped the King's progress, and 
 caused him to retreat precipitately to Berlin with 
 great loss.
 
 DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 393 
 
 On the decease of the Emperor Charles, at Munich, 
 in great misery, Frederick once more drew the sword, 
 and excited much alarm in Germany by the activity 
 of his movements and the success of his operations. 
 After concluding the Peace of Dresden, he returned 
 in triumph to his hereditary dominions. He now 
 applied himself to domestic aflairs, adopted means for 
 increasing the population of his realm, encouraged 
 French Huguenots to settle therein, expended vast 
 sums in cleanng waste lands, and improved the coun- 
 try by the construction of many navigable canals. 
 Besides, he instituted the Frederician code, a body of 
 laws for the government of his subjects, and published 
 his Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, and his 
 poem on the Art of War. 
 
 One day, as Frederick was walking over a hill 
 hard by the gate of Potsdam, he halted on the summit, 
 and was so struck by the beautiful prospect, that he 
 erected thereon a royal palace, in which he was re 
 siding when visited, in 1750, by the famous Voltaire. 
 The French philosopher was, after much persuasion, 
 induced to remain in Prussia, and for a time was in 
 very high favor with the King, but in 1752 serious 
 misunderstandings occurred. Voltaire had a disrepu' 
 table wrangle with a Jew, and interfered in an aca- 
 demical dispute in opposition to Frederick. This led 
 to unpleasantness ; and the skeptic philosopher, having 
 exercised his satiric faculty at the expense of his royal 
 patron, was requested to leave the kingdom. Voltaire
 
 394 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— PRL'SSIA. 
 
 did so ; but happening to carry with him the manu- 
 script of a poem by the Prussian monarch, he was ar- 
 rested, with his niece, at Frankfort, and forced to de- 
 hver up tlie volume. 
 
 Frederick's attention was soon attracted toward 
 other matters ; for, after an enmity of three centuries, 
 the Houses of Bourbon and Austria formed a close 
 alliance, and the Prussian monarch, to his surprise, 
 found himself an enemy of France and a fiuend of 
 England. Now commenced the Seven Years' ^Yar, 
 in the course of which Frederick encountered his 
 enemies in several battles, and maintained himself 
 against fearful odds, till a peace, which left Prussia 
 great and influential, was restored by the treaty of Hu- 
 bertsburg in 17G3. The great Frederick survived till 
 17S6, when he was interred in the Garrison Church 
 at Potsdam, leaving to his country a reputation, not 
 spotless indeed, but for wisdom and valor far superior 
 lo that of any prince of the age. 
 
 Frederick AVilliam II., nephew of the renowned 
 King, next reigned over the Prussians, and lived into 
 the stormy times of the French Revolution, against the 
 progress of which he formed a league in 1792. The 
 fiery monarch declared war against France, but grow- 
 ing tired of a contest in which he could reap neither 
 gloiy nor advantage, he concluded a treaty with the 
 Republic in 1705. Two years later he died, and was 
 succeeded by his son, Frederick William III. The 
 new king pursued a vacillating policy. In 1801,
 
 STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 395 
 
 irritated at the ^izure of one of his vessels, he com- 
 plained of the oppressions of Great Britain, and send- 
 ing a body of troops into Hanover, seized the capital, 
 and afterward accepted the Electorate from Bonaparte. 
 But, in 1806, Frederick William, resolved to break 
 with the great Emperor, formed a Confederation of 
 the Northern States to oppose the Confederation of 
 the Rhine, and insulted the French embassador at 
 Berlin. Prussia now prepared for war ; and the 
 (dueen, in all the pride of youth and beauty, arrayed 
 herself in militaiy costume, mounted a war charger, 
 and traversed the streets of the capital to excite the 
 martial enthusiasm of the populace. " She looks," 
 said Bonaparte admiringly, " like Armida, in her dis- 
 traction setting fire to her own palace." The war 
 almost extinguished the Prussian monarchy ; the army 
 was totally defeated at Jena and Auerstadt, and tlie 
 Peace of Tilsit left the descendant of the great Fred- 
 erick little more than a nominal sovereignty. 
 
 The Prussians suffered much during the next seven 
 years. Their fortresses were occupied by the French ; 
 the fields lay uncultivated ; commerce languished ; 
 and industry was paralyzed. Tlie high spirit of the 
 (iueen, whom personal grace and dignity had rendered 
 highly popular, was broken by the misfortunes of her 
 country, and, in 1810, she expired in the prime of 
 womanhood. Her death so afflicted the bereaved 
 husband, that he well-nigh acted on a resolution of 
 abandoning affiiirs of state, and seeking consolation in
 
 396 HISTORY FOR BOYS— PRUSSIA. 
 
 seclusion. His troops were employed as auxiliaries 
 against Russia, but, after the disastrous campaign of 
 1812, he was invited by the Czar to declare war 
 against France. He oHered his mediation, which 
 Bonaparte rejected ; but matters could not rest there; 
 i'or Berlin was in the hands of the French, while the 
 inhabitants sympathized with the Russians, and daily 
 tumults, in consequence, occurred. Ultimately the 
 King threw oft^ his indecision ; the French troops 
 evacuated the city, and the Russians took possession. 
 Prussia ere long profited largely by this step, for 
 the congress of Vienna restored more than her former 
 importance, and the Prussians, under Blucher, shared 
 in the glories of Waterloo. The King, whom the Em- 
 peror Napoleon characterized as the " greatest idiot 
 on the face of the earth," survived till 1840, and was 
 succeeded by his son, Frederick William IV., the 
 present King of Prussia
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HISTORY OF DENMAKK. 
 
 The Celts, who originally inhabited the islands of 
 the Baltic, were early displaced by fierce Germanic 
 tribes, who, settling in Denmark, and animated by 
 a daring spirit of adventure, commenced depreda- 
 tions in all parts of Europe. Worshipers of Odin, 
 and, as such, cheerful in danger, laughing at death, 
 and steeled against fear, they, unhesitating, launched 
 their light barks on the raging sea, and, unfurling 
 their magic banners, sailed forth to foreign shores in 
 quest of adventure. They besieged and burned Paris, 
 infested the coasts of England, and planted powerful 
 colonies in the northern counties of the latter king- 
 dom. Though yielding for a season, after a severe 
 struggle, to the valor and genius of Alfred the Great, 
 the English Danes did not for a moment forget of 
 what race they were ; and at all times they were 
 ready to take part with the invading hosts, who ap- 
 peared periodically on the coasts of Kent or Northum- 
 berland. 
 
 At the close of the tenth century the Danish branch 
 of the great Scandinavian family owned as their King
 
 3»8 HISTORV FOR BOYS -DENMARK. 
 
 Swell, the grandson of Gurra ; and, in the year 994, 
 that sovereign, in company with Olaf, King of Nor- 
 way, invaded England, and twice compelled Ethelred 
 the Saxon to pay an enormous sum of money on con- 
 dition of their retiring. The money was raised by a 
 tax called Danegeld ; and many of the ravagers re- 
 turned to their northern home with their terrible 
 KinfT. Several of his subjects, however, deeming 
 England a pleasant residence, remained behind ; kept 
 the Anglo-Saxons in perpetual dread of a new inva- 
 sion ; lived in ease and luxury ; and forced the na- 
 tives to labor, that their demands might be satisfied. 
 Assuming the bearing of conquerors, they even affect- 
 ed a superiority in social refinement, and prided them- 
 selves highly on combing their hair, shaving their 
 faces, bathing regularly once a-week, and frequently 
 changing their garments. 
 
 The oppressive exactions of these Lord-Danes, as 
 they were in hatred called, roused the Anglo-Saxons 
 to thoughts of vengeance, and a plot was formed for 
 massacring all the Danish settlers. Scenes of terrible 
 cruelty were perpetrated ; and holes w^ere dug in the 
 earth, in which the Danish women were planted as 
 deep as the waist, while their shoulders were mangled 
 and torn to pieces by fierce mastiffs. Among the un- 
 fortunate victims on this occasion was a sister of King 
 Swen. She had married a noble Dane, embraced 
 Christianity, and exerted her influence to promote 
 peace and good-will between the two hostile races.
 
 THE DANES IN ENGLAND. 303 
 
 But her many excellences did not save lier on that 
 dety of retribution ; for, her children having been slain 
 before her eyes, she was remorselessly beheaded. 
 
 When news of the tragical event arrived in Den- 
 mark, the King swore that he would never rest until 
 he had exacted a terrible vengeance. Swen forthwith 
 fitted out a formidable fleet, and, after repeated at- 
 tempts, rendered himself master of England, and was, 
 without opposition, proclaimed king of that country. 
 There he remained till his death in 1014, when his 
 son, Canute the Great, aspired to the sovereignty. 
 
 While that renowned prince was endeavoring to 
 establish his claim, his younger brother, being left in 
 Denmark, seized upon the hereditary crown ; and 
 Canute was under the necessity of abandoning En- 
 gland for a period, to vindicate his birth-right. With- 
 in a year he arranged the matter to his satisfaction, 
 and, having mustered an army, commenced the sub- 
 jugation of England, of which he was at length ac- 
 knowledged as King. He had scarcely restored the 
 conquered country to tranquillity, when his Dani.sh 
 subjects were involved in war with the Vandals ; and 
 Canute, hastening home, was triumphant in encounter- 
 ing them. He next inidertook an expedition against 
 the Swedes, who had invaded his territory ; and 
 though this enterprise was not quite successful, in 
 1027, he had the distinction of obtaining possession, 
 and being crowned King of Norway. 
 
 Canute signalized his reign by a memorable revo-
 
 400 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— DENMARK. 
 
 lutiou in religion. Tiie conversion of the Danes to 
 Christianity had commenced as early as tlie ninth 
 century ; but the process had been particularly slow. 
 Very little progress had been made, and they had still 
 delighted in the desecration of churches, the murder 
 of prelates, and the slaughter of monks. Canute now 
 decreed that Christianity should be received through- 
 out his extensive dominions, founded several religious 
 houses, and undertook a devout pilgrimage to Rome, 
 to obtain the patronage of the Pope. 
 
 These were' proud days for the Danes ; for their 
 king, as sovereign of three countries, was one of the 
 most considerable potentates of Europe, and not un- 
 worthy of Jiis high honors. Nevertheless, he was not 
 insensible of the vanity of sublunary greatness. One 
 day, as he was walking along the sea-shore at South- 
 ampton, his courtiers not only extolled him as one of 
 the greatest of human beings, but even described him 
 as a god. To illustrate the folly of their remarks, Ca- 
 nute ordered a chair to be brought, and, seating him- 
 self where the tide was about to flow, turned toward 
 the blue waters, and said, " Oh sea I thou art under 
 my jurisdiction, and the land where I sit is mine ; I 
 command thee to come no farther, nor to presume to 
 wet thy sovereign's feet." But the resounding billows 
 moving onward to his chair, the King rose and im- 
 pressed upon his flatterers, that none but the King of 
 heaven, whom the land and the sea obeyed, was en* 
 titled to the praises which they had just showered
 
 THE UNION OF CALMAR. 401 
 
 upon a mortal. From that date, the royal Dane 
 wore his crown no more, but caused it to be suspend- 
 ed on a crucifix at Winchester, where his remains 
 were consigned to the dust in 1036. 
 
 Hardicanute, the son of the great departed, then 
 became King of Denmark, and the inhabitants turned 
 their attention to peaceful pursuits. Their first source 
 of wealth was the herring-fishery on the coast of Scho- 
 nen ; and the traders of all nations came to exchange 
 gold, silver, and precious commodities for herrings ; so 
 that when the thirteenth century arrived, the Danes, 
 who had formerly been clad for the most part in the 
 coarse garb of sailors, arrayed themselves in purple, 
 scarlet, and fine linen. 
 
 Time passed on, and more than three centuries after 
 Canute had been laid at rest in the old monastery at 
 Winchester, Margaret, daughter of the Danish King 
 Waldemar, and widow of Hacquin of Norway, on the 
 death of her son Olaus, ascended the throne of Den- 
 mark with the consent of the States. This royal wid- 
 ow, being a princess of courage and address, procured 
 her election as Queen of Norway, and subsequently, 
 by expelling Albert of Mecklenburg, acquired the sov- 
 ereignty of Sweden — thus uniting three crowns on her 
 fair brow. Ambitious of writing her name indelibly 
 in the annals of Northern Europe, Margaret, known 
 as " the Semiramis of the North," conceived the pro- 
 ject of a perpetual union of the three kingdoms, and 
 in 1397, brought about the celebrated treaty of Cal- 
 Cc
 
 402 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— DENMARK. 
 
 mar, which declared that Denmark, Norway, and 
 Sweden, should from that date remain under one and 
 the same sovereign. Under her successor, Eric, the 
 Swedes revolted against the union and chose a king ; 
 but they returned to their allegiance when the Count 
 of Oldenburgh, progenitor of the present royal family 
 of Denmark, ascended the throne of Canute as Chris- 
 tian I. 
 
 This renewed union, with a few interruptions, 
 endured tdl 1523, when the intolerable cruelties of 
 Christian II., " the Nero of the North," caused his 
 subjects to rise in rebellion. The inhabitants of Jut- 
 land were the first to throw off the tyrant's yoke ; 
 and they deputed Munce, their chief justice, to in- 
 form the King that he had ceased to reign. The 
 commission was perilous ; but Munce, glorying in the 
 danger, exclaimed, " My name ought to be written 
 over the gates of aU wicked princes." Christian, in 
 his distress, implored assistance from the Emperor 
 Charles, but none was rendered ; and after several 
 ineffectual efforts to recover his crown, the deposed 
 King expired in prison. 
 
 His uncle, Frederick, Duke of Holstein, then as- 
 cended the throne of Denmark, and was succeeded in 
 1535 by his son. Christian III., who speedily proved 
 himself one of the most sagacious princes of that age. 
 In his reign the Lutheran faith was established in the 
 nation ; and his grandson, Christian IV., appeared as 
 chief of the Protestant cause at the opening of the
 
 WARS WITH SWEDEN. 403 
 
 Thirty Years' War. But having been defeated in a 
 great battle by the Imperial General, Count Tilly, 
 Christian resigned that post of honor, and signed the 
 peace of Lubeck in 1G25. His son, Frederick III., 
 ascended, the Danish throne in 1648, and was pre- 
 vailed upon by the Dutch to declare war against 
 Sweden. The King of that country, in consequence, 
 entered Denmark, and besieged Copenhagen, which 
 was only saved by the timely arrival of a Dutch fleet. 
 A second attack was made in 1659, and Copenhagen 
 was in the utmost peril ; but the English and Dutch 
 resolving to mediate, a fleet appeared, having on board 
 the famous repubhcan, Algernon Sidney, who, as em- 
 bassador of England and Holland, demanded unqual- 
 ified submission to his delegated authority. " It is 
 cruel," exclaimed the haughty Swedish monarch in 
 bitter wrath at this interference, " that laws should 
 be prescribed to me by parricides and peddlers ;" but, 
 apprehensive of his army being starved, he agreed to 
 a pacification, and retired into his own country. 
 
 Though Frederick, by his wars with Sweden, lost 
 much valuable territory, the Danes were inspired with 
 so high an admiration of his gallant bearing and of 
 the interest he manifested in the welfare of his sub- 
 jects, that to terminate the oppression experienced at 
 the hands of the nobles, they, in 1660, requested their 
 King to take all power into his own hands. Thus the 
 crown, which had hitherto been elective, was rendered 
 hereditary in the royal house, and his son, Christian
 
 404 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— DENMARK. 
 
 v., succeeded in 1670, as an absolute sovereign. 
 After exhausting his resources in fruitless military 
 operations, he became the ally and subsidiary of 
 France, and left the crown to his son, Frederick IV., 
 who took part in the confederacy against the King of 
 Sweden — the famous Charles XII. That royal hero 
 laid siege to Copenhagen ; and in his impatience to 
 reach the shore, enthusiastically leaped into the sea, 
 sword in hand. His courageous example was followed 
 by the soldiers, and straightway the Danish troops fled 
 in terror and dismay. It was then that the Swedish 
 monarch, astonished at the discharge of musketry, in- 
 quired of an officer what caused the whistling noise he 
 heard. " It is the sound of the bullets they fire against 
 your Majesty," replied the other. " Very well," said 
 the Swede, " that shall henceforth be my music," and 
 the assault was hotly pressed. But the citizens sent 
 deputies, who, on bended knees, implored the invading 
 sovereign not to destroy the town ; and a large sum 
 of money being paid to him, a peace was forthwith 
 signed at Travendal. 
 
 King Frederick died in 1730, and his son, Chris- 
 tian VI., was so successful in cultivating the arts of 
 peace and promoting the national prosperity, that his 
 subjects honored him with the appellation of the 
 Father of his People. Frederick V. emulated his roy- 
 al sire's example, and, after a reign of twenty years, 
 was succeeded by his son, Christian VII., who soon 
 after received as his bride Caroline Matilda, sister of
 
 THE QUEEN AND COI^NT STRUENSE. 405 
 
 our third George. The ill-fated English princess had 
 scarcely become accustomed to her new honors, when 
 she was accused of a too close intimacy with Count 
 Struense, the King's favorite and minister, and of a 
 conspiracy with him and Count Brandt to dethrone 
 her husband. The two counts were apprehended, put 
 in irons, and subsequently beheaded. The unhappy 
 Q,ueen was likewise arrested and confined m the castle 
 of Cronenburgh. Afterward a small squadron of 
 British ships conveyed her to Germany ; the city of 
 Zell was appointed for her residence ; and there she 
 was cut off by a malignant fever in the twenty-fourth 
 year of her age. 
 
 As the evening of his life approached, the Danish 
 King became so imbecile in mind, that the functions 
 of government devolved upon the Prmce Royal, who 
 straightway effected most desirable reforms in the 
 condition of the peasantry. These, since 1G60, had 
 been in a state of slavery, and had not the jjov/er 
 of removing from one estate to another without pur- 
 chasing the permission of their masters. In case of 
 leaving without that degrading process, they were 
 claimed and brought back hke stray cattle ; but 
 from the reproach attaching to such an iniquitous 
 system, Denmark was now fortunately freed. 
 
 In 1801, when a serious dispute occurred between 
 England and the Northern powers, relative to the 
 right of search of neutral vessels, Denmark bore a 
 prominent and perilous part, and prepared to resist
 
 406 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— DENMARK. ' 
 
 the mistress of the sea. An armed flotilla was sta- 
 tioned before Copenhagen, and flanked by extensive 
 batteries ; but the great Nelson passed the Sound 
 with an English fleet, destroyed eighteen Danish 
 ships-of-war, and brought matters to accommoda- 
 tion. From the commencement of the revolution- 
 ary wars, Denmark rejected every invitation to take 
 part against France, and for a time maintained 
 neutrality. But in 1807, the English Government 
 having reason to apprehend that the Danish navy 
 would be used for the invasion of the British isles, 
 bombarded Copenhagen with a powei^ful armament 
 and fleet, under Lord Catheart and Admiral Gam- 
 bier. The city was set on fire and threatened with 
 destruction, when the Danish general sent out a 
 flag of truce. By a capitulation, the Danish fleet 
 was surrendered till a general peace ; and the vessels 
 and stores having been sent to England, the place 
 was abandoned. 
 
 This attack rankled in the heart of the Danish 
 sovereign and his subjects. But the misery endured 
 by the country at length induced Frederick VI., in 
 1813, to dispatch an embassador to London, and 
 soon after to separate his interests from those of 
 France, to negotiate a treaty of peace with England, 
 and surrender Norway to Sweden. At the Con- 
 gress of Vienna, that territorial arrangement was 
 maintained. 
 
 In 1835, a remarkable circumstance occurred in
 
 DISPUTES WITH ENGLAND. 407 
 
 the afiairs of Denmark. Since the days of the third 
 Frederick, the government had been desjDotic ; but 
 Frederick VI. came voluntarily forw^ard and granted 
 a representative assembly to assist him in the ad- 
 ministration. He was succeeded by Christian VIIL, 
 whose son, Frederick VII., is the present King of Den- 
 mark.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HISTORY OF SWEDEN. 
 
 The ancient Swedes were a fierce and contentious 
 nation, divided into a number of petty states, each 
 owning the sway of a distinct chieftain, and indulg- 
 ing in rapine and carnage. In the twelfth century 
 flourished St. Eric, a Swedish king, who won celebrity 
 and arrived at the honors of canonization ; and whose 
 banner, on the fold of which were emblazoned a dra- 
 gon and a lamb, to denote the sainted monarch's 
 prowess in war and his gentleness in peace, w^as long 
 preserved as a sacred relic in the Cathedral of Upsala, 
 and regarded by the Swedes as the palladium of 
 victory. 
 
 More than a hundred years later, Magnus Ladis- 
 laus, after being crowned King of Sweden, had the 
 distinction of maintaining the royal authority and 
 holding the warlike Danes in check ; but under his 
 less vigorous successors, tumult and disorder returned 
 and desolated the land, till, in 1394, the three North- 
 ern crowns were united on the forehead of Marga- 
 ret Waldemar, who brought about the union of Cal-
 
 GUSTAVUS VASA. 409 
 
 When Christian II. was crowned King of Den- 
 mark, Norway, and Sweden, that " Nero of the 
 North" signalized the occasion by a tragical scene. 
 To secure his authority, he projected the extirpation 
 of the Swedish chieftains, and with that view — after 
 obtaining the sanction of a papal bull — invited the 
 nobles and senators to a magnificent entertainment. 
 The festivities lasted three days ; on the last of which, 
 in an hour of conviviality, the banquet-hall was sud- 
 denly filled with armed men, who seized the devoted 
 guests and dragged them to the gates of the palace. 
 There a scafibld was erected, and ninety-four persons 
 of high rank were mercilessly executed. 
 
 Among the unfortunate victims of Christian's jeal- 
 ousy, Avas a nobleman, who derived his descent from 
 the ancient Kings of Sweden, who bore the name of 
 Eric Vasa, and who had a son, Gustavus, then con- 
 fined as a hostage by the King. Escaping from his 
 prison, the youthful Gustavus betook himself to the 
 mountains of Dalecarlia, and lurked there for a time 
 in the disguise of a peasant. A single attendant, who 
 acted as his guide, deserted him, and carried off what 
 little property he possessed ; and Gustavus, in the 
 utmost perplexity, hired himself as a miner, and toiled 
 underground for his daily bread. Still he was ani- 
 mated by a restless soul, and by the inspiriting hope 
 of ere long ascending the throne of Sweden. 
 
 At length the time for action seemed to have 
 arrived ; and Gustavus attended the annual feast of
 
 410 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 the mountaineers. Suddenly he cast off his disguise, 
 declared who he was, and invoked their aid for the 
 recovery of their country's liberties. Though the bar- 
 barities which the soldiers of Christian had practiced 
 against the Swedes had roused their blood, the Dale- 
 carlians were at first irresolute about joining Gus- 
 tavus. But one of the aged men remarked, with a 
 look of wisdom, that the wind had blown directly from 
 the north as soon as Gustavus opened his mouth to 
 speak ; and deeming that circumstance an infallible 
 sign of his aspirations being favored by Heaven, the 
 Dalecarlians consented to take up arms under the 
 hero's guidance. Gradually assembling a small army, 
 he defeated the generals of Christian ; and the tyrant's 
 cruelties soon stirring the Danes and Norwegians to 
 revolt, the despotic King was solemnly deposed, and 
 Gustavus was proclaimed King of Sweden. A re- 
 markable change was soon perceptible in the condition 
 of the country. Gustavus and the National Church 
 adhered to the Confession of Faith which Melancthon, 
 the mild and learned disciple of the fiery Luther, had 
 drawn up at the Diet of Augsburg ; and Sweden 
 speedily exhibited evidence of being freed from Papal 
 craft and control. Arts and commerce began to 
 flourish, and as time passed on, the Swedish monarchy 
 assumed a high and formidable position among the 
 powers of Europe. Gustavus, after swaying the scep- 
 tre for about forty years, and contributing much to the 
 happiness and prosperity of the people whom he had
 
 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 411 
 
 delivered, was succeeded, in 1560, by his son Eric. 
 But the latter, who aspired to the hand of Q,uecn 
 Elizabeth, proving a cruel and unworthy prince, was 
 dethroned by the States in favor of his brother John ; 
 and that prince made an unwise eflbrt to restore the 
 Romish religion in Sweden. His son Sigismmid, who 
 had previously been elected King of Poland, on inher- 
 iting the Swedish throne, hkewise pursued the scheme 
 of subjugating Sweden to Rome ; whereupon his sub- 
 jects, who were now zealous Lutherans, not only de- 
 chned to listen to any such proposal, but deposed him 
 in 1600, and placed on the throne his uncle Charles, 
 a son of Gustavus Vasa. 
 
 Charles IX. wielded the sceptre during liis life ; 
 and dying in 1611, transmitted it to his son Gusta\^s 
 Adolphus, celebrated as the Lion of the North, and 
 the Bulwark of the Protestant faith. The young hero 
 had scarcely completed his eighteenth year when he 
 ascended the paternal throne ; but he soon made his 
 influence felt throughout Europe. His kinsman, Sig- 
 ismund, who still swayed the sceptre of Poland, allect- 
 ed to treat him as a usurper, and rejected offers of 
 friendship ; but Gustavus overran his territories, and 
 having proved his military skill, he espoused the de- 
 clining cause of the hapless King of Bohemia, and be- 
 came chief of the confederation for humbling the pride, 
 and reducing the power, of the Catholic House of Aus- 
 tria. With this view, Gustavus began to take in the 
 Thirty Years' War that conspicuous part which has
 
 412 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 rendered his name immortal, and bore the banner of 
 Protestantism through Germany. Soldiers of fortune, 
 especially from Scotland, flocked to his victorious stand- 
 ard. Alexander Leslie — the celebrated Earl of Leven 
 — after fighthig against Spain in the cause of the 
 United Provinces, won in the service of Gusta\'Tis the 
 rank of field-marshal, and that militaiy reputation 
 which rendered him so formidable to the forces of our 
 first Charles ; while David Leslie gained such expe- 
 rience as a commander of cavaliy which enabled him 
 to turn the tide of fight on Marston Moor, and break 
 the ferocious charge of Montrose's Higliland host on 
 the banks of the Ettrick. 
 
 Supported by subsidies from France, then governed 
 by the great Richelieu, Gustavus speedily produced a 
 change in the aspect of European aflairs. At Leipsic, 
 in 1631, he encountered the famous Tilly, till then 
 deemed invincible, and was signally victorious over 
 that great soldier ; and he afterward attacked the 
 defeated general at the passage of the Leek, where the 
 latter lost his life. 
 
 The Emperor, in alarm at the prosi)ect of his 
 schemes being thwarted, recalled to his service the 
 illustrious AVallenstein, who had been formerly dis- 
 graced, and sent him against the redoubted champion 
 of Protestantism. A simple stone, near Lutzen, still 
 marks the place where, in 1G32, the tMo heroes met 
 for a decisive conflict. The Swedish King had little 
 fear of defeat. Courageous to excess, he appeared on
 
 QUEEN CHRISTINA. 413 
 
 the day of battle in front of his army, bestriding his 
 strong war-steed, and surpassing in stature every man 
 in his army. His fortune as a general did not desert 
 him on this day of trial ; and he was again victorious ; 
 but in the hour of triumph the victor perished on 
 the field. Wallenstein was prevented from following 
 up the advantage which the fall of such an adver- 
 sary gave him, for he was assassinated, at Egra, by 
 messengers whom the Emperor had sent to arrest 
 him. 
 
 With Gustavus vanished all the grand schemes he 
 had cherished for the glory of his country ; and the 
 Swedish throne was inherited by his daughter, Chris- 
 tina, who had only attained her sixth year. A Coun- 
 cil of Regency was forthwith appointed ; and the con- 
 duct of the war in Germany was intrusted to the 
 Chancellor Oxenstiern, a man skillful alike in the 
 cabinet and the field. After sixteen years had passed, 
 the long war was terminated by the Treaty of West- 
 phalia ; and Sweden acquired Pomerania, Stettin, and 
 other provinces. 
 
 Q,ueen Christina had previously arrived at legal 
 age, and proved a most eccentric personage. Pro- 
 claiming herself the patroness of art and letters, she 
 attracted to her conrt several men of eminence, and 
 expressed so intense a dislike to public affairs, that the 
 States ventured to propose that she should espouse her 
 cousin, Charles Gustavus. But Christina, though by 
 no means a man-hater, sternly refused to accept of a
 
 414 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 husband ; and much discouleut prevailing on account 
 of her absorption in, hterary and philosophic pursuits, 
 she abdicated in favor of Charles. She then left the 
 Swedish capital, and indulged her eccentricity by 
 traveling through Germany in male attire. At In- 
 spruck she renounced the Lutheran doctrines, em- 
 braced the Romish faith, and betook herself to Italy ; 
 but tiring of her residence there, she repaired to France, 
 took up her abode in Paris, and fi-eed herself from 
 every restraint. At length, in a fit of jealousy, the 
 royal virago caused her Master of the Horse to be as- 
 sassinated in the great gallery at Fontainebleau, and 
 the public ixrdignation excited by this crime drove her 
 to Rome. 
 
 While Christina vv'as thus, at the cost of her rep- 
 utation, roaming over Christendom, her successor, 
 Charles X., was engaged in a war with Denmark, 
 and being cut olf by a fever in the camp, his son, 
 Charles XL, ascended the throne, and reigned till 1G97, 
 when he went to the grave, and was succeeded by 
 his son, Charles XIL, one of the most singular char- 
 acters who ever played a part on the stage of human 
 affairs. 
 
 The youth and inexperience of Charles — for he had 
 only attained his fifteenth year — tempted the Kings 
 of Denmark and Poland to form against him a con- 
 federacy with the Czar Peter. The Swedish King 
 thereupon, with juvenile enthusiasm, laying siege to 
 Copenhagen, soon made the Danish people repent oi
 
 CHARLES THE TWELFTH. 415 
 
 their sovereign's temerity ; and then turning against 
 the Czar, who had besieged Narva, he advanced to 
 the rehef of that place, defeated the Russians with 
 slaughter, and captured all their baggage and artil- 
 lery. After this triumphant enterprise, he marched 
 against the Poles, took "Warsaw and Cracow, deposed 
 King Augustus, and placed on the throne of Poland 
 Stanislaus, a dependant of his ov.n. 
 
 After these brilliant exploits, all Europe courted 
 the alliance of the conquering hero ; and the Czar 
 perceived the wisdom of making peace with a foe so 
 formidable. But abruptly terminating negotiations, 
 Charles declared that he would treat only at Moscow, 
 and made preparations with an army of forty-five 
 thousand men for the conquest of Russia. At this 
 point his prescience failed him, and laid the foundation 
 of countless disasters, for, baffled in his design of march- 
 ing directly to the enemy's capital, the Swede was al- 
 lured, by treacherous promises from the Cossacks, to 
 venture through the Ukraine in the depth of winter, 
 and thus exposed his troops to the utmost misery. 
 Yet though his soldiers were perishing from fatigue, 
 and in many cases almost destitute of shoes and 
 clothes, nothing could impede the progress of the roy- 
 al enthusiast. His military ardor bore him up against 
 all hardships. He swam rivers at the head of his cav- 
 alr)', executed marvelous marches, and, in 1709, pen- 
 etrated to Pultowa. There, however, he was encoun- 
 tered by the Czar, and a bloody battle taking place,
 
 416 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 the Russians won a complete victory. Nine thousand 
 Swedes were slain in the fight ; fourteen thousand 
 more were taken prisoners ; and Charles himself, 
 wounded and vanquished, experienced much difficulty 
 in escaping, with the wreck of his army, to Bender, 
 in the Turkish dominions. 
 
 Sweden was, in the mean time, exposed to the 
 attacks of the King's enemies ; and the Regency, 
 in despair at his absence, resolving to consult him 
 no longer in regard to public affairs, entreated his 
 sister, the Princess Ulrica, to assume the reins of 
 government, and make peace with Denmark and 
 Russia. 
 
 Charles, who had made the Turks his enemies, 
 was in bed at Demotica, and a nominal captive, when 
 the intelligence of this transaction was brought to 
 him ; and fierce was his anger. He roused himself to 
 energy, and wrote to the Swedish Senators, that if 
 they dared to assume the functions of government, he 
 would send one of his boots to issue orders ; and hast- 
 ily departed, with the sanction of the Porte, for Stral- 
 sund, which about eighty years earlier had been tri- 
 umphantly defended by Alexander Leslie against Wal- 
 lenstein and an imperial army elate with recent vic- 
 tory. From this place, in 1714, Charles, glowing with 
 a martial enthusiasm which precluded prudence, issued 
 orders to his generals to renew the war. 
 
 The deluded King himself, with a body of twelve 
 thousand Swedes, undertook to defend Stralsund
 
 5IEGE OF FREDERICKSHALL. 417 
 
 against the united forces of Russia and Denmark, and 
 in the attempt shrunk not from the most perilous 
 exploits. The brave defenders were soon reduced to 
 the last extremity, and half the town was reduced to 
 ashes; but Charles, still unmoved, fought with despe- 
 rate valor among his soldiers. But, at last, when 
 every ray of hope had departed, and death or cap- 
 tivity seemed the inevitable consequence of remaining, 
 he consented, with a sigh, to make his escape, and 
 embarked in a small vessel. Favored by the dark- 
 ness of night, he passed the Danish fleet, and, at- 
 tended by two officers, made his way in disguise to 
 his own capital. 
 
 At this date. Cardinal Alberoni, prime minister of 
 Spain, while cherishing the ambition of Elizabeth Far- 
 viese, the second wife of the fifth Philip, conceived the 
 •laring project of reseating the exiled Stuarts on the 
 English throne, and deeming the renowned King of 
 Sweden a fitting leader for such an enterprise, con- 
 certed measures with Gortz, the Swedish minister. 
 The Czar took part in the scheme, and agreed to a 
 peace with Sweden, but an unexpected occurrence 
 swept the vision all away. 
 
 Charles, whose spirit no adversity could tame, 
 resolved upon wresting Norway from Denmark ; and, 
 mustering a fresh army, sat down, in the winter of 
 1718, to reduce the town of Frederickshall. No at- 
 tempt could have been more rash. The season was 
 intensely rigorous ; the frost so keen, that the ground 
 Dd
 
 418 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 was as hard as iron, and the atmosphere so cold that 
 sentinels frequently sank lifeless under its effects. 
 The enthusiastic King shared the most dxead perils, 
 and, to encourage his soldiers, even slept in the open 
 iiir with no covering save his cloak. But, on the 
 lught of the 11th December, while viewing the opera- 
 tions of his troops by starlight, he was struck in the 
 temple by a ball, and, after grasping the hilt of his 
 sword, expired without a groan. 
 
 The States of the realm, exercising their ancient 
 privilege, elected as their sovereign the Princess Ulrica, 
 sister of the fallen monarch ; and she entered into a 
 solermi engagement never to attempt arbitrary rule. 
 The (dueen afterward abdicated in favor of her hus- 
 band, Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and, 
 with the consent of the States, that prince ascended 
 the throne, and made peace with all the hostile powers. 
 On the demise of Frederick, without heirs, the crown 
 reverted to Adolphus, duke of Holstein, who was 
 descended, in the female line, from the ancient house 
 of Vasa. Owmg to the factions of the senators, and 
 the restraints then imposed on the royal authority, the 
 reign of Adolphus was one long scene of confusion. 
 When he died, in 1771, the sceptre passed to his son, 
 Gustavus III. 
 
 Every possible precaution was used to bind the 
 new king to the established laws. At the ceremony 
 of coronation he took an oath, which an extraordinary 
 Diet had carefully framed for his acceptance, and
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF ABSOLUTISM. 419 
 
 swore to rule with equity and moderation. But, pos- 
 sessing high talents, an engaging address, and a grace- 
 ful elocution, Gustavus contrived artfully to elude tha 
 obligations and to render himself popular. He treated 
 the humblest of his subjects with affability, mani- 
 fested much interest in their welfare, and gave audi- 
 ence to all who presented themselves. "When his 
 schemes were fully ripe, he caused the members of 
 the Senate to be arrested, and an assembly of the 
 States to be convened. 
 
 On the 21th of August, 1772, the hall in which 
 they assembled was suddenly surrounded with troops ; 
 and at the entrance was planted cannon. The soldiers 
 stood over the loaded guns with lighted matches ; 
 Gustavus, escorted by his officers and guards, seated 
 himself on the throne, and presented to the States a 
 new constitution, which — resistance being out of the 
 question — was unhesitatingly accepted. Gustavus 
 thus became an absolute monarch ; but the remainder 
 of his life was spent in jealous vigilance ; and, at 
 length, one of the Swedish nobles undertook to free 
 his compeers from their tyrant. At a public mas- 
 querade, in March, 1792, the King was shot with a 
 pistol, and, after lingering m great pain for a fortnight, 
 expired in his forty-sixth year. 
 
 His son, Gustavus IV., then ascended the throne, 
 the Duke of Sudermania, uncle of the youthful mon- 
 arch, enacting the part of regent. The young King 
 entered with characteristic ardor into the confederacy
 
 *J0 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 formed by the Northern powers against England, 
 •which was dissolved by Lord Nelson's victory at 
 Copenhagen ; but, in lbU4, he changed his pohcy, de- 
 clared against Bonaparte, withdrew his embassador 
 from France, and prohibited all intercourse with that 
 country. Soon after, Sweden being involved in a war 
 with Russia, suffered the loss of Finland ; and the oper- 
 ations of Gustavus excited so much discontent, that 
 he was expelled from his ancestral throne in 1809, 
 and replaced by his uncle, the Duke of Suderma- 
 nia, with the title of Charles XIII. The new King, 
 after a struggle, opened negotiations with France, 
 and adopted the " Continental System" for the ex- 
 clusion of British commerce from the ports of the 
 Baltic. 
 
 The sudden death of the Crown Prince of Sweden, 
 in the year 1810, while he was reviewing some reg- 
 iments of cavalry, opened up a new scene, and the 
 suspicion that he had been poisoned having been al- 
 layed by a judicial inquiry, public attention was 
 turned to the election of a successor. For that cere- 
 mony the States of Sweden assembled at Orebro, and 
 several royal candidates appeared. But the honor fell 
 to Marshal Bernadotte ; and that French general, a 
 native of Gascony, who had entered the ranks at the 
 age of fifteen, became heir to the Swedish crown and 
 virtual ruler of the country. Bonaparte, who consid- 
 ered the advancement of the man who had carried 
 the collar of the Emperor at the memorable corona-
 
 ELECTION OF BERNADOTTE. 421 
 
 tion of 1804, as an event likely to minister to his own 
 aggrandizement, and complete the subjugation of the 
 North to his system, permitted his Marshal to accept 
 the prospective sovereignty. But Bernadotte preferred 
 the interests of the Swedish people to those of his for- 
 mer master ; and within a few months Sweden was 
 menaced by the French Emperor. After a delay cf 
 two years, the court of Stockholm concluded an alli- 
 ance with England; and, in 1813, when the Allies 
 undertook against France what was termed a " cam- 
 paign of the liberties of Europe," Bernadotte, while 
 commanding their army in the north of Germany, ren- 
 dered such active and vigorous aid, that he was re- 
 warded with the sovereignty of Norway, wrested from 
 Denmark by the Treaty of Kiel. But the Norwegians, 
 not relishmg this territorial arrangement, invited the 
 King of Denmark to assume the regal authority, and 
 made a struggle for independence. Their eflbrts 
 proved unavailing ; and, on the death of the old 
 King, Bernadotte, with the title of Charles John 
 XIV., governed the united kingdoms. His reign was 
 beneficial to the interests of his adopted country ; 
 many public works of importance were undertaken 
 and completed ; agriculture was developed ; com- 
 merce and manufactures were fostered ; and the na- 
 tional finances were restored to order. A leaning- to- 
 ward Russia, the very name of which was odious to 
 his subjects, rendered the distinguished soldier less pop- 
 ular than from his services to the state he would other-
 
 422 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— SWEDEN. 
 
 wise have been. He expired in 1844, and his son, 
 Oscar, the present sovereign, ascending the throne of 
 Gustavus Adolphus and the twelfth Charles, com- 
 menced, with popular measures, his reign over a 
 brave, robust, and industrious people.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY AND GREECE, 
 
 In the month of April, 1453, Mohammed the Great, 
 Sultan of the Turks — a race of Scythians, who had 
 gradually extended their conquests from the shores of 
 the Caspian to the Straits of the Dardanelles — at- 
 tacked Constantinople, the capital of the empire of 
 the East, with three hundred thousand men, and 
 three hundred and twenty vessels. The inhabitants, 
 though too indolent in making preparations for the 
 struggle, volunteered to the number of four thousand 
 for the defense of their city, fought with courage, and 
 repaired the breaches with alacrity. Besides, they 
 poured on the besiegers burning naphtha and boiling 
 oil — " the Greek fire" — and burned the wooden towers 
 of the Turks as soon as they were advanced to the 
 walls. Their hearts were ere long gladdened by the 
 arrival of several ships laden with provisions, which, 
 in defiance of the Turkish fleet, entered the harbor 
 in safety. Mohammed, however, caused eighty of his 
 galleys to be carried over the ground behind the city, 
 and placed opposite the weakest part of the ramparts, 
 and then pressed the beleaguered capital on all sides.
 
 424 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— TURKEY, ETC. 
 
 About the end of May the -walls were battered down 
 with cannon ; and the besiegers, entering sword in 
 hand, slaughtered all who opposed them. The Em- 
 peror Constantine, after a heroic struggle, was slain 
 in one of the breaches ; the Empire of the East, 
 which had endured for more than eleven centuries, 
 was extinguished ; the churches were converted into 
 mosques ; and many of the inhabitants were sold or 
 exchanged as captives in the Turkish provinces. The 
 victors now established their seat of government in 
 the Imperial city, introduced into Europe that des- 
 potic system wliich prevailed in Asia, and vested the 
 supreme power in Sultans of the Ottoman race, whose 
 blood was considered sacred. The capture of Con- 
 stantinople Avas followed by the conquest of Greece 
 and Epirus ; and, as their territories extended, the 
 Sultans, finding it necessary to render their military 
 force formidable, and possess a body of troops devoted 
 to their will, seized annually a fifth part of the youths 
 taken in war. These soldiers being instructed in the 
 Mohammedan faith, inured to passive obedience, and 
 trained to martial exercises, were distingvushed by the 
 name of Janizaries. From attending on the person 
 of the Sultan, and being regarded as the strength of 
 the army, the Janizaries became conscious of their 
 own importance ; and at length, growing turbulent 
 and mutinous, they believed themselves entitled to de- 
 grade or elevate Sultans at their pleasure. 
 
 Mohammed the Great was succeeded by a number
 
 SOLYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT. 425 
 
 of Ottoman princes; and, in 1520, the throne was 
 ascended by Solyman the Magnificent, celebrated in 
 Turkish annals as a great lawgiver and a famous 
 warrior. The island of Rhodes was the darhng ob- 
 ject of his martial ambition ; and he attacked it with 
 a mighty force. The Knights of St. John, who in 
 ancient days had taken the place from the Saracens, 
 made a gallant defense, and were aided by the Eu- 
 ropean powers ; but, after a severe siege, lliey were 
 compelled to capitulate and abandon the island. 
 
 Solyman, after various conquests in Europe, died 
 in 1565 ; and his son, Selim II., concluding a peace 
 with the German Emperor, attempted to subdue the 
 kingdom of Persia ; but failing in his efforts, he at- 
 tacked the island of Cyprus, which was then subject 
 to the Republic of Venice. On this enterprise being 
 rumored, the Venetians formed a league with the Pope 
 and the second Philip of Spain for defense of the place ; 
 but ere relief could be sent, the capital had been taken 
 by storm, and all the towns captured. Masters of Cy- 
 prus, the Turks unchecked ravaged the coasts, till their 
 fleet was encountered at Lepanto by that of the con- 
 federates, under Don John of Austria, natural brother 
 of the Spanish king. The conflict was bloody and 
 protracted, and it was desperately maintained hand 
 to hand. The Turkish admiral, surrounded by hund- 
 reds of Janizaries, maintained for hours a fierce strug- 
 gle with the Austrian Don. Amidst the din of bat- 
 tle the Admiral fell ; and his galley being taken, the
 
 426 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— TURKEY, ETC 
 
 Turkish standard was torn down from the stem, and 
 his head set up in its stead. The Turks then gave 
 way, and the news of this victorj' was hailed at Rome 
 with rapturous dehght ; but the confederates disagreed 
 among themselves, and the Venetians allowed Selim 
 to retain Cyprus. Don John then seized upon Tunis, 
 which he was ambitious of erecting into a sovereignty 
 for himself; but a Turkish fleet speedily appeared be- 
 fore the place, which was stormed, and taken at the 
 point of the sword. 
 
 Amurath III. succeeded his father in 1574, and 
 after adding part of Hungary to his dominions, was 
 succeeded by his son, Mohammed III., who secured 
 the throne by causing nineteen of his brothers to be 
 strangled, and twelve of his father's wives to be thrown 
 into the sea. After supporting the dignity of the em- 
 pire till 1605, he left behind him two sons — Achmet, 
 who only reigned for a brief period ; and Mustapha, 
 who during his brother's life was the inmate of a pris- 
 on. After occupying the throne for a few months, he 
 was again immured to make way for his nephew, Os- 
 man ; and the latter, being defeated during an inva- 
 sion of Poland, was slain by the Janizaries. 
 
 Amurath the Intrepid, son of Mustapha, soon after 
 mounted the throne, but after vanquishing the Per- 
 sians, and taking Bagdad, he killed himself with a 
 debauch. His son, Ibrahim, proving a weak prince, 
 was strangled by four mutes ; and Mohammed IV., 
 ascending the throne in 1648, rendered his power for-
 
 FOREIGN WARS. 427 
 
 midable to Christendom, maintained a successful war 
 with Germany, and undertook the memorable siege 
 of Vienna. His immediate successors played no con- 
 spicuous part in European afiairs ; but, in 1694, Mus- 
 tapha II. ascended the throne, and quickly proved 
 himself a daring warrior. After several campaigns, 
 he was met at Zenta, in Hungary, by Prince Eugene, 
 and totally defeated. Thirty thousand Turks are said 
 to have perished on the occasion ; the pavilion of the 
 Sultan and the seal of the Turkish empire were lost ; 
 and Mustapha, having after an ineffectual struggle 
 agreed to a peace, was deposed in favor of his broth- 
 er, Achmet III. That prince, after wresting the Mo- 
 rea from the Venetians, commenced warlike operations 
 in Hungary ; but there his Grand Vizier was routed 
 by the illustrious Eugene, and in 1718, compelled to 
 conclude the peace of Passarowitz. This was a sad 
 blow to the Sultan's declining power ; and, being 
 afterwar(J unsuccessful in a war with the Persians, 
 he was thrust from the throne, and replaced by Mo- 
 hammed V. 
 
 In 1757, Mustapha, the brother of Mohammed, 
 was elevated to the rank of Sultan, and was speedily 
 involved in a war with Russia. The Russians, under 
 Prince Galitzen, were successful in their operations ; 
 and having overrun Moldavia, prevailed upon the 
 Greek inhabitants to acknowledge the Czarina as 
 their sovereign. In 1770, the hostile armies met for 
 a final struggle ; the Russians were again victorious ;
 
 428 HISTORY FOR BOYS— TURKEY, ETC. 
 
 thousands of Turks lost their hves, and their ammu- 
 nition and provisions fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 Meantime, a fierce naval fight took place in the chan- 
 nel of Scio. The adverse commanders having locked 
 their ships together with grappling irons, fought with 
 unmitigated fury till the Russians, setting both vessels 
 on fire, produced a terrific explosion and destroyed the 
 crews. After a pause the contest was renewed by the 
 remaining vessels, and the impassioned struggle con- 
 tinued till nightfall, when the Turks cut their cables, 
 and made for a bay on the coast of NatoUa ; but 
 some Russian fire-ships having been artfully conveyed 
 among the fleet, totally consumed the Turkish vessels. 
 The Russians then bombarded the town, which was 
 soon reduced to ashes by the explosion of a powder- 
 magazine in the castle. 
 
 Mustapha expired soon after these disasters ; and 
 a peace, favorable to the interests of Russia, was con- 
 cluded by his brother, Achmet IV., who died while 
 preparing an expedition against Germany and Russia. 
 His nephew, Selim III., succeeded, and entered upon 
 a war with the latter power, which proved most un- 
 fortunate. During its continuance, the Turks lost an 
 important fortress, a large extent of territory, and 
 about two hundred thousand men ; and they were in 
 the utmost danger of experiencing disasters still more 
 fatal, when England and Prussia interfered for their 
 protection. 
 
 In 1801, after the surrender of Alexandria by the
 
 THE GREEK INSURRECTION. 429 
 
 French, and the consequent evacuation of Egypt, a 
 peace was concluded between Turkey and France ; 
 and in 1806, war was declared between the Porte 
 and Russia. The Turks were then exhorted to repair 
 to the standard of Mohammed, and manifest their an- 
 cient courage. Nevertheless, the Russians were tri- 
 umphant by sea and land ; and Turkish affairs were 
 rendered still more gloomy by a domestic revolution. 
 The Sultan, bent on introducing European tactics into 
 his army, gave mortal offense to the Janizaries, who 
 contemptuously rejected the proposed innovations. 
 Selim, to punish their disobedience, signified that the 
 duty of escorting him to the mosque should in future 
 be performed by troops trained on the modern system. 
 This was more than these privileged soldiers could 
 brook ; and resolving upon a display of their power, 
 they conducted him, with contumely, to the ancient 
 seraglio — the residence of deposed potentates. They 
 then led forth his cousin Mustapha, a spirited youth 
 of twenty-eight, and, with loud acclamations, pro- 
 claimed him Sultan. 
 
 Several years went by ; and after Europe had re- 
 covered from convulsions, men of poetic temperament 
 " dreamed that Greece might yet be free." Tiie 
 Greeks, determined upon asserting their liberties, rose 
 against their Turkish rulers, and commenced the War 
 of Independence. At first they were victorious in sev- 
 eral battles, made themselves masters of the country 
 south of Thessaly, and seemed to have thrown off the
 
 430 HISTORY FOR BOYS— TURKEY, ETC. 
 
 yoke of centuries. But in 1825, Mehemet Ali, the 
 Pasha of Egr)pt, sent his son Ibrahim -with an army, 
 and landing in the Morea, the latter took several 
 towns, and defeated the insurgents in the field. The 
 Turks rapidly recovered their lost ground, and the 
 cause of the Greeks appeared hopeless. The arrival 
 of Lord Cochrane to take the command did not avail ; 
 for, having sailed to the relief of Athens, the noble ad- 
 miral witnessed the defeat and dispersion of the Greelis, 
 and had to swim to his ship. 
 
 The Turks now had everj' thing in their hands ; 
 but E.us.sia, in extreme anxiety to weaken her former 
 foe, took part with the Greeks, who had, besides, the 
 sympathies of England and France ; and these powers 
 finding their threats disregarded, took strong measures 
 to terminate the sangiiinary contest. 
 
 The Turks girded themselves up for the impending 
 struggle, and were reinforced by the Egyptian fleet in 
 the harbor of Navarino ; and on the 20th cf October, 
 1827, the English, French, and Russian fleets, under 
 Admiral Codrlngton, cfTocted an entrance. There 
 was a sharp struggle of four hours' duration ; and 
 when it was over, the wrecks of the united fleets of 
 Turkey and Egj'pt strewed the waters. The disabled 
 vessels, after being set on fire by their crews, were 
 abandoned. ' 
 
 Matters did not rest here ; for a fresh war breaking 
 out between Turkey and Russia, Adrianople was taken 
 by the Russians without their firing a shot ; and Con-
 
 THE GREEK MONARCHY. 431 
 
 stantinople was in the utmost danger when the peace 
 of Adrianople was agreed to. 
 
 These humihations, however mortifying to the pride 
 of a nation whose mihtary power had once been more 
 formidable than that of any European monarchy, were 
 not to be avoided ; and the independence of Greece 
 was acknowledged by Turkey in September, 1829, 
 A constitutional monarchy was then instituted in the 
 liberated country ; and in 1832, Prince Otho of Bava^ 
 ria being called to the throne, assumed his present po. 
 sition as King: of Greece.
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 
 
 While England, under the first of her Scottish 
 kings, was falling I'rom the high estate she had occu- 
 pied under her native princes ; while in France the 
 genius of Richelieu was making itself felt ; while the 
 glory was departing from the Spanish monarchy ; 
 while the Thirty Years' "War was beginning to deso- 
 late Germany ; while the illustrious career of Gusta- 
 vus Adolphus was opening upon Sweden ; and while 
 the warriors of Turkey were yet terrible to the nations 
 of Europe, Michael Theodoriwitz, earliest of the dy- 
 nasty of Romanoff, became Czar of Muscovy. His 
 dominions Mere uncultivated, his subjects barbarous, 
 and the country was in the utmost disorder ; for on 
 the extinction of the male line of the former Czars — 
 the posterity of John Basilowitz, who had redeemed 
 Russia from the Tartars — no fewer than five pretend- 
 ers had aspired to the vacant throne, and involved the 
 realm in civil war. But Michael, proving worthy of 
 his elevation, reigned for more than thirty years, main- 
 tained his position with dignity, and bequeathed the 
 crown to his heir.
 
 RISB OF THE ROMANOFFS. 433 
 
 Alexis, the son of Michael, succeeded in 1645, and 
 applied himself with vigor to the harsh duties of re- 
 form. The necessity was indeed pressing ; for Mus- 
 covy was still little better than a ferocious anarchy ; 
 and the capital was kept in perpetual consternation 
 by the capricious violence of the Strelitzes — a militia 
 formed in imitation of the celebrated Turkish Janiza- 
 ries. But the new Czar proved himself an able ruler, 
 and did much to create order. He published a code 
 of laws, purified the courts of justice, restrained the 
 power of the boyards over their serfs, and aflbrded 
 much encouragement to agriculture and manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Toward the close of his reign Alexis was deprived 
 by death of his first wife ; and though he had a fam- 
 ily of sons and daughters, the Czar determined upon 
 a second matrimonial speculation. According to the 
 fashion then pursued by the rulers of Russia, Alexis 
 issued a proclamation inviting all the most beautiful 
 damsels in his dominions, irrespective of their social 
 condition, to repair to Moscow that he might select 
 a, fitting bride. Among the rest came a lady named 
 Natalie. She, having attracted the eye of Alexis, 
 was forthwith exalted to the dignity of Czarina ; and, 
 in due time, she became the mother of a prince who 
 afterward rendered himself famous as Peter the Great. 
 
 When Alexis expired in 1G76, he left, besides Peter, 
 then a mere child, two sons, Theodore and Ivan, and 
 a daughter, Sophia, who ore long played a conspicu' 
 Ee
 
 434 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 ous part in Russian afiairs. Theodore, a sickly youth, 
 inherited his father s crown, bnt did not survive to 
 ■wear it for more than a few years. On his death-bed 
 he summoned the boyards to his presence, and recom- 
 mended them to set aside Ivan on account of his bod- 
 ily infirmities, and intrust the sceptre to the youthfid 
 Peter. To this scheme Sophia, who united much per- 
 sonal beauty with a strong will and a vaulting ambi- 
 tion, was vehemently opposed ; and her snules so com- 
 pletely won over the Captain oi Strelitzes, and fasci- 
 nated the populace, that the incapable Ivan was seat- 
 ed on the throne, while she asumed the functions of 
 government. The widowed Czarina and her son, aft- 
 er being besi^ed in their palace, fled from the city, 
 and aou^it an asylum in the Convent of Trinity ; but 
 ihej had scarcely taken refuge within its waUs, when 
 the aoldieis of Sophia were heard clamoring at the 
 outer gate. At this crisis a lucky thought crossed the 
 agitated brain of the trembling Czarina. She placed 
 her son on the high altar ; and when the soldiers ef- 
 fected an entrance, the Superior of the Convent, point- 
 ins to the boy, exclaimed, " Behold him I there he is 
 with God." The soldiers were touched with awe, till 
 erne of them, less scrupulous than his fellows, after a 
 pause stepped forward, and brandidded his weapon to 
 strike the child. But a monk, arresting his arm, 
 thrust him back, saying with calm solemnity, " Not 
 in this ^cred place." At that moment the tread of 
 cavalry was again heard, and the Superior having ex-
 
 PETER THE GREAT. 435 
 
 claimed, " Here come oar fiiends at last ; let the ene- 
 mies of God and the Czar tremble," the edifice was 
 speedily cleared of intruders, and the royal boys life 
 providentially saved. 
 
 The son of Xatalie had other perils to enconntel 
 on the threshold of life. At an obscure village, sitU' 
 ated at a distance fix)m Moscow, he was surrounded 
 by a number of most profligate youths to corrupt his 
 morals and debase his mind. But, instead of falling 
 into the snare, Peter persuaded his comrades to have 
 recouise to maoly sports and martial exercises ; he 
 formed them into a small mili tary force : and in this 
 juvenile regiment, taking rank only as a private, he 
 wrought his way gradually to command. 
 
 About this time Le Fort and Gordon, two adven- 
 turers of mark and likelihood, appeared in Russia. 
 Le Fort was a native of Geneva, and had been orig- 
 mally destined for commercial pursuits ; but with a 
 soul above such matters, he had followed the bent of 
 his inclination, and betaken himself to a mili tary ca- 
 reer. Gordon was of a difierent stamp, b eing the cadet 
 of a Cavaher family in Scotland, who had in youth 
 left his native soil to win fame and fortune, and who 
 had served with the Swedes and Poles. Peter now 
 attached these disringuiahed soldiers of fortune to his 
 cause ; and they rendered him most valuable aid in his 
 schemes for the creation of that power which is now 
 regarded as one of the most pernicious elements in 
 European society.
 
 436 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 When Peter had attained his seventeenth year he 
 took to himself a wife ; and this step so alarmed the 
 aspiring Sophia, that in her haste she assumed the 
 title of Empress, and dispatched a force to arrest the 
 bridegroom. But her indications of enmity created 
 such a ferment among the young hero's friends, that, 
 in 1689, they compelled the haughty princess to 
 abandon the struggle and retire to a convent, while 
 Peter was installed as Czar. 
 
 Ambitious of learning the art of governing his 
 people and of ameliorating their condition, Peter, in the 
 company of Le Fort, who figured as embassador, left 
 his dominions to acquire information in foreign lands. 
 After visiting Berlin, he repaired to Holland, studied 
 commerce at Amsterdam, and wrought as an ordinary 
 shipwright in the docks of Saardam. He then passed 
 over to England to complete his knowledge ; and car- 
 ried with him from Deptford, which he visited as a 
 simple mechanic, sailors and artificers, whom he after- 
 ward promoted to places of honor and command in 
 Russia. 
 
 On returning home it became the chief object of 
 the Czar Peter to teach his barbarous subjects the art 
 of civilized war, and to form a regularly disciplined 
 army. And in Charles XH. of Sweden he found an 
 antagonist whose courage and enthusiasm called forth 
 all his genius. In their first conflicts the Swedish 
 monarch was triumphant, but Peter did not therefore 
 blanch. " I knew," said he, after being defeated at
 
 WAR WITH SWEDEN. 437 
 
 Narva, " that the Swedes would beat us ; but in time 
 they will teach us to become their conquerors." He 
 soon after recovered Narva by a skillful assault, and 
 then applied his energies to the building of that re- 
 markable town so intimately associated with his cele- 
 brity as a ruler. 
 
 The Czar, in realizing his project, made choice of 
 a singular site. Between Finland and Ingria was a 
 marshy island, which during summer was a heap of 
 mud and in winter a frozen pool. Growling bears 
 and howling wolves had hitherto haunted the spot ; 
 but, resolute in his purpose, the Czar, bringing men 
 from all parts of his realm, cleared forests, formed 
 roads, erected mounds, and laid the foundation of 
 St. Petersburg. Though inundations demolished the 
 works, and fever carried off the workmen, the Czar 
 persevered in the undertakuig ; and in 1714 he re- 
 moved the council thither from Moscow, the ancient 
 capital. 
 
 A few years passed over ; and Peter, assuming the 
 title of Emperor of all the Russias, was formally ac- 
 knowledged as such by the various powers of Europe. 
 He established order throughout his dominions, pro- 
 vided education for youth, and adopted many useful 
 reforms. But his temper was still so despotic, and 
 his nature so fierce, that when Alexis, his son and 
 heir, offended him by a dissolute life, and by opposing 
 his schemes of civilization, the Czar ordered that he 
 should suffer death. Peter himself expired in 1725,
 
 438 HISTORY FOR BOYS.-RUSSIA. 
 
 and was succeeded on the throne by his second spouse 
 the Czarina. 
 
 Catherine, originally a Livonian captive, exercised 
 the functions of government with credit for the next 
 three years, and was succeeded by Peter II., a son of 
 the murdered Alexis. This Czar only reigned for a 
 brief period ; and the male line of the Romanoils 
 thus becoming extinct, the Russians elevated to the 
 vacant throne Anne, duchess of Courland, the second 
 daughter of the Czar Peter's brother. The reign of 
 Anne was happy and prosperous ; but on her decease 
 there took place a struggle for the succession, which 
 terminated in the proclamation of Elizabeth, a daugh- 
 ter of Peter the Great, and m the imprisonment of her 
 rivals. Her reign was particularly fortunate. A war 
 with Sweden was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, 
 and the Czarina's fleets and armies were every where 
 victorious. Russia, under the auspices of Elizabeth, 
 took an important part in the Seven Years' War, and 
 the position of Frederick the Great had gradually be- 
 come one of extreme peril, when the Empress died in 
 1762, and the throne was inherited by her nephew 
 Peter III. 
 
 Peter, who was animated by an enthusiastic admi- 
 ration of the Prussian King's talent and courage, im- 
 mediately consented to a peace, and the new reign 
 commenced auspiciously. The nobles and gentry 
 were freed from vassalage, and placed on an equality 
 with those in other countries ; and the laborers were.
 
 CATHERINE THE SECOND. 439 
 
 to some extent, relieved from the burden of taxation. 
 But being a Lutheran, Peter shocked the clergy by his 
 contempt for the Greek Church, while he ofl'ended 
 the army by his partiality for the Holstein Guards, 
 and thus raised up a host of foes. The unfortunate 
 Emperor had made another enemy, still more uncom- 
 promising. Before coming to the throne he had es- 
 poused Catherine, a princess of Anhalt Zerbst, a wo- 
 man of great ability and boundless ambition. Their 
 tastes, habits, and dispositions, were, however, utterly 
 dissimilar ; and fierce quarrels arising between them, 
 Peter became so deeply enamored of the Countess of 
 Woronzoff, that ere long a rumor crept about of his 
 intention to shut up the Empress in prison and raise 
 the Countess to share his throne. The rumor cost 
 him dear ; for while he was seeking consolation in the 
 society of the lady of his heart, Catherine marched 
 against the devoted Czar at the head of a strong par- 
 ty, proclaimed that he had ceased to reign, and threw 
 him into prison, where he soon after breathed his last, 
 under suspicious circumstances. 
 
 The masculine Empress then ascended the Russian 
 throne with the title of Catherine II., and commenced 
 her reign by flattering the prejudices which her ill- 
 fated husband had so fatally wounded. But a large 
 share of her attention was speedily bestowed upon the 
 affairs of Poland. When Augustus, king of that ill- 
 fated country, expired at Dresden in 17G3, the Em- 
 press, by the influence of Russian bayonets, procured
 
 440 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 the election of Stanislaus Augustus, one of her former 
 favorites. Almost from the opening of the reign, Po- 
 land was the scene of disorder and desolation ; for 
 Catherine, having transported -to Siberia a number oi 
 senators hostile to her designs, roused the indignant 
 spirit of the nation. A band of patriotic Poles, seiz- 
 ing on Cracow and Bar, formed a league for their de- 
 liverance from a foreign yoke, and implored assistance 
 from Louis XV. Fifteen hundred Frenchmen, under 
 Dumouriez, marched to the assistance of the confeder- 
 ates, and Turkey took part in the quarrel. But the 
 Russians were completely victorious ; Bender was cap- 
 tured ; the Turkish fleet was destroyed ; and the Cri- 
 mea was annexed to Catherine's dominions. Flushed 
 with success, and unscrupulous by nature, the Empress 
 projected the dismemberment of Poland, forced her 
 scheme upon Maria Theresa, and in 1772 entered into 
 a treaty of partition with the rulers of Austria and 
 Prussia. The Polish Diet was intimidated by men- 
 aces ; and the several provinces, about one-third of the 
 Polish ten-itory, which had been allotted to the spoil- 
 ers, were surrendered. 
 
 Scarcely had the Russian Empress perpretrated this 
 piece of ruthless injustice, when she was alarmed by 
 the serious rebeUion of a Cossack, who, assuming the 
 name and character of her dead husband, pretended 
 that he had escaped from the hands of those employed 
 to assassinate him. The Cossack bore a striking re- 
 semblance to the deceased Czar, and was successful
 
 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS. 441 
 
 in arraying a considerable band of followers under 
 his banner. He boldly took the field, and, possessing 
 both skill and valor, was for a time victorious over 
 the gelierals of Catherine. But at length he was 
 totally defeated, taken prisoner, carried to Moscow in 
 an iron cage, aad beheaded as a traitor. 
 
 Danger soon arose from another quarter. After 
 undertaking one of the most pompous processions on 
 record to be crowned at Cherson, Catherine, on her 
 return to St. Petersburg, was disturbed by a declara- 
 tion of war on the part of Turkey ; but the Ottoman 
 power lost considerably by the operations, and the 
 Dneister was henceforth recognized as the frontier of 
 the hostile empires. 
 
 Soon after this Catherine was startled with the 
 outbreak of the French revolution, and against it she 
 issued a strong declaration. But she refrained from 
 taking any active part in opposition to its promoters ; 
 for while other countries were binding themselves up 
 for the fierce struggle that ensued, the Czarina seized 
 the occasion to make a second onslaught on devoted 
 Poland. In 1788 the Poles, in their aspirations after 
 liberty, increased their army, and framed a new con- 
 stitution, which rendered the crown hereditary in the 
 family of the Elector of Saxony. The Empress, there- 
 upon, sent an army into Poland, under pretense of 
 maintaining the settlement of 1772, but in reality to 
 complete the subjugation of the unhappy country, 
 which, in 1793, she efiected, with the aid of the King
 
 442 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 of Prussia. The Polish nobles, however, took up arms 
 to rescue their native land, and, under the brave Kos- 
 ciusko, were at first victorious, but the defeat and cap- 
 tivity of their general rendered further resistance un- 
 availing. 
 
 Warsaw still holding out, and refusing to surren- 
 der, the Russians, under Suwarrow, assailed the town ; 
 and there ensued a fierce conflict, in which the Poles 
 perished by thousands. After a resistance of eight 
 hours they laid down their arms ; but even then a 
 multitude of unarmed and defenseless human beings 
 were mercilessly sacrificed by fire and sword. Suwar- 
 row entered with the pride of a victor ; and the Te 
 Deum was sung to celebrate his triumph. Next year 
 Stanislaus made a formal resignation of his thorny 
 crown. " I can cheerfully," he said, " surrender what 
 has brought me so much calamity." 
 
 With insatiable ambition the Czarina next cast 
 her eyes longingly on Courland, and allured its Duke 
 to her court. During his absence the nobles of that 
 fertile and populous district assembled the stales, to 
 annex their country to Russia. To this scheme there 
 was at first serious opposition ; but a Russian general 
 suddenly appearing in the assembly silenced all objec- 
 tions, and the deposed Duke retired to extensive es- 
 tates which he had purchased in Prussia. 
 
 In 1796, after a successful war with Persia, Cath- 
 erine was summoned to another state of existence ; 
 and the empire which she had rendered so extensive,
 
 ASSASSINATION OF PAUL. 443 
 
 was inherited by her son Paul. The deceased Czar- 
 ina had confined herself to verbal denunciations in 
 her hostility to revolutionary France ; but her succes- 
 sor, eager to signalize his accession by some brilliant 
 exploit, entered — with singular zeal for the cause of 
 sovereigns — into a confederation against the Republic. 
 After setting the brave Kosciusko at liberty, and mak- 
 ing peace with Persia, he took an active part in the 
 war against France, and sent a powerful force into 
 Italy to the aid of Austria. Under Suwarrow the 
 Russian army afterward entered Switzerland, and 
 menaced that Republic ; but the veteran conqueror oi 
 Poland was there utterly unsuccessful, and, depressed 
 with the loss of renown, he returned with his shat- 
 tered army to die of despair, under the frowns of his 
 despotic sovereign. 
 
 Jealous of the maritime greatness and naval as- 
 cendency of England, and swayed by a chivalrous ad- 
 miration of Napoleon, the capricious Czar changed 
 his politics, allied himself with France, seized the 
 British ships in his ports, and organized the Northern 
 Confederacy, which was dissolved by the victory of 
 Copenhagen. But ere the news oi that event could 
 reach his. ear, Paul had met a terrible fate ; for his 
 tyrannies had so provoked his courtiers, that they de- 
 clared his death to be essential to the welfare of the 
 empire. At dead of night, in March 1801, the Em- 
 peror, in his regimentals, was reposing on a sofa, when 
 the conspirators glided into his apartments. A hussar,
 
 444 HISTORY FOR ROYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 who kept guard, opposing their entrance, was cut 
 down with the stroke of a sabre ; and the Emperor, 
 awaking at the noise, sprang to his feet, and endeav- 
 ored to intrench himself heliind chairs and tables. 
 Finding his assailants resolute, the Emperor implored 
 mercy, and even promised to make them all princes ; 
 but observing that they were inexorable, he sprang 
 forward to escape through a high window. At 
 length a blow prostrated him on the floor, and a 
 young Hanoverian, twining his sash round the victim's 
 neck, and giving one end to an accompUce, twisted 
 with all his might till the life of the miserable Em- 
 peror was extinct. The conspirators then retired, 
 without molestation, from the palace. At early mom 
 the intelligence was bruited about that Paul had died 
 of apoplexy ; and, in the course of the day, his eldest 
 son, Alexander, was proclaimed Emperor of all the 
 E-ussias. 
 
 The new Czar, for awhile, maintained neutrality 
 between contending nations; but in 1S04, when the 
 Duke d'Enghieu was seized at Ettenheim, carried to 
 Paris, and shot in the wood of Vincennes, he assumed 
 an attitude of hostility toward Bonaparte, formed a 
 coalition with Austria and England, and undertook a 
 campaign. The rapid successes of the French so 
 bewildered Mack that he capitulated at Ulm ; and 
 Napoleon, after his entry into Vienna, marching into 
 Moravia to meet the Russians, encountered their army, 
 with the remains of the Austrians, at Austerlitz, and
 
 FRENCH INVASION. 445 
 
 obtained one of the most glorious victories on record. 
 Another coahtion was soon formed ; and Napoleon, 
 appearing in Poland, fought at Eylau a battle bloody 
 and indecisive ; but at Friedland he completely van- 
 quished the Russians, and forced the Czar to sue for 
 peace. On a raft on the river Niemen, a conference 
 was held between Napoleon and the vanquished 
 sovereigns of Prussia, Russia, and Austria. This 
 resulted in the Peace of Tilsit, in the erection of the 
 Duchy of Warsaw, and in the acknowledgment of the 
 Elector of Saxony as its sovereign. 
 
 Continental Europe was now at Napoleon's feet ; 
 but against his prodigious power and inordinate ambi- 
 tion another confederation was formed ; and, in this 
 league, Russia took a conspicuous part. The Em- 
 peror of the French thereupon repaired to Dresden, 
 and fruitlessly attempted to lure back the Czar to his 
 interests. But failing in that object, Napoleon took 
 the field at the head of four hundred thousand men, 
 crossed the Niemen, and advanced to Wilna. The 
 Diet of Warsaw, after proclaiming the liberation of 
 their country, demanded that the invader should rec- 
 ognize the independence of Poland ; and Napoleon, 
 returning an evasive answer, drove the Russians be- 
 fore him to Smolensko, where preparations had been 
 made to arrest his progress. 
 
 On the 16th of August, 1812, Napoleon was before 
 the ancient city, and at noon next day the conflict 
 began. The 3''/oi:;ch, at the point of the bayonet, drove
 
 446 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 the Russians within the walls, and the battle raged 
 fiercely till sunset ; but, when night set in, the city 
 was in flames. Next morning the French, entering 
 without resistance, found the place abandoned, save 
 by men who were yielding their latest breath amidst 
 the glare of the conflagration ; and Sinoleiis-ko was 
 soon a heap of ruins. The Russians, laying waste the 
 country, retreated toward Moscow, and the command 
 of their army was transferred to Prince Kutosofl', a 
 hoary and experienced general, whose arrival was 
 hailed with delight. He announced that no more 
 retrograde movements should be made, encouraged 
 the troops by his presence, and exhorted them to de- 
 fend Moscow to the last. This place was the ancient 
 and venerable capital of their Empire ; and its vast 
 suburbs, its magnificent buildings, its towers, its domes, 
 its spires, and its terraces, rendered Moscow one of the 
 most interesting places in Europe, and the pride of the 
 Russian Empire. "Well might they fight for such a 
 city I 
 
 Both leaders exercised their utmost ingenuity, and 
 made their dispositions with militaiy skill. Along 
 the Russian lines priests bore the sacred relics that 
 had been saved at Smolensko, and inspired the soldiers 
 with religious enthusiasm ; and while their breasts 
 were yet glowing with excitement. Prince Kutosoft^ 
 implored them, in lofty and inspiriting words, " to 
 think of their wives, their children, and their Em- 
 peror, and to write their faith and fealty on the field
 
 BATTLE OF BORODINO. 447 
 
 of their country with the life's blood of the invader 
 and his legions." 
 
 On the.morning of the 7th of Septenaber, Napoleon, 
 who, aware of his veteran antagonist's genius, had 
 become more cautious in his operations, issued from 
 his tent, and addressed his officers and soldiers in 
 befitting terms. The hostile armies then met at Boro- 
 dino, and the contest was maintained for hours ^\^th 
 desperate valor. At one time the victor of Auster- 
 litz had the mortification to see the choicest of his 
 troops driven from the field. Bayonets and sabres 
 flashed, and artillery thundered till night arrived, 
 when both parties laid claim to the victor}^ But the 
 Russian general decided on leaving Moscow to its fate : 
 the inhabitants precipitately abandoned their houses ; 
 and the governor formally evacuated the city at the 
 head of forty thousand persons. 
 
 Next morning the French, glowing with exultation, 
 presented themselves at the gate, and forced an en- 
 trance ; but scarcely had they done so, when they 
 became aware that Moscow was in a blaze. The Ex- 
 change, an extensive building, containing warehouses 
 stored with valuable merchandise, was first consigned 
 to the flames, and, subsequently, a strong wind pre- 
 vailing, the whole city was a sheet of fire, and the 
 sky was obscured by volumes of smoke. The pillage 
 soon commenced, and Napoleon's camp in the fields 
 was filled with rich spoil. 
 
 But now, deprived of the prospect of wintering at
 
 448 HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 Moscow, the position of the Emperor of the French 
 became perilous iu the extreme ; for he had penetrated 
 into the heart of a hostile country ; the cold season 
 was approacliing ; and the ruined city oilered no asy- 
 lum from the rigor of the climate. He, therefore, 
 humbled his pride so far as to commence negotiations 
 with Alexander ; but finding his efforts fruitless, after 
 forty days he abandoned his scheme of conquest, and 
 issued orders for a retreat. But the Russians, believ- 
 ing the conqueror of Europe to be at length in their 
 power, were bent iipon revenge ; and Kutosofl^ re- 
 marked — " The French have proclaimed the cam- 
 paign terminated at Moscow, but on our part the 
 warfare is about to begin." 
 
 The retreat of Napoleon was disastrous beyond all 
 precedent. The Russian armies seized every oppor- 
 tunity of attacking his troops ; the winter set in witli 
 unusual severity ; and the troops were paralyzed with 
 cold. The Cossacks, whose sole delight was war, 
 under their celebrated leader, the Hetman Platoff", 
 now mercilessly assailed the retiring legions, wrought 
 fearful havoc, broke down bridges in the line of march, 
 and harassed them on all sides. Scarcely had the 
 French, after a day's toilsome march, stretched them- 
 selves on the giound to enjoy a little repose, when 
 these vigilant foes rushed impetuously into the camp, 
 and, ere the sleepers could resist, slaughtered them in 
 heaps, and carried off stores and artillery. A scene of 
 unparalleled horrors ensued ; and the situation of the
 
 RETREAT OF NAPOLEON. 449 
 
 French forces became quite desperate. Cold and 
 famine preyed upon the troops ; flights of ravens 
 hovered over their line of march ; and troops of 
 dogs followed in the rear to consume their remains. 
 The horses perished by thousands ; the cannon and 
 v/agons were abandoned ; and all military order was 
 at an end. 
 
 With his army in this evil plight, Napoleon, on the 
 23d of November, had to cross the Beresina in pres- 
 ence of the enemy, and a scene, replete with horrors, 
 occurred. The river, though covered with floating 
 ice, was not yet frozen over, and rafts had to be con- 
 structed and launched under the enemy's fire. Mul- 
 titudes were engulfed in the waters ; and the pas- 
 sage of the Beresina proved more fatal than the most 
 sanguinary field. On the 5th of December, Napoleon, 
 mortified and sick at heart, abandoned the miserable 
 wreck of his once magnificent army, and repaired to 
 Paris. 
 
 Though the mighty Emperor had been defeated 
 more by the elements than the Russian foe, the result 
 of the campaign was to raise the renoAvn of the Czar'g 
 arms ; and Alexander, to complete the work thus 
 begun, called upon the other powers of Europe to 
 vindicate their national independence against his for- 
 mer ally. The invitation was not unavailing ; for with 
 the reverses of the French arms commenced the defec- 
 tion of Napoleon'? allies. A triple alliance was formed 
 between Russia. Austria, and Prussia ; the Emperor 
 Ff
 
 «'.o HISTORY FOR BOYS.— RUSSIA. 
 
 of the French was designated as the common enemy ; 
 the alhed sovereigns imdertook their campaign for the 
 hberties of Europe, and their army marched triumph- 
 antly into Paris. 
 
 The Congress of Vieima assembled in 1814 ; and, 
 while Prussia was bent on the acquisition of Saxony, 
 Alexander applied his energies to obtaining the duchy 
 of Warsaw, which was still occupied by his troops. 
 He was successful in his object : and what remained 
 of Poland was handed over to the Czar, on condition 
 of his piling it by a special and constitutional govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Ten years passed over; Alexander, in 1825, died 
 of a fever at Taganrog ; Constantino, the next son of 
 the murdered Paul, a man of savage spirit, renounced 
 his hereditary' claim to the crown, and the vacant 
 throne was ascended by his younger brother, Nicholas, 
 the reigning Emperor of all the Russias. That dar- 
 ing autocrat, within a year of his accession, undertook 
 against Persia a war, which terminated in his favor ; 
 and, in 1828, he availed himself of the temporary 
 weakness of Turkey, to commence liostilities, to cross 
 the Balkan mountains, and to impose upon the Sultan, 
 among other hard terms, the Protectorate of the Dan- 
 ubian Principalities. 
 
 Meanwhile, the policy of JSTicholas, and the personal 
 character of the Grand Duke Constantino, rendered 
 the condition of the Poles intolerable ; a general in- 
 surrection took place in 1830 ; and the Czar, deeming
 
 SUPPRESSION OF POLISH NATIONALITY. 451 
 
 that this outbreak released him from his engagements, 
 determined upon the extirpation of Polish nationality. 
 His army marched with that object into Poland ; the 
 nobles of the unhappy nation were exiled to Siberia ; 
 the patrician ladies were given as helpmates to the 
 invading soldiers ; and their infants were conveyed 
 away to be educated with Russian ideas, and inspired 
 with Russian sentiments. The constitution of Poland 
 was then withdrawn ; her laws were abrogated ; and 
 the ancient nation, over which John Sobieski had 
 reigned, and for which Kosciusko had fought, was 
 declared an integral part of an Empire that had been 
 fostered into importance by the genius of Peter the 
 Great, extended in its limits by the lawless appro- 
 priations of the second Catherine, and aggrandized by 
 the unscrupulous ambition of her despotic descendants. 
 
 THE a.ND.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 Form L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBRiiRY
 
 3 1158 00744 4416 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 829 802 
 
 DlOo 
 
 E23h