Friar Tuck, old Scathlook, and Adam Bell, and Clym of the Clough, Mutch the Miller's son, and the rest of them? Whether King Richard met with this gallant band-whether he drank with them a stoop of wine, and partook of a slice of venison, history saith not; but tradition tells the story how jolly they were together, with spirits as light as the leaf on the tree!

And after this Lion-Heart went to the wars again, and did battle with the French; therein he acquitted himself like a hero of chivalry-first in the fray, the last to retreat, and in retreat measuring the ground by inches. But the minstrels about this time began to sing a doleful ballad of prophetic warning-which told how a certain arrow was making which should cause the King's death. During the siege of the Castle of Chaluz, a youth who stood upon the ramparts took a bow, and directing an arrow at the king, lodged it in his left shoulder. The wound mortified, and the King was dying when the Castle was taken, and the youth who had given him the fatal wound was brought into his presence. Richard was so charmed with the undaunted bearing of the youth, that he frankly forgave him, and ordered that a hundred shillings and his liberty should be given to him. He was, however, secretly detained as a prisoner, and after the King's death was flayed alive.

No man, even in that romantic age, carried courage and intrepidity to a greater extent than Richard Coeur de Lion. "He passionately loved glory, and his conduct in the field was not inferior to his valour. He seems to have possessed every talent necessary for acquiring it. . . Of an impetuous and vehement spirit, he was distinguished by all the good as well as by all the bad qualities which are incident to that character. He was open, frank, generous, sincere, and brave; he was revengeful, domineering, ambitious, haughty, and cruel; and was thus better able to dazzle men by the splendour of his enterprises than either to promote their happiness or his own grandeur by a sound and well-regulated policy. As military talent makes a great impression on the people, he seems to have been much beloved by his English subjects; and he is remarked to have been the first prince of the

G

Norman line who bore a sincere affection and regard for them. He passed, however, only four months of his reign in England."

In a suit of rivetted mail, a flowing wig, cravat of finest lace, Charles XII. of Sweden is the next to look upon us with his large, handsome, and expressive eyes. He was born in 1682, and was fifteen years old when he ascended the throne. He was bold, impetuous, and sometimes irascible. At his coronation, he snatched the crown from the hands of the prelate and put it on his own head. He was, in the beginning of his reign, no great favourite, and Russia, Denmark, Poland, leaguing together, thought to snatch the crown from the boy king's head as he had snatched it from the bishop's hand. But no sooner was he made aware of the confederacy, than his strong will and brilliant genius displayed themselves. He forsook every indulgence, adopted with all its rigour the life of a soldier, and gave evidence of the possession of military capacity of no common kind. He attacked the confederate forces individually; first, Denmark, which he utterly overthrew, concluding a peace; next, Russia-the Russians he attacked at Narva with no more than 8000 men, with whom, however, he succeeded in obtaining a decisive victory, slaying 30,000, and taking prisoners 20,000 men ; lastly, Poland, where, after several battles, he dethroned the reigning king, and placed Stanislaus upon the throne.

At the battle of Narva, Charles had several horses shot under him. As he was mounting upon a fresh one, he said, with a laugh: "These people find me exercise." When he was besieged at one time, a bomb fell into the house while he was dictating to his secretary, who immediately dropped the pen in a fright. "What is the matter?" said Charles. "Oh! the bomb!" answered

the secretary. "The bomb!" said the King; "what

have we to do with the bomb? Go on."

After obtaining several signal victories. over Peter the Great, Charles at length experienced a terrible defeat at Pultowa. Almost all his troops were either slain or taken prisoners. He was himself severely wounded, and sought an asylum in Turkey. The Grand Seigneur, or

Sultan, received him very graciously and treated him hospitably, but refused to listen to his suggestions of declaring war against Russia. Irritated by the Sultan's refusal, Charles at last began to menace; at which the Sultan in his turn became irritated, and ordered the King to quit his dominions. This Charles flatly refused to do; and when an attempt was made to obtain forcible possession of his person, formed an encampment around his house, and would not yield till the premises were set on fire. He then sallied out sword in hand, but being entangled by his long spurs, fell, and was taken prisoner. He was detained in captivity ten months, and was then suffered to return to his dominions. This return he signalised by the commencement of a war with Norway; and it was during the second compaign of this, his last aggressive war, that he received his death wound. He was killed by a cannon shot at the siege of Frederickshall, 1718.

We may now briefly allude to Prussia's warrior prince -Frederick the Second. He was born in 1712, received but an indifferent education, excepting that of sharp military discipline. His father, Frederick William I., was a harsh, hard, hasty man, who despised learning as beneath the dignity of a monarch, and had no patience with the inclination which his son exhibited for literature and music. So irksome became the life of the young prince, so anxious was he to be free of the paternal rule, that he attempted, when he was about eighteen years old, to escape from Prussia. But the scheme was discovered; his confederate was executed before his eyes; and he himself shut up in "durance vile" in the Castle of

Custrin.

After some months' incarceration, the prince was pardoned, and married to the Princess of Brunswick. His life was still made wretched by the tyrannical conduct of his father; and not until 1740, when death claimed King Frederick William, and made vacant the throne for his son, could this prince be said to enjoy even the semblance of liberty.

Frederick began his reign well. The courts of justice needed a sweeping reform, and he introduced it; judges

were no more allowed to buy their places; the torture was abolished as inhuman. But war was his profession. He had been taught from his earliest childhood, when he was still in petticoats, disciplined by a sharp governess, and fed on "beer gruel," that nothing in the world but the sword could confer honour on a prince; he had been made to do duty as a private soldier, and to stand sentry for hours, with a musket and cartouch-box; at fourteen he was a captain; at fifteen a major; at sixteen a lieutenant colonel; and in these ranks he had to do the same duty as any other officer. War was therefore his profession; and a few months after his accession to the crown, he marched into Silesia with an army of 28,000 men, was victorious at Mollwitz and elsewhere, and concluded peace, with the addition to his territory of 13,800 square miles. In 1744, Frederick again declared war against Austria, and after sixteen months, made peace again, much in his own favour. In 1756, he entered into an alliance with England, which resulted in the Seven Years' War. Here he had to contend with Russia, Austria, Saxony, Sweden, and France. The sufferings of a great part of Germany were immense. Frederick found himself considerably embarrassed, his forces dwindling away, subsidies refused from England; but he persevered and triumphed. In 1763, peace was restored. This war cost Prussia 180,000 soldiers, and the allies 850,000! But Frederick made Prussia great. Till his time it had scarcely a political existence. He made himself a name. His people called him "the Great;" and in truth the title was deserved. He was illustrious as a soldier; but he was a statesman as well as a soldier-a man of the pen as well as a man of the sword; withal, he had within him a certain degree of liberalism, and that liberalism made its way into the national heart.

At the latter end of the last century there rose up in France one of the most remarkable men of ancient or modern times. It was a period of transition. Long years of oppression and tyranny, court intrigue, and extravagance, had brought about that sanguinary revolution which, in the persons of the Sans Culottes, deputies,