galloped into the thick of the fight. It was a desperate fight, and a critical moment, when his riderless horse was seen rushing madly out of the fray. Gustavus Adolphus was dead. He had died in the hour of victory. He was not only a great man, but also a good man. He believed in God’s willingness to help the right. “To pray often is almost to conquer,” was a favourite saying of his.

Charles XII. was another warrior-King of Sweden, and was one of Europe’s greatest and youngest of soldiers. At the age of fifteen, when most boys are thinking of amusement, he ascended the throne of Sweden after the death of his father, and a few months later took the reins of government into his hand and placed himself at the head of his army. He was possessed of great energy, very courageous—perhaps oftentimes foolhardy—but too ambitious of winning glory. Within twelve months, when he was only nineteen years of age, he had to encounter Denmark, Russia, and Poland. He first so attacked Denmark that the King had to sue for peace. On a November morning, with 8,000 Swedes, he attacked 50,000 Russians under the walls of Narva, and inflicted on them a great defeat. He then dethroned the King of Poland and put another in his place. His hatred of Russia was his downfall. In 1708 he again invaded that country. He spent the winter in an impoverished and hostile land, and when the Czar, Peter the Great, with 70,000 men, attacked him, he had but 23,000 worn-out and destitute men. He was defeated, and fled to Turkey, where he found a refuge; but at the end of 1715 he returned to Sweden. Notwithstanding his reverses, his passion for fighting led him to attack Norway in 1716 and 1718, when he was killed at Frederikshald at the early age of thirty-six.

He is one of the heroes of Sweden. He called upon his men to suffer much, which they did willingly, as they were devoted to him, because of his courage, his sympathy with them, and his ever-cheerful countenance. He, however, exhausted the country, as the wars he carried on drained her of her best blood, and emptied her treasury. From this date Sweden was no longer one of the great military powers. It was of Charles that Dr. Johnson wrote, in his “Vanity of Human Wishes,” the celebrated lines:

The last of this line of Kings was Charles XIII. He was an old, infirm, and childless man when the question arose who should succeed him. Napoleon Bonaparte was then carrying everything before him, and among his Generals was one Bernadotte, who had risen from the ranks, and proved himself to be one of the greatest powers in France at that time. The Swedes chose him as Crown Prince, very much against Napoleon’s wish, who, no doubt, did not desire to lose so able a General, but at last, probably thinking that Bernadotte would help him in his schemes, said, “Well, go! may our fates be fulfilled.” Bernadotte soon after this took a leading part in Napoleon’s overthrow, and in 1818 ascended the throne of Sweden as Charles XIV. He reigned for twenty-six years, and proved a wise ruler. His great-grandson is the present King.

OUR COUNTRY.

Otto Hesselbom.

The following is a list of Kings in our country contemporary with the Swedish ones of whom a brief sketch has been given:

CHAPTER II
GOTHENBURG

Sweden is a country that is not very well known, but is one that is most interesting to visit, because of the kindliness of the people and beauty of the scenery as well as many historical associations. As soon as you have reached the little island of Winga, with its lighthouse, you are led to think of those days, long, long ago, when the Goths left these shores in their Viking ships, to sweep the seas and found kingdoms, or of those days when Gustavus Adolphus gathered the young able-bodied men of the country, that they might go with him to Germany to fight for the faith he loved, while the old men and women were left to till the land. In many places you come across beautiful castles containing great treasures which Gustavus and his Generals brought home from the war. These were days when the Swedes were known everywhere as heroes in the battle-field. Now, you do not think of them so much as a warlike nation, but as one peaceful and industrious, seeking to win honour and renown in the more peaceful field of science, industry, and art. The poet Tegner says:

The rough seas of the ocean are past. The calm waters of the Göta have been entered. You have still some hours to journey before you reach Gothenburg, the second city of Sweden. The steamer threads its way through a crowd of rocky islands, very bare, barren, and desolate, with scarcely any vegetation. Here and there can be seen a lonely fisherman’s hut, painted red, and perhaps an occasional lighthouse. If it be a Sunday afternoon or a holiday, there is plenty of life. There in summer can be seen hundreds of men and women bathing in the water, or basking in the open air on the banks of the river or on the islands. Every now and then you meet steamers crowded with pleasure-seekers, who are to spend the day at Marstrand, Lysekil, or one of the numerous watering-places in this northern archipelago. These islands, bare as they are, have a wonderful fascination. Spend a short time on one of them, and you have a desire to repeat your visit. There is the restfulness of the lonely island with the clear water dashing upon the rocky shore. What glorious sunsets, as the sun sinks into the ocean beyond Winga!

As the steamer wends her way up the river, among other places you pass Styrso, with its baths, sea-bathing, and many fine villas built by Gothenburg merchants, and Långedrag, another of the numerous sea-resorts. Your curiosity is aroused by the sight of large tin cans, similar in appearance to those that convey the milk from the farms to the towns in our country. These are water-cans. They have no