a kingdom*, a husband without a wife, and a warrior without supplies." Such was the situation of this magnanimous prince, whose character scarcely

smelt of mortality;" who, having conquered himself, was worthy of conquering others; who possessed the ambition to encounter the greatest difficulties with abilities to vanquish them; who united the talents of the statesman to the spirit of the hero; and who equally in the cabinet and the field, displayed a genius that bore all before it.

After the massacre of St. Bartholomew, he joined the few faithful adherents the cruel policy of his enemies had left him; but in the qualities of these superior few, was found an equivalent for the limitation of their number. The Baron de Rosni, better known as the Duke de Sully, whose life presents so beautiful a picture of prudence, wisdom, and loyalty; the Marshal de Biron, so justly celebrated for his military talents and love of letters; the brave Crillon, whose valour bestowed on him the epithet La Noüe, to whose generous virtues even his enemies paid the homage of esteem; with many others scarcely less

* Spain had usurped the kingdom of Navarre from his father; and he continued to hold his miniature court at Bearn, the place of his nativity. Vide Perifix, Histoire de Henri le Grand.

Henry said of himself, "Nature has formed me passionate; but since I have been sensible of this fault, I have always endeavoured to vanquish so dangerous a propensity.”

Memoirs du President du Thou.

deserving of notice, though less fortunate in obtaining it, composed a little flying camp, of which Henry was himself the soul, alternately the vanquished and the victor; consenting to interviews with the queen-mother, productive of no decisive effect; now openly meeting her forces in the field, and now signing truces, no sooner formed than violated; this gallant prince still continued to support the vicissitudes of his destiny with firmness and heroism.

Meanwhile the powers of the League, and the influence of the Leaguers, increased with hourly extent: it was believed by the royal party, that the designs of the ambitious Duke de Guise were to dethrone the king*, and already was the duke's destruction determined on by Henry and his mother.

That popularity which the insinuating virtues and dazzling talents of de Guise had obtained, the amazing power he was endowed with, and the circumstances of the times, rendered a public process equally dangerous and difficult. Assassination was more consonant to the political prudence and cherished vengeance of Catherine; and the Duke de Guise was murdered in the royal apartments (whither his unsuspecting confidence had led him) by the king's guards.

His death produced universal commotion. All Paris was animated by ungovernable fury; the Duke de Mayenne, brother to the murdered de

* Henry III,

Guise, was declared his successor as chief of the League; and Catherine survived the victim of her barbarous policy but a short time.

The king of France, naturally imbecile, whose conversation was that of a Capuchin, and whose life was that of a professed debauchee, vainly endeavoured to win the Duke de Mayenne to his interest by the most splendid offers; and shrinking beneath those fatal circumstances which endangered his life and crown, he sought alliance with the king of Navarre, as a dernier resort. That careless and unguarded confidence, which formed so prominent a trait in the noble character of the gallant Henry, and which experienced treacheries had not chilled, led him to accede to the proposal; and the two kings met near Tours, embraced with fraternal kindness, and vowed mutual enmity to the League.

This transaction was shortly after followed by the death of the king of France, who was assassinated by a young fanatic monk of the order of St. Dominic. Henry de Bourbon (who united in his person the three races of the French kings), as lawful heir to the dominions of France, ascended its throne, and assumed the title of Henry IV. king of France and Navarre ; and thus fulfilled the prediction of the astrological Sybil, whose prophetic declarations had first rendered him the object of that hatred and persecution with which Catherine de Medicis pursued him through the most precious years of his existence.

France could not desire a master more worthy of governing her; more capable or more anxious

N

repair the losses she had sustained, and to restore her to that peace and unity, happiness and prosperity, which her own anarchial and vague commotions had forfeited; yet still the greater part of her volatile children, blinded by party prejudices, or influenced by religious fanaticism, opposed his accession to the throne of his ancestors; and considered, or at least pleaded, his religion as an insurmountable barrier to his elevation and as the Leaguers possessed an army four times more numerous than that which surrounded the royal standard, the horrors of civil war still continued to spread devestation through some of the finest provinces in the kingdom.

Still opposed, and still unsubdued; tempering the most dauntless valour with moderation, the most heroic courage with humanity; the royal Henry appeared a being of more than mortal power, of more than human virtue: living in the midst of his troops; sharing their toils while he rewarded their efforts; animating them by the inspiring gaiety of his air, while he provided for their safety; and flattering them by cheerful presages of success, which his example taught them to deserve, and his genius seemed afmost created to command. The celebrated battles of Argues, Yori, and Aumale, have enrolled the name of the hero high on the records of immortality; and after having performed deeds of almost supernatural heorism before the walls of Rouenne, he was necessiated to raise the siege, and marched from thence to the investment of Neufchatel.

THE MAN And the genIP.

SINCE marriages are made above,
And little owe to choice or love;

The man is, surely, to be pitied,
That with a crossgrain'd mate is fitted;
You cannot blame his taste, but he
May curse his cruel destiny.

Even so against his stars would rail,
The hero of my present tale,

Whose wife-without, deform'd as sin,
Was yet far more deform'd within.
Her blood-shot eyes with fury drunk,
Her dugs with withering malice shrunk ;
The frighted loves a bosom fled,
To every soft emotion dead;

Passions she had both fierce and strong,

But, warm'd with rage, they ran to tongue :

Abusive, wicked, unrelenting

Your own is hardly more tormenting.

He often wished, as many do,

Who put a smiling face on't too ;—

Wish'd her what? where? do you enquire?

Even dead, and with the devil, her sire!

Who thought the good man's kind concern
Deserved of him as kind return;

And therefore help'd him to the notion,
Of drowning dearest in the ocean.

Bappa," said he one day, and smil'd, "Our linen looks but cloudy, child;