CHARLES XII., KING OF SWEDEN. CHARLES the Twelfth was, perhaps, the most extraordinary man that ever existed. All the great qualities of his ancestorsm were united" in him, and his only fault was having carried them? beyond their proper bounds. At seven years of ager he could manages a horse. Violent exerciset in which he found delight, and which displayed his warlike inclinations, gave him, at an early age a vigorous constitution.

In his youth he was insupportably obstinate; and the only way to make him yielda was to speak to him of honour: with the word Gloryb, they obtained every thing from him. He detested Latin; but, when he heard that the kings of Polande and Denmark understood it, he learnt it immediately, and remembered enough of it to speak it all the rest of his life. They used the same method, to make him learn French.

He died at thirty-six years of age, after having experienced the greatest favours of fortune, and the roughest strokes of adversity, -without having been enervated by the former", or staggered by the latter. He was, perhaps, the only man, and certainly* till then the only king who had lived without some foiblet. He carried all the virtues of a hero to that" excess

* SUEDE; qui ait jamais ;-m ayeux;-n réunies;- défaut P est de les avoir portées ;-4 au-delà de;―r l'âge de sept ans, savait manier;-t les exercices ;- où il se plaisait ;-u découvrir ;-x de bonne heure ;-y d'une opiniâtreté insupportable; - moyen;-a de le plier,-b de Gloire ;- c on ;-d sut;— e Pologne ;-f Danemarc ;-g bien vite ;-h se ressouvenir assez; On employer; l'âge de ; les coups les plus cruels ; mamollir; l'une;- ni ébranler ;- l'autre ;- C'est ;r le seul de tous les rois ; ait ;-t foiblesses ;—v des héros ;—u un ;

where they are as dangerous as their opposite vices. His firmness became obstinacy, and caused his misfortunes in the Ukraine", and kept him fivea years in Turkey. His liberality, degenerating into profusion, ruined Sweden: his courage, carried to temerity, was the cause of his death: his justice became sometimes cruelty: and, in the last years of his life, the maintenanced of his authority nearly approached tyranny. His great qualities, one only of which would have immortalizeds another king, ruined his country. He never attacked any one; but he was not so prudent as he was implacableh in his revenge. He was the first who hadk the ambition to be a* conqueror, without desiring! to aggrandize his dominionsm. He wished to conquer kingdoms, that he might give them away. His passion for glory, for war, and for revenge, prevented him from being a good politician. Before a battle, and after a victory, he was all modesty ; after as defeat, all firmnesst: unfeeling for others as for himself, he reckoned as nothing his life and those of his subjects. He was more an original thany a great man: he is to be admired, rather than imitated2. His life ought to teacha kings, that a peaceful government is far preferable to so much glory.-VOLTAIRE'S HISTORY OF CHARLES

XIITH.

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xles; faire ;-2 l'Ukraine ;-a le retenir pendant cinq; b ruiner;-c poussé jusqu'à ;—d maintien ;-e approcher de ;f dont une seule ;- eût pu immortaliser; qu'implacable;i Il a été ;-k ait eu ;- avoir l'envie ;-m états; désirer de; pour les donner;-p l'empêcher;- Avant la ; n'avait que de ;-s après la ;-t que de la fermeté ;-v dur ;compter pour; celle;-y homme unique plutôt que;-admirable plutôt qu'à imiter;- apprendre aux ;-b combien ; cest au dessus de tant de.

AMPHITRITE AND HER TRAINd.

SEVERAL dolphins appeared, whose scales seemed gold and azure: they swelleds the waves, and made them foam with their sporting; after them came tritons, blowing their curved shellsi : they surrounded Amphitrite's chariot, drawn by seahorses that were* whiter than snow, and* which ploughed the briny wavesk and left a deep furrow behind them in the sea; their eyes flamed', and foam issued from their mouths. The goddess's car was a shellm of marvellous form; it was of a more shining" white than ivory; its wheels were of gold, and it seemed to skim the surface of the peaceful waters. Nymphs, crowned with flowers, whose lovely tresses flowed over their shoulders and waved with the winds, swam in shoalss behind the car. The goddess had, in one hand', a sceptre of gold to command the waves; and, with the other, held on her knees the little god Palemon, her son, who hung at her breast*. Her countenance was serene and mild, but an air of majesty repressed every seditious windy and lowering tempest. Tritons guided the steeds, and held the golden reins. A large purple sail waved in the air above the car, and was gently swelled by a multitude of little zephyrs who strove to blow it forward with their breath. In the midst of the aire, Eolusd appeared busy, restless, and vehe

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d CORTEGE ;e dont les ;-f paraître de;-g soulever ;- par leurs jeux; sonner de la trompette avec leurs conques recourbées ;-k fendant l'onde salée ;- étaient enflammés ;conque;" éclatante ;-o voler sur la ;-P couronnées de ;q et dont les beaux cheveux pendre ;-r ondoyer au gré de ;groupes ;-t tenir d'une main ;- pour commander aux ;-" de l'autre elle portait ;- mamelle ;-y faire taire les vents séditieux; noires ;-a elle était à demi enflée ;-b de la pousser par ;-c airs ;-d Eole ;-e empressé ;

ment: his wrinkled face and sour looksf, his threatening voice, his long bushy eye-brows his eyes full of gloomy fire and severity", silenced the fierce. north winds, and drove back every cloud. Immense whales, and all the monsters of the deep, issued in1 haste from their profound grottos to view the goddess.-FENElon.

fchagrin ;- sourcils longs et épais; d'un feu sombre et austère ;-i tenaient en silence; marins; sortir à la.

STANISLAUS I., KING OF POLAND.

YOUNG Stanislausm early displayed" talents and dispositions which announced a character equally amiable and estimable. His countenance expressed courage joined with mildness, together with that air of openness and sincerity which is more persuasive than eloquence itself. He was brave, and enured to hardshipss and fatigue. He slept on a straw mattress, required scarcely any personal services from his domestics, was temperate, economical, adored by his vassals, and beloved by his friends. Stanislaus appeared in so amiable a lights to Charles XIIth, King of Sweden, that he took a2 resolution to raise hima to the throne of Poland, and he was crowned in 1704.

Having been compelled to relinquish the crown, he was put in possession of the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar: he reigned over these small states during many years; and he rendered his subjects happy by his virtues, which acquired him the name of 'Stanislaus the Beneficent."

m Stanislas;-n montrer de bonne heure ;- physionomiePet;-q franchise ;-r même ; endurci aux travaux ;-lit de paille; n'exiger pour sa personne prequ' aucun service ;adoré de; chéri de ;- sous un jour si aimable ;-2 prendre la;- de l'élever ;- Pologne ;-c d'abandonner.

SOLUTION OF THE QUESTIONS LEFT BY MINOS IN HIS BOOK OF LAWS.

THE chief of the elders opened the book of the Laws of Minos; it was a large volume which was usually locked ups in a golden box, with perfumes. All the old men kissed it with respect; for they say, that next to the gods, from whom good laws proceed, nothing ought to be so sacred to men as laws designed to render them good, wise, and happy. Those who are entrusted with1 the execution of the laws for the government of the people, ought themselves always to be governed by the laws": it is the law, and not the man, which ought to reign. Such was the discourse of these sages. He who presided over them* proposed three questions, which were to be resolved by the maxims of Minos.

The First Question was-Who is the most free, of all men? Some answered, that it was a king who has an absolute dominion over his subjects, and was victorious overs all his enemies. Others main

tained', that it was a rich man, who could gratify▾ all his desires. Others said, that it was a man who was not married, and was travelling during his whole life through divers countries", without ever being subject to the laws of any nation. Others imagined, that it was a Barbarian, who, subsisting by hunting in2 the midst of the woods, was independent of

d DANS LE LIVRE DE SES ;-e vieillards;-f grand livre ;— qu'on tenir ordinairement ;-h qu'après ;-i rien ne doit être ;- destinées à; être chargés de ;-m pour gouverner les hommes;

se laisser gouverner par les loix eux-mêmes ;- présider ;q qui devoir être décidées ;- Les uns; qui avait un empire absolu; - victorieux de ;-t D'autres soutenir; pouvait contenter; en divers pays; sans être jamais assujetti ;—

d'aucune; de sa chasse à ;