Cathedral and eighty-eight churches were burnt, and four hundred streets. Thousands of men lost all in the flames, and the fields round London were crowded with homeless and ruined people, and strewn with furniture and precious things which they had carried from the burning city. There were no fire engines in those days, and the only way in which it was at last possible to stop the flames was to blow up the streets all round with gunpowder, so that when the fire reached them. there were no houses left to burn. At last, after burning for three days and nights, the fire was checked; but it took many years to build up again St. Paul's and the ruined churches and streets. There was a great architect living then, called Sir Christopher Wren, and he it was who built St. Paul's and many other churches of the city.

4. The third disaster was the landing of the Dutch upon the banks of the Medway and the burning of Sheerness. It is more than two hundred years ago, and no foreign foes have set foot in England since that day. King Charles-the Merry Monarch, as he was called -was an idle spendthrift. The money with which ships ought to have been built and the sailors paid had been wasted on feasts and revels; so the English sailors grew disheartened, and would fight no more; and when the Dutch sailed up the Thames, there was no one to resist them. Had they pleased, they might have assaulted London as the Danes had done seven centuries before; but they turned up the Medway instead, and burnt the English ships and the houses on the banks.

5. So Charles II.'s reign was full of disaster and disgrace. He and his brother James, who succeeded him, were always plotting with the French king, and used to take money from him as payment for doing what he wished. They cared nothing for their oaths to obey the laws of England, but endeavoured, by the help of the French king, to take away the liberties of the English people, and to rule them according to their own will.

44. WILLIAM AND MARY (R. 1688-1702).

1. However, neither King Charles II. nor King James II. had any sons. Their sister had married the Prince of Orange, and her son William was now the ruler of the Dutch. He was one of the bravest soldiers of the day, and was the best and wisest prince in Europe. He was the eldest living grandson of King Charles the First, and had married Mary, the eldest daughter of King James II., who was a true and noble woman.

2. So the English bore patiently with the misrule of King James, believing that it would not be long before his daughter Mary would succeed him, and that William of Orange would come over from Holland with her, and teach her to govern as wisely and as lawfully as he had governed in Holland.

3. However, King James married again, and a son was born to him, so that Mary ceased to be the next heir to the crown. Then the English determined to

wait no more, and they asked William and Mary to come over with an army and help them to drive James out of England. When William landed at Torbay, James found that his army would not fight for him, so he determined to fly away to France secretly, and seek help from the French king Louis.

4. In the middle of a stormy night the queen came out at the back door of the palace, dressed like a homely country woman, and attended by two waitingwomen and two French gentlemen. One of them carried the little prince in his arms, wrapped in a warm fur cloak, for it was in the middle of December, and there was a cold wind and driving rain. A yacht was all ready to take them across the sea to the French king.

5. As soon as King James heard that his wife and the baby had arrived safely at the French coast, he got away too, and crossed the sea and joined them, and King Louis received him very affectionately. Soon after this William and Mary were crowned king and queen, and the Parliament of Scotland invited them to rule over Scotland too.

6. But the people of Ireland, who were almost all Roman Catholics, still preferred King James to William. So King Louis gave James ships and soldiers and money, and sent him over to Ireland. Then William also sailed over with an army, and a great battle was fought on the banks of the river Boyne, near Dublin, in which William entirely defeated the army of King James.

7. King William was slightly wounded while he

was looking over the ground on which the armies were going to fight; and he was ill besides. But all the same he was on his horse for nineteen hours that day, and he was always to be found where the fighting was the hardest and the balls were flying thickest. King James did not fight at all. He sat on his horse on a hill near by, and watched his soldiers fighting and dying for him; and as soon as he saw that he had lost the battle he fled away.

8. So James was driven out of Ireland. The King of France went on fighting for him for many years; but the English were determined that he should not come back to reign over them, and William and Mary ruled England till they died. They had no children, and Mary's sister Anne succeeded them and became queen.

45. THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH (B. 1650; D. 1722).

1. When Queen Anne was crowned, the English were just preparing for a new war with King Louis of France. King James was dead, but Louis was trying to make his son-the Pretender, as he is called -King of England; and he was also trying to make his own grandson King of Spain, so that no other nation should be able to resist him. But the English were resolved to prevent both these designs.

2. So the English raised a strong army, and Queen Anne chose as the general a brave and skilful soldier,