grandson Octavio (for Paul had married before ordination), son of the duke of Parma, is affirmed to have broken his heart, at the age of 82,

1550.

SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES V.-He succeeded his father, James IV., when 18 months old, 1513; and the duke of Albany was elected regent. A series of disputes instantly commenced between the regent and the earl of Angus, who had married the queen-mother Margaret, sister of our Henry VIII., and claimed equal authority on that account; and for 15 years the English and French, under their respective partisans, kept Scotland in a state bordering on anarchy. At length Angus carried off the young king to Jedburgh, whence Walter Scott boldly attempted to rescue him, though his design failed, as also did that of the earl of Lennox; and James by his own adroitness escaped from bondage, 1528. Reaching Stirling Castle, he summoned his nobles; and at the ensuing parliament, all the family of Douglas (Angus) were attainted, and compelled to leave the country. James, though only 17, had now the full authority of a king. He was inferior to no prince of his day in gracefulness of person, and he possessed a great but uncultivated spirit. His first act of foreign policy was to send a force to aid Francis I. against Charles V. What he had suffered from the exorbitant power of his own nobles during the regency of his minority, made him resolve above all things to humble their order; and as the loss of laymen at Flodden had increased the influence of the clergy, to them he looked for carrying his design into execution. Having before promoted Gavin Dunbar, his preceptor, to the see of Glasgow, he now advanced him to the dignity of chancellor, and erected under him the Court of Session, which was to have supreme and general jurisdiction. Beatoun, afterwards a cardinal, was made privy seal. James at the same time fortified anew the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling;

and having taken these precautions, began to treat the nobles with reserve. He suffered no opportunity of mortifying them to escape; their slight offences were aggravated into real crimes, and punished with severity. The nobles observed the tendency of his schemes with concern and resentment; but the king's sagacity, the vigilance of his ministers, and their own want of a proper leader, made it dangerous to concert any measures for their defence. At length James and his advisers, by one false step, gave them an advantage which they did not fail to improve. When Henry VIII., who expected an attack from the continental supporters of the pope, had arrived at York, 1534, with a view to confer with the king of Scotland on the best means of defending the two kingdoms, he was astonished to receive intelligence that James would not meet him; and with his usual impetuosity, he retired to raise an army, with which he soon returned to the borders of Scotland. Scarcity of provisions, and the rigour of the season, however, compelled him to turn back; and James thereupon ordered his nobles to pursue his troops. But they refused to cross the border; and James, provoked by the insult, disbanded his army, returned abruptly into the heart of his kingdom, and desired his unpopular favourite, Oliver Sinclair, to head a new force, levied at his command by the ministry. An universal mutiny of the army ensued; and 500 English attacking the Scots at Solway Moss when in this disorder, hatred to the king, and contempt of their general, produced on the latter an effect to which there is no parallel in history. Overcoming at once the fear of death and the love of liberty, 10,000 men surrendered to a number so far inferior, without striking a blow. No man was desirous of a victory which would have been agreeable to the king and his favourite; few endeavoured to save themselves by flight; the English had the choice of what

mise. This breach of faith rekindled | the war, and the troops of Francis entered Italy; Gustavus Vasa and the pirate Barbarosa becoming his allies, while Charles had Henry VIII. on his side, who got possession of Boulogne, 1544. In that year Francis concluded a peace at Crespi with the emperor, and one with Henry in 1546, and died, aged 52, 1547. In reviewing the position of France during the whole struggle of Francis with the emperor, we see with astonishment the magnitude of the power against which the former had to contend. Francis was the only efficient hindrance to the universal monarchy of the house of Austria; and though a catholic, he fostered protestantism to carry out his plans. The revolt of Geneva from the duke of Savoy, whereby that city became a chief prop of the reformers, was his work. On the other hand, he was a cruel persecutor of heretics in Paris; and his private life is not entitled to much praise. Madame de Chateaubriand, the duchess d'Etampes, and la belle Féronière were successively his mistresses, and, with his mother, queen Louisa, the main rulers of the country. It was his remark that a drawing-room without women, was like the spring without flowers; and in his reign, therefore, ladies, for the first time, became constant attendants at the French court, and the foundation was laid for those profligate manners, so fully developed in the succeeding reigns, and terminating only with the revolution of 1789. Though a libertine, Francis was the patron of learning and the arts. Erasmus, Lascaris, and Cellini, basked in his favour; and Leonardo da Vinci died in his

arms.

DENMARK, &C. UNDER CHRISTIERN II.-This prince, called the Nero of the North, ascended the throne after his father, John I., 1513; and his first attempt, though unsuccessful, was to recover Greenland, which his predecessors had lost. He next tried to crush the factious spirit of the Swedes, who, in their hatred of the union of

Calmar, would still only acknowledge Steno, the administrator,' as their chief; but he was obliged to raise the siege of Stockholm, after investing it 1518, through the outbreak of an epidemy among his men, himself being in danger of perishing. Unable, however, to march away, Christiern sent to propose a truce with the administrator, which he said might be improved into an eternal peace; and Steno, though he knew he might easily complete his victory by starving the enemy, generously sent them boats laden with provisions. Finding the Swedes desirous of making terms, Christiern, who had now recovered his strength, atrociously planned a seizure of the administrator's person; and pretending to be overcome by his generosity, proposed an interview with him on board the fleet. As the senate, however, would not permit Steno thus to hazard his safety, Christiern offered to repair to Stockholm with some of his council; provided Gustavus and six other lords were delivered as hostages for the security of his person. To this the senate assented; but Gustavus and the other hostages no sooner appeared on the shore, than they were surrounded by soldiers in the disguise of mariners, and conveyed on board the fleet, under arrest. Steno, incensed at such barefaced treachery, manned all the ships in the harbour, resolving either to release the hostages, or perish in the attempt; but the wind suddenly changing, the Danish fleet set sail, and escaped to Denmark. In 1519, Otho, the Danish general, invaded Sweden with a powerful force, and slew Steno in a pitched battle; and the issue was that in 1520 Christiern passed to Stockholm and was crowned there, on which occasion he swore to preserve inviolate the laws, privileges, and customs of the nation. But on the third day after the coronation, the archbishop of Upsal, accompanied by certain Danish lords, by the king's desire, appeared before him in a full meeting of the States, and demanded justice against the deceased adminis

trator and his adherents; on which the senators, bishops, and all the Swedish lords and gentlemen that were in the castle, were arrested. On the 8th of November, these illustrious victims were marched out in dismal pomp, and executed. The bishops suffered first, afterwards Eric, Gustavus's father, then the consuls and magistrates of Stockholm, and lastly 94 lords. The city was given up to the fury of the Danish soldiers, who, after murdering all that came in their way, broke into the principal houses, under the pretence of searching for Gustavus (who had escaped) and the rest of the proscribed lords. Having seized the treasures of Steno's widow, and sent her to Denmark, Christiern, after setting a price upon the head of Gustavus, returned to Copenhagen. His grand effort now was to thwart the designs of that injured noble, who soon had a formidable party in his favour in Sweden. In order to raise money for new levies, Christiern taxed the Danes with his accustomed indifference to justice; and unpopular as he had become by his cruelties at Stockholm, as well as by his abrogation of the privileges of the nobles, a conspiracy was soon formed to induce the king's uncle, the duke of Holstein, to accept the crown. The king, on ascertaining the fact, saved himself by flight, 1523; and Frederick, duke of Holstein, his uncle, was declared sovereign of Denmark. Christiern's place of refuge was Germany, where he remained till 1531, and then sailed from Holland, with 10,000 men of different nations, for the coast of Norway, with a view to recover the throne. A storm destroyed many of his ships, and his rival Frederick burned the rest; so that he was compelled to surrender himself prisoner, and was committed for life to the castle of Sonderburg, where he died, aged 77, 1559. It was upon the abdication of Christiern II. that the Scandinavian Union was broken up, and Sweden declared for ever free, through the patriotic exertions of Gustavus. (See Gustavus Vasa.) The treaty of Calmar had

greatly increased the Scandinavian power, by concentrating the political energies of the three nations; and had not intestine quarrels, especially Swedish revolts, diverted the mind of both king and nobles from reflecting on the influence they were acquiring, there is little doubt that the Northern Union would have risen suddenly, as Russia since has done, and become a leading power among European states. FREDERICK I. was encouraged by the Danish peers to lay claim to the crown of Sweden; but he prudently made a treaty with Gustavus Vasa, who was too firmly established to be dispossessed without a severe struggle. Frederick, however, succeeded in obtaining the isle of Gothland from Sweden; and in 1527 embraced the Lutheran religion, and established it in his dominions. He died 1534, aged 60, and is highly commended for the justice and moderation of his government. His son CHRISTIERN III. was his successor; and his reign was marked by the extension of protestantism, and the expulsion of the Romish clergy. He founded the university of Copenhagen, collected a fine library, protected learned men, and governed with great mildness; dying, aged 56, 1559.

SWEDEN UNDER GUSTAVUS VASA. -This prince was the son of Eric Vasa, duke of Gripsholm, descended from the ancient kings of Sweden. He distinguished himself, as standardbearer of the kingdom, in repulsing the Danes when they attacked Stockholm 1516, and in their siege of it, with Christiern II. at their head, 1518. That treacherous king carried him captive to Copenhagen, as has been related; but by the friendship of Eric Banner, a Danish lord, he was enabled to escape, soon after the death of Steno, 1519, in the disguise of a peasant, to a castle belonging to his family in Sudermania. While there in concealment, he heard of Christiern's coronation at Stockholm, and of the execution of his father and the other nobles; and fearing a surprise, he wandered thence

into the mountains of Dalecarlia, and engaged himself as a labourer in the copper-mines of that district. At length a woman in whose house he lodged (say the Swedish historians) perceived under his labourer's habit a silk robe embroidered with gold, and soon carried the news to the whole village; whereupon he was visited by several persons, and the wife of one Peterson, aided by a priest, after clothing him in a dress suitable to his quality, introduced him to the assembled congregation of a church. The name of Ericson acted as a talisman; and on that same day the castle of Dalecarlia was surprised by a party of Swedish gentlemen, who had been outlawed by Christiern, and who were now led on by Gustavus. The aspiring chieftain secured the passes of the mountains, abolished the exorbitant taxes which Christiern had laid upon the people, and despatched emissaries through the kingdom, to dispose the nobility to appear in arms on his entering their provinces. Christiern, not daring to leave Denmark, where the people, exasperated by his cruelties, were ready to revolt, wrote to his viceroy in Sweden to march against the rebels; and sent word to Gustavus that his mother and sister should suffer the most cruel torments, if he again appeared at their head. But Gustavus drove the viceroy before him, and defeated the archbishop of Upsal, who had taken arms against him; on which Christiern (who seems to have out-Neroed Nero) caused the prince's mother and sister to be tied up in a sack, and cast into the sea. Gustavus was proclaimed sovereign of Sweden 1523; but every king being compelled at his coronation to swear to observe the rights of the clergy, he deferred that ceremony, in order the better to promote the Reformation. Having encouraged the Lutheran divines to preach in all parts of his dominions, he seized the church-lands, declared himself a Lutheran, and was crowned 1528. He encouraged trade, erected

citadels on the frontiers of his kingdom, reigned without favourites or ministers, made the happiness of his subjects the main object of his labours, and died, aged 70, 1560. After Vasa, the Swedish throne was no more elective, but hereditary.

PORTUGAL UNDER JOHN III.João III. succeeded his father Emanuel 1521, and in three years after his accession introduced the Inquisition. Suleiman II., envying the power and opulence of the Portuguese, ordered his vizir to fit out a fleet, and attack their possessions in India; but though a large armament sailed, the valour of the Portuguese prevented the landing of the vizir's troops, and the ships one by one escaped to the Red Sea. In Africa, John had no great success; and as Barbary yet remained unconquered, he contented himself with adding strength to such fortresses as he possessed there, and next turned his attention to the colony recently established in Brazil. That country had been explored by Vespuccio 1501, but no settlement was made till 1549; when the subjects of João founded the city of St. Salvador. The king encouraged the settlers in every way, caused several other strong towns to be begun, and held out inducements to the natives to become Christians. Meanwhile he neglected not the happiness of his people at home. In order to put an end to the serious quarrels of his nobles regarding precedency, he established rules which have subsisted ever since, and which in a great measure prevented further altercations. While designing other important reforms, the good João was seized suddenly with a mortal illness, and expired, aged 55, 1557.

SPAIN AND GERMANY UNDER CHARLES V.-Charles I. of Spain, better known as Charles V. of Germany, was the son of Philip le Bel, archduke of Austria, and Joanna, queen of Castile; and after an education under Adrian of Utrecht (eventually pope Adrian VI.), was called at 16 to succeed his grand