I. GUSTAVUS VASA, the founder of the independence and freedom of Sweden, was born at Lindholm, in the province of Upland, in Sweden, in the year 1496. His father, Eric Johanson, was a senator of the kingdom and governor of the Aland Islands, half-way between Sweden and Finland, in the Gulf of Bothnia. On his son he bestowed the most precious gift a father can give to his child--the blessing of an excellent education. 2. It was a time of violence and bloodshed generally throughout Europe. In England the Tudor dynasty, in the person of Henry VII., were with difficulty maintaining their hold upon the throne against a succession of pretenders. In Germany the emperor Charles V. was engaged in perpetual wars; and the B |