novel doctrines of the Reformation were everywhere threatening the established order of things. 3. Sweden was held in subjection by Denmark, whose king, Christian II., treacherously carried off the young Gustavus, with other hostages, a prisoner to Copenhagen in the twenty-third year of his age. Escaping from his confinement, he took refuge first at Lübeck, which was then a rich and powerful commercial city, and capital of the Hanseatic League. Then he made his way to Calmar, in Sweden, which was still holding out against the Danes, and ultimately to Dalecarlia, where he wandered about for months in disguise, penniless and alone, a price set upon his head, waiting for an opportunity to rouse his countrymen to revolt against the detested Danes. 4. On the 4th of November, 1520, Christian II. was crowned king of Sweden at Stockholm. Three days afterwards he caused the principal nobles and leaders of Sweden, who had assisted at his coronation, to be arraigned for high treason, and after a mock trial ordered them all, including the father of Gustavus, to be put to death. 5. The news of this "Bath of Blood," as it was called, reached the fugitive as he was earning his living, now as a field-labourer, now as a cattle-drover, among the rude peasants and miners of Dalecarlia. From this time the story of his wanderings and his escapes reads like an exciting romance. When men forsook him, noble-hearted women stood his friends. On one occasion, while an old school-fellow, named Arendt Perrson, in whose house he had taken refuge, was on his way to inform the Danes of his whereabouts, Perrson's wife let him down by a towel from his garret, eighteen feet high, to the sledge which was in readiness to drive him away. 6. On another occasion, Danish soldiers entered the cottage where he was warming himself by the fire, and the good wife, to avert suspicion, with her broad breadshovel gave him a smart blow on the back, and bade him be off to the threshing-floor with the other servants, and so saved his life. Again, another time, one of the enemy thrust his spear into the wagon-load where he lay concealed, and wounded him severely on the leg; but he bore it without betraying himself. 7. Suffice it to say, that after many disappointments and some reverses and much "trying again," like King Robert Bruce of Scotland, he succeeded at last in rallying the peasantry to his cause. The men of Dalecarlia, the Cornwall of Sweden, where are the most ancient copper mines in Europe, flocked around him with enthusiasm. In a diet called together at Mora he is solemnly proclaimed their chief. The Danes are gradually expelled from Sweden, and in 1523 the young king Gustavus-for with reluctance he had consented to accept the title-enters Stockholm, his capital, in triumph, and the future of Sweden lies in the hands of a hero. 8. He made an excellent sovereign. He found his country a wilderness. He left it, after a reign of nearly forty years, prosperous and at peace. He suppressed disorders. He promoted trade at home and abroad. He founded schools and colleges. Commercial treaties were concluded with foreign nations, and fairs established for foreign traders. Roads and bridges were made in various parts, and canals were begun. The clergy were despoiled of their superabundant wealth, and every encouragement was given to the preaching of the doctrines of the Reformation. 9. In himself he was abstemious in his habits, correct in his behaviour, a lover of justice, an able administrator; in short, he had few qualities, with the exception of a tendency to avarice, which would be held unworthy of him as a man and a sovereign. 10. Honour to those in all ages, among all nations, whose heart has been with the downtrodden and the poor !—who, while bestowing on others the inestimable gift of freedom, and with it of self-respect and self-control and honest industry, are themselves an example of the virtues they would implant! We greet them as friends across the intervening centuries. We feel encouraged by their success. We feel bound by their example. C. Sweden is the eastern portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. The western is Norway, now united to Sweden in one joint kingdom. It is bounded by Norway on the west and north, by a part of Russia, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic on the east, by the Cattegat, separating it from Denmark, on the south and south-west. The Aland Islands lie in a group at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. They now belong to Russia. Finland lies on the opposite side of the Gulf of Bothnia to Sweden. It has been conquered from Sweden at various times by Russia, of which it now forms a part. The Tudor Sovereigns are Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth; all descended from Owen Tudor, the Welshman, and Catherine, widow of Henry V. The Emperor Charles V. (1500-1558), besides being Emperor of Germany, was King of Spain, and had large dominions in Italy, in the Netherlands, and elsewhere. The Hanseatic League was a trade-union of certain cities in North Germany for mutual protection in violent times. The league numbered at one time as many as eighty five cities, some of them, as Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen, of great commercial importance. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is one of the most beautiful capitals in Europe, built partly on the main-land, partly on nine islands lying in the channel, through which the Maëlar Lake discharges its waters into the Baltic. 1. Give names of any or all the great patriots, or lovers of their country, you ever heard of, and say what you know of them. 2. Name each of the following stops, and say how long you should pause at each, and where each of them should be used-(,) (;) (:) (-) (!) (?). 3. Explain the meanings of the words gulf, senator, commercial, capital, ultimately, coronation, romance, garret, threshing-floor, abstemious. Ar-raign'-ed, accused. Cen'-tu-ries, hundreds of years. Dis-ap-point'-ments. Ex'-cel-lent. Fu'-gi-tive, runaway. Host'-a-ges, pledges for the perform ance of something. Pea'-sant-ry. Pen'-ni-less. Ral'-ly-ing, re-assembling, bringing again to the fight. Sen'-a-tor, member of the Senate. Where'-a-bouts. |