machus, hadst thou beheld it before the reign of Pygmalion, how much greater would have been thy astonishment! The remains of Tyre only are now to be seen; ruins which have yet the appearance of magnificence, but will shortly be mingled with the dust. O unhappy Tyre! to what a wretch art thou subjected; thou, to whom, as the sovereign of the world, the sea so lately rolled the tribute of every nation! Both strangers and subjects are equally dreaded by Pygmalion; and instead of throwing open our ports to traders of the most remote countries, like his predecessors, without any stipulation or inquiry, he demands an exact account of the number of vessels that arrive, the countries to which they belong, the name of every person on board, the manner of their trading, the species and value of their commodities, and the time they are to continue upon his coast; but this is not the worst; for he puts in practice all the little artifices of cunning to draw the foreign merchants into some breach of his innumerable regulations, that under the appearance of justice he may confiscate their goods. He is perpetually harassing those persons whom he imagines to be most wealthy; and increasing, under various pretences, the incumbrances of trade by multiplying taxes. . . And thus commerce languishes; foreigners forget, by degrees, the way to Tyre, with which they were once so well acquainted; and if Pygmalion insists on a conduct so impolitic and so injurious, our glory and our power will be transferred to some other nation, which is governed upon better principles."-From Fénelon's Tele

machus.

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GUSTAVUS VASA was the founder of modern Sweden, delivering it from the yoke of Denmark, and making important social and political reforms. He was born in the province of Upland, on the 12th of May, 1495, and was the eldest son of Eric Johanson Vasa, Governor of the island of Aland. The son's name was originally, according to Swedish practice, Gustavus Ericsson. In his childhood he was sent to the court of Steno Sture the Elder, to be brought up as a foster-son, according to a custom of those times among the nobility. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to the collegiate school of Upsal; but he did not remain there long.

Sweden was then under the domination of Christian II., the tyrannical King of Denmark, called the Nero of the North. At the age of nineteen, Gustavus was installed at the court of the Regent Steno Sture the Younger, and took part in battles against the Danes. About 1518 Christian invaded Sweden to subjugate the revolted Swedes; but he was defeated in a battle in which Gustavus carried the Swedish standard to victory. During the negotiations for peace, Christian, by treachery, obtained possession of Gustavus and five other Swedes, and took them as hostages to Denmark. After Gustavus had been deprived of liberty for a year, he escaped

in disguise and entered the free city of Lubeck, the rulers of which protected him and refused to deliver him to his Danish enemy. Here he remained many months, heard Luther preach, and became acquainted with the Reformed religion. In May, 1520, he returned to Sweden, determined to liberate his native country from the oppressive power of the Danes. He endeavored to incite the people to revolt, but was hunted by Danish officers, and saved himself from imminent danger by working in disguise on farms and in mines.

In the spring of 1520, the Danish king came with a fleet and besieged Stockholm for many months. That capital surrendered in September, 1520, to King Christian, who had promised a general pardon. In November the Danish king arrested many Swedish nobles and Senators, some of whom were accused of heresy, as being adherents of Luther. About ninety persons, including the father of Gustavus, were executed by order of the king. This massacre was called the Blood-Bath of Stockholm. A price was set on the head of Gustavus, but he escaped many perils, and in 1521 the Swedes chose him for their leader. He defeated the Danes in several battles, and soon made himself master of all Sweden, except Calmar and Stockholm, which, on account of their insular position, could not be taken without a fleet, which he did not possess. He negotiated with the rulers of Lubeck, who supplied him with ten ships. The tyrannical Christian was deposed by his Danish subjects about the end of 1522. Gustavus captured Stockholm in 1523, and was elected King of Sweden by the Diet in the same year.

King Gustavus found his kingdom demoralized and disorganized. The nobles had great power, and they abused it by oppressing the peasants. The clergy were wealthy and were devoted to the Romish Church. Gustavus began his reforming operations with the Church. He was determined to make Sweden a Protestant country for several reasons. He wanted the lands of the Church to enrich the crown and the State; and he wished to diminish the power of the priests because they desired to maintain the union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, which he had broken, and were hostile He reduced the enormous revenues of the bishops,

to him.

compelled them to surrender their castles, and closed many monasteries. The Bible was translated into Swedish, and the Lutheran Church became the established Church of Sweden. In 1528 a national council adopted Lutheranism.

Gustavus married Catharina of Saxe-Lunenburg, and after her death, Margareta Lejonhufvud, a Swedish lady. By favoring the middle classes and negotiating treaties of commerce with France, Russia and Holland, he became the founder of Swedish commerce. At the Diet of Westeräs, in 1544, the monarchy was definitely declared to be hereditary. This was

a victory over the nobles, who aimed to make the government an oligarchy, and were turbulent subjects. Law, order and a national spirit were encouraged and developed by Gustavus, who established schools throughout the kingdom. The exactions and oppressive acts of the nobles provoked a serious insurrection of the peasants in 1537. Their leaders organized marauding bands, which infested the forests and made raids on the castles and manors. This rebellion lasted about two years. Gustavus generally avoided foreign war; but he waged war against Russia in 1555-1557. In the latter part of his

life he married a third wife-Catharina Stenbock. In order to provide for each of his sons-Eric, John, Magnus and Charles-he divided Sweden into four dukedoms, and gave almost sovereign power to each duke. This proved a most unwise arrangement, and brought much evil upon the country as well as himself. The latter part of his reign was disturbed by the dissensions and misconduct of his sons. He died in September, 1560 and was succeeded by his son Eric.

THE RISING OF THE SWEDISH PEASANTS.

Gustavus Vasa was received by the assembled men of Mora with every token of reverence and joy. They swore obedience and loyalty; two hundred placed themselves under his command, and sixteen picked peasant lads were appointed for his body-guard. To encourage his people, he soon after, being already a thousand men strong, undertook an expedition to Fahlun, where the steward and several of Christian's partisans were made prisoners, and the shops of the foreign traders given

up to the plunder of his followers, while the King's contributions from the whole district were taken up and distributed as pay.

The fame of Gustavus had spread far and wide, and many fugitives, who had before been groping about among the wild beasts of the forest, now hastened forward to join themselves to his troop. Their numbers soon increased to three thousand men, and the whole of Dalarna acknowledged his dominion. He then marched to Helsingland, but the people there either dared not or would not assist him; but the whole of Gestrikland and the town of Gefle joined him, and the persecuted noblemen from Stockholm and the rest of the kingdom crowded to his standard. As Gustavus was on his way back to Dalarna, he was met by the report that the troops whom he had left there had been beaten to a man by the Danes; in alarm he hastened his march, and, as he came nearer, found to his relief that, on the contrary, it was the Danes who had been beaten by the Dalmen.

The Danish party, headed by Gustaf Trolle and Jöns Beldenack, had hoped to quell the insurrection in the very beginning; and therefore, with a hastily assembled troop of six thousand men, marched towards Dalarna. marched towards Dalarna. The Dalmen encamped on the north, the Danes on the south side of the Brunback river, and contemplated each other with no friendly glances. Bishop Beldenack, who had not forgotten how often his countrymen had been put to flight by these whitecoated peasants now lying on the opposite side of the stream, asked some of his Swedish partisans, "how many men they thought the valleys could muster?" "Twenty thousand men at the least," they answered, "for the old men there are as active as the young." "But what do they live on?" asked the Bishop. "On bread and water," was the answer; "and when corn fails they mix their bread with ground bark; nor do they care much for either cold or heat, hunger or thirst." Then said the Bishop: "A people who eat wood and drink water, the very devil himself, far less man, will not be able to overcome."

Meanwhile the Dalmen began by a continued firing across the river to disturb the Danes, who were obliged to retire ;