the danger. He flew to the scene of action, and found James occupying the southern bank of the river Boyne in the county of Meath in Ireland. His army was encamped upon heights and covered by a morass. But no obstacles could foil the skill and courage of the new king of England. He boldly crossed the river where the water reached to the armpits of his infantry, passed the morass, and attacked the hostile army in three different places at once.

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The French resisted. The Irish threw down their arms. James himself, a mere spectator of the action, set the example of flight and hastily embarked for France. Dublin opened her gates to the victor, and in the year following the rest of the kingdom submitted to William. to prevail over his rival by open force, the fugitive king endeavoured to remove him by assassination. But this base unworthy means only brought additional infamy upon James, and death to the unfortunate instruments he employed.

By brilliant actions, and steady opposition, William III. checked the ambitious projects, and victorious arms of the French monarch, and by his unceasing exertions contributed greatly to the preservation of the balance of power in Europe. He was aptly enough called the king of Holland, and the Stadtholder of England; for he actually reigned in the hearts of the Dutch, whereas, his coldness and taciturnity were not to the taste of his English subjects.

William died A. D 1702. This prince was, in all respects, a contrast to Louis XIV. The latter exhausted, the former saved, his country; the

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latter infected his court with Asiatic luxury; the other was always simple, frugal, and modest; the one paid dearly for the incense of flattery which was lavished upon him; the other drove flatterers from his presence as so many enemies; the one frequently violated, the other constantly respected, his engagements; the one conquered by his able generals without exposing his own person; the other often fought like a private soldier, while he commanded with consummate coolness and skill; Louis was the scourge of Europe; William was its buckler.

Translation from ROUSTAN.

PART VII.

FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE OF THE FRANCS IN GAUL. PEPIN.-CHARLEMAGNE.

Not long after the beginning of the third century, a body of Francs, under Pharamond their leader, crossed the Rhine, and founded a kingdom in that part of modern France which lies between that river and the Scheldt. Pharamond was their first king, and he gave birth to a line of princes, called the Merovingian line, from Merovæus, his second successor. Clovis, the second in succession from Merovæus, by several victories, particularly one at Soissons over the Romans, and another at Tolbiac, over the Alcemanni, conquered almost all Gaul, and the whole of Allemannia a region of Germany. His

immediate successor conquered Bavaria, Thuringia, and other parts of Germany.

The kingdom of the Francs was soon thrown into confusion by various partitions and by civil wars, and was governed nominally by a succession of weak and wicked monarchs, to whom history has given the appellation of Fainéans, or Sluggards; kings doing nothing for themselves. These kings enjoyed merely a shadow of royal authority. The Mayors of the palace, or as they are called by the writers of the time, Majores-domûs-regiæ; from being chief officers of the household, had insensibly grown to such a degree of consequence, as to possess the whole civil and military power of the state.

They are traced to the reign of Clotaire II., but Pepin of Heristhall, of the family of the Counts of Ardenne, a country between the Moselle and the Scheldt, seems to have been the first of them who formed the project of usurping the sovereign power, and making it hereditary in his own family.

The states appointed him regent of the kingdom. Charles Martel, his son, succeeded him in the regency, and assumed the title of duke and prince of the Francs. Pope Gregory III. sent a solemn embassy to him, to request his support against the king of Lombardy. This embassy was accompanied by a deputation from the senate and people of Rome, conferring on him the dignities of patrician and consul. But Charles Martel died without giving the Pope any effectual assistance. He received his surname of Martel, from his using a mace with

astonishing force and bravery in a desperate battle against the Moors in Spain; which battle being successful, probably saved the rest of Europe from the Mahommedan yoke. His titles, dignities and talents devolved to Pepin, his eldest son.

Pope Gregory III. died soon after, and was succeeded by Zachary. Matters were soon settled between the two. On the side of Pepin, the inglorious existence of the Merovingian kings had continued, and the Mayors of the palace had exercised all the functions of royalty so long, that, excepting the right, nothing but the name of king was wanting to Pepin. On the side of Zachary, it was evident that without instant, powerful, and permanent protection, the Pope and city of Rome must fall a prey to the kingdom of Lombardy. The protection which Zachary wanted, Pepin could grant; the right to the kingdom and the name of king, which Pepin wanted, Zachary indeed could not confer, but to a general belief that Pepin possessed the former, and to his obtaining of the latter Zachary could contribute much. Their mutual wants produced a treaty of mutual assistance. In consequence of this, Pepin sent two confidential agents to the Pope, proposing to him as a case of conscience, whether, as in the empire of the Francs, all the power of royalty had been so long held and exercised by the family of Pepin, it was not proper, under the existing circumstances, that they should also, have the name of king. The Pope pronounced that he who had the power ought to have also the title of king.

On receiving the Pope's answer, Pepin called an assembly of the states at Soissons; by whom he was unanimously chosen king, and enthroned. He was crowned and anointed by Boniface bishop of Mentz, a prelate eminent for the holiness of his life; and who, from the extent and success of his missionary labours beyond the Rhine, was called the Apostle of Germany. Thus ended the Merovingian dynasty, after having lasted two hundred and seventy years from the accession of Clovis. Chilperic, the reigning monarch, was shut up in the monastery of St. Bertin in the city of St. Omer. His only son, Thierry was confined in the monastery of Fontinell esin Normandy.

Pope Zachary did not long survive this revolution. He was succeeded by Stephen II., who being hard pressed by Astolphus king of the Lombards, fled into France. In his own name, and in the names of the clergy, senate, and people of Rome, he proclaimed Pepin and his sons Carloman and Charles, patricians of Rome. In return, Pepin granted to the Pope the city of Ravenna, the Exarchate and the Pentapolis.

Though Pepin had been cowned before, by the holy bishop Boniface, yet he prevailed on the Pope to crown him again, together with his wife and his two sons, and to give them the royal unction, in the abbey of St. Denys. In granting his blessing to the people, the Pope absolved them from their allegiance to the Merovingian family, and conjured them to maintain the crown in the family of Pepin, whom God had chosen specially for the defence of the church,