78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



husband, where she got frightfully into debt, and died after leading 

 a rambling and dissolute life.* 



Charles IX., by far the flower of the family, inherited much of 

 the genius and character of his father. 



Although the transcendent merits of Charles the Ninth are eclipsed by the 

 superior qualities of his father and son, yet even as the son of Gustavus Vasa 

 and father of Gustavus Adolphus he seems to shine no less with nature than 

 reflected luster. He was enterprising yet cautious in war, sagacious and 

 decisive in the cabinet, a friend to humanity, yet severe in punishment of 

 crimes. Attached by principle to the Protestant cause, he raised it, almost 

 drooping, again to preeminence. Zealous to promote the interest of his people, 

 he built towns, encouraged commerce and agriculture and patronized letters. 

 Of quick and lively feelings, he was subject to violent but short transports of 

 passion, which harassed his frame and finally occasioned his death. f 



Another type of Yasa eccentricity is found in the career of Gus- 

 tavus, the son of the mad Eric XIV. Gustavus had from youth an 

 adventurous and curious existence. Eescued when an infant from the 

 sac in which he was to have been murdered, he was conveyed from 

 Sweden to the Jesuit convents of Thorn and Vienna. 



In these different seminaries he made considerable progress in literature 

 and in particular distinguished himself in so much by his proficiency in chem- 

 istry that he was called the second Paracelsus. He was no less remarkable for 

 his knowledge of languages, speaking with fluency, besides his native tongue, 

 French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian and Latin. He was indeed so zealous 

 in the prosecution of his studies, that on account of his indigent circumstances, 

 after attending the schools by day, he used in the evening to play at the 

 inns in the lowest capacity, in order to procure a scanty subsistence. 



His literary acquisitions, however, did not advance his future, for he passed 

 a wandering life in the greatest misery; was reduced to such straits that he 

 frequently had recourse to charity and at other times earned his living by the 

 meanest occupations .J 



Here we see a striking instance of a son resembling his father. 

 The literary and scientific one-sidedness so strongly marked appears 

 with equal force even under these trying and humble circumstances, 

 and when no influence of family example could have taken a share 

 in its formation, since Gustavus when an infant was removed from the 

 surroundings in which he was born. 



Sigismond III., 1566-1632, the next to be considered, was also 

 in his way a rather unusual character, though the figures 4.5 do not 

 indicate it. This son of the brother. John, and of Catherine, daughter 

 of Sigismond I. of Poland, acquired the throne of Sweden before his 

 uncle, Charles IX. The bigotry of Sigismond, combined with his weak- 

 ness and peevishness, led to discords and estranged his subjects from 



* W. B. Rye, ' England as seen by Foreigners,' 1865, introduction. 



+ Coxe, V., 175. 



% Coxe, ' Travels in Russia, Sweden, Denmark,' IV., 251. 



