MENTAL AXD MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 79 



him, so that his uncle, Charles, was gladly welcomed as a deliverance to 

 the country, and Sigismond was formally deposed in 1G0I. 



It should be noticed that of all the children of the illustrious Gu>- 

 tavus Vasa, Charles IX. was by far the best, and it was the son of this 

 king who became the brightest light in Swedish history, probably every- 

 thing considered, the greatest figure in all modern royalty, and one of 

 the most ideal heroes who ever lived, Gustavus Adolphus the Great. 



To recount the characteristics of this celebrated champion of the 

 Protestant cause would be but to repeat again the eulogies for the 

 founder of the house, his grandfather. The nobility and genius of 

 Gustavus Adolphus are too well known to need much comment here. 

 It will be sufficient to quote a few extracts from the many works 

 devoted to his life and achievements. 



He ascended to the throne in his seventeenth year and soon gave proof of 

 his extraordinary abilities. The military talents of Gustavus Adolphus were 

 of the highest order, but they were surpassed by his admirable qualities as a 

 man and his virtues as a ruler.* Gustavus was, says Schiller, incontestably 

 the first commander of his century and the bravest soldier in the army which 

 he created. His eye watched over the morals of the soldiers as strictly as over 

 their bravery. In everything their lawgiver was also their example. In the 

 intoxication of his fortune he was still a man and a Christian, and in his 

 devotion still a hero and a king. 



Such is the universal testimony of both contemporaries and histo- 

 rians in admiration of the sublime personality of Gustavus Adolphus. 

 the Lion of the North, who like a brilliant comet flashed for a brief 

 time over European affairs, until his course Avas terminated all too 

 soon while defending the faith for which he gave his life. 



Cut off in his thirty-eighth year, when most men are only begin- 

 ning to assume the full responsibilities for which they are fitted, we do 

 not know what might have been the limit to the manifold acts of 

 benefit and righteousness that would have been conferred by Sweden's 

 greatest king. Let us pause in passing to consider the mysteries of 

 fate that heaped upon this man, sandwiched in between the maniacs 

 and weaklings of his family, all the gifts of mind and heart ever 

 allotted to mortals. If great men are divine, then heredity is, for 

 Gustavus Adolphus is but a perfect repetition of his illustrious grand- 

 father. 



After the death of the great king, Sweden passed into the hands 

 of a regency for Christina, his only child. Her sprightly wit and spirit, 

 her energy and taste for learning, all gave her countrymen the greatest 

 hope for a brilliant future for their beloved little queen 'who aston- 

 ished her guardians by the vigor of her understanding.' In 1614 on 

 her eighteenth birthday, she assumed supreme power and for some 



Lippincott's ' Biog. Diet.' 



