~ 
670 
fhe crown on his own head, afcended the 
throne, his kingdom exjayed the bleffings 
ef peace and iecurity: but a coaiition of 
three powers was loon formed againtt 
him ; for Denmark regretted the lofs of 
the Duchy of Schlefwig, and Auguitus 
King of Poland withed for the reftoration. 
of Livonia, while the Czar Perer I. was 
eager to obtain a port in the Baltic. A 
war of aggreffion on their part immedi- 
ately followed ; and no fooner was Charles 
priormed that the Danes, who made the 
firft ioroad, had entered the territories of 
his brother-in-law, than he renounced all 
the pleafures of the court, drank fimple 
water for his beverage, and flepe on a mat 
¢xtended on the ground. 
Wien he conducted his fieet into Zea- 
land, Charles himfelf jumped into the 
fea (Iuly 25, 1700,) in order to affign 
their refpective ftations to the troops.— 
¢* Lagerbring afferts, that no one fuffered 
from this invafion of Denmark, the deer 
belonging to the enemy only excented ; 
every thing brought inte the camp was 
paid for, and .the loweft of the peaiants 
treated with gentlenefs. A peace was 
foon after concluded on the moft : quitable 
conditions, and on the 23d of Auguft 
the monarch was diicovered. on his way 
back to Scania. The firft achievement 
generally prefents.a fample of the human 
charaéter, and this firit camp; ign of the 
King of Sweden conveys a juit ic tea’ of 
his primttive difpofiion, more efpecially 
as he concluded ee peace of his own ac- 
cord, without being in‘trucied of the ope- 
yations of his other enemies.” 
Six days after his arrival in his own 
kingdom, Charles was informed that war 
had been declared againft Sweden at Mof- 
cow. On this he again embarked, ar- 
rived at Pernau on the 6th of Otober, at- 
tacked 24,000 Ruffians with 8000 men,. 
and obliged th-m to lay down their arms. 
‘* But this victory,” fays our author, 
*¢ was as fatal to the King of Sweden as 
the defeat of his foes proved advantageous 
to them: for the young hero began to 
coniider himfeif invincible, while the 
Roffians deemed it neceflary io learn how 
tocombat. Alter the Poles and the Sax- 
ons had, in their turn, experienced a va- 
riety of defeats, the mind of the Kiag 
feemed to lole its equilibrium ; all the pro- 
hie) of peace prefented to him were 
rejeéted ; he isfifted, with obftinacy, on 
the dethronement cf Auguftus, which was 
at length complied wih. 
‘‘ It is here that the viGtorious career 
of the hero of the Nerth may be {aid to 
have terminated, He had pafied the Ru- 
Retrofpec? of French Literature.—Mifcellaneous, 
bicon; his foot had croffed the barrier of 
the redoubtable Nemefis, who foon raifed: 
up for him a dangerous enemy. This 
enemy was the infinuating (Duke of) 
Marlborough, who, with a view of with. 
drawing him from the theatre of his vic- 
tories, paid a vilit to him in perfon, and 
tried to corrupt Count Piper by means of 
the gold of England, with a view of dif- 
pofing Charles to leave Germany. ‘ Take 
whatever money is offered you,’ fays the 
King; ‘for that will not prevent me 
from going wherefoever I choofe.’ ‘He 
accordingiy commenced his march; but 
it was not to defend Livonia, which had: 
been invaded by the Ruffians, and then 
experienced al! the horrors of war, but 
to repair to the Ukraine to avenge the: 
outrages of'a Hetman of the Coflacks! 
Tt was at the celebrated battle of Pulto- 
wa that Fortune abandoned her favourite. 
Charles was there wounded ; his Gene- 
rals became jeaious of each ovher; the 
powder deftined ‘or the fervice of the ar- 
my proved of a baa quality, and his can- 
non were fill ms the park, while the Raf 
fians were keeping up an inceflani fire, by 
means of 332 pieces.” | 
We are afterwards prefented with an 
account of the misfortunes of Charles, 
tie details) of his captivity among the 
Turks, and the particulars of his fudden 
return and death, not by ‘the bulleis of 
the enemy, but by the hands of one of 
his own fubjeéts. The author forces us 
to pity the monarch and the man, wha 
experienced this ftrange reverle of fortune, 
but he will find it difficult tu convince 
the world that the conduét of Charles 
XIi. has been unjuftly condemned, by 
the uniform voice of an ——— potte- 
rity. 
CLEMENTIANA. 
As the writings of the Fathers of the 
Church have, of late, come again into 
repute in France, an idea has been cons 
ceived of publishing Aza Patrum, or the - 
witty and fententious fayings of St. Au- 
guftin, Tertullian, St. Jerome, &c. In 
the mean time, St. Clement, of Alexan- 
dria, an ecclefiattical writer who flourifh- 
ed duiing the latter end of the fecond and 
beginning of the third century, has been | 
chofen by way of {p-cimen, and we fhal] 
here tranflate a few of the examples. 
_ RICHES. . 
«¢ Wealth is like a ferpent which an en-= 
chanter takes -by the tail without being 
bitten, but which turns round and gives 
a mortal wound to thofe who are unac« 
quainted with the art of charming it.” 
Pedag. 
POVERTY. 
