Hoping to be joined py the English royalists

he took the spirited resolution of pa ing Cromwell and entering England, Car lisle — throwing open its gates to receive him. He was immediately pursued by that active commander, who gained the battle of Worcester, and Charles, after a variety of imminent hazards, being on one occasion sheltered for 24 hours in the branches of the famous Boscobel oak, reached Shoreham, in Su ex, and effected a pa age to France. It is the provinee of history to state the circumstances that produced the Restoration, which General Monk so conducted that Charles, without a struggle, succeeded at once to all those dangerous prerogatives which it had cost the nation so much blood and treasure, first to abridge and then to abolish. This unrestrictive return was not more injurious to the nation than fatal to the family of the Stuarts, which, had a more rational policy prevailed, might have occupied the throne at the present time. On May 29, 1660, Charles entered his capital amid universal and almost frantic acclamations; and the different civil and religious parties vied with each other in loyalty and submi ion. In 1662 he married the Infanta of Portugal, a prudent and virtuous prince , but in no way calculated to acquire the affection of a man like Charles. The indolence of his temper and the expenses of his licentious way of life soon involved him in pecuniary difliculties; and the unpopular sale of Dunkirk to the French was one of his most early expedients to relieve himself. After a troubled reign he died from the consequences of an apoplectic fit, in February, 1685, in the 55th year of his age. Charles XII., King of Sweden; bern in Stockholm, June 27, 1682; was instructed in the languages, history, geography, and mathematics. On the death of his father in 1697 when he was but 15 years old, he was declared of age by the estates. Frederick [V. of Denmark, August us II. of Poland, and the Czar Peter I. of Ru ia concluded an alliance which resulted in the Northern War. The Danish troops first invaded the territory of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Charles proposed in the Council of State the most energetic measures against Denmark. After making some arrangements respecting the internal administration he embarked at Carlscrona in May, 1700. Thirty ships of the line and a great number of small transports, strengthened by an English ind Dutch squadron, appeared before Copenhagen. Arrangements were being made for the disembarkation when Charles, full of impatience, plunged from his boat into the water, and was the first who reached land. The Danes retired before the superior power of the enemy. Copenhagen was on the point of being besieged when the peace negotiated at Travendal was signed (Aug. 8, 1700), by which the Duke of Holstein was confirmed in all the rights of which it had been attempted to deprive him. Thus ended the first enterprise of Charles XIL, in which he exhibited as much intellirence and courage as disinterestedne . After thus checking Denmark the attacks of August us and Peter were to be repelled. The former was besieging Riga, the latter menaced Narva and the country situated about the Gulf of Finland. Without returning to his capital, which he never revisited, Charles caused 20,000 men to be transported to Livonia, and went to meet the Ru ians, whom he found 80,000 strong in a fortified camp under the walls of Narva. On Nov. 30, 1700, between 8,000 and 10,000 Swedes placed themselves in order of battle, under the ffre of the Ru ians, and the engagement began. In le than & quarter of an hour the Ru ian camp was taken by storm. Thirty you sand Ru ians perished on the field or threw themselves into the Narva; the rest were taken prisoners or dispersed. After this victory Charles cro ed the Dwina, attacked the intrenchments of the Saxons, and gained a decisive victory. Charles might now have concluded a peace which would have made him the arbiter of the North; but instead of so doing he pursued August us to Poland. August us attempted in vain to enter into negotiations with Charles, who refused to —_—. with him. he war continued; the Swedes gained a brilliant victory at Cli au; in 1703 all Poland was in the po e ion of the conquerors; the cardinal primate declared the throne vacant; and by the influence of Charles the new choice fell on Stanislaus Leczinsky.