evidently by a devout Catholic, desirous of doing all honour to so illustrious a convert. There is much amusing prolixity in describing her great devoutness, and the wearisome ceremonies it was necessary to go through on the way. We are told, that when she got beyond the Swedish boundaries, she was taken with a plurisy, or stitch in her breast, which forced her to stay eight daies;' that when she heard at Brussels of the death of her mother, 'she quickly retired to a house without Bruxells, called Tervoren, and remained there three weeks, to divert her afflictions, returning thence afterwards to the city, where all did condole with her majestie; she likewise put on mourning in her mind, depriving it of all recreation and passetime;' that at Cullen (Cologne), where she was welcomed by all the canon on the walls,' there also 'the magistrates gave her the accustomed present of twentyfive great bottles of wine, which the queen caused to be given to the Carmelite discalceat nuns, together with other almes, the effects of her generous piety:' in another place, the magistrates presented the queen with fish, wine, and oats-presents usually made to all princes and great persons, by the imperial cities of Germany. We are told how Holstenius, and Father Malines, the Jesuit, were despatched by the pope to meet the queen at Innsprück, and the letter of His Holiness is faithfully given: To Our most dear Daughter in Christ, Christina, the illustrious Queen of Swedland;' and concluding, given at Rome at St Maries the greater, under the seal of the Fisher,' &c. And then how 'the queen very reverently received it, and with a modest blush, shewed evident signs of the joy in her heart.' Then follows an account of the public profession made by Christina in this city, at which the queen was cloathed in a gown of black silk, very plain, and without any ornament but a crosse of five faire and rich diamonds at her breast;' and how 'Father Standacter, a Jesuit preacher, made a sermon in Dutch, so elegant, learned, and so fit for that action, that it ravisht the affections and applauses of all;' and how 'the Te Deum was accompanied by the roaring of above fifty pieces of artillery, many mortar-pieces, and an infinite number of muskets, as likewise with the ringing of the bells." At the church of St Dominique, in Bologna, 'she beheld the five books of Moses, written in Hebrew in thin leather by the prophet Esdras, and read some of the words.' At Ancona, she saw the tip of the iron of the lance which opened the side of the Lord Jesus; the right foot of St Anne, the mother of the most glorious Virgin Mary; and the queen kneeled before them, and kissed them with great devotion.' At Loretto, this devotion reached its height. 'As soon as she discovered the top of the holy house, she alighted out of her litter, and kneeling with very great devotion, kissed often the ground, then returned into her litter, going on to the bending of the mountain, when afterwards she alighted again, and walked to the church.' Here she completed her renunciation of all the pomps and vanities of the world, by laying down 'at the feet of

the holy image her crown and her royal scepter, empailed with jewels of great value.'

We are not here to account for the discrepancies of authors. We think we have fairly represented the character and career of Christina. She has been charged with gross immorality; we are inclined to think without reason. It is easy to imagine how such a charge should arise; difficult, indeed, to see how she could escape it. Her strange recklessness and waywardness-her unwomanly ways, manners, and language-all she did, and all she left undone, formed one of those unaccountable medleys, to which the vulgar must add a climax, in their uneasy, restless dislike to everything that is mysterious. Her desertion of her people when they were still willing to have her rule over them, even after she had begun to be negligent of their interests; her open contempt for her own sex, and the sums she lavished on unworthy objects, would naturally sharpen the imaginations of many to recount wonderful stories after her departure, which had no previous existence or foundation. Many zealous Protestants, also, must have been too seriously offended by her change of faith, to deal out even-handed justice to her. But when, on the other hand, we find Catholic authors, in their natural exultation over a distinguished convert, not only concealing the worst of her eccentricities, and clipping her down into the shape of an ordinary mortal, but proceeding thereafter to dress her up in the garb of a saint, we are entitled to demur. She will ever remain a striking example of the worse than uselessness of great talents, high station, and splendid opportunities, without that sobriety of mind, that steadiness of walk, that appropriation and application, and well-measured use of great gifts, which can alone render those available.