No. 49.—254. Charles XII. king of Sweden, was born in 1682. By his father's will, the administration was lodged in the hands of the queen-dowager Eleonora with five senators, till the young prince was 18: but he was declared major at 15, by the estates convened at Stockholm. The beginning of his administration raised no favourable ideas of him, as he was thought both by Swedes and foreigners to be a person of mean capacity. But the difficulties that gathered round him, soon afforded him an opportunity to display his real character. Three powerful princes, Frederic king of Denmark, Augustus king of Poland and elector of Saxony, and Peter the Great czar of Muscovy, presuming on his youth, conspired his ruin almost at the same instant. Their measures alarming the council, they were for diverting the storm by negotiations; but Charles, with a grave resolution that astonished them, said, "I am resolved never to enter upon an unjust war, nor to put an end to a just one but by the destruction of my enemies. My resolution is fixed: I will attack the first who shall declare against me; and when I have conquered him, I may hope to strike a terror into the rest." The old counsellors received his orders with admiration; and were still more surprized when they saw him on a sudden renounce all the enjoyments of a court, reduce his table to the utmost frugality, dress like a common soldier, and, full of the ideas of Alexander and Caesar, propose those two conquerors for his models in everything but their vices. The king of Denmark began by ravaging the territories of the duke of Holstein. Upon this, Charles carried the war into the heart of Denmark; and made such a progress, that the king of Denmark thought it best to accept of peace, which was concluded in 1700. He next resolved to advance against the king of Poland, who had blocked up Riga. He had no sooner given orders for his troops to go into winter-quarters, than he received advice, that Narva, where count Horne was governor, was believed by an army of 100,000 Muscovites. This made him alter his measures, and move toward the Czar; and at Narva he gained a surprising victory, which cost him not above 2000 men killed and wounded. The Muscovites were forced to retire from the provinces they had invaded. He pursued his con- quests, till he penetrated as far as where the diet of Poland was sitting; when he made them declare the throne of Poland vacant, and elect Stanislaus their king: then making himself master of Saxony, he ob- liged Augustus himself to renounce the crown of Po- land, and acknowledge Stanislaus by a letter of con- gratulation on his accession. All Europe was surpri- sed with the expeditious finishing of this great negotia- tion, but more at the disinterestedness of the king of Sweden, who satisfied himself with the bare reputa- tion of this victory, without demanding an inch of ground for enlarging his dominions. After thus re- ducing the king of Denmark to peace, placing a new king on the throne of Poland, having humbled the emperor of Germany, and protected the Lutheran religion, Charles prepared to penetrate into Muscovy in order to dethrone the Czar. He quickly obliged the Muscovites to abandon Poland, pursued them into their own country, and won several battles over them. The Czar, disposed to peace, ventured to make some proposals; Charles only answered, "I will treat with the Czar at Moscow." When this haughty answer was brought to Peter, he said, "My brother Charles still affects to act the Alexander, but I flatter myself he will not in me find a Darius." The event justified him: for the Muscovites, already beaten into discipline, and under a prince of such talents as Peter, entirely destroyed the Swedish army at the memo- rable battle of Pultowa, July 8, 1709.; on which de- cisive day, Charles lost the fruits of nine years labour, and of almost 100 battles! The king, with a small troop, pursued by the Muscovites, palled the Borit- hemes to Oczakow in the Turkish territories; and from thence, through desert countries, arrived at Bender; where the Sultan, when informed of his ar- rival, sent orders for accommodating him in the best manner, and appointed him a guard. Near Bender, Charles built a house, and entrenched himself; and had with him 1800 men, who were all clothed and fed, with their horses, at the expense of the Grand Signior. Here he formed a design of turning the Ot- toman arms upon his enemies; and is said to have had a promise from the Vizir of being sent into Muscovy with 200,000 men. While he remained here, he in- finitely acquired a taste for books: he read the tra- gedies of Corneille and Racine; with the works of Defreux, whose fates he relished, but did not much admire his other works. When he read that passage in which the author represents Alexander as a fool and a madman, he tore out the leaf. He would sometimes play at chess: but when he recovered of his wounds, he renewed his fatigues in exercising his men; he tired three horses a day; and those who courted his favour were all day in their boots. To dispose the Ottoman Porte to this war, he detached about 800 Poles and Cossacks of his retinue, with or- ders to pass the Neister, that runs by Bender, and to observe what passed on the frontiers of Poland. The Muscovite troops, dispersed in those quarters, fell immediately upon this little company, and pursued them even to the territories of the Grand Signior. This was what the king expected. His ministers at the Porte excited the Turks to vengeance; but the Czar's money removed all difficulties, and Charles found himself in a manner prisoner among the Tar- tars. He imagined the sultan was ignorant of the in- trigues of his Grand Vizir. Poniatofsky undertook to make his complaints to the Grand Signior. The sul- tan, in answer, some days after, sent Charles five A- rabian horses, one of which was covered with a fad- dle and housing of great riches; with an obliging let- ter, but conceived in such general terms, as gave rea- son to suspect that the minister had done nothing with- out the sultan's consent: Charles therefore refused them. Poniatofsky had the courage to form a design of depoing the Grand Vizir; who accordingly was deprived of his dignity and wealth, and banished. The seal of the empire was given to Numan Gu- proughly: who persuaded his master, that the law forbid him to invade the Czar, who had done him no injury; but to succour the king of Sweden as an un- fortunate prince in his dominions. He sent his ma- jesty 800 purses, every one of which amounted to 500 crowns, and advised him to return peaceably to his own dominions. Charles rejected this advice, threatening to hang up the bashaws, and shave the beards of any Janitaries who brought him such mes- sages; and sent word that he should depend upon the Grand Signior's promise, and hoped to re-enter Po- land as a conqueror with an army of Turks. After various intrigues at the Porte, an order was sent to attack this head of iron, as he was called, and to take him either alive or dead. He stood a siege in his house, with forty domestics, against the Turkish ar- my; killed no less than 20 Janitaries with his own hand; and performed prodigies of valour on a very unnecessary and unwarrantable occasion. But the house being set on fire, and himself wounded, he was at last taken prisoner, and sent to Adrianople; where the Grand Signior gave him audience, and promised to make good all the damages he had sustained. At last, after a stay of above five years, he left Turkey; and, having disguised himself, traversed Wallachia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Germany, attended only by one person; and in 16 days riding, during which time he never went to bed, came to Stralund at mid- night, November 21, 1714. His boots were cut from his swollen legs, and he was put to bed; where when he had slept some hours, the first thing he did was to review his troops, and examine the state of the forti- fications. He sent out orders that very day, to re- new the war with more vigour than ever. But af- fairs were now much changed: Augustus had recov- ered the throne of Poland; Sweden had lost many of its provinces; and was without money, trade, credit, or troops. The kings of Denmark and Prussia seized the island of Rugen; and besieged him in Stralund, which surrendered; but Charles escaped to Carelicoon. When his country was threatened with invasion by so many princes, he, to the surprise of all Europe, marched into Norway with 20,000 men. A very few Danes might have stopped the Swedish army; but such a quick invasion they could not foresee. Europe was yet more at a loss to find the Czar so quiet, and not making a descent upon Sweden, as he had before agreed with his allies. This inaction was the consequence of one of the greatest designs, and at the same time the most difficult of any that were ever formed by the imagination of man. In short, a scheme was set on foot for a reconciliation with the Czar; for replacing Stanislaus on the throne of Poland; and setting James the second's son upon that of England, before restoring the duke of Holstein to his dominions. Charles was pleased with these grand ideas, though without building much upon them, and gave his minister leave to act at large. In the mean time, Charles was going to make a second attempt upon Norway in 1719; and he flattered himself with being master of that kingdom in six months; but he was killed at Frederikshald, a place of great strength and importance, which is reckoned to be the key of that kingdom, as he was examining the works.—This prince experienced the extremes of prosperity and adversity, without being softened by the one, or disturbed for a moment at the other; but was a man rather extraordinary than great, and fitter to be admired than imitated. He was honoured by the Turks for his rigid abstinence from wine, and his regularity in attending public devotion. In religion he was a Lutheran, and a strong believer in predestination. He wrote some observations on war, and on his own campaigns from 1700 to 1709; but the MS. was lost at the unfortunate battle of Poltowa.