Literally translated, this imposing word signifies single power, implying government placed in the hands of one individual, that individual being the sole ruler of his people. Originally, the difficulty of obeying the wills of many different persons possessing authority, and not agreed as to the method of administration, led, in all probability, to the establishment of a monarchy. The corruption of the proto-republic thus gave birth to kings. A French philosopher has said, that when commonwealths become rotten they degenerate into monarchies; and a French emperor has given it as his opinion, that old monarchies can never be successfully converted into young republics. A third Frenchman has asserted that there exists no example of a people voluntarily destroying their own republic, and surrendering themselves and their laws to the irresponsible rule of a despotic monarch. The latter may, by force or cajolery, have imposed himself upon a nation; and, it may be added, that when the nation has been unfit for liberty, a salutary despotism may be for the country's good.

There is but one real basis for the stability of a monarchy,—love. The hatred of subjects denaturalizes the kingly system. According to Montesquieu, the true principle of monarchy is honour,—of a republic, virtue; which is very like many other of the distinctions drawn by Montesquieu, having in them very little difference indeed. It has been objected against what may be called the legality of monarchy, that if it had been of Divine origin, it would have rendered those subjected to it happy. Here again is a fallacy; for the monarchy of heaven itself was assailed by the angels who could not be happy under that Divine system.

The wellbeing of a people is perhaps never so perfectly secured as under a constitutional monarchy, which is, in fact, a republic with safeguards against revolution; or rather a commonwealth under which the people do not learn the "sacred right of insurrection," but accomplish all necessary revolutions quietly, surely, and according to law. When the accomplished Halifax was treating of despotic monarchs and turbulent republics in his Character of a Trimmer, he said:—"We take from the one the too great power of doing hurt, and yet leave enough to govern and protect us. We take from the other the confusion, the parity, the animosities, and the license, and yet reserve a due care of such a liberty as may consist with men's allegiance; but it being hard, if not impossible, to be exactly even, our government has much the stronger bias towards monarchy, which, by the general consent and practice of mankind, seems to have the advantage in dispute against a commonwealth." This advantage was acknowledged so long ago as the era of the Macedonian monarchy. The system was of course despotic; yet, if we may believe Quintus Curtius, the Macedonians had an innate affection for their kings:—"Ingentiam illi genti erga reges suos venerationem." But this is always advanced by interested rulers or writers in favour of despotism. The Poles followed another system, which they considered the best,—Monarchy, namely, the elective system. It was a miserable failure; and yet the people, by which must be understood the nobles only, were wont to boast of it in these terms,—"In other kingdoms the monarch holds the people, but we hold the monarch." The elective system is still followed in the case of that ecclesiastical monarch, the Pope, the electors of whom are supposed to be influenced by the Holy Ghost, in answer to the prayer, "Veni Creator Spiritus." According to Bishop Jewel, the prayer was once replied to by the appearance of an owl in the conclave; and, according to Beranger, the reply to the invocation was, "Non," dit le Saint Esprit, "je ne descends pas!" The state papers recently published having reference to the candidature of Wolsey for the papal throne, best show the system by which this elective monarchy was perpetuated. The third form is constitutional monarchy, according to which the sovereign is the first magistrate of a free people, with regard to whom there are laws in common, and rights and duties peculiar to each. And this constitutional monarchy may be in its origin elective, as that of England, when the nation, through Parliament, disinherited one family, elected a second, and then declared that the sceptre should be hereditary in such family, under certain stipulations. It may, however, be considered as a general rule, that all monarchies are the consequences of election on the part of the people. Except where a conqueror has chosen to rest on his right of the sword, there has seldom existed even an usurper who has snatched the crown without going through some ceremony by which he seemed to acknowledge, or the people were made to imagine, that the result was the effect of a cause traced to the love, veneration, free-will, and unshackled choice of the nation.

To a constitutional monarch laws are not manacles, but garlands. They adorn rather than oppress him. "There is a wantonness," says the noble statesman whom we have already quoted, "in great power, which men are generally too apt to be corrupted with, and for that reason a wise prince, to prevent the temptation arising from common frailty, would choose to govern by rules, for his own sake as well as for his people's, since it only secures him from errors, and does not lessen the real authority that a good magistrate would care to be possessed of. For, if the will of a prince is contrary either to reason itself or to the universal opinion of his subjects, the law, by a kind restraint, rescues him from a disease that would undo him. If his will, on the other side, is reasonable or well-directed, that will immediately becomes a law, and he is arbitrary by an easy and natural consequence, without taking pains or overturning the world for it." For a monarch under such restraint there is no doubt a far greater degree of happiness than was ever enjoyed by despots, who feared their own guards next to dreading their own people, and that, too, when the acknowledged system of government was comprised in the talismanic words, "Quod principi placuit, lex esto!" It was in those days when monarchy was supposed to mean, and to be, simply the will, more or less idle, of the monarch, that men were slaves whose very breath could scarcely be drawn in freedom, even when the tyrant slept. The old lines by M. Bret illustrates this sentiment exactly; and, "done into English," they run thus:—

Upon his golden couch a tyrant dread, In seeming tranquil sleep, reclined his head: 'Is slumber made,' said one, 'for wretch so rare? Does Justice nod, and Heaven its victim spare?' 'Hush!' said a fakir, 'lest the noise you make, E'en by a whisper, should the monster wake. 'Tis God who thus allows him to be blest, That Innocence may have a moment's rest.'

In classifying the great monarchies which have held the world in awe, St Augustine names but two,—the Baby- Monarchy, Iranian and the Roman. The more usual method is to reckon the four great monarchies,—the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. Legend, however, notices a monarchy older than the oldest of these,—namely, the Chaldean. This dynasty, which, like that of Bacchus, is wanting in records, is said to have commenced 460 years after the creation, and under ten kings to have lasted half a million of years! The name of the first king of this wonderful dynasty was Alorus,—in other words, "Shepherd of his People,"—a significant title to commence with; it must be allowed. We are accompanied by the wonderful even when we have the traditionary. Thus of Nimrod (or Belus, the Orion of the skies), the first king named by Moses, we are told in a pretty story, doubtless suggestive of the Divine origin of his kingship, that as he was one day abroad hunting, he saw in the heavens the figure of a starry crown. Taking the appearance to have special reference to himself, he engaged a craftsman to copy the sparkling pattern; and when this was fashioned into a sparkling diamond crown, Nimrod wore the same as a symbol of the authority and the favour conferred on him by Heaven.

The Assyrian empire properly commences with Nimus, the son of Belus, who reigned in Assyria, built Nineveh, and captured Babylon. This took place about 2060 years B.C. About 1200 years elapsed before Jonah told of the disastrous end, in the streets of Nineveh; and Sardanapalus gave way to the conquering Arbaces 820 years before that of the Redemption. The empire continued to exist, however, with narrower limits, till 621 B.C., when the second Sardanapalus perished like the first, and Assyria was divided among the conquerors.

The Persian monarchy, which may be said to have annexed, or to have been included in, that of Assyria, dates from Zoroaster, 2115 B.C. Its early annals present only inextricable confusion; but we find Cyrus, King of Persia, master of all Asia in the sixth century B.C.; and the Persian empire stood, under alternations of glory and disaster, till the conquering Alexander subjected the country, and laid the foundation of the Greek empire, 331 B.C.

The Greek or Macedonian empire had, in Alexander, for its chief the twenty-first king of Macedonia. Such part of that wide empire as, after the death of Alexander, was comprised in Macedonia, fell before the Roman Emilius Paulus, who pronounced Macedon a Roman province, and (167 B.C.) took its last king, Perseus, and his sons to Rome, where they walked in chains before the chariot of the conqueror.

The Roman monarchy, if it is to be dated from the building of the city by Romulus, commenced 752 B.C. Seven kings had reigned when, on the deposition of Tarquinius Superbus, the first consuls Brutus and Collatinus were appointed 509 B.C. The republic existed till the foundation of the imperial monarchy in the person of Julius Caesar, 48 B.C. In the year of our Lord 363 the Roman empire was split into two divisions on the death of Jovian.

The Western empire expired on the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, by Odoacer, King of the Heruli, A.D. 476. The Eastern empire, with Byzantium for its capital, existed nearly a thousand years later, its fall dating with the extinction of the imperial families of the Comneni and the Palaeologi, A.D. 1453.

It would be impossible to name here all the other monarchies under which government has been administered; for of some, like that of Achaia, the names of the kings have been forgotten, and of others, like the Davids of Georgia, their acts are scarcely worth recording. In a tabular and alphabetical form, however, we give below some brief account of the existence of the principal monarchical systems which have won or exacted the obedience of mankind.

Alba.—Founded by Ascanius, 1152 B.C.; annexed to Rome by Tullus Hostilius, 665 B.C.

Algiers.—Founded as an independent monarchy in 1505 Monarchy, by Harush Barbarossa, a Sicilian renegade. Houssan, the thirty-second and last of the "Dey's," was dethroned and expelled by the French in 1830.

Arcadia.—Founded by Pelasgus, 1521 B.C. The last king, Aristocrates II., was stoned to death, and Arcadia made a republic, 681 B.C.

Argos.—Founded by Inachus, 1856 B.C. It existed as a monarchy upwards of seven centuries, but it subsequently became a republic.

Armenia.—The kings of Armenia were absolute over their own subjects, but the country itself was successively subject to the three great monarchies; and the Roman power became paramount in Armenia after the dethronement of Tiridates, A.D. 62.

Assyria.—(See above).

Athens.—Cecrops founded a monarchy here 1556 B.C. After a period of nearly 500 years, occupied by seventeen kings, royalty was abolished, on the singular ground that it would be impossible to find such another king as Codrus, the last of the line.

Austria.—(See below, Germany).

Babylon.—(See above, Assyria).

Bavaria.—This monarchy was established in 1805, when the elector, Maximilian Joseph, was declared king.

Belgium was formed into a kingdom in 1831.

Bithynia.—The first independent king was Dydalsus, 383 B.C. The last sovereign, Nicomedes, bequeathed the kingdom to the Roman republic, 75 B.C.

Boeotia.—This monarchy, founded by Cadmus, 1493 B.C., was abolished by the Thesians, 1215 B.C.

Bohemia was originally governed by dukes. The regal title was conferred by the Emperor of Germany on Vratislaus in 1061. The crown was ultimately secured to the Austrian family by the treaty of 1648.

Bosphorus (Cimmerian).—A line of kings ruled here for about five centuries and a half. The last was Mithridates II., at whose deposition the Emperor Claudius made of the kingdom a province of the empire.

Brazil.—Erected into an empire, A.D. 1825.

Britain had its kings at the period of the Roman invasion. The first Christian king was Lucius, A.D. 179. Constantine added Britain to the Roman empire, A.D. 306. In the year 446 the Saxons were invited over by King Vortigern. The Saxon heptarchy was converted into a monarchy by Egbert, King of the West Saxons, A.D. 827. During the heptarchy, however, the most powerful king was called Rex Gentis Anglorum. From the establishment of the Norman line, A.D. 1066, the following are the dates and names of the successive dynasties that have possessed the English throne:—House of Lancaster, 1399; York, 1461; Tudor, 1485; Stuart, 1603; Brunswick, 1714.

Burmese Empire.—Founded by Alompra, from whom the reigning monarch is descended, in the middle of the last century.

Caliphate (The).—The first caliph was Abu Bekir ("Father of the Girl"), A.D. 632. After a succession of fifty-seven caliphs, the capture of Baghdad by Holagon Khan, A.D. 1258, put an end to the line in the person of Al Mostasim Billah. The Egyptian caliphate, which was the consequence of a schism, A.D. 908, flourished vigorously till the overthrow of the Eastern caliphate. When Selim I. annexed Egypt to Turkey in 1517, and received from the last of the Abbassides the key of the temple at Mecca, the Turkish sultan became the representative of the caliphs, and the "Father of the Faithful."

China has been governed by twenty-two dynasties since the establishment of the first dynasty, 2207 B.C. The last monarch of the Chinese race, Whyt-tsong, of the House of Ming, hung himself, 1628. Since his death the Mogul race of Tsing has reigned in China. Corinth.—The monarchy was founded by Sisyphus 1376 B.C. The glory of Corinth dates from the establishment of the republic 582 B.C. It fell under the dominion of Rome 146 B.C.

Denmark.—In the Danish annals there is a list of fifty-six kings previous to the period when Margaret united the three crowns of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The present king is the twenty-first sovereign of Denmark since the last-named era.

Egypt.—Vulcan, or "Elementary Fire," is fabulously said to have been the first king of this ancient monarchy. There is nothing that is said of the ancient royal records that can be relied on till the period of the foundation of the dynasty of the Pharaohs in the person of Mizarim, 2188 B.C. This dynasty disappeared before the conquering Cambyses 525 B.C. The Persian dynasty held Egypt till its conquest by Alexander, at whose death commenced the line of Ptolemies, beginning 304 B.C. with Ptolemy Soter, and terminating 27 B.C. with Cleopatra, the thirteenth sovereign of that line. Since that period it has never been, in the strict sense of the word, an independent monarchy.

England.—See Britain.

Epirus.—The annals of this monarchy are obscure. Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, is said to have been the first king, 1170 B.C. It was annexed to Macedon, 220 B.C., about fifty years after the death of its last king, the great Pyrrhus.

Etruria.—The monarchical system observed in this ancient kingdom deserves a word of notice in this place. The country anciently comprised twelve different nations, each of which had its respective monarch, under the title of Lucumon.

France.—This monarchy popularly dates from Pharamond, the Frank invader of Gaul, A.D. 418; his second successor, Merovaeus, or Merovig, gave name to the line Merovingian. The Carolingians began with Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, A.D. 751; the House of Capet with Hugh Capet, A.D. 987; House of Valois, Philip VI., 1328; Bourbon, Henri IV., 1589; the empire, Napoleon I., 1804; Bourbons restored, 1814; House of Orleans, 1830 to 1848; second empire, 1852.

Germany.—The "Holy Roman Empire" in the west was restored by the Pope, A.D. 800, in the person of Charlemagne. His line has been thus followed:—By the Saxon line, A.D. 911; the Franconian line, 1024; the Sbissian line, 1138 to 1212. The imperial throne was occupied by sovereigns of various houses, but chiefly of Austria, from the latter date till the year 1438, when Albert II., a descendant of Rudolph of Hapsburg, commenced the uninterrupted line of Austria. In 1804 the elective German empire was abolished; but its last emperor, Francis II., became Francis I., hereditary emperor of Austria.

Greece.—The modern kingdom of Greece was founded in 1832 in the person of the Bavarian Otto, the reigning monarch.

Hanover was erected into a kingdom in 1814, George III. of England being its first king. The succession being in the male line only, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, succeeded to the throne on the death of William IV., King of England and Hanover, in 1837.

Hagti has been a hybrid sort of monarchy from the time Dessalines was crowned emperor in 1804.

Holland.—This commonwealth became a kingdom in 1806, under Louis Bonaparte. After the fall of the French empire, William Frederick, Prince of Orange, assumed the style of King of the Netherlands, 1815.

Hungary, having become free of the German empire in 997, Stephen, Duke of Hungary, was named by the Pope "Apostolic King" of that country. After a line of thirty-two monarchs, it became permanently annexed to Austria (1527) by the marriage of Anne of Hungary with Ferdinand of Austria.

Ilium.—This kingdom was founded by Dardanus 1480 B.C.; and at the overthrow of Priam, its sixth king, had lasted about three centuries.

India.—The Ghizian dynasty, the first of which we have authentic records, was founded by the invader Mahmoud Ghizai about the year 1000 of our era. After a succession of thirteen kings, Mahmoud Ghour established the short-lived dynasty of two kings, named after him, in 1186. The Patan or Delhi line, commenced in 1210 with the Kutub-ul-Deen. The Mogul race of Timour commenced in 1526 in the person of the famous Zebir-ul-Deen Mahomed Baber, or the "Tiger." This once glorious race sank into insignificance in the middle of the last century, since which time the Mogul monarchs ceased to have any political importance until the temporary restoration of a Mogul chief, consequent on the outbreak of 1857.

Ireland.—The monarchical annals of Ireland contain lists of hundreds of kings, from the flood downwards. The first sole monarch, however, was Brian Boru, by election of the people, A.D. 1027. Nearly a century and a half later Henry II. of England became "Lord of Ireland."

Italy.—After the deposition of Romulas Augustus, A.D. 493, Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, assumed the title of "King of Italy"; the line existed about three quarters of a century, disappearing before the Lombard kings. In modern times the first and only crowned "King of Italy" was Napoleon I., A.D. 1805.

Japan has had an hereditary succession of ecclesiastical emperors from the year 660 B.C.

Jerusalem.—When the Crusaders captured the city, A.D. 1099, they established a kingdom which lasted eighty-eight years,—that is, till the recapture by Saladin, A.D. 1187. The first Christian king was the renowned Godfrey de Bouillon; its ninth and last was Guy de Lusignan. The monarchy was elective.

Jews.—The kingdoms of the Jews commence, it is almost superfluous to say, with Saul, chosen by lot; but it was not until the death of Solomon that the kingdoms divided into Judah and Israel, about 975 B.C. That of Israel lasted till Samaria was captured, and the ten tribes were carried into captivity by the Assyrians, 721 B.C. The kingdom of Judah existed till the year 587 B.C., when the temple and city were burned by the invading Nebuchadnezzar, who razed the walls of Jerusalem to the ground.

Lombardy.—The kingdom of the Lombards, a people from North Germany, existed from the year 570, when the Lombard soldiers at Milan proclaimed their chief Alboin king, till the year 772, when Charlemagne took possession of the country, and deposed the last king, Desiderius.

Lydia.—This kingdom boasted of a long line of monarchs, namely, from Argon, a descendant of Hercules, 1223 B.C., to Croesus, after whose deposition the "kingdom of the richest king among kings" was annexed to Persia by Cyrus, 548 B.C.

Macedon.—Named above.

Media, although at different times annexed to Assyria and Persia, claims mention as an independent monarchy from the period of its revolt against Arbaces, 820 B.C., till its conquest by Cyrus, 537 B.C.

Mexico, when discovered in 1518, had long been under the rule of a line of monarchs. After it threw off the yoke of Spain, Iturbide was made emperor in 1822, but was deposed, and was shot for attempting to restore the empire in 1824.

Morocco.—A line of kings in Fez was commenced as early as the end of the eleventh century; the line did not expire till the opening of the thirteenth. About two centuries later the foundations of the empire of Morocco were laid by Hascen, of the race of Sheerefs, at a time when there were still chiefs in Fez styling themselves kings. The empire, as comprising Morocco, Fez, Susiana, Tophilet, &c., was not, however, consolidated and established till the Monarchy, seventeenth century, under Muley Abdel Melech, whose descendant is now on the throne.

Naples, or the Two Sicilies.—Goth, Lombard, Saracen, Norman, Gaul, and Spanish, alternately occupied this locality. The treaty of Utrecht (1713) made Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, King of the Two Sicilies, a title known as early as 1442. Subsequently the Savoyed king exchanged his crown for Sardinia, with a kingly title. The Two Sicilies belonged to the German empire till 1734, when Spain conquered them, and established there a line of Bourbon princes, of whom the present monarch is a descendant.

Netherlands.—See Holland, and Belgium.

Parthia.—The monarchy here lasted from the period of Arsaces, 250 B.C., to that of Artabanus V., A.D. 229, when it was annexed to the new kingdom of Persia.

Pergamus.—This kingdom was founded by Philoletus, 283 B.C. The last king, Attalus Philomater, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, 133 B.C.

Persia was reconstructed by Ardaheer Babegan (Artaxerxes I.) Between the death of Alexander and this last period, Persia had seen the Syro-Macedonian dynasty of Seleucus and that of the Parthian Ash, or Arsaces. Artaxerxes I. was the founder of the Sassanian dynasty, which, amid triumphs and defeats, existed upwards of four centuries. Persia was subsequently possessed by the Caliphs and by the Tartars; afterwards by Timour Leng, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. A century later the disorganized monarchy was seized by Hussoon Uzun, chief of the tribe of "White Sheep," whose son Shah Ismael (1502) was the first of the nine shahs of the Safaviean dynasty. The Afghan line commenced with Mahmoud, A.D. 1722, and ended with the eighth and last monarch, Shah Rohk, 1750. After a few years of anarchy, the Zund dynasty succeeded in the person of Kureem Khan Zund. His last descendant, Lootf Ali Khan, was slain in 1794 by Aga Mahomed Khan, the founder of the Kujur dynasty, of which the reigning shah, Nasr-ul-Din, is the fourth sovereign.

Poland, at first governed by dukes, was raised to a sovereignty by papal authority under Boleslaus I., A.D. 999. The Piast kings of Poland were native sovereigns, and not a regular dynasty. The Jagellon line commenced at the close of the fourteenth century, and continued till the middle of the sixteenth. The monarchy existed in its elective form till 1795, when Stanislaus Poniatowski was deposed by Russia.

Pontus.—This kingdom was an offshoot from that of Persia. Darius Hystaspes, named "Artaebazus," was the first sovereign of Pontus, 487 B.C. After the death of Mithridates VII., A.D. 40, the kingdom became a province of the Romans. Subsequently a new and Christian monarchy was established within a portion of the limits of the old kingdom of Pharmaces, Tigranes, and Mithridates. When the Crusaders, or "Latins," established their temporary empire at Constantinople, a dynasty of five successive sovereigns carried on the old succession from 1204 to 1261, under the name of the Greek empire of Nicaea. In the last-named year Michael Paleologus recovered Constantinople from Baldwin II.

Popes of Rome, as elected monarchs with temporal power, claim a word of notice in this record. Stephen II., the ninety-ninth pope, who was elected in 752, was the first who united the sovereign temporal and ecclesiastical dignities, in which he has been followed by 169 orthodox successors, one only of whom was an Englishman (Nicholas Breakspeare of St Albans), Adrian IV., 1154-1159.

Portugal.—The monarchy here dates from A.D. 1139, when Alphonso, Count of Portugal, was proclaimed king by the army, after defeating the Moors at Ourique. With the exception of the period 1580-1640, when Portugal was a province of Spain, and that of the French occupation in the present century, the independent monarchical system Monarchy, has been uninterrupted in Portugal.

Prussia, after being governed since 1134 by margraves, electors, or dukes, was raised to a kingdom in 1701. It has had six kings of whom the present, Frederick William IV., began to reign in 1840.

Rome.—See above.

Russia.—From the period of Ruric, 862, to the commencement of the sixteenth century, the Russians were governed by sovereign dukes, called of Kiev, Vladimir, or Moscow. In 1533 Ivan Vasilievitch assumed the title of "Czar," and that title Peter the Great exchanged in 1708 for that of Emperor.

Sardinia or Piedmont.—See also Naples. The first king of Sardinia was Victor Amadeus, 1713. The present monarch, Victor Emanuel II., is the eighth of the line, four sovereigns of which have abdicated.

Scotland.—The Scottish annals name kings of Scotland as far back as the period of Alexander the Great; but it will suffice to state here, that Kenneth MacAlpine, by uniting Scots and Picts, became the first sole monarch of Scotland, A.D. 843. From that period till the accession of James VI. to the throne of England, A.D. 1667, the government was administered, more or less independently, by above forty kings.

Spain.—Few nations have seen so many different monarchical systems as Spain. At length the various crowns of the kingdoms of Oviedo, Navarre, Cordova, Castille, Leon, Barcelona, Aragon, and (Moorish) Granada, were united on the head of Ferdinand V., in 1512, since which period fourteen sovereigns have successively occupied the throne.

Sparta (Lacedaemon).—This celebrated republic under kings, some of whom were puppets and many were "absolute," enjoyed a long but a chequered career. The rule of kings begins with Lelex, 1516 B.C., and nearly thirteen hundred years elapsed before royalty was totally abolished.

Sweden.—Between the year 1001, when Olif Schoet Konung was elected first king of Sweden, to the year 1389, when the tyranny of Albert of Mecklenburg was followed by revolt, and that by anarchy, Sweden reckons twenty-one monarchs. In 1397 the three northern kingdoms were governed by one sovereign, but this union was repealed in 1523, when the patriotic Gustavus Vasa ascended the throne. The reigning monarch, Oscar, is the son of Charles John Bernadotte, originally a private soldier in the army of Louis XVI. of France.

Syria.—See Assyria and Persia.

Thrace.—The government here was originally monarchical, but divided among independent princes. It was annexed to the Macedonian empire about 335 B.C.

Turkey.—This monarchy established itself in Europe by the capture of Constantinople under Mahomed II. in 1453. That sultan was the ninth of a line founded in Asia by Othman, A.D. 1299. Abdul Medjid is the twenty-fifth sultan since the fall of the great Christian capital in the east of Europe.

Vandals and Goths.—The Italian monarchy of the latter has been already noticed. About the end of the fourth century they founded a kingdom in Spain, which expired in the eighth century with Roderick, their last king. In the year 428 Genseric crossed from Spain, and established the dynasty of Vandal kings in Africa. The line consisted of six monarchs, with the last of whom fell modern Carthage, Arianism, and the royal Vandal line, before the conquering sword of orthodox Belisarius, A.D. 534.

Württemberg, formerly a ducal electorate, became a kingdom at the close of 1805, of which the reigning king, William I., is the second sovereign, having succeeded his father Frederick in 1816.

By the above list the reader may learn in what period the strongest empires have fallen into decay, and may safely predict that the mightiest which have followed them will, like them, pass away, and all earthly distinctions shrink to nothing. When all crowns lie shivered, as one day they must, then will be applicable to the entire roll of once living monarchs the noble lines which Beaumont penned on the royal tombs in Westminster:

"Mortality, behold and fear! What a charge of flesh is here! Think how many royal bones Sleep within these heaps of stones! Here they lie, had realms and lands, Who now want strength to move their hands; There, from their pullets, seal'd with dust, They preach. In greatness is no trust! Here an acre, somnolent, With the richest, royallest seed That the earth did ever suck in Since the first man died for sin. Here the bones of birth have cried, Though gods they were, as men they died. Here are wands, ignoble things, Dropt from the ruin'd state of kings. Here's a world of pomp and state Buried in dust, once dead by fate."

(J. D-R-N.)