49th year of his age, and the 24th of his reign. Charles was the third but only surviving son of king James I. by the lady Anne, daughter of Frederick II. king of Denmark. In 1625 he married the princess Henrietta Maria of France.

CHARLES II.

Charles II. was born on the 29th of May, 1630. After an exile of twelve years in France and Holland, he was restored by General Monk; and on May 29, 1660, he made his triumphal entry into London, and was crowned the following year.

Charles II. was easy of access, polite, and affable. Had he been limited to a private station, he would have passed for the most agreeable and best-natured man of the age in which he lived. Yet these good qualities were more than overbalanced by his weakness and defects. He was a scoffer at religion, a libertine in his morals, a contemner of public liberty, a dispenser with the laws, and, in fine, a contemptible and cruel tyrant. Charles II. died February 6, in the 55th year of his age, having reigned nearly 25 years.

JAMES II.

James II. the second son of Charles I. was born at London, the 14th of October 1633, and had the title of Duke of York. After the taking of Oxford, in 1646, the parliament committed him to the care of the earl of Northumberland; but he made his escape dressed like a girl; and flying into Holland, sought protection from his sister, the princess of Orange. In 1660 he returned to England with his eldest brother, king Charles II. was made lord high admiral of the kingdom, and beat the Dutch fleet in 1665 and 1672; but as he openly professed his adherence to the popish religion, and prevailed upon his brother to take several arbitrary and unpopular measures, the parliament attempted to exclude him from the succession; but Charles II. dying on the 6th of Feb. 1685, the Duke of York was proclaimed king the same day, under the title of James II. and a short time after in Scotland, under that of James VII. The popish priests now appearing publicly in their habits in the streets, and a nuncio arriving from Rome, the whole nation were alarmed, and applied to William Henry of Nassau, prince of Orange, who had married Mary, king James's eldest daughter, and was himself the son of that king's eldest sister. This prince arrived in England in 1688, when the dissatisfaction against the king was so great, that a considerable part of his army forsook him, and without venturing an engagement, James privately retired to France; on which the prince of Orange was crowned king of

England, by the name of William III. Thus was formed the famous period in English History, called the Revolution.

WILLIAM III.

Prince of Orange, and the princess Mary his wife, were proclaimed king and queen the thirteenth of February, 1689, and crowned the 11th of April following. An attempt was then made by the opposite party, to secure Scotland for James II. but, on the 16th of May, 1689, the two armies meeting at Killycrankie, in the shire of Perth, lieutenantgeneral Mackay, who commanded for king William, obtained a complete victory; after which, the whole island of Great Britain submitted to him.

William III. might have passed for one of the best princes of the age in which he lived, had he never ascended the throne of Great Britain. But the distinguishing criterion of his character was ambition; this he gratified at the expense of the nation that raised him to sovereign authority. He aspired to the honour of acting as umpire in all the contests of Europe, and the second object of his attention was, the prosperity of that country to which he owed his birth and extraction. He died March 8, aged 52, having reigned 13 years, 3 weeks, and 2 days.

ANNE.

Anne was the second daughter of James duke of York, afterwards king James II. On the death of William III. the princess Anne was proclaimed queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and was crowned on the 23d of April following. During her reign the honour of the British arms was carried to an amazing height, particularly by the Duke of Marlborough, who humbled the pride of France by a number of the most glorious victories. During this reign, March 6, 1707, the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland took place. The queen died at Kensington, on the 1st of August, 1714, in the 50th year of her age, and 13th of her reign. She had been married to his royal highness prince George of Denmark, July 28th, 1685, by whom she had several children, who all died young. In her ended the line of the Stuarts.

GEORGE I.

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George I. eldest son of Sophia, duchess-dowager of Hanover, was created duke of Cambridge, October 1706, and on the death of queen Anne succeeded to the crown of Great Britain. He was born May 28, 1660, and succeeded his father, as elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, in 1698. On September 18, he landed, with the prince his son, at Greenwich, and on the 20th they made their public entry, through

the city to St. James's, attended by 200 coaches and six of the nobility and gentry. The prince royal was declared prince of Wales; the king was crowned October 20: and a new parliament met on March 17, 1715.

George I. died at Osnaburgh, June 11, 1727, in the 68th year of his age and 13th of his reign. He succeeded to the crown, by virtue of several acts of parliament, wherein it was limited to the princess Sophia of Hanover, (who was granddaughter of king James I. by her mother the princess Elizabeth, married to Frederick, prince palatine of the Rhine,) and to the heirs of her body, being protestants.

GEORGE II.

George II. was proclaimed king of Great Britain on the 15th of June, 1727. In 1738 he declared war against Spain, and in 1740 against the allied powers; and, sending armies on the Continent, battles were fought at Fontenoy, Dettingen, and other places. In 1748, peace was restored; but war recommenced against France in 1756, and continued till his death, with glory.

On the 25th of October, 1760, George II. died suddenly, in the 77th year of his age, and 33d of his reign.

GEORGE III.

George III. succeeded his grandfather George II., and was proclaimed king of Great Britain on the 25th of October, 1760. He made peace with France in 1763. In 1775 war broke out with the colonies in America, which declared themselves independent. In 1778 it broke out with France, in 1779 with Spain, and in 1780 with Holland. In 1783 a general peace was signed, and American independence admitted. In 1792 a war was commenced against republican France, which, with the interruption of a year, lasted till 1814, when peace was restored by the restoration of the ancient French monarchy. George III. died on the 29th of January, 1820, in the 82d year of his age and the 60th of his reign.

GEORGE IV.

George IV., while prince of Wales, was appointed regent, in 1811, owing to his father's illness, and at his death was proclaimed king, on the 29th January, 1820. He died on the 26th June, 1830, in the eleventh year of his reign, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving brother, the Duke of Clarence.

WILLIAM IV.

William IV, was proclaimed king on the 26th June, 1830.

FESTIVALS AND SAINTS' DAYS

Extracted from the Works of ROBERT NELSON, Esq. and from WATKINS's Scripture Biography.

Q. WHAT do you mean by the word Festivals?

A. Days appointed for the remembrance of some particular mercies bestowed upon us by God, such as the birth and resurrection of Christ. Those days are also called Festivals which are to commemorate the great heroes, as they may be termed, of the Christian Religion.

Q. Who do you mean by the heroes of the Christian Religion?

A. The Apostles and other Saints, who conveyed to us the knowledge of Jesus Christ, by preaching his Gospel, and most of them bore witness to the truth of what they taught, by suffering themselves to be put to cruel deaths, rather than deny their belief in their Divine Master.

Q. How many of these good men were there?

A. There were only twelve who were called Apostles; but the word Saints comprehends all those who have been eminently distinguished for Christian virtues, and who, by their zeal to promote the cause of godliness, have left examples worthy of imitation.

Q. What were the names of the twelve Apostles ?

A. First Simon, who is also called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John, who were likewise brothers; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew; James; Lebbeus; Simon the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot.

Q. What is meant by Vigils?

A. The word is taken from one in Latin, which signifies watchings; it being the custom, in the primitive times, for pious persons to pass great part of the night before any particular Holy Day, in devotion and prayer. And though such night-watchings are now laid aside, the name is still applied to the day before any solemn Festivals.

Q. What is meant by Advent Sundays?

A. The four Sundays that precede Christmas-day.

Q. Why are they particularly distinguished from other Sundays? A. It was intended by the Church that we should at that time prepare our minds, by proper meditation, for the pious commemora tion of Christ coming upon earth.

Q. In what manner ought we to celebrate the great blessing of Christ coming into the world?

A. By heartily repenting, and being truly sorry for our past sins; and by forming sincere resolutions to behave better for the time to come.

Q. Which are the days that are called Rogation Days?

A. The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, before Holy Thursday, that is the ascension of our Lord.

Q. Why are those days called by such a name?

A. From the fastings and devotions which used at this time to be offered to Almighty God. The Latins called them Rogations, and the Greeks Litanies. By these fasts and prayers, Christians not only intended to prepare their hearts for the pious celebration of our Saviour's ascension; but also to implore the Almighty to forgive the sins of the nation, and to give his blessing to those fruits of the earth, which at that season were coming forward.

Q. What is meant by Ember days?

A. Certain days set apart for consecrating to God the four seasons of the year, and also for begging his blessing upon those who intend to become Ministers of his church, by then entering into holy orders; that being the time which is appointed for them to be, what is called, ordained.

Q. At what time of the year are the Ember days, and how many are they?

A. They are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after the first Sunday in Lent; after Whitsunday; after the fourteenth of September, and after the thirteenth of December.

Q. And is it upon these days that ministers are to be ordained? A. No; not on the Ember days, but upon the Sundays that immediately follow the Ember Feasts.

Q. For what reason are these Feasts called Ember days?

A. There are different reasons given for their being so called. But one which appears to be most probable is, that among the ancients, they used on these days of fasting to express their humiliation by sprinkling ashes upon their heads, and sitting in them; taking in a literal sense those words of Scripture, which say, we should mourn for our sins, sitting in sackcloth and ashes."

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They used also upon such days, to eat nothing but some coarse bread, baked upon the embers, which was therefore called Ember Bread. And hence it is supposed the name was derived.

Q. What Festival doth the church celebrate on the 25th of January?

A. The conversion of St. Paul.

Q. What do you mean by the conversion of St. Paul?

A. The wonderful manner in which Paul was converted, from being an enemy to Christ, and his holy Religion, to become one of the most zealous Apostles. An account of this miraculous event we may read in the 9th chapter of the Acts; in that book also we shall find many other interesting particulars concerning him.

Q. Do you know in what place St. Paul was born?

A. He was born at Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a city famous both for riches and learning. The liberal sciences and all the polite arts flourished there, and the inhabitants enjoyed all the liberty and privileges of Roman citizens.

After St. Paul had been here educated in every branch of polite learning, he was sent to Jerusalem, to be instructed by a celebra