own happiness, and wished she had yielded to the preffing inftances of her father. Philocles had refolved to make his stay at Jamaica as short as poffible; and an accident hap pened which contributed to make him haften his departure. In fome cafual conversation at an ordinary, he happened to differ in opinion with a fea-officer; and as men of a certain temper fometimes conftrue a meer trifle into an affront, this gave rise to a duel, in which the officer fell a victim to his rafhnefs, and met with that fate which his choleric temper had often made him provoke before. Philocles returned to England, and was received by Flavia in a manner that compenfated for all he had suffered during his abfence from her. The father of Flavia was highly rejoiced at feeing the time come that his daughter was to marry a man whose wealth could not fail to make her happy; for he looked upon happiness as infeparable from the poffeffion of a large fortune. The day was fixed for the nuptials of Philocles and Flavia, and they both exulted in the thoughts of enjoying the happiest lot that heaven can bestow upon mortals, namely, that of an union by marriage, where love is equal and reciprocal. But all thefe flattering hopes foon vanished, and defpair fucceeded in the place of raptures and tranfport. The officer whom Philocles had killed at Jamaica was a brother of Flavia's, who had been fent to fea in his early youth. This being more discovered, when Philocles and Flavia were upon the point of marrying, was a fource of the highest grief and afflicton to them both. It has been juftly obferved, that difappointments are never bitter than when they happen to thofe who thought themselves fure of happiness: the near prospect of the enjoyment of good renders any evil more infupportable; it is not then to be wondered at, that Philocles, who was upon the eve of being poffeffed of what he held most dear, fhould be almost distracted at seeing himself deprived of it for ever. Flavia had declared her refolution never to marry a man who had killed her brother; nor could fhe be perfuaded to change her purpofe by her father and some of her relations, who urged that the latter had fought his destruction, and that Philocles was entirely innocent of his death. Tho' this refolution was fatal to the repose of Philocles, it increased his esteem for Flavia, who had the heroic conftancy to facrifice her happiness to the decencies of virtue. Flavia, however, as fhe had a fincere paffion for Philocles, could never be prevailed on to marry a fterwards; and Philocles, whofe love for his mistress, had fo taken poffeffion of his foul, that he could never think of a fecond engagement, lived and died in a state of celibacy. I am, Gentlemen, Yours, &c. COMPEN COMPENDIOUS HISTORY OF FRANCE. [Continued.] THE crown of France was an object of fuch importance, as to occupy the thoughts of a great variety of pretenders, who laboured to recommend themselves by very plausible claims, at the fame time they were preparing to fupport them by force. Guy, duke of Spoleto, and Barenger, duke of Frioul, ftood both in the fourth degree of defcent from Charlemagne; the one fpringing from a daughter of Lewis the Debonnaire, and the other from the daughter of king Pepin. Lewis, the fon of Bofon, talked likewife of a kind of right, his mother being the daughter of the emperor Lewis 11. and himself adopted by Charles the Bald. He was, however, a child, and his pretenfions therefore of little weight; yet in procefs of time, by the recommendation of the pope, he was chofen king of Arles. About the fame time, Raoul, or Rodolph, the fon of Corrade, count of Paris, feized the Farther Burgundy, and converted it into a kingdom. Her bert, count of Vermandois, fhewed himself a kind of competitor, being defcended in a right line from Bernard, king of Italy. It is true there was a fufpicion of baftardy; but that was of no great importance, fince Bernard himself was a baftard, and yet declared king of Italy by Charlemagne, at the request of Lewis the Debonnaire. The moft formi. dable pretender was Arnold, king of Germany, who looked upon himfelf as emperor, and who, in virtue of his power, thought to become Sept. 1763. king of France. But the nobility were unwilling to admit of a ftranger; and therefore they chofe Eudes, count of Paris, the fon of the famous Robert le Fort; and fome attempts have been made to frame a title for him, as being defcended, in a right line, from Childebrand, the brother of Charles Martel, on the father's fide, and on the mother's, from Adelaide, the daughter of Lewis the Debonnaire. But thefe ftories are at beft uncertain. Eudes had a far fuperior right, arifing from the public neceffity, the unbiaffed voices of the nobility, and his own fuperior merit. He accepted the crown then, upon thefe condititions; first, that the confent of Arnold, king of Germany, fhould be obtained, to prevent his elevation being made the pretence of a civil war; and next, that he should hold this dignity in truft for the right heir Charles the Simple, who was not of age to execute its functions. Under thefe conditions he was crowned by the bishop of Sens. Soon after he went, of his own accord, to the diet at Worms, where he told Arnold, that he was very ready to refign the enfigns of royalty, rather than in- volve the French nation in a quarrel on his account; with which ge rerous and candid proceeding Arnold was fo much pleafed, that he owned him, without ferule, for king of France, and entered into a treaty with him in that capacity. The Normans continuing to defolate the kingdom by perpetual irMmm ruptions, ruptions, fometimes on one fide, in doing this, he fhewed all the fometimes on the other, Eudes, mildnefs and moderation poffible; who had but a fmall number of yet thofe who perhaps owed forces, was conftrained to fupply their wealth and their power 891 that defect by vigilance and activity. to nothing but the continuHe had the good fortune to fur- ance of thefe diforders, were exprife a body, or rather an army, of tremely offended, and teftified their thefe plunderers, confifting of near difaffection in fuch a manner, as intwenty thousand horfe and foot, in duced fome of the ambitious nobithe neighbourhood of a town called lity, who only waited and wanted Montfaucon, at the entrance of a fuch an opportunity, to disturb the wood; and though he had but a public peace, to concur with them, thousand hoife under his com- and put the kingdom in a flame. mand, yet difpofing thefe into dif ferent places, and caufing the attack to be made at the fame inftant, the enemy were broke before they difcovered their fuperiority; and the people of the country, feeing their diforder, fell upon them with fuch fury, that few or none could make their efcape. This victory gained him great reputation; and would, no doubt, have been highly advan-. tageous to France, if an infurrection had not broke out in Aquitaine, which made the king's prefence neceflary there and though he was fo fortunate as to fubdue the malcontents with little trouble, yet, in the mean time, the Normans took Meaux, and breaking their capitulation, destroyed it. They likewife made themselves mafters of Troie, Toul, and Verdun, and made a fecond and third attempt upon Paris, though without effect. They alfo committed great diforders throughout Lorrain, till they were feverely chaftifed by order of the king of Germany, who, with the atultance of the French, defeated them with great flaughter. All this time the king was employed in eftablishing his authority, and in reprefling thofe diforders which were fo detrimental to the ftate: and tho' The first who declared himself openly, was count Walgaire, who furprised the city of Laon; and, that he might give fome kind of colour to this proceeding, proclaimed king Charles. Eudes, than whom there never was a more active prince, forefeeing the confequences of this revolt, invested the place unexpectedly, and, attacking it with great vigour, compelled the garrifon to furrender: he then called count Walgaire to anfwer before the nobility who were about him, and, upon their adjudging him a traitor, caused him immediately to be beheaded. This act of feverity had not the confequences that he expected. Eblon, abbot of St. Denis, who had been the king's most intimate friend, with fome other noblemen, raised all Aquitaine. Eudes marched thither immediately, and brought things into order barely by his prefence. In the mean time, the party of count Walgaire had time to a&t. They brought over queen Adelaide, and her fon Charles, from England; and, being joined by Herbert, count of Vermandois, and Philip, count of Senlis, both defcended from Charlemagne, they carried the young prince to Rheims, where he was crowned by Foques, the arch bishop, bishop, who wrote a letter to Arnold, Charles was acknowledged, in his own right, king of France: but, alas! that country was not now what it had been under his predeceffors, in point of extent, wealth, or number of people. Arnold, king of Germany, was in poffeffion of Lorrain; and Charles himself had relinquished his claims upon it, in confideration of the affiftance and countenance he had received. On the other fide, Burgundy was erected into a kingdom, which comprehended what is now called Swifferland, together with Franche Comté, or at least the best part of it. Lewis, the son of Bofon, held the country which has been before defcribed under the name of the kingdom of Arles; and it had been well if, after all these facrifices, Charles could have been faid to hold the reft. But this was fo far from being true, that it is very difficult to fay what he held, except the title of king, and the power of giving away. It is true that, not long after he mounted the throne. he had a fair opportunity of recovering part of his dominions, and eftablishing his reputation, by the revolt of the people of Lorrain, against the fon of Arnold; and accordingly he marched, with a great army, into that country, where he might have done what he had pleafed, and, by reannexing it to the crown, had received an honourable and ample fubfiftence: but he loved the pleasures of a court, and hated rather the fatigues than perils of a camp; for he was perfonally brave, and, when neceffity required, did his duty as an officer without reproach; but he was naturally indoJent, and cafily impofed upon. His cometitor being remored, Zuentibold, king of Lorrain, who, was much of the fame temper, and had lost his dominions by indulging it, perceived what errors were committed by Charies; and though he had but a small body of troops, yet he kept the field, and at length diftrefied the French in fuch a manner, that Charles was glad to conclude, by a treaty, a war that ought to have been ended by the fword, and, for the fake of fome very fmall acquifitions, abandoned entirely a kingdom that he had almoft obtain ed. This gave a great blow to his credit; but fo long as he enjoyed the amistance of Fouques, archbishop of Rheims, and followed the wife counfels he gave, he in some meafure maintained his dignity: 900 but when that prelate was ailaminated, by the order of the earl of Flanders, his behaviour procured him the depreciating furname of Charles the Simple; and it is hard to fay, whether this be alleviated or exaggerated by what fome hiftorians have obferved, that, if he had not been unworthy of the crown, he had never been permitted to wear it. Scandalous fource of royalty indeed! The nobility of France, having had leifure to frame their fyftem, had now the fairest opportunity of carrying it into execution. Such, therefore, as had been intrufted with, or had got into poffeffion of governments, demanded confirmations of them, not barely for life, but to them and to their heirs; and either by their own power, or by the afiiftance of fome great perfon at court, obtained what they demand ed, upon the eafy terms of doing homage. It cannot be affirmed that nothing of this kind had taken place before the reign of Charles the Simple, because some inftances perhaps might be given in earlier times; but the mifchief did not become general till now, when, out of one large, well-ordered, and wifely - governed kingdom, there started up a multitude of principalities, in fome degree, and but in fome degree, dependent on the crown. Confidered in this light, they may be truly filed principalities, though the poffeffors of them took indifcriminately the titles of dukes, marquiffes, or counts: nor does it appear, that there was any rank or precedence in these titles: duke had been formerly in most efteem, but that of count feems to have been in most credit now. Under this higheft clafs of nobility there were other confiderable lords, who held of them in like manner; and thefe again had others, who held of them, and even these had their vaffals. Instead, therefore, of that eafy equal government, regulated by laws and cuftoms, which bad hitherto prevailed, a multitude of little infupportable tyrannies were erected. It has been obferved, that the king, by fuffering the murder a Fouques, archbishop of Rheims, p whom he had fo many and fo grat obligations, to escape unpunished, though perhaps against his vill, leffened him exceedingly in the eyes of his fubjects; and theircontempt of him was ftill farther increafed by the ravages of the Normans, who, for five or fix ears together, defolated the finest rovinces in France. Those who ailed up the Loire burnt the fames church of St. Martin at Tours; and thofe who entered the Seine tok the city of Rouen by compotion, which they |