THE ancestors of the illustrious House of Brunswick may be traced, by the genealogist, up to the year of our Lord 390: they were connected, at an early period, with the royal family of England, by the marriage of Henry, surnamed the Lion, to Matilda, daughter of Henry the Second, from whom George the First was lineally descended. His grandfather, George, was one of the seven sons of William, Duke of Brunswick Luneburg; who, on the demise of their father, in order to support the dignity of their family, resolved that only one of them should form a matrimonial connexion; the issue of which, it was determined, should eventually succeed to all the honours and possessions of their house. The brothers decided by lot which of them should marry; and the chance fell upon the sixth brother, George. He was accordingly united to Anna Eleanora, daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt; and his son, Ernestus Augustus, in 1680, became sole heir to his father and uncles; the latter having kept the fraternal compact so faithfully, that Achmet the First said, it would be worth making a journey for the purpose of beholding them.

Ernestus Augustus, the first Duke of Hanover, was married, in 1658, to Sophia, daughter of Frederick, King of Bohemia, by Matilda, the daughter of James the First, King of England. This princess (Sophia) was a woman of uncommon beauty and masculine intellect. At seventy-three, according to a cotemporary writer, she possessed all the comeliness and vigour of youth, had not a wrinkle in her face, and read without spectacles. The chairs of the presence

chamber, and the ornaments of the electoral chapel, were all embroidered with her own hands. She was the firm friend and protector of Leibnitz and other learned men of her day. She spoke five languages, including English, so well, that by her accent it was doubtful which of them was her native tongue. Her wit was sprightly, her judgment solid and penetrating, and her piety exemplary. The succession of her family to the throne of this country had long been her darling object; and her death has been attributed to the chagrin she felt at her son's intended visit to England being strongly deprecated by Queen Anne. In the evening of the 8th of June, 1714, she was caught in a violent shower of rain, while in her orangery; and hastening to get under cover, her attendant reminded her that she was walking too fast, as she had been indisposed for a day or two: "I believe I am," she replied, and immediately dropped down and expired. This event took place when the electress was in the eighty-fourth year of her age.

Her son, George Lewis, was born at Hanover, on the 28th of May, 1660. Judging from the great accomplishments of his mother, the reader might expect that his education would have been careful and complete; but the contrary was the fact. His father, Ernestus, though a man of some talent, feeling no admiration for scholastic acquirements, probably connived at his inattention to study, which must have been gross indeed, as he never even acquired the language of the people, over whom, by the provisions of the act for securing