of letters, inconstant in her inclinations. The most remarkable instance of this fickleness is, that after she had abdicated the crown of Sweden, she intrigued for that of Poland. She was, in every action and pursuit, violent and ardent in the highest degree; impetuous in her desires, dreadful in her resentment, and fickle in her conduct. She says of herself, that "she was mistrustful, ambitious, passionate, haughty, impatient, contemptuous, satirical, incredulous, undevout, of an ardent and violent temper, and extremely amorous;" a disposition, however, to which, if she may be believed, her pride and her virtue were always superior. In general, her failings were those of her own sex, and her virtues those of the other sex.

ONSTANTINE I., surnamed THE GREAT, the first emperor of the Romans who embraced Christianity. Dr. Anderson, in his Royal Genealogies, makes him not only a native of Britain, but the son of a British princess. It is certain that his father, Con

stantius Chlorus, was at York, when, upon the abdication of Dioclesian, he shared the Roman empire with Galerius Maximinus, in 305, and that he died in York, in 306; having first caused his son Constantine to be proclaimed emperor by his army, and by the Britons. Galerius at first refused to admit Constantine to his father's share in the imperial throne; but after having lost several battles, he consented in 308. Maxentius, who succeeded Galerius, opposed him: but was defeated, and drowned himself in the Tiber. The senate then declared Constantine first Augustus, and Licinius his associate in the empire, in 313. These princes published an edict, in their joint names, in favour of the Christians; but soon after Licinius, jealous of Constantine's renown, conceived an implacable hatred against him, and renewed the persecutions against the Christians. This brought on a rupture between the emperors; and a battle, in which Constantine was victorious. A short peace ensued; but Licinius having shamefully violated the treaty, the war was renewed; when Constantine totally defeating him, he fled to Nicomedia, where he was taken prisoner and strangled, in 323. Constantine, now become sole master of the whole empire, immediately formed the plan of establishing Christianity as the religion of the state; for which purpose, he convoked several ecclesiastical

councils: but finding he was likely to meet with great opposition from the Pagan interest at Rome, he conceived the design of founding a new city, to be the capital of his Christian empire. The glory Constantine had acquired, by establishing the Christian religion, was tarnished by the part he took in the prosecutions carried on by the Arians, towards the close of his reign, against their Christian brethren who differed from them. Seduced by Ecsebius of Nicomedia, he banished several eminent prelates: soon after which he died, A. D. 337, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and thirty-first of his reign. Constantine was chaste, pious, laborious, and indefatigable ; a great general, successful in war, and deserving his success by his valour and genius; a protector of the arts, and an encourager of them by his beneficence. If we compare him with Augustus, we shall find that he ruined idolatry, by the same address that the other used to destroy liberty. Like Augustus, he laid the foundation of a new empire; but less skilful, he could not give it the same stability : he weakened the body of the state by giving it a second head in Constantinople; and transporting the centre of motion and strength too near the eastern extremity, he left without heat, and almost without life, the western parts, which soon became a prey to the barbarians. The Pagans were too much his enemies to do him justice. Eutropius says, that in the former part of his reign he was equal to the most accomplished princes, and in the latter to the meanest. The younger Victor, who makes him to have reigned more than thirty-one years, pretends, that in the first ten years he was a hero; in the twelve succeeding ones a robber; and in the last ten a spendthrift. It is easy to perceive, with respect to these two reproaches of Victor's, that the one relates to the riches which Constantine took from idolatry, and the other to those with which he loaded the church.

MICHAEL ADRIAN RUYTER.

ICHAEL ADRIAN RUYTER, a distinguished Dutch naval officer, born at Flushing, in Zealand, in 1607. He entered on a sea-faring life when he was only eleven years old, and was first a cabin boy. While he advanced successively to the rank of mate, master, and captain, he acquitted himself with ability and honour. He repulsed the Irish, who attempted to take Dublin out of the hands of the English. He made eight voyages to the West Indies, and ten to Brazil. He was then promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and sent to assist the Portuguese against the Spaniards. When the enemy came in sight, he gave such proofs of valour as drew from the Portuguese monarch the warmest applause. His gallantry was still more conspicuous before Salee, in Barbary. With one single vessel he sailed through the roads of that place in defiance of five Algerine corsairs. In 1653, a squadron of seventy vessels was sent against the English under Admiral Van Tromp. Ruyter, who accompanied the admiral in this expedition, seconded him with great skill and bravery in the three battles which the English so gloriously won. He was afterwards stationed in the Mediterranean, where he took several Turkish vessels. In 1659, he received a commission to join the king of Denmark in his war with the Swedes; wherein he raised his fame higher than ever. The king of Denmark ennobled him, and gave him a pension. In 1661, he run ashore a vessel belonging to Tunis, released forty Christian slaves, made a treaty with the Tunisians, and

reduced the Algerine corsairs to submission. His country raised him to the rank of vice-admiral and commander-in-chief. He obtained a signal victory over the combined fleets of France and Spain, in 1672, about the time of the conquest of Holland. Ruyter having thus made himself master of the sea, conducted a fleet of Indiamen safely into the Texel; thus defending and enriching his country, while it was the prey of hostile invaders. In 1673, he had three engagements with the fleets of France and England, in which his bravery was more distinguished than ever. But, in an engagement with the French fleet, off the coast of Sicily, he lost the day, and received a mortal wound, of which he died in a few days. His corpse was carried to Amsterdam, and a magnificent monument was there erected by the command of the states-general.