r of a chief whom he had imprisoned; and
two bodies of men met, each calling itself a National Assembly--one at
Argos, the other at Megara--and there was a regular civil war, during
which the poor peasants had to hide in the woods and caves.

At last, in 1832, the second son of the king of Bavaria, Otho, a lad of
seventeen, was chosen king by the conference in London which was settling
the affairs of Greece. He was sent with a council to rule for him till
he should be of age, and with a guard of Bavarian soldiers, while the
French troops were sent home again; but the Ionian islands remained under
the British protection, and had an English Lord High Commissioner, and
garrisons of English troops.

Otho had been chosen so young that there might be the better chance of
his becoming one with his subjects, but he turned out very dull and
heavy, and caused discontent, because he gave all the offices he could
dispose of to his German friends rather than to Greeks, which perhaps was
the less wonderful that it was very hard to find a Greek who could be
trusted. At last, in 1843, the people rose upon him, forced him to send
away all his Bavarians, and to have Greek ministers to manage the
government, who should be removed at the will of the people.

His capital was at Athens, and as everyone wished to see the places which
had been made glorious by the great men of old Greece, there was such a
resort of travellers thither as soon to make the town flourish; but the
Government was so weak, and the whole people so used to a wild, outlaw
life, that the country still swarms everywhere with robbers, whom the
peasants shelter and befriend in spite of their many horrid crimes.

[Picture: The Isles of Greece]

When the English and French nations, in the year 1853, took up the cause
of Turkey against Russia, the Greeks much longed to have fought against
their old enemies; but the two allied nations sent a strong guard to
Athens, and kept them down. Otho had no children, and time did not draw
him and his people nearer together; and after a reign of about thirty
years, it was plain that the experiment had not succeeded. He resigned,
and went home to end his days in Bavaria.

The Greek crown was offered to several more princes, who refused it,
until George, the second son of the king of Denmark, accepted it in the
year 1868. At the same time the Ionian islands were made over by the
English Government to the crown