ed the
popular cause, and, though nearly seventy-three years old, accepted
the command of the National Guard; after a conflict of three days
the royal troops gave way, the king abdicated, to be succeeded by
the Duke of Orleans as King Louis Philippe, and Lafayette had the
satisfaction of contributing largely to the establishment of what he
had advocated so strongly forty years before--a constitutional
monarchy. He died at his home, in the country, on May 20, 1834, but
his remains were taken to Paris for interment, and as the funeral
train passed through the streets the lamentations on every hand
attested the affection and the sorrow of the people. Few men have
lived who present a figure so attractive to the eye of the student;
fewer still, so prominent on the theatre of history, who will bear,
with so little possibility of censure, the closest scrutiny, the
severest judgment. His actions were visible to all the world, his
motives were transparent, his sentiments were unconcealed, his life
was blameless. To the physical endowments of dignity of person and
resistless charm of manner he added all desirable qualities of head
and heart, a dauntless courage, an enthusiasm beautiful and yet
consistent, a sublime patriotism, a disinterested generosity. If,
with all these, he seems to have failed of achieving the highest
success, it was because not of what he lacked but of what he
possessed in the fullest degree, a lofty integrity that forbade him
to pander to the passions of the mob, a supreme regard for the
rights of the community and of the individual. He might have
snatched the sovereign power, but in doing it he would have lost his
self-respect. In place, then, of glittering success, he obtained the
quiet admiration of mankind and the loving gratitude of two nations.

[Signature: William F. Peck.]

CHARLOTTE CORDAY[6]

[Footnote 6: Copyright. 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

By OLIVER OPTIC

(1768-1793)

[Illustration: A guillotine.]

The despotism of Louis XIV. and the exhaustion of the finances by his
wars and his reckless extravagance had reduced France to a very
unhappy condition. His son, the Grand-Dauphin, died four years before
his father, and his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, a year later.
Louis the Great was therefore succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis
XV. During this reign the nation continued on the decline. He was
followed by his grandson, Louis XVI., a better man than his immediate
pred