anced, and suddenly
placed upon his head the crown of the Western world, amidst the
popular acclamations, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus,
crowned by God, great and pacific Emperor of the Romans!"

To end the long-existing feuds between the Western and Eastern
Empires, Charlemagne now proposed to marry Irene, who, having deposed
her son and put out his eyes, had usurped the throne of
Constantinople. Irene herself was not unwilling to accept the offer;
but she was overruled by a faction, and a treaty of peace was
substituted for a treaty of marriage. But while the negotiations were
going on, Irene herself was deposed by the great treasurer,
Nicephorus, who even refused to grant her the smallest pittance, so
that the degraded empress was obliged to support herself by the labors
of the distaff. He was, however, glad to conclude a peace with
Charlemagne.

Though troubled from time to time by disputes among the neighboring
barbarians, the Frankish monarch might now be said to enjoy peace; and
while still in the possession of robust health, he resolved to prepare
for death, by allotting among his children such portions of territory
as he wished them to possess when he should be removed from the scene.
Both his sons and the people willingly consented to the proposed
arrangements, which, indeed, bore the stamp of his usual wisdom and
justice. But the advanced age which he attained, brought with it the
usual evils of protracted life. He saw his friends and children swept
away before him. His son Louis alone remained to inherit his vast
dominions. With this single drawback the remainder of his time was as
prosperous as his earlier career had been; till at length, being
suddenly attacked with pleurisy, he expired, after a short illness, in
the seventy-second year of his age and the forty-seventh of his reign,
January 28, 814.

OLAF TRYGGVESON

Extracts from "Early Kings of Norway," by THOMAS CARLYLE

(955-1000)

[Illustration: Boat on the sea. [TN]]

Olaf Tryggveson also makes a great figure in the Faroeer Saga, and
recounts there his early troubles, which were strange and many. He is
still reckoned a grand hero of the North, though his _vates_ now is
only Snorro Sturrleson of Iceland. Tryggveson had indeed many
adventures in the world. His poor mother, Astrid, was obliged to fly
with him, on murder of her husband[10] by Gunhild--to fly for life,
three months before her little Olaf was born. She lay co