uched,
when he saw the likeness which the little girl bore to that heroic
monarch.

"Yes," cried he, with the tears gushing down his furrowed cheeks, "this is
truly the daughter of our Gustavus! Here is her father's brow!--here is his
piercing eye! She is his very picture. This child shall be our queen!"

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Then all the proud nobles of Sweden, and the reverend clergy, and the
burghers, and the peasants, knelt down at the child's feet, and kissed her
hand.

"Long live Christina, queen of Sweden!" shouted they.

Even after she was a woman grown, Christina remembered the pleasure which
she felt in seeing all these men at her feet, and hearing them acknowledge
her as their supreme ruler. Poor child! she was yet to learn that power
does not insure happiness. As yet, however, she had not any real power.
All the public business, it is true, was transacted in her name; but the
kingdom was governed by a number of the most experienced statesmen, who
were called a Regency.

But it was considered necessary that the little queen should be present at
the public ceremonies, and should behave just as if she were in reality
the ruler of the nation. When she was seven years of age, some ambassadors
from the Czar of Muscovy came to the Swedish court. They wore long beards,
and were clad in a strange fashion, with furs, and other outlandish
ornaments; and as they were inhabitants of a half-civilized country, they
did not behave like other people. The Chancellor Oxenstiern was afraid
that the young queen would burst out a-laughing, at the first sight of
these queer ambassadors; or else that she would be frightened by their
unusual aspect.

"Why should I be frightened?" said the little queen;--"and do you suppose
that I have no better manners than to laugh? Only tell me how I must
behave; and I will do it."

Accordingly, the Muscovite ambassadors were introduced; and Christina
received them, and answered their speeches, with as much dignity and
propriety as if she had been a grown woman.

All this time, though Christina was now a queen, you must not suppose that
she was left to act as she pleased. She had a preceptor, named John
Mathias, who was a very learned man, and capable of instructing her in all
the branches of science. But there was nobody to teach her the delicate
graces and gentle virtues of a woman. She was surrounded almost entirely
by men; and had learned to despise the societ