at Britain.

"Yes," said Charles, "I know that the queen of England is queen of
Scotland too; but I want to know how it came to be so; because you see,
mamma, that when Duncan was king of Scotland, there was a king of
England as well."

"Yes, my dear," and for five hundred years after Duncan was murdered,
there were kings of Scotland and England also; but when Queen Elizabeth
died, her nearest relation happened to be the king of Scotland, James
the sixth; he was her cousin, and as she left neither brothers nor
sisters, nor children, James became king of England as well as of his
own country; and since that time there has been but one king to govern
both kingdoms."

"Thank you, mamma," said Charles, "I could not think how it was before;
but do you think it is best to have one king or two?"

"I think it is best to have but one, because, if you look at your map,
you will see that England and Scotland together make one large island;
and while they were separate kingdoms, they were frequently at war with
each other."

"What did they go to war for, mamma?"

"I believe, Charles, the true cause generally was, that the English king
thought he should like to have the whole island for himself; but what
made the matter worse was, that as the people who were fighting against
each other, all lived in the same island, it was almost as bad as a
civil war."

"What is a civil war, mamma?"

"It is when the people of any country cannot agree among themselves, and
so make war upon each other: there have been civil wars in all countries
at different times; they are the most dreadful of all wars, because
relations and friends are often fighting in battle against each other."

"Oh, what a shocking thing!" said Charles; "But why do they do it mamma?
I cannot think why people should fight battles with one another."

"I will try to explain it, my dear: There is at present a civil war in
Spain, because when the last king died, some of the people said that his
daughter should be queen, and others said his brother should be king; so
the daughter was placed on the throne and crowned; but the brother,
whose name is Don Carlos, is very angry at this, because he thinks he
has the greatest right to the crown; so he has persuaded all who are on
his side, to go to war with all who are in favour of the queen,
therefore the Spaniards are now fighting against each other."

"Which do you think will win?" said Charles.

"I cannot possibly say, my