ard and his kingdom.

After this King Hacon died: he had ruled Norway for twenty-six years. He
was mourned both by friends and foes. As Eyvind Skald-spoiler says:

'The King is born in blessed day
Such love who gains:
Of his fair age ever and aye
Good fame remains.'

His men carried his body to Soeheim in North Hordaland, and raised a
mound over it.

_PRINCE CHARLIE'S WAR_

I

THE BOYHOOD OF PRINCE CHARLIE

IN 1734 the city of Gaeta, in the kingdom of Naples, was held by an
Austrian force, and was besieged by a mixed army of French, Walloons,
Spaniards, and Italians, commanded by the Duke of Liria. Don Carlos, a
Spanish prince, was doing his best, by their aid, to conquer the kingdom
of Naples for himself. There is now no kingdom of Naples: there are no
Austrian forces in Italy, and there is certainly, in all the armies of
Europe, no such officer as was fighting under the Duke of Liria. This
officer, in the uniform of a general of artillery, was a slim,
fair-haired, blue-eyed boy of thirteen. He seemed to take a pleasure in
the sound of the balls that rained about the trenches. When the Duke of
Liria's quarters had been destroyed by five cannon shots, this very
young officer was seen to enter the house, and the duke entreated, but
scarcely commanded, him to leave. The boy might be heard shouting to the
men of his very mixed force in all their various languages. He was the
darling of the camp, and the favourite of the men, for his courage and
pleasant manners.

This pretty boy with a taste for danger, Charles Edward Stuart, was
called by his friends 'the Prince of Wales.' He was, indeed, the eldest
son of James VIII. of Scotland and Third of England, known to his
enemies as 'the Pretender.' James, again, was the son of James II., and
was a mere baby when, in 1688, his father fled from England before the
Prince of Orange.

The child (the son of James II.) grew up in France: he charged the
English armies in Flanders, and fought not without distinction. He
invaded Scotland in 1715, where he failed, and now, for many years, he
had lived in Rome, a pensioner of the Pope. James was an unfortunate
prince, but is so far to be praised that he would not change his creed
to win a crown. He was a devout Catholic--his enemies said 'a bigoted
Papist'--he was the child of bad luck from his cradle; he had borne many
disappointments, and he was never the man to win back