ed. He styled himself perpetual dictator, and was about to take upon him the imperial digni. ty, when he was assassinated for his usurpation, by a band of the Roman citizens, with Brutus and Cassius at their head.

Q. Did the republic recover its liberty after the death of Caesar?

A. No; Mark Anthony, a factious, dissolute character, with young Octavius the nephew of Julius Caesar, and Lepidus, who commanded an army in Gaul, formed a second triumvirate; and, having the soldiery at command, they cruelly banished or put to death all who were either wealthy, virtuous, or worthy at Rome; Octavius assumed the name of Augustus Caesar, and the liberties of the people perished 27 years before Christ.

Was this triumvirate of long standing?

A. No; Anthony, by divorcing Octavia the sister of Caesar, and attaching himself to Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, drew himself into a war in which he and Cleopatra both perished; and Egypt from that time became a Roman province. Augustus now finding himself supreme governor of the Roman people, assumed the im perial dignity, and under the title of emperor Augustus, governed with great wisdom and moderation for 44 years. It was in the reign of this prince, when all the world was at peace, that our Savior Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace was born, at Bethlehem of Judea. Rome was at this time 50 miles in circumference and contained 4 millions of inhabitants.

Q. How long did this empire continue after. the birth of Christ?

A. Four

A. Four hundred and seventy-six years; when Augustulus, the last emperor, was defeated by Odoacer, general of the Heruli; and from that time the Roman empire became a prey to the Goths, Lombards, and Francs, by whom were established various petty governments,in France, Spain, and Italy, some remains of which still exist.

Q. What effects followed the inroads of these "barbarians?

A. The temporary destruction of the fine arts, and suchan obscuration of the sun of scienceand literature as occasioned the long succeeding period, of nearly 1000 years, to be called the dark age.

Printing was then invented, learning revived, and greater progress was made in civilization than at any other period of history.

Q. When and by whom was the foundation of the present French empire laid?

A. About the year A. D. 481, by the Francs, a German nation, under Clovis whose posterity sat upon the throne 270 years. The second race began under Pepin, A. D. 751, and was followed by the Capetian race, so called from Hugh Capet, a powerful noble who ascended the throne, A. D. 988. This family was succeeded by the house of Valois, and the house of Valois by that of Bourbon, which terminated with Louis XVI A. D. 1794.

Q. What races of kings have succeeded to the Spanish Crown?

A. Spain has been governed, since the expulsion of the Romans, by five families: the first from the Goths; the second from Don Pelago:

the third from Don Sancho, king of Navarre; the fourth from the house of Austria, by the marriage of Joanna, daughter and heiress of Ferdinand, surnamed the Catholic, to Philip, Archduke of Austria, and eldest son of the emperor Maximilian; and the fifth from the house of Bourbon, in Philip, duke of Anjou, and grandson to Lewis XIV whose descendants now wear the Spanish diadem.

Q. Of what family is the emperor of Germa ny?

A. He is a descendant from Rodolph I. Count of Hapsburg and Landgrave of Alsace, who was the first of his family that obtained the empire, He was elected A. D. 1273.

Q. Of what family is the emperor of Turkey?

A. Of the Ottoman family, so called from the warlike Sultan, Othman or Osman, who, A. D. 1300, carried his conquests to a prodigious

extent.

Q. At what period, and by what means did Portugal become a kingdom?

A. Portugal, anciently called Lusitania, becaine a kingdom about the middle of the twelfth century. Count Henry, receiving some territories bordering upon it, from Alonzo, king of Leon, as a marriage dowry with his daughter, expelled the Saracens ; and his son Alonzo, having conquered Lisbon, assumed the title of king of Portugal A. D. 1146. Philip II. of Spain, seized upon it in 1580; but in 1640 the duke of Braganza recovered it; and in his family it has ever since remained independent of Spain. Q. What was the former situation of Holland, or the United Provinces, now Batavia?

A. They

A. They were originally an assemblage of lordships dependent on Spain, but from which they withdrew on account of the tyranny of the government, in the reign of Philip II.

Spain, after a tedious war, acknowledged their independence in the year 1609. They afterwards established a republican form of governinent, and made the executive power hereditary in the family of the Prince of Orange. The last Captain General, styled the Stadtholder, was expelled in 1795, and the present government is vested in a legislative body, consisting of two chambers, and a directory.

What are the present divisions of Italy?

A. It is divided into; 1st. The kingdom of Itały; 2d. The kingdom of Etruria; 3d. The Roman or Ecclesiastical States; 4th. The kingdom of Naples. All the ancient divisions of this country, not included in these, are incorporated with France or Austria.

LESSON XXII.

OF ENGLAND.

Q. GIVE me a short account of England?

A. Before the Romans landed on that island, the Britons, who then possessed the country, were divided into several nations, each of them governed by its own king. And when Britain became a member of the Roman empire, many of their tribes had their proper kings, who were suffered to govern by their own laws, provided they were tributary. After the Romans had quitted Britain, upon the irruption of the Goths

into Italy in the 5th century, the kingly government returned to the Britons; who chose for their king, Constantine, brother of Aldroinus, king of Bretagne in France, a prince. of the British blood; to whom succeeded Constantine his son; then Vortiger, who usurped the crown, and to maintain his usurpation, first called in the Saxons, at that time hovering along the coast of Britain. The Saxons having got footing in the island, either enslaved or extirpated those whom they came to assist: For though they were overthrown in many battles by king Vortiiner, the son and successor of Vortiger, and afterward by king Arthur, yet the Britons were soon after his death so broken and weakened, that they were forced eventually to retreat, and exchange the richest and most fertile parts of Bri tain for the mountains of Wales. Thus the Britons left the stage, and the Saxons entered. By these the country was divided into seven king. doms, called the Saxon Heptarchy, which continued for several ages, till the prevailing for túne of the West Saxons united them all into one by the name of England.

Q. How many kings of the Saxon line sucseeded to the crown of England?

A. Fifteen, namely,....

EGBERT, 17th king of the West Saxons, and, 19th monarch of Britain, was crowned at Winchester, in the year 819, first king of England; died 836; and was succeeded by his son,

ETHELWOLF, died 857, and was succeeded by his son,

ETELBALD, died 860, and was succeeded by his brother,

ETHELBERT,