The following collection of short lives has been compiled as a companion volume to the "Great Englishmen," which has already met with approval in schools. It is hoped that this will be found no less useful. Q ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE (1122-1204) . PHILIPPA OF HAINAULT (1313-1369) PRINCESS ELIZABETH (1596-1662). B GREAT ENGLISHWOMEN. QUEEN BERTHA (died 606).. ERTHA, our first Christian queen, lived a very quiet, uneventful life; history does not record her sayings, nor does it tell us that she performed any great public acts; she made no special mark on the world at large. But by her good example to others, by her gentle influence on those around her, she stands out as the one bright light shining from out the thick darkness of those heathen days. She was the only child of the king of Paris, but there is more to say about her grandmother Radigund than about either her father or mother; for Bertha had been taught to love the name of Radigund from a little child. Radigund was the wife of a king of part of France. This king had taken her prisoner with her little brother in a war, but, finding her very beautiful and of royal blood, he adopted her. As she was a heathen, he had her baptized, and then had her taught till she was old enough to become his wife. Then poor Radigund was very unhappy; the king her husband was stern, rough, and cruel, though he loved her very much, and she escaped unknown to a distant convent. With her |