caught and beat part of his army, and took many prisoners.

From this time the French and Scotch officers of

the Pretender quarrelled constantly, and the Highland chiefs became jealous of the other generals, and everything began to be unfortunate for that unhappy prince, till at the battle of Culloden his whole army was

destroyed, many officers were taken prisoners, and he was obliged to make his escape and hide himself till he could get back to Italy.

Sometimes the young prince was obliged to go many days without any food but wild berries in the woods, and to sleep in caves, or on the open ground. Sometimes he lay in bed, pretending to be a sick man, while the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers were hunting for him, and he could hear them talking of him. Once he escaped from a great danger by being dressed in women's clothes, and seeming to be the maid-servant of a very kind and handsome young lady, called Flora Mac Donald, who saved his life. At last he got safe home; and though he and his friends often threatened to make war in England again, they never could do any real mischief; and as he and his brother Henry both died without children, we have had no more Pretenders.

I am sorry to say that the Duke of Cumberland was very cruel to all Prince Charles's friends when the war was over. Three Scotch lords, a good many gentlemen, and a number of soldiers, were executed for having joined the Pretender.

There is nothing else to tell you about the reign of George II.; he was a very old man when he died at Kensington. He had fought many battles in Germany, and was a good general, and not a bad king; but having been brought up in Germany, like his father, he never either looked or talked like an English king.

CHAPTER LVII.

GEORGE III.-1760 to 1820.

How George the Third, after making a general peace, went to war with the Americans; how General Washington beat the English armies, and procured peace to be made; why the King went to war with France; how Napoleon Buonaparte conquered many countries; how our Admirals and Generals won many battles; and how there were many useful things found out in George the Third's reign.

THE people of England were very glad when George III. became king after his grandfather. You read in the last chapter that his father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, died in the life-time of George II.

George III. was born in England, and brought up like an English gentleman. I think he was one of the best men that ever was a king; but I do not think that everything he did was wise or right. He reigned longer than any king ever reigned in England, and unhappily before he died he became blind, and he lost his senses.

He married a German princess named Charlotte, and they had a great many sons and daughters, and one of their grandchildren is our good Queen Victoria.

You must not expect me to tell you everything that happened in this long reign that lasted sixty years, but you shall read of one or two things of most consequence, and that you can understand best.

When George had been king a little more than two years, he made peace with all the world, but his reign was very far from being a peaceable one.

There were two wars in particular of great consequence; the first was the American war, and the

second the French war. I will tell you a little about

each of them.

You read in Queen Elizabeth's reign that the English built some towns in North America. Afterwards, during the civil wars in the time of Charles I. many more English went there and took their families there to live, and by degrees they had taken possession of a very large country, and had got towns and villages, and fields; but they were still governed by the King and parliament of England. The English Americans thought that as they were so many, and had become very rich by trade, they ought to be treated equally with the English in old England, and complained to the king and parliament of many things they called hardships. The king and parliament would not listen to their complaints. Then the Americans said they would have a government of their own. Then the king called them rebels, and threatened to punish them; and so, after many disputes, the Americans made war against the King of England's soldiers who were in America to guard the towns and collect the taxes. This war was thought little of at first, but it soon grew to be one of the greatest wars England had ever had. The French and Spaniards, who had not forgotten how the English had beaten them by sea and land in the last wars, joined the Americans; and although the English gained several victories by sea over the French and the Spaniards, yet by land the Americans beat the English.

The chief man in America was General George Washington, one of the greatest men that ever lived. He commanded the American army, and as he and his soldiers were fighting in their own land for their own freedom, and for their own wives and children, it was not wonderful that at last they beat out the English soldiers, who did not like to be sent so far

from home to fight against men who spoke the same language with themselves..

At last, when the King of England found the people were tired of this long war, he agreed to make peace with America, and since that time the Americans have had a government of their own, and have become a great and rich nation. They have a president instead of a king, and they call their parliament a congress.

few years.

You will understand these things in a

The French war lasted even longer than the American war. This was the cause: for a long time the French kings had governed France very badly, and the French nobles oppressed the poor people, and the clergymen did not do their duty rightly, but left the people ignorant. At last the people could bear these bad things no longer, and King Louis XVI., who was a good king, would have made them better if he could. But the princes and nobles would not let him. Then a number of bad people collected in Paris, and they put the king and queen and all their family in prison, and they cut off the heads of the king and queen and the king's sister, and of a great many lords and ladies, and after that of every clergyman they could find, and then of everybody who tried to save the life of another; in short, I believe the French people did more wicked things in about three years than any other nation had ever done in a hundred. The name of the most wicked of all was ROBESPIERRE; he was killed at last by some of those he meant to kill.

England and several other countries then went to war with the French, to make them take back the old king's family to govern them, and that war lasted about twenty-four years.

France would have been conquered, I think, if it