shrines of the most esteemed saints in Italy, brought back her proposed daughter-in-law, Desideria, to France, witnessed the union of the latter with Charlemagne, and saw the papal opposition cease. Italy was tranquillized; the Roman pontiff was reconciled to his dangerous neighbour, Desiderius ; and, in Bavaria, the queen's intercession had succeeded. Charlemagne readily consented to peace, on the first overture of Tassilo, and despatched Sturmius, Abbot of St. Fulda, to negotiate with his disaffected vassal. Terms were easily concluded with a clement king; and the aspect of all things promised tranquillity to the world.

Such auguries, however, soon proved false. But, though the germs of future warfare lay hid in all the circumstances of the peace-though the ambition of Desiderius looked upon it merely as a temporary means-and the turbulence of Tassilo, only regarded it as a short repose,—yet the first blow given to its stability was by Charlemagne himself; from a personal repugnance to the alliance he had formed. Some strong disgust seized on Charlemagne towards his Lombard wife; and he determined on seeking, through the lax laws of divorce which then existed, the only means of deliverance in his power. His purpose was not effected without considerable opposition from his nobles, his relations, and his mother Bertha. Charlemagne persisted, however, in his determination, and pursued his object without pause. The cause of divorce on which he insisted was incurable sterility, from natural defect and the king found no difficulty in inducing his bishops to dissolve the marriage. Desideria was repudiated; and Charlemagne, whose temperament and desire of offspring did not permit of his remaining unmarried, immediately raised to his bed Hildegarde, the daughter of a noble family in Suabia, who proved a more prolific wife.

It was not to be expected that Desiderius should forget the insult thus offered to his race; and the means which had been employed to unite the Lombards to the Francs, by the bonds of peace, thus became the cause of new disunion, and added personal hatred to political opposition. The enmity of the Lombard king towards Charlemagne was at once taken for granted throughout Europe, and was acted upon by all who were inimical to the monarch of the Francs; so that the court of Pavia became a general refuge for the fugitives from Gaul. Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine, appears to have been the first who made it his asylum. How he effected his escape from the confinement to which Charlemagne had subjected him, is not now to be discovered; but, after a very short imprisonment, we find him seeking protection at Rome. Refused to be received by the pope, his stay in that city was brief. Hearing that the daughter of Desiderius had been put away by Charlemagne, he sought refuge at the Lombard court. Having while there embraced some heresy obnoxious to the Lombards, or abandoned Christianity altogether, he was stoned to death, within a short period after his arrival at Pavia.

Another fugitive soon appeared at the court of Desiderius, with claims and rights which gave that monarch new hope of dividing and neutralizing the power of the Francs, and of avenging the insult he had received in the person of his daughter.

Late in the year 771, Carloman, the sharer of the French monarchy, suddenly expired; without securing the succession of his territory to his children, or making any disposition in regard to its partition between them. Scarcely had the funeral ceremony been performed, and the body of Carloman laid in the earth at the church of St. Remigius, at Rheims, when the evident disaffection of her husband's vassals, and the fear of a brother,

towards whom that husband had ever shewn jealousy and suspicion, induced Giberga, his widow, to fly to Italy to the court of Desiderius, and solicit him to establish her children on the throne of their father, without the consent, and contrary to the customs of the nation. Only a few of her husband's nobles accompanied her into exile; while the rest, forming the great body of the nation, unanimously declared Charlemagne their king.

A reign of two years over a considerable portion of the Francs had already sufficiently displayed the character of the young monarch, to shew that he possessed all those talents requisite to lead a barbarous nation, in difficult and momentous times. His courage, skill, and activity, as a commander, were well known throughout the land; and, after the death of his father, his liberality and protection had been extended to all the faithful friends and adherents of the great king to whom he succeeded. He was thus esteemed, admired, and loved by the clergy, the soldiers, and the people; and it is any thing but wonderful, that such a leader should have been the universal choice of the Francs in preference to an infant monarch and a female regent. It was therefore, without hesitation, that Charlemagne received the homage of those subjects, who, since the death of his father, had been placed under the dominion of Carloman; and the whole of France was again united beneath one sceptre.

But

The empire now placed to his command, was, beyond doubt, the most powerful in Europe. Italy was divided and exhausted; Greece was weak and debased; the north, portioned amongst various tribes, and under the government of each and all, was still barbarous and distracted. England, separated into many kingdoms, was inefficient as a whole; and Spain remained agitated and employed by the bloody struggles of her different conquerors. France, blessed with an united, hardy, and a vigorous race, comprised the whole extent of country from the Mediterranean to the Ocean, from the Pyrenees to the Alps. A regularly organized state of society existed, though that state was far from perfect. Her laws, though scantly, were well known, were mild, and were more generally enforced than those of any other country. Her population was numerous, and her produce sufficient for her population. Her resources of all kinds were immense; and those resources were now entrusted to one, who, with extensive and extraordinary powers, combined love for his country, and feeling for mankind.

He determined at this time to turn his arms against those barbarous tribes, who ravaged the German frontiers of France, and who, with a ruthless disregard of oaths, engagements, and ties, which no chastisement could correct, year after year, pillaged and desolated the dominions of the Francs, slaughtered the inhabitants, and carried off the wealth of the country.

The chief of these nations was that people, or confederation of tribes, called the Saxons, of whom the Frisons were either a branch, or else perpetual allies. Surpassing all nations, except the early Huns, in fierceness, idolators of the most bloody rites, insatiable of plunder, and persevering in the purpose of rapine to a degree which no other nation ever knew, they were the pest and scourge of the north. Happily for Europe, their government consisted of a multitude of chiefs-they had no Attila amongst them, to combine all the tribes under the sway of one monarch, and to direct all their energies to one great object.

His resolution being immediately taken, the year after the death of his brother, and the choice of the people, had placed him on the throne of the

each succeeded in the enterprise; but of all these, the monarch of the Francs had to contend with the greatest difficulties, with the least means of success. The Carthaginian, it is true, was harassed by enemies, and the Corsican was burdened with artillery; but the one could call to his aid all the resources of ancient art, whose miracles of power shame our inferior efforts; and the other could command all the expedients of modern science to support his own energies, and to smooth the obstacles of his way. Charlemagne stood alone in the midst of a barbarous age, when the knowledge of ancient Europe was extinguished, and the improvements of modern Europe were unknown, upheld solely by his own mighty mind in the accomplishment of an undertaking which he himself had conceived.

The design, however, was eminently successful. The Lombards, who guarded the different passages, considered by them impracticable, were put to flight, the army began to pour down upon Italy, and the two corps formed a junction at the foot of the descent.

The news of this sudden appearance of the Frankish army, in a quarter where they had been so little expected, passed like lightning to Desiderius, who hastened instantly with the main body of his forces to oppose the enemy, before they could quit the narrow defiles in which they were entangled. Collecting all his troops, he took possession of La Cluse, and made a demonstration of defending it with vigour. But Charlemagne, having fortified his camp in front, detached a considerable force through the mountains, to turn the flank of the Lombards. This movement was instantly perceived by Desiderius; and, struck with sudden terror lest his retreat should be cut off, he abandoned at once his projects of resistance, and, flying to Pavia, left the country open to the Francs.

Determined that his conquest of the Lombards should be more effectual than that of his father, Charlemagne began the siege of Pavia, resolving to carry it on without pause or compromise; and the Francs, yielding their national haste and eagerness to the purpose of their king, evinced a degree of patience new to all their habits.

The defence of Pavia, Desiderius reserved to himself, while he left the rest of the Lombard cities nearly to their fate, excepting Verona, one of the strongest towns in his dominions, the government of which he entrusted to his son, Adalgisus. The wife and children of Carloman were sent thither for their greater security. The youth and inexperience of Adalgisus rendered necessary the assistance of Gibergh, a Frankish noble, in his command.

No sooner had Charlemagne seen the treaties completed round Pavia, than he led a division of his army against Verona. Astonished at the rapidity of his progress, and cut off from all communication with Desiderius, Adalgisus lost heart; and, instead of resisting, he abandoned the army committed to his care; and, leaving Verona, fled, first to Pisa, and thence to Constantinople.

Verona surrendered immediately, and the widow and children of Carloman fell into the hands of the victor, by whom they were treated with kindness. He then hastened back to press the siege of Pavia; and, contemplating a longer absence from his native country than he had first proposed, he gave directions for his wife and children to join him in the camp before Pavia, and their coming gave a new proof to the Lombards of his unchangeable resolution, and afforded to his soldiers a demonstration of the persevering patience with which he intended to carry on the siege.

Although the capital still held out, the other cities of the Lombard kingdom, one by one, surrendered to detached bodies of the Francs. Few of them offered any resistance, and, in general, the people seemed not unwilling to amalgamate themselves with a great and conquering nation. Pavia, nevertheless, was long defended with all the energy of valour, and the pertinacity of despair. The abundant stores with which it had been supplied, managed with care and frugality, kept up the spirits of the inhabitants, and preserved the obedience of the garrison. Days, weeks, and months passed by; summer, autumn, and winter fled; and yet the city maintained its resistance, though the whole of the rest of Lombardy had submitted.

At length, as the high solemnity of Easter approached, Charlemagne prepared to visit Rome, leaving to his officers the task of carrying on the siege, rather by blockade, than any more active measures, during his absence. Among the various motives which induced him to undertake the journey, were the extension of his power, and deriving the greatest benefit that could accrue from his expedition to Italy. Lombardy, except the capital, whose resistance could not be effectual, was already conquered. He was king of Lombardy by force of arms; but, at Rome he was to be received as Patrician, and Ravenna looked upon him as Exarch,-titles which had previously been mere names, but of which he now intended to exercise the rights. The people of Rome, by their voluntary act, had named him Patrician, or military governor, and both his father and himself had been called upon to perform the most arduous duties of that station, without exercising any of the power which the office implied. Without wishing to trample on Italy, he prepared to take upon himself the full character of his office, and to govern with his usual mildness.

The news of his approach flew rapidly to Rome, and the supreme pontiff, at once animated by original feelings of regard and esteem, grateful for services rendered, and mindful of benefits to come, prepared to receive the conqueror of his enemies, with all the solemn splendour which suited the man, the occasion, and the scene.

In the meantime, Charlemagne set out from Pavia, accompanied by siderable army, and an immense train of bishops, priests, and nobles. Passing through Tuscany, he advanced by rapid journeys upon Rome. Shouts and songs of triumph greeted him on the way; towns, castles, and villages, poured forth to see him pass; the serf, the citizen, and the noble, joined in acclamations which welcomed the conqueror of the Lombards; and dead Italy seemed to revive at the glorious aspect of the victor. Thirty miles from the city, he was met by all those who could still boast of generous blood in Rome, with ensigns and banners; and, at a mile's distance from the walls, the whole schools came forth to receive him, bearing in their hands branches of the palm, and the olive, and singing, in the sweet Roman tongue, the praises and gratulations of their mighty deliverer. Thither, too, came the standard of the cross, with which it had been customary to meet the Exarchs on their visit to the city; and, truly, since the days of her ancient splendour, never had Rome beheld such a sight as entered her gates with the monarch of the Franks.

On so solemn an occasion as his entry into Rome, the general simplicity of his attire was laid aside, and he now appeared blazing in all the splendour of royalty, his robes wrought of purple and gold, his brow enriched with jewels, and his very sandals glittering with precious stones.

As he approached the church of St. Peter, and was met by the Exarch's cross, the monarch alighted from his horse, and, with his principal followers, proceeded on foot to the steps of the cathedral. The marks of his reverence for the shrine of the apostle were such as a sovereign might well pay, whose actions and whose power left no fear of respect being construed into submission, In the porch near the door, he was met by Pope Adrian, attended by all his clergy, clothed in the magnificent vestments of the Roman church; and while loud shouts rent the air of "Blessed be he who cometh in the name of the Lord!" the pontiff held his deliverer to his heart, poured forth his gratitude, and loaded him with blessings.

The meeting was one of great interest, both to the priest and the monarch. Though Charlemagne was a great conqueror, and a clear sighted politician, an ambitious king, and a dauntless warrior, yet having a heart full of the kindest and the gentlest feelings, all the finer emotions of his bosom were affected by his meeting with the Roman pontiff. That he revered Pope Adrian as a prelate, and loved him as a man, his after life sufficiently evinced; and when he met him, for the first time, in the midst of Rome, he remembered that, sooner than bring discord and strife into his dominions, the old man before him had dared the enmity of a powerful and vindictive monarch, had seen his country wasted and destroyed, and had exposed himself to be besieged in a vast, but ruined and depopulated city. Such feelings on the young monarch's part, while the pope, on the other hand, acknowledged in him the saviour of Rome, and the deliverer of the church, could not fail to create between them a bond of sympathy and regard, such as circumstances seldom suffer to exist amongst the great of the earth; and friendship, thus begun, continued through their mutual lives.

After the arrival of the monarch, several days were spent in celebrating the solemnities of Easter; but neither the pope nor the king neglected those matters of jurisdiction which were now tending towards a more clear and decided establishment than Italy had known for many years. Charlemagne was thus received as sovereign by the pope, and by the people of Rome. He was crowned with the diadem of the Patricians, or Exarchs, and exercised, for the first time, the extensive sway with which that office invested him. There was no struggle, dispute, or misunderstanding about authority. It was assumed by him at once, and granted by the clergy and the people as the undoubted right of the Patriciate; nor did he ever cease to use the supreme power, first as Patrician, and afterwards as Emperor, from his arrival in Italy to the close of his life and reign. To him all great causes were referred; the pope himself appeared before him as before his judge; and we find repeated instances of his having extended his jurisdiction to ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs, throughout the whole of the Roman territory.

After regulating some clerical affairs of little interest, he hastened back to Pavia, where his presence had become necessary, for the purpose of supporting and encouraging his soldiers under the wearisome labours of the longest and most difficult siege which the Francs had undertaken. At the same time, many circumstances imperatively required that he should press the Lombard capital to its immediate fall, and turn his steps towards his own paternal dominions.

One of the most urgent of these circumstances, was the state of his northeastern frontier, from which continued accounts of the most alarming character reached him in the heart of Italy. It appears, that no sooner had the