petition; and he went so far, on one occasion, as to order his guard to
fire on any one who dared to look at his palace. Whenever he went abroad a
numerous escort attended him, and the moment he put his foot outside the
palace the bell of the Cathedral began to toll, as a warning to all the
inhabitants to go into their houses. Any one found abroad bowed his head
nearly to the ground, not daring to lift his eyes to the dictator's
dreaded face.

It is certainly extraordinary that in the nineteenth century, and in a
little state of South America, there should have arisen a tyrant equal in
cruelty, in his restricted sphere, to the Nero and Caligula of old or the
Louis XI. of mediaeval times. Death came to him in 1840, after twenty-six
years of this absolute rule and in his eighty-third year. It came after a
few days of illness, during which he attended to business, refused
assistance, and forbade any one not called by him to enter his room. Only
the quick coming of death prevented him from ending his life with a crime;
for in a fit of anger at the _curandero_, a sort of quack doctor who
attended him, he sprang from his bed, snatched up his sword, and rushed
furiously upon the trembling wretch. Before he could reach his intended
victim he fell down in a fit of apoplexy. No one dared to disregard his
orders and come to his aid, and death soon followed. His funeral was
splendid, and a grand mausoleum was erected to him, but this was thrown
down by the hands of some enemies unknown.

Thus ended the career of this extraordinary personage, one of the most
remarkable characters of the nineteenth century. Carlos Antonio Lopez, his
nephew, succeeded him, and in 1844 was chosen as president of the republic
for ten years, during which he was as absolute as his uncle. He continued
in power till his death in 1862, but put an end to the isolation of
Paraguay, opening it to the world's commerce.

He was succeeded by his son, Solano Lopez, whom we mention here simply
from the fact that the war which Francia had so diligently prepared for
came in his time. In 1864 the question of the true frontier of the state
brought on a war in which Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and Uruguay
combined to crush the little country in their midst. We need only say here
that Lopez displayed remarkable powers as a soldier, appeared again and
again in arms after seemingly crushing defeats, and fought off his
powerful opponents for five years. Then, on the 1s