ree.

After this victory, entirely achieved by the peasantry themselves,
Hofer became the absolute ruler of the country; coins were struck
with his effigy, and proclamations issued in his name. His power,
however, scarcely lasted two months, and became the cause of his
ruin ultimately. Three veteran armies, comprising a force of nearly
50,000 French and Bavarian troops, were despatched in October to
subdue the exhausted province; and, unable to make head against
them, Hofer was obliged to take refuge in the mountains. Soon after,
a price having been set on his head, a pretended friend (a priest
named Donay) was induced to betray him, January 20, 1810. After his
arrest he was conveyed to Mantua, and the intelligence having been
communicated by telegraph to the French emperor, an order was
instantly returned that he must be tried. This order was a sentence;
and after a court-martial, at which, however, the majority were
averse to a sentence of death, Hofer was condemned to be shot. His
execution took place on February 20, 1810, his whole military career
having occupied less than forty weeks. The Emperor Francis conferred
a handsome pension upon the widow and family of Hofer, and created
Hofer's son a noble. The Austrian government also raised a marble
statue of heroic size in the cathedral of Innsbrueck, where the body
of the patriot was interred; while his own countrymen have
commemorated his efforts by raising a small pyramid to mark the spot
where he was taken.

[Illustration: Andreas Hofer led to Execution.]

QUEEN LOUISE OF PRUSSIA

By Mrs. FRANCIS G. FAITHFULL

(1776-1810)

[Illustration: Queen Louise of Prussia.]

There is at Paretz, near Potsdam, a flower-bordered walk leading
from a grotto overlooking the Havel to an iron gate, above which is
inscribed "May 20, 1810" and the letter "L." Within the grotto an
iron table bears in golden characters, "Remember the Absent."

These words were engraved by order of Friedrich Wilhelm III. of
Prussia; and the "absent" he would have remembered--"the star of his
life, who had lighted him so truly on his darkened way"--was the
wife who died of a broken heart before reaching middle age.

Louise Augusta Wilhelmina, third daughter of Duke Charles of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was born on March 10, 1776, in the city of
Hanover. Her mother died when she was six years old, and henceforth
she and her sister Frederica lived with their grandmother, the
Landgravine of Da