history, probably, are so many personal anecdotes
related, as of Henry IV. These are for the most part well known, and
of easy access. Among them stands out prominently the tale of the
Spanish ambassador who to his astonishment, found Henry on the floor
playing hobby-horse for his children. "Are you a father?" asked Henry,
looking up without any apparent embarrassment. "Yes, your majesty."
"Then we will finish our game," said the king. And he did so, before
taking up his business with the ambassador.

The whole tenor of Henry's life exhibits a lofty, generous, forgiving
temper, the fearless spirit which loves the excitement of danger, and
that suavity of feeling and manners, which, above all qualities, wins
the affection of those who come within its sphere: it does not exhibit
high moral or religious principle. But his weaknesses were those which
the world most readily pardons, especially in a great man. If Henry
had emulated the pure morals and fervent piety of his noble ancestor,
Louis IX., he would have been a far better king, as well as a better
man; yet we doubt whether in that case his memory would have been
cherished with such enthusiastic attachment by his countrymen.

[Illustration: Henry IV. of France at home.]

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

(1540-1596)

[Illustration: Francis Drake. [TN]]

Francis Drake, the first British circumnavigator of the globe, was
born in Devonshire, of humble parents. So much is admitted; with
respect to the date of his birth, and the method of his nurture, the
annalists, Camden and Stowe, are not agreed. By the latter we are told
that Drake was born at Tavistock, about 1545, and brought up under the
care of a kinsman, the well-known navigator, Sir John Hawkins. Camden,
on the other hand, anticipates his birth by several years, and says
that he was bound apprentice to a small shipowner on the coast of
Kent, who, dying unmarried, in reward of his industry bestowed his
bark upon him as a legacy. Both accounts agree that in 1567 he went
with Hawkins to the West Indies on a trading voyage, which gave its
color to the rest of his life. Their little squadron was obliged by
stress of weather to put into St. Juan de Ulloa, on the coast of
Mexico; where, after being received with a show of amity, it was beset
and attacked by a superior force, and only two vessels escaped. To
make amends for his losses in this adventure, in the quaint language
of the biographer Prince, in his "Worthies of