th a club in
his hand--Hercules in a friar's robe. In the days of Charlemagne
the Moors invaded Monaco, and remained there until A.D. 968, when a
Genoese captain named Grimaldi volunteered to assist the Christian
inhabitants in driving the infidels from their shores. He was
victorious, and was rewarded for his bravery and skill by being
proclaimed prince of Monaco. In the family of his descendants the
little territory still remains.

The Grimaldis were powerful rulers, wise and brave, and having secured
independence, they maintained it at all cost through centuries of
trouble. Fifty-eight sieges has Monaco sustained from either the
French or the Genoese, but she never lost her independence excepting
for a few years at a time. In 1428 a terrible tragedy of great
dramatic interest occurred in the castle. John Grimaldi was prince,
and married to a Fieschi Adorno of Genoa, a lovely lady, but a
faithless. She had not long been a wife ere she fixed her affections
on her husband's younger brother, Lucian, and induced him to murder
his brother and usurp the throne. Accordingly, Lucian, aided by his
mistress, stabbed John Grimaldi in his bed, and having thrown the body
into the sea, proclaimed himself prince. He reigned but a short time.
Bartolomeo Doria, nephew of the Genoese doge, Andrea Doria the Great,
murdered him at a masquerade given in his palace to celebrate his
infamous sister-in-law's birthday. The galleys of the doge awaited
the assassin without the port, and transported him back in safety to
Genoa--a circumstance which gave rise to a suspicion that Andrea was
himself privy to the deed. As to the wicked lady, she was banished to
the castle of Roccabruna, where she died miserably, abandoned by all.
A legend says she went distracted, and in a fit of insanity flung
herself headlong over the rocks into the sea.

In 1792 the French Republic destroyed the principality, but it was
restored through the interest of Talleyrand in 1815. A revolution
broke out in 1848, which obliged the prince to declare Monaco a free
town, and which also deprived His Highness of Mentone and Roccabruna.
When the French annexed Nice they also added the two last-mentioned
towns to their dominions, but had to pay Prince Florestan four
millions of francs for his feudal right.

If Monaco is not a very large principality, it is in a pecuniary sense
exceedingly flourishing. In 1863 His Highness made the acquaintance of
M. Blanc, the famous gambling