ysterious creature whom many regarded with a sort of awe. The clash
came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish king fought long and hard, and
so did his mighty opponent; but at last, in the very midst of a
tremendous onset that swept all before him, Gustavus received a mortal
wound and died, even while Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of
battle.

The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of six.
Of course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of able
ministers continued the policy of the late king and taught the young
queen her first lessons in statecraft. Her intellect soon showed itself
as more than that of a child. She understood all that was taking place,
and all that was planned and arranged. Her tact was unusual. Her
discretion was admired by every one; and after a while she had the
advice and training of the great Swedish chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose
wisdom she shared to a remarkable degree.

Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her counselors,
and especially to the people at large, that there was a wide-spread
clamor that she should take the throne and govern in her own person. To
this she gave no heed, but said:

"I am not yet ready."

All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing
distinctly feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her
appearance. She wore sword and armor in the presence of her troops, and
often she dressed entirely in men's clothes. She would take long,
lonely gallops through the forests, brooding over problems of state and
feeling no fatigue or fear. And indeed why should she fear, who was
beloved by all her subjects?

When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation was
impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, who
might marry and have children to succeed her through the royal line of
her great father. Christina consented to be crowned, but she absolutely
refused all thought of marriage. She had more suitors from all parts of
Europe than even Elizabeth of England; but, unlike Elizabeth, she did
not dally with them, give them false hopes, or use them for the
political advantage of her kingdom.

At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated as
to be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her harsh,
peremptory voice:

"I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having children! I
am just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an Augustu