at which the assembled multitudes eagerly
gazed, when the Head of the Church again appeared before them. It was a
little boy, of seven years old, who now attracted their attention--a
pretty child, arrayed in royal garments, who was led forward by the
venerable man. His stand was taken beside a pillar, and the guards, with
drawn swords, gathered round him: his uncle placed upon his clustering
curls the golden circlet, the symbol of how much power, what heavy
cares, and what fearful responsibility! And when the people, long
crushed to the earth by tyrannical rule, beheld it, hope again awaked in
their hearts, and, with one accord, they clapped their hands, and
shouted out, "God save the King!" And the trumpeters sounded aloud, and
the harpers struck up the notes of praise and joy, and the full choir of
trained singers joined in the jubilee. And thus was the young king
proclaimed--while, in the innocence of childhood, he wonderingly looked
on.

But the queen heard the shouts in her palace. For the first time in her
life, it is most probable, she came to the house of God--but she came
not to worship. "What means this riotous assembly?" she thought. "Can it
be, that the vile rabble dare to think of revolt--against _me_? I will
go, even alone, and awe them by my presence: it shall never be said that
my mother's daughter feared aught in heaven above or the earth beneath."
She went, that audacious woman, with all her crimes upon her head, and
entered alone into the temple of the Holy One. She went to her death.
The people made way for her, although they gazed upon her with loathing;
and within the sanctuary she beheld the grandson, whom she had long
thought to be numbered with the dead, in royal array, with the crown
upon his head. When she saw this, she rent her clothes, and cried
loudly, "Treason! treason!" But none joined in the cry: an ominous
silence pervaded that vast assembly, and looks of hatred were cast upon
her from the crowd. Seeing plainly that all were against her, her
insolent pride gave way, and she turned to flee from that mass of stern,
relentless eyes, all gazing, as it were, into her black and
blood-stained heart. As she passed along, the people shrank back, as if
an accursed thing were near them; and when she had passed from the
consecrated limits, she was slain. None shed a tear over her grave, but
the people enjoyed rest and peace, now that her tyranny was terminated.

"And that was the end of her!" said