RUPERT OF THE RHINE.

CHAPTER I.

FICKLE FORTUNE,

USUALLY in the pages of English History, the name of Prince Rupert receives only a passing mention. We read that he was the nephew of the unhappy King Charles I., and gave him good help in many of his battles against his Parliament, but further than this the information accorded about him seldom extends. Yet "Rupert of the Rhine" deserves to have his name and character better known, by all loyal subjects of our Sovereign and all true members of the Church.

Some persons in his own time, who were enemies to the Prince, tried to make out that he was nothing better than a fierce cruel tyrant, and called him, in mockery, Prince Robber instead of Prince Rupert. Unfortunately, many people of the present day have adopted this opinion, without taking much pains to ascertain the truth of it, and will hardly consent to believe anything creditable of this good prince, who served his King so faithfully.

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But this little history will show that, though of course Rupert was not without faults, he yet possessed many qualities which claim for him our love and admiration. Especially we should remember that he was a true friend to King Charles I. when almost everyone else had forsaken him.

It is now more than two hundred years ago since the Prince was born. He was not an Englishman by birth, as may be guessed from his title, "Rupert of the Rhine." He was so called because his father was the Elector Palatine, or Prince of Bavaria, and the River Rhine ran through his dominions. But Rupert himself was not born near the Rhine. His birth took place in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, of which country his father had a short time before been called to be King.

Rupert's mother was a daughter of King James I. of England. Her name was Elizabeth. She was very beautiful and very good, and the people thought so much of her that they called her the "Pearl of Britain." Yet she, poor lady! had a very sorrowful life, of which we shall hear more than once as we follow her son's history.

The Elector of Bavaria and his wife Elizabeth had been very prosperous and happy until the year 1619, when Rupert, their third son, was born. After that event misfortunes came heavily upon them, and they never regained their former happiness.

It is necessary to go back a little to explain the causes that brought such troubles upon Rupert's good parents, and made the little Prince himself an outcast while he was still an infant.

In the year 1619, when Rupert was born, the famous "Thirty Years' War" was just beginning. It was a war chiefly between Protestants and Roman Catholics, each party trying to get for themselves the most power and land on the continent of Europe.

Rupert's father, the Elector of Bavaria, was a very firm Protestant; and when a great many German Princes joined together in a promise to defend their religion, and called themselves the "Protestant Alliance," they made the Elector the chief over them, so that he was a man known and looked up to by all the Protestants in Germany.

Now Ferdinand, the Emperor of Germany at that time, was a very bigoted Roman Catholic, and he did not choose that any people in his lands should have any other religion than his own; and he was very cruel and unjust to all those who wished to read the Word of God, and give up the superstitions that were taught in the Church of Rome.

But, in spite of all that Ferdinand could say or do, there were many of his subjects who were Protestants in their hearts, and they determined that they would be free, and would profess the religion which they believed to be the true one. Accordingly, they made a plan to join all together to drive away the soldiers of the Emperor out of Bohemia, and to invite the Elector of Bavaria, who was known to be such a firm Protestant, to rule over them instead.

The poor Bohemians were successful for a time. They drove away the soldiers of the Emperor, and crowned their new Protestant King with

great joy. They believed now that the sad time of cruelty and persecution was past for ever, and that for the future they might read their Bibles openly, and worship the only true God in the right way. And so there was great rejoicing, and feasting, and gladness of heart in Prague on the 6th of November 1619, when the young King and Queen were crowned.

But in their great joy and gratitude the people forgot to consider how powerful was the Emperor, and that it was not likely he would give up Bohemia without another struggle. They soon found out that their hopes of future liberty. and peace were to be terribly disappointed.

Very soon after the coronation of his father and mother, Prince Rupert was born, and even then the Bohemians and their new sovereign were beginning to watch with dread the movements of Ferdinand. It had come to be pretty well known by this time that the Emperor was making great preparations to attack them, and every day the poor Protestants expected the storm of his anger to burst over their heads.

They had good reason for their fears. The Emperor Ferdinand was strong but not merciful, and he determined to recover Bohemia for himself, and force the Roman Catholic religion upon the unhappy people. A year had not gone by, when, with this purpose, he sent a great army to the walls of Prague.

The Bohemians gathered round their chosen King, and went out to meet the enemy. There was fierce fighting on both sides, but the Emperor had a much larger army than the poor young

King, and after a short sharp struggle the Protestants were completely beaten. All was now confusion in Prague. The unhappy King and Queen fled from the town, where not long before they had been received with shouts of triumph; and so great was their haste to escape before Ferdinand could seize them, that the infant Rupert had very nearly been left behind to the mercies of the conquerors. Baron D'Hona, the King's chamberlain, passing quickly through one of the rooms of the palace as the royal party were actually leaving the town, found what at first appeared to him like a bundle lying on the floor. It proved to be the unfortunate little prince. The nurse to whose care he had been entrusted, being too terrified to think of anyone but herself, had hastened away and forgotten her charge. There was no time to be lost, so the Baron himself acted the part of a nursemaid; and as the last carriage was leaving the palace, he hurried after it with Rupert in his arms, and thrust the poor babe suddenly into it.

The royal fugitives and their little children had a very difficult journey before them, and it being winter-time, the rugged mountains which they had to cross were covered with snow. But it was better to bear any hardships than to return to Ferdinand, who would have shut them up in prison, or perhaps put them to death; so they fled across the mountains, and took no rest till they reached the small town of Custrin, in Prussia. Here, two days after their arrival, Prince Maurice was born. He was Rupert's favourite brother, and accompanied him in almost all his dangers