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The Queen Ulrica Eleanora died at the ciofe of 1471 regretted by all her people,whofe affections ffie had juftly earned. The King had no children. In 1742, afterlong debates, the Duke of Holftein-Gottorp was named as fucceffor to the throne ofSweden by the three orders of the date (the clergy protefting in vain againfl the elec-tion) • but this Prince, unfortunately for him, had been declared fucceffor to thethrone of Raffia, and could not accept of the offer of the Swedes. In the followingyear the Duke of Holftein, Bifhop of Lubeck, father of His prefent Majefty, (Guita-rs III. 1791) was made Prince-royal of Sweden , and married the fucceeding year toUlrica "of Pruffia, filler of the great Frederic. In 1745 the King made a treaty of de-fenfive alliance with Ruffia, but which tailed no longer than 1747, when he made anew alliance with Pruffia, and afterwards with Denmark , upon the occafion of a tripar-tite league between Ruffia, England and Holland ; but the good underftanding fub-fifting between the two countries was not interrupted. In 1750 a canal of communi-cation between Stockholm and Gottenburgh, joining various lakes and rivers, was be-gun and but for the cataradl of Trolhcetta would have been completed. This Princerenewed, in 1748, the order of the Seraphim, inftituted in 1334 by Magnus Ladulos;that of the Sword , inftituted by Guftavusl. in 1523, and created the order of the PolarStcll**
In 1751 Frederic was taken from the Swedes, who bewailed him as a father. ThisPrince had no other ambition than to render his people happy ; no wiffi but to pro-mote the arts, agriculture, and trade ; his were the virtues of peace, lefs brilliant thanwarlike deeds, yet far more folid, defirable, and neceffary to the happinefs of man. Ifwith that portion of authority left him by the renewed conftitution, he merited praifelike this, what might he not have earned if veiled with abfolute power ? For we arewide of’imagining that abfolute fway has any influence on the character of kings ; itmerely affords the means of difplaying themfelves with greater energy, and rendersthem from its poffeffion, either more amiable, or more worthy of dread: thus, thoughTiberius were a monfter , Titus was a god.
ADOLPHUS FREDERIC.
This Prince afcended the throne in 1751, after an oath was adminiftered to himto maintain the conftitution of government as eftabliffied in 1720. The new ftile ofthe calendar was adopted in the beginning of his reign, an academy of belles lettres in-ftituted under- the patronage of the Queen, and a pyramid in honour of the labour ofMr. Maupertuis and the learned academicians who accompanied him in 1736, eredtedat Torneo. The royal authority already fo much diminiffied was expofed to new at-tacks ; and in confequence, in the year 1756, a revolution was attempted in favour ofthe King, the chief victims of which were the Count Brahe and Baron Horn. Sweden ,as guarantee of the treaty of Weftphalia, conceived herfelf obliged to enter into theleague againfl the King of Pruffia. This war did not redound to her honour, and wasterminated in 1762 without advantage or lofs, except of men and money, ferving to de-monftrate that armies, wherein there are more than one party, more than one mind,are ever incapable of any thing great. In 1762 the two factions, known by the nameof hats and bonnets , began to'declare themfelves openly : foreign powers affifted eitherone or the other party, and each triumphed in its turn. The fovereign alone, alwaysfubiedt to humiliation and infult, felt himfelf conftrained to fimulate a fixed determina-tion to abdicate the throne, in order to obtain the convocation of a diet which mightffford fome alleviation to the long fufferings of the people. This refolution was the
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