Louis the Fourteenth. The most valuable of her letters are contained in the "Life and Character of the Duchess Elizabeth. Charlotte of Orleans," by Professor Schütz, Leipsic, 1820.
ELIZABETH, CHRISTINA,
Wife of Frederic the Second of Prussia, Princess of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel, was born in 1716, at Brunswick; married in 1733 and died in 1797. Being Compelled to this marriage, Frederic lived separate from her during his whole life. But on his ascending the throne in 1740, he gave her proofs of his esteem, and on his death ordered her revenue of forty thousand crowns to be increased to fifty thousand; 'for," said he, "during my whole reign she has never given me the slightest cause of dissatisfaction." Half of her income she appropriated to benevolent purposes. She translated several German works into French; and wrote in French, "La Sage Revolution;" "Meditation à l'Occasion du Renouvellement de l'Année, sur les Soins que le Providence k pour les Humains, etc.;" "Reflexions pourtous les Jours de la Semaine;" "Réflexions sur l'Etat des Affairs publiques, en 1778, addressés aux Personaes craentives."
ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA,
Daughter of the Emperor Maximilian the Second, and wife of Charles the Ninth, King of France, was married at Mézieres, Nov. 26th., 1570. She was one of the most beautiful women of her time; but her virtue even surpassed her beauty. The jealousy of the queen-mother, Catharine de Medicis, and the influence she possessed over the mind of her son, prevented Elizabeth from having any share in the events that occurred in the tumultuous reign of Charles the Ninth.
The deplorable massacre of St. Bartholomew affected her extremely; though she was not informed of it till the morning, lest her opposition should influence the king.
She was gentle and patient, and devoted herself entirely to domestic concerns. Warmly attached to the king, during his illness, she spent all the time, when she was not attending on him, in prayers for his recovery. Thus she always preserved his affection and esteem; and he often said, that he might boast of having the most discreet and virtuous wife, not only in whole France, or is all Europe, but in the whole world.
Elizabeth wrote two books: one "On the Word of God;" the other, "On the principal events that happened during her residence in France." After the death of the king, her husband, she retired to Vienna, where she died, in 1592, at the age of thirty-eight, in a convent of her own foundation.
ELIZABETH OF FRANCE,
Daughter of Henry the Second, and of Catherine de Medicis, was born at Fontainebleau, in 1545. She was the destined wife of Edward the Sixth; but the marriage was prevented by his premature death. Elizabeth was then betrothed to Don Carlos, Infant of Spain; and though they were mutually attached to each other, she was compelled, in spite of her repugnance, to marry his father, Philip the Second, who became a widower by the death of his wife Mary. Don Carlos never forgave this injury; and having ex-
