Extinguished in the south, it burnt, for the last time, in the north, and in the breast of a king.

Gustavus III.

had in his policy something of the adventurous genius of Charles XII., for the Sweden of the race of Wasa is the land of heroes.

Heroism, when disproportioned to genius and its resources, resembles folly: there was a mixture of heroism and folly in the projects of Gustavus against France; and yet this folly was noble, as its cause--and great, as his own courage.

Fortune had accustomed Gustavus to desperate and bold enterprises; and success had taught him to believe nothing impossible.
Twice he had made a revolution in his kingdom, twice he had striven single-handed against the gigantic power of Russia, and had he been seconded by Prussia, Austria, and Turkey, Russia would have found a rampart against her in the north.