b o o k Dame at Paris. It -has feveral times been greatly damaged ;
. V| ' , by fire, but has been as frequently repaired.
Upon entering the cathedral I beheld with the- greateft
reverence, and even a degree o f enthufiaftick admiration,,
the fepulchre which covers the venerable allies of Guftavus
Vafa ; it ftands in a private chapel, and is an oblong monument
o f marble, with wooden pyramids at each angle * : his
figure is reprefented in marble between thofe o f his two firft
wives Catharine and Margaret, whofe remains ate interred
in the fame tomb.
Born in a private ftation, and bred in the fchool o f adver-
lity , Guftavus obtained and deferved a croWn by the firft of
all titles, the gratitude o f his countrymen, for a fériés of long
and faithful fervices. Sweden was- indebted to him for her
deliverance from a foreign yoke, and from the oppreffions of
à tyrant, for the abolition o f an elective, and the eftablilh-
ment of an hereditary monarchy, and for the introdudlion of
the proteftant religion.
An infcription upon fhe tomb informs us, that Guftavus
was born in 1490, chofen adminiftrator o f Sweden 1520,
eledted king 1523, crowned 1328, and that he died 1560
in the 7 oth year of his age, and in the 40th o f a glorious
reign. Equally great iii the publick charadters of
a legifiator, warrior, and politician, he diftinguiihed him-
felf in every ftation o f life;, whether we eonfider his
cool intrepidity and enterprizing fpirit, his honeft integrity
and political forefight, his talents for legiüation, his pro-
penfity to letters, and encouragement o f learning, his affability
to the loweft ranks, and hiss folid and enlightened
piety. A ll his great qualities, fet off by a m a je ft ic k
* T h e r e were fo n t pyramids j b u t one h a vin g fallen down* th e r e are o n ly three
remakiing*
and
and graceful perfon, and ftill further heightened'by the moft CHAP-
commanding eloquence, drew the efteem and admiration o f
a ll; fo that it may be juftly faid o f him, that the moil arbitrary
monarch never exercifed a more unbounded fway over
his vaffals, than Guftavus poflefled from the voluntary af-
fedlion o f his free-born fubjedts. In a word, he was a fove-
reign who was efteemed by foreigners no lefs than by his
own people, by contemporaries as well as by pofterky, one
of the wifeil and beft that ever adorned a throne. Befide
feveral infcriptions, and a Latin epitaph in Hexameter verfe,
two genealogical tables are engraved upon the tomb, which
trace his lineage from the antient princes o f the North : as i f
his great virtues did notrefledt, rather than borrow, luftre
upon the moft confpicuous anceftry. Guftavus is the father
o f a line o f kings, called from him the Houle o f Vafa, whole
pofterity, as enumerated in the following table, ftill fways
the Swedilh Tceptre.
V ol. XL F f f Genea