especially upon the twenty-fifth anniversary as king of Sweden.

Oscar I, his son, was forty-five years of age at the death of his
father. He did not possess his father's brilliant genius or power of
personal influence, but was fondly devoted to the fine arts, himself a
talented painter and composer. He was a hard worker, and also fond
of the pleasures of life. His health was injured through illness, in
1857, and he never recovered. The premature death of his second
son, Prince Gustavus, a talented composer and highly popular, had
a disastrous effect on him, and he died July 8, 1859, after a long
illness, beloved by the two nations who, during his reign, had enjoyed
the happiest epoch of their history.

It was during the reign of the late king, Oscar II, that Sweden
attained her greatest prosperity and made most progress. Oscar II,
brother of his predecessor, ascended the throne at a moment when
universal peace was restored after the great conflict between France
and Germany, and when an age of commercial prosperity for Sweden
seemed to have begun. King Oscar had received the same superior
education as his older brothers, was as brilliantly gifted as they,
and of a more scholarly mind. As a writer on scientific subjects,
a poet, and an orator, Oscar II distinguished himself before his
succession to the throne, and still he did not find it easy to gain
the love and admiration of the Swedish people, of which he was so
eminently worthy. He was the successor of one of the most popular
rulers the country ever saw, and, though appreciation came slowly,
he lived to see his own popularity almost outrival that of his
predecessor. During the last years of his life he was considered the
most learned and popular of the monarchs of Europe.