Had he lived would he too have bent the knee around the imperial throne? Probably not. Would he like Moreau have lent his sword to the enemies of France? That is still less probable. The French are apt to say that if Hoche had survived there would have been no empire, no emperor; but might there not have been something worse: France divided into two hostile camps under two great captains? The renown of Hoche pales necessarily in the presence of that of his great rival, just as the renown of Hampden pales in presence of that of Cromwell; but as men and as patriots Hampden and Hoche were purer and nobler than their rivals. The former were ambitious for their country, the latter for themselves. It is a satisfaction to add in conclusion, that in those impious years of the revolution, when Christian worship was neglected and at times proscribed, and a mummery in honor or dishonor of Reason and Human Nature substituted, Hoche did not share in the prevailing misbelief. He writes to a friend that he had been piously taught in his childhood, and that he still believes and reveres the religion of Jesus Christ. * * * * * One of the large war-steamers recently built by the French, is named the HOCHE. An Interesting Ancestor of Queen Victoria In the fourteenth century the Spanish peninsula was divided into five kingdoms: four Christian and one Mahometan or Mohametan or Mohamedan. The reader will take his choice. Wars were constant between the two faiths. This was a blessing, at least for the Christians, for if they had not been kept always shoulder to shoulder against the Moor, they would have been less usefully busy cutting each other’s throats. Nobody in the middle ages abstained from the vice of fighting. Bishops in panoply led their flocks to battle, and even a century later than the epoch of my story, one pope Julius II., whenever spiritual weapons failed him, which was often, seized the carnal, and showed himself one of the stoutest combatants in Europe. On the throne of Castile sat Alphonzo XI. an able monarch. He was at the head of the Christian confederacy and commanded at the battle of the Rio Salado where the Moors suffered a great defeat. Alphonzo had married Dona Maria of Portugal a woman of harsh and gloomy temper whom he did not love. His affections were wholly bestowed upon Leonora de Gusman a lady of beauty and intelligence, belonging to the higher nobility. His queen nevertheless brought him one son, Don Pedro who is known in history as Pedro-the-cruel or Peter-the-cruel. It is he who is the chief subject of this paper. By Leonora, Alphonzo had several children of whom the eldest or rather the first born, for he had a twin brother, was Don Enrique or Henry. Henry was his father’s favorite. He conferred upon him the estates of Trastamara with the title of count, and he is known as Henry of Trastamara. These two princes Don Pedro and Don Henry both grew up brave, energetic and capable.