Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/674

 Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI.; usurpation of Lady Jane Grey.

Mary I., Elizabeth; the crown passed to the House of Stuart.

James I., Charles I.; Revolution.

Charles II., James II.; invasion of William of Orange.

William of Orange and Mary II., Anne; arrival of the House of Brunswick.

George I., George II., George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria. The law has proved faulty in the last case; but certainly there was a crisis in the reign of George IV.

The number 88 seems to have been fatal to the House of Stuart, and the date September 3, had influence on the fortunes of Oliver Cromwell.

Robert II., the first Stuart king, died in 1388, James II. was killed at the siege of Roxburgh in 1488, Mary Stuart was beheaded in 1588 (new style), James II. dethroned in 1688, Charles Edward died in 1788, and with him the last hopes of the Jacobites. Oliver Cromwell was born September 3, 1599, won the battle of Dunbar September 3, 1650, that of Worcester September 3, 1651, and died September 3, 1658.

As I am on the subject of the English princes, I will add another singular coincidence, though it has nothing to do with the fatality of numbers.

It is that Saturday has been a day of ill omen to the later kings.

William of Orange died Saturday 18th March, 1702.

Anne died Saturday 1st August, 1704.

George I. died Saturday 10th June, 1727.

George II. died Saturday 25th October, 1760.

George III. died Saturday 30th January, 1820.

George IV. died Saturday 26th June, 1830.