Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 20.djvu/42

 his court, took him even for a person of mean capacity, and represented him as such to their respective masters. The Swedes entertained the same opinion of him: nobody knew his real character: he did not even know it himself, until the storm that suddenly arose in the North gave him an opportunity of displaying his great talents, which had hitherto lain concealed.

Three powerful princes, taking the advantage of his youth, conspired his ruin almost at the same time. The first was his own cousin, Frederick IV., King of Denmark: the second Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland: Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, was the third, and the most dangerous. It will be necessary to unfold the origin of these wars, which produced such great events: and to begin with Denmark.

Of the two sisters of Charles XII. the eldest was married to the Duke of Holstein, a young prince of an undaunted spirit and of a gentle disposition. The duke, oppressed by the King of Denmark, repaired to Stockholm with his spouse, and throwing himself into the arms of the king, earnestly implored his assistance. This he hoped to obtain, as Charles was not only his brother-in-law, but was likewise the sovereign of a people who bore an irreconcilable hatred to the Danes.

The ancient house of Holstein, sunk into that of Oldenburg, had been advanced by election to the throne of Denmark in 1449. All the kingdoms of the North were at that time elective; but the kingdom of Denmark soon after became hereditary.