tifing in a long fucceffion of years to an immenfe amount, and procured by every fpecies of rapine and extortion. And thus the new monarch, who had fought for refuge from the tyrannic jealousy of his father in the fhades of retirement, and who had ftrongly excited the attention of Europe, by an uncommon display of talents even in that obscure and fequeftered retreat, now found himfelf in a condition to undertake the boldeft defigns which intereft or ambition. could fuggeft. The elector of Bavaria refufed to acknowledge the title of the queen of Hungary, alleging that the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia belonged to him, in virtue of an ancient compact, as the rightful heir of the em peror Ferdinand I. The king of Poland, as elector of Saxony, unmindful of his obligations to the late emperor, claimed the whole Auftrian fucceffion in right of his mother, daughter of the emperor Jofeph. And France, refolving to embrace the favorable moment for which she had long and anxiously waited, to abafe the pride and annihilate the power of her ancient rival, entered into engagements with the elector of Bavaria, with a view to elevate this princé to the imperial throne, and to enable him, in concert with the houses of Brandenburg and Saxony, to feize and divide the Germanic dominions of the houfe of Auftria; the object of the confederacy being to confine the power of the queen of Hungary within the narrow limits of that remote kingdom. Spain alfo, defirous of a fhare of the spoils, boldly advanced her pretenfions to the Italian dominions of Auftria and the queen of Spain, heirefs of the house of Farnefe, a woman of daring ambition, who gloried, like Catherine of Medicis, in ftyling herself the Mother of Kings, entertained the project of erecting thefe dominions into a monarchy, under the title of the kingdom of Lombardy, in favor of her youngest fon the infant don Philip, brother to don Carlos king of the Sicilies, who also became a willing party in this formidable confederacy againit the imperial

house;

houfe; in the géneral wreck of which, the Auftrian Netherlands were allotted to France. The treaty of Nymphen burg was concluded in the spring of 1741, between France and Bavaria--a powerful army under marefchal Maillebois marched at the fame time into Weftphalia, in order to overawe the electorate of Hanover. And the king of England, then at Hanover, thought proper to countermand the march of the Danes and Heffians in the pay of Great Britain, who had received orders to advance to the relief of the queen of Hungary, and to fign a treaty of neutrality for that electorate, as the purchase of which he engaged to vote for the elector of Bavaria at the enfuing election of an emperor ; although this great conceffion, by which the imperial diadem was in appearance, and probability, for ever transferred from the house of Auftria to that of Bavaria, was obviously and utterly irreconcileable with the general policy of England, which had for a long series of years confidered the power of the Auftrian family as the only effectual counterbalance to that of the houfe of Bourbon.

In July 1741, the elector of Bavaria being joined by the French forces under marefchal Broglio, entered the' arch-duchy of Auftria at the head of 70,000 men, and captured the important cities of Lintz and Paffau. But understanding that Vienna was strongly fortified and garrisoned, he determined to direct his march to Bohemia; and Prague furrendering after a fhort refiftance, the elector made his public entry into that capital, where he was proclaimed king of Bohemia, and inaugurated with the ufual folemnities. Notwithstanding this fuccefs, the elector has been accufed of egregious indifcretion, in suffering his attention to be di verted from the fiege of Vienna, the conqueft of which, exclufive of the luftre it would have reflected upon the confederate arms, must have materially obftructed the commu nication between the Germanic and Hungarian territories of the queen; and in its confequences would probably have proved

8 2

proved decifive. Nothing, however, had as yet interrupted the tide of his profperity.

The diet of the empire being convened at Francfort on the Maine, the elector was unanimously chofen emperor of the Romans, February 1742, by the name of Charles VII. and a fubfidy of fifty Roman months granted him to defray. the expenfes of the war. Reduced to the loweft external ebb of misfortune, Maria Therefa retired to the mountainous receffes of Hungary, and, affembling the states of that kingdom at Prefburg, made in perfon an eloquent and affecting speech, in which the declared "that the placed her fole reliance upon their courage, fidelity, and attachment: and holding up to their view the infant prince whom she bore in her arms, conjured them to protect and defend the facred depofit which the had entrusted to their care, and to fhew in this crifis of danger, by the generous ardor of their loyalty, the affection and reverence which they entertained for the blood of their ancient monarchs." Moved by this uncommon fpectacle of imperial beauty in distress, and fired by the charms of her perfon no less than the energy of her fupplication; this rude but gallant people, drawing fuddenly their fabres, replied with loud acclamations, "MORIAMUR PRO REGE NOSTRO MARIA THERESA !" In confequence of the powerful aid the derived from the zeal of her Hungarian subjects, affairs foon began to wear a more favorable aspect.

Early in the spring, 1742, the Austrian general, count Khevenhuller, whose military talents entitle him to rank with the greatest commanders, forcing the paffes of Scardingen, marched into the electorate of Bavaria, ravaged the whole country, and made himself master of Munich the capital. Prince Charles of Lorraine, who had married the arch-duchefs Marianne, fifter to the queen of Hungary, entered

* In the Latin tongue, which is familiar to the Polish and Hungarian. nobility.

entered Silefia at the head of 50,000 men, in order to oppose the progrefs of the Pruffian arms. After two fierce encounters at Molwitz and Czaflaw, in both of which the Pruffians had the advantage, a peace was concluded through the mediation of England at Breslau, June 1742; by which the entire province of Silefia, the most fertile, rich, and populous, in the whole extent of the Austrian dominions, was ceded to Pruffia. Such was the exultation of his Pruffian majefty at the conclufion of this treaty, the advantages of which so far exceeded his moft fanguine hopes and utmost demands at the commencement of the war, that he is faid to have declared himself willing to facrifice his right hand, to insure the perpetual and faithful observance of it.*

In September following an accommodation alfo took place with Saxony, at the expense of fome inconfiderable districts ceded to the king of Poland. The prince of Lorraine, now advancing into Bohemia, found that the French forces, under the marefchals Broglio and Belleifle, had abandoned their conquefts on being themselves abandoned by their allies, and had now retired under the cannon of Prague, which was immediately invefted by the Auftrians: and the fiege being prolonged for many months, the French garrifon was reduced to difficulties, which the most invincible refolution only could have sustained. The Auftrians, fuppofing that they must finally furrender at difcretion, refused to liften to terms of capitulation; but, by an extraordinary effort of military skill and courage, the French

The queen of Hungary, little aware of the extent of the combination against her, had not only rejected with haughtiness the propofals of the king of Pruffia, but had formed a project, as was univerfally believed, with the approbation of the court of London, for a partition of his dominions; in which the duchy of Magdeburg was allotted to the king of Englandthe knowledge of which induced his Pruffian majesty to conclude that alliance with France, by which the very existence of the house of Austria feemed at one time to be endangered.

French generals forced a paffage through the Austrian army, and in the depth of winter made their retreat good to Alface; eluding, by the fecrefy and rapidity of their marches, all attempts to intercept them. The emperor, being reduced in his turn to the extremity of diftrefs, retired to Francfort, where he chiefly refided during the short and wretched remainder of his life, in a state of exile and indigence. In this deftitute and forlorn fituation, however, this prince thought fit to issue a commifforial decree against the queen of Hungary, couched in terms which the pride and grandeur of Aurelian in the midst of his triumphs over Zenobia scarcely had exceeded. Referring to a former decree addressed to the imperial diet assembled at Francfort, and complaining of the infult and outrage offered to the whole ROMAN EMPIRE, by the grand duchefs of Tuscany, in her refusal to acknowledge his dignity and the validity of his election, he fays, "that he had moft graciously required of that assembly with most resplendent moderation, how and after what manner the most high imperial dignity might be fuftained-and declaring, from the fulness of imperial power, inadmiffible and null, and utterly cancelling and rendering void the two proteftations of the court of Vienna, of September in the preceding and July in the present year, as injurious in the highest degree to the majefty and fupreme dignity of the EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS and the grandeur of the whole ROMAN EMPIRE."

On the fide of Italy, the Spaniards, in order to carry their magnificent projects into effect, had affembled, in conjunction with the Neapolitans, an army of 60,000 men

at

AURELIANUS Imperator Romanæ Orbis ZENOBIA.

Spontè facere debuiftis id quod meis literis nunc jubetur. Deditionem præcipio impunitate vitæ propofita, ita ut illic, Zenobia, cum tuis`agas vitam ubi te ex Senatûs ampliffimi fententia collocavero. Gemmas, argen - um, aurum, fericum, equos, camelos in ærarium Romanum conferas. Pal myrenis jus fuum fervabitur.