only friend. This obstinacy gave a colour for the king of Prussia to invade Bohemia, under pretence of supporting the imperial dignity; but though he took Prague, and subdued the greatest part of the kingdom, he was not supported by the French: upon which he abandoned all his conquests, and retired to Silesia. This event confirmed the obstinacy of the queen of Hungary, who came to an accommodation with the em peror, that she might recover Silesia. Soon after, his imperial majesty, in the beginning of the year 1745, died; and the duke of Lorraine, then grand-duke of Tuscany, consort to her Hungarian majesty, after surmounting some difficulties, was chosen einperor, by the title of Francis I.

The bad success of the allies against the French and Bavarians in the Low Countries, and the loss of the battle of Fontenoy, retarded the operations of the empress-queen against his Prussian majesty. The latter beat the emperor's brother, prince Charles of Lorraine, who had before driven the Prussians out of Bohemia; and the conduct of the empress-queen was such, that his Britannic majesty thought proper to guaranty to him the possession of Silesia, as ceded by treaty. Soon after, his Prussian majesty pretended that he had discovered a secret convention which had been entered into between the empress-queen, the empress of Russia, and the king of Poland, as elector of Saxony, to strip him of his dominions, and to divide them among themselves. Upon this he suddenly attacked the king of Poland, drove him out of Saxony, defeated his trooqs, and took possession of Dresden, which he held till a treaty was made under the mediation of his Britannic majesty, by which the king of Prussia acknowledged the duke of Lorraine, now become great duke of Tuscany, for emperor. The war continued in the Low Countries, not only to the disadvantage but to the discredit of the Austrians and Dutch, till it was finished by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in April 1748. By that treaty, Silesia was once more guarantied to the king of Prussia. It was not long before that monarch's jealousies were renewed and verified; and the empress of Russia's views falling in with those of the empress-queen and the king of Poland, who were unnaturally supported by France in their new schemes, a fresh war was kindled in the empire, in the year 1756. The king of Prussia declared against the admission of the Russians into Germany, and his Britannic majesty against that of the French. Upon those two principles, all former differences between these monarchs were forgotten, and the British Parliament agreed to pay an annual subsidy of 670,000l. to his Prussian majesty during the continuance of the war, the flames of which were now re-kindled with more fury than ever.

His Prussian majesty once more broke into Saxony, defeated the imperial general Brown, at the battle of Lowositz, forced the Saxons to lay down their arms, though almost impregnably fortified at Pirna; and the elector of Saxony again fled to his regal dominions in Poland. After this, his Prussian majesty was put to the ban of the empire; and the French poured, by one quarter, their armies, as the Russians did by another, into Germany. The conduct of his Prussian majesty on this occasion is scarcely to be paralleled in history. He broke once more into Bohemia with inconceivable rapidity, and defeated an army of 100,000 Austrians, under general Brown, who was killed, as tl brave marshal Schwerin was on the side of the Prussians. He then besieged Prague, and plied it with a most tremendous artillery; but, just as he was beginning to imagine that his troops were invincible, they were defeated at Colin, by the Austrian general Daun, obliged to raise the siege, and to fall back upon Eisenach. The operations of the war now multiplied every day. The imperialists,

under count Daun, were formed into excellent troops; but they were beaten at the battle of Lissa, and the Prussians took Breslau, and obtained many other great advantages. The Russians, after entering Germany, gave a new turn to the aspect of the war; and the cautious yet enterprising genius of count Daun, laid his Prussian majesty under infinite difficulties, notwithstanding all his amazing victories. At first he defeated the Russians at Zorndorf; but an attack made upon his army, in the night time, by count Daun at Hochkirchen, had nearly proved fatal to his affairs, though he retrieved them with admirable presence of mind. He was obliged, however, to sacrifice Saxony, for the safety of Silesia; and it has been observed, that few periods of history afford such room for reflection as this campaign did: six sieges were raised almost at the same time: that of Colberg, by the Russians; that of Leipsic, by the duke of Deux Ponts, who commanded the army of the empire; that of Dresden, by count Daun; and those of Neiss, Cosel, and Torgau, also by the Austrians.

Many important events which passed at the same time in Germany, between the French who were driven out of Hanover, and the English, or their allies, must be omitted on account of the brevity necessary to be observed in this compendium. The operations on both sides are of little importance to history, because nothing was done that was decisive, though the war was extremely burdensome and bloody to Great Britain. Great was the ingratitude of the empress-queen to his Britannic majesty and his allies, who were now daily threatened with the ban of the empire. The Russians had taken possession of the kingdom of Prussia, and laid siege to Colberg, the only port of his Prussian majesty in the Baltic. Till then he had entertained too mean an opinion of the Russians; but he soon found them by far the most formidable enemies he had. They advanced under count Soltikoff, in a body of 100,000 men, to Silesia. In this distress he acted with a courage and resolution that bordered upon despair; but was, at last, totally defeated by the Russians, with the loss of 20,000 of his best men, in a battle near Frankfort. He became now the tennis-ball of fortune. Succeeding defeats seemed to announce his ruin, and all avenues towards peace were shut up. He had lost since the first of October, 1756, the brave marshal Keith, and forty brave generals, besides those who were wounded and made prisoners. At Landschut, the inperial general Laudohn defeated his army under Fouquet, on which he Iad great dependence, and thereby opened to the Austrians an easy passage into Silesia. None but his Prussian majesty would have thought of continuing the war under such repeated losses; but every defeat he received seemed to give him fresh spirits. It is not, perhaps, very easy to account for the inactivity of his enemies after his defeat near Frankfort, but by the jealousy which the imperial generals entertained of their Russian allies. They had taken Berlin, and laid the inhabitants under pecuniary contri. butions; but towards the end of the campaign he defeated the imperialists in the battle of Torgau, in which count Daun was wounded. This was the best fought action the king of Prussia had ever been engaged in ; but it cost him 10,000 of his best troops, and was attended with no great consequences in his favour. New re-inforcements which arrived every day from Russia, the taking of berg by the Russians, and of Schweidnitz by the Austrians, seemed almost to have completed his ruin, when his most formidable enemy, the empress of Russia, died, January 5, 1762. George II. had died on the 25th of October, 1760.

The deaths of those illustrious personages were followed by great consequences. The British ministry of George HI. were solicitous to put an

1

end to the war, and the new emperor of Russia recalled his armies. His Prussian majesty was, notwithstanding, so very much reduced by his losses, that the empress-queen, probably, would have completed his destruction, had it not been for the prudent reluctance of the other German priuces to annihilate the House of Brandenburg. At first the empressqueen rejected all terms proposed to her, and ordered 30,000 men to be added to her armies. The visible unwillingness of her generals to execute her orders, and the successes obtained by his Prussian majesty, at last prevailed upon her to agree to an armistice, which was soon followed by the treaty of Hubertsburg, February 15, 1763, which again secured to his Prussian majesty the possession of Silesia.

Upon the death of the emperor, her husband, in 1765, her son Joseph, who had been crowned king of the Romans in 1764, succeeded him in the empire. Soon after his accession he discovered great activity and ambition. He joined in the dismemberment of Poland with Russia and Prussia. He paid a visit incognito, and with moderate attendants, to Rome, and the principal courts of Italy; and had a personal interview with his Prussian majesty, though this did not prevent hostilities from being commenced between Austria and Prussia, on account of the succession to the electorate of Bavaria. The Austrian claims on this occasion were very unjust; but, in the support of them, while the contest continued, the emperor displayed great military skill. Though vast armies were brought into the field on both sides, no action happened of much importance, and an accommodation at length took place. The emperor afterwards demanded of the Dutch the free navigation of the Scheldt, but in this he likewise failed. He endeavoured, however, to promote the happiness of his subjects, granted a most liberal religious toleration, and suppressed most of the religious orders of both sexes, as being utterly useless, and even pernicious to society; and in 1785, by an edict, abolished the remains of servitude and villanage, and fixed also the fees of the lawyers at a moderate amount, granting them a pension in lieu. He also abolished the use of torture in his hereditary dominions, and removed many of the grievances under which the peasants and common people laboured. He was a prince that mixed with his subjects with an case and affability that are very uncommon in persons of his rank. He loved the conversation of ingenious men, and appeared solicitous to cultivate knowledge.

Peter Leopold, grand duke of Tuscany, succeeded his brother Joseph II. and engaged the public praise by repeated instances of moderation and solid principles. His former management of his Italian sovereignty, which was prudent and beneficent, showed that he aspired to truer reputation than can be acquired by the mere splendors of royalty. One of the bishops of Hungary having refused his licence to a a catholic subject to marry a protestant woman, the emperor dismissed him from his see; but pardoned him afterwards upon concession, and desired the bishop to exhort his brethren to comply with the imperial ordinances, else no favour should be shewn.

The French revolution now attracted the attention of the powers of Europe. A conference was held at Pilnitz, between the emperor, the king of Prussia, and the elector of Saxony, at which the plan of attacking France was proposed and discussed. Leopold for some time was very irresolute, but at last seemed to be resolved on war, when he died of a pleuritic fever, on the first of March, 1792, after an illness of four days.

July following, He embraced the politics of his predecessor, and embarked with zeal in the political crusade against France. The disastrous consequences of this war to the House of Austria, the disgraceful treaty by which it was for a short time intermitted, its re-commencement, and the recent successes of the imperial arms, have been related in our account of the affairs of France..

Francis Joseph-Charles, emperor of Germany, and grand-duke of Tuscany. He was born Feb. 3, 1768; married, Jan. 6, 1788, Elizabeth, princess of Wurtemburg, who died 1790. He married 2dly, Sept. 1790, Maria Theresa, of Naples, his cousin..

On the death of his father Peter-Leopold, late emperor, March 1st, 1792, he succeeded to the crown of Hungary and Bohemia; and July 14, 1792, was elected emperor of Germany.

He had no issue by his first marriage. By the latter he has a daugh ter, Maria-Theresa, born Dec. 12, 1791.

The late emperor Peter-Leopold had 15 children, the eldest of whom, is the present emperor; the others are,

Ferdinand-Joseph, born May 5, 1769; married, Sept. 17, 1790, Maria-Amelia of Naples.

Charles-Lewis, born Sept. 3, 1771.

Alexander-Leopold-Joseph, born Aug. 1, 1772.
Maximilian, born Dec. 23, 1774; died May 9, 1778.

Joseph-Antony, born May 9, 1776.

Antony-Victor, born Aug. 31, 1779.
A son, born Jan. 20, 1782.

Reguier-Jerom, born Sept. 30, 1783.

Theresa-Josepha-Charlotta Jane, born Jan. 14, 1767. Maria, born Jan. 14, 1767; married Oct. 18, 1787, Antony, brother to the elector of Saxony.

Mary-Ann-Ferdinanda Josepha, born April 21, 1770.
Mary-Clementina Josepha, born April 24, 1777; married, Sept.
1790, Francis-Januarius, prince-royal of Naples.
Maria-Josepha-Theresa, born Oct. 15, 1780.

A princess, born Oct. 22, 1784.
Maria-Antoinetta, born and died 1786.

The late emperor has, living, two sisters, and one brother unmarried.
Those married are,

Maria-Christiana-Josepha, born May 13, 1742; married April 8, 1760, to prince Albert of Saxony.

Maria-Amelia-Josepha, born Feb. 26, 1746; married to the reigning duke of Parma, June 27, 1769.

Ferdinand-Charles-Antoine, born June 1, 1754; married to the princess Maria-Beatrice of Modena, and has issue.

Mary-Caroline-Louisa, born Aug. 13, 1752; inarried April 7, 1768, to the king of the Two Sicilies.

ELECTORS.] Three ecclesiastical electors, called Electoral Highnesses; and five secular ones, Most Serene Electoral Highnesses. ECCLESIASTICAL ELECTORS.] 1. Frederic-Charles-Joseph, baron of Erthal, archbishop and elector of Ments, born July 8, 1774.

2. Prince Clement of Saxony (son of Augustus III. king of Poland), born Sept. 28, 1739; archbishop and elector of Treves, Feb. 10, 1768; also bishop of Treisingen and Augsburg, by dispensation from the pope.

3. Maximilian Francis, brother to the late emperor, grand-master of the Teutonic order, archbishop and elector of Cologne, and bishop of Munster, born Dec. 8, 1756.

SECULAR ELECTORS.]

1. Francis-Joseph-Charles, emperor of

Germany, king of Hungary, Bohemia, &c. born Feb. 3, 1768.

2. Frederic-Augustus IV. elector and Duke of Saxony, born Dec. 23, 1750; married, Jan. 17, 1769, to the princess Amelia-Augusta of Deux Ponts.

3. Charles-Frederic, elector and Marquis of Brandenburg.

4. The prince of Deux Ponts, elector Palatine, &c.

5. George III. king of Great Britain, elector of Hanover, &c. SAXE-GOTHA.] Ernest Lewis, duke of, nephew to the late princess dowager of Wales, born Jan. 30, 1745; married, May 21, 1769, to Maria-Charlotte of Saxe-Meningen, by whom he has,

1. Ernest, born 27, 1770.

2. Emilius Leopold, born Nov. 24, 1772.

3. His brother Augustus, born Aug. 14, 1747.

MECKLENBURG.] The house of Mecklenburg is divided into two branches, viz.

I. Mecklenburg Schwerin.-Frederic, reigning duke, born Nov. 9, 1717; married, in 1746, Louisa-Frederica, daughter of Frederic-Louis, hereditary prince of Wurtemburg Stutgard, born Feb. 3, 1722; they have no issue.-Issue of the late prince Louis, by the princess Charlotte-Sophia, of Saxe-Coburg-Staelfield.

Frederic-Francis, born Dec. 10, 1757.

Princess Ulrica-Sophia, sister to the reigning duke, born July 1, 1723, governess of the convent of Ruhne.

II. Mecklenburg Strelitz.-Adolphus Frederic, reigning duke (knight of the garter), born May 5, 1738.-His brothers and sisters are,

1. Charles-Louis-Frederic, a lieut.-general in the Hanoverian service, born Oct. 10, 1741; married, Sept. 18, 1768, to Frederica-CharlotteLouisa, of Hesse Darmstadt, by whom he had issue,

1. Carolina Georgina-Louisa-Frederica, born Nov. 17, 1769.

2. Theresa Matilda-Amelia, born April 5, 1778.

3. Ernest-Gotleb-Albert, major-general in the Hanoverian service, and governor of Zell, born Aug. 7, 1742.

4. Christiana Sophia-Albertina, born Dec. 6, 1735.

5. Charlotte, queen consort of Great-Britain, born May 19, 1744; married Sept. 8, 1761; crowned Sept. 22, 1761.

THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA, FORMERLY DUCAL PRUSSIA.

Lat. 52° 40'-to 55° 50 N.
Long. 10° 00'-to 23° 23′ E.

Containing 22,144 square miles, with 67 inhabitants in each.-The whole dominions 60,000 square miles, with 104 inhabitants to each.

SITUATION, BOUNDARIES,

AND EXTENT.

THIS country is bounded to the
North, by part of Samogitia; to

the South, by Poland Proper, and Masovia; to the East, by part of Li

thuania;

and to the West, by Polish Prussia and the Baltic. Its greatest