of twelve millions of
imperial florins. The emperor, regarding the invasion of Saxony as an
insult to the empire, roused the States of Germany to cooeperate with the
queen. Europe was again ablaze with war.

It was indeed a fearful combination now prepared to make a rush upon the
King of Prussia. France had assembled eighty thousand men on the Rhine.
The Swedes were rallying in great numbers on the frontiers of Pomerania.
The Russians had concentrated an army sixty thousand strong on the
borders of Livonia. And the Queen of Austria had one hundred and fifty
thousand men on the march, through Hungary and Bohemia, to the frontiers
of Silesia. Frederic, with an eagle eye, was watching all these
movements, and was employing all his amazing energies to meet the
crisis. He resolved to have the advantage of striking the first blow,
and adopted the bold measure of marching directly into the heart of the
Austrian States. To deceive the allies he pretended to be very much
frightened, and by breaking down bridges and establishing fortresses
seemed intent upon merely presenting a desperate defense behind his
ramparts.

Suddenly, in three strong, dense columns, Frederic burst into Bohemia
and advanced, with rapid and resistless strides, towards Prague. The
unprepared Austrian bands were driven before these impetuous assailants
as chaff is dispersed by the whirlwind. With great precipitation the
Austrian troops, from all quarters, fled to the city of Prague and
rallied beneath its walls. Seventy thousand men were soon collected,
strongly intrenched behind ramparts, thrown up outside of the city, from
which ramparts, in case of disaster, they could retire behind the walls
and into the citadel.

The king, with his army, came rushing on like the sweep of the tornado,
and plunged, as a thunderbolt of war, into the camp of the Austrians.
For a few hours the battle blazed as if it were a strife of demons--hell
in high carnival. Eighteen thousand Prussians were mowed down by the
Austrian batteries, before the fierce assailants could scale the
ramparts. Then, with cimeter and bayonet, they took a bloody revenge.
Eight thousand Austrians were speedily weltering in blood. The shriek of
the battle penetrated all the dwellings in Prague, appalling every ear,
like a wail from the world of woe. The routed Austrians, leaving nine
thousand prisoners, in the hands of Frederic, rushed through the gates
into the city, while a storm of shot from the