son with the utmost recklessness. Two horses
were shot beneath him; several musket balls pierced his clothes; he was
slightly wounded, and was rescued from the foe only by the almost
superhuman exertions of his hussars. In the darkness of the night the
Prussians secured their retreat.

We have mentioned that at first Frederic seemed to have gained the
victory. So sanguine was he then of success that he dispatched a courier
from the field, with the following billet to the queen at Berlin:--

"We have driven the enemy from their intrenchments; in two hours expect
to hear of a glorious victory."

Hardly two hours had elapsed ere another courier was sent to the queen
with the following appalling message:--

"Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried
to Potsdam, and the capital make conditions with the enemy."

In this terrible battle the enemy lost so fearfully that no effort was
made to pursue Frederic. Disaster never disheartened the Prussian king.
It seemed but to rouse anew his energies. With amazing vigor he rallied
his scattered forces, and called in reenforcements. The gold of England
was at his disposal; he dismantled distant fortresses and brought their
cannon into the field, and in a few days was at the head of twenty-eight
thousand men, beneath the walls of his capital, ready again to face the
foe.

The thunderings of battle continued week after week, in unintermitted
roar throughout nearly all of Germany. Winter again came. Frederic had
suffered awfully during the campaign, but was still unsubdued. The
warfare was protracted even into the middle of the winter. The soldiers,
in the fields, wading through snow a foot deep, suffered more from
famine, frost and sickness than from the bullet of the foe. In the
Austrian army four thousand died, in sixteen days of December, from the
inclemency of the weather. Thus terminated the campaign of 1759.

CHAPTER XXX.

MARIA THERESA.

From 1759 to 1780.

Desolations of War.--Disasters of Prussia.--Despondency of Frederic.--
Death of the Empress Elizabeth.--Accession of Paul III.--Assassination
of Paul III.--Accession of Catharine.--Discomfiture of the Austrians.--
Treaty of Peace.--Election of Joseph to the Throne of the Empire.--Death
of Francis.--Character of Francis.--Anecdotes.--Energy of Maria
Theresa.--Poniatowski.--Partition of Poland.--Maria Theresa as a
Mother.--War With Bavaria.--Peace.--Death of Maria Theresa.--Family of