m he had treated with great brutality,
and Paul III. lost both his crown and his life, in July 1762, after a
reign of less than six months.

Catharine II., wife of Paul III., with a bloody hand took the crown from
the brow of her murdered husband and placed it upon her own head. She
immediately dissolved the Prussian alliance, declared Frederic an enemy
to the Prussian name, and ordered her troops, in cooeperation with those
of Austria, to resume hostilities against Frederic. It was an
instantaneous change, confounding all the projects of man. The energetic
Prussian king, before the Russian troops had time so to change their
positions as to cooeperate with the Austrians, assailed the troops of
Maria Theresa with such impetuosity as to drive them out of Silesia.
Pursuing his advantage Frederic overran Saxony, and then turning into
Bohemia, drove the Austrians before him to the walls of Prague.
Influenced by these disasters and other considerations, Catharine
decided to retire from the contest. At the same time the Turks, excited
by Frederic, commenced anew their invasion of Hungary. Maria Theresa was
in dismay. Her money was gone. Her allies were dropping from her. The
Turks were advancing triumphantly up the Danube, and Frederic was
enriching himself with the spoils of Saxony and Bohemia. Influenced by
these considerations she made overtures for peace, consenting to
renounce Silesia, for the recovery of which province she had in vain
caused Europe to be desolated with blood for so many years. A treaty of
peace was soon signed, Frederic agreeing to evacuate Saxony; and thus
terminated the bloody Seven Years' War.

Maria Theresa's eldest son Joseph was now twenty-three years of age. Her
influence and that of the Emperor Francis was such, that they secured
his election to succeed to the throne of the empire upon the death of
his father. The emperor elect received the title of King of the Romans.
The important election took place at Frankfort, on the 27th of May,
1764. The health of the Emperor Francis I., had for some time been
precarious, he being threatened with apoplexy. Three months after the
election of his son to succeed him upon the imperial throne, Francis was
at Inspruck in the Tyrol, to attend the nuptials of his second son
Leopold, with Maria Louisa, infanta of Spain. He was feeble and
dejected, and longed to return to his home in Vienna. He imagined that
the bracing air of the Tyrol did not agree with his heal