owder. Augustus III and Bruhl fled with such
precipitation that the secret archives were found by Frederick at
Dresden.

The Electress vainly strove to defend them by placing herself in front
of the chest; she was forcibly removed by the Prussian grenadiers, and
Frederick justified the suddenness of his attack upon Saxony by the
publication of the plans of his enemies. He remained during the whole of
the winter in Saxony, furnishing his troops from the resources of the
country. It was here that his chamberlain, Glasow, attempted to take him
off by poison, but, meeting by chance one of the piercing glances of the
King, tremblingly let fall the cup and confessed his criminal design,
the inducement for which has ever remained a mystery, to the astonished
King.

The allies, surprised and enraged at the suddenness of the attack, took
the field, in the spring of 1757, at the head of an enormous force. Half
a million men were levied, Austria and France furnishing each about one
hundred fifty thousand, Russia one hundred thousand, Sweden twenty
thousand, the German empire sixty thousand. These masses were, however,
not immediately assembled on the same spot, were, moreover, badly
commanded and far inferior in discipline to the seventy thousand
Prussians brought against them by Frederick. The war was also highly
unpopular, and created great discontent among the Protestant party in
the empire.

On the departure of Charles of Wuertemberg for the Imperial army, his
soldiery mutinied, and, notwithstanding their reduction to obedience,
the general feeling among the Imperial troops was so much opposed to the
war that most of the troops deserted and a number of the Protestant
soldiery went over to Frederick. The Prussian King was put out of the
ban of the empire by the Diet, and the Prussian ambassador at Ratisbon
kicked the bearer of the decree out of the door.

Frederick was again the first to make the attack, and invaded Bohemia
(1757). The Austrian army under Charles of Lorraine lay before Prague.
The King, resolved at all hazards to gain the day, led his troops across
the marshy ground under a terrible and destructive fire from the enemy.
His gallant general, Schwerin, remonstrated with him. "Are you afraid?"
was the reply. Schwerin, who had already served under Charles XII in
Turkey and had grown gray in the field, stung by this taunt, quitted his
saddle, snatched the colors, and shouted, "All who are not cowards
follow me!"