cestors, and could not bear the thought of losing any part of her
patrimonial dominions to the enemies which the opinion of her weakness
raised every where against her.

In the beginning of the year 1742, the elector of Bavaria was invested
with the imperial dignity, supported by the arms of France, master of
the kingdom of Bohemia; and confederated with the elector Palatine,
and the elector of Saxony, who claimed Moravia; and with the king of
Prussia, who was in possession of Silesia.

Such was the state of the queen of Hungary, pressed on every side, and
on every side preparing for resistance: she yet refused all offers of
accommodation, for every prince set peace at a price which she was not
yet so far humbled as to pay.

The king of Prussia was among the most zealous and forward in the
confederacy against her. He promised to secure Bohemia to the
emperour, and Moravia to the elector of Saxony; and, finding no enemy
in the field able to resist him, he returned to Berlin, and left
Schwerin, his general, to prosecute the conquest.

The Prussians, in the midst of winter, took Olmutz, the capital of
Moravia, and laid the whole country under contribution. The cold then
hindered them from action, and they only blocked up the fortresses of
Brinn, and Spielberg.

In the spring, the king of Prussia came again into the field, and
undertook the siege of Brinn; but, upon the approach of prince Charles
of Lorrain, retired from before it, and quitted Moravia, leaving only
a garrison in the capital.

The condition of the queen of Hungary was now changed. She was, a few
months before, without money, without troops, encircled with enemies.
The Bavarians had entered Austria, Vienna was threatened with a siege,
and the queen left it to the fate of war, and retired into Hungary,
where she was received with zeal and affection, not unmingled,
however, with that neglect which must always be borne by greatness in
distress. She bore the disrespect of her subjects with the same
firmness as the outrages of her enemies; and, at last, persuaded the
English not to despair of her preservation, by not despairing herself.

Voltaire, in his late history, has asserted, that a large sum was
raised for her succour, by voluntary subscriptions of the English
ladies. It is the great failing of a strong imagination to catch
greedily at wonders. He was misinformed, and was, perhaps, unwilling
to learn, by a second inquiry, a truth less splendid and a