ember 16, 1744;
For the third time in three years."

On the other side were two verses, in which he prayed, "that his
conquests might produce peace." He then marched forward with the
rapidity which constitutes his military character; took possession of
almost all Bohemia, and began to talk of entering Austria and
besieging Vienna.

The queen was not yet wholly without resource. The elector of Saxony,
whether invited or not, was not comprised in the union of Frankfort;
and, as every sovereign is growing less as his next neighbour is
growing greater, he could not heartily wish success to a confederacy
which was to aggrandize the other powers of Germany. The Prussians
gave him, likewise, a particular and immediate provocation to oppose
them; for, when they departed to the conquest of Bohemia, with all the
elation of imaginary success, they passed through his dominions with
unlicensed and contemptuous disdain of his authority. As the approach
of prince Charles gave a new prospect of events, he was easily
persuaded to enter into an alliance with the queen, whom he furnished
with a very large body of troops.

The king of Prussia having left a garrison in Prague, which he
commanded to put the burghers to death, if they left their houses in
the night, went forward to take the other towns and fortresses,
expecting, perhaps, that prince Charles would be interrupted in his
march; but the French, though they appeared to follow him, either
could not, or would not, overtake him.

In a short time, by marches pressed on with the utmost eagerness,
Charles reached Bohemia, leaving the Bavarians to regain the
possession of the wasted plains of their country, which their enemies,
who still kept the strong places, might again seize at will. At the
approach of the Austrian army, the courage of the king of Prussia
seemed to have failed him. He retired from post to post, and evacuated
town after town, and fortress after fortress, without resistance, or
appearance of resistance, as if he was resigning them to the rightful
owners.

It might have been expected, that he should have made some effort to
rescue Prague; but, after a faint attempt to dispute the passage of
the Elbe, he ordered his garrison of eleven thousand men to quit the
place. They left behind them their magazines and heavy artillery,
among which were seven pieces of remarkable excellence, called "the
seven electors." But they took with them their field cannon, and a
grea