t speaking, while the surgeon
bandaged up his arm

"Take her, Drummond, you have won your bride fairly and well"

"As Fergus fell from his horse, Karl, who was riding behind
him, leapt from his saddle"

Maps

Map showing battlefields of the Seven Years' War
Battle of Lobositz
Battle of Prague
Battle of Leuthen
Battle of Zorndorf
Battle of Hochkirch
Battle of Torgau

Preface.

[Map: Map showing battlefields of the Seven Years' War]

Among the great wars of history there are few, if any, instances of
so long and successfully sustained a struggle, against enormous
odds, as that of the Seven Years' War, maintained by Prussia--then
a small and comparatively insignificant kingdom--against Russia,
Austria, and France simultaneously, who were aided also by the
forces of most of the minor principalities of Germany. The
population of Prussia was not more than five millions, while that
of the Allies considerably exceeded a hundred millions. Prussia
could put, with the greatest efforts, but a hundred and fifty
thousand men into the field, and as these were exhausted she had
but small reserves to draw upon; while the Allies could, with
comparatively little difficulty, put five hundred thousand men into
the field, and replenish them as there was occasion. That the
struggle was successfully carried on, for seven years, was due
chiefly to the military genius of the king; to his indomitable
perseverance; and to a resolution that no disaster could shake, no
situation, although apparently hopeless, appall. Something was due
also, at the commencement of the war, to the splendid discipline of
the Prussian army at that time; but as comparatively few of those
who fought at Lobositz could have stood in the ranks at Torgau, the
quickness of the Prussian people to acquire military discipline
must have been great; and this was aided by the perfect confidence
they felt in their king, and the enthusiasm with which he inspired
them.

Although it was not, nominally, a war for religion, the
consequences were as great and important as those which arose from
the Thirty Years' War. Had Prussia been crushed and divided,
Protestantism would have disappeared in Germany, and the whole
course of subsequent events would have been changed. The war was
scarcely less important to Britain than to Prussia. Our close
connection with Hanover brought us into the fray; and the weakening
of France, by her effor