throughout her dominions. The collection of the revenues were simplified; the great number of tax gatherers, which she justly considered as an engine of public oppression, was diminished. Her father had left her without a single florin in the treasury. In 1750, after eight years of war, and the loss of several states, her revenues exceeded those of her predecessors by six millions.

Maria Theresa in an evil hour formed an alliance with France. Another war of seven years duration with Prussia followed. By the treaty of 1763, all places and prisoners were given up; not a foot of territory was gained or lost by either party. Silesia continued in the possession of Prussia; the political affairs of Germany remained in precisely the same state as before the war; but Saxony and Bohemia had been desolated, Prussia almost depopulated, and more than five hundred thousand men had fallen in battle.

Francis died, August 18th, 1765. Maria's attachment to her husband had been fond and passionate in her youth, and it was not only constant to death, but survived even in the grave. Francis was her inferior in abilities; his influence was not felt, like hers, to the extremity of the empire; but no man could be more generally beloved in his court and family. His children idolized him, and he was to them a fond and indulgent father.

Maria Theresa was the mother of sixteen children, all born within twenty years. There is every reason to suppose that her naturally warm affection, and her strong sense, would have rendered her, in a private station, an admirable, an exemplary parent; and it was not her fault, but rather misfortune, that she was placed in a situation where the most sacred duties and feelings of her sex became merely secondary. While her numerous family were in their infancy, the empress was constantly and exclusively occupied in the public duties and cares of her high station; the affairs of government demanded almost every moment of her time. The court physician, Von Swietar, waited on her each morning at her levee, and brought her a minute report of the health of the princes and princesses. If one of them was indisposed, the mother, laying aside all other cares,

immediately flew to their apartment. They all spoke and wrote Italian with elegance and facility. Thus all her children were brought up with extreme simplicity. They were not allowed to indulge in personal pride or caprice; their benevolent feelings were cultivated both by precept and example. They were sedulously instructed in the "Lives of the Saints," and all the tedious forms of unmeaning devotion, in which, according to the sincere conviction of their mother, all true piety consisted. A high sense of family pride, an unbounded devotion to the house of Austria, and to their mother, the empress, as the head of that house, was early impressed upon their minds, and became a ruling passion, as well as a principle of conduct with all of them.

We have only to glance back upon the history of the last fifty years to see the result of this mode of education. We find that the children of Maria Theresa, transplanted into different countries of Europe, carried with them their national and family prejudices; that some of them, in later years supplied the defects of their early education, and became remarkable for talent and for virtue. That all of them, even those who were least distinguished and estimable, displayed occasionally both goodness of heart and elevation of character; and that their filial devotion to their mother, and what they considered her interests, was carried to an excess, which in one or two instances, proved fatal to themselves.

It is very amusing to contrast the routine of her private life with that of the heartless, ostentatious Elizabeth, and the disso lute, splendid Catherine. Maria Theresa lived in the interior of her palace with great simplicity. She breakfasted on a cup of milk coffee; then dressed and heard mass. She then proceeded to business. Every Tuesday she received the ministers of the different departments; other days were set apart for giving audience to foreigners and strangers. There were stated days on which the poorest and meanest of her subjects were admitted, almost indiscriminately; and so entire was her confidence in their attachment and her own popularity, that they might whisper to her, or see her alone if they required it. At other times she read memorials, or dictated letters or despatches,

signed papers, &c. At noon her dinner was brought in, consisting of a few dishes, served with simplicity. She usually dined alone, like Napoleon, and for the same reason, to economize time. After dinner, she was engaged in public business until six; after that hour her daughters were admitted to join in her evening prayer; if they absented themselves, she sent to know if they were indisposed; if not, they were certain of meeting with a maternal reprimand on the following day. At half past eight or nine she retired to rest.

Much of her time was spent in devotion; the eighteenth day of every month, was consecrated to the memory of her husband, after his death; and the month of August was spent in retirement, in penance, and in celebrating masses and requiems for the repose of his soul. It is computed that she devoted five hours out of fifteen to her religious devotions, and this is related as a thing incredible, and as more becoming a "bigoted abbess than a great sovereign;" but was it too much, that, when declining in years, after having proved in her own person the nothingness of all human grandeur, she should give up one third of her time to prepare for that better world to which she was fast approaching? Alfred, in the prime of life, did the same; and with regard to the puerile and minute observances, the credulity and intolerance, which were mingled with her religious feelings, we must remember the system of faith in which she had been educated; the same turn of mind which sent Maria Theresa on a pilgrimage to "our Lady of Heren-haltz," or to pray and tell her beads at the sepulchre of her husband, would, in a protestant country, have made her half a saint, or at least evangelical.

She founded or enlarged in different parts of her extensive dominions several academies for the improvement of the arts and sciences; instituted numerous seminaries for the education of all ranks of people; reformed the public schools, and ordered prizes to be distributed among the students who made the greatest progress in learning, or were distinguished for propriety of behavior, or purity of morals. She established prizes for those who excelled in different branches of manufacture, in geometry,

mining, smelting metals, and even spinning. She particularly turned her attention to agriculture, which, on a medal, struck by her order, was entitled the "Art which nourishes all other arts," and founded a society of agriculture at Milan, with bounties to the peasants who obtained the best crops. She took away the pernicious rights which the convents and churches enjoyed, of affording an asylum to all criminals without distinction; she suppressed the inquisition, which, though curbed by the civil power, still existed at Milan.

But the great stain upon the character and reign of Maria Theresa, an event which cannot be spoken of without pain or reluctance, was the infamous dismemberment of Poland, in 1772. This dark deed, no doubt, originated with Prussia, but to Maria Theresa belongs the disgrace of an accomplice in this foul procedure.

In the year 1778, she was again nearly plunged into a war with her old adversary, Frederick of Prussia. After a long negotiation, and many difficulties, which she met and overcame with firmness and talent worthy of her brightest days, the peace was signed at Teschen, in Saxony, on the the thirteenth of May, the birth day of the empress queen.

The treaty of Teschen was the last political event of Maria Theresa's reign, in which she was actively and personally concerned. Her health had been for some years declining, and for several months previous to her death, she was unable to move from her chair without assistance. An English traveller, who was introduced to her about this time, describes her as an old lady, immensely corpulent, habited in the deepest weeds, with her gray hair slightly powdered, and turned back under a cap of black crape. Notwithstanding her many infirmities, her deportment was still dignified, her manner graceful as well as gracious, and her countenance benign.

She had long been accustomed to look death in the face, and when the hour of trial came, her resignation, her fortitude, and her humble trust in Heaven never failed her. Her agonies during the last ten days of her life, were terrible, but never drew from her a single expression of complaint or impatience. She

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was only apprehensive that her reason and her physical strength might fail her together. She was once heard to say, God grant that these sufferings may soon terminate, for otherwise, I know not if I can much longer endure them."

After receiving the last sacraments, she summoned all her family to her presence, and solemnly recommended them to the care of the emperor Joseph, her eldest son. "My son," said she,

"as you are the heir to all my worldly possessions, I cannot dispose of them; but my children are still, as they have ever been, my own. I bequeath them to you, be to them a father. I shall die contented if you promise to take that office upon you." She then turned to her son Maximilian and her daughters, blessed them individually, in the tenderest terms, and exhorted them to obey and honor their elder brother as their father and sovereign. After repeated fits of agony and suffocation, endured to the last, with the same invariable serenity and patience, death, at length, released her, and she expired on the twenty-ninth of November, 1780, in her sixty-fourth year.

The earthly dower of Maria Theresa was certainly the richest ever granted to a mortal. A strong mind and a feeling heart, royalty and beauty, long life and prosperity, a happy marriage, a numerous family, her people's love, the admiration of the universe! These were hers; and her biographers generally sum up her character by justly styling her the most blameless and beneficent sovereign who ever wore a crown. While we grieve that the feminine mistakes, passions, and antipathies of Maria Theresa should cost humanity so dear; yet still it is true that the real elevation of her mind, and the warm and generous affections of her heart, rendered her one of the most admirable and amiable of women,

JANE, COUNTESS OF MONTFORT, flourished in 1341 and 1342. The count de Montfort, heir male of Brittany, had seized that duchy in opposition to Charles of Blois, the French king's nephew, who had married the grand-daughter of the late duke. Sensible that he could expect no favor from Philip, Montfort made a voyage to England, and offered to do homage to Edward III.