Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/833

Rh obtaining by treaty the fruits of two campaigns. He therefore concluded a peace separate from his allies. The French were obliged to retreat, and reduced to such distress in Bohemia, by means of the Austrian army, that horseflesh, which was served up at the best tables, cost more than 2 s. 6 d. a pound. Cardinal Fleury, who had been drawn into the war against his wishes, wrote a cowardly apology to the Austrian general; at once expressive of his regret and imbecility. The consequence was such as might have been foreseen: his letter was treated with contempt, and the queen, instead of answering it, ordered it to be printed. The cardinal in a second letter, complained of this, declaring that in future he would never write what he thought. The French were blockaded in Prague, 1742, from July, till December; when at length the army effected a dangerous escape; and the garrison marched out with the honours of war. In Italy the affairs of Maria Theresa were equally prosperous, and the designs of her enemies frustrated. The king of Sardinia, who had placed himself on the list of competitors, by forming pretensions to the Milanese, had acceded to the treaty between France and the elector of Bavaria, thinking to profit by the spoils of the persecuted queen; but when he found that the Spaniards, professing the same designs as himself, had sent troops into the disputed territory, he acknowledged his mistaken policy, and perceived that by persevering in the system he had adopted, his labour would only tend to the aggrandizement of another power, and he considered that it was better the duchy of Milan should remain in the hands of the house of Austria, than be transferred to the house of Bourbon, whom he considered as a more formidable and dangerous neighbour. Impelled therefore by these motives, he renounced his alliance with France,