Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/23

* SEVEN WISE MASTERS. 11 SEVEN YEARS* WAR. theme, in the 'Ct<iIaparicavimsati (q.v). In the Arabian Sights there is an almost exml parallel in the collection entitled The Malice of W'oiiieii (nights oTS-UOOj. The course of the story-c.vcle is an interesting one. It was translated appar- ently from Sanskrit into Pahlavi, thenee into Arabic, from which it came into Spanish, Hebrew, and Syriac, being translated from the latter lan- guage into Greek by Andreopulos. It reached the Occident apparently about the twelfth century. In 1184 or 1185 the monk Johannes de Alia Silva (the modern Haut-Seille. near Nancy) made a version entitled Dulopathos, sive Histuria dc Rerje ct Septcm Haiiicntihus (edited by (Jesterley, Strassburg, 1873). On this Dolopathos Herbert based his poetic version. Li Komuns de Dolopathos, in the thirteenth century (edited by Brunet and Montaiglon, Paris, 1856), and closely related to this is the Old French Roman des sept sages (ed- ited by Keller, Tubingen, 183(i), based on a Latin recension now lost. A third Latin version, the Historia lieptem i^apieiitiuin (edited from a man- uscript of 1342 by Buchner, Erlangen, 1889), was the best known of all. and served as a basis for numerous translations in German. Dutcli. French, Spanish, and English, passing from English into Armenian. Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. From a fourth Latin text (edited b,v ilussafia, Vienna, 1868) were derived two Italian versions. SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD. A group of famous works of antiquity. The cycle seems to have been formed in Alexandrian times and is mentioned iu an epigram of Antipater of Sidon in the second centurv B.C. It was made the subject of a special treatise by a Sophist of the end of the fifth centur,v of our era, which has come down in a somewhat mutilated condition, under the name of Philo of B,vzantium. It is certainly not by the great engineer of that name. Antipater"s list is: the walls of Baliylon, the statue of Zeus b.v Phidias at Ol.vmpia, the liang- ing gardens at Babvlon. the Colossus (q.v.) of Rhodes, the P.vramids of Eg^-pt. the Mausoleum (q.v.) at Halicarnassus, and the Temple of Ar- temis at Ephesus. (See Diana, Temple of.) Pseudo-Philo used a list which combined the walls and hanging gardens under one head, and added the Pharos (q.v.) of Alexandria. Others made still other substitutions, among which is found even the Tem])le at .Terusalem. SEVEN YEARS' WAR ( 1756-63) . Primari- Iv a continuation of the contest between Freder- ick the Great of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria for the possession of Silesia, this war became of world importance, as in it France and England fought out their struggle for su- premacy in North America and in India. All of the great European nations were involved in it. Frederick William I. of Prussia learned before his death in 1740 how fruitless was the traditional Hohen- zollern policy of loyalty to the House of Haps- burg. His son, Frederick the Great, adopted a new policy of self-assertion for Prussia. In the first and second Silesian wars, 1740-42 and 1744-45, which formed part of the great Euro- pean struggle known as the War of the Austrian Succession (see Succession Wars), he won Silesia, upon which the House of Hohenzollern had an old claim. IJis title to its possession was recognized in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle Vol. XVIII.— 2. (1748). Maria Theresa was bent upon the re- covery of Silesia, and France and England had not by an,v means .settled their dillerences. In 1754 the French and Indian War (q.v.) broke out in America, and in the spring of I75G En.<;- land and France were fighting in the Jlediter- ranean. There had been effected, in preparation for a struggle, a new alignment of European al- liances. Austria, whose foreign policy was di- rected by Kaunitz (q.v.), and France, whose King, Louis XV., was under the sway of iladame de Pompadour, had departed from the policy of antagonism which they had maintained for two centuries and had concluded a treaty of alliance at Versailles. Mav 1, 1756. Ten years before a defensive alliance against Frederick had been arranged between Austria and Russia. Great Britain in case of a European war had common interest with Prussia on account of Hanover, which would be exposed to the attacks of her old enemy, France. She, therefore, entered into an alliance with Prussia. On April 22, 1756, Russia proposed to Austria tlie partition of the Prussian territories. Frederick, well informed of the plans of his enemies, anticipated their ac- tions, and, after a summarv demand on the two powers as to their intentions, on .ugust 29, 1756, invaded Saxon}-, which he knew to be friendly to Austria. Frederick tlirew a column into Bohemia and met the Austrian advance under Browne in an indecisive battle at Lobositz, October 1st. The Saxon army, after a siege of some weeks at Pirna, capitulated on October 16th, and there- after Saxony was used by Frederick as a base of operations, while her revenues were collected by Prussia. On .Tanuarv 17, 1757, the Diet of the German Empire declared war on Prussia, and in February Austria, Russia, and France completed a new treaty of offensive alliance. Sweden also .joined the allies. At this time the English alliance promised little for Prussia, and it was not until Pitt (q.v.) was well established in control of the British foreign affairs that it gave promise of real utilit.v for Frederick. The coalition against Frederick, whose subjects num- bered only about 5,000,000, was the most pow- erful that Europe has ever witnessed. Sur- rounded by such powerful foes the Prussian King's policy was to concentrate his attacks and strike rapid and heavy blows. He made his first attack in Bohemia, defeated the Au.strians under Charles of Lorraine and Browne before Prague, May 6th. in a desperate battle, laid siege to Prague, but lost the battle of Kolin against the Austrian JIarshal Daun (q.v.). .lune ISth. This compelled the King to retire into Saxony. Mean- while the French bad obtained possession of much of North German,v west of the Elbe, which was defended by an insufficient English and Han- overian force under the incompetent Duke of Cumberland. The latter retreated before the French. as beaten at Hastenbeck, .Jul.v 26th. and signed the disgraceful convention of Kloster- Zeven. September 8th, in accordance with which the Hanoverian army was to be dispersed, Han- over being left in the hands of the French. This was a virtual surrender and the English Gov- ernment repudiated it. Frederick turned next against the French and Imperialists, under the command of Soubise(q.v. ). and at Rossbach (q.v.) won one of his most brilliant victories, November