—— SC 
Frede- 
_ Bick IIL ed to have 
FREDERICK. 
might take a view of the French frontiers, He intend- 
peror of Germany, an extensive field was opened for 
i ing the Prag- 
naatic Sanction, by which all the powers of Europe had 
guaranteed the Emperor's dominions to his 
eldest daughter the Archduchess Maria Theresa, he 
about the end of the year 1741. Early in the follow. 
- : iastieiahaicthtitsiemtn 5 apainad 
contested battle of Czaslau over the Austrian General 
Prince Charles of Lorraine ; seized the favourable mo- 
henge 2 mp Serna ako IS py roma 
a wi ueen 
Pr nen itcegen reread par 
ity, he went a. of his domi- 
pe iri ne te nee yee his reve- 
d ascertaining the condition of his troops. But, 
of the House of Austria, he issued the most artful mani- 
festoes, and at the head of 80,000 men suddenly entered 
the kingdom of Bohemia. He took the city of Prague, 
pushing his conquests with more than ordi- 
; bu 
and attacked in his at Sohr, by his enterprising 
sdviseiey sh Deindorel estainey bet thongh ta- 
ken at great disadvantage, and assailed by superior 
numbers, he took his measures with so m 
taleenmnien anes ee 
officers and men, that, besides repulsi attack with 
spirit, he routed the enemy with great A |. 
ing his army into winter quarters, he entered Berlin in 
* This work was first published in the German language, and afterwards in French, An English translation was printed at Edin-... 
gurgh, in 1761, in two volumes Svo. 
- ries; and 
749 
a triumphant style, with the cannon and colours which 
he had taken from the Austrians ; but, hearing that the 
Prince of Lorraine still continued his movements, he 
returned rapidly to the field; and, after a series of 
successes, entered the city of Dresden, where he con. 
cluded a treaty of peace in 1745, securing the posses- 
sion of Silesia, and receiving a million of German crowns 
from the Elector of Saxony. Returning to his capital 
with all the pomp of victory, he displayed the utmost 
affability towards his applauding people; and, while 
ing the circuit of the city in the midst of the illu- 
minations, he halted in his progress to take a last fare~ 
well of one of his early preceptors, who was lying. at 
the point of death. 
In the year 1746, a season of general peace among 
the powers of Germany, Frederick was wholly occu- 
pied with matters of domestic policy ; and adopted va« 
rious regulations for the prosperity of commerce, litera- 
ture and the arts. He directed his attention particu- 
larly to effect a thorough reform in the courts of jus- 
tice, especially to lessen the delays and expences of 
legal proceedings ; and at length produced the famous 
Frepericran Cops, which was adopted in all the Prus< 
sian dominions.* In concurrence with the President 
Maupertuis, he framed, about the same time, several 
additional rules for the Royal Academy ; but he treat- 
ed his philosophers rather like a regiment of soldiers, 
and attem too much to regulate matters of taste 
and opinion by kingly aay! During the same 
period of , he published his “ Memoirs of the 
se of Brandenburg,” and his “ Poem on the Art of 
War ;” the former, a work written with spirit, and full 
of valuable information, though not always free from 
mistakes and misrepresentations ; and the latter, a per- 
formance neither deeteate of poetical merit, nor _ - 
cient in sound principles of military 
markable for the extraordinary omission of the name 
of Marlborough, while the generals whom the British 
commander 
respective ons of fame. 
much in embellishing some of his princi 
among other measures, which he ad: for the bene« 
fit of his subjects, he asserted their right to navigate the 
seas without interruption from belligerent powers, so 
that he has been considered as the author of the system - 
of armed maritime neutrality. He.exerted himself by 
every method te increase the population of his domi~ 
nions; and, in this view, expended large sums of mo~ 
ney in clearing waste lands and forming navigable ca- 
oak j gave great encouragement to French Protestants 
and other industrious emigrants to settle in his territo- 
particularly succeeded by these means in peo 
pling and fertilizing the deserts of Pomerania. 
In 1749, he was visited by the celebrated Marechal . 
Saxe, whom he treated with every mark of distinction ; 
and in the year following, after various applications, he 
vailed upon Voltaire to reside at his court, whom 
Seovcldad one of his chamberlains, and provided with . 
an annual pension of 20,000 livres.. But their friend. 
ship was not of long duration ; and they were both too. ; 
cbiions of despotic power in the republic of letters - 
to exist harmoniously in the same circle. The king was 
disgusted by the familiarity with which the French . 
" to him in public, and with the sarcastic .. 
wit behav: x 
remarks in which he sometimes indulged even upon 
his royal person. His majesty also was much offended . 
science, but res ~ 
uently defeated are furnished with their - 
He employed himself « 
cities; and . 
