/ 
322 
ing fucceeded in exchanging with Henry 
IV. of France, the counties of Breffe and 
Bugei for the marquifate of Salluzzo, 
he became the abfolute guardian of the 
Alps, and the difpofer of the paffages 
through them. ‘This is the ultimate 
caufe of the influence of his fucceflors 
over the politics of Europe, and of the 
important acquifitions they afterwards 
made in Italy. 
14. and 15. Francis Hyacinthe, and 
Charles Emmanuel II. conquered many 
territories upon the maritime Aips; and 
in the weftern coat of the Republic of 
Genoa; the chief of which were the 
principalities of Saorgio, Oneglia and 
SLoano. 
16. Victor Amadeus IT. (the firft crown- 
ed head in the family) was a_ warlike 
rince. He completed the expulfion of 
the Waldefe from the vallres of Luzerne 
and Angrone, and he attempted fome 
conguefts in Dauphiné and Provence. 
By the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, he 
chad become King of Sicily ; but fome 
few years after he refigned it in fa- 
‘vour cf the Emperor Charles VI. who 
gave him the kingdom of Sardinia in ex- 
change. 
17. Charles Emmanuel III. was, per- 
haps, the greateft of the Piedmontefe 
princes, and monarch of his age, next 
to the King of Pruffia. He availed him- 
felf, as well, at leaft, as any of his pre- 
deceflors, of the political occurrences of 
Europe to enlarge his dominions. Hav- 
ing acceded to the coalition of France 
and Spain, againft the houfe of Auftria, 
in the year 1733, he obtained, by the 
fubfequent treaty of peace the pro- 
vinces of Novara and Tortona, and 
fome other fiefs in the Milanefe; and 
at the end of the next war, in 1742, in 
which he had efpoufed the caufe of 
the houfe of Auftria, he gained alfo 
the province of Alexandria, and fomes 
part of the Vigevanefque and the Pave- 
fan. 
18. His late Sardinian Majefty fol- 
lowed the fame fyftem as his predecef- 
fors, and, had fortune favoured the firft 
exertions of the royal confederacy againf 
the French anarchy, he would undoubt- 
edly have received before his death a 
large indemnification for his exertions in 
behalf of religion. He would have far 
extended his dominions on this fide- of 
the Alps! This expe@ation of future 
acquifitions is now tranfmitted to his pre- 
fent Majefty. 
Memoirs of the King of Sardinia. 
[May 1, 
Every curious reader will, we think, 
be furprifed to confider from the fore- 
going catalogue of acquifitions, by what 
means the enormous diftance whiclr- fe- 
parates a Count of Maurienne from a 
King of Sardinia, has been gradually 
and fyftematically overcome, during the 
courfe of nearly ten centuries! His fur- 
prife will, however, ftill mcreafe, when 
he reflects that thefe princes (and others 
of the fame line whom it was unne- 
ceflary to mention) have all of them 
been. of the fame chara€ter, and all of 
them equally remarkable for piety and 
prudence. The genealogical tables of 
this illuftrious houfe exhibit a _ lineal 
defcent of feven Counts of Maurienne; 
next. to them, of fixteen Counts 
of Savoy; afterwards of twenty-fix 
Dukes of the fame title; and laftly, 
of four Kings of Sardinia, none of whom 
has ever been a difgrace to his dignity, 
or a fcourge to his fubjeéis. The de.. 
tailed defcription of the characters of 
the two firt Kings of Sardinia, with 
which we fhall gratify the public, may — 
be almoft literally applicable to any of 
the princes of their houfe. 
Victor Amadeus was an able politician 
and a courageous warrior. He himfelf 
led his armies, and expofed himfelf like 
a common foldier. He was acknow- 
ledged as the greateft general of his 
age, in that kind of warfare which the 
French juftly call la guerre de chicaze, 
and which is carried on in unequal and 
mountainous’ countries, like. the Pied- 
montefe dominions. He gave a fignal 
proof of his courage when he fet at 
defiance the encroaching power of Lewis ~ 
XIV. and twice invaded the provinces 
of Dauphiné and Provence, where his 
military abilities very often counterba- 
Janced thofe of the veteran French Ge= 
neral Catinat. Nothing could. better 
prove how this monarch was beloved 
by all his fubje&ts, than an example of — 
an obfcure Piedmontefe, who generoufly 
facrificed his life in the fervice of his 
fovereign. ‘The name of this hero has, 
till lately, been moft ungratefully con- 
cealed, when one of the beft Italian liy- 
ing writers has celebrated him accord- ~ 
ing to his deferts. His name was Peter — 
Micco, and he was a cannoneer. The. 
Buke de La Feuillade, the French Ge- 
neral, had befieged Turin fo very clofe- 
ly, that it would unavoidably have 
furrendered in a few days. The fole 
refource Jeft to the King was the er 
2 oft 
