[13]Philip V of Spain, the grandson of Louis XIV of France, was born at Versailles, Dec. 19, 1683; died at Madrid, July 9, 1746. He was called the Duke of Anjou until his succession to the Spanish throne, which caused the War of the Spanish Succession.
[14]Ferdinand VI, born Sept. 13, 1712, was the son of Philip V, and succeeded his father in 1746. He was of a weak constitution and melancholy, and relinquished the affairs of government almost entirely to his counsellors. His melancholy eventually developed into insanity.
[15]Wenzel Anton Kaunitz, Count of Rietberg, was one of the most famous of European diplomatists. He was born at Vienna, Jan. 2, 1711. His first mission was the formation of an alliance of Austria, Sardinia, and Great Britain against the Bourbons. He laid the foundation of his fame at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Between 1750 and 1752 he concluded a secret alliance between France and Austria. In 1756 he was made Chancellor of the Netherlands and Italy, and at the partition of Poland in 1772 he secured Galicia for Austria. He directed the affairs of Austria for more than forty years, and was specially prominent in his resistance to the power of Prussia.
[16]“Prince Folly.”
[17]Madame Pompadour had great influence in the Court of Louis XV of France, and virtually dictated the policy of the government during this period.
[18]The Czarina died Jan. 5, 1762.
[19]Banat is a part of Southern Hungary between the Maros on the north, the Theiss on the west, and the Danube on the south. It was part of the “Military Frontier” which Maria Theresa established.
[20]Smallpox was epidemic at this time in Vienna.
[21]Laxenburg is a village about nine miles from Vienna, where there was a castle and royal park.
[22]Teschen is a manufacturing town in Austrian Silesia. The treaty concluded there May 13, 1779, between Austria and Prussia, terminated the War of the Bavarian Succession, and is known as “The Peace of Teschen.”