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singer they had just heard was the greatest actress who had ever lived, and he answered " Next to you, Madam." Maria Theresa had undoubtedly an instinctive histrionic sense of the See also:

PERSPECTIVE (Lat. peespicere, to see through)

perspective of the See also:

THEATRE (BEarpov, " a place for seeing," from OeacOae)

theatre, and could adopt the appropriate attitude and gesture, passionate, dignified or pathetic, required to impress those she wished to See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence. But there was no affectation in her See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption of a becoming bearing or in her picturesque words. The See also:

COMMON

common See also:

story, that she appeared before the Hungarian magnates in the See also:

DIET

diet at See also:

PRESSBURG (Hung. Pozsony, Lat. Posonium)

Pressburg in 1741 with her See also:

INFANT (in early forms enfaunt, enfant, through the Fr. enfant, from Lat. infans, in, not, and fans, the present participle of fari, to speak)

infant son, afterwards See also:

Joseph II., in her arms, and so worked on their feelings that they shouted Moriamur See also:

pro rege nostro Maria Theresia, is only mythically true.

But during the delicate negotiations which were required to secure the support of the Hungarian nobles she undoubtedly did See also:

APPEAL

appeal to them with passionate eloquence, and, we may believe, with a very pardonable sense of the See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage she obtained from her youth, her beauty and her See also:

SEX (Lat. sexes; possibly connected with secure, to cut)

sex. Her beauty, inherited from her See also:

MOTHER

mother, was of an open and noble See also:

German type. The See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official portrait by Muytens, engraved by See also:

PETIT, SIR DINSHAW MANECKJI, BART

Petit, gives a less convincing impression that an excellent See also:

CHALK

chalk See also:

DRAWING

drawing of the See also:

head by See also:

GABRIEL (Heb. SKns, man of God)

Gabriel Mattei. In the conflict between her sense of what was morally just and her sense of See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty to the See also:

state she laid herself open to the scoffing taunt of See also:

Frederick of See also:

Prussia, who said that imthe first See also:

PARTITION

partition of See also:

Poland elle pleurait et prenait toujours. But the See also:

king of Prussia's taunt is deprived of its sting by the almost incredible candour of her own words to Kaunitz, that if she was to lose her reputation before See also:

God and See also:

man for respecting the rights of others it must not be for a small advantage—if, in fact, Austria was to See also:

SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share in the See also:

PLUNDER

plunder of Poland, she was to be consoled for the See also:

DISTRESS

distress caused to her feelings by the magnitude of her share of the See also:

BOOTY (apparently influenced by " boot," O. Eng. bot, ad-vantage or profit, through an adaptation from an earlier form cognate with Ger. Beute and Fr. butin)

booty. There was no See also:

HYPOCRISY

hypocrisy in the tears of the empress. Her intellectual honesty was as perfect as Frederick's own, and she was as in-capable as he was of endeavouring to See also:

BLIND, MATHILDE (1841—1896)

blind herself to the quality of her own acts. No ruler was ever more loyal to a conception of duty. Maria Theresa considered herself first and foremost as the heiress of the rights of the house of Austria. Therefore, when her See also:

INHERITANCE

inheritance was assailed at the beginning of her reign, she fought for it with every weapon an honest woman could employ, and for years she cherished the See also:

hope of recovering the lost See also:

province of See also:

SILESIA

Silesia, conquered by Frederick. Her See also:

PRACTICAL

practical sense showed her the See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of submitting to spoliation when she was over-powered. She accepted the See also:

peace of See also:

Berlin in 1742 in See also:

order to have a See also:

FREE

free See also:

hand against her Bavarian enemy, the emperor Charles VII.

(q.v.). When Frederick renewed the See also:

war she accepted the struggle cheerfully, because she hoped to recover her own. Down to the peace of See also:

Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 she went on fighting for Silesia or its See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent. In the years following the peace she applied herself to finding See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

allies in See also:

France and See also:

Russia who would help her to recover Silesia. Here, as later in the See also:

case of Poland, she subordinated her feelings to her duty to the state. Though she denied that she had ever written directly to Madame de See also:

POMPADOUR, JEANNE ANTOINETTE POISSON LE NORMANT

Pompadour, it is certain that she allowed her ministers to make use of the favourite's influence over the See also:

French king. When See also:

FATE

fate decided against her in the Seven Years' War she bowed to the inevitable, and was thenceforward a resolute See also:

ADVOCATE (Lat. advocatus, from advocare, to summon, especially in law to call in the aid of a counsel or witness, and so generally to summon to one's assistance)

advocate of peace. In her See also:

INTERNAL

internal See also:

government she showed herself anxious to promote the prosperity of her See also:

PEOPLE

people, and to give more unity to an See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration made up by the juxtaposition of many states and races with different characters and constitutions. Her instincts, like those of her enemy Frederick and her son Joseph II., were emphatically absolutist. She suspended the meetings of the estates in most parts of her dominions. She was able to do so because the See also:

mass of her subjects found her hand much lighter than that of the privileged classes who composed these bodies. See also:

EDUCATION

Education, See also:

trade, religious See also:

TOLERATION (from Lat. tolerare, to endure)

toleration, the emancipation of the agricultural See also:

POPULATION (Lat. populus, people; populare, to populate)

population from feudal burdens—all had her approval up to a certain point.

She would favour them, but on the distinct See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition that nothing was to be done to weaken the bonds of authority. She took See also:

PART

part in the suppression of the See also:

JESUITS

Jesuits, and she resisted the See also:

pope in the See also:

INTEREST

interest of the state. Her methods were those of her cautious younger son, See also:

LEOPOLD (M.H. Ger. Liupolt; O.H. Ger. Liupald, from hut, Mod. Ger. Leute, " people," and paid, " bold," i.e. " bold for the people ")

Leopold II., and not of her eldest son and immediate successor, Joseph II. She did not give her consent even to the suppression of See also:

TORTURE (from Lat. torquere, to twist)

torture in legal See also:

PROCEDURE (Fr. procedure, from Lat. procedere, to go for-ward)

procedure without hesitation, lest the authority of the See also:

law should be weakened. Her caution had its See also:

REWARD

reward, for what-ever she did was permanently gained, whereas her successor in his boundless zeal for reform brought his See also:

EMPIRE

empire to the See also:

VERGE (Lat. virga, a rod)

verge of a See also:

general See also:

REBELLION

rebellion. In her private See also:

LIFE

life Maria Theresa was equally the servant of the state and the See also:

SOVEREIGN

sovereign of all about her. She was anaffectionate wife to her See also:

HUSBAND

husband Francis I.; but she was always the queen of Hungary and Bohemia and archduchess of Austria, like her ancestress, See also:

Isabella the See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic, who never forgot, nor allowed her husband to forget, that she was " proprietary queen " of See also:

CASTILE, or CASTILLE (Castilla)

Castile and See also:

Leon. She married her daughters in the interest of Austria, and taught them not to forget their people and their father's house. In the case of See also:

MARIE

Marie Antoinette (q.v.), who married the dauphin, afterwards See also:

Louis XVI., she gave an extraordinary See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of her readiness to subordinate everything to the See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason of state. She instructed her daughter to show a proper respect to her husband's grandfather, Louis XV., by behaving with politeness to his mistresses, in order that the See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance between the two courts might run no See also:

RISK

risk. The See also:

SIGNING

signing of the peace of See also:

TESCHEN (Czech, Tesin; Polish, Cieszyn)

Teschen, which averted a great war with Prussia, on the 13th of May 1779, was the last great See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act of her reign, and so Maria Theresa judged it to be in a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter to See also:

Prince Kaunitz; she said that she had now finished her life's See also:

JOURNEY (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journee, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day)

journey and could sing a Te Deum, for she had secured the repose of her people at whatever cost to herself. The See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest, she said, would not last See also:

long.

Her fatal illness See also:

DEVELOPED

developed in the autumn of the following See also:

YEAR

year, and she died on the 28th of See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1780. When she See also:

lay painfully on her deathbed her son Joseph said to her, " You are not at ease," and her last words were the See also:

ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

answer, " I am sufficiently at my ease to See also:

die." See A. von See also:

ARNETH, ALFRED, RITTER

Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresas (Vienna, 1863–1879) and J. F. See also:

Bright, Maria Theresa (See also:

LONDON

London, 1897); also the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article AUSTRIA.

End of Article: MARIA THERESA (1717–1780)

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