FREDERICK AUGUSTUS II. (1797-1854), king of Saxony, eldest son of Prince Maximilian and of Caroline-Maria Theresa of Parma, was born May 18, 1797. The unsettled times in which his youth was passed necessitated his frequent change of residence, but care was nevertheless taken that his education should not be interrupted, and he also acquired through hisjourneys in foreign states and his intercourse with men of eminence, a special taste for art and for natural science. He was twice married—in 1819 to the Duchess Caroline, eldest daughter of the emperor Francis I. of Austria, and in 1833 to Maria, daughter of Maximilian I. of Bavaria. In 1830 a rising in Dresden led to his being named joint regent of the kingdom along with King Antony ; and in this position his popularity and his wise and liberal reforms speedily quelled all discontent. On June 1, 1836, he succeeded his uncle on the throne. Though he administered the affairs of his kingdom with enlightened liberality, Saxony did not escape the political storms which broke upon Germany in 1848; and an in-surrection in Dresden in May 1849 compelled him to call in the help of Prussian troops. From that time, however, his reign was tranquil and prosperous. His death occurred accidentally through the upsetting of his carriage between Imst and Wenns, in Tyrol, 9th August 1854. Frederick devoted his leisure hours chiefly to the study of botany. He made botanical excursions into different countries, and Flora Marienbadensis, oder Pflanzen und Gebirgsarten gesammelt und beschrieben, written by him in conjunction with Goethe, was published at Prague in 1837.