The emperor being quite unable, either on the Rhine or in Italy, successfully to compete with his foes, received blow after blow, which exceedingly disheartened him.  His affairs were in a desperate condition, and, to add to his grief, dissensions filled his cabinet; his counsellors mutually accusing each other of being the cause of the impending ruin.  The Italian possessions of the emperor had been thronged with Austrian nobles, filling all the posts of office and of honor, and receiving rich salaries.  A change of administration, in the transference of these States to the dominion of Spain and Sardinia, “reformed” all these Austrian office-holders out of their places, and conferred these posts upon Spaniards and Sardinians.  The ejected Austrian nobles crowded the court of the emperor, with the most passionate importunities that he would enter into a separate accommodation with Spain, and secure the restoration of the Italian provinces by giving his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to the Spanish prince, Carlos.  This would seem to be a very simple arrangement, especially since the Queen of Spain so earnestly desired this match, that she was willing to make almost any sacrifice for its accomplishment.  But there was an inseparable obstacle in the way of any such arrangement.

Maria Theresa had just attained her eighteenth year.  She was a young lady of extraordinary force of character, and of an imperial spirit; and she had not the slightest idea of having her person disposed of as a mere make-weight in the diplomacy of Europe.  She knew that the crown of Austria was soon to be hers; she understood the weakness of her father, and was well aware that she was far more capable of wearing that crown than he had ever been; and she was already far more disposed to take the reins of government from her father’s hand, than she was to submit herself to his control.  With such a character, and such anticipations, she had become passionately attached to the young Duke of Lorraine, who was eight years her senior, and who had for some years been one of the most brilliant ornaments of her father’s court.

The duchy of Lorraine was one of the most extensive and opulent of the minor States of the German empire.  Admirably situated upon the Rhine and the Meuse, and extending to the sea, it embraced over ten thousand square miles, and contained a population of over a million and a half.  The duke, Francis Stephen, was the heir of an illustrious line, whose lineage could be traced for many centuries.  Germany, France and Spain, united, had not sufficient power to induce Maria Theresa to reject Francis Stephen, the grandson of her father’s sister, the playmate of her childhood, and now her devoted lover, heroic and fascinating, for the Spanish Carlos, of whom she knew little, and for whom she cared less.  Ambition also powerfully operated on the very peculiar mind of Maria Theresa.  She had much of the exacting spirit of Elizabeth, England’s maiden queen, and was emulous of supremacy which no one would share.  She, in her own right, was to inherit the crown of Austria, and Francis Stephen, high-born and noble as he was, and her recognized husband, would still be her subject.  She could confer upon him dignity and power, retaining a supremacy which even he could never reach.