Maria Theresa’s eldest son Joseph was now twenty-three years of age.  Her influence and that of the Emperor Francis was such, that they secured his election to succeed to the throne of the empire upon the death of his father.  The emperor elect received the title of King of the Romans.  The important election took place at Frankfort, on the 27th of May, 1764.  The health of the Emperor Francis I., had for some time been precarious, he being threatened with apoplexy.  Three months after the election of his son to succeed him upon the imperial throne, Francis was at Inspruck in the Tyrol, to attend the nuptials of his second son Leopold, with Maria Louisa, infanta of Spain.  He was feeble and dejected, and longed to return to his home in Vienna.  He imagined that the bracing air of the Tyrol did not agree with his health, and looking out upon the summits which tower around Inspruck exclaimed,

“Oh! if I could but once quit these mountains of the Tyrol.”

On the morning of the 18th of August, his symptoms assumed so threatening a form, that his friends urged him to be bled.  The emperor declined, saying,

“I am engaged this evening to sup with Joseph, and I will not disappoint him; but I will be blooded to-morrow.”

The evening came, and as he was preparing to go and sup with his son, he dropped instantly dead upon the floor.  Fifty-eight years was his allotted pilgrimage—­a pilgrimage of care and toil and sorrow.  Even when elevated to the imperial throne, his position was humiliating, being ever overshadowed by the grandeur of his wife.  At times he felt this most keenly, and could not refrain from giving imprudent utterance to his mortification.  Being at one time present at a levee, which the empress was giving to her subjects, he retired, in chagrin, from the imperial circle into a corner of the saloon, and took his seat near two ladies of the court.  They immediately, in accordance with regal etiquette, rose.

“Do not regard me,” said the emperor bitterly, and yet with an attempt at playfulness, “for I shall remain here until the court has retired, and shall then amuse myself in contemplating the crowd.”

One of the ladies replied, “As long as your imperial majesty is present the court will be here.”

“You are mistaken,” rejoined the emperor, with a forced smile; “the empress and my children are the court.  I am here only as a private individual.”

Francis I., though an impotent emperor, would have made a very good exchange broker.  He seemed to be fond of mercantile life, establishing manufactories, and letting out money on bond and mortgage.  When the queen was greatly pressed for funds he would sometimes accept her paper, always taking care to obtain the most unexceptionable security.  He engaged in a partnership with two very efficient men for farming the revenues of Saxony.  He even entered into a contract to supply the Prussian army with