Before This City An Austrian Army Lay, Who Were
Attacked With Great Impetuosity By Frederick, And Completely
Defeated.
But the town was defended with great valour; and during
the time thus gained the Austrian general Daun raised fresh troops,
with which he took the field at Collin.
Here he was attacked by
Frederick, who was routed, and all his baggage and cannon captured.
This loss was "paying his score;" and the defeat was so complete,
that the great monarch sat down by the side of a fountain, and
tracing figures in the sand, was lost for a long time in meditation
on the means to be adopted to retrieve his fortune. - ED.
{6} I mention this little incident to warn the traveller against
parting with his effects.
{7} The true version of this affair is as follows. John of Nepomuk
was a priest serving under the Archbishop of Prague. The king,
Wenceslaus, was a hasty, cruel tyrant, who was detested by all his
subjects, and hated by the rest of Germany. Two priests were guilty
of some crime, and one of the court chamberlains, acting under royal
orders, caused the priests to be put to death. The archbishop,
indignant at this, placed the chamberlain under an interdict. This
so roused the king that he attempted to seize the archbishop, who
took refuge in flight. John of Nepomuk, however, and another
priest, were seized and put to the torture to confess what were the
designs of the archbishop. The king seems to have suspected that
the queen was in some way connected with the line of conduct pursued
by the archbishop.
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