and Madame de Pompadour.
It was amidst this state of things that the death of the Emperor Charles VI., on the 20th of October, 1740, occurred, to throw Europe into a new ferment of discord and war.

Maria Theresa, the emperor's eldest daughter, was twenty-three years old, beautiful, virtuous, and of a lofty and resolute character; her rights to the paternal heritage had been guaranteed by all Europe.

Europe, however, soon rose, almost in its entirety, to oppose them.

The Elector of Bavaria claimed the domains of the house of Austria, by virtue of a will of Ferdinand I., father of Charles V.

The King of Poland urged the rights of his wife, daughter of the Emperor Joseph I.