six battalions and twenty squadrons under his command. His winter-quarters were not disturbed, and he availed himself of that interval of quiet to exercise his troops, and to familiarize them anew with the dangers and toils of war.

At the opening of the ensuing campaign, the king, after having concentrated the cantonments, distributed his army into three different bodies; that in which Zieten served was commanded by prince Maurice of Dessau, who after several feint movements for the purpose of distracting the attention of the enemy, penetrated into Bohemia over the Bassberg; and having marched through Commotaw and Brix, joined the king at Linnai. *

Zieten commanded the advanced-guard of the prince: he had likewise the command of that of the king with a more considerable body of men. On his arrival at Linnai, he

was

On the 21st of April, 1758.

was invested with the order of the black eagle.

After having collected all his columns, the king began to march, and advanced towards Prague with all possible expedition. The army of count Brown lay before him, and several formidable detachments hovered about his flanks. Zieten was chosen to clear the route and remove every obstacle; and he acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the king.

It would be superfluous to make a journal of this march, and to enter into the detail of each assault. Not a day passed without an encounter, a victory, and the acquisition of prisoners. The general took possession of the' magazines of Martinowes, Commotiz, and Budin.

On a reconnoitring-party at Wellwarn, his regiment had the honour to have the king at their head. Count Brown having broke up his camp in order to fall back upon Prague, Zieten made an attack upon his rear guard, and took three hundred prisoners.

During this march, and in every encounter that attended it, Zieten was accompanied by a pupil of distinguished ardour and enterprise. This was the famous Seidlitz, at that time a colonel in a regiment of cuirassiers, with which he had obtained the king's permission to join the advanced-guard, in order to form himself in that school. The pupil did great credit to his master, and the king had no occasion to regret his having given consent to this military novelty.

Events of higher importance were soon to succeed the foregoing transactions.

The king's army arrived on the banks of the Muldaw to operate a junction with that under the command of marshal de Schwerin. The pontons were laid, and the troops had already begun to pass the river; when the king received the disagreeable information, that the marshal would not be at the place of rendezvous

* At Sela,

dezvous before the following day. This disappointment rendered his situation extremely critical. In face of an hostile army of superiour force, encamped under the cannon of Prague, and who, had they been duly apprized by their scouts, might have charged the Prussians with their cavalry on the bank of the river; he had nevertheless the art to conceal his embarrassment from the greater part of his generals. He had courage enough

to brave the danger, and address sufficient to triumph over it.

Zieten was one of the small number of those to whom he imparted the secret, and of whom he made use to execute his plan, and to secure its success Although he did not find the succour he had expected on the other side of the Muldaw, he refrained from giving any interruption to the passage of the troops; but in order to remain undiscovered as long as possible, he caused them to file over a single bridge; a measure which considerably retarded the march. As fast as they arrived on the other side, they encamped in

the

the most silent manner between Trachirn and Czisnitz. Zieten was charged to cover the formation of this hasty camp, to guard the avenues to it, and to prevent any thing from transpiring which might betray the arrival of the Prussians and render them liable to a surprise.

It cannot be decided whether it was to mere chance, or to the prudence of his general, that the king was indebted for the happy issue of this critical night. All that we are able to say is, that the enemy availed themselves of none of the advantages which their position might have afforded them; a circumstance either owing to their not being prepared to make an attack, or to the precautions Zieten had taken to prevent any deserter from carrying them an account of the king's embarrassment. The passage of the river and the formation of the camp could not,、 however, be wholly unknown to the Austrians, as from this camp their left wing was distinctly observed.