lated a kind of partition of the Prussian territories, in case that
prince should infringe the treaty of Dresden; but his Britannic
majesty, though often invited, had always refused to agree to any such
stipulation; and the king of Poland, howsoever he might be inclined to
favour the scheme, did not dare to avow it formally, till matters should
be more ripe for carrying it into execution. The court of Vienna,
whose favourite measure this was, began to listen to d'Aubeterre's
insinuations, and by degrees entered into negotiations with him, which,
in the end, were productive of that unnatural confederacy between the
empress-queen and the king of France, of which further notice will be
taken in the occurrences of the next year, when the treaty between them,
into which they afterwards found means secretly to bring the empress of
Russia, was concluded at Versailles.

TREATY WITH THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE-CASSEL.

The king of England taking it for granted that the French would invade
Hanover, in consequence of their rupture with Great Britain, which
seemed to be near at hand, began to take measures for the defence of
that electorate. To this end, during his stay at Hanover, he concluded,
on the eighteenth day of June, a treaty with the landgrave of
Hesse-Cassel, by which his serene highness engaged to hold in readiness,
during four years, for his majesty's service, a body of eight thousand
men, to be employed, if required, upon the continent, or in Britain, or
Ireland; but not on board the fleet or beyond the seas; and also, if
his Britannic majesty should judge it necessary or advantageous for his
service, to furnish and join to this body of eight thousand men, within
six months after they should be demanded, four thousand more, of
which seven hundred were to be horse or dragoons, and each regiment of
infantry to have two field pieces of cannon. [364] _[See note 2 Y, at
the end of this Vol.]_ Another treaty was begun with Russia about the
same time; but this did not take effect during his majesty's residence
at Hanover: that others were not concluded was the more surprising, as
our subsidy-treaty with Saxony had then expired, and that with Bavaria
was near expiring, and as the securing of these two princes in our
interest was at least as necessary towards forming a sufficient
confederacy upon the continent for the defence of Hanover, as it was to
secure the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. If the reason of their not being
enga