These petty tyrants ruled with an iron rod; and when at any time a patriot rose to resist their oppressions, if they failed to subdue him by force they resorted to assassination.

At the commencement of the last century they quelled one revolt by the aid of German auxiliaries, whom the Emperor Charles VI.
sent against a people who had never offended him, and who were fighting for whatever is most dear to man.

In 1734 the war was renewed; and Theodore, a Westphalian baron, then appeared upon the stage.

In that age men were not accustomed to see adventurers play for kingdoms, and Theodore became the common talk of Europe.

He had served in the French armies; and having afterwards been noticed both by Ripperda and Alberoni, their example, perhaps, inflamed a spirit as ambitious and as unprincipled as their own.