Nevertheless its young men constantly slipped away, when opportunity offered, to join the Prussian army; and moneys were frequently collected by the impoverished people to despatch to Frederick, to aid him in his necessities.
A far greater assistance was the English subsidy of 670,000 pounds, which was paid punctually for four years, and was of supreme service to him.

It was spent thriftily, and of all the enormous sums expended by this country in subsidizing foreign powers, none was ever laid out to a tenth of the advantage of the 2,680,000 pounds given to Frederick.
In the north the campaign also opened early.

Ferdinand of Brunswick bestirred himself, defeated the French signally at Krefeld, and drove them headlong across the Rhine.

Frederick, too, took the field early, and on the 15th of March moved from Breslau upon Schweidnitz.

The siege began on the 1st of April, and on the 16th the place surrendered.