the army on a better footing, and organized schools for the instruction of its future officers. The important subject of popular education engrossed much of his attention. The universities of Wittemberg and of Leipzig found in him a warm patron and a powerful support. He reformed the schools of Fürstenschulen de Pforta, of Meisin, and of Grimma; he founded the seminaries of Dresden and of Weissenfels; he instituted elementary schools for the children of Annaburg, as well as for those of the mines of Erzgebirg, and introduced numerous improvements into the academy of the mines of Freiberg. He effected also important and beneficial changes in the criminal courts. Torture was abolished in 1770, and capital punishments were made not only less frequent, but less cruel. Public offices ceased to be an object of traffic; the administration of justice was separated from that of finance; and the police of the country was placed on a footing more consistent with public protection and liberty. In all parts of the country hospitals were erected for the sick, for women in childbirth, and for orphans.
While thus employed in ameliorating the internal condition of the country, Augustus, though a friend of peace, was frequently drawn into war with neighbouring states, but in these he appears always to have been actuated by patriotic motives. He concluded a treaty of peace with Napoleon at Posen, on the 11th December, 1806, after which he took the title of king, and in that quality entered into the confederation of the Rhine. This compelled him to take part, by furnishing his contingent of troops, in the numerous wars in which, at that period, the confederation became involved, but which belong rather to European history than to the biography of the sovereign of a comparatively inconsiderable territory. In the month of September, 1818, he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his accession, and in the month of January following, that of his marriage. He died at the age of sixty-six, and was succeeded by Anthony, the eldest of his surviving brothers.—G. M.
AUGUSTUS II., Frederick, king of Saxony, was born 18th May, 1797. He was the eldest son of Prince Maximilian, younger brother of the kings Frederick-Augustus and Antoine, and of his wife Caroline-Maria-Theresa, princess of Parma. At the age of seven years, he lost his mother, but his education had a short time before been intrusted to the management of General de Forell, grand-master of the court; and though the whole of the royal family were obliged subsequently to leave Dresden, and even subjected to many vicissitudes, the studies of the young prince were never for a moment interrupted. His frequent change of residence, on the contrary, gave him an opportunity of meeting with many great and learned men, and of profiting by their converse and instruction. He was instructed in all the details of military service, by the Major de Cerrinni, superior commander of the Saxon army, who had been specially charged with this office. He entered into these studies with great ardour, and in 1818, he was appointed major-general. In 1819, he was initiated into the management of public affairs. In the autumn of 1820 to 1821, he was intrusted with the command of a brigade of infantry. In 1830 he was nominated general-in-chief of the army, in place of general Lecoq, who went to Switzerland, where he died. Frederick was a wise and patriotic ruler; and by the many reforms which he introduced into every branch of the administration, as well as by his patronage, both of the fine and the useful arts, gained the love and confidence of his subjects. He married in 1819, the Archduchess Caroline of Austria, who died in 1832; and on the 24th April of the following year, he married Maria, princess of Bavaria, and sister of the princess royal of Prussia. In 1838, he lost his father, the prince Maximilian, who had renounced in his favour his right to the crown.—G. M.
AUGUSTUS, Emile-Leopold, duke of Saxe-Gotha and of Allenburg, was born in 1772, and died in 1822. He was the fifth in succession from Ernest the Pious, and son of Ernest II., and of Charlotte Amelia, princess of Saxe-Meiningen. After the death of his father in 1804, he assumed the reins of government, and pursued during eighteen years, in times of great difficulty, the same just and liberal system of administration by which the country had been governed ever since the time of Ernest the Pious. He was attached to literary pursuits, and published many highly esteemed works of fiction and romance, besides a number of short poems, and sketches of eminent characters. He also occupied himself during the last six years of his life in the publication of "Lettres Émiliennes." He had married, first in 1797, Louisa Charlotte, princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who died in childbed, after having given birth to a daughter, who became the reigning duchess of Saxe-Coburg, and died in 1832; secondly, in 1802, Caroline Amelia, princess of Hesse-Cassel, who died childless. He was succeeded by Frederick IV., his brother, with whom became extinct, in 1825, the special branch of the house of Saxe-Gotha.—G. M.
AUGUSTUS, Frederick William Henry, prince of Prussia, born 19th September, 1790, died 19th July, 1843. He was son of Augustus Ferdinand, and of the Princess Anne-Eliza, Louisa, of Brandenburg-Schwerin. He devoted his attention to the study of fortification and artillery, and entered on his military career in the war against France in 1806 and 1807. He was taken prisoner at Prenzlau, and carried by Napoleon to Berlin. He was afterwards sent as a prisoner of war to Nancy, and from that to Soissons. He subsequently went to Paris, where he remained until the peace of Tilsit, when he was set at liberty. He then travelled into Italy and Switzerland, and on his return to Berlin, he applied himself with activity to the reorganization of the Prussian army. In 1813, he had the command of the twelfth brigade in the second corps d' armée, commanded by general Klein, and conducted himself with great bravery at Kulm, Dresden, and Leipzig. During the campaign of 1814, he distinguished himself at Montmirail, Laon, and Paris, the last of which he entered at the head of the first division. Having been appointed to besiege the fortified places after the battle of Waterloo, he took Maubeuge on the 16th, and Landrecies on the 23d July, 1815. He afterwards entered Marienburg, bombarded Philippeville, and took many other places. With him terminated the collateral branch of Prussia, of which Augustus Ferdinand was the head.—G. M.
AUGUSTUS, Frederick, prince of Great Britain, and duke of Sussex, the sixth son and ninth child of George III., was born at Buckingham palace, 27th January, 1773, and died at Kensington palace, 21st April, 1843. After spending some time at home in private study, he went to the university of Gottingen, and afterwards travelled in Italy. Here he formed an attachment to Lady Augusta Murray, whom he met at Rome, and to whom he was married there by an English clergyman in April, 1793. Some doubt having arisen as to the validity of the marriage, the ceremony was repeated at St. George's, Hanover square, London, on the 5th December of the same year. The marriage, however, was, at the instance of the crown, declared in 1794, by the prerogative court of Canterbury, to be null and void, under the royal marriage act, by which it is provided, "that no descendant of his late majesty, King George II., shall be capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of his majesty." This decision, however, owing to special circumstances in this case, is considered by eminent jurists to be unsound in point of law. After a separation of some years, Lady Augusta died on the 5th of March, 1834. The fruit of this unhappy union, were a son, Colonel Sir Augustus d'Este, born 13th January, 1794, and a daughter, Ellen Augusta d'Este, both of whom survived their parents. Prince Augustus, in 1801, was created a peer of the realm, under the titles of Baron Arklow, earl of Inverness, and duke of Sussex. In politics, he had at an early period of his life adopted liberal views, to which to the last he continued stedfastly to adhere. Both by his speeches and by his votes in parliament, he supported the abolition of slavery and of the slave-trade, and the removal of the Roman Catholic and Jewish disabilities, as well as all other civil distinctions founded on differences in religious creed. He took also an active part in the passing of the reform bill, and, subsequently, of the laws for the establishment of free trade. In 1810 he was elected grand-master of the freemasons of England and Wales, and in 1816, president of the Royal Society, an office which he held until 1839. Some years before his death, he married the Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin, widow of Sir George Buggin, who was afterwards raised to the dignity of duchess of Inverness, a rank which she was not otherwise entitled to assume, as the marriage had been contracted contrary to the provisions of the royal marriage act. The duke of Sussex was connected with many public benevolent institutions, and subscribed liberally considering his means, which, for his station, were comparatively limited. In private life he was distinguished by his freedom from all offensive ostentation and display of rank. He left behind him one of the largest private libraries in the kingdom. A descriptive catalogue
