consists of two parts, connected by a low and narrow neck of sand, almost covered at high water, but it rises at either extremity into mountains. On each side of the isthmus there is a large bay,—that on the W. being called Oyster Bay, and that on the E. Reidle Bay. The shores of the island abound in seals and zoophytes, and immense quantities of sea-weeds, growing up from a depth of 250 or 300 feet, impede navigation. The geological structure of Maria Island is principally of trap; but on the E. coast perpendicular cliffs of granite rise to the height of 300 or 400 feet from the sea; and as they are pierced by many large caverns, the sea rolls in with a noise resembling thunder. On the other side of the island the land slopes gradually down to the sea-level. The soil of the interior is rich and productive, and the scenery extremely picturesque. On the northern extremity is situated the valley of Darlington. This island was discovered by Tasman in 1642.daughter of Charles VI. of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Empress of Germany, was born at Vienna on the 13th of May 1717. By the Pragmatical Sanction of 1724 her father had regulated the succession in the family of Austria, and failing of male issue his daughter Maria was declared heiress of the Austrian monarchy; a settlement which was guaranteed by the principal states of Europe. In 1736 Maria Theresa married Francis-Stephen of Lorraine, afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany, and on the 20th October, 1740, on the death of her father the Emperor Charles VI., she succeeded to the throne of Hungary and Bohemia, and the other hereditary states of her house, her husband being declared co-regent. No sooner had she ascended the throne than she was assailed by the kings of Prussia, France, Spain, Sardinia, and the electors of Bavaria and Saxony, who conspired to dismember the Austrian dominions and seize upon the portion of her territory to which each of those powers asserted a claim. Frederick of Prussia demanded Silesia, and on meeting with the indignant refusal of the brave young empress, marched his troops into that province. Charles Albert of Bavaria, assisted by the French, moved direct upon Vienna, and compelled Maria Theresa to quit her capital. At this juncture the aspect of her affairs was depressing in the extreme. Her kingdom exhausted, her people discontented, an empty treasury, and an army reduced to 30,000 men, with all her neighbours up in arms against her, and with a husband weak in intellect and destitute of energy,—this spirited empress of twenty-three turned resolutely upon her foes, appealed to the chivalrous enthusiasm of her brave Hungarians, and bade defiance alike to Frederick of Prussia and her kinsman of Bavaria. On quitting her capital, she repaired to Pressburg, and summoning the diet of Hungary, she appeared in the midst of the assembly with her infant son in her arms. She addressed them in Latin with great eloquence, and on exclaiming, "Forsaken by all, we seek shelter only in the fidelity, the arms, the hereditary valour, of the renowned Hungarian nobility," that martial assembly shouted, as their swords leapt from their scabbards, "Let us die for our king Maria Theresa." (Moriamur pro Rege nostro Maria Theresia.) The Hungarian nobles mounted horse, brought their whole military force into the field, and, in conjunction with the gallant troops of General Kevenhuller and Prince Charles of Lorraine, succeeded in driving the French and Bavarians beyond the dominions of their sovereign. Her numerous enemies were gradually silenced, and the current of invasion no longer set against her. She was constrained, however, to come to terms with Frederick of Prussia, by ceding to him Silesia; but she made a treaty of alliance with Sardinia against France and Spain; and the elector of Saxony, who had also made peace with her, subsequently rendered her material service when her old enemy of Prussia found fresh cause for invading the Austrian dominions. On the death, in 1746, of Charles Albert, who had been elected Emperor of Germany by the Frankfort diet, Maria Theresa's husband, the Grand Duke Francis, was raised to the imperial throne. Meanwhile the Austrian and Piedmontese troops were attended by signal success in Italy; they overthrew the French and Spaniards at Piacenza, and gained a temporary possession of Genoa, when after much hard fighting in Italy and Flanders, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, closed the war of the Austrian succession, and left Maria Theresa in possession of all her territories except Silesia. Deeply mortified by the loss of the latter province, the indefatigable empress joined France and Russia, and embarked with fresh energy in the Seven Years' War against Frederick of Prussia, in the hope of recovering that portion of her territories which the war of the succession had taken away. But 1763 saw the termination of this contest, and left the great Prussian still in possession of the province of his Austrian neighbour. Maria Theresa lost her husband in 1765, and her son Joseph was immediately elected emperor. Yet this vigorous woman continued to retain the administration of her extensive possessions during her life, and showed much solicitude for the welfare of her people, and marked enlightenment in the measures proposed for their improvement. Although a sincere Roman Catholic, she nevertheless employed a firm hand in drawing the line of demarcation between temporal and spiritual jurisdiction. She checked the arbitrary power of the Inquisition, and the ultimate abolition of that obnoxious institution in Lombardy and Tuscany, under her sons Joseph and Leopold, was only the legitimate development of the system of reform conceived and set on foot by their imperial parent. She reformed various abuses in the church, repressed the Jesuits, abolished the torture, encouraged the arts, advanced agriculture, and instituted universities and schools of which many still bear her name. The great stain in the political character of Maria Theresa is the part which she took in the partition of Poland. Yet it is said she left a written record of her sense of the injustice of this act, and of the manner in which she was induced to consent to the measure. She at first refused acceding to the treaty of partition framed by Russia and Prussia in 1772, but being afterwards informed that the dismemberment of Poland would be effected without her consent, and that her own possessions would be thereby imperilled, she, in compliance with the urgent importunities of Prince Kaunitz and her son the Emperor Joseph, agreed to take part in the foul wrong about to be inflicted on that unhappy country. Irreproachable in her private character, she gave a tone and elevation to the morals of her court, by which it stood out in bright contrast to the profligate courts which disgraced the contemporary sovereigns of Europe. In short, Maria Theresa ranks unmistakeably among those sovereigns whom mankind remember with admiration, and she will ever occupy an honourable place amid the select band of the world's illustrious women. She died at Vienna on the 29th November 1780, leaving a family of five sons and ten daughters to mourn her loss. With Maria Theresa ended the dynasty of Hapsburg. (See Austria.)