The second child was a daughter, Maria Theresa, who was born May 13, 1717,[2] and upon whose head, according to the right of primogeniture established by the Pragmatic Sanction, the crowns of the united Austrian states were one day to rest. Who could have imagined that this child, while inheriting all the beauty of her mother, would be endowed at the same time with a masculinity of intellect, together with a strength and wisdom, a firmness yet kindliness of disposition, which but few men have manifested? St. Ambrose’s “Hymn of Praise” was at once sung in the most solemn manner in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in the presence of all the highest dignitaries of the Empire, and the baptism of the heiress to the throne took place on the evening of the day of her birth with great pomp and splendor. After the loss of their first-born, the imperial couple were overjoyed at the advent of this child, and, amid all the cares and responsibilities forced upon him by his numerous wars, the devoted father never lost sight of his fixed purpose or relaxed his efforts to obtain universal recognition of his law of succession among the European powers, as well as the various states of his own empire. He felt the importance of securing his beloved daughter’s undisputed title to the throne, while the Empress’ motherly heart rejoiced at each hardly won acknowledgment of the rights of her child, who already showed signs of such splendid promise. But it was not alone in such well-grounded and well-directed efforts that the parents’ care showed itself: no pains were spared to develop to the fullest extent Maria Theresa’s abundant mental gifts and talents, so as to fit her for her future position as ruler of an empire; nor did the noble mother fail to sow the seed and nourish the growth in her daughter’s tender nature of those womanly virtues which were to bear such rich harvest.