Maria Josepha of Austria was the Queen of Poland by marriage to Augustus III. From 1711 to 1717, she was heir presumptive to the Habsburg Empire, her sister Maria Amalia became Electress of Bavaria. Maria Josepha was born in Vienna, an Archduchess of Austria, the eldest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, she was named for her father. During the reign of her grandfather, Maria Josepha's father and uncle signed the Mutual Pact of Succession of 1703, issued by her grandfather, Emperor Leopold I, made Maria Josepha the heiress presumptive to her uncle, Emperor Charles VI. A marriage between Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony had been suggested by Frederick's father, August II the Strong, since 1704; the fact that Maria Josepha was not allowed to marry a non-Catholic, prevented the marriage. When Augustus converted to Catholicism in 1712, the negotiations became serious. Emperor Charles VI forbade Maria Josepha and her sister from marrying until they renounced their positions in the line of succession, securing the succession for Charles' future daughter Maria Theresa.

Maria Josepha renounced her claim on August 10, 1719. Ten days Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus married. Through this marriage between the Houses of Wettin and Habsburg, Frederick Augustus II's father hoped to place Saxony in a better position should there arise a war of succession to the Austrian territories; the couple's eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony. In Saxony, the couple lived at Dresden Castle; the marriage has been described as a happy one, Augustus was never unfaithful. In 1733, Frederick Augustus was elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as August III the Saxon. Maria Josepha was crowned 20 January 1734. Queen Maria Josepha was described as ambitious and religious, she gave her strong support to the Polish Jesuits. As queen of Poland and electress of Saxony, she divided her time between the two nations. Though Saxony was her main residence, she enjoyed her stays in Poland because it was a Catholic nation where she could exercise her faith openly.

Between November 1734 to February 1736, she and Frederick Augustus made their longest visit to Poland, prolonged because of the War of the Polish Succession. They continued to make frequent trips, lasting from between five and eight months each, plus several shorter trips lasting a couple of months less, she learned to speak Polish and was present during the assemblies of the Polish parliament. During her absences from home, she corresponded with her children in French, having a somewhat closer relationship to them than usual for her class, she encouraged them to write to her in an informal way. She shared an interest in music and hunting with her spouse, they spent their autumns at the Palace of Hubertusburg for the hunting season, she was devoted to Catholicism and venerated Saint Francis Xavier and was involved in the building of the Catholic Hofkirche in Dresden. Her personal confessor, the Jesuit Fr. Anton Hermann, criticized her for being too religious from what was proper for someone not a Catholic religious order member.

She attended mass twice and four times a day and kept more devotions than was normal for a nun or a monk. Fr. Anton Hermann lectured her that she was more fervent than could be regarded as modest for a lay person. Maria Josepha did not persecute non-Catholics, once stressed to the heir to the throne that he should not persecute them but allow them all freedom while being guided by the Catholic faith, she gave alms to both Catholic and Protestant poor. Despite her personal strict moral code, she was not a prude and got along well with her spouse's illegitimate half siblings. Queen Maria Josepha was politically active and, though not formally proclaimed regent during the absence of her spouse, she informally acted as his representative, it was known and acknowledged by the court that she participated in the affairs of state, the ministers and ambassadors duly reported to her. She managed a large diplomatic correspondence, she was rivalled in her influence over her spouse by Heinrich von Brühl. Maria Josepha was not on good terms with her eldest son Frederick Christian.

She wished for her younger son Francis Xavier to be elected king of Poland rather than having Frederick Christian succeed his father on both thrones, she prevented Frederick Christian and his spouse from visiting Poland, thus preventing them from making connections there. She undermined any attempts of Frederick Christian to found a power base of his own before the death of his father, among other things prevented a meeting between him and his spouse with Empress Maria Theresa of Bohemia in 1754. During the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740, she claimed the throne on behalf of her spouse, she relinquished her claim in favor of her sister, Maria Amalia's spouse, in 1742, made an alliance with Austria. During the seven years war, Maria Josepha stayed behind in Dresden with her son, Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia, after her husband left on 20 October 1756, she remained in Dresden. She, as well as Frederick Christian and his spouse Maria Antonia, were all placed under house arrest at the palace of Dresden guarded by a Prus

Alex Grant is a Scottish-born American poet and instructor. He was born in Greenock, Inverclyde and grew up in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. Grant resides in North Carolina, with his wife, Tristi. Grant's work has appeared in Arts & Letters, Best New Poets 2007, Connecticut Review, The Missouri Review, The Seattle Review and Verse Daily. Grant has appeared on WUNC's The State of Things show with Frank Stasio. Grant has been a six-time nominee for an American literary prize, he has received the following honors: Pavel Srut Poetry Fellowship, 2004 The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry – Honorable Mention, 2005 The Randall Jarrell Prize, 2006 Kakalak Poetry Prize, 2006 Best New Poets 2007 Oscar Arnold Young Award, 2007 His published poetry collections include: Chains & Mirrors. Carrboro, North Carolina: North Carolina Writers Network. 2006. ISBN 978-1-883-31419-4; the White Book. Charlotte, North Carolina: Main Street Rag Publishing Co. 2008. ISBN 978-1-599-48126-5. Fear of Moving Water. Nicholasville, Kentucky: Wind Publications.

2009. ISBN 978-1-936-13802-9; the Circus Poems. Davidson, North Carolina: Lorimer Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-982-61713-7; the Poems of Wing Lei. Nicholasville, Kentucky: Wind Publications. 2012. ISBN 978-1-936-13845-6. List of Scottish writers List of people from North Carolina List of poets from the United States redroom.com/member/alex-grant Works by or about Alex Grant in libraries Alex Grant profile Directory of Writers, Poets & Writers website

"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" is a hip hop song recorded by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The single serves as the lead single from his second studio album When Disaster Strikes and its music video is notable for its homage to the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America; the song contains a sample of the 1976 recording "Sweet Green Fields" by American soft rock duo Seals and Crofts. Rhymes scored a second consecutive nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards. Despite huge airplay, the song only peaked within the top forty on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it peaked at number thirty-seven, it was most successful on its component Hot R&B / Hip-Hop Songs chart. It charted outside the US, reaching the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart at number 16. In 1999, MTV ranked the video itself at #20 for The 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made and VH1 ranked the song at #10 on their list of the 40 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of the 90s; the official music video for the song, directed by Hype Williams and designed by Ron Norsworthy, is based on Eddie Murphy's 1988 film Coming to America.

According to Busta Rhymes, the inspiration for this idea was the fact that Coming to America was playing on the television in the studio at the time he and the production crew were working on mixing the record. The film is about an African living in New York City and Busta Rhymes felt that the record had an African sound to it. At the chorus is a well choreographed dance routine, followed by Busta running from an elephant and him, along with The Flipmode Squad, in glowing tribal African makeup and outfit; the video received heavy rotation on both the BET networks. The video was filmed at Chambers and Centre Street in Downtown Manhattan. "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" earned Rhymes his second nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards. The award went to "Gettin' Jiggy with It" by Will Smith.. The music video earned four nominations including Best Male Video and Best Rap Video at the 1998 MTV VMAs, it lost both to Will Smith for "Just the Two of Us" and "Gettin' Jiggy with It".

In 1997, reggae singer Tanya Stephens sampled the track for her "Google" single. In 1998, female R&B trio Total sampled a portion of the record for the album cut, "If You Want Me", featuring Mase from their second album, Kima and Pam. In 2000, British R&B recording artist Craig David sampled the record for the album cut "Time to Party" from his debut album, Born to Do It. In 2002, R&B singer Syleena Johnson sampled the record for her single "Tonight I'm Gonna Let Go" which featured Rhymes and his former Flipmode Squad group members, it appears on her second album Chapter 2: The Voice. This song was featured on video games True Crime: New York City, Def Jam Rapstar, DJ Hero 2 and NBA 2K18. Full lyrics of the song at MetroLyrics