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 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
 
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 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, 
 
 SURNAMED THE GREAT, 
 Of 
 
 BY J. F. ROLLINGS. 
 
 ya.% iTHfinvav x,ffa, j-ij raifos, xtti e trmhcat /MVCIV t TV ox 
 
 i. THUCYDIDES. 
 
 Fame is the spur which the clear spirit doth raise, 
 
 (The last infirmity of noble mind), 
 
 To scorn delights, and live laborious days. 
 
 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
 
 And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 
 
 Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears 
 
 And slits the thin spun life but not the praise. MI 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE. 
 
 MDCCCXJUII,
 
 LONDON : 
 HHADHl.'KY AM) KVANS, miNTKHa, U'HITKFRIARH
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN considering the progress of the great cause of 
 civil and religious freedom within the last three cen- 
 turies, it must be evident that its present imposing 
 condition is neither the result of the events of any 
 single period, nor of a quiet and peaceful increase 
 favoured by the more generous convictions and ex- 
 tended benevolence of mankind. As philosophers 
 teach us that the most stupendous mountain-chains 
 have been raised to their present height by a long 
 series of convulsions, each contributing, more or less, 
 to the elevation of the resisting mass, it seems to 
 have been determined by a law of moral analogy, 
 that the best interests of mankind should owe their 
 permanent establishment and universal diffusion to 
 numerous and violent derangements of the conditions 
 of social life derangements often attended with the 
 most terrible and calamitous effects during the time 
 of their immediate operation ; but, like all other 
 moral as well as physical evil, finally overruled to
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 the wider and more lasting extension of good. Amidst 
 such recorded events, the celebrated War of Thirty 
 Years in Germany is invested with the highest 
 degree of interest not only from the obstinacy of the 
 struggle, but as exhibiting in its simplest and most 
 intelligible form the conflict of principles which have 
 since been happily so far modified in most civilised 
 countries by a more general recognition of the prin- 
 ciples of equity, as often to be with difficulty dis- 
 coverable in their still continued opposition. 
 
 Considering the reputation obtained by the most 
 prominent Character in this momentous contest at 
 the time of his decease, it is somewhat singular that 
 more than a century was suffered to pass away after 
 that event before any biographer appeared willing to 
 undertake the task of recording the principal occur- 
 rences of his life in any of the more popular languages 
 of Europe. The splendid abilities of Frederick of 
 Prussia, displayed during the sanguinary and pro- 
 tracted contest which arose from the question of the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and in the early part of the Seven 
 Years' War, seem first to have recalled the general 
 attention to the exploits of Gustavus Adolplms ; while 
 the circumstance of the same countries becoming the 
 theatre of hostilities, which had formerly been tra- 
 versed by the armies of the Empire, Saxony and 
 Sweden in the Thirty Years' War, naturally tended to 
 endue with fresh interest a series of long-past events
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 which had fallen into comparative oblivion. Two lives 
 of Gustavus Adolphus accordingly appeared, towards 
 the middle of the last century, with but a brief 
 interval between the dates of their publication ; the 
 first, the well-known work of Harte, which has 
 passed through three editions ; and the second pur- 
 porting to be compiled principally from papers left 
 by Archenholtz, the celebrated biographer of Chris- 
 tina of Sweden, which is known to have been edited 
 by Professor Mauvillon. The latter is certainly the 
 more valuable, since it is in great measure founded 
 not only upon the writings of Swedish historians, 
 apparently unknown to Harte, whose information 
 may be conceived likely to be the most correct, but 
 upon original archives then preserved at Stockholm, 
 but which, it is to be feared, no longer continue to 
 exist, since the author of the brief work, somewhat 
 pretendingly entitled " Gustave Adolphe, ses Lettres 
 et Memoires," states in his Preface that most of the 
 historical documents relating to the expedition into 
 Germany under Gustavus Adolphus, comprising the 
 whole of the correspondence of that monarch with 
 Oxenstiero, had been consumed some years before in 
 an accidental fire at Stockholm. The biography of 
 Harte, although containing an immense mass of infor- 
 mation, has never been extensively popular : a fact 
 easily to be accounted for by what Lord Chesterfield 
 has justly termed the unaccountable vulgarity of the
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 style, and the careless manner in which the materials 
 have been brought together. He has, however, 
 hardly deserved the severe castigation bestowed upon 
 him on all occasions by his rival, who, in addition to 
 the bitter feeling of jealousy, so common among lite- 
 rary men in the time of Voltaire, seems to have 
 entered upon his task with all the acrimony of a 
 political partisan, desirous of taking vengeance for the 
 assistance afforded by England to the then most 
 formidable opponent of France, by inveighing on all 
 occasions against the conduct of the former nation in 
 regard to the Thirty Years' War. The biographies 
 of both authors have been extensively used in the 
 preparation of the following pages, while other 
 authorities referred to in the margin have been occa- 
 sionally consulted, not, it is hoped, without benefit 
 to the volume; which will have fulfilled every design 
 of the author, if it answers the purpose of a popular 
 Life of a Character in all respects one of the most 
 worthy the attention of the student of history, until 
 the appearance of a more elaborate narration of his 
 great achievements from some pen better qualified to 
 record them.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Early History of Sweden Convention of Calmar Its Effects 
 Sweden is invaded by Christian II. of Denmark His Perfidy 
 and Cruelty towards the Swedish Nobility Gustavus Ericson 
 re-establishes the Freedom of his Country, and is, in consequence, 
 declared King State of Sweden under his government Reigns 
 of Eric XIV. and John III. Contests between Sigismond, son 
 of the latter monarch, and the Swedish Estates Sigismond is 
 declared to have forfeited the crown, which is conferred upon his 
 uncle, Charles IX. Birth of Gustavus Adolphus Prognosti- 
 cations of his future greatness His Education and early mani- 
 festations of Genius. 
 
 THE origin of the Swedish nation, like that of most 
 of the tribes of the North, is lost in the darkness of 
 remote antiquity. The most ancient compilers of its 
 records, with a vanity the more pardonable, as it has 
 been shared by the earliest historians of almost all 
 nations, have asserted, that Sweden was peopled before 
 any country to the north of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 subsequently to the occurrence of the general Deluge ; 
 and the learned Puffendorff * himself has not only 
 admitted this as an incontrovertible fact, but busied 
 himself at some length in endeavours to account for it. 
 At whatever period, however, the history of Sweden 
 * Puffendorff, Hist, of Sweden, Book I.
 
 2 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 may be considered to commence, little worthy of no- 
 tice is presented by its perusal, until towards the end 
 of the fourteenth century. The first event which 
 claims attention, is that generally known under the 
 name of the Union of Calmar. 
 
 By this celebrated convention, Margaret, the 
 daughter of Waldemar IV., King of Denmark, and 
 widow of Haquin, King of Norway, who, by a suc- 
 cessful course of policy, had obtained the sovereignty 
 of both these kingdoms on the death of her father and 
 husband, and, by a still further effort of ambitious 
 intrigue, had caused herself to be elected Queen of 
 Sweden, after the expulsion of Albert of Mecklen- 
 burg, endeavoured to unite the three crowns she pos- 
 sessed, in a single sovereignty, to be transmitted un- 
 impaired to her successors. As the civil constitu- 
 tions of the respective kingdoms appeared to be but 
 little affected by the change, no great difficulty was 
 at first raised to its accomplishment ; yet the effects 
 which ultimately resulted from it were disastrous in 
 the extreme. Sweden, at first under Margaret, and 
 afterwards beneath the sceptre of Eric, who succeeded 
 her, found itself in the condition of a tributary state, 
 dependent upon Denmark, and subjected to all the 
 oppression and injustice, generally shown towards a 
 newly-conquered province. After a submission of 
 some continuance, the Swedes determined upon reco- 
 vering their liberty. During the reign of Christian I., 
 a revolution was organised by the grand Marshal 
 Canutson, which terminated in the complete success 
 of the Swedish insurgents.* By the intervention of 
 the clergy, however, who were mostly attached to 
 the Danish interests, the freedom of Sweden was still 
 threatened either by open warfare or secret conspira- 
 cies, and during the governments of Steno and Suanto 
 Sture, who, rejecting the regal title, were contented 
 * Vertot, Revolutions dc Suede.
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 3 
 
 with filling the first office of the state under that of 
 administrators or regents, the court of Copenhagen 
 was constantly flattered by the hopes of a re-establish- 
 ment of the union of Calmar. 
 
 At the death of Suanto Sture, in 1504, the throne 
 of Denmark was occupied by Christian II., on whom 
 it had lately devolved. In the character of this 
 prince, remorseless cruelty and perfidy were united 
 with an ambition of the most insatiate character ; 
 and the odious appellation of tyrant has seldom been 
 bestowed upon an individual more deserving of the 
 name. The unsettled state of Sweden immediately 
 after the election of a new administrator, seemed to 
 hold out a favourable opportunity for making himself 
 master of that kingdom, and his designs were un- 
 happily seconded by an ally, in every respect worthy 
 of himself. This was Gustavus Trolle, archbishop of 
 Upsal, whose father, Eric, had been an unsuccessful 
 candidate for the administratorship, and whose na- 
 tural inclination towards the interests of Denmark 
 was stimulated by personal hatred to the family of 
 the Stures, who had again managed to secure the 
 contested dignity for a member of their own family. 
 By means of this prelate, a sentence of excommuni- 
 cation was obtained from Leo X. against the young 
 administrator, Steno, and his adherents, and the 
 armies of Christian, entering the Swedish territory 
 under the pretence of carrying the spiritual edict into 
 effect, began to lay waste the country with fire and 
 sword. They were quickly met by Steno, with a 
 force hastily collected for the occasion ; but, after a 
 few partial successes obtained over the invaders, the 
 Swedes were entirely defeated in a great battle on 
 the banks of the lake Veler. The administrator him- 
 self received a mortal wound ; his forces dispersed, 
 and Christian, upon hearing of the complete success 
 which his generals had obtained, advanced in person
 
 4 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 to lay siege to Stockholm, the last remaining strong- 
 hold of Sweden (with the exception of the fortress 
 of Calmar), which, defended by the administrator's 
 widow, still maintained a vigorous resistance, amidst 
 the general defection or submission of the rest of the 
 kingdom. On the fall of this important barrier of 
 liberty, which was surrendered on conditions after a 
 protracted blockade, Christian found himself in en- 
 tire possession of the dignity to which he had so long 
 aspired ; but to his jealous and suspicious temper, 
 the removal of every obstacle which might at a future 
 period render its possession insecure, was a requisite 
 indispensable to its enjoyment. On a former occasion 
 he had, in utter contempt of his own honour, and the 
 law of nations, seized as hostages, seven of the prin- 
 cipal lords of Sweden, whom he kept under confine- 
 ment in his dominions. Pie now hastened, by an 
 act of atrocious injustice, fully to consummate his 
 ambitious plans. A general assembly of the nobility 
 and clergy was convoked at Stockholm for the pur- 
 pose of witnessing his coronation, and investiture 
 with the order of the Golden Fleece, conferred upon 
 him by the emperor, Charles V. After the perform- 
 ance of these ceremonies, in a style of the highest 
 magnificence, two days of unsuspecting revelry suc- 
 ceeded ; during which the Swedish nobility were 
 entertained by Christian with the utmost affability, 
 and indulged with every external mark of confidence. 
 On the third, the sudden appearance of the Arch- 
 bishop of Upsal in a full assembly of the Estates, 
 attended by a numerous train of dependents, for the 
 purpose of appealing against numerous acts of alleged 
 injustice on the part of the deceased administrator 
 and many of the nobles present, was an ominous 
 introduction to the tragic scene about to follow. 
 Ninety-four lords, in addition to the magistrates 
 and consuls of Stockholm, were instantly apprehended
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 5 
 
 on the accusation of the archbishop. The sentence of 
 excommunication, previously pronounced against them 
 at Rome, was supposed to preclude the necessity of a 
 formal trial; and after the interval of only a few 
 hours, the whole of the prisoners, many of whom 
 were still adorned with the dresses of state they had 
 assumed for the late solemnities, were led to expiate 
 upon a public scaffold, their too great credulity in 
 trusting their personal safety to the oaths and pro- 
 mises of a monarch, who was incapable of being 
 bound by either. But the hatred of Christian 
 towards the Swedish nation, was not to be appeased 
 by the effusion of noble blood alone. The domestics, 
 who had accompanied his victims, were condemned 
 to a similar fate with their masters, and the Danish 
 troops, under pretence of searching for criminals not 
 yet apprehended, burst into the private houses of 
 Stockholm, and filled every quarter of the city with 
 scenes of bloodshed and outrage. By this act of 
 summary vengeance, the king of Denmark imagined 
 he had given a death-blow to the spirit of Swedish 
 independence ; but at the very moment while he was 
 flattering himself with the complete success of his 
 projects, Divine Justice was raising up an avenger, 
 whose talents and patriotism were not only the 
 means of wresting from him the kingdom over which 
 he had acquired a temporary dominion, but the prin- 
 cipal cause of his final expulsion from his own. 
 
 Gustavus Ericson, surnamed Vasa, grand stand- 
 ard-bearer of Sweden, had distinguished himself by 
 many acts of intrepidity and conduct, during the 
 brief continuance of hostilities between the adminis- 
 trator Steno, and the Danish armies of invasion. He 
 was one of the seven hostages whom Christian had 
 carried off into Denmark, and still detained in that 
 country as securities for the conduct of their relatives 
 at home. Naturally of a daring and enthusiastic
 
 6 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 temperament, and possessed of that ardent spirit of 
 patriotism, which has so often rendered a single indi- 
 vidual the means of arousing the energies of an en- 
 thralled nation, this young nohleman was deeply 
 affected by the intelligence he received of the subju- 
 gation of his country by the king of Denmark. He 
 immediately formed the design of making at least one 
 more effort for the recovery of its independence ; and 
 with that intention, after escaping from the guard 
 under which he was held, landed in the vicinity of 
 Calmar ; the garrison of which he endeavoured to 
 gain over to declare themselves for the cause which 
 he considered himself as representing. His first 
 attempt was unsuccessful. The governor of Calmar 
 was so far from yielding to his appeal, that he 
 threatened to deliver him into the hands of the enemy ; 
 and the Danes gaining information of his arrival, 
 commenced so diligent a search for the purpose of 
 apprehending him, that he was compelled, in the 
 disguise of a peasant, to traverse the least frequented 
 parts of the country ; and finally to betake himself, 
 for the purpose of better concealment, to the wild 
 district of Dalecarlia, where, on being abandoned by 
 his guide, who carried off in his flight the limited 
 means of maintenance which he had still preserved, 
 he was compelled, by the pressure of actual necessity, 
 to engage himself as a common labourer in the 
 mines. His subsequent adventures form one of the 
 most interesting chapters in what has been not un- 
 aptly called the Romance of History. After under- 
 going many perils in the midst of avowed enemies 
 and false friends, he gained an opportunity of ha- 
 ranguing the crowds assembled at the fair of Mora, 
 upon the oppression to which their country was 
 already exposed, and the additional evils it might be 
 called upon to suffer by a protracted submission to 
 the weight of a foreign yoke. The hardy Dalecar-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 7 
 
 Hans, already sufficiently disposed to a revolt, and 
 requiring but a leader competent to direct their en- 
 deavours, at once flew to arms, under the influence 
 of the feelings excited by his eloquence and address. 
 A neighbouring fortress, in which a Danish garrison 
 had been placed, for the purpose of overawing the 
 country, was at once assailed and carried by storm. 
 Multitudes of Swedish gentlemen, who had been out- 
 lawed by Christian, hastened, on the news of this 
 first success, to join the standard of the insurgents ; 
 and Gustavus quickly saw himself at the head of a 
 formidable army ; which, in addition to the incentive 
 of natural courage, was in the highest degree exas- 
 perated by the memory of past defeat, and the inflic- 
 tion of unprovoked wrong. In the war which ensued, 
 the Swedes were almost uniformly victorious. One 
 province after another was cleared of the Danish gar- 
 risons. The menaces of Christian, who threatened to 
 put to death the mother and sisters of Gustavus, had 
 no effect in checking the progress of the victors ; and 
 that tyrant, after incurring the additional guilt of 
 carrying his inhuman threat into execution, found 
 that he had only accelerated the loss of Sweden as an 
 appendage to his crown, without the remotest hope 
 of its future recovery. 
 
 It was natural that, after the accomplishment of 
 this astonishing revolution, the first burst of national 
 gratitude should be directed towards rewarding the 
 principal instrument by whose means it had been 
 brought about. Gustavus was immediately declared 
 governor-general and sovereign administrator of Swe- 
 den, and at a subsequent convention of the Estates 
 at Stregnez, formally summoned to the vacant throne. 
 His subsequent conduct proved, that he was no less 
 competent to advance the civil interests of his coun- 
 trymen, than to conduct their armies in the field. 
 Under his prudent and enterprising management,
 
 8 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Sweden rose at once to a rank among the nations 
 of Europe, far above what it had ever been expected 
 to attain. The most useful manufactures were suc- 
 cessively introduced and established among the cities 
 and towns. Arsenals and foundries for cannon were 
 erected at the principal ports ; and the Swedish fleets, 
 beginning to traverse the Baltic, took for the first 
 time an active share in a commerce, hitherto almost 
 exclusively shared between Denmark and the Han- 
 seatic towns. The interests of learning were, in the 
 meantime, no less forwarded by the institution of 
 colleges and schools. In return for these and other 
 benefits, Gustavus, towards the end of his reign, 
 received an additional mark of the popular esteem, 
 in a resolution of the Estates, by which the crown of 
 Sweden was declared hereditary in his family. He 
 had previously effected a change in the national con- 
 stitution of far greater difficulty and importance. By 
 successive efforts on his part, distinguished by the 
 most masterly policy, the Roman Catholic religion 
 was gradually displaced in Sweden, and the doctrines 
 of the Lutheran church substituted in its place, until 
 the Confession of Augsburg was at length declared to 
 be the standard of the established faith. This great 
 prince, after entering into an alliance with France, 
 and receiving an invitation from the members of the 
 League of Smalkalde to place himself at their head, 
 died full of years and honours, September 29th, 
 1560. 
 
 After the decease of Gustavus Vasa, Sweden was 
 again doomed to suffer all the evils of anarchy, from 
 which, during his prosperous reign, it had been de- 
 livered. By his last testament, Eric, his eldest son, 
 by Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Saxe Lauen- 
 burg, was nominated to succeed him in the royal 
 dignity. To John, Duke of Finland, Charles of Su- 
 dermania, and Magnus of Ostrogothia, the offspring
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 9 
 
 of his second marriage with Margaret, a Swedish 
 lady of noble family, he bequeathed the respective 
 provinces from which their titles were derived, to be 
 held as fiefs dependent upon the crown. It is said that 
 Gustavus, towards the close of his life, was so much 
 dissatisfied with the conduct of his son Eric, as only 
 to be deterred from formally disinheriting him, by 
 the fear of a civil war after his death ; and the first 
 acts of the new king abundantly justified all the 
 apprehensions which his subjects had entertained, 
 from a knowledge of his character previous to his 
 accession. His temper was a singular mixture of 
 rashness and vacillation, of the most unsuspecting 
 confidence alternating with the most gloomy suspicion, 
 both equally groundless in their origin, and equally 
 mischievous in their effects. He had at one time pro- 
 posed himself as a suitor to Queen Elizabeth of Eng- 
 land; and his name makes a considerable figure among 
 those, whose pretensions served as an occasional 
 amusement to the vanity of that haughty princess. 
 He afterwards transferred his attentions to her cele- 
 brated rival, Mary Queen of Scots, then to a princess 
 of Lorraine, and finally concluded his matrimonial 
 projects by a marriage of one of his mistresses, a 
 woman of the very lowest extraction. It had been 
 well, if his incapacity for government had been mani- 
 fested by acts of mental weakness alone. Repeated 
 instances of violence and cruelty at length excited 
 his subjects to a revolt ; and his own brothers ap- 
 peared in arms against him. An assembly of the 
 Estates, at Stockholm, declared him to have forfeited 
 all right to their allegiance, which they accordingly 
 transferred to his brother John, condemning the de- 
 posed monarch to a state of perpetual confinement. 
 The fate of Eric affords another testimony to the 
 adage, that there exists but a slight difference between 
 the prisons and the graves of princes. Upon the
 
 10 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 occasion of some popular movements in his favour, 
 the royal council and States General of the nation 
 placed an instrument in the hands of the reigning 
 king, by which the life of his brother was left entirely 
 at his disposal, to be demanded whenever necessity 
 might seem to require the sacrifice. Eric, after fre- 
 quent removals from one fortress to another, while 
 the resolution of the possessor of his throne still fluc- 
 tuated between the dread of fratricide and the sug- 
 gestions of interest, was at length destroyed by poison, 
 forcibly administered, after the wretched victim had 
 for two days previously been acquainted with his 
 impending doom*. 
 
 The reign of John was stormy and disastrous ; a 
 period of angry commotion at home, and of dubious 
 warfare abroad. He was engaged in incessant hos- 
 tilities with the Muscovites and Tartars, who, not- 
 withstanding the victories of his general De La 
 Gardie, succeeded in ravaging Finland, and wresting 
 the town of Narva from the Swedes. In his own 
 dominions, an ill-judged attempt to institute a liturgy, 
 similar to that of the Roman Church, justly aroused 
 the indignation of the nobles and clergy attached to 
 the Lutheran Confession. His brother Charles, Duke 
 of Sudermania, stood forward as protector of the 
 rights of the Protestant faith. Under his guidance, all 
 the innovations attempted by the king, were either 
 ingeniously eluded, or encountered by open resistance. 
 Nevertheless, John persisted in his endeavours to 
 subvert a form of worship, embraced by the judgment, 
 and upheld by the resources, of the great majority of 
 the nation. His wife Catherine, a Polish princess of 
 the house of Jagellon, contributed to strengthen his 
 attachment to the doctrines and ceremonies of Rome, 
 and his son Sigisraond was secretly brought up in 
 obedience to that communion. Through the interest 
 
 * Puffendorff, History of Sweden.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 11 
 
 of bis mother, this young prince, after the death of 
 Stephen, King of Poland, was elected as his successor; 
 a circumstance which caused a feeling of still further 
 dissatisfaction on the part of the Swedes, who expected 
 nothing less than the interference of foreign arms, at 
 some future period, for the purpose of enforcing the 
 Roman Catholic ritual ; and induced them to look 
 with still greater attachment upon the Duke of Suder- 
 mania, as the only person able to deliver them from 
 the evils which they had too much reason to antici- 
 pate. After the departure of Sigismond for Poland, 
 the contests between John and his Lutheran subjects 
 were again renewed, and continued with greater or 
 less violence until his death in 1592. This event is 
 believed to have been greatly accelerated by the 
 vexation and anxiety of mind attendant upon the 
 protracted dissensions in which the greater part of 
 his reign had been spent. As he felt his end approach, 
 he summoned his brother Charles to his presence, 
 and after a reconciliation, which was rendered addi- 
 tionally affecting by the relative circumstances of the 
 parties, appointed him administrator of the kingdom, 
 during the interval which he foresaw must elapse 
 before Sigismond could arrive to take formal posses- 
 sion of the authority that was shortly to devolve upon 
 him by right of inheritance. 
 
 The first act of the new Administrator was to place 
 beyond the possibility of danger the interests of the 
 religion he professed. He immediately assembled the 
 Senate, and laid before them, in a pathetic speech, the 
 peril which appeared likely to threaten the Reformed 
 Church on the accession of Sigismond. He earnestly 
 advised them, therefore, if they were determined to 
 accept him as their king, to bind him previously by 
 such conditions, as might render him unable to make 
 any innovation of importance on the religious polity 
 of the state. The Senate, in their reply, affirmed
 
 12 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 that Sigismond, by liis attachment to the Roman 
 Catholic faith, had beyond doubt rendered himself 
 unworthy of the crown ; but, before assembling the 
 Estates to debate upon a question of such moment, 
 they advised that a General Synod should be appointed 
 at Upsal, where such steps might be taken as should 
 effectually guarantee the security of religion in the 
 interval. By the Synod, thus hastily convoked, it was 
 declared that the Confession of Augsburg was and 
 must remain the rule of faith of the Church of 
 Sweden, and that whosoever should profess any other 
 belief, was incompetent to fill any civil or military 
 office in the adminstration. The States General, at 
 their first meeting, unanimously confirmed this reso- 
 lution. 
 
 Sigismond lost no time, after hearing of these 
 spirited movements, in repairing to a kingdom where 
 his interests appeared already to be placed in the most 
 critical circumstances. He was accompanied by a 
 crowd of Catholic ecclesiastics, and among others, by 
 the nuncio Malespina, whose presence was not likely 
 to prove a means of conciliating the regards of the 
 Swedes towards the monarch he attended. The first 
 dispute arose from an anxiety expressed by Sigismoud, 
 to have the ceremony of his coronation performed by 
 the nuncio, in preference to the Archbishop of Upsal. 
 Other and more important subjects of dissension were 
 not slow in occurring. Sigismond refused to confirm 
 the existing laws respecting religion, and more espe- 
 cially the late decree passed by the Synod of Upsal, 
 and shortly afterwards, on finding himself compelled 
 to yield on these points to the universal protest of 
 the nobility and clergy, left Sweden under the influ- 
 ence of a sudden fit of disgust, in a state of greater 
 confusion than prevailed there before his arrival. 
 
 The Administratorship was still left in the hands 
 of the Duke of Sudermania, who immediately pro-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 13 
 
 ceeded to dispossess of their commands the few 
 Catholic governors whom Sigismond had left in 
 Sweden, and to summon a Diet of Estates at Sb'der- 
 koping, to debate on the best course to be pursued 
 at so important a juncture. The members of this 
 assembly confirmed the duke in his office as regent, 
 and passed a general resolution that the articles, to 
 which Sigismond had sworn at his coronation, were 
 just and necessary, and that whoever was concerned 
 directly or indirectly in violating them, should be 
 esteemed a traitor to his country. This resolution 
 was particularly aimed at Fleming, the governor of 
 Finland, a steady adherent to the principles and 
 interests of Sigismond ; who, far from relinquishing 
 his government at the summons of the Administrator, 
 had begun to make open preparations for maintaining 
 it by force of arms. But the Senate, perhaps already 
 jealous of the Administrator's power, were in no haste 
 to place him at the head of a force, for the purpose of 
 compelling a general submission to the decree of the 
 Estates of Soderkoping, and Charles, after a long 
 altercation, was obliged once more to have recourse 
 to a national assembly, to enable himself to act with 
 vigour, for the preservation of those rights he had 
 been called upon to defend. At a second meeting at 
 Arboga, the Estates conferred upon him a power 
 little less than dictatorial; and the senators and nobles, 
 who had done most to deserve his resentment, now 
 seriously apprehensive of the consequences to them- 
 selves, fled into Poland, to lay their complaints before 
 Sigismond, and represent to him the danger by which 
 the royal authority was threatened in Sweden, from 
 the increasing popularity and influence of his repre- 
 sentative, who had already earned the title of " King 
 of the peasants," from the devoted attachment shown 
 by the lower orders to his person and cause. 
 Sigismond was in want of little persuasion to come
 
 14 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 to an open rupture with his relative, on whose pro- 
 ceedings he had long been looking with jealousy and 
 distrust. With the professed intention of re-estab- 
 lishing his rights, which he pretended had been 
 impaired, as well by the Administrator's conduct, 
 as by the resolutions of the last Diet, he landed in 
 Sweden, at the head of a considerable army, com- 
 posed of Germans and Poles ; preceding his arrival 
 by a manifesto, in which he denounced the conduct 
 of the Administrator in terms of unmeasxired vio- 
 lence. The latter, after vainly attempting to avert 
 the threatening storm, by every expedient short of 
 an unreserved submission to the king's pleasure , 
 began to levy forces in his turn, and marched with 
 a numerous host, which affection had gathered to his 
 standard, to finish as soon as possible a dispute, 
 which the sharp arbitrement of the sword could now 
 alone determine. The first battle was entirely to the 
 disadvantage of the Administrator, but the fortune 
 of war was speedily changed by a second engage- 
 ment, in which the royal troops received so severe a 
 defeat, that Sigismond was obliged to bargain for a 
 safe retreat, at the price of delivering the senators, 
 who had persuaded him to the expedition, into the 
 hands of the opposite party, and consenting, on his 
 own part, to whatever terms the victors should pro- 
 pose. He agreed to reinstate the Administrator in 
 his favour, to bury all past grounds of offence in 
 oblivion, and to convoke an assembly of the Estates 
 within four months, at which deputies from the 
 Emperor, and such of the Electors of Germany as 
 might be prevailed upon to take a part in deter- 
 mining the dispute, should act as umpires between 
 the contending factions, and assist in settling the 
 affairs of the nation, according to the rules of mode- 
 ration and equity. The intention of Sigismond, 
 however, was only to gain time by this arrangement.
 
 THE LIFE OP GTTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 15 
 
 At the first opportunity, he effected his flight to 
 Dantzig, where he had no sooner arrived, than he 
 gave a fresh demonstration of his unabated hostility 
 towards his uncle, by sending a body of four hun- 
 dred men to reinforce the garrison of Calmar. In 
 addition to this, he did not refrain from openly pro- 
 fessing his intention of returning to Sweden on the 
 first favourable opportunity, to chastise his rebellious 
 subjects, together with their leader, and once more 
 reduce them to that allegiance to which, notwith- 
 standing all that had passed, he still considered him- 
 self to possess an unalienable right. The Swedish 
 Estates, finding that no other course remained open 
 to preserve the kingdom from the protracted horrors 
 of a civil war, resolved to proceed at once to extre- 
 mities with a monarch, under whose government 
 nothing could be expected but the desire of avenging 
 past defeat on the one side, and continued appre- 
 hension or resistance on the other. They therefore 
 assembled at Jonkoping, from whence they wrote to 
 the king, requesting him to return and re-establish 
 his residence among them to put in force the best 
 measures for quieting all internal dissensions to 
 remove evil counsellors from his presence and, 
 finally, either to embrace the protestant religion him- 
 self, or at least to send his son Udislaus to Sweden, 
 to be brought up in accordance with its doctrines ; 
 declaring, that if he neglected to comply with these 
 requisitions, they would consider the throne to be 
 virtually abdicated, and pass without delay to the 
 election of a new sovereign, in whose hands their 
 liberties would be secure from injury. 
 
 These demands, which were hardly expected, and 
 perhaps never meant to be accepted, had only the 
 effect of inflaming the anger of Sigismond to a still 
 higher pitch. He did not even deign to vouchsafe 
 an answer to the message of the Estates. The con-
 
 16 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 sequences were easy to be foreseen. A fresh Con- 
 vention at Stockholm declared him deprived of the 
 regal dignity, but, at the instigation of the Adminis- 
 trator, made a second offer of reserving the crown 
 for his son, on the conditions previously specified. 
 The term for the final acceptance or rejection of 
 this offer, on the part of Sigismond, was limited to 
 twelve months, and afterwards extended to six 
 months more, in compliance with the Administra- 
 tor's urgent request, who perhaps saw that his power 
 ran little hazard of being impaired by such a sacri- 
 fice to the appearance of moderation. At the expi- 
 ration of that period, no answer had been returned to 
 their proposal. Udislaus was still detained in Po- 
 land ; and the Estates assembling at Norkoping, 
 proceeded to carry their threat into execution. They 
 entreated the Administrator openly to accept the 
 title which his nephew had justly forfeited by his 
 aggressions upon the national rights, and contempt 
 for the remonstrances of their defenders ; and that 
 magistrate, thinking the time arrived at which all 
 remaining scruples must be thrown aside, or his own 
 chance of succession transferred to another, ascended 
 under the name of Charles IX. a throne which had 
 probably long been the object of his secret ambition, 
 if not the chief motive of his unwearied advocacy of 
 the popular cause. 
 
 Ten years previously to his accession, an event 
 had occurred in his family, which gave him a greater 
 claim to the notice of posterity, than any possession 
 of external dignity could confer. On the 9th of De- 
 cember, 1594, his second wife, Christina, daughter 
 of the Duke of Holstein Schleswic, gave birth to an 
 infant son at the royal palace of Stockholm, who 
 was shortly afterwards, in memory of the great 
 advocate of Swedish freedom, christened by the name 
 of Gustavus, to which that of Adolphus was at the
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVU3 ADOLPHCS. 17 
 
 same time added, in honour of his maternal grand- 
 father. The celebrated* Tycho Brahe was employed, 
 in conjunction with other astrologers, according to 
 the custom of the time, in the calculation of his 
 nativity ; and is said, after a careful examination of 
 his horoscope, to have predicted a course of extraor- 
 dinary greatness and splendour, and the complete 
 humiliation of his enemies, to the child whose desti- 
 nies were the subject of his investigation ; while he 
 qualified an opinion, so favourable in its general out- 
 lines, by dark denunciations of a sudden and violent 
 death, and the subsequent extinction of his illustrious 
 house + ; a prophecy, perhaps, suggested by one 
 which had been afloat ever since the presence of the 
 singular star in the northern heavens, which, towards 
 the close of the year 1572, attracted the attention of 
 the whole of civilised Europe. This extraordinary 
 luminary, the appearance of which still remains, and 
 must probably continue, an inexplicable mystery 
 amidst all the extended observations and discoveries 
 of science, was first observed in the constellation Cas- 
 siopeia, shining with a light not exceeding that of a 
 fixed star of the fourth magnitude. Its lustre, how- 
 ever, progressively and rapidly increasing, soon be- 
 came such as far to surpass that of the planet Jupiter 
 when arrived at its utmost brightness, and was long 
 plainly visible to the naked eye at noonday. Its 
 colour then changed into a deep crimson^, and next 
 to an ashy paleness ; after which, it began gradually 
 to fade away, until it became scarcely perceptible to 
 the sight, and at length wholly invisible. The most 
 interesting circumstance connected with it in the eye 
 of modern philosophy is, that during the whole of 
 this time its place remained unchanged, and that it 
 
 * Puffendorff, History of Sweden, 
 t Histoire de Gustave Adolphe. 
 
 J The New Star in the North shining on Gustavus Adolphus. 
 4to. London, 1632.
 
 18 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 did not present, under repeated observations, the 
 slightest sensible parallax. To ascertain its pro- 
 phetic meaning was then more easy than to account 
 for its presence; and the voice of astrology accord- 
 ingly pronounced that this phenomenon portended 
 the birth of an extraordinary individual among the 
 northern nations, who should stand forth as the 
 defender of the protestant faith, and astonish the 
 whole world with feats of martial enterprise. The 
 subsequent career of Gustavus seemed to impress the 
 full stamp of fulfilment upon a prediction, founded, 
 in all probability, more upon the wishes than the 
 belief of those who first propagated it ; and few were 
 inclined to doubt that the principal events of his life 
 had been prefigured by a meteor, whose phases so 
 exactly corresponded with his sudden rise to great- 
 ness, the extent and rapidity of his conquests, the 
 dazzling character of his military genius, and lastly, 
 the circumstances of his early and calamitous death. 
 One or two traits of character, exhibited during 
 the infancy of Gustavus, are mentioned on respect- 
 able authority. It is said that, when only five years 
 of age, he accompanied his father to Calmar, where 
 an armament was in the process of being fitted out 
 against the town of Lubeck* and that, as he was 
 gazing with childish curiosity on the ships of war 
 which were preparing to put to sea, an officer of 
 distinction approaching the spot, inquired which 
 vessel he preferred among all he saw lying at anchor 
 before him. " That," replied the child, stretching 
 his hands towards one named Swartza Riddaren, or 
 the Black Knight, which presented to view a for- 
 midable battery of the largest guns then in use. 
 " And why ?" said the officer, continuing the conver- 
 sation. " Because," replied Gustavus with eagerness, 
 " it is betterfurnished with cannons than all the restt." 
 
 Anno 1599, Loccenius Hist. Suecana, L. 16, vii. 
 
 f Man v ill oil.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHDS. 19 
 
 On another occasion, it is said, that he was walk- 
 ing with his 'father in the meadows near Ny-Koping, 
 with a number of the nobility and attendants upon 
 his court. While they pursued their promenade, the 
 child made frequent excursions from the company, 
 and sometimes ran into the skirts of a wood close at 
 hand, thickly beset with tangled briars and shrubs. 
 One of the nobles present, fearing that his clothes 
 would be torn to pieces by this amusement, and 
 thinking to terrify him from pursuing it, informed 
 him that the wood before him was tenanted by 
 venomous serpents of extraordinary magnitude, who 
 would not fail to resent in a fatal manner any sudden 
 intrusion into their haunts. Gustavus only smiled at 
 the information. "Give me a large stick, then," 
 said he, " that I may immediately go and kill them 
 all." Most of those who were near laughed at the 
 reply, which they seemed to think nothing more than 
 a vainglorious affectation of courage. But the duke 
 was inclined to treat the circumstance more seriously. 
 " Do you think," he asked, " that what that child 
 has threatened he is afraid to perform ? I assure 
 you, if that is your opinion, you know but little of 
 his real character." 
 
 A peasant of Oeland had brought for his use one 
 of the most beautiful of the small breed of horses 
 peculiar to that province. Gustavus was highly 
 delighted with the present, but his first thoughts 
 were turned to recompensing the donor. " I must not 
 suffer you," he said, " to go away unpaid, for it can- 
 not be your intention to give me this horse for 
 nothing ; at any rate, you may be 'in want of 
 money." And so saying, he drew forth his little 
 purse, filled with ducats, and immediately proceeded 
 to empty its contents into the peasant's hands. 
 
 Trivial as these anecdotes may appear, they are all 
 that history has preserved respecting the infancy of 
 c 2
 
 20 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 one, whose actions were destined to fill so large a 
 space in its annals. Those who delight to trace the 
 child as father to the man, may discover in them the 
 germs of those qualities which, when developed, 
 formed the principal features in his character. The 
 childhood of few, however, has passed without many 
 such words and actions, as might by observers be 
 interpreted as signs of future greatness. It is the 
 course of subsequent events alone which ultimately 
 determines whether these shall be esteemed in the 
 light of indications of dawning eminence or as mani- 
 festations of feeling common to most in early life, and 
 therefore presenting no claim to be rescued from 
 oblivion. 
 
 As soon as the age of Gustavus permitted, he was 
 placed under the care of tutors unexceptionably qua- 
 lified, by their moral character and literary attain- 
 ments, for the important task of his instruction.* The 
 general superintendence of his education was com- 
 mitted to Otho de Moerner, a gentleman of a 
 distinguished house in Brandenburg. The principal 
 preceptor under him was the learned John Skytte, 
 who, in addition to a profound knowledge of ancient 
 literature, was celebrated as a skilful diplomatist, 
 and possessed all the information which a residence 
 for nine years at different courts in Europe could 
 supply. Under the direction of this able instructor, 
 Gustavus made a rapid progress in the study of the 
 classical poets and historians, to which was added 
 that of geometry, rhetoric, and the principles of juris- 
 prudence. The extent of his memory, and the powers 
 of genius which he displayed at this time, are 
 said only to have been equalled by his extreme 
 docility, and the avidity with which he pursued 
 every branch of learning subjected to his notice. His 
 attainments at an early age must indeed have been 
 * Histoire de Gustavo Adolphe, vol. i. p. 55.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 21 
 
 extraordinary, if unlimited credit is to be given to 
 the writers who have recorded them ; since we are 
 informed that, when only twelve years old, he wrote 
 and spoke with as much facility as his native tongue, 
 the Latin, French, German, Flemish, and Italian 
 languages, in addition to possessing an extensive 
 acquaintance with those of Poland and Muscovy. 
 Gustavus was so sensible of the advantages he had 
 derived from the knowledge and abilities of his tutor, 
 that he subsequently raised him to the dignity of 
 count and senator, and intrusted him with some of 
 the most important offices of the kingdom. 
 
 During the twelve years' truce, concluded in 1609, 
 between the contending powers in the Low Countries, 
 the court of Charles was visited by a number of offi- 
 cers, French, German, English, Scotch, and Flemish, 
 who had been actively engaged in that famous theatre 
 of war, and were anxious to improve the interval of 
 leisure by travelling among the northern nations, or 
 desirous of offering their services to the Swedish 
 crown. Their arrival was highly acceptable to the 
 young Gustavus, who, with an interest hardly to be 
 expected from his years, questioned them upon the 
 resources, manners, and customs of their respective 
 countries; their several methods of constructing forti- 
 fications, disciplining troops, or building and equip- 
 ping ships of war. Those to whom his questions 
 were addressed, could not help expressing their 
 astonishment at the talent shown in his observations 
 upon their information, in the presence of his father, 
 and Charles took the opportunity of venturing a pre- 
 diction, which after events proved to be strictly cor- 
 rect. After enumerating several plans, which he had 
 in contemplation, for advancing the glory and pros- 
 perity of Sweden, he added : " As for myself, I 
 hardly dare indulge in the hope of accomplishing 
 them ; but the youth, whose abilities you have so
 
 22 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPI1US. 
 
 justly been admiring, will one day certainly carry 
 them into effect." 
 
 But among the numerous mental and moral quali- 
 fications already so remarkably displayed by the sub- 
 ject of this history, it would be unpardonable to omit 
 one of incomparably more importance than the rest. 
 The piety and devotion of Gustavus, and his unaffected 
 reverence for all the ordinances of religion, were con- 
 spicuous from almost the earliest period of his life. 
 Much of this quality, which constitutes the grand 
 distinction by which he is separated from a crowd of 
 illustrious monarchs and conquerors, many of them 
 his equals, and some few perhaps his masters in policy 
 and war, is undoubtedly to be attributed to the 
 instruction and example of those in the company of 
 whom his childhood was spent ; still more to that 
 mysterious influence of the Divine agency, which, 
 sometimes suffering almost a whole life to pass away 
 before it is effectually felt, is often pleased to impress 
 a character of attention to the interests of an untried 
 state upon an age which, more than all others ex- 
 posed to the allurements of the outward senses, is 
 naturally least willing to turn from their attraction 
 to the contemplation of invisible realities.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Continuation of the reign of Charles the Ninth Swedish Conquests 
 in Livonia Condition of Muscovy, and successive revolutions in 
 that country The Czar Basil Ivanovitz Zuski invokes the as- 
 sistance of Sweden Jacques de la Gardie takes the city of No- 
 vogorod by assault Jealousy of Christian the Fourth of Den- 
 mark at the Swedish successes He declares war and lays siege 
 to Calmar The King of Sweden marches to its relief Sur- 
 render of Calmar to the Danes, and singular correspondence be- 
 tween Charles and Christian First military exploits of Gustavus 
 Adolphus Death of Charles the Ninth Council of Regency 
 Assembly of the States General at Ny-Koping Law respecting 
 the age of succession to the throne abrogated in favour of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, who is declared King His address to the 
 States on that occasion. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the accession of Charles IX. seemed to 
 promise an end to the continual dissensions which 
 had distracted the kingdom of Sweden, the aspect of 
 affairs with respect to surrounding nations was far 
 from being such as to encourage the hope of a tran- 
 quil reign. War, indeed, had for some time pre- 
 viously been carried on in Esthonia and Livonia, 
 and it was evident that its flames would not long be 
 confined to these districts alone. The latter province, 
 while forming the last possession of importance re- 
 tained by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, had 
 been incessantly ravaged by the armies of Sweden, 
 Muscovy, and Poland, until it was ceded by God- 
 dart Kettler, the last Grand Master of Livonia, 
 to the Poles, in exchange for the duchy of Courland. 
 It was afterwards rendered tributary to the crown 
 of Sweden, and continued in that condition until the 
 contentions between Sigismond and his subjects 
 afforded it an opportunity of again returning under 
 the dominion of its former masters, whose govern-
 
 24 TIIE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 ment was in all probability preferred more from fear 
 than affection, the Poles being likely to prove far 
 more dangerous enemies than the Swedes, in conse- 
 quence of their nearer neighbourhood, and the power 
 afforded by their situation of pouring their armies 
 into the country, whenever it should be occupied by 
 a rival force. Charles, in the year before his corona- 
 tion, had made an effort to recover this valuable 
 possession from the hands of Sigismond, but had suf- 
 fered a signal defeat from the Polish army, and had 
 been compelled to retire to Sweden, after losing three 
 thousand of his best troops, and being only saved 
 from death or captivity by the interposition of a 
 faithful follower, who sacrificed his own life to his 
 preservation. A second and more successful expe- 
 dition in the first year of his reign turned the balance 
 again in his favour ; but while he was continuing 
 hostilities in this quarter, a still more favourable 
 opportunity for striking an effectual blow at the 
 interests of the King of Poland appeared to present 
 itself in the direction of Muscovy. The condition to 
 which that kingdom was then reduced, and the pro- 
 minent part it afterwards took in exercising the 
 Swedish arms during the reign of Charles IX. and 
 the first part of that of Gustavus Adolphus, may 
 justify a slight digression upon some points of its 
 previous history. 
 
 Basil,* the son of John, and grandson of Basil, 
 surnamed the Blind, was the first grand duke of 
 Muscovy who assumed the title of Czar. He 
 deprived the Poles of the principality of Plescow, 
 together with the duchy of Smolensk, and died in 
 1523, leaving as his successor John Basil, his son, 
 who conquered a part of Livonia, and the kingdoms 
 of Casan and Astracan. This prince died in 1534, 
 leaving two sons, Feodor Ivanovitz, by his first wife 
 * Histoirede Gustave Adolphe, vol. i. p. 150.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 25 
 
 Anastasia, and Demetrius, the unfortunate offspring 
 of a second marriage. 
 
 The reign of Feodor Ivanovitz was principally 
 distinguished by his fatal attachment to an unworthy 
 favourite, Boritz Goudenow, who gained such an 
 ascendancy over the affections of his sovereign, that, 
 after raising him to the first dignities of the kingdom, 
 he bestowed upon him his own sister in marriage. 
 The ambition of Boritz was so far from being satisfied 
 by these honours, that he was only excited by them to 
 aspire to a yet more exalted station. As Feodor Ivan- 
 ovitz was childless, and Demetrius consequently stood 
 next in succession, his first object was to remove the 
 latter from impeding the way to the advancement he 
 contemplated. He therefore hired a band of assassins 
 to set fire to the town and Castle of Uglitz, in which 
 Demetrius resided, and to murder the object of his 
 jealousy as he attempted to escape from the flames. 
 Having thus, as he imagined, secured himself from all 
 danger on the part of the heir- apparent, his next crime 
 was the murder of his benefactor, Feodor Ivanovitz, 
 himself, which he accomplished by means of the more 
 secret agency of poison. After this, it was a matter 
 of no great difficulty to obtain possession of the throne, 
 and he was shortly afterwards proclaimed Czar of 
 Muscovy, in the room of the deceased Feodor, rather 
 amidst the inaction than the approbation of the nation 
 at large. An unexpected competitor soon appeared to 
 contest with him the possession of his newly-acquired 
 dignity. A young monk of noble extraction, but who, 
 by his constant excesses and prodigality, had been 
 driven to take shelter from their effects beneath the 
 monastic habit, determined to venture upon a daring 
 experiment for retrieving his ruined fortunes. He 
 boldly assumed the name of the deceased Demetrius, 
 whom he exactly resembled in person, declaring that 
 he had escaped the swords of the assassins commis-
 
 26 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 sioned by Boritz ; and the mother of Demetrius 
 herself, instigated by the desire of taking vengeance 
 upon the murderer of her son, was easily persuaded to 
 second the imposture by her testimony. The false De- 
 metrius began his career by an alliance which formed 
 the basis of his subsequent good fortune. George 
 Mnizak, Palatine of Sendomir, was so charmed with 
 his engaging manners and address, that he willingly 
 consented to his marriage with his daughter Marina, a 
 woman of great beauty and still greater ambition, and 
 immediately began to levy troops for the purpose of 
 chasing the usurper Boritz from the kingdom, which 
 he considered of right to belong to his son-in-law. In 
 this undertaking he was seconded by Sigismond, who 
 readily allowed him to raise recruits in his dominions. 
 Boritz, alarmed at the storm he saw gathering against 
 him, at first attempted to avert it by negotiation, but 
 finding all his overtures rejected, and his endeavours 
 to excite the Muscovites to arms in his cause totally 
 ineffectual, he determined upon anticipating the fate 
 which he was certain of experiencing from his enemies 
 in the event of his falling into their hands, and put an 
 end to his existence by swallowing poison. Demetrius 
 advanced to Moscow in triumph, saluted by the people 
 as their deliverer during his whole march towards the 
 capital, where he was crowned, with his wife Marina, 
 as the true brother of Feodor Ivanovitz, and con- 
 sidered to possess an additional claim upon the 
 allegiance of his subjects, from the favour of Pro- 
 vidence manifested towards him in his miraculous 
 preservation. 
 
 The imposture of the false Demetrius, however 
 successful for a season, was not calculated to with- 
 stand the close scrutiny to which he was subjected, 
 after the first sense of exultation had subsided on the 
 part of the people, and the nobles who composed his 
 court found themselves at leisure to examine more
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 27 
 
 deliberately the circumstances by which his identity 
 with the prince he represented appeared to be sup- 
 ported. Whispers of the true state of the matter 
 began to circulate among the better-informed orders, 
 and additional evidence which continued to transpire, 
 changed at length what had at first been a feeling of 
 suspicion only, into one of positive certainty. The 
 conduct of the impostor and his queen was not such 
 as to ensure the affections of the only class who were 
 likely to befriend them at the crisis which was evi- 
 dently at hand. The nobles had been previously dis- 
 gusted by their excesses, insolence, and extravagance ; 
 and the indignation of the common people was now 
 so excited by the heavy imposts laid upon them to 
 furnish the means of administering to their indul- 
 gences, that even had the counterfeit Demetrius been 
 actually the person he pretended, they would will- 
 ingly have believed him an impostor, as the best 
 excuse for the defection they were planning. In this 
 condition of general discontent, Basil Ivanovitz Zuski, 
 a Muscovite noble of the first rank, was induced to 
 entertain the design of avenging the insulted credulity 
 of the nation, and appropriating the crown to him- 
 self. At the head of a chosen band of conspirators, 
 he seized the gates of the royal palace, and rushed 
 with a train of armed attendants into the apartment 
 where the Czar was sitting. His intended victim, at 
 no loss to guess the meaning of this startling intru- 
 sion, threw himself from the window of the chamber 
 into the court beneath ; but receiving only a few 
 slight injuries from his fall, was dragged into the 
 presence of Zuski, and confronted with his supposed 
 mother, who, terrified by the threats of instant death 
 if she refrained from making a satisfactory confes- 
 sion, disclosed the whole plot, in which she had been 
 an accomplice. After listening to all she had to 
 divulge, Zuski coolly turned towards his detected
 
 28 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 prisoner, and presenting his pistol, shot him dead upon 
 the spot. He then proceeded to commit Marina to 
 close confinement, and to put to death, under a very 
 slight resemblance to a judicial process, more than 
 two thousand persons, who were chiefly implicated in 
 the late imposition upon the kingdom. 
 
 Zuski, after playing a part so nearly resembling 
 that of Darius Hystaspes in the early Persian history, 
 was not so fortunate during the rest of his life, as 
 his celebrated prototype. He was indeed chosen 
 Czar by the influence of a numerous and powerful 
 party; but scarcely had his coronation been per- 
 formed, when a third Demetrius appeared upon the 
 stage, endued with as much ability, and backed by 
 the same power as his predecessor. This new aspirant 
 asserted that he had escaped the attempts of Zuski 
 upon his life, and that the ball by which he was 
 believed to have perished, had proved fatal only to an 
 attendant, whose body had been buried as that of the 
 Czar. Marina herself having escaped from prison, 
 and hesitating at no deceit to forward her own inte- 
 rests, affirmed positively that he was her husband, 
 and Sigismond rejoicing at a fresh pretext for hos- 
 tilities against a country, part of which he hoped to 
 secure to his own crown, during the confusion which 
 he plainly saw approaching, affected to receive the 
 story of this new impostor with full belief, and imme- 
 diately set his forces in motion against the recently 
 elected Czar. 
 
 As it was in vain to think of making head against 
 the arms of Sigismond by his own unassisted strength, 
 Zuski did not scruple, at so dangerous a juncture, to 
 have recourse to foreign assistance. Well aware of 
 the enmity which existed between the King of Poland 
 and his uncle, he earnestly entreated the latter to 
 prevent the further aggrandizement of his rival by 
 the acquisition of any part of Muscovy, and for that
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPFIUS. 29 
 
 purpose to send a body of troops to act as his auxili- 
 aries in the approaching contest. However disposed 
 Charles might be by his own inclination to comply 
 with his request, he was determined to afford no 
 assistance for which he was not likely to receive a 
 substantial recompense. He stipulated that all that 
 part of Carelia attached to Muscovy should be 
 yielded up to him in remuneration of his services ; 
 and Zuski, willing to purchase the aid of so powerful 
 an ally upon any terms, made no difficulty in acceding 
 to the demand. An army of ten thousand men was 
 therefore despatched to his assistance, under Jacques 
 de la Gardie, Constable and Field Marshal of Sweden, 
 who, before commencing operations, required the 
 Czar to fulfil his part of the agreement by the 
 cession of the stipulated province. Zuski, however, 
 had either no intention to comply with the demand, 
 or had in this instance undertaken more than he had 
 the ability to perform ; and De la Gardie, after trans- 
 mitting information to his sovereign of the Czar's 
 breach of faith, was instructed instantly to make war 
 upon him in behalf of Sweden, and to render him- 
 self master of as extensive a territory as possible, to 
 serve as an indemnity to the nation for the trouble 
 and expense incurred by fitting out an armament to 
 so little purpose. 
 
 Muscovy, by the ambition of its neighbours, and 
 its own intestine divisions, was thus rendered a prey 
 to war and desolation under their most frightful 
 forms. No less than four different armies disputed 
 for the possession of its cities, and ravaged every 
 province within the scope of their operations with 
 ruthless and unsparing barbarity. The Poles, ad- 
 vancing with rapid and uniform success, drove before 
 them in confusion such hastily levied forces as Zuski 
 could oppose to their progress, and soon compelled 
 that chief to shut himself up within the walls of
 
 30 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPBL'S. 
 
 Moscow, of which they immediately commenced the 
 siege. The inhabitants, terrified at the prospect of 
 an assault, offered to acknowledge Udislaus, the son 
 of Sigismond, as Czar, on condition that he should 
 embrace their religion, and that Zuski should be 
 allowed to retire from the city in safety : but the 
 Poles disdaining to listen to any terms from those 
 whom they considered already at their mercy, only 
 replied by pushing their advances with redoubled 
 vigour. Moscow fell, after an obstinate resistance, 
 by a general assault, and experienced that treatment 
 which the horrible licence of war is accustomed to 
 inflict on such occasions. Thousands of its inhabi- 
 tants were promiscuously massacred by the victors, a 
 great part of the city was laid in ashes, and Zus-ki 
 with his two brothers were sent prisoners in chains 
 to Poland. 
 
 While such were the successes of the Poles, the 
 Swedish general on his part was not inactive. After 
 subjecting a great part of Carelia, and reducing the 
 town of Kexholm, he extended his conquests still 
 further, and receiving the submission of many places 
 of less importance, ultimately formed the siege of 
 Novogorod itself. The fortifications of this famous 
 city long defied his utmost efforts, and baffled every 
 plan for its capture which courage or ingenuity could 
 suggest. It was, nevertheless, at length taken by 
 storm, and sacked without mercy by the conquerors, 
 astonishing by its fall the whole nation of the Mus- 
 covites, and silencing the boasting adage which had 
 long been current among them, " Who can prevail 
 against God, or Novogorod, the great city ?"* 
 
 But as if it had been fated that all the northern 
 powers should successively be involved in this san- 
 guinary struggle, the kingdom of Denmark, hitherto 
 
 * " Quis contra Deum, aut magnam Novogardiam potest." 
 Loccinius Hist. Suecana.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 31 
 
 neutral, now began to manifest a disposition of en- 
 tering seriously into the contest, and checking the 
 progress of the Swedes by affording employment for 
 their armies nearer home. Christian IV. had been 
 long anxiously watching the course of events in 
 Livonia, and the recent conquests in Muscovy were 
 not likely to allay the apprehensions already caused 
 by the extension of the territories of his warlike 
 neighbours. Since the time of Christian II., indeed, 
 the enmity between Denmark and Sweden had never 
 been altogether laid aside. The last treaty, concluded 
 between the two nations at Stettin, was considered as 
 little more than an armed truce, and the Danes had 
 since been guilty of frequent infractions of the arti- 
 cles upon which it was based. Still the Swedes, 
 involved in a war which demanded their whole at- 
 tention and called for the full exertion of the national 
 strength, were naturally averse to embroiling them- 
 selves with a fresh enemy, and were satisfied with 
 answering by complaints and remonstrances alone to 
 the fresh injuries by which they were almost daily 
 provoked. The King of Denmark, therefore, finding 
 that all his endeavours were fruitless to induce the 
 Swedes to issue an open declaration of war, deter- 
 mined upon placing himself in the position of the 
 party aggrieved. He issued a manifesto, in which 
 the most unfounded or frivolous pretexts were made 
 use of to justify his taking up arms : and having con- 
 cluded a league with Muscovy and Poland, gave 
 immediate demonstration that he was not likely to 
 be an inactive member of the confederacy, by a 
 descent upon the isle of Oeland, which, after a 
 slight resistance, he reduced to submission. 
 
 Nothing could apparently be more unequal at the 
 time of this invasion than a contest between Den- 
 mark and the nation whose territories were thus 
 unjustly assailed. The treasury of Sweden was almost
 
 32 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 exhausted, her best troops employed on a distant 
 service, the Estates already indisposed to increase the 
 public burdens by granting additional supplies, and 
 Charles, at their last meeting, while vehemently ex- 
 postulating with them on their reluctance to furnish 
 his government with such funds as the exigencies of 
 the war imperatively demanded, had been seized with 
 a fit of apoplexy, by which both his mental and 
 bodily powers were seriously impaired. The national 
 spirit alone, provoked by the late unjustifiable pro- 
 ceedings of the Danes, and inflamed by the ancient 
 spirit of hatred against the former oppressors of Swe- 
 den, proved amply sufficient to supply all deficiencies. 
 The Estates, when assembled at Orebro on the occa- 
 sion, unanimously declared the war with Denmark to 
 be sanctioned by the voice of national approbation, 
 and promised to assist their king in vigorously pro- 
 secuting it with all the resources at their command. 
 At this convention, Charles, according to a custom 
 long established among the northern kingdoms, for- 
 mally presented his son Gustavus to the Estates, and 
 declared him to have attained his majority, which by 
 the constitution of Sweden was fixed at the age of 
 seventeen years. He had previously been created 
 Grand Duke of Finland, Esthonia, and Westermania, 
 and invested with the government of the town of 
 "Westeraas. He was now thought fully capable of 
 aiding his father in taking an active part in the ap- 
 proaching war, an employment for which he had been 
 prepared from his childhood, by a course of severe 
 discipline, and an early introduction to the hardships 
 and privations, the scantiness of sustenance, and ex- 
 posure to the inclemencies of weather almost insepa- 
 rable from a military life. His mother herself, like 
 Jeanne d'Albret while rearing Henry IV. of France, 
 had taken every means to render his constitution ro- 
 bust and vigorous, and long before being entrusted
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 33 
 
 with a command, he was compelled to pass through 
 the course of exercise pursued by the commonest sol- 
 dier, to acquire dexterity in the management of the 
 pike and musket, to handle the spade and mattock, 
 and to submit, instantly and without a murmur, to 
 the orders of his superior officers. Thus qualified for 
 the arduous life upon the first duties of which he was 
 about to enter, he was despatched by his father to 
 levy as many troops as he could collect in the pro- 
 vince of Ostrogothia, and to forward the march of 
 some foreign regiments in the pay of Sweden, which 
 were quartered in that district. 
 
 In the meantime, the Danish fleet, after leaving a 
 sufficient garrison in the Isle of Oeland, made all sail 
 towards Calmar, the strongest fortress which the 
 Swedes possessed, and casting anchor in the harbour, 
 landed a numerous army with Christian in person at 
 their head, for the investiture of the place. Two 
 attacks were repelled by the courage of the besieged; 
 but the third assault was attended with better for- 
 tune, and the Danes gained possession of the town, 
 although with the loss of fifteen hundred of their 
 men*. The castle, however, with great natural and 
 artificial means of defence, and well supplied with 
 everything requisite to sustain a siege, was expected 
 to make a long and vigorous defence ; and scarcely 
 had the Danish batteries, erected against it, opened 
 their cannonade, when the Swedish army under the 
 command of Charles and Gustavus was descried from 
 the ramparts, advancing hastily to its relief. The 
 Danes were soon exposed to a double fire, from the 
 artillery of the garrison and that of the army which 
 had just arrived, and not only harassed by frequent 
 sallies on the part of the besieged, but threatened 
 daily with a general attack on their lines of contra- 
 vallation. But while Charles was anxiously watch- 
 
 * Puffendorff.
 
 34 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 ing for a favourable opportunity to make his intended 
 assault with advantage, all his expectations of success 
 were suddenly frustrated by the treacherous surrender 
 of the castle, which was given up by the governor 
 before a single breach had been effected, and in the 
 actual presence of the forces raised for -its assistance. 
 Charles, at the sight of the Danish ensign once more 
 floating over the defences of a citadel, which had be- 
 fore constituted one of the strongest fetters of the 
 liberty of Sweden, was hurried into a transport of the 
 most vehement indignation; and stung to the quick 
 by the loss of a strong-hold, from the walls of which 
 he had hoped to drive the enemy in confusion, imme- 
 diately despatched a trumpeter to the head-quarters 
 of the Danish king, for the purpose of challenging 
 him to single combat ; a proceeding in which, absurd 
 as it may appear, he was but imitating the example 
 which the two greatest monarchs of their time, 
 Charles V. and Francis I., had previously set to the 
 world on a somewhat similar occasion*. This last 
 cartel of defiance, sent from one European monarch to 
 another, is singular enough to deserve transcribing at 
 length. Its contents are as follows : 
 
 " Charles, by the grace of God king of the Swedes, 
 Goths, and Vandals, to Christian IV., king of Den- 
 mark. We give you to understand that you have 
 neither acted as a Christian king, nor as a man of 
 honour, in that, without necessity or reasonable pre- 
 text, you have violated the treaty of Stettin, con- 
 cluded fourteen years ago between the two crowns, 
 and advanced an army before our fortress of Calmar, 
 where you have surprised the town, and taken pos- 
 session of the castle by treason, as also of the isle of 
 Oeland, and fort of Borkholm ; thus giving occasion 
 to an effusion of blood, which will not speedily be 
 
 * After the successes of the French under Lautrec in the Mila- 
 nese war, anno 1527.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 35 
 
 stayed. We trust, however, that the all-powerful 
 God, who is also a God of justice and truth, will find 
 means to punish you for these your iniquitous pro- 
 ceedings. And whereas we have already employed 
 every just and laudable expedient to bring about a 
 mutual accommodation, which you have hitherto 
 uniformly rejected, we now propose to you a last and 
 extreme remedy, understanding that you are per- 
 sonally present in our neighbourhood ; and hereby 
 invite you, in order to spare further bloodshed, to 
 present yourself in fair and open field, according to 
 the praiseworthy custom of the ancient Greeks, ac- 
 companied by two of your officers, gentlemen by 
 descent, there to engage with us in single combat. 
 We on our part, attended also by two officers, will 
 meet you without defensive armour or headpiece, 
 wearing only a buff coat, and sword in hand, expect- 
 ing that you will be equipped in a similar manner. 
 As to the two seconds who attend us, they will be 
 armed at all points, and carry, the one two pistols 
 and a sword, and the other a single pistol, a sword, 
 and a musket. Let those, therefore, who accompany 
 you to the field be provided with the like weapons ; 
 and know, that should you refuse consent to this our 
 proposal, we will from henceforth neither consider you 
 as a king possessed of any sense of honour, nor even 
 as deserving the name of a soldier. 
 
 " Given at our camp at Riezburg, Aug. 12, 1611." 
 The answer of the king of Denmark, far exceeding 
 the defiance of his rival in violence and personal in- 
 sult, may remind the reader of the speeches addressed 
 to their enemies on the field of battle by the Homeric 
 heroes : 
 
 " We, Christian IV., by the grace of God king of 
 Denmark, give you, Charles IX., king of Sweden, to 
 understand, that your indiscreet and insolent letter 
 has been delivered to us by a trumpeter. Such a
 
 36 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 message on your part we were far from expecting, 
 but we observe that the dog-days are not yet past, 
 and conclude that they are still shedding their full 
 violence upon your head. 
 
 " As to your assertion that we have not acted as 
 a Christian king or as a man of honour, and that we 
 have infringed upon the articles of the treaty of Stet- 
 tin ; in this you are gtiilty of a shameless falsehood, 
 and act in the character of a base slanderer, who has 
 recourse to insult, when he dares not maintain his 
 rights by force. Extreme necessity alone has com- 
 pelled us to undertake this war, for which we hope 
 to be able to answer before God at the final judgment, 
 where you also will be called upon to account for the 
 blood you have compelled us to shed, as well as for 
 all the tyrannical actions which in late times you 
 have committed, both against your own enemies and 
 other unhappy persons. 
 
 " You say that we have surprised Calmar, and 
 taken the castle by treason, as also Oeland and Bork- 
 holm. In this you have uttered the falsest of all 
 imaginable falsities. The fortress we have gained in 
 brave and honourable warfare ; but it becomes you 
 to blush, as often as you think upon this subject, at 
 your carelessness, in leaving the garrison unprovided 
 with necessary supplies, and amusing yourself else- 
 where, instead of immediately coming to the relief of 
 the place ; and finally, permitting us to take it before 
 your very beard. And after this you have the assur- 
 ance still to make pretensions to the character of a 
 great captain. 
 
 " "With regard to the single combat you propose, 
 this appears to us altogether ridiculous, knowing as 
 we do that you have already been sufficiently chas- 
 tised by the hand of God, and that a warm chamber 
 would be far bettor for you at present than the field 
 of battle. You have too much need of a physician
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 37 
 
 to re-settle your senses to think of any such an en- 
 counter. But you ought to sink with shame, ancient 
 dotard that you are ! at having insulted a person of 
 honour ; imitating those feeble old women who, hav- 
 ing no other means of offence, are reduced to assail 
 each other with a thousand scurrilous and abusive 
 epithets. 
 
 " In the mean time, we warn you to send back to 
 us our two trumpeters, and our herald, whom you 
 have retained contrary to the usages of war, an action 
 by which all may be able to judge of the innate in- 
 justice of your disposition. Be assured, however, 
 that if you do them the least injury, you are nothing 
 the nearer obtaining by this means the kingdoms of 
 Denmark and Norway. Be careful, therefore, in this 
 respect to act as you ought. Such is our reply to 
 your ill-advised and insolent letter. 
 
 "Given at our castle of Calmar, Aug. 14, 1611." 
 Notwithstanding the fierce tone which pervaded 
 this angry correspondence, the two kings remained 
 for some time in presence, without the occurrence of 
 any important act of hostility, and finally separated 
 after a few indecisive skirmishes. Christian, embark- 
 ing on board his fleet, set sail for the Danish coast, 
 and Charles, first driving into Calmar a detachment 
 of the enemy which had lingered behind the rest, set 
 out for Ny-Kdping to attend the opening of a Diet 
 of the Estates. Yet the campaign was not brought 
 to a close before Gustavus had given proofs of his 
 skill and courage, by the conduct of his first enter- 
 prise, which was attended with singular success. At 
 the head of a small body of troops, he landed on the 
 Isle of Oeland, which, together with the castle of 
 Borkholm, he speedily recovered from the Danes ; 
 and a fortunate accident shortly afterwards occur- 
 ring, induced him to make an attempt to surprise the 
 strong fort of Avesker in Blekingia. A dispatch
 
 38 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 from the governor was intercepted by the Swedes, in 
 which he requested the King of Denmark to send 
 him a body of 500 horse, to stop the progress of the 
 enemy, who were laying the whole of the surround- 
 ing district under contribution. Gustavus, after 
 reading the letter, disguised an equal number of his 
 own cavalry with Danish dresses and ensigns, and 
 assuming the command of the detachment in person, 
 set out at nightfall towards the fortress. The senti- 
 nels stationed on the walls, imagining the body of 
 horse they saw before them advancing in the glim- 
 mering twilight to be the expected reinforcement, 
 suffered them to approach near enough to affix a 
 petard to the gates ; and the assailants, rushing in, 
 sword in hand, immediately after the explosion, easily 
 bore down all opposition, and made themselves mas- 
 ters of the place. In this attempt, however, Gustavus 
 met with an accident which had nearly cut short his 
 military career at its very commencement. While 
 passing over a frozen morass, the ice suddenly gave 
 way beneath his horse's feet, and the animal plung- 
 ing still deeper into the mire in his attempts to ex- 
 tricate himself, placed his rider, who was encumbered 
 with his armour, in a situation of great peril, from 
 which he was not released without considerable 
 difficulty. 
 
 The prince would probably have pushed his suc- 
 cesses in this quarter still further, had he not been 
 unexpectedly recalled from the scene of operations by 
 news of the sudden and increasing indisposition of 
 his father. Charles, it is supposed, had been so deeply 
 affected by the loss of Calmar, and the insulting 
 manner in which the King of Denmark had replied 
 to his challenge, as to invite, by mental anxiety and 
 unceasing regrets, the return of disease to a constitu- 
 tion which, impaired by numerous infirmities, had 
 scarcely been able to resist the malady which two
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 39 
 
 years previously had assailed it. On his way to 
 Ny-Koping, he was seized with so severe a fit of ill- 
 ness that the physicians who attended him did not 
 hesitate to declare his recovery hopeless ; and Gus- 
 tavus was immediately sent for to receive his last 
 injunctions and parting benediction. As the dying 
 monarch was thus waiting for the approach of his 
 dissolution, which was almost momentarily expected 
 to take place, he received intelligence from Jacques 
 de la Gardie, who still commanded his armies in 
 Muscovy, which at any other time would have proved 
 in the highest degree gratifying to his ambition. The 
 people of that country, reduced to despair by their 
 useless resistance to their opponents, and thinking 
 the friendship of Sweden likely to be more easily 
 conciliated than that of the Poles, had offered to raise 
 Charles Philip, a younger brother of Gustavus, to 
 the dignity of Czar, on condition of a cessation of 
 present hostilities, and a subsequent alliance against 
 the common enemy. Charles, however, was now in 
 a condition in which all considerations of earthly 
 advantage were lost in the contemplation of subjects 
 of much more important and absorbing interest. 
 " The affairs of this world," he replied to the mes- 
 senger who had been intrusted with the dispatches, 
 " no longer possess any attraction for me ; I am 
 content to leave them," he added, smiling on Gus- 
 tavus, who was watching by his bed-side, " in far 
 more able hands." Shortly after uttering these words 
 he expired (Oct. 30, 1611). He was attended to the 
 grave by the general regrets of his subjects, who, 
 notwithstanding his somewhat hasty temperament, 
 and too great fondness for foreign conquest, had in- 
 variably, found in him the character of a zealous 
 promoter of their interests, united with that of a kind 
 and benevolent sovereign. 
 
 The legal age at which majority was considered to
 
 40 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 be attained in Sweden was, as has been already men- 
 tioned, fixed by the constitution of the country at 
 seventeen years ; but although at this period the 
 human intellect was supposed to be sufficiently 
 matured for the management of ordinary affairs, the 
 interests of the kingdom were thought to be of too 
 weighty a character to be intrusted to any one who 
 had not previously arrived at the age of one-and- 
 twenty. This had been determined as a fundamen- 
 tal principle of the state by the diet of Nor-K6ping, 
 held in 1604, which paid especial regard to the 
 question of the royal succession. The testament of 
 Charles, therefore, appointed the affairs of the king- 
 dom to be managed, until his son had attained the 
 requisite age, by a Council of Regency, composed of 
 six senators, under the chief direction of Christina 
 the queen- mother, and John Duke of Ostrogothia, 
 first cousin to Gustavus. Among the number of 
 those intrusted with this important office was Axel 
 Oxenstiern, a name of which history now makes 
 mention for the first time, but which was afterwards 
 to be inseparably connected with that of the great 
 Gustavus, whose designs met with a fitting instru- 
 ment for their accomplishment in a minister who, for 
 profound sagacity, extensive attainments, and all the 
 best qualities of political wisdom, has never yet 
 found a superior in the annals of nations. Oxen- 
 stiern was at this time about twenty-eight years of 
 age ; but his talents had long been known to the 
 deceased monarch, who thus bestowed the highest 
 mark of approbation upon his merits which it was in 
 his power to confer. 
 
 The Diet of Estates held at Ny-Koping, two 
 months after the death of Charles IX., was the most 
 important in its results, which Sweden had for some 
 years witnessed. The members, after earnest delibe- 
 ration upon the general state of the kingdom, and
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIICS. 41 
 
 the position in which it was placed with respect to 
 foreign powers, were of opinion that a single hand 
 would be far more effectual in guiding it through the 
 perils hy which it appeared to be surrounded, than a 
 council composed of any number of individuals, 
 however eminent for their abilities or zeal for the 
 public welfare ; and the shining talents which Gus- 
 tavus had already displayed appeared to point him 
 out, notwithstanding his youth, as the only person 
 to whom they could with confidence intrust the inte- 
 rests of the state in its present critical condition. 
 They, therefore, determined, in this instance, to abro- 
 gate a law which appeared to be rendered unneces- 
 sary by the early development of all the qualities of 
 a matured intellect in the character of the prince, 
 and presented this result of their deliberations to the 
 Council of Regency, requesting them not to raise 
 any impediment on their part to the fulfilment of the 
 wish of the nation. 
 
 The queen-mother, and members of the council, so 
 far from opposing their desire, expressed themselves 
 unanimously in favour of their proceedings, and has- 
 tened to divest themselves of the authority conferred 
 upon them by the late king's will, in proof of their 
 readiness to comply with the request of the people, 
 as expressed by their representatives. 
 
 The Duke of Ostrogothia, who, as the son of an 
 elder brother*, seemed to possess a better right to 
 the succession than Gustavus, according to the laws 
 of primogeniture, at the same time made a solemn 
 renunciation of all claim or title to the throne. It is 
 probable that this prince saw it would be in vain to 
 attempt urging an hereditary right, when the incli- 
 
 * This prince was a younger son of John the Third, and conse- 
 quently brother of Sigisruond, King of Poland. He had been 
 educated in Sweden, and brought up according to the Lutheran 
 
 persuasion.
 
 42 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 nations of the nation were so strongly directed to- 
 wards his relative ; but a feeling, which in some few 
 instances has proved superior to the allurements of 
 ambition itself, had no small share in influencing his 
 decision. John was strongly attached to the Princess 
 Elizabeth, the sister of Gustavus, and expected by 
 this sacrifice to ensure his consent to the marriage ; 
 a hope in which he was not mistaken, since he was 
 shortly afterwards xmited to her, with the full appro- 
 bation of her brother, receiving at the same time the 
 addition of a great part of Westrogothia to his fief, 
 as some compensation for the exalted prospects lie 
 had foregone with so little apparent reluctance. 
 
 Gustavus, thus invested by universal consent with 
 the full powers of a sovereign, appeared before the 
 Estates for the purpose of publicly accepting the 
 proffered dignity. In an eloquent speech he expressed 
 his obligations to the assembly for the honour they 
 had conferred upon him by their late decree. He 
 assured them that considering his extreme youth, 
 and the present condition of public affairs, he would 
 willingly have acquiesced in the regulations formerly 
 established by the Diet of Nor-Koping ; but that 
 since his mother and the Duke of Ostrogothia desired 
 to be free from the responsibility lately conferred 
 upon them, and the assembly of the national repre- 
 sentatives had requested him to take upon himself 
 the duties of the general government, he believed it 
 to be his duty to comply with their pressing instances, 
 and therefore entered upon the office, thus devolved 
 upon him, in the name and trusting to the support 
 of the most Holy Trinity ; at the same time promis- 
 ing to all his faithful subjects, that it would be his 
 chief care to protect equally all orders of the state ; 
 to maintain the evangelic religion received throughout 
 the kingdom, and contained in the pure word of God ; 
 and to use all his efforts for the preservation to the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAYUS ADOLPHUS. 43 
 
 several members of the community of the immunities, 
 rights, and privileges secured to them by the laws of 
 Sweden. 
 
 All who were present at the delivery of this address 
 were not only gratified by the sentiments expressed 
 in it, but filled with admiration of the grace and 
 modesty of the speaker; who, in addition to very 
 considerable oratorical powers, which he was natu- 
 rally fond of exercising, was gifted with many of 
 those external advantages, which are at all times so 
 apt to conciliate the popular favour, independently of 
 the character of their possessor. In after times, the 
 pressure of that care, which is the speediest and 
 surest destroyer of endowments of a personal nature, 
 gave a cast of seriousness and anxiety to a counte- 
 nance, originally of a free and open expression ; 
 while a constant exposure to toils and hardships at 
 the same time changed the graceful movements of 
 the youthful ornament of a not unpolished court, into 
 the bearing of the grave and practised warrior. Yet 
 at this period of his life, all writers agree in describ- 
 ing Gustavus as well deserving the appellation of 
 handsome*. He is mentioned as being of a height 
 considerably above the middle size, with limbs active 
 
 * Fuit in Gustavo proceritas corporis, capitis majestas, oris digni- 
 tas, fulgor oculorum protuberantium, rubescentes genae, veneranda 
 pariter et grata majestas, quse perstringat simul et invitet aspectus. 
 Samsonius, Oratio Furiebris. 
 
 The description ofGualdo is much to the same effect. Erahuomo 
 di statura grande, corputo, di maestosa sembianza che riverenza 
 ammirazione, amore e timore induceva ne i cuori. II suo volto 
 bianco col vermiglio tramischiato ; il crine e la barba bionda e 
 in tal modo, che da mold chiamavasi il Re giallo. Historia delle 
 Guerre di Ferdinando II. lib. v. p. 156. His daughter Christina 
 says of him, II etoit beau prince, mais trop gros, et trop replet ; ce 
 qui commen^oit a I'incornmoder. This observation of course applies 
 to the latter part of his life, at which time it is said to have been 
 difficult to find a liovse strong enough to support his weight when 
 in full armour.
 
 44 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 and well proportioned ; hair of a light brown colour ; 
 a ruddy and healthy complexion, and eyes singularly 
 bright and piercing. Few could approacli him with- 
 out being struck with the mixture of dignity and 
 courtesy which pervaded his whole manner, and con- 
 tinued through life to ensure him both the respect 
 and affection of all in his service. With so much to 
 attract the approbation of the people on his first 
 introduction to their regards, it is not singular that 
 his subjects should have anticipated no diminution of 
 the power of the Swedish nation, under a monarch 
 who seemed so well fitted to advance its interests 
 and maintain its dignity. The States, after thus 
 placing the public administration upon the most 
 satisfactory basis, and passing a resolution to assist 
 their young monarch in his government to the 
 utmost of their ability, declared their sittings at an 
 end. The coronation of Gustavus was deferred, 
 until a time of peace should afford greater leisure for 
 the due performance of the solemnity. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Continuation of the War with Denmark Unsuccessful attempt of 
 James I. of England to mediate a Peace Gustavus is compelled 
 to raise the siege of Helsinghurg Christian IV. reduces Elfs- 
 burg, but is foiled in an attempt upon Stockholm Renewed 
 interposition of England Peace of Knaredh Gustavus reforms 
 the Civil Code of Sweden, and founds the Town of Gottenburg 
 His private Studies His Attachment to the Countess of Elbe 
 Brahe First and second Expeditions into Muscovy Peace 
 with the Czar Michael Faedorovitz Coronation of Gustavus 
 Adolphus His Visits to the Courts of Berlin aud Heidelberg 
 Marriage of Gustavus Renewal of the War with Poland. 
 
 Ax the time when Gustavus Adolphus assumed 
 the reins of government, the task before him might 
 well have perplexed the prudence, and discouraged 
 the exertions, of the most experienced monarch long
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 45 
 
 accustomed to the difficulties and troubles which have 
 always been found to be close attendants upon a 
 throne. His first care was to raise his former guardian, 
 Axel Oxenstiern, to the office of Grand Chancellor 
 of the kingdom, and having secured the assistance 
 of this able coadjutor, he proceeded earnestly to con- 
 sult with him upon the best plan to be pursued for 
 ensuring the safety of the nation, which, under the 
 most favourable view of existing circumstances, still 
 appeared to be threatened with imminent peril. 
 Sweden, so far from being likely to retain her recent 
 acquisitions, was now called upon to combat for her 
 very political existence upon her own frontiers. The 
 most skilful of her enemies, a prince of great energy 
 and resolution, as well as of considerable military 
 talents, improved by the practice of years, had already 
 obtained possession of her strongest fortress ; and 
 the first approach of the season for renewing hos- 
 tilities threatened to bring him, confident from the 
 recollection of the last campaign and at the head of a 
 more numerous force, to pursue the career of conquest 
 he had already so successfully begun. Still the courage 
 of the young King of Sweden was far from being 
 daunted at the unpromising aspect of his affairs, and 
 having made all the preparations for defence which 
 his finances permitted, he thought it most advisable, 
 instead of waiting for the approach of the invaders 
 or endeavouring to regain Calmar, as was generally 
 expected, to begin operations by an expedition against 
 such of the Danish territories as were nearest to his 
 own kingdom. 
 
 At this time an attempt at mediation between the 
 two rival crowns, was made by James I. of England, 
 who, in his character of general pacificator of the 
 age, would have well deserved the gratitude of his 
 own times, and the applauses of posterity, had not 
 his conciliatory efforts appeared to be rather the
 
 46 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVl'S ADOLPHUS. 
 
 result of a vanity desirous of displaying constitutional 
 timidity to the best advantage, than of any abstract 
 principle of charity ; or had not James himself been 
 ignorant of one of the first lessons in the king- 
 craft he professed that the most effectual way of 
 maintaining peace between differing powers, is the 
 assuming a position calculated to enforce it. Den- 
 mark was too much elated with recent victory, and 
 Sweden too little accustomed to defeat, to listen to the 
 remonstrances of a third party ; nor had the kings of 
 the two nations yet" gained that acquaintance with 
 each other's strength, which afterwards proved the 
 firmest bond of concord between them. The war 
 was therefore recommenced, and gave promise of 
 being sustained with vigour. 
 
 As the Danes were suspected of having formed a 
 design upon Elfsburg, a town in West Gothia of no 
 considerable size, but of great importance to Sweden 
 as the only port by which her commerce by the 
 northern sea was maintained, the Duke of Ostro- 
 goth ia was detached to watch over its safety, while 
 Gustavus advanced into Scania, where George, Duke 
 of Lunenburg, an auxiliary of Denmark, was sta- 
 tioned with a considerable army. After raising con- 
 tributions from the open country, he advanced against 
 the town of Helsingburg, and having summoned it to 
 surrender without effect, began to make preparations 
 for opening the siege in form. The Duke of Lunen- 
 burg, however, who was much better able to acquire 
 intelligence than hia antagonist, having ascertained 
 that the Swedes kept but a careless watch, deter- 
 mined on a night attack upon their quarters, and 
 having approached close to their camp without ex- 
 citing any alarm, assailed them at several points at 
 once, with all the effect of a complete surprise. 
 Amidst the profound darkness which prevailed, Gus- 
 tavus, who had mounted on horseback at the first
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 4? 
 
 alarm, was only able to collect a small band of 
 attendants about his person. With these he for 
 some time maintained a desperate resistance ; but 
 finding it vain to contend with the immense supe- 
 riority of numbers, by which he was every moment 
 in danger of being overwhelmed, he was at length 
 obliged to retire, leaving the royal standard and the 
 kettle-drums of his own regiment of cavalry in the 
 hands of the enemy. The siege of Helsingburg was 
 effectually raised by this spirited diversion, and the 
 King of Sweden himself was for some time reported 
 to be among the number of the slain. 
 
 Although baffled in one quarter, Gustavus was not 
 yet deterred from maintaining the offensive. His 
 next attempt against the Danes was made on the side 
 of Norway ; but before his operations there had been 
 attended with any decisive result, he was again 
 forced to return into Sweden, by news of the alarm- 
 ing progress the enemy were making in his own 
 dominions. 
 
 The Danish monarch had put to sea with a fleet 
 consisting of thirty ships of war, and having on 
 board 8000 select troops, with the intention of 
 making a descent at Elfsnaben, a port situated about 
 twelve miles from Stockholm. The Swedish navy, 
 far inferior in number, uniformly retired into their 
 harbours as he approached, and Christian, prepara- 
 tory to the grand object of his expedition, found him- 
 self at liberty to reduce Elfsburg, as Gustavus had 
 apprehended, notwithstanding the resistance of the 
 garrison. From thence advancing still farther into 
 AVest Gothia, he directed his march towards Jon- 
 Koping*, with the design of drawing the attention 
 of Gustavus to its defence ; and after allowing suffi- 
 cient time for the effect of his movements to be 
 produced, returned to the coast, and immediately re- 
 * Puffendorff.
 
 48 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 embarking his men, sailed through the Sound, and 
 steered for Elfsnaben, according to his original inten- 
 tion. When abreast of that place, however, ima- 
 gining that, by a sudden attack, he might be fortunate 
 enough to gain possession of Stock holm itself, he de- 
 termined to hold on his course as far as Wapholm, 
 which is situated in the immediate vicinity of the 
 metropolis, and commands the strait by which its 
 harbour is connected with the Baltic. Gustavus in 
 the meantime had arrived in Smaland, and stationed 
 his army in the neighbourhood of Jon-K6ping ; but 
 finding the country evacuated by the enemy, and 
 gaining some information of the direction the 
 Danish fleet had taken, he at once guessed their 
 object, and hastened at the head of 1200 men, who 
 had lately been levied for his service in the Low 
 Countries, to the immediate relief of the capital, 
 from which he was separated by a space of more than 
 eighty leagues. The inhabitants of Stockholm were 
 transported at the sudden appearance of their king 
 among them, at the moment when they had begun to 
 give themselves up for lost. They had already raised 
 a respectable force of burgher guards, and armed the 
 peasants who had flocked in from the country, with 
 such weapons as the public arsenals afforded. After 
 uniting these with the troops who had accompanied 
 him, and allowing himself but two hours' rest after 
 the fatigues of his march, he led his forces towards 
 the Danish lines, and offered battle to the invaders. 
 But Christian had no intention of compromising his 
 own safety and that of the army he commanded by 
 the fortune of a single field. Having failed in his 
 design of surprising Stockholm, he determined upon 
 an immediate retreat, and the next day embarked his 
 troops with some precipitation, having, with the ex- 
 ception of the capture of Elfsburg, effected nothing 
 commensurate with the hopes he had entertained, or
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 49 
 
 the expense incurred in fitting out so considerable an 
 armament. It is said that the veteran General 
 Spinola, after hearing of the activity and conduct of 
 Gustavus on this occasion, pronounced that if he 
 lived to attain the age of manhood, he would vie with 
 the most illustrious commanders of modern times.* 
 
 These were the principal events of the campaign 
 of 1612, at the end of which both the belligerent 
 powers were far more inclined to listen to a compro- 
 mise, than at its commencement. The mediation of 
 Englanu, together with that of Holland, was once 
 more offered, and this time accepted. Sir James 
 Spence and Sir Robert Anstruther, who had been 
 despatched as ambassadors extraordinary by the 
 British court, were the principal persons by whose 
 instrumentality the articles of peace were settled. The 
 possession of Calmar and Elfsburg, by which the 
 Danes were enabled to invade Sweden at pleasure, 
 either on her eastern or western coast, authorised 
 them to assume the tone of superiors throughout the 
 negotiation. The Swedes were obliged to repurchase 
 these fortresses at the price of a million of crowns, to 
 be raised by a capitation tax, and paid within six 
 years ; to renounce their pretensions to a great part 
 of Lapland ; and to allow the King of Denmark to re- 
 tain the three crowns as his armorial bearings, which 
 since the time of Christian II. had been a subject of 
 perpetual complaint on the part of Sweden, and some- 
 times the occasion of far from bloodless controversy. 
 The King of Denmark, on his part, undertook to re- 
 sign all personal pretensions to the throne of Sweden, 
 contenting himself with the sum paid for the ransom 
 of Calmar and Elfsburg, and the heraldic honours he 
 had been suffered to retain. t The Swedish Estates, 
 assembled at Stockholm, expressed themselves in full 
 
 * Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus. 
 
 t This peace was signed at Koraredth, Jan. 19, 1613. Puffendoiff.
 
 50 THE LIFE OF GtJSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 approbation of the peace, and immediately advanced 
 part of the stipulated sum to the King of Denmark, 
 who, in return, commenced the fulfilment of his en- 
 gagement, by the evacuation of Calmar. Gustavus, 
 freed by this prudent compromise from an enemy 
 too powerful for the yet unmatured energies of his 
 government, was left at liberty to turn his whole 
 attention to the state of affairs in Muscovy and 
 Livonia. The Estates voted 500,000 crowns for the 
 expenses of the war in these countries, and prepara- 
 tions were made for an expedition thither on a scale 
 of corresponding magnitude. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this outward promise of a 
 vigorous prosecution of hostilities, many months were 
 suffered to elapse before the king again determined 
 upon taking the field in person. The war in Livonia 
 gradually slackening, at length subsided into an 
 armistice, concluded between Gabriel Oxenstiern the 
 Swedish governor of Revel, and the commander of 
 the Polish forces. The Muscovites, hard pressed by 
 Sigismond, who, during the contest between Sweden 
 and Denmark, had turned almost his whole force in 
 that direction, became daily more urgent in their pro- 
 posal of the election of Charles Philip to the dignity 
 of Czar, and more anxious to secure the protection and 
 alliance of Sweden. It is difficult to find a satisfac- 
 tory reason for the apparent reluctance on the part of 
 Gustavus to suffer his brother to depart for the pur- 
 pose of taking possession of the throne thus offered 
 for his acceptance ; but whatever may have been his 
 motive, whether respect for the feelings of his mother, 
 who was unwilling to expose the life of her son 
 among a people whose rulers had been so often sacri- 
 ficed to the impulse of popular caprice, or the desire 
 of ascertaining, by a longer lapse of time, how far 
 such an elevation was likely to meet with the appro- 
 bation of the majority of the nation, Charles Philip
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 51 
 
 was not permitted to set out for Wiburg in Finland 
 until the close of the year. By that time all chance 
 of the subjection of Muscovy to a Swedish prince 
 was dissipated beyond the hope of recovery. 
 
 During this interval, Gustavus, if inattentive to 
 the progress of foreign conquest, was engaged in pro- 
 moting the interests of the people he governed, by 
 means much more likely to be attended with perma- 
 nent benefit than the acquisition of additional territory 
 abroad. In conjunction with the Chancellor Oxen- 
 stiern, with whom he had now contracted that friend- 
 ship which remained unimpaired until the hour of his 
 death, he revised the whole civil and judicial code of 
 Sweden ; and many of the most important improve- 
 ments introduced into the new body of laws, subse- 
 quently published in 1618, are known to have been 
 adopted at his immediate suggestion. The commercial 
 interests of the country next became the objects of 
 his serious attention. Two confidential agents, Jacob 
 Van Dyke and Abraham Cabelliau, were despatched 
 into Holland with powers to conclude a treaty of 
 alliance for fifteen years with the United States, and 
 to establish certain conditions of trade to the mutual 
 advantage of the two nations. The same proposal 
 had previously been made to the people of Lubeck, 
 and but coolly received ; but on finding the interfer- 
 ence of Holland likely to exclude them from a com- 
 merce from which they had hitherto derived extensive 
 advantages, they hastened, by early concessions, to 
 satisfy the Swedish monarch, and were allowed to 
 continue their ancient mercantile intercourse with his 
 subjects on terms similar to those which the Dutch 
 had declared their willingness to accept. About the 
 same time, Gustavus, who was well aware of the 
 advantages of a convenient port in Westrogothia, to 
 enlarge the communication of Sweden with the North- 
 ern Ocean, formed the project of founding a new 
 
 E2
 
 52 THE LIFE OP GDSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 town in the vicinity of Elfsburg, the plan of which 
 was furnished by his own hand. This was the first 
 origin of Gothenburg, which, by the superior advan- 
 tages of its situation, the capaciousness of its harbour, 
 and the privileges conferred upon its inhabitants by 
 Gustavus, who was naturally attached to a town 
 which owed its existence to his directions, and rose 
 to importance under his immediate care, soon reduced 
 Elfsburg to a state of comparative insignificance. But 
 while Sweden was thus improving in conveniences 
 for the reception of imports from foreign countries, 
 no less pains were taken in enabling her traders to 
 dispose advantageously of the productions of their own. 
 Amidst the facilities and encouragements afforded by 
 the royal ordinances for their construction, a numer- 
 ous fleet of merchant ships was soon completed, and 
 the want of a force for their protection, which had 
 been so grievously felt during the late war, speedily 
 obviated by a navy little inferior to that of the most 
 powerful states of Europe. The minor details of 
 finance underwent the same careful inspection, and 
 were found to be susceptible of equal improvement. 
 The currency of Sweden was greatly augmented in 
 value, and the burthen of taxation more equitably 
 adjusted. Gustavus crowned his public labours at 
 this period by the establishment of a Supreme Court 
 of Judicature, which took cognizance of appeals from 
 all the minor tribunals, and was vested with the 
 power of deciding absolutely in many subjects of 
 dispute between the sovereign and the subject. The 
 impartiality of this court was soon afterwards mani- 
 fested by the decision of several doubtful cases to the 
 disadvantage of the crown ; and the king, so far from 
 feeling dissatisfied, expressed the highest pleasure at 
 such instances of the equal administration of justice, 
 although displayed to his own detriment. 
 
 The institution of so many beneficial arrangements
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 53 
 
 dictated by the soundest wisdom, and no sooner 
 determined upon than vigorously carried into effect, 
 cannot but excite surprise, when it is considered that 
 they were almost exclusively designed and executed 
 by a monarch in his nineteenth year, assisted princi- 
 pally by a minister who had not yet attained the 
 age of thirty. An inspection of the private life of 
 Gustavus at this time is not less likely to elicit a 
 feeling of admiration. The leisure which remained 
 after the numerous public duties of the day had been 
 fulfilled, was divided between devotion and the pro- 
 secution of studies, which were often continued to an 
 hour when the greater part of his household had re- 
 tired to rest. Gustavus, who no doubt saw that the 
 short interval of rest afforded him must soon be in- 
 terrupted by a demand for new and increased exer- 
 tions, eagerly employed it in fitting himself for the 
 task he expected shortly to be called upon to dis- 
 charge. He industriously applied himself to such 
 branches of mathematical science as were then known, 
 and considered serviceable in the theory and practice 
 of fortification ; and, aided by his previous acquaint- 
 ance with classical literature, perused with greater 
 attention those authors who have most extensively 
 treated of the military discipline and tactics of the 
 ancients. The course of reading thus commenced in 
 early life was never afterwards abandoned ; and, in 
 after time, amidst the midnight stillness of the Swedish 
 camp, when pitched in the actual presence of the 
 enemy *, the lamp was frequently observed burning in 
 the royal tent, while its occupant was still intent upon 
 the pages of Polybius or Caesar. The Commentaries 
 
 * In ipsis etiam castris et in hostium euorum quasi conspectn ah 
 optimorum auctorum lectione non abstinuit. Extract from a 
 Letter of John Skyite, quoted by Archenholze in his Memoires 
 de la Reine Christine The celebrated Treatise of Grotius, " De 
 Jure Belli et Pacis," was the subject of his almost daily study, and 
 of its author he used to speak in the highest terms of panegyric.
 
 54 THE LIFE OF GtSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of the latter, indeed, seem to have been constantly in 
 his hands, and before his imagination; and there is no 
 doubt, that many of the improvements which he intro- 
 duced into his armies, and some of the most celebrated 
 actions in his own life, were suggested by the ex- 
 ample of that consummate master of the art of war. 
 The leaguers of Wirben and Nurenberg in later times, 
 for instance, were but imitations of the famous lines 
 of Alesia and Dyrrachium ; and the custom of sup- 
 porting cavalry by small bodies of infantry inter- 
 spersed among them, was evidently borrowed from 
 the contrivance of Caesar, which ensured his success 
 at the battle of Pharsalia. Other resemblances will 
 easily suggest themselves to the reader in the course 
 of this history, in the fondness of Gustavus for the 
 minute details of castrametation, his rapid system of 
 manoeuvring, whenever circumstances enabled him to 
 assume the offensive, and his care to fill up the vacant 
 moments of his soldiers with such occupations as, 
 during the intervals of service, were thought necessary 
 to retain the Roman legionary in habits of obedience 
 and order. 
 
 Amidst these pursuits, the attention of Gustavus 
 was for some time diverted from the objects with 
 which it had been so deeply engrossed by the inter- 
 position of a passion, which seldom fails to form an 
 important episode in the life of every individual, how- 
 ever apparently sheltered from its influence by active 
 employments, or the arduous cares and responsi- 
 bilities of public life. The young Countess of Elbe 
 Brahe was the most celebrated for her beauty among 
 the many daughters of noble houses in attendance 
 upon the queen-mother Christina, at Stockholm, but 
 her personal attractions are represented as being 
 among the least of her claims to general admiration. 
 The attainments of her mind were fully equalled by 
 the unpretending modesty of her deportment, and the
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 55 
 
 accomplishments in which she had been carefully 
 instructed served but to lend additional grace to an 
 amiability of disposition, which had gained her the 
 universal affection of the court in which she resided. 
 Gustavus, whose attention had been at first attracted 
 by the charms of her person, was much more deeply 
 influenced by the mental endowments and engaging 
 qualities which every day's acquaintance more exten- 
 sively discovered. His attentions soon became so 
 marked as to be incapable of being mistaken, and the 
 countess beginning to be apprehensive of the conse- 
 quences, made preparations for quitting the court, in 
 which she thought it no longer possible to remain 
 without detriment to her reputation. But the young 
 king, finding an opportunity of addressing her in 
 private, assured her that his intentions were of the 
 most honourable character ; and professed his reso- 
 lution, if the affection he confessed should prove mu- 
 tual, of sharing the throne of Sweden with a person, 
 for whose merits no situation could be deemed too 
 exalted. The Countess of Brahe might well be 
 excused, under the circumstances, for confessing a 
 regard, which the character of her admirer was so 
 well calculated to inspire : and Gustavus, overjoyed 
 at finding the feelings he had thus openly avowed 
 not likely to be chilled by indifference on the part of 
 their object, soon afterwards made his mother ac- 
 quainted with the step he had taken, entreating her, 
 as she valued his peace of mind, not to raise any ob - 
 stacles to a union, with which his future happiness 
 was inseparably connected. Christina, although 
 averse to a match which she thought liable to many 
 objections, prudently forbore to make any direct op- 
 position to her son's wishes ; hoping that the lapse 
 of time and more serious occupations might prove 
 effectual in weakening a feeling, which difficulties 
 have generally the effect of strengthening. The
 
 56 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 lovers were therefore permitted to enjoy each other's 
 company ; and a correspondence was established be- 
 tween them, part of which has been preserved to the 
 present time.* Those who have had an opportunity 
 of inspecting the letters of Gustavus, dictated under 
 the influence of this his first attachment, represent 
 them as replete with the most noble and dignified 
 sentiments, united with expressions of the greatest 
 tenderness ; and characterised throughout by that 
 simple and humble piety, which seems to have entered 
 into every emotion and action of his life, and which 
 he was never ashamed of openly avowing. Yet the 
 result to which this intimacy seemed so likely to lead, 
 was never destined to take place. Gustavus, removed 
 by the course of after events from the presence and 
 attractions of the person on whom he had bestowed 
 so many marks of his esteem, was gradually drawn 
 by the more absorbing and exalted prospects which 
 opened upon him, to indulge higher designs of ma- 
 trimonial aggrandisement than his union with a 
 simple subject was calculated to afford. Most of his 
 biographers have bestowed unqualified praise upon 
 his resolution in this respect, as if the result of a 
 laudable victory over his own inclinations.t It is not 
 easy to see on what grounds the commendation is to 
 be awarded. If it was the effect of the remon- 
 strances of the queen- mother, the motive is certainly 
 worthy of respect ; but if personal ambition was the 
 principal cause of his making this sacrifice of incli- 
 nation to external advantage, such a choice is surely 
 as little deserving of eulogy as of imitation. 
 
 The first interruption to this short-lived dream of 
 
 * Mauvillon, \vho states that copies of several of these letters 
 were left among the papers of M. Archenholz. It is to be regretted 
 that he has not inserted any of them in his Memoirs. The same 
 author states that the love of Gustavus for the Countess of Elbe 
 Brahe has formed the subject of innumerable ballads in Sweden, 
 f Mauvillon Schiller. Thirty Years' ^A"ar.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 57 
 
 pleasure, was caused by the urgent demands of De la 
 Gardie, whose despatches continued to represent to 
 the king the necessity of his taking the personal ma- 
 nagement of a war which had lately begun to assume 
 too important a character to be conducted upon his 
 own responsibility alone. The Muscovites, finding 
 that Charles Philip appeared in no haste to possess 
 himself of the honour they had assigned him, deter- 
 mined upon the election of another ruler, and chose 
 Michael FsederovitZj the son of Ivanovitz Zuski, as 
 Czar in his stead.* When Charles Philip at length 
 actually appeared at Wiburg, almost the whole of 
 Muscovy had sworn allegiance to his rival. The pro- 
 vince of Novogorod alone, probably overawed by the 
 Swedish armies, tendered its submission, and invited 
 the prince immediately to present himself before the 
 sight of his subjects in its capitol. In order to re- 
 press this refractory spirit, and to recover so valuable 
 a portion of his dominions, Michael Faederovitz made 
 preparations for reducing the rebellious province by 
 force of arms. De la Gardie, on his part, advanced 
 his forces for its protection, and wrote to request 
 immediate reinforcements, at the same time laying 
 numerous reasons before the king for his own appear- 
 ance upon the scene of action. Gustavus was not 
 unwilling to comply with his request, but before his 
 departure, by the advice of Oxenstiern, he made 
 overtures to the king of Poland for the purpose of 
 converting the armistice in Livonia into a truce, to 
 remain in force till the year 1616. Sigismond, who, 
 fortunately for the Swedes, was at this time engaged 
 in hostilities with the Turks, willingly acceded to 
 the proposal ; and Gustavus, having made such re- 
 gulations for the government of the kingdom in his 
 absence as he thought necessary, and which are dis- 
 tinguished by that prudence which pervaded most of 
 * Short Survey of the Kingdom of Sweden. London: 1632,
 
 58 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 
 
 his political arrangements, recalled his brother from 
 Finland, and immediately afterwards set out for that 
 province. The events which followed, although 
 eclipsed by his after reputation, were sufficient to 
 draw upon him the general attention of Europe. 
 Having effected a junction with the army of De la 
 Gardie, and assumed the chief command, he took the 
 town of Angdoa by assault, and shortly afterwards 
 received the submission of the entire province of In- 
 gria. His next undertaking was the investiture of 
 Pleskow, which from the strength of its fortifications 
 was deemed impregnable : but it is not clear from 
 history, whether his attempt to reduce it proved 
 effectual, or whether it remained blockaded until the 
 end of the war. Ivanogorod* was next besieged, 
 and compelled to surrender ; and the campaign was 
 closed by the reduction of Notteburg, a town situated 
 on a small island at the mouth of the Neva, and suffi- 
 ciently distant from either bank of the river to be 
 beyond the reach of ordnance. After these conquests, 
 Gustavus returned to Sweden, having fully realised 
 the expectations which his subjects had formed from 
 their previous knowledge of his military talents, and 
 encouraged them to entertain still higher anticipa- 
 tions of his future successes, which in their turn were 
 also to be far surpassed by the actual performances 
 of their sovereign. 
 
 He was not long without receiving a satisfactory 
 proof of the estimation in which his name had begun 
 to be held by neighbouring nations, by the arrival of 
 two important embassies at Stockholm. The first 
 consisted of a deputation from the University of Hei- 
 delberg, headed by David Parasus, one of the most 
 eminent theologians of his time, requesting him to 
 use his good offices in bringing about a union of the 
 Calvinistic and Lutheran churches, between which 
 
 * Survey of the Kingdom of Sweden.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVTTS ADOLPIItTS. 59 
 
 the protestant world was to its no small detriment 
 divided. The second embassy had been despatched 
 by Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, to invite him to 
 assume the chief guardianship of the Evangelic 
 League, lately formed in Germany. The King of 
 Sweden had prudence enough to comply with the re- 
 quest of neither. He was well aware of the impossi- 
 bility of successfully interfering to reconcile contrary 
 opinions upon the most mysterious truth propounded 
 for the faith rather than the investigation of mankind, 
 and his own force was as yet far from being sufficiently 
 matured for an encounter with the House of Austria, 
 had such an intention at that time been formed in 
 his mind. The members of both deputations were 
 accordingly dismissed, after having been loaded with 
 presents, and still farther confirmed, by personal ob- 
 servation, in the favourable opinion they had formed 
 of the Swedish monarch. After their departure, 
 Gustavus applied himself with increased activity in 
 making preparations for a second campaign in Mus- 
 covy, and having completed the necessary levies, 
 again set out for Finland. An assembly of the 
 Estates of that duchy was summoned to meet at 
 Helsingford ; and, under the influence of an eloquent 
 harangue, which he pronounced to justify himself 
 from the imputation of having entered upon the war 
 without sufficient cause, agreed to furnish him with the 
 requisite supplies for its prosecution. But the pacific 
 genius of James I. of England, which had already 
 been so happily exerted in mediating between Sweden 
 and Denmark, was not idle on this occasion. By 
 his suggestion, the Muscovites sent such offers to the 
 king of Sweden as seemed worthy of his serious 
 attention, and induced him to suspend hostilities, 
 preparatory to negotiations for a short peace. A great 
 part of the year 1616, during which Gustavus fixed 
 his principal residence at the town of Abo, was
 
 60 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 employed in preliminary discussions ; and it was not 
 until the commencement of 1617, that the articles of 
 pacification were finally ratified at Stilbova. These 
 were such as amply to gratify the national pride of 
 Sweden, and to afford sufficient recompense for such 
 claims as were thought best to be relinquished. The 
 Muscovites ceded all pretensions to Livonia, as well as 
 to Kexholm, and the adjacent district, and Novogo- 
 rod with all its dependencies, and agreed to pay 
 the sum of 500,000 rix-dollars, as a compensation 
 for the expenses of the war. The Czar of Mus- 
 covy further engaged to lend no assistance to the 
 Poles, in the event of the war being renewed on their 
 part against Sweden. To this engagement he faith- 
 fully adhered, and, during the rest of the reign of 
 Gustavus, continued on such friendly terms with 
 the Swedes, as to make every intelligence of their 
 successes a matter for general rejoicing throughout 
 his dominions. 
 
 Towards the close of this year, the ceremony of 
 the coronation of Gustavus was performed with great 
 magnificence. An immense concourse of people at- 
 tended, and testified by enthusiastic acclamations 
 their joy at this public confirmation of the authority 
 of a sovereign, from whose government they had 
 already derived numerous important advantages. 
 About the same time, his popularity was still further 
 increased by the pains he bestowed upon the re-esta- 
 blishment of the University of Upsal, which, during 
 the reign of Charles IX., had been suffered to fall into 
 decay, and by his munificent donation of an extensive 
 library, for the benefit of such as should pursue their 
 studies in that celebrated seat of learning.* On the 
 side of Poland alone appearances were still such as to 
 promise a renewal of the storm which necessity, 
 rather than inclination, had for a short time allayed. 
 Scheffer. Memorabilia Sueciae Gentis.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIDS. 61 
 
 Sigismond, with the feelings of hatred he had borne 
 towards Charles IX. > still rankling against his son, 
 used every indirect means to diminish his authority, 
 by sowing the seeds of internal commotion in the 
 kingdom of Sweden, through the instrumentality of 
 his secret emissaries, and exerted himself, without 
 intermission, in prejudicing the minds of foreign 
 powers, by misrepresentations of the actions and 
 policy of Gustavus. The government of Sweden re- 
 torted, by issuing severe edicts against the Jesuits, 
 and rendering it capital for any subject to visit 
 Poland, without express permission. Gustavus, more- 
 over, having gained intelligence that his enemy was 
 endeavouring to gain over the king of Denmark, to 
 enter upon a fresh war against the Swedes, sent to 
 that monarch to propose a personal conference, for 
 the removal of any grounds of difference which might 
 yet remain. The interview took place at Halmstadt, 
 a town itpon the Danish frontier, and ended to the 
 mutual satisfaction of the two monarchs, who, with 
 many qualities in common, were easily induced, by an 
 interchange of civilities, and the expression of similar 
 sentiments, to convert the feeling of respect, which 
 each entertained for the other, into one of personal 
 esteem. The king of Sweden then prepared to pass 
 into Livonia, at the expiration of the truce which 
 was fast drawing to a conclusion. An unexpected 
 diversion, by a new and formidable enemy, however, 
 compelled Sigismond to entreat for a still longer sus- 
 pension of hostilities. In virtue of an alliance with 
 the Emperor, Ferdinand II., who was at that time 
 engaged in a war with Bethlem Gabor, prince of 
 Transylvania, he had sent a considerable force to his 
 assistance an act of interference which was instantly 
 avenged, by the appearance of 40,000 men, sent 
 by the powerful enemy he had provoked, to ravage 
 his own territories in Moldavia. Sigismond thus
 
 62 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 compelled to forego, for the present, his long 
 cherished hopes of taking vengeance upon Sweden, 
 was even forced to appear in the character of a 
 suppliant to a prince, whom he had expected, by 
 harassing his possessions abroad, and exciting sedi- 
 tions among his subjects at home, shortly to humble 
 into complete submission. Gustavus, who was never 
 averse to listen to terms of pacification proposed by 
 an antagonist, showed no disposition to turn the 
 perplexities of his cousin to his own personal advan- 
 tage, and willingly consented to negotiations for a 
 reconciliation. The truce was, therefore, prolonged, 
 and promised to terminate in a lasting peace. Yet, 
 the fire thus seemingly quenched, was only smoulder- 
 ing under its ashes, soon to burst forth in a fiercer and 
 more extensive conflagration. 
 
 This suspension of warlike operations, and interval 
 of rest from foreign enterprise, seemed to the queen- 
 mother and senate of Stockholm, a favourable oppor- 
 tunity for urging a request, suggested by a true sense 
 of the interests of the nation, and which the wishes 
 of all classes of society supplied with additional force. 
 The young king was earnestly entreated to give his 
 attention to the forming such an alliance, as might 
 encourage his subjects to hope for the succession of 
 his immediate issue to the throne, in the event of its 
 becoming vacant by any of the casualties incidental 
 to human life. The Princess Maria Eleanora, sister 
 of George William, Elector of Brandenburg, was 
 mentioned as the most eligible person to whom his 
 hand could be offered, and as she was known to be 
 possessed of considerable personal beauty, and an 
 amiable disposition, Gustavus, who probably antici- 
 pated great political advantages as the result of such 
 a connection, expressed no aversion to the proposal. 
 Yet, before taking so important a step, he resolved 
 upon ascertaining, by actual observation, the qualities
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 63 
 
 of the person who had thus been selected as his 
 partner for life ; and, as he was apprehensive that, if 
 his intentions were generally known, some obstacle 
 would be thrown in his way by Sigismond or the 
 Emperor, who were in close alliance with the court 
 of Berlin, he determined upon making his journey 
 thither incognito. His intention was communicated 
 to Oxenstiern, and one or two confidants alone, and, 
 accompanied by a few trusty domestics, he passed 
 into the territories of the Elector without recogni- 
 tion, and was received at Berlin with such marks of 
 friendship, as augured a successful issue to his under- 
 taking. Gustavus apparently soon found sufficient 
 attractions in the Princess of Brandenburg, to induce 
 him to determine to make no opposition to the advice 
 of his counsellors at home. His proposal was accepted 
 by Maria Eleanora, and the Dowager Electress, her 
 mother; and, after making the necessary arrange- 
 ments for his marriage, which it was thought best 
 to delay for a few months, the king returned to 
 Stockholm as secretly as he had left it. In the 
 ensuing year he was induced to repeat his visit to 
 Berlin, under the same concealment of his rank, and 
 accompanied by John Casimir, Count Palatine of the 
 Rhine, who had married his younger sister, the 
 Princess Catherine. Availing himself of his guidance, 
 he pursued his travels still further into Germany, 
 and he is even supposed, by some writers, to have 
 crossed the Alps, and penetrated into Italy, as far as 
 Padua*, where, it is said, that he was introduced to 
 the celebrated Galileo. At any rate, his name has 
 been preserved in the registers of that University, 
 which the Italians then fondly designated the 
 " Athens of Europe t;" and since, the greater part 
 of his previous life had been too much occupied with 
 
 * Archenholtz. Harte fixes this circumstance some years earlier. 
 + Gualdo, Vita de Valstain.
 
 64 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 serious concerns, to allow of an absence from his 
 dominions long enough for such a visit, it seems most 
 natural, if the event ever really took place, to refer 
 it to this period, although the Swedish historians 
 are totally silent upon the subject. It is certain, that 
 before his return to Berlin, he spent some time in 
 Heidelberg, at the court of the Elector Palatine, 
 Frederick, so famous for his aspiring projects, and 
 their disproportionate punishment. To all, except 
 one or two especial confidants, he was represented as 
 an officer in the Swedish service, and was generally 
 known by the name of Gars, a travelling appellation 
 made up of the initial letters of his ordinary signa- 
 ture, Gustavus Adolphus, Rex Sueciae. 
 
 According to arrangements previously made with 
 the Elector of Brandenburg, a fleet was despatched 
 from the ports of Sweden, immediately after the 
 arrival of the king in his own country, to convoy the 
 princess to Calmar, where she disembarked on the 
 7th of October, 1620, accompanied by the electress 
 her mother, and a select train of attendants. On 
 the 25th of November of the same year, she made 
 her public entry into Stockholm, and the royal nup- 
 tials were celebrated shortly afterwards with great 
 pomp and amidst universal expressions of satisfaction 
 on the part of the people. Her coronation took place 
 in the beginning of the year following. At the same 
 time that this marriage was celebrated, a general 
 jubilee and thanksgiving was held throughout the 
 kingdom, in commemoration of the delivery of Sweden 
 from the yoke of the Roman Church, which had been 
 effected a hundred years previously. Maria Eleonora 
 is described as a woman of a pleasing person, grace- 
 ful manners, and not without considerable taste for 
 the fine arts. Her daughter, Christina, whose asser- 
 tions, however, are never to be taken without some 
 little qualification, mentions her as possessing all the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 65 
 
 virtues and all the failings of her sex*. The king 
 seems to have considered her as inadequate to the 
 labours of government, since in all his regulations for 
 the management of the nation, during his absence, 
 or in the event of his death, he took care to exclude 
 her from possessing too extensive an influence on 
 public affairs. There is no doubt, however, that his 
 attachment towards her was tender and sincere, and 
 that a connexion, probably entered into from motives 
 of policy, resulted in a feeling of reciprocal affection 
 equally creditable to both parties ; a circumstance 
 which is not much to be wondered at, when the 
 many qualities likely to conciliate regard in the cha- 
 racter of Gustavus are considered, and when it is 
 known that his queen, if unendowed with the stronger 
 qualities of mind most suitable for the duties of 
 public life, was, at least, possessed of an unqualified 
 devotion to her husband, and that gentleness of tem- 
 per which forms the most solid basis of happiness in 
 the married state. 
 
 As the prolonged truce with the King of Poland 
 had by this time nearly expired, the thoughts of 
 Gustavus were soon diverted from the festivities 
 attendant upon his marriage to the necessary pre- 
 parations for renewing the war with advantage. 
 Sigismond had been frequently invited, since the last 
 suspension of hostilities, to conclude a definitive 
 treaty, but continued to observe a gloomy silence 
 upon the subject. Although still maintaining a 
 dubious war with the Turks, he resolved to stand 
 the hazard of encountering the additional force of 
 Sweden, rather than submit to the alternative of a 
 peace with his former subjects, which must leave one 
 whom he considered as the usurper of his rights in 
 possession of a crown which he was not yet without 
 
 * La Vie de la Reine Christine, faite par elle-meme et dediee a 
 Dieu.
 
 66 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 hope of recovering. All his efforts to excite a rebel- 
 lion in Sweden had failed. The Duke of Ostrogo- 
 thia, whom he had secretly urged to a revocation of 
 his former concessions in favour of Gustavus, had 
 laid the whole of his correspondence before the king, 
 and it was evident that the Swedes would now be 
 satisfied with nothing less than a formal recognition 
 of their sovereign, nor suffer themselves any longer 
 to be deluded by delays, evidently assumed with the 
 intention of striking a more effectual blow on the 
 first favourable opportunity. He, therefore, deter- 
 mined to abide the issue of the contest, however 
 apparently unfavourable the circumstances under 
 which it was renewed. On the part of the Swedes 
 the most strenuous efforts were made to raise such a 
 force as should bring the struggle to a speedy termi- 
 nation. A fleet, far surpassing any armament which 
 had hitherto issued from their harbours, was speedily 
 equipped and manned, and received on board an army 
 fully supplied with all necessaries for an active and 
 arduous campaign. The king, notwithstanding his 
 reluctance to part with the bride to whom he had 
 recently been united, deemed the expedition of so 
 much importance as absolutely to demand his per- 
 sonal direction. Previously to his setting out he 
 took leave of the Estates, in a speech, in which he 
 justified himself from all responsibility on the score 
 of having provoked the contest in which he was 
 about to engage, and protested in the sight of Heaven, 
 that, as he had been reluctantly compelled to have 
 recourse to the last expedient which remained to pre- 
 serve the interests of the kingdom from injury, he 
 would gladly avail himself of the first proofs of 
 moderation on the part of his enemy, to adopt a more 
 pacific method of determining the differences between 
 them. He then repaired to the coast, where the 
 vessels appointed for the conveyance of his troops
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 67 
 
 were already assembled, and awaiting his arrival ; 
 and having ascertained by his own inspection, that 
 all the arrangements he had made for the voyage had 
 been carefully complied with, repaired with his 
 attendants on board the fleet, which immediately 
 weighed anchor and spread its sails for the coast of 
 Livonia. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Operations in Livonia Gustavus lays siege to Riga Prince Radzi- 
 vil is despatched to its relief Ineffectual attempt of the Poles to 
 succour the place Radzivil retires The Swedes assault the 
 town without success Preparations for a second assault Riga 
 capitulates The Swedes enter Courland and take Mittau 
 Gustavus returns to Stockholm Death of the Prince Charles 
 Philip Sigismoud at Dantzig Negotiations for peace, which are 
 broken off by Oxenstiern Second invasion of Livonia Defeat 
 of the Polish general Sapieha at Walhoff Marriage of Bethleru 
 Gabor with the Princess Catherine of Brandenburg Gustavus 
 resolves to invade Prussia Takes Pillau, Elbing, and Dirschau, 
 and prepares to invest Dantzig Sigismond marches against him, 
 and forms the siege of Meaw Obstinate skirmish between the 
 two armies Retreat of the Poles, and termination of the cam- 
 paign of 1626 Birth of the Princess Christina, who is acknow- 
 ledged as the successor of Gustavus by the Swedish Estates 
 Exploits of Coniecpoliski Gustavus returns to Prussia. 
 
 THE province, which was now about to become the 
 field of the renewed contest between Sweden and 
 Poland, has already been incidentally mentioned as 
 having often afforded to these powers a fertile cause 
 of dissention, and a convenient stage for bringing their 
 mutual forces into collision. In later times, religious 
 enmity infused additional bitterness into hostilities 
 which had originated in an opposition of political in- 
 terests; and the people of Livonia, divided between 
 the Roman and the reformed faith, eagerly took part 
 in a quarrel, which enabled them to gratify the angry 
 feeling?, excited by polemical controversies, in the
 
 68 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 character of zealous allies of either of the contending 
 parties. The town of Revel was the principal strong- 
 hold in the hands of the Swedes, and Riga the most 
 important possession under the power of their rivals. 
 It was against the latter that the efforts of Gustavus 
 were now directed. In forming the plan for its re- 
 duction, it is probable that he was influenced by the 
 hope of being seconded by a numerous party within 
 its walls, who were supposed, from a community of 
 belief, to be more attached to his interests than to 
 those of Sigismond. Riga, while under the govern- 
 ment of the Teutonic knights, in the latter days of 
 their power, and especially in the time of William de 
 Furstemburg, Prince of Livonia, and Grand Master 
 of the Order, who was himself a convert to the Lu- 
 theran doctrines, had shown a strong bias towards 
 the principles of the reformation. During the reign 
 of Etienne Bathori, King of Poland, however, the 
 Catholics were placed in circumstances of decided 
 superiority to their Protestant fellow-citizens. Under 
 his auspices, a College of Jesuits was founded, and 
 endowed with extensive privileges, and the great 
 number, unhappily to be found in every city, whose 
 religious views are in great measure regulated by 
 prospects of external advantage, had, owing appa- 
 rently to their zealous exertions, been induced once 
 more to enter within the pale of the ancient church. 
 It might reasonably be expected, therefore, that if 
 Riga contained within its defences numbers who were 
 resolutely determined to uphold the cause of Poland, 
 there were at the same time several among its inha- 
 bitants who would look forward with no great reluc- 
 tance to the prospect of a change of rulers. 
 
 With these expectations the Swedish fleet ap- 
 proached the mouth of the Duna. While preparing 
 to stand up the river, it was encountered by a furious 
 storm, which dismasted some of the ships, damaged
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 69 
 
 the rigging of others, and for a short time scattered 
 the whole armament OA r er the face of the Baltic. The 
 vessels, however, by the exertions of the Admirals 
 Gildenheim and Fleming, were soon re-collected ; 
 and in their second attempt to ascend the Duna met 
 with no opposition, except from the guns of the for- 
 tress of Dunamonde, which, ranging across the chan- 
 nel, and threatening every sail with destruction which 
 approached Riga with hostile intentions, were sup- 
 posed to be a sufficient defence to the town on the 
 side next the sea. Under a heavy cannonade inces- 
 santly kept up by this fort, but which, contrary to 
 general expectation, was productive of little actual 
 mischief to the invaders, the disembarkation of the 
 troops, together with their battering artillery, and 
 stores necessary for the intended siege, was in three 
 days entirely effected. The Swedes then proceeded 
 to attack the post from which they had experienced 
 so rude a greeting, and speedily compelled it to sur- 
 render*. Having by this means secured a safe pas- 
 sage for all such reinforcements and supplies as should 
 be sent them up the river, they immediately invested 
 the town and began to labour at the lines of circum- 
 vallation. The king himself, with a mattock in his 
 hand, was the first to set his soldiers an example of 
 cheerful and unremitting exertion until the necessary 
 work was completed. The army employed in this 
 service was far from appearing, either in point of 
 number or equipment, inferior to the importance of 
 the enterprise it had undertaken. Immediately under 
 the king, the Prince Charles Philip, the Chancellor 
 Oxenstiern, and the veteran Jacques de la Gardie, 
 together with the Generals Horn, Banner, and 
 Wrangel, names afterwards well known in the Ger- 
 
 * Loccenius, whom Harte has followed, affirms that the Swedes 
 left Dunamonde unreduced. The statement of Mauvillon has been 
 preferred.
 
 70 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 man wars, and the Colonels Ruthven and Seaton, 
 Scottish officers in the pay of Sweden, were each in 
 the command of separate detachments. The whole 
 besieging force amounted to more than 24,000 men, 
 for the most part long inured to service, and carefully 
 selected for the occasion. On the other hand, Riga 
 had been supplied with a numerous garrison, to 
 which the armed burghers made a very respectable 
 addition, and was strongly defended by bastions, wet 
 ditches, and numerous half-moons, a favourite kind 
 of outwork in the old systems of fortification. 
 
 As the assailants pushed their advances nearer the 
 main defences of the town, the efforts on each side 
 became more vigorous, and the loss both to besiegers 
 and besieged increased in proportion. The King of 
 Sweden attracted the universal attention of his army 
 by the fearless exposure of his person to danger, and 
 the activity and vigilance he displayed in the conduct 
 of every operation. A short repose of two hours upon 
 the bare earth, amidst the soldiers who were labouring 
 at the trenches, was frequently the only rest he allowed 
 himself during the night; and if at anytime heindulged 
 himself so far as to retire to sleep in his own quarters, 
 he was invariably on horseback with the first glimpse 
 of day, visiting the outposts, or anxiously ascertaining 
 the progress which had been made during his absence. 
 On one occasion, having taken his station at that part 
 of the trenches where Colonel Seaton commanded, 
 several men were struck down at his side by a shot 
 from the ramparts ; and at another time, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Stakelburg was killed so near him, that his 
 blood was sprinkled upon the king's clothes. His 
 officers, alarmed at the prospect of his falling a sacrifice 
 to his too great forwardness, entreated him to refrain 
 from such a perilous vicinity to the enemy for the 
 future. Gustavus jestingly replied, by quoting the 
 words of the Emperor Charles V., that neither cannon
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 71 
 
 balls nor musket bullets were cast for kings ; an asser- 
 tion to which, in more instances than one, he was 
 about to give a practical refutation. 
 
 The King of Poland, on gaining intelligence of the 
 progress of the Swedes, and alarmed for the safety of 
 a place which he considered among the most valuable 
 of his possessions, was resolved to make an attempt 
 at all hazards for its relief. At this time he was 
 compelled to tax his resources to the utmost to with- 
 stand the forces of the Turks, who had made their 
 appearance on his frontiers with an army reckoned 
 at 300,000 men. Yet, although hardly able from 
 day to day to make head against this invading torrent, 
 composed of the hereditary enemies of his crown, he 
 contrived to detach a force of 14,000 of his best 
 troops under the command of the Prince Radzivil, 
 General of Lithuania, and one of the principal nobles 
 of his court, with instructions to make a diversion in 
 favour of Riga ; and, if possible, to introduce fresh 
 succours into the town to increase the number of the 
 garrison. Radzivil was not wanting in endeavours to 
 execute his commission, but his success was not equal 
 to his efforts. The Polish light horse manoeuvred in 
 all directions to draw the Swedes from their entrench- 
 ments, with the hope of finding a passage into Riga 
 during the skirmish, to which they thus endeavoured 
 to entice them, but their evolutions were only 
 answered by the artillery of the enemy, which was 
 pointed with great effect against their squadrons when- 
 ever they came within reach. They then attempted, 
 by sending a number of armed boats down the stream 
 of the Duna, to effect the purpose they had in view. 
 The flotilla was commanded by Burke, an Irish officer, 
 and set out in good order, but before it reached the 
 town the river was found to be so completely com- 
 manded by batteries which the Swedes had raised in 
 anticipation of the design, as to render its proceeding
 
 72 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 an act of rashness approaching to madness itself. 
 Radzivil, therefore, after a slight parting engagement 
 with the outposts of his antagonists, was compelled to 
 relinquish his undertaking in despair, and returned to 
 Sigismond with his army, leaving Riga once more to 
 defend itself as it best might by its own resources. 
 
 These were by this time apparently reduced to the 
 lowest possible condition. The Swedes had gained, 
 although with some loss, a half-moon in advance of the 
 principal fortifications, and had now effected a prac- 
 ticable breach in the body of the place. Several 
 mines, the work principally of the Dalecarlians, 
 accustomed from their infancy to labours of this 
 description in their own country, had been sprung 
 beneath the counterscarp with ruinous effect. It was 
 evident that a general assault was at hand ; but from 
 a willingness to spare the town the infliction of this 
 last calamity, the King of Sweden, who had already 
 twice summoned it without effect, despatched a third 
 messenger to invite a surrender on favourable terms. 
 The first two offers had been indignantly rejected by 
 the garrisons ; to that now laid before them they did 
 not even condescend to reply. The only expedient left, 
 therefore, was an attempt to carry the town sword in 
 hand. In order to pass the fosse, which, notwithstand- 
 ing the quantity of fascines thrown into it, still con- 
 tained water to a considerable depth, Gustavus had 
 contrived a floating gallery, supported upon empty 
 casks. The roof, was made musket-proof to protect 
 the assailants against the fire from the rampart above, 
 and the flooring covered with cloth, and studded with 
 nails, to afford a firm footing. On the night appointed 
 for the attack, this machine was safely launched, 
 and a communication with the breach speedily effected. 
 The Colonels Seaton and Homer were appointed to 
 lead the storming party, and a crowd of soldiers 
 followed, each endeavouring to be the first to
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 73 
 
 establish himself upon the rampart. This excessive 
 eagerness proved the failure of the whole design. 
 The planks which composed the flooring gave way 
 beneath the weight of the throng, in complete armour, 
 who were pouring across it. Numbers were precipi- 
 tated into the ditch ; and the besiegers the next day 
 completed at their leisure the destruction of a fabric 
 which had cost so much time and labour in its pre- 
 paration. 
 
 Nothing discouraged by his ill success at this point, 
 the king gave immediate orders for assaulting a 
 formidable work called the Sand Half-moon*, which 
 was occupied by 3,000 soldiers, the bravest and most 
 experienced in the garrison. The attack was made 
 by a chosen detachment, under the Generals Horn 
 and Banner, accompanied by Mostyn and Chapelle, 
 the former a Scotch colonel, and the latter a French 
 officer of distinguished merit. After a fierce combat, 
 maintained on both sides with determined bravery, 
 the Swedes, who suffered greatly from the beams and 
 stones which the defenders showered upon them 
 without intermission from above, in addition to main- 
 taining a furious fire of cannon and musketry, were 
 repulsed in this attempt also ; but the garrison, who 
 had nowhad sufficient experience of the unconquerable 
 resolution of their opponents, and who were made 
 aware of the fact that Gustavus was preparing two 
 fresh bridges to replace the one they had destroyed, 
 while his Dalecarlians, who had run their galleries 
 completely under the ditch, were laying their mines 
 beneath the escarp itself, were at length induced to 
 signify their willingness to enter into a capitulation. 
 
 The terms proposed were highly creditable to the 
 clemency of the victors. The garrison were allowed 
 to march out with all the honours of war, and the 
 privileges they had enjoyed under the government of 
 
 * Loccenius, viii. 539.
 
 74 THE LIFE OF GOSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Poland, were solemnly guaranteed to the citizens. 
 The only severity shown was directed against the 
 Jesuits, who were commanded to quit the town within 
 eight days; and, notwithstanding their violent recla- 
 mations against the mandate, the sympathy of sur- 
 rounding nations was little excited by this act of 
 necessary vigour towards an order of men, who, how- 
 ever widely the pale of toleration may be extended, 
 are assuredly deserving of being only included within 
 its extreme limits. 
 
 Gustavus entered Riga on the 16th of September, 
 1621, and immediately proceeded to the church of 
 St. Peter, where divine service was performed in his 
 presence, and the Te Deum chanted amidst a general 
 discharge of artillery from his own camp and the 
 ramparts of the town. He then received a deputation 
 of the magistrates, who came to thank him for the 
 mildness he had exercised towards them, and to take 
 the oath of allegiance as representatives of their fellow 
 citizens. The king's reply was moderate and con- 
 ciliatory. " I am willing to forget," he said, " all 
 your irregular proceedings towards me, and your ob- 
 stinacy in persisting in your defence, although deprived 
 of all hope of succour. In this you were no doubt 
 actuated by a praiseworthy motive. I forget also the 
 number of indecent libels, and insulting satires, which 
 have been circulated by the ill-intentioned among you 
 to render me odious in the eyes of the people of Riga. 
 I consider it beneath me to inquire the names of the 
 authors. I only expect from you the same fidelity 
 which you have manifested towards my cousin the 
 King of Poland, and, so far from endeavouring to 
 diminish your privileges, I shall be ready to avail 
 myself of every opportunity to increase them." 
 
 Immediately after the submission of Riga, the 
 Swedish arms were transferred to the neighbouring 
 province of Courland. But little further resistance
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 75 
 
 was made to their progress, and Mittau, the capital 
 town, was no sooner summoned than it surrendered 
 at discretion. From thence the King of Sweden wrote 
 anew to Sigismond, with fresh offers of compromising 
 the difference between them by negotiation, and offer- 
 ing to conclude an armistice for any length of time in 
 furtherance of such an object. The King of Poland, 
 who was but too happy to be able to turn all his efforts 
 to his defence against the Turkish armies, consented 
 to a truce till the end of the following year, on con- 
 dition that Gustavus should immediately evacuate 
 Mittau ; and the Swedish monarch at once complying 
 with his demands, retired into his own country to 
 await the result of the correspondence between his 
 ministers and those of Sigismond, on the subject of a 
 peace, which he was no doubt sincerely anxious to 
 obtain. He was followed thither by unwelcome news. 
 His brother, Charles Philip, whom he had left in 
 Livonia, had been seized with an illness which shortly 
 proved fatal, notwithstanding all the exertions of his 
 physicians to preserve his life. Gustavus was deeply 
 affected by the loss of one, who in addition to his close 
 relationship had been so long his familiar confidant 
 and companion in arms. It is probable that he also 
 saw in this event an additional inducement to Sigis- 
 mond to continue the war; since he had now one 
 rival the less to contend with in following the ambi- 
 tious designs which, he no doubt flattered himself, 
 would one day terminate in his repossessing the throne 
 of Sweden. 
 
 Much as he found the interests of Poland injured, 
 and his own power impaired, by the fruitless contest 
 he had now so long maintained, that prince was yet 
 far from being sufficiently humbled to lend his sincere 
 assistance to bring about an accommodation. He was 
 further encouraged in his obstinate resistance by the 
 secret exhortations and promises of Ferdinand the
 
 76 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Second, his brother-in-law*, who, while pursuing his 
 oppressive projects against the liberties of Germany, 
 was anxious to avoid the possibility of the interference 
 of Sweden in behalf of the Protestants. The Court 
 of Spain, in strict league and accordance with the 
 policy of the House of Austria, was not backward in 
 urging him to pursue the same course. Excited by 
 the flattering hopes suggested by the emissaries of 
 these allies, and their promises of open assistance, if 
 such should be necessary, he repaired towards the 
 end of the truce with his whole court to Dantzig, 
 which, although a free city, had substantial reasons 
 for continuing on friendly terms with Poland ; since 
 it was ostensibly under the protection of that nation, 
 and at all times exposed to serious consequences from 
 its enmity. He there began to make preparations 
 for invading the dominions of his rival in his turn, 
 by engaging the people of Dantzig to furnish him 
 with a number of ships for the transport of his 
 troops, and at the same time sent his agents to Hol- 
 land and the Hanseatic towns to purchase additional 
 vessels. But Gustavus, upon gaining intelligence of 
 his proceedings, immediately put to sea with a pow- 
 erful squadron, and suddenly appearing before the 
 harbour of Dantzig, summoned the magistrates in- 
 stantly to choose between accepting him as a friend 
 or an enemy. It was in vain that the citizens in their 
 reply proposed a neutrality until the expiration of the 
 truce. Gustavus sent back the secretary, Mitten- 
 dorf, who had been deputed to confer with him as the 
 envoy of Dantzig, to insist upon an immediate deter- 
 mination in favour of peace or war. Yet, understand- 
 ing the King and Queen of Poland were both present 
 in the city with the Prince Udislaus, who had dis- 
 
 * Sigismond was married successively to two sisters of the Em- 
 peror, Anne, Archduchess of Austria, and Constance. His marriage 
 with the former took place in 1592, with the latter in 1605.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHDS. 77 
 
 tinguished himself by his impetuous valour on seve- 
 ral occasions, he did not omit to blend his accustomed 
 courtesy with his resolute but necessary demand. 
 When his conference with Mittendorf was finished, 
 and the envoy was on- the point of taking his leave, 
 he said, "I have to request you, M. Mittendorf, to 
 present my compliments to my cousin, the King of 
 Poland, and his Queen, and to assure the latter, that 
 I should have been happy to invite her on board my 
 fleet, were I not prevented from offering such an invi- 
 tation by a feeling of respect ; in addition to which 
 she would see but little about me, but faces tanned by 
 the sun, and disfigured by exposure to the weather ; 
 but do me the favour of informing the Prince 
 Udislaus, that if he will be content to visit me, with 
 as little ceremony as one soldier should use towards 
 another, he shall be heartily welcome. We may con- 
 fer on several important subjects, which are equally 
 interesting to both, and in a manner to our mutual 
 advantage. *" 
 
 Although this invitation was not accepted, the firm- 
 ness which Gustavus had evinced induced the magis- 
 trates of Dantzig to agree to the peace which was 
 offered them, and to put an immediate stop to the 
 equipment of the fleet, which was collecting for the 
 invasion of Sweden. Gustavus having effected his 
 object, speedily quitted the coast of Prussia, while 
 Sigismond, whose naval preparations were thus un- 
 expectedly frustrated, returned into Poland to con- 
 voke a general Diet of the Estates, to determine upon 
 the course to be adopted ,t the close of the truce, and 
 upon the means of raising the requisite supplies, if a 
 further prosecution of the war should be determined 
 upon. 
 
 In the assembly from which he had expected to 
 receive an expression of approbation of his late pro- 
 
 * Mauvillon.
 
 78 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPUUS. 
 
 ccedings, and encouragement to pursue his intended 
 exertions against the Swedes, he was doomed to expe- 
 rience still further disappointment. The delegates of 
 the clergy, indeed, were almost unanimous in exhort- 
 ing him to continue the contest ; and Lipski, bishop 
 of Cujavia, even proposed that no offer of accommo- 
 dation should be listened to until the Swedes gave up 
 their conquests in Livonia, and until their king, di- 
 vesting himself of the authority he had usurped, should 
 surrender his person into the hands of Sigismond, to 
 be dealt with as might afterwards be thought proper. 
 Such extravagant sentiments found but few to sup- 
 port them, while serious remonstrances were made by 
 the great majority of the members of the Diet, against 
 the daily increasing burdens to which the nation was 
 obliged to submit, the exhaustion of its strength in a 
 fruitless war, and the folly of dreaming of reducing to 
 subjection a kingdom beyond the Baltic, while the 
 Turks with increasing forces were threatening the 
 utter subversion of Poland. Sigismond, finding that 
 little was to be expected from a convention which 
 seemed more inclined to censure his past conduct, 
 than to furnish him with the aid he required, abruptly 
 dissolved the Diet ; and was so far humbled by his 
 unsuccessful appeal to his subjects, as to consent to 
 continue the truce until the autumn of the year 1625, 
 and to send ambassadors to the town of Daler, on the 
 frontiers of Livonia, to confer with the deputies of 
 Sweden on the preliminaries to a peace. 
 
 During the season of comparative tranquillity which 
 ensued, the last of any consequence he was ever fated 
 to enjoy, Gustavus continued to devote himself with 
 constant assiduity to increasing the internal resources 
 of the kingdom, and to forming such laws and regu- 
 lations as should best tend to the permanent benefit 
 of his people. To the University of Upsal, which was 
 again become eminent throughout the north of Europe
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 79 
 
 for the learning of its professors, he gave another 
 mark of the most liberal patronage, by bestowing 
 upon it the whole of the private estates of the House 
 of Vasa, which he had inherited from his father, and 
 John, Duke of Ostrogothia, some time since de- 
 ceased ; and his nobles, imitating this example, soon 
 raised the funds at its command to a condition which 
 placed it beyond the likelihood of again falling into 
 neglect, from the want of sufficient resources. The 
 commercial relations of Sweden with other countries 
 were greatly extended and improved, and a spirit of 
 enterprise excited, which, besides other beneficial un- 
 dertakings, was directed towards the establishment 
 of a Company for carrying on a trade to the West 
 Indies, afterwards chartered in the year 1627. Gus- 
 tavus, by his famous military code, issued two or 
 three years previously, had placed the nation in a 
 condition of defence likely to inspire the European 
 powers with respect for his government, as well as to 
 protect it in case of need from injury or insult. The 
 Swedes, although jealous to a high degree of their 
 liberties, had readily, from the strong personal regard 
 they bore to their sovereign, consented to the institu- 
 tion of a standing army, and the setting apart of certain 
 public lands for its maintenance, entertaining a con- 
 fident expectation that the concession would never be 
 abused by their present king to their disadvantage. 
 The religious instruction of his people was not likely 
 to be overlooked by a prince of such conspicuous 
 piety, and was accordingly more extensively provided 
 for than at any preceding period. The care of Gus- 
 tavus was even extended to the inhabitants of the 
 wilds of Lapland. Commiserating the wretched 
 condition of these people, immersed in the deepest 
 ignorance, and slaves to the grossest idolatry, he sent 
 a chosen body of missionaries among them, to recom- 
 mend by their precept and example the blessings of
 
 80 THE LIFE OF GU STAVES ADOLPHUS. 
 
 the gospel to their acceptance. At the same time, a 
 ready reception and efficient shelter was afforded to 
 the numerous protestants, who, persecuted in other 
 parts of the world, fled into Sweden, as to a place of 
 general refuge. When the activity of Gustavus is 
 considered in promoting these and similar objects, 
 and the eagerness with which he pursued them, dur- 
 ing every intermission of the fatigues of war, the 
 splendour of that military pageant in which, through 
 life, he was the principal actor, and to which he is 
 chiefly indebted for his estimation in the general 
 opinion of posterity, must be reduced in comparison 
 to unimportance ; and the glittering trophies, reared 
 by his successes upon the banks of the lihine and the 
 Danube, can but suggest a deeper feeling of regret, 
 that talents originally bestowed for advancing the 
 best interests of mankind in a condition of peace, 
 should have been almost wholly engrossed by the task 
 of humbling oppression, and of checking the progress 
 of a haughty and overweening ambition by dint of 
 armed resistance*. 
 
 By this time Sigismond, who had again repented of 
 his conciliatory resolutions, began to think his re- 
 sources sufficiently recruited to hazard the event of 
 another campaign. His ambassadors at Daler, there- 
 fore, received instructions to change their tone, and 
 to insist upon the most preposterous conditions as the 
 only basis of the projected peace. The Chancellor 
 Oxenstiern, who conducted the negotiations on the 
 part of Sweden, clearly perceiving the drift of this 
 design, abruptly broke off the proceedings in disgust ; 
 and immediately upon the expiration of the truce, 
 both sides were once more engaged in active prepa- 
 
 * With respect to the abilities of Gustavus Adolphus for the 
 duties of civil government, the testimony of Nani may be consi- 
 dered as embodying the praises of a liost of other eulogists. Stando 
 le virtu di Gostavo consolidate ed unite ; nou si sapeva discernert- 
 ee alia militare peritia o alia civile dovesse la palma.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 81 
 
 rations for the contest. The king of Sweden was the 
 first to appear in the field, and his former success 
 attended him throughout the whole of his operations. 
 In Livonia, the towns of Dunaburg, Seelburg, Nidorp, 
 and Pernau, successively fell into his hands. The 
 duchy of Courland was speedily overrun by his vic- 
 torious troops, and Mittau a second time opened its 
 gates without resistance. The Polish general, Sa- 
 pieha, advanced with the intention of putting a stop 
 to this career of conquest, and presented himself be- 
 fore the Swedes at Walhoflf, an unimportant village 
 in the district of Semigallia. Of this first pitched 
 battle in which Gustavus commanded, historians have 
 left but a very imperfect account ; almost all that is 
 certainly known, is, that the Poles were quickly 
 driven from the field in confusion, and that the 
 Swedes, following fast on the track of the flying 
 enemy, speedily reduced Posloven and Bierze, two 
 of the strongest towns in Poland, and the keys of 
 the grand- duchy of Lithuania*. Before his return 
 to Stockholm, at the close of this campaign, the king, 
 according to his usual custom after victory, de- 
 manded passports from "Warsaw for his ambassadors 
 to lay fresh proposals before Sigismond for an ami- 
 cable arrangement. Oxenstiern, John Salvius, and 
 Horn, were despatched upon this new mission.. The 
 two latter, while on their way, were taken prisoners 
 by the Cossacks t; and, although they were after- 
 wards released upon the indignant remonstrances of 
 Oxenstiern, who exclaimed against this outrage as an 
 open violation of the law of nations, the deputies 
 returned to Sweden without making any further 
 effort to acquit themselves of the proposals with 
 which they had been charged. 
 
 It is not irrelevant to the subject to mention here 
 the occurrence of an event, vjhich promised to the 
 
 * Mauvillon. f Loccenius, lib. viii. p. 550.
 
 82 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIU8. 
 
 Swedes, at no distant period, the assistance of a zea- 
 lous and powerful ally. While Gustavus was still 
 at Stockholm, an embassy arrived at Berlin from the 
 Transylvanian prince, Bethlem Gabor, to demand 
 the hand of Catherine of Brandenburg, sister to the 
 Queen of Sweden. The nuptials were celebrated by 
 proxy with singular state and magnificence; and 
 soon afterwards, the princess, whose inclinations had 
 been but little consulted in the matter, set out in 
 tears to join a husband already more than fifty-five 
 years of age, and to exchange the comforts and 
 civilisation of the court in which she had been edu- 
 cated, for the desolate wildness of the Bannat, and 
 the barbaric magnificence attendant on the court of a 
 chieftain, who, residing on a debateable land, con- 
 stantly alternating between the dominion of the Cross 
 and the Crescent, had made himself by turns formi- 
 dable to both, and was of too restless a disposition to 
 remain long in amity with either. There is no doubt 
 that Gustavus, who maintained a constant correspon- 
 dence with this prince, from henceforth was greatly 
 influenced in forming his design of invading Ger- 
 many, by the hope of his effecting a powerful diver- 
 sion in his favour, and as little doubt that it would 
 have been made in such a manner as greatly to 
 further his plans, had not the death of Bethlem 
 Gabor, in 1629, suddenly disappointed his expecta- 
 tions of further aid from that quarter. The name of 
 the singular potentate who has been thus casually 
 mentioned, will again occur when we have to con- 
 sider the causes and commencement of the Thirty 
 Years' War. 
 
 As soon as the spring appeared sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to admit of the commencement of military 
 operations, Gustavus set sail from Stockholm, with a 
 fleet consisting of 150 vessels, on board of which had 
 been embarked an army of not less than 25,000 men.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 83 
 
 His design was soon ascertained to be against the 
 Polish possessions in Prussia. This district, which 
 has since given its name to one of the greatest and 
 most powerful monarchies of Europe, was then a 
 territory of comparatively little note ; partly in the 
 direct occupation of Poland, and partly held in fief 
 by the Elector of Brandenburg in dependence upon 
 that crown. In* the year 1:239 it had been con- 
 quered by the Knights of the Teutonic order, and 
 while their power was yet unimpaired, is said to 
 have been able to send a force of 60,000 horsemen 
 completely armed into the field ; but in process of 
 time this splendid chivalry became so enervated by 
 a long continuance of peace, that their more enter- 
 prising neighbours found but little difficulty in wrest- 
 ing from them the fairest part of their dominions. 
 In the year 1458, the cities of Dantzig, Thorn, and 
 Elbing, transferred their allegiance from the Grand 
 Master, Conrad of Erlichhausen, to Casimir King of 
 Poland. This occasioned a war which lasted thir- 
 teen years, and ended in the annexation of Marien- 
 berg, Culm, Wermland, and Pomerellia, to the Polish 
 territories, under the name of Prussia Royal. The 
 remainder, or Ducal Prussia, was still retained by 
 the Teutonic Knights, under the condition of their 
 doing homage to Poland, for its possession. As in 
 the province of Livonia, this order, on the first 
 preaching of the doctrines of the Reformation among 
 them, at once embraced its tenets. The whole of 
 Ducal Prussia followed their example ; but since 
 Royal Prussia continued constant to the religion of 
 its conquerors, it suffered no further molestation from 
 the Poles on this account, until in the year 1618 it 
 was, without opposition, bequeathed, by the will of 
 the last Duke Frederic Albert, to his son-in-law, 
 Sigismond Elector of Brandenburgt. 
 
 * Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg. f Ibid. 
 
 o2
 
 84 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIPS. 
 
 The Court of "Warsaw was well aware of the 
 quarter in which the approach of the enemy might 
 be expected ; and instructions had been sent to the 
 Elector of Brandenburg, as interested in the safety of 
 his fief, immediately to repair the fortifications of 
 Pillau, which from its situation at the entrance of the 
 long gulf, called the Frische Haffe, was naturally 
 expected to be first attacked by the Swedes ; and 
 was, in fact, a possession almost indispensable to 
 their commencing operations with any chance of a 
 favourable issue. The elector, either from circum- 
 stances over which he had no control, or from a 
 secret inclination towards the cause of his brother- 
 in-law, of which he was afterwards bitterly accused 
 by the Poles, proceeded but slowly in the task 
 assigned him, and before any considerable prepara- 
 tions for defence had been made, the Swedish fleet, 
 appearing in sight of the fortress, at once awed it into 
 a surrender. After this important acquisition, the 
 invading armament sailing across the Frische Haffe, 
 dropped anchor at the mouth of the river Passarge, 
 and safely disembarked the troops and stores with 
 which it was freighted. On his first arrival in 
 Ducal Prussia, the King of Sweden had sent a pro- 
 posal of neutrality to the elector ; but the latter, 
 fearful of offending the Poles, returned an uncertain 
 answer. Gustavus then addressed himself to a 
 General Assembly of the Estates of the Duchy, and 
 easily induced them to come to a resolution which 
 was most consistent with their interests. The nego- 
 tiations had scarcely been concluded when the Swedes 
 made themselves masters of Frauenberg and Brauns- 
 berg, from which, as at Riga, the Jesuits were 
 formally banished, 'and their libraries seized, with 
 the intention of being presented to the University of 
 TTpsal ; a spoliation which was supposed to be suffi- 
 ciently warranted by the example set by the Catho-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 85 
 
 lies in the Palatinate, who had sent a great part of 
 the noble library of Heidelberg to the Vatican, and 
 wantonly destroyed the rest. They then invested 
 Elbing. Although this place was not ill fortified, 
 the garrison amounted to no more than 400 men, and 
 was, consequently, utterly unable to make a serious 
 resistance to the army which was on the point of 
 besieging them. The inhabitants, therefore, sent to 
 Sigismond to request immediate succour, but received 
 no further answer to their demand than an exhorta- 
 tion to defend themselves to the last extremity, and 
 the promise that a proposal for their relief should be 
 laid before the Diet of Estates, which was expected 
 immediately to assemble. In the meantime Gustavus 
 summoned the town, assuring the inhabitants that 
 his only intention in introducing a garrison into it, 
 was to secure a safe retreat in the event of a reverse. 
 The day after this summons had been sent, Elbing 
 surrendered ; and the Swedes shortly afterwards 
 invested Marienburg, which, together with Christ- 
 burg, Stuhm, Wormdit, and Strasburg, fell into their 
 hands with little or no resistance. Of all Polish 
 Prussia, Dirschau and Dantzig alone, with the coun- 
 try immediately adjacent, remained unsubdued, and 
 the motions of Gustavus soon indicated his inten- 
 tion of adding these to his other conquests. To the 
 latter city he had addressed a proposal at the com- 
 mencement of the campaign, of directing the course 
 of the war from its neighbourhood, on condition of 
 being supplied with corn from thence at a fair price, 
 and provided all Polish vessels were immediately 
 compelled to quit its harbour. It was also insisted 
 that a small toll should be paid to the Swedes by all 
 boats passing down the Vistula*. The people of 
 Dantzig, confident in the strength of their fortifica- 
 tions, rejected the neutrality proffered to them on 
 
 * Loccenius.
 
 86 THE LIFE OF GTTSTAVUS ADOLPHU8. 
 
 these terms. Gustavus prepared, therefore, to reduce 
 their city by force. With this intention, decamping 
 from Marienburg, he transported his army across the 
 Nogath, into the island called the Grand Werder, 
 formed by the junction of that river with the Vistula, 
 where he remained entrenched a short time in expec- 
 tation of reinforcements. As soon as these had 
 arrived, after throwing a bridge across the Vistula at 
 Lissau, he laid siege to Meaw and Dirschau, which 
 opened their gates before the batteries raised to reduce 
 them had been completed. A slight inspection of 
 any map will show the importance of the above 
 places in preventing supplies from being sent by the 
 Poles into the town against which this series of 
 movements was intended. 
 
 It was now obvious that, if any resolution had 
 been formed for the relief of Dantzig, not a single 
 moment was to be lost in carrying it into execution. 
 Sigismond, stimulated by the earnest entreaties of 
 his son Udislaus, \vho was desirous of the honour of 
 measuring himself with the King of Sweden, and 
 unwilling to suffer the disgrace of allowing another 
 of the richest dependencies of Poland to fall without 
 a serious attempt at its rescue, had at length deter- 
 mined upon taking the field in person. His army 
 amounted to 30,000 men, and was composed in a 
 great measure of hussars, pandours, and cossacks, 
 who, exercised by continual wars with the Turks, 
 were supposed, in the celerity of their movements, 
 and their efficiency for all the important duties which 
 usually devolve upon troops of this description, to be 
 unequalled by any similar force in Europe. His 
 march was at first directed upon Graudentz, with 
 the intention of recovering Marienburg from the 
 Swedes ; but after a partial engagement with one of 
 their divisions, from which he sustained considerable 
 loss, he suddenly formed the design of passing into
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 87 
 
 Pomerellia, and proceeding without further delay 
 against the main army of Gustavus, from which he 
 was still separated by the Vistula. His cavalry, un- 
 encumhered with heavy armour, plunged fearlessly 
 into the river ; and, notwithstanding the force of the 
 current, succeeded in swimming their horses to the 
 opposite side, while the infantry were more leisurely 
 conveyed across by a bridge which had recently been 
 constructed at Newenburg. The next step was to form 
 the siege of Meaw, which Sigismond was unwilling 
 to leave in his rear, while advancing to the battle he 
 was now resolved upon provoking by every means in 
 his power. 
 
 The Swedes were still stationed in the vicinity of 
 Dirschau, where the king had just been joined by 
 10,000 German troops under the command of Count 
 Thurn, the son of that nobleman whose name is so 
 celebrated in the history of the commotions of Bohe- 
 mia. By this reinforcement his army was increased 
 to 20,000 men, a force still inferior by one-third to 
 that of the enemy. Upon gaining intelligence of the 
 design of Sigismond against Meaw, he was induced 
 immediately to attempt strengthening the garrison 
 by the addition of such a force as might render all 
 the attempts of the Poles to reduce it ineffectual. To 
 accomplish this, however, was a matter of no ordinary 
 difficulty. The Polish army was encamped between 
 Meaw and Dirschau, on a plain of eome breadth, the 
 only access to which was by a steep path over a hilly 
 and tangled country. Their left flank was secured 
 by a thick wood, which covered the face of a similar 
 acclivity, while the deep and rapid stream of the 
 Vistula flowing between precipitous banks on their 
 right, was conjectured to afford sufficient protection 
 against an attack from that quarter. Gustavus, after 
 diligently reconnoitring their position, detached a 
 body of infantry, under the Count Thurn and Colonel
 
 88 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Hepburn, to gain possession of the wood ; while he 
 himself, with a force of 3000 foot and 500 cavalry, 
 set out at nightfall from his camp, accompanied by a 
 large convoy of ammunition and provisions, which he 
 hoped, after surprising the Poles by a sudden assault 
 upon their quarters at daybreak, to find the means 
 of introducing into the town amidst the confusion 
 which might naturally be expected to ensue. The 
 division under Thurn and Hepburn accomplished 
 their imdertaking during the night. The soldiers 
 holding their weapons with one hand, and with the 
 other grasping the trunks and branches of the trees 
 which shaded the ascent, succeeded in gaining the 
 plain at its summit, and in throwing up an entrench- 
 ment for their defence without attracting the notice 
 of the enemy. The other division proved less fortu- 
 nate. Owing to the difficulties which impeded their 
 progress, it was not until the dawn began to break, 
 that they cleared, after a slow and laborious march, 
 the pass in front of the Poles, and placed themselves 
 on a level with the investing army. As the day 
 brightened, their approach became plainly visible to 
 the clouds of Cossacks who were hovering in all 
 directions over the plain ; and the information con- 
 veyed by numbers of horsemen galloping into the 
 camp and shouting that the Swedes were at hand, 
 enabled the Poles to form in order of battle to meet 
 them, and to plant twelve pieces of cannon in such a 
 position as to inflict great damage upon their ranks 
 as they advanced to the attack. The action soon be- 
 came general, Gustavus repeatedly charging in front, 
 while Hepburn and Thurn appearing to take their 
 share in the contest, suddenly opened a severe fire of 
 musketry upon the left flank of the Poles. This drew 
 upon them almost the whole fury of the enemy, and 
 an overwhelming force of cavalry was instantly im- 
 pelled against them, with the intention of sweeping
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAV0S ADOLPHTJS. 89 
 
 them at once from the field, and preventing the mis- 
 chief which it was anticipated would be the result of 
 suffering them to remain any longer in the advan- 
 tageous post they had occupied. Thurn and his 
 division, upon seeing this movement, immediately 
 began to retire, with the view of drawing their oppo- 
 nents still farther from the main body; and their 
 retreat being interpreted as the effect of fear, they 
 were instantly assailed by the Polish cavalry, who 
 rushed upon them with wild cries of defiance ; mu- 
 tually exhorting each other to hasten forward and 
 complete the destruction of enemies already routed, 
 and shrinking like dogs from the blows of the Polish 
 sabre *. Their exultation, however, was but of short 
 duration. The Swedish infantry, suddenly facing 
 about, and levelling their long pikes, presented an 
 insurmountable obstacle to the further advance of 
 their pursuers ; while their ranks were additionally 
 protected by the erection of portable chevaux-de-frise, 
 which rose simultaneously along their front t. It 
 was in vain that the gallant nobility of the Poles, 
 and furious chiefs of the Cossacks, spurred their 
 horses against this bristling rampart with the hope, 
 by the sacrifice of their own lives, to effect a passage 
 for their followers. The attempt only exposed num- 
 bers among them to certain destruction from the 
 Swedish musketry, which, maintaining a close and 
 heavy fire from behind the line of pikes by which it 
 was guarded, struck down whole ranks at each suc- 
 cessive discharge; and they were at length obliged 
 to draw off the wrecks of their cavalry in despair, 
 and leave the Swedes in possession of the ground they 
 
 * Loccenius. 
 
 f Alios praetentis sarissis, alios pilis suillis, sic ea nuncupabant 
 quod cuspide ferratk pnefixa rigentia et erecta instar setarum horrc- 
 rent intrepide excepere. Loccenius. These pila suilla are the 
 Swedish feathers of the renowned Captain Dugald Dalgetty. See 
 " Legend of Montrose."
 
 90 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 had so resolutely held. In other parts of the field, 
 the contest was not less obstinate, although partaking 
 more of the character of a tumultuous skirmish. Gus- 
 tavus fearlessly exposed himself by fighting in the 
 thickest of the combatants. He was twice taken 
 prisoner, and as often rescued, and a third time 
 brought into imminent peril by generously leading a 
 party to the assistance of a soldier who had been one 
 of the most active in effecting his deliverance, and had 
 now become a captive in his turn. In the midst of 
 this desperate contention, the convoy and troops in- 
 tended for the relief of Meaw were safely introduced 
 into the town. 
 
 The loss of the Poles on this occasion is said to 
 have amounted to 3,000 men. Their prince Udislaus 
 had distinguished himself during the engagement by 
 acts of undaunted courage ; but neither his example 
 nor his exhortations proved of sufficient avail to coun- 
 teract the effects of the severe check which the forces 
 under his command had received. The siege of Meaw 
 was abandoned as hopeless, and preparations were 
 made for an immediate retreat. The King of Sweden, 
 after ascertaining that nothing further was to be 
 apprehended from his enemies in their present state 
 of consternation, entered Meaw in triumph. Among 
 the first to welcome him was his chaplain, John 
 Bothwid, who had accompanied him on his march, 
 and who, while the battle lasted, had been observed 
 at a short distance from the contending parties, fer- 
 vently engaged in devotion. Gustavus replied to his 
 congratulations by a characteristic and not inelegant 
 compliment. He said, " I had no longer any doubt 
 of the issue of the day, when I perceived you, sir, 
 like Moses of old, employed in offering up prayers 
 for our success." 
 
 The campaign of 1626 was terminated by the oper- 
 ations before Meaw. A few days after the town had
 
 TH\ MFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 91 
 
 been relieved, commissioners were appointed to meet 
 between the ca.nps of the two nations under an armed 
 escort, and once more to endeavour to establish nego- 
 tiations for a peace. Oxenstiern, as before, was at the 
 head of the Swedish deputies. The interview, at its 
 very commencement, however, seemed to give little 
 promise of a reconciliation. The commissioners upon 
 meeting regarded each other for a long time without 
 any salutation, or expression of courtesy passing 
 between them, neither party being willing to com- 
 promise the dignity of those whom they represented, 
 by being the first to break silence. The Poles, at 
 length, condescended to express the terms which 
 Sigismond proposed. They were such as at once to 
 put an end to all hope of bringing the conference to 
 a favourable issue. The recognition of the right of 
 Sigismond to the crown of Sweden was peremptorily 
 insisted upon. It was further demanded that he 
 should be suffered to retain the title of king, although 
 Gustavus was to be permitted, during his lifetime, 
 to continue the exercise of the authority with which 
 he had been invested. After his death the kingdom 
 of Sweden was to revert to the children of Sigismond, 
 while the heirs male of Gustavus, if any such should 
 happen to be born, were to be satisfied with the 
 appanage of Sudermania. The Swedes were also 
 required to give up all their possessions in Prussia 
 and Livonia, in return for which the Poles offered to 
 withdraw from Esthonia and Finland. These condi- 
 tions have appeared so extravagant to all historians, 
 that Gustavus has even been suspected of misrepre- 
 senting them with the intention of exasperating the 
 Swedish Estates still more against the King of Poland. 
 It is difficult to believe an accusation so utterly at vari- 
 ance with the whole tenor of his conduct, and which, 
 moreover, has no other basis than mere conjecture to 
 support it. A much more probable solution of the
 
 9*2 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPI1US. 
 
 mystery is to be found in the well-known character of 
 Sigismond, who seems to have determined upon again 
 encountering the chances of the dangerous game which 
 had hitherto uniformly turned against him, in the 
 spirit of the gambler, who is only induced to double 
 his stakes by his near approach to the brink of ruin. 
 On the failure of this overture towards conciliation, 
 the Poles retired into winter quarters, and the Swedes, 
 following their example, withdrew into Meaw, 
 Dirschau, Elbing, and Pautzke, in such a manner as 
 still to hold Dantzig in a loose circle of investment. 
 It was evident that the siege of this city would form 
 the most prominent feature in the operations of the 
 ensuing year ; and Gustavus, after making such dis- 
 positions as he thought would conduce most to the 
 comfort and security of his troops, set out for Sweden, 
 where he had appointed a meeting of the States to 
 assemble as soon as possible, to lay before them the 
 late proposals of Sigismond, and to ascertain their 
 sentiments on the question of a further continuance 
 of the war. 
 
 Shortly after the return of the king to Stockholm, 
 his queen, who had experienced several miscarriages 
 since her marriage, was safely delivered of an infant 
 daughter. (December 18th, 1626.) This was the 
 celebrated Christina, whose shining abilities, and 
 apparent contempt of worldly honours in early life, 
 drew forth so many enthusiastic encomiums from the 
 poets and philosophers of her time ; but whose con- 
 duct in after years proved how readily the wisest, as 
 well as the weakest of mankind, are led, by the 
 appearance of anything extraordinary in persons of 
 an exalted station, into forming false estimates of 
 character, while exhibited only amidst the splendours 
 of external advantage, and yet unsubjected to the test 
 of time and altered circumstances. Her parents had 
 long eagerly desired the birth of a son ; and Maria
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 93 
 
 Eleanorahad been flattered by the solemn predictions 
 of the astrologers, whom she consulted, that her 
 wishes were on the eve of a certain fulfilment. A 
 report was spread through the palace, a few minutes 
 after her delivery, that the infant was of the male 
 sex; and it was some time before any one would 
 venture to acquaint the king, who was anxiously 
 waiting for a confirmation of the rumour, with, the 
 real state of the case*. His sister, the Princess 
 Catherine, at length taking the child in her arms, 
 carried her into the presence of her father, who, 
 contrary to what had been anticipated, displayed no 
 outward signs of disappointment. He observed, 
 " My sister, let us return thanks to God. I trust this 
 daughter will be as valuable to me as the son I had 
 expected ; and since God has given her, I pray that 
 he will continue to preserve her." He then commanded 
 the usual rejoicings to be made; happy at that 
 moment in the gift of blindness to the future ; and 
 little anticipating the course of folly, levity, and crime, 
 by which the heiress of his honours, cradled, as she 
 herself expresses it, amidst the laurels of her illustrious 
 parent, would one day bring disgrace upon the bouse 
 from which she was sprung ; and afford, by her 
 open apostacy, a cause of triumph to the enemies of 
 that religion, for the defence of which he laboured to 
 his dying breath. 
 
 The States General of Sweden assembled early in 
 the year 1627. The result of their meeting was a 
 unanimous expression of their opinions in favour of 
 the war with Poland, until terms of peace should be 
 offered more consistent with the honour and interests 
 of the nation to accept. With a view of disappointing 
 still more the ambition of Sigismond, and of destroy- 
 ing all his hopes of recovering the kingdom of Sweden 
 for himself or his posterity, they declared the infant 
 
 * Memoires de la Reine Christine, faites par elle-meme, &c.
 
 94 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Christina the nearest heir to the crown, and bound 
 themselves, under an oath, to acknowledge her as 
 queen in the event of Gustavus dying without male 
 issue. The king had no sooner received this testimony 
 of the public esteem, than he hastened forward the 
 necessary preparations for his return to Prussia with 
 the first appearance of spring. In the midst of his 
 exertions he received intelligence which had the effect 
 of stimulating him to still greater haste. 
 
 During the war which the Poles had lately main- 
 tained with the Turks, many of their successes had 
 been owing to the bravery and conduct of their gene- 
 ral, Coniecpoliski, who, on more than one occasion, 
 had exhibited military talents of the highest order. 
 This officer had been left in command of the army 
 during the absence of Sigismond, and it was now 
 intimated to him by a message from the court that it 
 might be possible to inflict a severe blow upon the 
 Swedes, before their monarch could arrive to throw 
 the weight of his superior genius and example into 
 the scale. An efficient aid was at the same time 
 daily expected from the Emperor Ferdinand, who had 
 permitted a body of his own troops to serve pretend- 
 edly as mercenaries in the Polish army, although the 
 Imperial Eagle was openly displayed on their ban- 
 ners. Coniecpoliski, therefore, recommenced hosti- 
 lities, before the severities of a rigorous winter had 
 subsided ; and, after collecting his forces, fell suddenly 
 upon Pautzke, which, although a town of inconsider- 
 able size, was of the greatest service to the Swedes 
 towards completing the investment of Dantzig on the 
 west. In this place the Commandant Nicholas Horn 
 and 400 men, who composed his garrison, after a 
 gallant defence, were obliged to deliver themselves up 
 as prisoners of war. The Polish general next pro- 
 ceeded against a body of 8000 Germans, which he 
 understood was marching to reinforce the Swedish
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 95 
 
 .armies, under the Colonels Streif and Teuffel, the 
 former distinguished as having commanded the ca- 
 valry of the right wing in the army of the Elector 
 Palatine at the battle of Prague. The troops thus 
 unexpectedly attacked, retired to Hammerstein 
 through defiles supposed to be impassable to the 
 cavalry of the enemy; but if they had reckoned upon 
 making their escape by this movement, they were 
 speedily undeceived by the appearance of the whole 
 Polish army, which had succeeded in overcoming all 
 the difficulties of the country, and now threatened to 
 invest them in the town. The only resource left was 
 to accept of a capitulation offered them, by which 
 they were allowed to effect their retreat in safety, on 
 condition of entering into an engagement not to serve 
 against Poland for the space of two years to come. 
 Flushed by these successes, Coniecpoliski was prepa- 
 ring to carry on his offensive preparations on a more 
 extensive scale, when he was informed of the approach 
 of the King of Sweden, who, after having been long 
 detained by contrary winds, had at length landed in 
 Prussia, with considerable reinforcements.
 
 96 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Preparations for the investment of Dantzig Gustavus wounded 
 Coniecpoliski approaches the quarters of the Swedes 
 Severe skirmish between the two armies The King receives a 
 second wound Defeat of the Swedish Fleet under Stiernskiceld 
 Gustavus recruits his Navy Capture of a Dantzig Squadron 
 off the mouth of the Vistula The Swedes prepare to pass into 
 the Lesser Werder Novel kind of Artillery, first used by Cus- 
 tavus Adolphus Other improvements in the arms and disci- 
 pline of his soldiers Swedish Articles of War Severity of 
 Gustavus against duelling Scottish officers in the service of 
 Sweden Coniecpoliski again defeated Sudden rise of the Vis- 
 tula, in consequence of which the Swedes abandon the siege of 
 Dantzig Gustavus advances into Lithuania His successes 
 He despatches a body of troops under the command of Sir Alex- 
 ander Leslie to the relief of Stralsund. 
 
 THE people of Dantzig, long ago warned by the 
 proceedings of the Swedish armies of the danger to 
 which their city was exposed, had not been idle in 
 making preparations for their defence during the 
 winter. Great pains had been taken in adding to the 
 strength of their fortifications ; and their navy was 
 so far increased, as to give rise to a confident expec- 
 tation of their being at all times able to secure 
 supplies by sea. Thus prepared to make the best 
 resistance which their ample means afforded, and in 
 expectation moreover of speedy relief from the neigh- 
 bouring army of Coniecpoliski, they resolutely awaited 
 the issue. 
 
 The King of Sweden, on arriving at his camp near 
 Dirschau, gave orders for concentrating several scat- 
 tered detachments, and proceeded forthwith to take 
 up a position more in the immediate vicinity of Dant- 
 zig. Being desirous for this purpose of becoming
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPDUS. 97 
 
 better acquainted with the country around the walls 
 of the city, he spent several days in examining it 
 in person, and while thus employed, his too great 
 neglect of his own safety had again nearly deprived 
 history of some of the most striking events in her 
 annals, and Europe of the benefits it was shortly to 
 receive through his instrumentality. At the distance 
 of a few miles above Dantzig, the Vistula is divided 
 into two branches, one of which discharges itself into 
 the Frische Haff, while the other flows into a gulf, 
 to which the city has given its name. Upon the 
 angle where these streams separate lies the village 
 of Kesemark, near which a strong fort, called the 
 castle of Hoeft, commands the course of the river to 
 a considerable distance. The king, desirous of recon- 
 noitring the opposite bank of the Vistula, had em- 
 barked in a small boat, and was imprudent enough 
 to venture within musket-shot of .the fortress, from 
 the battlements of which he was immediately saluted 
 by a shower of balls, directed against the vessel in 
 which he was conveyed. One of these struck the 
 king a little above the right hip, but having been 
 fired in an oblique direction, after taking its course 
 between the muscles and integuments, it passed out 
 at the other side by a corresponding wound. Gus- 
 tavus, however, who imagined he l;ad been shot com- 
 pletely through the body, believed that his last hour 
 was now come, and calmly prepared to meet his end. 
 Without any appearance of discomposure, he ordered 
 his attendants to row him on shore, and summon his 
 chaplain and physician as soon as possible to the spot, 
 while he employed the interval in such devotions as 
 he thought called for by the near approach of death. 
 On the arrival of the physician, however, the real 
 nature of the wound was soon discovered, and after a 
 few days' confinement, the king judged his cure suffi- 
 ciently advanced to allow of his return to the army ;
 
 98 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 but lie had scarcely reappeared on the scene of action, 
 when a second injury, far more serious than the first, 
 renewed the apprehensions of his subjects on his 
 account, and seemed to justify them in anticipating 
 the most calamitous consequences. 
 
 On the 18th of August, 1627, Coniecpoliski 
 pushed a considerably body of cavalry close to the 
 Swedish lines, for the purpose of reconnoitring their 
 position. These were speedily charged by several 
 squadrons of horse, which Gustavus in person led out 
 against them, and after a severe conflict were com- 
 pelled to betake themselves to flight. The Swedes 
 followed closely upon the fugitives, but Coniecpoliski 
 had taken effective measures to protect their retreat. 
 At the entrance of a defile through which the Poles 
 were obliged to pass to rejoin the main body of their 
 army, he had posted a strong force of infantry in a 
 small village, which was carefully entrenched, and 
 further defended by several pieces of cannon. As 
 the routed cavalry began to disappear through the 
 pass, a heavy fire of musketry and artillery was 
 opened from the village upon the pursuers, who, 
 warned by the sudden ascent of volumes of smoke 
 in their front, and the destruction which began to be 
 spread among their ranks, that their further career 
 would be impeded by a dangerous obstacle, imme- 
 diately drew up in expectation of additional orders. 
 Gustavus, who from the sound of cannon in the 
 direction the enemy had taken, at once conjectured 
 what had occurred, was quickly upon the spot, fol- 
 lowed by a few field-pieces, which he at once placed 
 in position to answer the Polish artillery. He then 
 dismounted, and with his perspective glass in his 
 hand, advanced to examine more narrowly the post 
 before him. Before he had finished his observation, 
 however, a random shot discharged from the village 
 took effect in his shoulder and prostrated him upon
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 99 
 
 the earth, jarring his right arm at the same time so 
 severely, that he at first believed it had been carried 
 off by a cannon ball. The wound, when examined, 
 was found to be of a most dangerous description, 
 since the bullet had passed close beneath the clavicle, 
 and within two fingers' breadth of the windpipe ; 
 while, from the quantity of blood which the king 
 continued to discharge from his mouth and nostrils, 
 it was feared that some of the more important vessels 
 had been injured, and that it would be impossible to 
 stop the haemorrhage. This accident immediately 
 ended the battle. Gustavus was slowly conveyed to 
 Dirscham, still bleeding copiously the whole way, to 
 the consternation of those about him, who had placed 
 a rude dressing upon the wound until better medical 
 aid should arrive. As soon as the king's surgeon had 
 taken off the bandage, and perceived the extent of 
 the mischief done to his patient, he could not help 
 bursting out into angry exclamations, repeating that 
 he had long ago predicted the consequences of his 
 rashness, and that his words were now on the point 
 of being verified. Gustavus contented himself by 
 replying, with a smile, in the words of the old Latin 
 proverb, " Ne sutor ultra crepidam." We are also 
 informed, that when the surgeon expressed his opi- 
 nion that the ball had penetrated too deep to admit 
 of extraction, he said, " It is well. Let it still 
 remain, as a monument that my life has not been 
 spent in inaction, or in a manner unworthy my sta- 
 tion. A resolute mind, and a body unweakened by 
 luxury, best become the character of a king." To 
 Oxenstiern and a deputation of general- officers, who 
 waited upon him a few days afterwards to prefer 
 their request anew, that he would be more careful of 
 his safety for the time to come, he entered more at 
 length upon the necessity which is incumbent upon 
 every commander, who wishes to gain the confidence 
 H 2
 
 100 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of his soldiers, to shrink from no danger which they 
 are required to encounter ; and after thanking them 
 for this new mark of their affection, he added, " God 
 has committed to my hands a charge which I must 
 not be deterred from fulfilling either from fear, or love 
 of repose. And what more glorious end could be 
 imagined, than to fall while fighting for the honour 
 of God and the benefit of my subjects !" 
 
 Amidst all the care and attention bestowed upon 
 his recovery, three months passed away before the 
 king was able to make another effort in the field. 
 While still weak from the effects of the long confine- 
 ment to which he had been subjected, he attacked 
 and carried the town of Pautzke ; but this advantage 
 was compensated in the estimation of the people of 
 Dantzig, by a victory, which their navy gained 
 nearly at the same time over a Swedish squadron 
 cruising off the mouth of the harbour. The two fleets 
 encountered on the 28th of November, 1627. After 
 a long and sanguinary combat, Stiernskioeld, admiral 
 of the Swedes, finding himself surrounded on all 
 sides, and without any hopes of escaping captivity, 
 attempted to blow up the vessel he commanded. The 
 explosion proved fatal to himself and most of his 
 crew, but his ship, without having sustained any very 
 material injury, fell into the hands of the enemy, 
 who towed it triumphantly into their port. Gusta- 
 vus received the news of this defeat with some marks 
 of impatience, and apparently little aware of the dif- 
 ference between naval and military operations, could 
 not help expressing his surprise that a city of mer- 
 chants should be able to dispute the sea with men 
 who made a profession of war. He, at the same 
 time, although admiring the rest of his conduct, 
 testified the severest displeasure at the virtual suicide 
 his admiral had committed. The subsequent recap- 
 ture of Wormditt, which had again fallen into the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 101 
 
 hands of the Poles, by assault, and the arrival of an 
 embassy from England to invest the king with the 
 order of the garter, are the only circumstances of im- 
 portance which remain to be mentioned among the 
 transactions of this year. 
 
 Sensible, at length, that little could be done against 
 Dantzig, without first obtaining some advantage over 
 its fleet, Gustavus exerted himself during the winter, 
 at Stockholm, in refitting his navy, and preparing to 
 assert his superiority on a new element. On his 
 return to Prussia in the spring of 1628, he was 
 accompanied by a fleet of thirty ships of war. These 
 were met off the mouth of the Vistula by seven sail 
 bearing the flag of Dantzig, which, notwithstanding 
 the disparity of numbers, long maintained a fierce 
 and obstinate contest with the Swedish vessels. But 
 neither skill nor courage on the part of the intrepid 
 mariners, who thus exposed themselves, could coun- 
 terbalance the advantages afforded by the over- 
 whelming force opposed to them. Of the Dantzig 
 squadron four ships were compelled to strike their 
 colours, one was sunk, and the other two, seriously 
 damaged in the engagement, only escaped by dint of 
 superior sailing. 
 
 Immediately after this action, the reinforcements 
 which the king had brought with him were landed, 
 and sent forward to the camp at Dirschau, whither 
 the king quickly followed them, and after reviewing 
 the whole force under his command, gave directions 
 for preparing to pass into the island formed by the 
 two branches of the Vistula, and generally called 
 the Lesser Werder. His commands were speedily 
 obeyed ; and as soon as the bridges which his 
 engineers had been employed to construct were re- 
 ported to be finished, the army in several divisions 
 began to defile across the river, with their baggage 
 and cannon, among which were included several
 
 102 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 light pieces of a new construction, now for the first 
 time introduced into warfare, and of which Gustavus 
 Adolphus was unquestionably the first to make use, 
 if indeed he was not, as some authors have asserted, 
 the actual author of the invention. 
 
 The novel kind of artillery in question has only 
 heen described in general terms by contemporary 
 writers. Those of later date have given a more 
 minute explanation of its construction, but it is 
 believed that a great part of their statement is 
 founded upon conjecture alone. According to the 
 most common account, a thin tube of copper was 
 first prepared, of a width sufficient to receive a ball 
 of four pounds weight. The part, intended for the 
 chamber of the gun, was then strengthened by bands 
 of iron and strong cords, and the whole afterwards 
 encased by a thick cover of boiled leather, which as 
 soon as it had become sufficiently hardened, was 
 richly ornamented with gilding and blazonry. The 
 weight of each piece amounted to about six hundred 
 and fifty pounds, and when furnished with a light 
 carriage, it required but two men for its manage- 
 ment ; while it was easily transported from place to 
 place by a single horse. The advantage of such an 
 invention must be obvious, when the cumbrous cha- 
 racter of the ordnance of that time is considered ; 
 and when it is remembered, that field artillery was 
 moved with so much difficulty, that troops were 
 often prevented from an advantageous change of po- 
 sition, by a fear of masking the fire of their own 
 batteries, which, once fixed by the judgment of the 
 general, were for the most part intended to remain 
 as he had placed them until the battle was decided. 
 The Swedish pieces, on the contrary, were capable of 
 being immediately shifted in any direction as cir- 
 cumstances might require, and in addition to being 
 quickly loaded and discharged, possessed the further
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 103 
 
 recommendation of never becoming heated, however 
 rapid the fire they might be employed to maintain. 
 In the present day, when the practice with metal 
 guns of small calibre has been carried to such perfec- 
 tion as almost to exceed belief, the fashion and 
 material of these singular instruments of destruction 
 may excite some surprise. There is no doubt, how- 
 ever, that Gustavus derived the most important 
 benefit from their use on more occasions than one, 
 and that he was so convinced of their efficiency as to 
 retain them in his armies to the last. 
 
 But this was not the only improvement in the 
 arms of his soldiers which the genius of the king 
 had pointed out as deserving of adoption. He had 
 long ago become sensible of the disadvantage of the 
 defensive panoply by which the cavalry of his time, 
 often sheathed in iron from head to foot, and defying 
 the dint of musket or pistol balls, unless discharged 
 close at hand, were rendered utterly unfit for those 
 rapid and vigorous movements in which the chief 
 use of horse consists. Among the Swedish squadrons 
 a hat, or open morion, was almost universally sub- 
 stituted for the ponderous helmet with complete 
 vizor and gorget, to which they had been accus- 
 tomed ; and the buff coat with stout leather gloves 
 reaching to the elbow, for the cuisses and gauntlets, 
 which during the sixteenth century were considered 
 indispensable to the full equipment of a cavalier. The 
 lance, which Spinola had termed the queen of 
 weapons, was wholly abandoned, and the long mus- 
 ket shortened to a carbine, which, however, was 
 rarely employed, since, as the cavalry of Gustavus 
 was mostly composed of Finlanders, a race of men 
 below the middle size, although well formed and 
 active, and who were mounted on horses inferior in 
 weight and bone to those bred in Germany, he did 
 not wish to encumber them with superfluous
 
 104 THE LIFE OF GtTSTAVUS ADOLPflUS. 
 
 weapons. He also abolished the habit of skirmish- 
 ing with pistols in front of bodies of horse, which 
 was so systematically carried on, that the first rank, 
 after delivering their fire, passed by a caracol to the 
 rear, and were succeeded by the second, who mad? a 
 similar discharge, and effected a retreat in the same 
 manner. Gustavus trusted more to the weight and 
 effect of a direct charge ; and allowing his foremost 
 rank only to make use of their pistols while in full 
 career and immediately before the shock of the en- 
 counter, ordered the remainder of the combat to be 
 determined by the sword alone. 
 
 As his principal strength, however, consisted in 
 infantry, he reserved his chief attention to improving 
 the discipline and efficacy of this kind of force. 
 Before the time of Gustavus, almost all battles were 
 decided by the success or failure of the cavalry on 
 either side. The foot regiments, blended together in 
 heavy and unwieldy masses in the centre of the line, 
 manoeuvred with great difficulty, and were equally 
 unable to press forward to complete the discomfiture 
 of a retiring enemy, or to effect anything towards 
 recovering the day, if the horse which flanked them 
 happened to be routed. Gustavus was the first to 
 restore this most essential part of every army to its 
 due importance in the field. Instead of forming his 
 infantry in square bodies, he usually disposed it 
 in two parallel columns, supported by reserves. Each 
 regiment consisted of eight companies, and every 
 company comprised one hundred and twenty-six 
 men, seventy-two of whom were armed with mus- 
 kets, and fifty-four with pikes. Two such regiments 
 composed a brigade. The column was formed six 
 deep, but did not generally present a continuous line, 
 since it was broken into several smaller divisions 
 resembling the cohorts of the Roman legion ; while 
 the several brigades were distinguished from each
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 105 
 
 other by a difference of colour, in the dress of the 
 officers and soldiers attached to them. The advan- 
 tage gained from the superior flexibility and power 
 of this arrangement soon caused it to be generally 
 adopted. From the Swedish armies it gradually 
 passed into those of the other states of Europe, 
 everywhere superseding the ancient method, which 
 however was still retained by the Spaniards up to 
 the battle of Rocroi, where, affording to the eloquent 
 Bossuet* the imposing image of a tower, which con- 
 stantly repairs its own breaches, it was finally 
 abolished by the success of the great Conde on that 
 famous and decisive field. 
 
 To this alteration in the disposition of his infantry 
 were added others in the weapons with which they 
 were supplied. The clumsy arquebuse-a-croc, usually 
 propped by a rest four feet long, was superseded by 
 the musket, which, from its lighter make, required 
 no such support, and the bandeliers, or cylindrical 
 powder-boxes, containing each a single charge, and 
 slung round the body by a belt, exchanged for a 
 leathern pouch filled with cartridges, similar to those 
 now in uset. The handle of the pike, which had 
 been made of a preposterous length, was considerably 
 shortened, and the head manufactured of a different 
 shape. Among officers of the infantry heavy armour 
 was still commonly worn, especially in assaults, or 
 such services as seemed attended with more than or- 
 dinary risk. Their offensive weapons, in addition to 
 their swords, were usually pikes or partisans. As 
 respects other points in the equipment of his troops, 
 it may deserve to be recorded, that the King of 
 Sweden was always anxious that their health should 
 be as much as possible secured from the effects of the 
 inclemencies of the weather by supplying them with 
 
 * Oraison Funebre de Louis de Bourbon, 
 f Scheffer : Memorabilia Suecicas Gentis.
 
 106 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 warm and comfortable clothing. On the approach 
 of winter, he gave orders that each man should be 
 furnished with a dress thickly lined with fur, and 
 took care to ascertain by personal inspection that his 
 directions had been fully complied with. In all other 
 matters connected with their personal comforts he 
 showed no less interest. The Swedish troops in such 
 respects afforded a striking contrast to the soldiers in 
 the Imperial armies, who, in consequence of their late 
 dazzling successes, were then considered the models 
 of all others. Among these a ferocious negligence in 
 dress and aspect was almost studiously cultivated, as 
 a necessary sign of their profession. They delighted 
 in ostentatiously displaying their armour rusted with 
 rain, and indented with the balls of their enemies, as 
 well as their tattered clothing and tangled locks, be- 
 fore the eyes of the peaceful and neatly- dressed 
 burghers, among whom they were quartered ; and 
 awing them by these indications of hard service into 
 the profoundest respect for their fierceness and 
 prowess. This negligence, indeed, was not extended 
 to their discipline, in which the most rigid exactness 
 was required, and unsparingly enforced, but provided 
 their weapons were in an efficient state, and their 
 exercise performed with the usual mechanical exact- 
 ness, little attention was paid either to their dress or 
 demeanour. 
 
 It is, however, more by his attention to the tone of 
 moral feeling and personal character among the troops 
 he conducted, than by any superior management and 
 application of the physical force at his disposal, that 
 Gustavus Adolphus has justly obtained a renown 
 superior to that of all other generals, either of ancient 
 or modern times ; and if too fond of the melancholy 
 occupation of war, a charge of which, notwithstand- 
 ing all his protestations to the contrary, he certainly 
 cannot be altogether acquitted, it must be acknow-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 107 
 
 ledged tliat he was desirous of softening its horrors 
 as much as possible by infusing sentiments of mode- 
 ration and humanity into the breasts of those about 
 him. Wherever stationed, or in whatever service 
 employed, the public worship of God formed one of 
 the most important duties of the army under his 
 guidance. At the first appearance of morning, each 
 regiment, assembled by beat of drum, formed a circle 
 around the chaplain who had been appointed to attend 
 it. Suitable prayers* were then read, and a psalm 
 
 * Some of these, in propriety of sentiment and expression, may 
 vie with parts of the sublime liturgy of the Church of England. 
 The following specimen, selected from among many in use during 
 the invasion of Germany, is translated from the Anna Suecica of 
 Arlanibseus. 
 
 " Almighty and Everlasting God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, we, 
 thine unhappy offspring, beseech thee,in the name of thy well-beloved 
 Son, Jesus Christ, so to govern the whole Christian church, with 
 all its ministers, by the power of thy Holy Spirit, that they may 
 increase unto the end in faith, hope, charity, and patience ; and 
 finally attain to thy salvation. Bountifully impart thy grace to all 
 Christian princes and rulers, particularly to our Sovereign Lord 
 the King, and to all their counsellors and magistrates, that they 
 may govern their subjects, thy people, in conformity with thy will, 
 so that peace, justice, and equity, may be everywhere established ; 
 and tumults, injustice, and evils of all kinds, may be banished and 
 taken away. 
 
 " In thy mercy regard our enemies also, and all who persecute 
 us ; and grant that we, as well as they, may seriously repent of our 
 sins. Grant to them, to us, and to the whole Christian world, 
 minds desirous of peace, that we may serve thee, righteous God, 
 in all piety and sincerity. 
 
 " We beseech thee to comfort the afflicted, the poor, the sick, 
 the suffering, together with all captives and persons dejected in 
 mind, and those who surfer persecution or temptation. Grant that 
 they may bear their cross with patience, and obtain a joyful and 
 wished-for issue to their afflictions. Bless the earth also with 
 increase necessary to the sustenance of our bodies, and keep from it 
 all mischief and tempest. Above all, be present with us in this our 
 journey of life ; pardon our sins ; and, in thy mercy, turn from us 
 the punishment of our transgressions. 
 
 " Especially we entreat theo to preserve the King our Sovereign 
 from all danger both of body and soul ; all our officers and com-
 
 108 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 or hymn chanted by all present ; after which a short 
 discourse was frequently delivered by the officiating 
 minister. The children of the soldiers, whose pre- 
 sence in his armies the king always encouraged, that 
 they might be trained under his own eye, and accus- 
 tomed from infancy to the employments of a military 
 life, were then sent to the school, which was regu- 
 larly opened in a part of the camp reserved for the 
 purpose. The rest of the audience, if no more im- 
 portant duties intervened, dispersed to pursue various 
 useful occupations. During the remainder of the day 
 a perfect order and regularity prevailed through the 
 quarters assigned to the respective divisions of the 
 army. It was only by the appearance of the arms 
 piled in different directions, and the guarded palisade 
 without, that the multitude they contained would 
 have been supposed to be congregated for any other 
 purpose than the peaceful performance of some of the 
 ordinary transactions of life ; and the hardy soldiers, 
 who had proved superior to the victors of a hundred 
 fields, and whose cannon, first heard upon the shores 
 of the Baltic, were ultimately to awake the echoes of 
 the Swabian Alps, were often observed sitting quietly 
 for hours, busied in the task of knitting, or weaving 
 their own point-lace. At sunset the roll of the drum 
 was again heard, summoning the several regiments to 
 
 manders of every rank, and the whole army of our fellow-soldiers. 
 Bestow upon us, O Lord God, sincere minds and friendly disposi- 
 tions, prudent counsels, a happy advancement, and a wished-for 
 success in all our undertakings and actions, for the glory of thy most 
 holy name, and for the peace, tranquillity, comfort, and welfare, 
 temporal and eternal, both of our own nation and all who profess 
 the true Christian faith. Show us a token for good ; that they who 
 hate us may see it and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, bast holpen 
 and comforted us. 
 
 " We, thine unworthy children, beseech thee to confer these bless- 
 ings upon us of thy fatherly goodness, and for the sake of the death 
 and passion of thine only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and 
 reigneth with theo for ever. Amen."
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 109 
 
 prayer ; and after the watch had been set, the armed 
 host which had thus invoked the assistance of a safe- 
 guard far more effectual than the protection afforded 
 by human vigilance, committed itself tranquilly and 
 confidently to repose. 
 
 By the articles of Swedish discipline, profane 
 swearing and blasphemous language were forbidden, 
 under pain of severe penalties. The same restriction 
 was placed upon the practice of gambling. All 
 women of light character were prohibited from ap- 
 pearing within the lines, while insult or injury 
 towards that sex, which, altogether guiltless of pro- 
 ducing or contributing to the miseries of war, is often 
 most exposed to their infliction, was met by prompt 
 and certain punishment. The peasants, in that age 
 of military licence considered as little better than 
 beasts of chase, and frequently massacred by the 
 lawless bands, who, after plundering their villages of 
 everything worth carrying off, frequently amused 
 themselves by perpetrating the most wanton bar- 
 barities upon the inhabitants, were protected in their 
 persons and property by the edicts of Gustavus, 
 which strictly enjoined a just payment to be rendered 
 for every article furnished to his troops. Death was 
 denounced against every one who should assault a 
 burgher in his own house ; and when any number of 
 his army were quartered at a distance from the main 
 body, the king required a certificate from the chief 
 people of the place in which they had been stationed, 
 stating that their conduct had been marked by no 
 violation of the rules of social order and propriety. 
 
 No less strictness was shown in suppressing the 
 custom of duelling, which had become throughout 
 Europe an evil of so enormous a magnitude, that the 
 waste of human life in consequence of its prevalence 
 was little less than could have been occasioned by the 
 fiercest war. Every slight, whether unintentional
 
 110 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPDUS. 
 
 or premeditated every action which could be warped 
 by implication into an offence against the fastidious 
 vanity of the day, which, displayed in childish and 
 punctilious ceremonies, was as easily offended as it 
 was implacable in its resentment a careless word or 
 an unguarded look was considered sufficient cause 
 for mortal enmity, and could only be expiated by 
 the life-blood of the transgressor. Some idea of the 
 extent of the mischief may be formed by an estimate 
 presented to Henry IV. of France, by his minister 
 Sully, in which it was stated that since his accession 
 to the throne no less than four thousand of the 
 nobility had perished in what, by a fearful perversion 
 of terms, are generally designated affairs of honour*. 
 This pernicious habit was spreading fast among the 
 Swedes, when a severe ordinance of the king at once 
 
 * Memoirs of the House of Bourbon. See also Sully's Me- 
 moirs, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury, passim. A single extract 
 from the latter author will be sufficient to demonstrate the light in 
 which duelling was regarded by society in the seventeenth century, 
 and is a striking instance of the power of fashion in sanctioning the 
 most atrocious offences against all laws, whether human or divine. 
 The scene is laid at a mask given by Margaret of Valois, queen of 
 Henry IV. : 
 
 "All things being ready for the ball, and everyone being in 
 their place, and I myself next the queen, expecting when the 
 dancers would come in, one knocked at the door, somewhat louder 
 than became, as I thought, a very civil person ; when he came in, 
 I remember there was a sudden whisper among the ladies, ' C'est 
 Monsieur Balagny,' or, ''tis Monsieur Balagny ;' whereupon also 
 I saw the ladies and gentlewomen, one after another, invite him to 
 sit near them, and which is more, when one lady had his company 
 a while, another would say, ' you have enjoyed him long enough, 
 I must have him now :' at which bold civility of theirs, though I 
 was astonished, yet it added unto my wonder that his person could 
 not be thought at most but ordinary handsome ; his hair, which 
 was cut very short, half gray, his doublet but of sackcloth cut to his 
 shirt, and his breeches only of plain gray cloth. Informing myself 
 by some standers by who he was, I was told that he was one of the 
 gallantest men in the world, as having killed eight or nine men in 
 single fight, and that for this reason the ladies made so much of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. Ill 
 
 arrested its further progress. A court of honour, 
 composed of the principal officers of the army, was 
 established, to decide upon those questions which, 
 generally considered to be of too subtle a nature for 
 legal disquisition, are believed to be more satisfac- 
 torily settled by an appeal to the personal strength 
 or dexterity of the disputants. By this tribunal, a 
 fitting reparation, by verbal apology or otherwise, 
 was after a fair trial ordered to be made to the party 
 aggrieved, but to send or accept a challenge, was a 
 crime which, if detected, was liable by the code of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, to no less a punishment than 
 death itself. On one occasion he ordered the generals 
 Todt and Wrangel, towards whom he had frequently 
 shown marks of the highest esteem, to be committed 
 to prison on suspicion that they were meditating an 
 infringement of his law on the subject ; and an anec- 
 dote has been recorded by a creditable writer, which 
 sets in a still stronger light his thorough abhorrence 
 of an absurd and murderous practice, which it would 
 be well if all persons in the highest ranks of life 
 exerted themselves equally to discourage. 
 
 Two Swedish officers, distinguished for their long 
 services, and who had risen to considerable eminence 
 in the army, had fallen into a dispute upon some 
 trivial subject, which after many angry expressions, 
 terminated in direct personal insult, and the mutual 
 exchange of defiance. As they were well aware of 
 the consequence of attempting to gratify their hos- 
 tility by the violation of an express law to the con- 
 trary, they adopted the somewhat hardy expedient of 
 
 him ; it being the manner of all Frenchwomen to cherish gallant 
 men, as thinking they could not make so much of any else with 
 the safety of their honour." 
 
 It is one among the many proofs of a retributive Providence 
 occasionally displayed in this life, that the ruffian thus mentioned 
 was himself soon after slain in a combat similar to those by which 
 he had acquired so extensive a reputation.
 
 112 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVtJS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 petitioning the king to abrogate in their favour his 
 prohibition of the only method of settling the dis- 
 pute, by which both considered the wound inflicted 
 upon their honour might be redressed. Gustavus, 
 dissembling his indignation at such a request, and 
 apparently moved by the earnestness of their repre- 
 sentations, pretended a willingness to gratify their 
 wishes, stipulating at the same time that he himself 
 should be present as an eye- witness to the fair ter- 
 mination of the quarrel. At the appointed hour, the 
 parties suitably armed and attended, presented them- 
 selves at the place assigned for their meeting, and 
 were soon sensible of the approach of the king, who 
 advanced at the head of a body of infantry which he 
 immediately formed in a circle round the spot. After 
 the necessary preparations had been made, and the 
 two combatants were confronting each other with 
 their weapons drawn, their attention was diverted for 
 a moment, by the appearance of a sinister- looking 
 personage, who, with a heavy sabre in his hand, 
 walked into the ring and seemed ready to take an 
 active part in the proceedings. " Do not be sur- 
 prised, gentlemen," said the king. " According to 
 the laws of your country, your lives are already 
 forfeited in consequence of the offence to which you 
 have endeavoured to make me a party. You will, 
 therefore, take notice, that the instant either of you 
 falls by the sword of his antagonist, the executioner, 
 whom you perceive yonder, has orders to strike off 
 the head of the survivor." It is recorded that the 
 subjects of this address immediately threw them- 
 selves at the feet of Gustavus, and, struck with shame 
 at their past conduct, entreated his forgiveness, which 
 was granted on condition of their reconciliation and 
 solemn engagement to refrain from all similar acts of 
 disobedience for the future. The king took advan- 
 tage of this opportunity, to declare publicly that he
 
 THE LIFE OK GUST AVUS ADOLPHUS. 113 
 
 would on no other occasion relax the severity of the 
 edict against contests of this description. " It is my 
 wish," he said, " to have soldiers under my command, 
 and not gladiators. If any man is desirous of freeing 
 his character from the imputation of cowardice in the 
 eyes of his fellow-countrymen, let him do so at the 
 expense of the common enemy *." 
 
 Such were some of the regulations by which the 
 Swedes, hitherto considered as of little importance in 
 the eyes of Europe, were speedily raised under the 
 commanding genius and example of their monarch, 
 to a degree of military power, which bid fair to place 
 them, at no distant period, in the position of the 
 arbiters of its destinies. In their ranks, at this time, 
 were found adventurers from all Protestant nations, 
 whom the increasing reputation of Gustavus had 
 attracted to offer their services in a quarter where 
 merit w r as likely to be met with due appreciation, 
 and experience in arms acquired under the most able 
 guidance. Of these the majority consisted of natives 
 of Scotland, who, finding little promise of employ- 
 ment for their swords at home, and belonging, in 
 several instances, to families which^ although poor, 
 would have considered any attention to mercantile 
 pursuits an indelible disgrace to any one connected 
 with them by the ties of near relationship, had no 
 other resource to obtain a livelihood than to wander 
 abroad to seek employment in foreign service. Many 
 volunteers of this description speedily rose high in 
 the estimation of the King of Sweden, who was not 
 slow in discovering the valuable qualities for which 
 soldiers of their nation are generally acknowledged to 
 be distinguished. Accordingly, the names of Sir 
 Alexander Leslie, Sir John Hepburn, Sir James 
 Ramsay the Black, Donald Mackay, Lord Reay, 
 Monro of Foulis, and a host of others, not a few 
 
 * HARTF. ; MAUVILLON.
 
 114 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 among them descended from fierce border chieftains, 
 whose love of a martial life had been transmitted 
 unimpaired to their posterity, are constantly occur- 
 ring in the annals of the Thirty Years' War *. Colonel 
 Robert Monro, who has had the honour of sitting to 
 the unrivalled author of the Waverley Novels, as the 
 original of Captain Dugald Dalgetty of Drum- 
 thwacket, and whose work is one of the most curious 
 and valuable commentaries upon the campaigns of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, has given a list of no less than 
 thirty colonels, fifty-two lieutenant-colonels, and 
 fourteen majors, employed in the Swedish service in 
 the year 1632 t. 
 
 A reinforcement of such auxiliaries, increased by 
 the junction of a body of German troops to the num- 
 ber of 9000 men J, reached the King of Sweden while 
 meditating the closer investment of Dantzig, and 
 were of essential service towards the accomplishment 
 of this design. Yet before it could be fully effected, 
 it was necessary once more to encounter the army of 
 Coniecpoliski, which, swelled by recent levies, had 
 again assumed a threatening attitude, and had ap- 
 proached near enough to be seen from the walls of 
 the beleaguered city, with the full intention of effect- 
 ing its relief. A spirited action followed, in which 
 the Poles once more suffered a severe repulse. Three 
 thousand of the vanquished remained dead on the 
 field ; fourteen standards and four pieces of cannon 
 
 * The communications of these officers to their friends at home, 
 furnished much of the matter contained in the British Intelligencer, 
 a work in four parts, which is supposed to have been edited by Sir 
 Thomas Roe. This work contains an account of all the operations 
 in Germany during the invasion of Giistavus Adolphus, and for 
 some time after his death, and deserves to be extensively consulted. 
 From the strong tinge of party spirit, however, which pervades it, 
 its statements are not to be received without some caution. 
 
 f* MONRO'S Expedition, Part I. 
 
 J HARTE : Life of Gustavus Adolphus.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 115 
 
 fell into the hands of the conquerors; and Coniecpo- 
 liski himself received a wound which was at first 
 believed to be mortal. No further obstacle now re- 
 mained to prevent the Swedes from opening the siege 
 of Dantzig in form, and preparations were accordingly 
 made for the purpose. 
 
 All circumstances connected with the undertaking 
 were now such as to encourage the king to make 
 every exertion for the speedy possession of a place 
 on the fate of which apparently depended the early 
 or remote conclusion of the war. The Polish army, 
 dispirited by one defeat after another, was in no con- 
 dition to make any diversion of consequence to retard 
 the operations of the besiegers. The citizens of Dant- 
 zig, who saw the rising grounds in their neighbour- 
 hood beginning to be crowned with the batteries of 
 the Swedes ; whose inland commerce, moreover, was 
 altogether annihilated, and who apprehended nothing 
 but utter ruin from a further continuation of their 
 defence, began seriously to debate upon the policy of 
 negotiating a surrender on favourable conditions, be- 
 fore the opportunity of doing so should be altogether 
 lost : while the Estates of Poland were loud in their 
 protests against the protraction of a contest from 
 which no one substantial advantage could accrue to 
 the nation. A circumstance, however, beyond the 
 reach of human prudence to foresee, or of any ability 
 or perseverance to remedy, suddenly intervened to 
 restore Sigismond to fresh hope, and to disappoint 
 his adversaries of a prize which seemed already 
 within their grasp. The river Vistula, suddenly 
 increased to an unprecedented extent by violent and 
 continual rains, laid almost the whole of the works 
 constructed against Dantzig under water, and com- 
 pelled the Swedes hastily to retire from the ground 
 they occupied, and to remove their camp to such a 
 distance from the city, as indicated a virtual aban- 
 i2
 
 116 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 donment of the blockade. It was evident that before 
 the posts then lost could be regained, and the damage 
 occasioned by the flood repaired, the season would be 
 too far advanced to admit of a renewal of the siege. 
 The King of Sweden, therefore, however disappointed 
 he might feel at the unexpected frustration of a design 
 so long cherished, at once changed his plan of opera- 
 tions, and reserving the reduction of Dantzig for a 
 future opportunity, advanced by forced marches 
 towards the Duchy of Lithuania, receiving the sub- 
 mission of several towns, as he pressed rapidly for- 
 ward in his new course of conquest. Coniecpoliski, 
 who had given up all hope of resisting the Swedish 
 infantry in the field, hovered upon the flanks of the 
 invading army, and by falling upon its advanced 
 parties, and those who were separated from the main 
 body for foraging and other purposes, endeavoured to 
 make the best use of the kind of forces in which his 
 chief strength consisted, and to reduce the war to a 
 series of harassing skirmishes, and combats of out- 
 posts. As the Swedes, however, had lately been 
 joined by the Rhinegrave Otho Louis, one of the best 
 cavalry officers of the time, at the head of 2000 cui- 
 rassiers, they were able to meet his irregular assaults 
 without suffering much interruption in their progress. 
 Lemburg, Strasburg, Schwitz, and Dribentz, were 
 yielded with more or less resistance, and the Swedish 
 General, Bauditzen, whose fiery valour was after- 
 wards well known in Germany, was daring enough 
 to penetrate to the very gates of Warsaw, with a 
 lightly armed force, striking terror and dismay into 
 the population of the first city of Poland. Gustavus, 
 in the meanwhile, carried Massovia by storm, where 
 he displayed his customary humanity during the fury 
 of the assault, by throwing himself into the midst of 
 the incensed victors, and rescuing a number of Polish 
 ladies from outrage, at the same time severely up-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 117 
 
 braiding his soldiers with their unmanly violence. 
 These prisoners were shortly afterwards dismissed, 
 upon their verbal engagement to forward a stipulated 
 ransom to their captors. While the main force of the 
 Swedes was thus employed, the division under Bau- 
 ditzen was surprised and totally routed by Coniecpo- 
 liski's cavalry, who after making their leader a 
 prisoner, pushed forward to throw themselves upon 
 the route by which the Swedes maintained their com- 
 munications with Elbing, and posted themselves so 
 advantageously as to intercept all supplies transmit- 
 ted from thence to their camp. The king on 
 gaining information of these movements, imme- 
 diately set a force in motion to dislodge them. 
 Under cover of a thick mist, he forded the river 
 Druenna, along the banks of which a detachment of 
 the Polish army had been stationed. These were put 
 to flight at the first onset, and the Swedes following 
 up their success, dispersed in confusion a large body 
 of Cossacks and Croats, who were carelessly quar- 
 tered in an adjoining village. The communication 
 with Elbing having been thus re-established, Gusta- 
 vus returned to his camp, with a large convoy of 
 provisions, which had for some time been hindered 
 from reaching him by the commanding position lately 
 assumed by the enemy. 
 
 Amidst these operations, the year 1628 drew to- 
 wards its conclusion. A much more important 
 event, however, connected with this period than any 
 hitherto mentioned has still to be recorded. The 
 town of Stralsund, on the point of being abandoned 
 by the troops of the king of Denmark, and hard 
 pressed by the forces of the Imperial General Wal- 
 lenstein, had sent a deputation earnestly entreating 
 the aid of Sweden, and had received from Gustavus 
 a body of Scottish auxiliaries under the command 
 of Sir Alexander Leslie, by whose resolute valour it
 
 118 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 was again enabled to defy all the fury of its assail- 
 ants. As with this famous siege may be said to 
 commence the actual collision of Sweden with the 
 armies of the Empire, it is necessary to enter into a 
 brief retrospect of the occurrences of several pre- 
 ceding years, that the relative positions of the 
 parties thus suddenly placed in opposition may be 
 better comprehended. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Causes and Origin of the Thirty Years' War Treaty of Passau 
 Ecclesiastical Reservation Other grievances complained of by 
 the Protestants Disputes concerning the Succession of Cleves 
 Evangelic Union Catholic League Commotions in Bohemia 
 Letter of Majesty granted by the Emperor Rodolph II. He is 
 forced to abdicate the Crown of Bohemia, in favour of his brother 
 Matthias Reign of that Prince His Resignation in favour of 
 Ferdinand of Gratz, afterwards Emperor Rebellion under Count 
 Thurn Violence committed on the persons of the Imperial 
 Deputies Martinitz and Slavata War commenced Frederick V. 
 Elector Palatine chosen King of Bohemia He is defeated before 
 Prague Severities exercised by the Imperialists towards the 
 vanquished War transferred to the Palatinate Which is 
 defended by Count Mansfeld Christian of Brunswick appears 
 in arms in Westphalia Mansfeld defeated by the Bavarian 
 army under Count Tilly, who take Heidelberg and Mannheim 
 Diet of Ratisbon New League against the Emperor, headed by 
 Christian IV. of Denmark Count Albert of Wallenstein raises 
 an army for the Emperor His character Battle of Lutter 
 Mansfeld is repulsed by Wallenstein at Dessau Retires into 
 Hungary His death Conquest of Holstein and Jutland by 
 the Imperialists Wallenstein besieges Stralsund. 
 
 By the treaty of Passau, signed in 1552 by the Em- 
 peror Charles V., at the instigation of his brother, 
 afterwards Ferdinand the First, and through the im- 
 mediate instrumentality of Maurice of Saxony, the 
 Protestant princes of Germany were apparently 
 raised, from the condition of an oppressed party, to
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 119 
 
 an equality with those who had despised their in- 
 creasing influence and underrated their power, until 
 it was too late to think of restraining either by open 
 force. This convention, however, prepared under 
 the influence of necessity, and accepted by the con- 
 tending parties rather as a means of quelling present 
 disturbances than as a firm basis of future concord, 
 could hardly be expected to meet all the occasions of 
 dispute which might afterwards arise among the 
 members of a body politic, the rights and privileges 
 of which, before intricate enough to confound the 
 most subtle judgment, were now involved in still 
 greater uncertainty by the introduction of religious 
 distinctions. Both sides in a few years began to repent 
 of their too great readiness to enter into a concilia- 
 tion ; the Catholics on the one hand imagining they 
 had conceded too much ; and the Protestants on the 
 other, that they had not sufficiently insisted upon 
 the various demands, which the vantage-ground they 
 had once occupied would have enabled them to urge, 
 with every prospect of their being complied with. 
 
 The enforcement of the clause generally known 
 under the name of the Ecclesiastical Reservation, 
 which, indeed had been left to a certain extent inde- 
 terminate, was the first cause of disagreement which 
 interrupted the ill-adjusted truce between the opposite 
 religions. By this provision in the treaty, it was 
 enacted, that, although the church property already 
 secularised by the princes who adhered to the Confes- 
 sion of Augsburg should be suffered to remain with 
 its present possessors, the future apostacy of any 
 member of the Empire invested with spiritual dignity, 
 and in consequence holding title to any territory or 
 domain, should be followed by the loss of the whole 
 of such estates ; which were in this case to revert to 
 the Roman Church, to be bestowed as should after- 
 wards be appointed. The Protestants, as soon as
 
 120 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS* 
 
 their eyes were opened to the check which such an 
 enactment would necessarily impose upon numbers 
 who might be willing to become converts to their 
 principles, if the change were not folio wed by the loss 
 of their worldly property, were earnest in pressing the 
 repeal of a restriction asserted to be in the highest 
 degree unjust ; while their opponents were neither 
 deficient in the will, nor in the ability, to discover 
 and insist upon various plausible reasons in support 
 of its continued operation. 
 
 Another unexpected difficulty arose from the sub- 
 sequent propagation of the doctrines of Calvin and 
 Zuinglius. For proselytes to such opinions, no pro- 
 vision whatever had been made by the Treaty of 
 Passau. Those whose faith was regulated by the 
 Confession of Augsburg, were the only persons 
 allowed to be comprehended within the meaning of that 
 instrument. All other Protestants were considered 
 to be still as liable as at any other period, to the 
 pains and penalties inflicted npon those who hereti- 
 cally separated from the communion of the Roman 
 Catholic Church ; and remained exposed to its 
 vengeance, whenever its ministers might think proper 
 to inflict it. Yet the Calvinists in Germany had 
 within a short time so far increased, as to form no 
 inconsiderable part of its population ; and one of the 
 Electors of the Empire, the Count Palatine of the 
 Rhine, had already placed himself at the head of the 
 churches of this denomination. 
 
 During the reigns of Ferdinand I. and his successor 
 Maximilian II., the personal characters of these empe- 
 rors prevented in a great measure the evil effects 
 which threatened to arise from such causes of dissa- 
 tisfaction; but no sooner had Rodolph II. assumed the 
 reins of government, than they were accelerated by 
 still further aggressions*. Many causes properly 
 
 * SCHILLEK : Thirty Years' War.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU3. 121 
 
 belonging to the jurisdiction of the Council of Spire, 
 in which an equal number of Lutheran and Catholic 
 judges were accustomed to sit, were transferred to 
 the Aulic Council at Vienna, where, the judges being 
 all Catholics, every action between parties of different 
 religions was invariably determined in favour of 
 their own persuasion. The City of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 in which the Protestants had obtained the nomination 
 of the principal magistrates, was required by this 
 despotic tribunal to substitute a number of Catholics 
 in their stead, and on its refusal to comply with the 
 requisition, was at once formally proscribed. The 
 Elector of Cologne, who had embraced the reformed 
 religion, and still attempted to retain his possessions, 
 was driven from his territories, in which the Bishop 
 of Liege, a prince of the House of Bavaria, was 
 forcibly established in his stead. Donawerth, a free 
 city in Swabia, in consequence of a too violent dis- 
 play of popular feeling during a religious procession, 
 was placed under the ban of the Empire, attacked 
 by the Duke of Bavaria, and punished by the total 
 abolition of the Protestant religion within its walls, 
 as well as the loss of its liberties, by being reduced 
 into the condition of a rmmicipal town, and added to 
 the dominions of its conqueror. In consequence of 
 these and other instances of oppression, the Pro- 
 testant princes, whose quarrels among themselves 
 upon different points of doctrine had hitherto pre- 
 vented them from acting in concert, were beginning to 
 feel inclined towards an association for mutual defence, 
 when their determinations upon the subject were 
 hastened by a more palpable display of the imperial 
 ambition in its designs upon the Duchy of Cleves. 
 
 In the year 1609, the possessor of the rich terri- 
 tory under this title, which comprehended the coun- 
 ties of Juliers, Berg, Cleves, Marck, and Bavenstein*, 
 
 * Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg,
 
 122 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 died without issue, and according to a facetious ex- 
 pression of Henry IV., leaving all the world as his 
 heirs*. Among the crowd of competitors who ap- 
 peared to urge their pretensions on this occasion, the 
 Duke of Neuburg and the Elector of Brandenburg 
 were considered to possess the most satisfactory 
 claims. The emperor, however, granted the inves- 
 titure to the Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Passau, 
 and began to make the necessary preparations for 
 asserting his title by force. In this undertaking he 
 was fortunately anticipated by the combined armies 
 of France and the United Provinces, which under 
 the command of Prince Maurice and the Marshal de 
 la Chatre, took the town of Juliers in defiance of the 
 Spanish general Spinola, and established the two 
 princes in whose cause they had appeared, in full 
 possession of their rights. Although the valuable 
 prize in question was thus rescued from the stoop of 
 the Austrian eagle, the heads of the Protestants in 
 Germany, now fairly alarmed into unanimity by the 
 daring ambition which was manifested by the attempt, 
 were induced to form the celebrated Evangelic Union, 
 of which the Elector Palatine, the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Prince of Anhalt, 
 the Count of Nassau, and subsequently, the Elector 
 of Brandenburg, were the principal members. On 
 the other hand, the Duke of Bavaria, and the three 
 ecclesiastical Electors of Treves, Mentz, and Cologne, 
 united in the society called the Catholic League, to 
 oppose their efforts. Saxony, the remaining electorate, 
 still stood aloof from the Protestant confederacy, 
 induced no less by the promises and intrigues of 
 the court of Austria, than by a dislike towards the 
 Calvinists, which no sense of the common danger 
 was able to subdue. 
 
 These were but the mutterings of the distant tem- 
 
 * SCLLY'S Memoirs, book xxvii.
 
 THE LIFE OP GDSTAVUS ADOLPHDS. 123 
 
 pest. Various insurrections in Moravia, Hungary, 
 and Transylvania, during the reign of Rodolph II., 
 were indications of its nearer approach. It was in 
 the kingdom of Bohemia, however, that the elements 
 of discord were finally to break forth with a fury 
 proportioned to the time during which they had been 
 collecting. 
 
 Bohemia, it is well known, at the first propagation 
 of the principles of the Reformation, afforded both a 
 shelter and a favourable field of exertion to such as 
 devoted themselves to the arduous and perilous task 
 of exposing the corruptions of the church of Rome ; 
 and was distinguished by the honour of giving birth 
 to some of the most eminent martyrs to that cause, 
 which was doomed to pass through a long ordeal of 
 persecution, before the talents of Luther, and the 
 increase of knowledge among mankind, rendered it 
 powerful enough to inspire respect into its adversaries, 
 even where it was not altogether triumphant. Under 
 the name of Utraquists, or Calixtines, an appellation 
 conferred upon them in consequence of their insisting 
 upon partaking of the Holy Sacrament in both kinds, 
 the Bohemian Protestants at length, after a severe 
 struggle, succeeded in obtaining nearly equal privi- 
 leges with those of their countrymen who still 
 adhered to the Roman faith. When Matthias, 
 afterwards Emperor of Germany, had succeeded in 
 wresting almost all the hereditary dominions of the 
 house of Hapsburg from Rodolph II., and was pro- 
 ceeding to add Bohemia to his usurped possessions, 
 that unhappy prince, in the hope of conciliating the 
 Protestant party in his favour, issued what is gene- 
 rally termed the Letter of Majesty, by which the 
 independence of the nation, long sacrificed to Austria, 
 was apparently re-established, and converts to the 
 reformed religion vested with privileges even superior 
 to those once exclusively claimed by members of the
 
 124 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTTS. 
 
 Roman church. This concession, however, came 
 too late to be of much service to his cause, and he 
 was moreover suspected at an early opportunity of 
 an intention to violate it. Matthias, supported by 
 the strong tide of popular opinion in his favour, was 
 declared King of Bohemia, to the exclusion of his 
 brother Rodolph, who, stripped of everything but 
 the empty title of Emperor, did not long withhold 
 the addition of this unsubstantial honour from his 
 more fortunate and enterprising rival. Rodolph died 
 in 1612, and was succeeded without opposition by 
 Matthias, who soon found the task of acquiring power 
 by submission to popular demands, a much more satis- 
 factory labour to an ambitious spirit, than that of 
 retaining it by similar means. 
 
 As Matthias had been chiefly assisted in obtaining 
 the imperial dignity by the exertions of the Pro- 
 testants in his cause, he was no sooner in possession 
 of the object of his aspiring efforts, than he was 
 naturally addressed by petitions in favour of the 
 reformed churches in various parts of his dominions. 
 These, however, he was no longer in a humour to 
 grant, and his Protestant subjects had quickly cause 
 to discover, that their temporal interests had been 
 but little forwarded by a change of sovereigns. Like 
 every other treaty devised by the ingenuity of man, 
 the Letter of Majesty contained many clauses 
 capable of different interpretations, according to the 
 contending interests of the persons concerned. There 
 were others which seemed to have been purposely 
 left indefinite, until the superior power of one or 
 other of the contracting parties should authoritatively 
 determine their meaning. Matthias had already 
 shown a strong inclination to construe several of 
 such dubious points in favour of his own religion, 
 and the Bohemians to give vent to those murmurs 
 which are generally the precursors of resistance,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 125 
 
 when the extraordinary steps taken in favour of his 
 nephew Ferdinand of Gratz, threw down the only 
 barrier which still prevented the dissatisfaction, long 
 expressed by words, from issuing in open violence. 
 
 This prince was the son of Charles, Duke of Styria, 
 and brother of Maximilian II. His early years were 
 spent under the superintendence of the Jesuits, and 
 his first actions displayed upon a smaller scale the 
 bigoted and intolerant disposition which was after- 
 wards productive of such disastrous consequences. 
 In private life he is said to have shown himself 
 neither destitute of humanity nor of many of the 
 more honourable feelings, for which it is in vain to 
 search in the generality of his public actions ; and 
 perhaps, his character is rather to be considered 
 among the many instances of a feeble judgment 
 perverted to injustice and persecution by the force of 
 prejudice, than as stamped by any natural tendency 
 towards oppression. Whatever the motives, how- 
 ever, which actuated his conduct, the results could 
 not have been more calamitous. His arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings towards the Protestants in his hereditary 
 dominions of Styria and Carinthia, in which the re- 
 formed religion was strictly forbidden and rigorously 
 prohibited, had already drawn upon him the dislike 
 and suspicion of the members of that communion 
 throughout the whole of Germany, when Matthias 
 formed the impolitic resolution of abdicating the 
 crowns of Hungary and Bohemia in his favour. At 
 a meeting of the Estates of the latter kingdom, this 
 determination was carried into effect, January 6th, 
 1618. The deputies, surrounded by the imperial 
 soldiers, and astonished at the suddenness of the pro- 
 posal, manifested less ppposition than could have been 
 expected from their knowledge of the character of 
 Ferdinand. He was elected King of Bohemia, on 
 the express condition of confirming all edicts pre-
 
 126 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 viously granted in favour of the civil and religious 
 liberties of the nation, and more especially those 
 sanctioned by the Letter of Majesty ; a concession, 
 which, as it cost nothing more than verbal promises, 
 was made without any appearance of reluctance by 
 the new monarch. 
 
 The Bohemians had scarcely had time to reflect 
 upon the probable consequences of their late Diet, than 
 they began to repent of their too great precipitation. 
 If no other reason for regret had existed, the policy 
 pursued by Ferdinand at the very commencement 
 of his reign would have been sufficient to justify all 
 the compunction they felt upon the occasion. Every 
 important office in the government was immediately 
 filled by Catholics, and the courts of justice influ- 
 enced by partial judges, who strained every point in 
 favour of the royal prerogative. The recently erected 
 Protestant churches were demolished, and the re- 
 ligious privileges stipulated in the Letter of Majesty, 
 hourly violated. It was evident that the kingdom 
 of Bohemia was to form no exception to the plan 
 which Ferdinand had already carried into effect in 
 the management of his hereditary domains. In this 
 unpromising state of affairs, a spirited effort was made 
 by Matthias, Count Thurn, to arrest the approaching 
 subjugation of his country. On the 23rd of May 1618, 
 he entered the palace where the Council of Regency 
 appointed by Ferdinand during his absence, were 
 sitting, and represented in vehement language the 
 sense of the nation in general upon the late conduct of 
 the king and his ministers. At the same time he 
 presented, in the name of himself and his followers, a 
 protest against all the acts of injustice by which the 
 Protestant interests had been injured since the meet- 
 ing of the last Diet. A furious altercation ensued, 
 which was terminated by an act of unjustifiable 
 violence on the part of the defenders of liberty.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 127 
 
 Slavata, the Imperial Deputy and President of the 
 Council, and IMartinitz, Burgrave of Carlstein, both 
 particularly obnoxious to the Protestants, and who 
 were accused of having driven their vassals with 
 hounds to the celebration of the mass, were precipi- 
 tated from the window of the Council Chamber into 
 the ditch below, a height of above fifty feet. The 
 preservation of their lives is to be considered little 
 less than miraculous, but as they happened to fall 
 upon a heap of earth and rubbish immediately beneath 
 the window, the actual injury they received was com- 
 paratively trifling. With this action commenced the 
 Thirty Years' War. 
 
 As if the violence committed upon the persons of 
 the Imperial Councillors had been the signal for a 
 preconcerted insurrection, it was no sooner generally 
 known, than Silesia, Moravia, Hungary, and Austria 
 itself, became the field of a widely extended revolt. 
 Thurn and his confederates, who were convinced they 
 had now gone too far to recede, began to levy troops 
 in all directions, and to form such alliances as might 
 enable them to face the vengeance of the emperor, 
 which, it was reasonable to apprehend, would not be 
 slow in descending upon them. The insurgents were 
 quickly joined by Peter Ernest, Count Mansfeld, 
 who having commenced his military career against the 
 Protestants in the Low Countries, proved afterwards 
 one of the fiercest opponents of their enemies, and 
 the most successful partisan leader of his age. But 
 their principal reliance was upon Bethlem Gabor, 
 Prince of Transylvania. This formidable chieftain 
 had by degrees raised himself, from the station of a 
 private gentleman, to that of an independent monarch. 
 The Emperor, however, had refused to ratify his 
 title, and as his followers professed the doctrines of 
 the Reformation, he had the double motive of personal 
 and religious enmity to encourage him to enter with
 
 128 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 spirit into the war. It is to be recorded to the 
 honour of the Emperor Matthias, that at the com- 
 mencement of the contest, as if seized with com- 
 punction on witnessing the effects of his imprudence, 
 he used every effort to induce the revolters to return 
 to their allegiance by pacific means. The quarrel 
 however had by this time become too serious to be 
 settled by negotiation ; and Ferdinand was earnest 
 in exerting himself to prevent an accommodation. 
 The armies on both sides accordingly took the field, 
 the imperialists acting under the conduct of the 
 Counts Dampierre and Bucquoi, both officers who 
 had seen severe service in the Low Countries, but 
 who on the present occasion could do little to stop 
 the progress of the insurgents. Thurn and Mans- 
 feld received the submission of almost the whole of 
 Bohemia, and Bethletn Gabor bursting into Hungary 
 at the head of an immense force, overran the whole 
 of the open country without resistance. 
 
 At this juncture occurred the death of Matthias, 
 an event which augured no speedy termination of 
 the existing disputes ; since the Bohemians, dreading 
 the succession of his nephew to the dignity he had 
 left vacant, were excited to make more strenuous 
 efforts towards the re- establishment of their inde- 
 pendence, before it should be exposed to additional 
 danger from the increased resources which such an 
 elevation would immediately array against it. As 
 soon as the Electoral Diet had been summoned, 
 Ferdinand prepared to set out for Frankfort as the 
 representative of the kingdom of which he was still 
 the nominal sovereign. The Bohemians, however, 
 after first protesting against the validity of his vote, 
 endeavoured to prevent his appearance at the meeting 
 by force ; and had nearly succeeded in accomplishing 
 their object. Under the guidance of Count Thurn, 
 a considerable party advanced to the gates of Vienna,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 129 
 
 and entering the city without opposition, surprised 
 the object of their hatred in his own palace. A 
 deputation composed of sixteen of the leaders of 
 the insurgents rushed into his presence in arms, and 
 insisted upon his signing an agreement which con- 
 tained an amnesty for past offences against his autho- 
 rity, and a formal acknowledgment of the ancient 
 constitution. Ferdinand, although not possessed of 
 the active courage which is essential to the conduct 
 of an army in the field, was not without that cool reso- 
 lution which is able to look civil discord in the face 
 without emotion. He resolutely persisted in refusing 
 their demand, although actual violence was on the 
 point of being added to tumultuous clamours, and 
 one of the deputies, with the exclamation, " Wilt 
 thou not sign it, Ferdinand !" had already seized him 
 by the vest, as a signal to his companions to have 
 recourse to the more serious method of compulsion. 
 In the midst of the growing tumult, however, he 
 was unexpectedly rescued from the hands of the 
 confederates by the sound of the trumpets of a regi- 
 ment of Dampierre's cuirassiers*, who were on the 
 point of entering Vienna, preceding the march of a 
 detachment of infantry closely following in their rear. 
 The deputies, startled by this intimation of the vici- 
 nity of an enemy, of whose force they were entirely 
 ignorant, suddenly withdrew in confusion, and retired 
 to their camp without the city. Ferdinand, thus 
 delivered from a situation from which he was fully 
 justified in anticipating a very different issue, soon 
 afterwards pursued his way to Frankfort, where his 
 election was carried without much difficulty, and his 
 coronation performed with the customary solemnities. 
 Since their efforts had hitherto proved uniformly 
 successful, the Bohemians now began to deliberate 
 seriously upon the necessity of strengthening them- 
 
 * Schiller, Thirty Years' War.
 
 130 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 selves by the alliance of the Protestants in other 
 states ; and, above all, by electing a sovereign in the 
 place of Ferdinand, to whom they no longer consi- 
 dered themselves bound by any ties of allegiance. 
 Frederick the Fifth, Count Palatine, was the indi- 
 vidual selected for the honourable but perilous exalt- 
 ation. This prince was possessed of many qualities 
 calculated to ensure him the affection of his subjects, 
 and had distinguished himself on many occasions by 
 his zeal in defence of the reformed interests. As the 
 son-in-law of James I. of England, and nephew of 
 Christian IV. of Denmark, it was natural to suppose 
 that he would not be left destitute of foreign assist- 
 ance ; and in his character of chief of the Evangelic 
 Union, it was expected that he would be materially 
 aided by the united resources of that association. 
 Frederick was not destitute of personal bravery ; he 
 was generous, affable, and endued with a taste for 
 external splendour and magnificence ; but he was at 
 the same time thoughtless and imprudent, and totally 
 unqualified to cope with the cool resolution and subtle 
 policy of his rival. In an evil hour, and principally 
 instigated by his princess, the unfortunate Elizabeth, 
 who is represented as having stimulated him by all 
 her influence to grasp the dazzling prize offered to 
 his acceptance, he was induced to accede to the wishes 
 of the Bohemian ambassadors. 
 
 The new monarch was received with enthusiasm 
 by the brave people, by whose voice he had been 
 summoned to the throne. His coronation was per- 
 formed at Prague with great state, and the Bohemians 
 present at the ceremony imagined, they at length 
 beheld the day in which their independence as a 
 nation was fully and permanently established. The 
 accession of Frederick, however, and the hopes which 
 seemed warranted by the occasion, proved but a mo- 
 mentary gleam of sunshine before the descent of the
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 131 
 
 tempest which was about to lay their cherished liber- 
 ties prostrate for ever. James I., who was busily 
 engaged in his visionary scheme of marrying his son 
 to the Infanta of Spain, began the example of de- 
 fection, which was soon universally followed. He 
 was so far from entertaining a design of succouring 
 his son-in-law, and so anxious to exculpate himself 
 from all participation in his projects, that he pro- 
 tested his utter ignorance and disapprobation of the 
 design before the Spanish ambassador, with vehe- 
 ment oaths and curses*. Denmark showed little 
 inclination to take part in the quarrel, and the Evan- 
 gelic Union, misled by the intrigues of France, under- 
 took by the Pacification of Ulm to maintain a strict 
 neutrality. Bethlem Gabor, the last ally who re- 
 mained on the side of Bohemia, was at the same time 
 induced by the policy of Ferdinand to assent to a 
 truce for six months, and Frederick was left to main- 
 tain single-handed a contest, which it would have been 
 difficult enough to wage successfully, even if all the 
 aid he relied upon had been faithfully supplied. 
 
 In addition to the forces previously levied, the 
 army of the Catholic league had now entered the field, 
 headed by Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, under whose 
 tutorship Ferdinand is said to have imbibed those 
 notions of intolerance in which he afterwards far sur- 
 passed his instructor. Maximilian was one of the 
 profoundest politicians of his age ; attached to the 
 fine arts, in which he had made considerable pro- 
 ficiency ; and considered an accomplished scholar, at 
 a time when no limited attainments were necessary 
 to ensure the title. He was at the same time arbi- 
 trary and bigoted, and imbued with a thorough ha- 
 tred of the civil principles as well as the religion of 
 the Protestants. At the head of an army amounting 
 to 50,000 men, and having under his command many 
 
 * Von Raumer: History of the 16th aud 17th Centuries. 
 
 K2
 
 132 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of the officers whose names became illustrious at a 
 subsequent period of the contest, he advanced, after 
 effecting his junction with Bucquoi, upon the capital 
 of Bohemia, in the vicinity of which the troops of 
 Frederick were busied in entrenching themselves, 
 when the Catholic forces appeared in sight. The 
 engagement which followed, known indifferently as 
 the battle of Prague or of the White Mountain, has 
 been too often described to demand a particular no- 
 tice*. Although Frederick himself exerted great 
 spirit, and the courage of his general, the Prince of 
 Anhalt, was displayed in a trifling success gained 
 over the cavalry of the enemy in the early part of 
 the conflict, the Bohemians were unable to stand the 
 shock of the veteran bands, who assaulted them with 
 all the advantages of superior discipline and expe- 
 rience. In a single hour, Frederick was deprived of 
 his crown, and Bohemia of the freedom for which it 
 had made so determined a struggle. Five thousand 
 of the vanquished party were slain during the battle 
 or in the pursuit, exclusive of numbers who were 
 drowned while attempting to pass the river Moldau. 
 The loss of the imperialists was estimated at some- 
 thing less than four hundred men. 
 
 No sooner had the fortune of the revolted nation 
 been thus decided in the field, than the victors began 
 to make a terrible use of their advantages. In Prague 
 and in other cities, the scaffolds were speedily red 
 with the noblest blood of Bohemia, while hundreds 
 of the lower orders who had taken part in the insur- 
 rection expiated their zeal for liberty beneath the 
 sword, or upon the gibbett. Of forty-eight of the 
 principal leaders tried before a special commission, 
 twenty-seven were found guilty and condemned to 
 
 * November 9tb, 1620. 
 
 f " Rcliqui inferioris ordinis ferro ant laqueo finiere." Brache- 
 lius.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 133 
 
 death with the attendant horrible circumstances, then 
 usual in cases of high treason. Immediately after 
 these sanguinary executions, Ferdinand tore the letter 
 of Majesty with his own hand, and burned the seal, 
 as a sufficient indication of what his Bohemian sub- 
 jects had to expect under his resumed authority*. 
 The exercise of the Protestant worship, under every 
 form, was at the same time abolished throughout the 
 kingdom by a severe edict. In other countries the 
 blood of patriots, like that of the witnesses to reli- 
 gion, has generally proved a seed of unfailing efficacy 
 in producing the blessing for which the lives of its 
 confessors have been sacrificed. Bohemia has unfor- 
 tunately afforded an exception to the rule. From the 
 consequences of the fatal battle of Prague it has never 
 recovered, and remains to the present day the most 
 subject to the absolute rule of Austria of all the 
 provinces under her extensive dominion. 
 
 The vengeance of the emperor was now turned 
 from inferior objects, to the person who had been the 
 most conspicuous actor in the past commotions. On 
 the 20th of January, 1621, an edict of proscription 
 was issued against Frederick V., in which, together 
 with all his associates, who had hitherto escaped the 
 hands of the imperialists, he was declared guilty of 
 treason against the empire, and sentenced to the for- 
 feiture of all his dignities and possessions. By the 
 same instrument, the task of reducing the Palatinate 
 was assigned to the crown of Spain, as vested with 
 the sovereignty of the circle of Burgundy, and to the 
 Duke of Bavaria as head of the Catholic League. 
 This act, which was a direct and flagrant violation of 
 one of the provisions of the Golden Bull, then consi- 
 dered as the palladium of the Germanic Constitution, 
 in which it was expressly declared, that no Elector 
 should be deprived of his title and estate, until his 
 
 * Scbiller, Thirty Years' War.
 
 134 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 cause had been previously heard by a General Diet 
 of the Empire, and his condemnation approved by 
 that assembly, opened the eyes of all Europe to the 
 resolute ambition with which the house of Austria 
 wa,s advancing to absolute and irresponsible dominion. 
 At present, however, so great was the terror diffused 
 by the battle of Prague, that no steps were taken 
 either by the Evangelic Union, or the other Protest- 
 ant powers, whose interests were more immediately 
 threatened, to prevent its full operation. Count 
 Mansfeld alone, who was still stationed at Pilsen in 
 Bohemia, determined upon confronting the armies of 
 the League upon a new field, and his movements for 
 that purpose were conducted with such skill and 
 intrepidity, as ensured him the applause of all who 
 were capable of estimating military talent. After 
 effecting his retreat from Bohemia, he threw himself 
 into the Upper Palatinate ; but being unable to make 
 head against the Duke of Bavaria, who was over- 
 running that district with far superior numbers, he 
 directed his march towards the Lower Palatinate, con- 
 stantly eluding by his superior address the Bavarian 
 general, who endeavoured to overtake and bring him 
 to a general engagement. But by this time, Ambrose 
 Spinola, at the head of the Spanish forces, had ob- 
 tained almost entire possession of the country he had 
 intended to relievo, and on hearing of his approach, 
 moved rapidly forward with the hope of enclosing 
 him between his own army and that of the League, 
 which was still following upon his footsteps. Mans- 
 feld, however, again effected his escape, and took up 
 his quarters in Alsace, with the intention of refresh- 
 ing his men, and of watching for the first favourable 
 opportunity of renewing his attempts for the rescue 
 of the Palatinate. This was not long in occurring. 
 Spinola, on the expiration of the twelve years' truce 
 between Spain and Holland, was recalled into the
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 135 
 
 Low Countries, leaving a force of about 4,000 men 
 to preserve his recent conquests under the command 
 of Gonsalvo de Cordova. Mansfeld, upon hearing of 
 his departure, instantly recrossed the Rhine, and com- 
 menced afresh his favourite system of harassing ope- 
 rations with so much effect, that the Spaniards sent 
 repeated and urgent messages to the Duke of Bava- 
 ria, to hasten to their assistance, before they were 
 driven from the posts they had been appointed to 
 guard. At the same time, a scarcely less active par- 
 tisan of Frederick appeared in the person of Chris- 
 tian of Brunswick, Administrator of Halberstadt, 
 who had begun to imitate the conduct of Mansfeld 
 on a smaller scale in Westphalia. This chieftain, 
 who united much of the wild spirit of chivalry with 
 the skill of a practised leader, after entering upon the 
 war from a love of enterprise, was afterwards induced 
 by a strong personal regard to the Queen of Bohe- 
 mia, which he did not scruple openly to profess, to 
 devote himself with double ardour to the sinking 
 cause of her husband. He constantly wore her glove 
 attached to his helmet, and many of his banners were 
 inscribed with the singular motto, " All for God and 
 You*," while others bore the significant sentence, 
 " Friend to God, and enemy to the Priesthoodt," 
 one clause of which at least he was anxious not to 
 falsify, by a systematic plunder of all the rich abbeys 
 
 * Schiller : Thirty Years' War. 
 
 t 1 Ibid. Brachelius. The latter author relates a curious anec- 
 dote of the eccentric spirit of this enthusiastic adventurer. In an 
 obstinate encounter with Gonsalvo de Cordova, which occurred 
 after his defeat by Tilly, he was so seriously wounded by a musket 
 shot in the hand, that its amputation was deemed indispensably 
 necessary. The operation was successfully performed, but with 
 a singular accompaniment of pomp and circumstance, and amidst 
 the martial music of the trumpeters of the army, who were as- 
 sembled round the tent, and commanded by their general to con- 
 tinue sounding the charge, until his medical attendants had finished 
 the task they had undertaken.
 
 136 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and church lands, which lay in his path. Nor were 
 these the only adherents whose assistance at this 
 time seemed to render the cause of Frederick not 
 altogether desperate. The Margrave of Baden Dur- 
 lach was in arms, in Alsace, at the head of 14,000 
 men, ready to advance to his support, and his former 
 ally, Bethlem Gabor, although his title of King of 
 Hungary, which he had gained by a temporary oc- 
 cupation of Presburg, was not directly contested by 
 the emperor, was too well aware of the crafty dispo- 
 sition of Ferdinand, to expect that he should long be 
 unmolested in his new honours ; and was prepared to 
 recommence hostilities with Austria, upon the first 
 chance of a diversion of part of its forces in another 
 direction. Encouraged by these prospects in his 
 favour, Frederick left Holland, where he had taken 
 shelter since the ruin of his fortunes before Prague, 
 and traversing the intermediate territory in disguise, 
 presented himself suddenly in the camp of Mansfeld, 
 more as a spectator of the renewed efforts about to be 
 made for his restoration to his hereditary estates, than 
 designing to take any active part in the command. 
 
 If his adherents had been opposed by a leader of 
 ordinary abilities, their devotion to his interests 
 might have been attended with a different result ; 
 but the Bavarian army was then under the entire 
 disposal of the famous Tserclas de Tilly, who, after 
 accompanying Maximilian into Bohemia, where his 
 conduct materially contributed to the success of the 
 imperialists, had since been elevated to the chief com- 
 mand. Before the appearance of Gustavus Adolphus 
 as his opponent, Tilly was considered altogether in- 
 vincible, a reputation which his invariable success in 
 every battle in which he was engaged seemed in 
 some respects to justify. His own party were fond 
 of comparing him with Hannibal, and of pointing 
 out the similarity which his military genius bore to
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 137 
 
 that of the Carthaginian general, in the subtlety of 
 his designs, the vigour of his movements, his self- 
 possession in danger, and his readiness in perceiving 
 and availing himself of every error committed by his 
 enemies. In a moral point of view, however, his 
 character must certainly be considered as somewhat 
 superior to the Carthaginian general, if credit is due 
 to the delineation given by the Roman historian of 
 the great enemy of his name and nation. He was 
 remarkable for an ascetic abstemiousness from all ex- 
 ternal gratifications, and a personal disinterestedness 
 almost unequalled among the more prominent per- 
 sonages of his age. His soldiers found in him a liberal 
 commander, and those whose interests he maintained, 
 a zealous and incorruptible ally. But he cannot be 
 acquitted of the guilt of that cold and deliberate 
 cruelty towards all who professed the Reformed reli- 
 gion, which has caused him to be recorded as one of 
 the most terrible agents ever employed by the spirit 
 of false zeal in fulfilling its most unjust and merciless 
 requisitions. His personal appearance was far from 
 prepossessing. His complexion was wan, his cheeks 
 hollow, and his eyes of a wild and troubled expres- 
 sion. He was generally clothed after the Spanish 
 fashion, in a green satin doublet, and wore a small 
 hat with a long red feather, which fell down as low 
 as his waist ; and in his general bearing is said to 
 have frequently reminded those about him of the 
 sanguinary Duke of Alva, whom he was perhaps 
 ambitious of imitating in manner and carriage, as well 
 as in the severities by which that dreadful instru- 
 ment of a no less formidable master had acquired so 
 general a reputation. In his ordinary demeanour he 
 was cool, distant, and reserved, with an aspect of 
 imperturbable gravity, which was considered as the 
 effect of his education among the Jesuits, by whom 
 he had been brought up. His influence among those
 
 158 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of his own persuasion was greatly increased by strict 
 reverence towards all the outward forms and cere- 
 monies of the Roman Church ; and, apparently pas- 
 sionless himself, he had succeeded in obtaining an 
 almost boundless influence over the passions of others. 
 By the exertions of Tilly, the Palatinate was soon 
 once more cleared of the partisans of Frederick. The 
 Margrave of Baden-Durlach was first defeated in an 
 obstinate engagement. Count Mansfeld, who marched 
 to his assistance, met with no better success. He 
 twice offered battle to the Bavarian general, and was 
 as often driven in confusion from the field. Christian 
 of Brunswick, who advanced hastily from West- 
 phalia to check the enemy in the pursuit of his allies, 
 was encountered by Tilly before he could effect a 
 junction with the remains of Mansfeld's army, and 
 compelled to betake himself, with his companions in 
 arms, into Alsace for refuge. Heidelburg was shortly 
 afterwards compelled to surrender, after a brief show 
 of resistance ; and the subjugation of the Palatinate 
 was completed by the capture of Mannheim, after a 
 vigorous resistance on the part of Sir Horace Vere*, 
 who had been entrusted with the command of the 
 garrison. In the former city, the favourite abode of 
 Frederick, in which he had delighted to please the 
 taste of his queen by every improvement of which the 
 natural beauties of the place were capable, in addition 
 to architectural embellishments erected at immense 
 expense ; as well as to gratify his own inclination for 
 literature, by numerous additions to the collection of 
 books, for which it was celebrated, Tilly's soldiers 
 committed the most barbarous and wanton ravages. 
 The Electoral Palace was left little better than a pile 
 of ruins, and the parks in its vicinity levelled to the 
 ground, while the Bavarian dragoons made litter for 
 their horses of part of the noble library, and sent the 
 
 " Brackclius.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 139 
 
 rest to increase the treasures of the Vatican. The 
 Protestants in the city and its vicinity experienced 
 the usual treatment, to which they were obliged to 
 submit, when vanquished, throughout the Thirty 
 Years' War. On the side of Hungary, appearances 
 were no less unfavourable. Bethlem Gabor, after 
 experiencing a severe defeat from the imperialists 
 under Bucquoi, was once more driven into Transyl- 
 vania to re-model his ambitious plans, and make pre- 
 parations for inflicting an early retribution. 
 
 The Emperor Ferdinand, freed from all apprehen- 
 sions by this uniform course of victory, now pro- 
 ceeded to place something like a legal sanction upoii 
 the severities inflicted by his late edict of proscription. 
 Frederick, induced by the exhortations of James I., 
 who was still miserably deceived by the Spanish am- 
 bassador at London into the belief that the clemency 
 of the Emperor would certainly be extended towards 
 his son-in-law, in the event of his unqualified sub- 
 mission, openly threw himself upon the mercy of his 
 implacable enemy, and awaited the sentence of a 
 General Diet, convened at Ratisbon to determine 
 upon his fate. He was not suffered long to endure 
 the miseries of suspense. Although the Electors of 
 Saxony and Brandenburg had both absented them- 
 selves from the assembly, a circumstance in itself 
 sufficient to nullify any decree upon the subject of 
 its deliberations, the power of the Emperor so far 
 overawed the members of the Diet who were present, 
 as to procure their recognition of the justice of the 
 imperial ban by which Frederick had been stripped 
 of the Palatinate. He was declared rightfully con- 
 demned to the forfeiture of all the fiefs which he held 
 under the Empire. These were without reservation 
 bestowed upon the Duke of Bavaria, who was at the 
 same time inducted with due form into the Electoral 
 College in his stead. The Margrave of Baden-Dur-
 
 140 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 lach and Christian of Brunswick, who had both been 
 included in the edict of proscription, were, with as 
 little opportunity of defending themselves, involved 
 in the same condemnation. 
 
 This act of arbitrary influence was productive of 
 more serious effects than had probably been contem- 
 plated by the principal agents concerned in it. James I. 
 of England, now on the brink of the grave, saw in 
 the result of the Diet of Ratisbon a full development 
 of the system of deceit by which he had been deluded 
 into a quiet acquiescence with the policy of the house 
 of Austria, and at once lent himself, with all the busy 
 petulance of wounded vanity, to the project of form- 
 ing a new and more powerful league against the 
 Emperor. In the midst of this design, he was 
 arrested by the hand of death, but his son Charles I. 
 continued the negotiations on the subject which his 
 father had begun. France, now under the vigorous 
 management of Richelieu, and apprehensive from a 
 recent attempt of Spain upon the Valteline of further 
 encroachments on the part of that ambitious power, 
 entered zealously into the project. The Protestants 
 of Lower Germany at the same time, terrified by 
 the severities which the imperialists were showing 
 towards all who professed a faith contrary to their 
 own in the countries which had recently fallen under 
 their dominion, united in a formidable confederacy, 
 of which the Dukes of Brunswick and Mecklenburg, 
 and Christian William, Administrator of Magdeburg, 
 were the most conspicuous members ; and, through 
 the agency of Sir Thomas Roe, the English ambas- 
 sador at Constantinople, Bethlem Gabor was again 
 induced to array the fierce hordes under bis com- 
 mand, for an irruption into Hungary on a more ex- 
 tensive scale than any he had yet attempted. It only 
 remained to seek for a leader of sufficient abilities to 
 assume the chief direction of the whole war ; and it
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 141 
 
 was for some time debated, both in France and Eng- 
 land, whether the King of Sweden or Christian IV. 
 of Denmark should be invited to accept the honour. 
 Separate negotiations were carried on with both, and 
 Oxenstiern was despatched as ambassador extraor- 
 dinary to London, under the pretence of offering the 
 condolence of Gustavus to Charles I. on the death of 
 his father, but with secret instructions to listen to the 
 terms on which the British court were willing to 
 treat with his master upon the subject. By the re- 
 presentations, however, of Sir Robert Anstruther, the 
 English envoy at Copenhagen, or perhaps from the 
 circumstance that the King of Denmark, as Duke of 
 Holstein, was more immediately concerned in check- 
 ing the progress of the Imperial power, and seemed 
 to possess more direct facilities for conveying his 
 troops into Germany, the preference was at length 
 given to Christian IV. He was accordingly elected 
 Colonel- General of Lower Saxony, and immediately 
 commenced an extensive levy of troops throughout 
 the district. Christian, like James I., had interceded 
 with the Emperor in behalf of Frederick, who was 
 closely connected with him by his marriage with his 
 niece Elizabeth, and indignant at the conclusions of 
 the Diet of Ratisbon, now hastened on his prepara- 
 tions for the war with a spirit which seemed intended 
 to make up for his past inactivity. At a former pe- 
 riod he had shown himself an able rival of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, and from the extent of his talents, both in 
 peace and war, as well as from his numerous personal 
 and mental accomplishments, he has been justly 
 reckoned one of his most illustrious contemporaries. 
 He had now, however, embarked in an undertaking 
 beyond his strength. The re-establishment of the 
 liberties of Germany, and the humiliation of the house 
 of Austria, was a task reserved for abler hands. 
 Ferdinand, speedily acquainted with the increasing
 
 142 THE LIFE OP GIISTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 
 
 manifestations of hostility in Lower Saxony, was not 
 backward in preparing to meet the gathering storm. 
 As his messages to ascertain the cause of the levies 
 carrying on under the King of Denmark met with 
 replies exceedingly unsatisfactory ; and that monarch, 
 after being joined by Christian of Brunswick, and 
 Count Mansfeld, who, like the fabled Antseus, seemed 
 only to have gathered fresh vigour from his defeats, 
 had given a sufficient indication of his warlike inten- 
 tions by advancing his army as far as Bremen, he at 
 once despatched Tilly with the troops of the League 
 to commence operations upon the Weser. An addi- 
 tional force of 20,000 men was soon afterwards sent 
 to join him. This fresh army had been levied at the 
 sole expense of the Bohemian baron, Albert de Wal- 
 lenstein, who had seized the opportunity of offering 
 his services, at the moment when Ferdinand was 
 reduced to the greatest perplexity with regard to the 
 means of raising men, and procuring the necessary 
 funds to maintain them ; and thus entered upon the 
 theatre, on which he was soon to attract the eyes of 
 Europe towards his great achievements. 
 
 This individual was the son of a private gentleman 
 of Bohemia, and was brought up in the principles of 
 the Protestant religion, which, in consequence of 
 escaping from a dangerous accident, he was afterwards 
 induced to abandon for the Roman Catholic faith. 
 After passing through the usual preliminary course 
 of study, he travelled for the purpose of further im- 
 provement in France, England, Spain, and Italy, and 
 completed his education by residing for some time in 
 the university of Padua. In that city he formed an 
 acquaintance with Argoli, an Italian astrologer of 
 great eminence, and at once plunged deeply into the 
 mazes of the vain and delusive science, to which he 
 continued devotedly attached during the rest of his 
 life, seldom undertaking any business of importance
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 143 
 
 until he had first consulted those luminaries, which 
 he believed the mysterious indicators of the decrees 
 of Heaven, with respect to the fortunes of the human 
 race. During the Bohemian commotions, he was 
 remarkable for his attachment to the cause of Ferdi- 
 nand ; and although not present at the battle of 
 Prague, gained shortly afterwards a great increase of 
 reputation by defeating, at the head of only sixteen 
 cornets of horse, an army of 6000 Hungarians who 
 had invaded Moravia*. By his marriage with his 
 first wife, a widow possessed of the largest estates in 
 Bohemia, he was raised to a condition of affluence ; 
 and after her death, by a second union with a daugh- 
 ter of the Count de Harrach, increased his already 
 ample possessions, and was entitled to take his place 
 among the principal nobility of the Imperial court. 
 In a few years his revenues were so far augmented, 
 that he was able to vie in the splendour and costli- 
 ness of his establishment with the most powerful 
 monarchs in Europe. His table was seldom furnished 
 with less than a hundred covers, and none but a noble 
 of ancient family was entrusted with the office of su- 
 perintending his household. An armed guard of fifty 
 men was kept stationed in his antechamber, and the 
 ramparts of his castle were lined with sentinels like 
 the walls of a regal fortress. Six barons, and as many 
 knights, were daily in attendance upon his person, 
 with no less than sixty pages, whom he maintained 
 and carefully educated at his own expense. His ser- 
 vants were distinguished by the most gorgeous cos- 
 tumes t ; and his chamberlains, like those of the 
 Emperor, were equipped with chains and keys of 
 massive gold, as the insignia 'of their office. The in- 
 terior of his palace at Prague is represented as realising 
 all the magnificence of Eastern romance. The stalls 
 in his stables are said to have been built of marble, 
 * Gualdo : Vita di Valstein. f Ibid.
 
 144 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 and furnished with racks of polished steel ; and when 
 he travelled, his suite and baggage were transported 
 by a hundred waggons, while his court followed in 
 sixty coaches, accompanied b) r fifty led horses. To 
 this profusion of outward pomp, he added an un- 
 bounded munificence in rewarding such of his follow- 
 ers as appeared to have merited his favour. His 
 least presents amounted to a thousand crowns, and 
 frequently far exceeded that sum. On one occasion 
 he bestowed two thousand crowns on Isolani, the 
 celebrated general of the Croats and on hearing that 
 the whole had been lost the same evening at play, 
 replaced it the next day with an equal gift. With 
 him prompt obedience was sure of meeting with an 
 immediate recompense ; and as an instance of his 
 regard for respect shown towards him in trifles, it is 
 mentioned that, after issuing an order forbidding any 
 scarfs to be worn by his officers, but such as were 
 plain, and of a scarlet colour, he rewarded with a 
 colonel's commission a captain of cavalry, who in his 
 presence divested himself of a rich scarf, adorned with 
 embroidery, and trampled it under his feet, in token 
 of his obedience to the ordinance. But if his liberality 
 towards those about him was such as to ensure their 
 ready obedience to his commands, they were no less 
 deterred from disobeying him by the prompt and ter- 
 rible punishment which immediately followed every 
 detection of a neglect of duty. " Hang me yon 
 brute," was his laconic sentence of condemnation ; 
 and the mandate of death was executed without delay 
 upon the spot. He is accused of having thus sum- 
 marily put to death one of his pages who had been so 
 unfortunate as to wake him somewhat earlier than the 
 time appointed. This anecdote is probably an exag- 
 gerated calumny of his enemies ; but if every other 
 evidence were wanting of the heartless severity of his 
 disposition, it would be abundantly proved by the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHtTS. H5 
 
 cruel and sanguinary executions among his soldiers, 
 which took place under his direction after his defeat 
 on the plains of Lutzen. 
 
 The person of this hasty and despotic arbiter of life 
 and death was above the middle height. His eyes 
 were small, but quick and penetrating, and his 
 features of a stern and repulsive expression. His 
 manners were in the highest degree haughty and 
 formal*. Master of two of the most powerful agents 
 which regulate the conduct of mankind, avarice and 
 fear, he thought it unnecessary to attach them to his 
 interests by affection, and perhaps felt too much con- 
 tempt for them generally, to descend to employ the 
 influence of such a feeling. Accordingly, although 
 surrounded by many instruments blindly devoted to 
 his will, he was without a single friend. Even with 
 those who were considered to enjoy his greatest fami- 
 liarity, he seldom entered into a continued conversa- 
 tion ; and his love of solitude was frequently shown 
 by his secluding himself from general observation for 
 days together, in company with his astrologer, Bap- 
 tista Seni, either for the purpose of interrogating the 
 stars with respect to his future destinies, or of pur- 
 suing his dark and subtle policy by a closer medita- 
 tion upon the events which were passing around 
 him, than a firm reliance on his favourite study 
 
 * The character of Wallenstein is briefly hut admirably de- 
 scribed in the Memoires du Marechal de Grammont : "Ce Walstein, 
 etait vaillant et judicieux a la guerre, admirable a lever et a faire 
 subsister les armees, severe a punir les soldats, prodigue a les re- 
 compenser, pourtant avec choix et dessein ; toujours ferme centre 
 malheur, civil et affable dans le besoin, d'ailleurs orgueilleux et fier 
 au dela toute imagination ; arnbitieux de la gloire d'autrui, jaloux de 
 la sienne, implacable dans la haine, prompt a la colere, cruel dans la 
 vengeance : plein d'ostentation, liberal a 1'exces lorsqu'il s'agissait 
 de sa gloire, et de se faire des creatures pour parvenir a ses fins. 
 En un mot, Walstein etait un de ces homines nes pour commander 
 aux autres, et pour donner beaucoup de crainte a son maitre, quel- 
 que puissant qu'il put etre."
 
 146 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 might appear to render needful. During these sea- 
 sons he showed a nervous horror of every sound, 
 which might disturb his mental abstractions. The 
 streets near his castle were barricaded with strong 
 bars and chains, and sentinels purposely employed to 
 preserve an uninterrupted silence ; while all the 
 officers admitted to an audience were obliged to 
 twist silk around the rowels of their spurs, before 
 they were suffered to enter into the presence of their 
 general. By this singular conduct, as well as by the 
 air of mystery which pervaded his whole demeanour, 
 he acquired among the vulgar the reputation of being 
 in strict compact with the powers of darkness ; and it 
 is probable that he purposely countenanced a report 
 which caused him to be regarded with a deeper feel- 
 ing of awe and terror. He was said to wear a 
 charmed life, and to be invulnerable by lead or steel; 
 while his own household gave out that his intercourse 
 with the world of spirits was maintained by messen- 
 gers who were not always careful of concealing their 
 visits from the eyes of ordinary mortals ! 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into a minute account 
 of the operations of the ensuing campaign, in which 
 all the talents and courage of the King of Denmark 
 and his allies were wholly unavailing against the 
 skill of Tilly, and the cold prudence of Wallenstein, 
 supported by the disciplined valour of the veterans 
 under their command. The great object of the Danish 
 monarch was to penetrate into the Palatinate, and 
 for this purpose he made the most vigorous efforts, 
 at the same time carefully declining a pitched battle 
 with his adversaries. This, however, it was at length 
 no longer possible to avoid. The imperialists, under 
 Tilly, encountered his forces at the village of Lutter, 
 and after a short but furious struggle gained a com- 
 plete and signal victory. The Danish cavalry, with 
 their king, effected their escape from the field*, but 
 
 * Biachelius, Hist, sui temporis.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 147 
 
 the infantry, abandoned to the mercy of the enemy, 
 were either cut to pieces upon the spot, or forced to 
 surrender themselves prisoners of war. Count Mans- 
 feld, at the head of a separate division, experienced 
 a disaster no less calamitous. With the intention of 
 joining the Administrator of Magdeburg, he attacked 
 Wallenstein at the bridge of Dessau ; but was met 
 with so terrible an opposition as speedily compelled 
 him to change the position of an assailant for that of 
 a fugitive. The victors gave him little time to rest 
 after his defeat. He was driven successively through 
 Silesia and Moravia, everywhere accompanying his 
 flight by frightful devastations committed upon the 
 surrounding country, until he entered Hungary with 
 his shattered forces, where he hoped to effect a junc- 
 tion with Bethlem Gabor. But the operations of 
 that prince had been as unsuccessful as his own ; and 
 finding the cause in which he had embarked utterly 
 desperate, he determined as a last resource to offer 
 his services to the republic of Venice. His adventu- 
 rous career was now on th.e point of being termi- 
 nated. In the vicinity of the town of Zara, in 
 Dalmatia, he was seized with a fever, from which he 
 was soon convinced his recovery was hopeless. His 
 death partook of the wild and daring character for 
 which his life had been distinguished. As he felt his 
 end drawing near, he gave orders to his attendants 
 to array him in complete armour, and breathed his 
 last in a standing posture, supported by two of his 
 officers ; thus imitating the old Norwegian heroes, in 
 common with whom he probably imagined that such 
 were the only circumstances in which it became the 
 spirit of a warrior to pass from its mortal tenement. 
 Tilly, in the mean time, had been no less active 
 than Wallenstein in turning his successes to the best 
 advantage. The King of Denmark, attempting to no 
 purpose to make head against the imperialists, by
 
 148 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPDUS. 
 
 calling in his detached parties, was forced to retire 
 across the Elbe. The pursuit, however, was still 
 unslackened. Tilly pressing hard upon his track, 
 and gaining one advantage after another, followed 
 him without a moment's intermission to the frontiers 
 of Holstein. The further operations of the impe- 
 rialists were then entrusted to Wallenstein, who 
 had by this time returned from Silesia, and by his 
 skilful generalship, the king, after a series of despe- 
 rate encounters, was at length compelled at Olden- 
 burg, where he attempted a last stand, to embark 
 with such precipitation, that another considerable 
 division of his army was left behind and forced to 
 surrender without firing a shot*. Holstein and 
 Jutland, thus left undefended, were instantly inun- 
 dated by the imperial troops, who further prepared, 
 by collecting and equipping vessels in the ports 
 of the principal Hanse Towns, to carry the war 
 into Denmark Proper on the first favourable oppor- 
 tunity. Wallenstein, who for his important services 
 had been created Duke of Friedland, and invested 
 with the whole of Mecklenburg, which the emperor 
 thus disposed of in consequence of the assistance 
 lately afforded by its dukes to the Kings of Denmark, 
 
 * Monro, then in the service of Denmark, has left a concise 
 account of this transaction : " My colonell's ship being under 
 sayle, layde up to the winde, attending my coming with the last 
 fraughte, and then we followed the rout of the fleete, seeing the 
 enemies' army drawn up in battell, horse, foot, and cannon, and 
 our army of horse and foote opposite unto them ; where I did see 
 six-and-thirty cornets of horse, being full troopes, without loosing 
 of one pistoll, give themselves prisoners in the enemies' mercy, 
 whereof the most part took service. As also I did see above five 
 regiments of foot, being forty colours, follow tlieir examples, ren- 
 dering themselves and their colours, without loosing of one musket. 
 Judge then, judicious reader, though we were some for the loss of 
 our armie, if we were glad of our own safety : I thinke we were, and 
 praised be God with no discredit to us or our nation ; for none can 
 be blamed that does what he is commanded." Monro 's First 
 Expedition.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 149 
 
 next proceeded to distribute his troops along as much 
 of the coast of the Baltic as was comprehended 
 within his new territories, as well as through a great 
 part of Pomerania. While making this disposition, 
 the importance of occupying the town of Stralsund 
 had not escaped his notice, as likely to conduce 
 greatly to the security of his possessions on the 
 sea-side, as well as to afford great facilities for the 
 meditated invasion of Denmark, from the vicinity of 
 its port to the coasts of that kingdom. Stralsund 
 was a free town under the protection of the Duke of 
 Pomerania, and throughout the late war had observed 
 the strictest neutrality between the contending powers. 
 Yet, notwithstanding the absence of every pretext 
 for such a proceeding, it was now summoned to 
 receive an imperial garrison, a requisition which the 
 inhabitants, who were well aware of the consequences 
 of their compliance, respectfully but firmly refused. 
 Wallenstein, without further ceremony, proceeded to 
 reduce it by force, and commanded his general, 
 Arnheim, immediately to commence the siege. But 
 as the imperialists were destitute of a naval force to 
 effect a blockade by sea, the King of Denmark had 
 by this time hastened to its assistance, and thrown a 
 body of Danish troops, together with a Scottish regi- 
 ment in his service, into the town, by whose valour, 
 Arnheim, after effecting a practicable breach in the 
 works, was repulsed in several furious assaults. This 
 unexpected and vigorous resistance inflamed the 
 anger of Wallenstein to the highest pitch. In the 
 first transports of his indignation he swore that he 
 would make himself master of the town within three 
 days, though it were attached to heaven by chains 
 of iron*, and instantly proceeded to superintend the 
 
 * Schiller. Monro's Expedition. " Forgetting," observes the 
 latter, quaintly, "to take God on his side, he was disappointed by 
 Him who disposeth of all things at his pleasure."
 
 150 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 operations against it in person. Notwithstanding 
 this haughty boast, he succeeded no better than his 
 lieutenant in the renewed attempts which were 
 undertaken immediately upon his arrival. Months 
 passed on and Stralsund remained unconquered, and 
 though the Danish garrison was withdrawn in the 
 midst of the siege, its place was immediately sup- 
 plied by a Swedish and Scottish force, commanded 
 by Sir Alexander Leslie, who continued the defence 
 with equal resolution and success. This interference 
 of Sweden was partly owing to the urgent entreaties 
 of the citizens of Stralsund, and partly to the fore- 
 sight of Gustavus Adolphus, who was apprehensive 
 that his own dominions would materially suffer by 
 the establishment of the imperialists in the strongest 
 port on the southern shore of the Baltic. Under this 
 impression he had commissioned the Chancellor Ox- 
 enstiern to repair to Copenhagen, and conclude a 
 treaty with Christian IV., which had for its especial 
 object the protection of the trade of both nations 
 against any power which should manifest a design of 
 injuring it. The defence of Stralsund against Wal- 
 lenstein formed a clause in this treaty, which a long 
 previous alliance with that town further justified tho 
 Swedes in undertaking.
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 151 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Prospects of the Emperor Ferdinand on the defeat of Christian IV. 
 Excesses of the Imperialists under Wallenstein in Mecklenburg 
 and Pomerania Treaty of Lubeck Insults offered to the 
 Swedish Deputies Wallenstein sends ten thousand men to the 
 assistance of the King of Poland Edict of Restitution General 
 disgust throughout the Empire in consequence Dissatisfaction 
 of the Elector of Saxony The Swedes obtain fresh Victories in 
 Prussia Advance of Arnheim with the Imperial Auxiliaries 
 Obstinate Engagement near Stuhm Hercules de Charnace ar- 
 rives in the Polish Camp He induces Sigismond to consent to a 
 Truce for six years Meeting between the Deputies of the Belli- 
 gerent Powers at Altemark Conditions of the truce Charnace 
 persuades the King of Sweden to invade the Empire Disputes 
 between France and Spain respecting the Duchy of Mantua 
 Gustavus makes Preparations for his Expedition Embassy of 
 Count Falkenberg The King of Sweden convokes the Estates- 
 General of the kingdom previously to his departure His fare- 
 well Speech, and parting with the Princess Christina Arrival of 
 the Swedish fleet off the Isle of Rugen Devotion of Gustavus 
 at his landing The Swedes establish themselves in Usedom and 
 Wollin Forces at the disposal of the Empire Prodigies ob- 
 served in Germany. 
 
 IF the ambition of Ferdinand II. had been of an 
 ordinary character, it might have been amply grati- 
 fied by the prospect which presented itself before 
 him, on the retreat of the King of Denmark from 
 Germany. A war, which had been kindled almost 
 at the gates of Vienna, and which had at one time 
 threatened the utter ruin of his house, was now fast 
 verging to a successful conclusion ; and even pro- 
 mised to leave him in the possession of an absolute 
 dominion, which few of his predecessors had dared to 
 contemplate. Of the powerful confederacy formed 
 against him, not a single member remained, with
 
 152 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 strength or resolution to hinder him from making any 
 use of his victories which he might deem proper. 
 The Protestant League was humbled in the dust ; 
 and its leader, deprived of his own estates in addition 
 to the crown to which he had aspired, driven a 
 second time into exile, with little prospect of again 
 disquieting the Imperial councils ; while the esta- 
 blishment of Maximilian of Bavaria in his forfeited 
 possessions and honours had given a powerful pre- 
 ponderance to the Catholic interests in the Electoral 
 College. Count Mansfeld and Christian of Denmark, 
 the two most able generals who had entered the field 
 against him, were both removed from his path, and 
 Hungary had been effectually recovered from the 
 arms of Bethlem Gabor. The armies, however, 
 which had been raised to encounter these several 
 antagonists still remained, under commanders of sin- 
 gular ability and equal devotedness to his service, 
 and might be rendered available to repress any 
 symptoms of resistance to the yoke he was preparing 
 against the liberties of Germany. If his attention 
 was turned towards the condition of foreign powers, 
 the review could be no less satisfactory. A kindred 
 branch of the House of Austria was ruling with 
 absolute dominion in Spain and Portugal, as well as 
 in the kingdom of Naples, 1 the Milanese, and the 
 Netherlands ; and although the characters of Philip 
 IV. and his minister Olivarez were not sucli as to 
 promise the most effective assistance which the 
 resources at their disposal might supply, their alli- 
 ance might at least be expected greatly to raise his 
 importance in the eyes of Europe. England, already 
 involved in the furious dissensions which ended in 
 the great civil war, was little likely to take a deep in- 
 terest in foreign politics. France, if its condition had 
 latterly been somewhat improved by the able admi- 
 nistration of Richelieu, was still bleeding from the
 
 TIIE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHtS. 153 
 
 wounds occasioned by the disputes between the 
 Catholics and the Huguenots, and far from having 
 recovered from the effects of the languid government, 
 under which, during the early part of the reign of 
 Louis XIII., its resources had been suffered to run 
 to waste, and its numerous factions to exercise their 
 jealousies and enmities as extensively as they pleased, 
 to the detriment of their common country. Nor was 
 much to be apprehended from Holland, engaged in a 
 tedious war of blockades and sieges with her old 
 oppressors, and almost in the condition of an ex- 
 hausted combatant, whose blows manifest rather the 
 will than the power of inflicting serious injury. 
 From the character and known abilities of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, some opposition might have been expected 
 in the direction of Sweden ; but that monarch was 
 yet contending on the banks of the Vistula with an 
 obstinate enemy, who was expected to afford suffi- 
 cient occupation for his arms, until the ambitious 
 designs of the Imperial court should be fully effected. 
 The only grounds for disquietude which might be 
 supposed to interrupt in the slightest degree the 
 complacency with which it was natural for Ferdinand 
 to regard this prospect of general promise, were the 
 ineffectual siege of Stralsund by Wallenstein, and the 
 murderous loss inflicted by the defenders upon his 
 army at every repulse. It was little anticipated that, 
 from the walls of this beleaguered town, the tide of 
 conquest was on the point of ebbing with a celerity 
 even surpassing that with which it had advanced ; 
 and that the monarch, who was believed at Vienna 
 to have found sufficiently able opponents in the 
 Poles to divert his attention entirely from the affairs 
 of Germany, was about to inflict such a blow on the 
 colossal power, which had thus raised itself amidst 
 the subjugation or apprehensions of inferior states, as 
 must inevitably have proved its destruction, had not 
 the errors of its enemies afterwards afforded it a
 
 154 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 relief, which it would vainly have looked for in its 
 own shattered means of resistance. 
 
 These events, however, were still hidden in the 
 darkness of futurity. As yet the House of Austria 
 seemed equally to defy the efforts of open foes, and 
 the machinations of more secret enemies. It had 
 been well if this extensive power had been accom- 
 panied with corresponding clemency towards those 
 from whom nothing farther was to be apprehended. 
 But Ferdinand was utterly a stranger to that gene- 
 rous feeling which scorns to take advantage of a 
 fallen adversary. In his youth, moreover, he had 
 bound himself by a solemn vow at Loretto to devote 
 all his energies to the extirpation of the Reformed 
 Faith, and the engagement was not now forgotten in 
 the exultation of success. Accordingly, the first 
 cessation from the anxieties naturally attendant upon 
 the uncertain aspect of the war in which he had 
 lately been engaged, was devoted to maturing a plan, 
 the execution of which he hoped would prove the 
 utter destruction of the reformed interest throughotit 
 the Empire. In the meantime, his armies, scattered 
 through the north of Germany, oppressed in the most 
 relentless manner the wretched inhabitants of the 
 towns and villages in which they were quartered. 
 Wallenstein, in particular, distinguished himself by 
 enormous exactions throughout Silesia, Brandenburg, 
 and Pomerauia*. Since the force he had raised was 
 
 * Silesios tanta miseria pressit ut fatnelicis glandes radices gramina 
 et alia qua; sub esum non cadunt cibus fuerint ; parentes non raro 
 liberos comcderint, et frater fratrem famis amplius tolerandac impa- 
 tiens suspendo, necaverit, sibi itidem violentas manu es inferens. 
 
 Miserrime omnium Pomeraniam divexarunt pecuniam itnperantes 
 longe maximam, verberibus que qui jussa detrectabant ad necem 
 usque accipientes. HEYLMAN, Leo Arctous. 
 
 The author of the Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg states, 
 that Wallenstein was said to have drawn, from the Electorate of 
 Brandenburg alone, the sum of twenty millions of florins. Since 
 this country was at the time friendly to the Imperialists, their con- 
 duct in hostile districts may easily be imagined.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. . 155 
 
 entirely maintained from his own funds, he took 
 care to make up for the expense he had incurred by 
 levying heavy contributions on the slightest pretexts, 
 which were so ruthlessly enforced, that the provinces 
 in the occupation of his soldiers were almost reduced 
 to deserts by the flight of the inhabitants, or by the 
 extensive devastations of the famine and disease 
 which followed close upon his merciless requisitions. 
 The sufferings of many districts were still further 
 increased by the presence of the Croats, who formed 
 a great portion of Wallenstein's army; and who, 
 accustomed to the licence of Turkish warfare, be- 
 haved with a cruelty and violence scarcely credible. 
 Thus miserably oppressed, every part of Germany, 
 subject to the avarice or insolence of the Imperial- 
 ists, whether Catholic or Protestant, began to look 
 anxiously towards the King of Sweden, as the only 
 person left from whom relief could be expected. 
 
 Circumstances were already fast combining to 
 bring about an interference which they had scarcely 
 dared to anticipate. The Swedes, whose well- 
 founded jealousy at the recent progress of the arms of 
 the House of Austria has been already mentioned, 
 were daily becoming more alarmed at the threaten- 
 ing attitude the Imperialists were assuming opposite 
 their coasts ; and apprehensive that the power of the 
 Empire would soon be directed to the annihilation of 
 their commerce, as a step preparatory to the invasion 
 of Sweden itself. The former suspicion was amply 
 justified by the conduct of Wallenstein, who had 
 now assumed the proud title of Admiral of the Baltic, 
 and summoned a Spanish fleet from Dunkirk to assist 
 him in his proposed operations, at the same time 
 establishing a close intercourse with the people of 
 Dantzig, with whom the Swedes were openly at war: 
 the latter apprehension was suggested by certain 
 indications of hostility on the part of the agents of
 
 156 THE LIFE OF GDSTAVUS ADOLPHU8. 
 
 the Imperial Court, which were too obvious to be 
 mistaken, and which followed shortly after the alarm 
 occasioned by the naval preparations of Wallenstein. 
 The early part of the year 1629 is memorable for 
 the peace of Lubeck, by which Christian IV., after 
 a few feeble efforts to divert the invasion threatened 
 by the Imperialists, concluded his contention with 
 the Emperor on somewhat better terms than might 
 have been expected from the exhausted state of his 
 kingdom. Historians have related that the king of 
 Denmark was chiefly induced to sign this peace by 
 the occurrence of a tremendous thunderstorm, dur- 
 ing which a flash of lightning struck down the 
 funeral trophies suspended over the tombs of the 
 ancient kings in the royal chapel at Copenhagen*. 
 There is little necessity, however, to have recourse to 
 any very marvellous incident to account for his 
 willingness to finish a war in which he must long 
 ago have considered success to be hopeless. After 
 many difficulties raised on both sides, the provinces 
 of Jutland, Holstein, and Sleswig, were given up by 
 the conquerors and restored to his dominion ; while 
 the Danish Monarch, on his part, tacitly abandoning 
 the cause of Frederick V., of whom no mention what- 
 ever was made, promised strictly to avoid for the 
 future all interference with the affairs of Germany, 
 and to abstain from supplying the enemies of Ferdi- 
 nand either with advice or assistance. By the treaty 
 between the crowns of Sweden and Denmark, in 
 consequence of which Gustavus Adolphus had under- 
 taken the defence of Stralsund, it was expressly 
 stipulated that no engagement of importance should 
 be entered upon with a third power, without the full 
 consent of both nations. This clause was now mani- 
 festly violated, since Christian had sent no official 
 information to the Swedes of his intention to conclude 
 
 * BKACHELIUS, lib. iii.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHtJS. 157 
 
 a peace with the Emperor. The latter had there- 
 fore some reason to complain of the slight shown 
 towards them in the negotiations carrying forward. 
 But an open insult was shortly afterwards added to 
 their other causes of dissatisfaction. The King of 
 Sweden, on hearing of the approaching convention, 
 had sent an embassy to Luheck to intercede with the 
 Imperial commissioners for the restoration of the 
 Dukes of Mecklenburg, and to protest against the 
 unjustifiable conduct of Wallenstein in his attempts 
 upon Stralsund. These ambassadors, after expe- 
 riencing a treatment little short of actual violence, 
 were positively" refused admittance into the presence 
 of the deputies of Ferdinand, and precluded from 
 every opportunity of delivering the despatches with 
 which they had been charged. A second attempt, 
 and a more earnest appeal, were attended with the 
 same ill success, and the. Swedes were ultimately 
 compelled to return to Stockholm without experienc- 
 ing the common civility of an audience. 
 
 Wallenstein, as if determined to push matters to 
 the last extremity, followed this cool and studied 
 contumely by a proceeding which might be consi- 
 dered as an open commencement of hostilities on the 
 part of the empire. No sooner had the treaty of 
 Lubeck been concluded, than, eager to revenge him- 
 self for the check his ambition had sustained by the 
 resistance of Stralsund, the siege of which he had at 
 length been forced to raise, after a loss of 12,000 
 men*, and careless how far the interests of his master 
 were compromised by his conduct, he detached Field 
 Marshal Arnheim at the head of 10,000 of his best 
 troops, to effect a junction with Sigismond as soon as 
 possible, and assist him in expelling the Swedes from 
 Prussia, at the same time publicly assuring him that 
 if he should be unequal to the task, he would him- 
 
 * Twenty thousand, according to the Mercure Fransois, 1630.
 
 153 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 self speedily appear to scourge Gustavus and his 
 army back into Sweden. The king, on receiving 
 intelligence of the destination of this force, sent 
 immediately to Wallenstein to demand the reason of 
 his unprovoked interference, and to request the imme- 
 dirte recal of Arnheim and the detachment under his 
 command ; a message to which the Imperial general 
 condescended to make no other reply than, that the 
 Emperor, having no immediate occasion for part of 
 his forces, could not employ them better than in the 
 defence of his friends. To this contemptuous answer, 
 which, to a hasty temperament like that of the King 
 of Sweden, must have been particularly galling, he 
 added other expressions marked by the greatest 
 insolence, designating the Swedish monarch, in his 
 despatches to Vienna, the Snow King, who would 
 infallibly be melted by the summer heats if he ad- 
 vanced farther southwtird. It is a singular mark of 
 the prudence of Gustavus, and of his power in mas- 
 tering the suggestions of his indignation, to the 
 indulgence of which he was constitutionally subject, 
 and sometimes to a degree which bore down all 
 restraint, that he still contented himself with devot- 
 ing all his efforts, for the present, to the prosecution 
 of the war before him. The time for requiring satis- 
 faction, however, was not yet fully come, and fresh 
 wrong committed towards others were far to out- 
 weigh his own, before he could be induced to risk 
 the safety of Sweden in so unequal a struggle, as a 
 contest with the numerous armies and apparently 
 boundless resources of the Empire, seemed likely to 
 prove. 
 
 The season was now arrived which Ferdinand had 
 long been anxiously expecting, for the purpose of 
 pouring the hoarded vials of persecution, without 
 fear or restraint, upon the heads of his Protestant 
 subjects. Shortly after the convention at Lubeck, he
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 159 
 
 issued a mandate, by which all who professed the 
 reformed religion were commanded upon pain of 
 death to remove from the Austrian dominions. It 
 was not enough that the outward manifestations of 
 their sentiments were suppressed ; a point at which 
 his bigotry on former occasions had been contented to 
 stop. No choice, but that between apostacy and 
 banishment, was left to the objects of his hatred ; 
 and to show that he was in terrible earnest in his 
 intention to inflict the extreme penalty he had 
 threatened, he sent officers into several towns to erect 
 gibbets in the market-places, as signs of what might 
 be expected by any one who should venture to dis- 
 obey the decree. Yet this proceeding, violent as it 
 was, proved only the prelude to a more despotic ex- 
 ercise of power. The Protestants had scarcely time 
 to recover from their astonishment at so unexpected 
 an act of rigour, when the famous Edict of Restitu- 
 tion made its appearance to complete their consterna- 
 tion, by which, notwithstanding the most solemn 
 treaties, confirmed, or at least unviolated, by every 
 Emperor in succession, since the time of Charles V., 
 they were required to surrender, without reservation, 
 all ecclesiastical property obtained since the date of 
 the Confession of Augsburgh, whether consisting of 
 bishoprics, abbacies, or priories, into the hands of 
 commissioners appointed by Ferdinand, to be again 
 restored to the service of the Roman church. 
 
 The whole of Germany was convulsed by this 
 tyrannical edict, and violent protests were imme- 
 diately made against it, not only by the Protestants, 
 but by numbers of Catholics, who saw, in the uncon- 
 stitutional step just taken by the Emperor, a manifest 
 proof that he considered his dictate sufficient to 
 cancel all existing laws ; and knew not how soon 
 what remained of their own liberties might fall a sa- 
 crifice, if they quietly submitted to such an arbitrary
 
 160 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 extension of the imperial prerogative. Even the 
 Duke of Bavaria, although at the head of the League, 
 which had lately forwarded with so much zeal all 
 the designs of Ferdinand, remonstrated loudly against 
 his impolitic proceedings. The two Protestant Elec- 
 tors of Brandenburg and Saxony expressed as forcibly 
 the sentiments they naturally felt in anticipation of 
 the effects of the Edict of Restitution. The latter, 
 who had hitherto uniformly espoused the interests of 
 the Imperialists in opposition to those of his own 
 persuasion, now fully sensible of the mischievous 
 consequences of his selfish policy, began bitterly to 
 repent the services he had rendered the Emperor; 
 but even before the appearance of the obnoxious 
 edict, a private grievance of his own had proved no 
 slight stimulus in prompting him to a sudden change 
 of policy. It has already been noticed that Christian 
 William, Administrator of Magdeburg, was one of 
 the foremost leaders of the confederation in Lower 
 Saxony, which had sided with the King of Denmark 
 in the late war. As a natural consequence, he had 
 been placed under the ban of the empire, and con- 
 demned to the forfeiture of all his estates. The rich 
 Archbishopric of Magdeburg thus became vacant, 
 and the chapter in whose hands the right of election 
 was vested, apprehensive of a design on the part of 
 the Emperor to appropriate the dignity to his own 
 family, resolved to anticipate him by choosing a son of 
 the Elector of Saxony, in the place of Christian 
 William*. Ferdinand, however, had in the mean 
 time procured a bull from the Pope, conferring the 
 archbishopric in question upon his son, the Archduke 
 Leopold William, whom he proceeded to induct 
 into the honours of his new preferment, notwith- 
 standing all the protestations of the Elector of Saxony 
 to the contrary. By this action another powerful 
 
 * BKACHELIUS, lib. iii. SCHILLER, Thirty Years' War.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 16 1 
 
 enemy was added to the number of those already 
 disgusted with the conduct of the Imperial House, 
 while the Protestants were further encouraged by 
 the addition of a new ally. With his assistance and 
 that of other princes, who were daily declaring in 
 their favour, they continued to urge their remon- 
 strances against the Edict of Restitution with a zeal 
 so strongly contrasted with the indifference of the 
 Catholics, that Ferdinand, although some of the 
 smaller states had testified their submission to the 
 Imperial decree, thought it best to defer its full 
 enforcement for the space of a whole year, and in the 
 meantime appointed a General Diet to meet at 
 Ratisbon, for the settlement of all differences, and 
 the adoption of such means as should ensure the per- 
 manent pacification of the Empire. 
 
 While such was the state of affairs in Germany, 
 the Swedes still continued the war in Prussia with 
 increased success. Early in 1629 a battle was fought 
 near the village of Gorsnof *, in which the Poles 
 were completely defeated by General Wrangel, who, 
 during a temporary absence of Gustavus at Stock- 
 holm, had been left in command of the army. Nego- 
 tiations upon this were again established, and as 
 usual without effect ; since Sigismond, encouraged by 
 receiving information that Arnheim was at length at 
 hand with the succours despatched by Wallenstein 
 to his assistance, suddenly returned to his former 
 exorbitant demands, and broke off the conference. 
 The King of Sweden reached his camp nearly at the 
 same time at which the Imperial commander effected 
 his junction with the army under Coniecpoliski ; 
 and since it was the desire of both parties to bring 
 the contest to a speedy conclusion, the only manoeuv- 
 ring which took place was carried on for securing a 
 favourable position in which to offer battle. The 
 
 * Mauvillon, vol. ii., 239.
 
 162 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Poles being at the time stationed on ground covered 
 with underwood, and rendered difficult by numerous 
 declivities, they determined upon shifting the scene 
 of operations to the open plains, on which their 
 cavalry might act with greater facility, and with the 
 view of effecting this object, decamped from before 
 Graudentz, and directed their march towards the 
 Grand Werder, while the King of Sweden followed 
 closely upon their rear, in the hope of falling upon 
 them with advantage by the way. Accident, rather 
 than design, gave rise to the battle which followed, 
 and which, as it was the last considerable action in 
 which Gustavus was engaged with the forces of 
 Sigismond, was at the same time more furiously con- 
 tested than any that had preceded it. The Rhine- 
 grave, Otho Louis, who commanded the cavalry of 
 the advanced guard, had been sent with two regi- 
 ments to seize a defile, which it was anticipated that 
 Coniecpoliski would endeavour to occupy. He 
 arrived too late to effect his object, and found the 
 pass already in the possession of the enemy ; but 
 seeing a division of Croats and light cavalry before 
 him, he at once forgot the orders he had received to 
 return to the main body without an engagement, if 
 the design on which he had been sent forward should 
 be frustrated, and after falling upon them with head- 
 long fury, was carried so far in the ardour of 
 pursuit, that he was assaulted in flank by an over- 
 whelming force, and compelled to retire at full 
 speed, with the loss of five standards and a consider- 
 able number of men. 
 
 The King of Sweden came up in time to cover his 
 hasty retreat, but it was only at the expense of a 
 general action ; since fresh reinforcements were suc- 
 cessively sent to the assistance of the contending 
 parties, until the two armies at length found them- 
 selves fairly in presence. The ground on which the
 
 THE LIFE OF QUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 163 
 
 battle took place, situated in the vicinity of the 
 town of Stuhm, and consisting of numerous sand 
 hills intersected by hedges, afforded little oppor- 
 tunity for those skilful evolutions by which the fate 
 of a contest is often determined with comparatively 
 little loss to the forces' engaged. A series of san- 
 guinary combats accordingly ensued, more remark- 
 able for the desperate valour of the soldiers and 
 the personal courage of their leaders, than for any 
 great display of generalship on either side. The 
 King of Sweden plunging, as was his wont, into the 
 hottest of the fight, encouraged his men by an ex- 
 ample of self-devotion scarcely equalled by any of his 
 followers. The marks of five musket-balls were found 
 upon his armour after the engagement, and he was 
 twice upon the very point of being made prisoner. 
 He was delivered in the first instance by slipping the 
 scarf, by which he had been seized, over his head, 
 and extricating himself by violent struggles from the 
 hands of those who were endeavouring to take him. 
 On the second occasion he was preserved by the in- 
 terference of one of his own captains, who shot dead 
 a Polish dragoon, who was enforcing a peremptory 
 summons to surrender, by placing a pistol close to 
 the king's head. On the other side, the Imperial 
 cuirassiers and infantry under Arnheim, showed 
 themselves to be antagonists not unworthy of the re- 
 putation they had acquired. All their efforts, how- 
 ever, with those of the best troops of Sigismond, could 
 not prevent the Swedes from remaining masters of 
 the field. After the battle had raged for some hours, 
 they were compelled to fall back to a position con- 
 siderably to their rear, leaving the honours of the 
 day and seventeen colours with five standards in the 
 possession of their opponents. The Polish army, 
 however, although it had received a severe check, 
 was far from being totally discomfited, and boasted 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLFHUS. 
 
 of having taken eleven standards and as many pieces 
 of light artillery from the Swedes. Arnheim sent the 
 scarf of Gustavus, taken in the action, together with 
 his hat, which had fallen off in the heat of the 
 combat, to Wallenstein, as trophies, together with a 
 letter, in which he took care to magnify the loss of 
 the enemy, and to extenuate his own to the utmost. 
 If the issue of this obstinately-disputed field was 
 not so decisively in favour of the Swedes as to con- 
 stitute a signal victory, its results were at least equi- 
 valent to all that could have been anticipated from 
 the most splendid success. Sigismond was now 
 convinced, that, even with the assistance of the 
 Imperialists, he could do little to stop the progress of 
 Gustavus, who was daily in expectation of new re- 
 inforcements, while his own forces, already consider- 
 ably reduced by the recent action, were still more 
 enfeebled by an epidemic disorder which had sud- 
 denly broken out among them. In addition to this, 
 the soldiers of Arnheim, returning to the old system 
 of licence, to which they had been accustomed in 
 Germany, wasted the country in which they were 
 stationed to an extent which could hardly have been 
 expected from declared enemies. The whole of Poland 
 was filled with renewed clamours against a monarch, 
 who still persisted, from a mere principle of obstinacy, 
 in sacrificing the lives and properties of his subjects 
 in a war which had long become desperate ; and it 
 was evident, that, unless the protestations of the 
 nation were speedily listened to, a revolt among his 
 own subjects would speedily be added to the. other 
 evils which were daily gathering around him. At 
 this juncture, the arrival in the Polish camp of 
 Hemiles Baron de Charnace, who had been sent by 
 the Cardinal Richelieu to effect, if possible, a recon- 
 ciliation between Sweden and Poland, decided his 
 still wavering resolution in favour of an accommoda-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 165 
 
 tion, on sucli reasonable terms as the King of Sweden 
 would be likely to accept. The Frenchman, with 
 the usual diplomatic talent fur which his nation have 
 always been justly celebrated, represented to Sigis- 
 mond in such strong terms the folly of a further 
 continuation of the war, the little probability that 
 more extensive succour would be afforded by the 
 Emperor, and the selfish policy of the House of 
 Austria, which, by encouraging him to persist in his 
 obsolete claim to the throne of Sweden, was 
 evidently sacrificing his interests to its own views of 
 aggrandisement, that the King of Poland at length 
 expressed his consent to appoint a place of meeting, 
 at which the respective deputies of the two crowns 
 might determine upon the articles either of a solid 
 peace, or at least of a truce of long continuance. The 
 convention which finally ended the disastrous war in 
 which Sweden and Poland had been reluctantly 
 engaged for so many years, but which had notwith- 
 standing been carried on with that resolution whicli 
 might have been expected from the bravery of both 
 nations, at length took place near the village of 
 Altemark. The deputies on the part of Sigismond 
 were some of the most illustrious among the Polish 
 nobility ; and on the side of Sweden, the Chancellor 
 Oxenstiern, and the Generals Wrangel and Banner : 
 the French and Dutch Ambassadors, together with 
 the envoy of Brandenburgh, and Sir Thomas Roe on 
 the part of England, presented themselves at the 
 same time in the character of mediators. 
 
 The conference at its first commencement was 
 remarkable for the usual stiffness and attention to 
 punctilio, which had distinguished former meetings 
 for a similar purpose. The ambassadors advanced 
 towards each other with a measured pace, carefully 
 refraining from uttering a word which might be con- 
 sidered as the first salutation, and afterwards sud-
 
 166 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 denly halting, remained for some time motionless and 
 in a standing attitude. At length the Chancellor 
 of Poland, an aged nobleman, bowed down with 
 infirmities, and fatigued by this painful sacrifice to 
 his dignity, ventured to break the protracted silence. 
 " Since I perceive," he said, " illustrious Lords of 
 Sweden, that the first act of politeness must proceed 
 from us, be pleased to receive the customary saluta- 
 tion: we wish you a good day." Oxenstiern, probably 
 ashamed at the indirect reproof conveyed in the 
 words of the Polish Chancellor, immediately replied: 
 " That we may not appear ungrateful for the compli- 
 ment, most illustrious Deputies of Poland, we also 
 on our parts, pray that on the present occasion 
 you may possess sound judgments and friendly dis- 
 positions." After this exchange of courtesies, the 
 whole assembly took their seats at the same moment, 
 and proceeded to business with an earnestness on 
 both sides which promised a speedy termination to 
 their deliberations. 
 
 By the Treaty of Altemark, a truce was agreed 
 upon between the kingdoms of Sweden and Poland 
 for the space of six years, with a power of extending 
 it to a still longer period, if it should be agreeable to 
 the contracting nations. Sigismond renounced all 
 pretensions to the Swedish Crown, and fully acknow- 
 ledged the title of Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedes 
 were also allowed to retain their conquests in Livo- 
 nia, together with the towns of Elbing, Memel, Pil- 
 lau, and Bransburg in Prussia. The remainder of 
 their late acquisitions in that country were to be 
 restored to the King of Poland and the Elector of 
 Brandenburgh. These were the principal features 
 of a convention, in consequence of which Gustavus 
 was left free to turn his attention to enterprises more 
 important, and to the furtherance of a nobler design 
 than had hitherto been presented to his attention.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 167 
 
 From henceforth his abilities were to be transferred 
 to a theatre, in which the support of the Reformed 
 Religion, and the permanent establishment of the 
 liberties of Europe, were to be the prizes towards 
 which his exertions were directed ; and the plaudits 
 of all civilised nations, the reward of his unexpected 
 and dazzling successes. 
 
 As soon as the truce between Sigismond and the 
 King of Sweden was fully ratified, Change pro- 
 ceeded to disclose to the latter the more secret com- 
 mission with which he had been charged. From the 
 known character of Richelieu, it might easily have 
 been conjectured, that no abstract love of peace or 
 refined principle of humanity had induced him to 
 send an envoy into a remote kingdom, to bring about 
 a pacification between two monarchs whose jarring 
 interests could in nowise affect the interests of the 
 nation under his government. But France had now 
 begun to revive more seriously the design of hum- 
 bling the House of Austria, which had been the 
 favourite project of Henry IV. In the present in- 
 stance, the feeling was more immediately connected 
 with a principle of self-defence. The dispute respect- 
 ing the succession to the Duchy of Mantua, had by 
 this time reached a point which threatened nothing 
 less than a war between France and Spain, in which 
 case the latter power might be expected to be backed 
 by the full force of the empire. That the last observ- 
 ation may be more fully understood, it is perhaps 
 necessary to observe, that the Duke of Nevers, as 
 son-in-law to the last sovereign of Mantua and its 
 dependencies, after entering upon his inheritance, was 
 opposed by the jealousy of the Spaniards, who were 
 unwilling to see a French Prince established in the 
 neighbourhood of their Italian possessions, and who 
 after entering his dominions in a hostile manner, be- 
 sieged him closely in the town of Casal. Louis XIII. 
 in answer to this attempt crossed the Alps in person,
 
 168 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPUUS. 
 
 and speedily compelled the Spaniards to raise the 
 siege. He had, however, no sooner returned to 
 France, than an army, under the command of Spi- 
 nola, and assisted by the Duke of Savoy, poured 
 afresh into the disputed duchy, and again invested 
 Casal. At the same time, the dreaded interference 
 of the Emperor began actually to take effect, in the 
 march of a German army under Count Colalto, to 
 assist in the operations of the Spaniards, llichelieu, 
 who was determined at all hazards to re-establish the 
 Duke of Nevers, now prepared for a second expedi- 
 tion into Italy; but before taking this step, which 
 might produce a declaration of war from the Empe- 
 ror, he resolved, if possible, to find sufficient employ- 
 ment for his arms in another direction. With this 
 end, he had sent Change to Lubeck, to use all his 
 arguments to prevent the King of Denmark from 
 agreeing to the projected peace ; but the French en- 
 voy having failed in this design, he was next directed 
 to proceed to Prussia, and if successful in effecting 
 an accommodation between Sigismond and the King 
 of Sweden, to employ every argument to induce the 
 latter to undertake the invasion of Germany. 
 
 Change was not backward in forwarding the de- 
 signs of Richelieu. He represented to the King of 
 Sweden, with all the eloquence at his command, the 
 imminent danger with which his dominions were 
 threatened by the establishment of Wallenstein upon 
 the coast of the Baltic, and the presence of a Spanish 
 fleet destined to act in full obedience to his com- 
 mands ; from which it was evident, that the Emperor 
 meditated nothing less than the reduction of the last 
 power which remained, after the defeat of the King of 
 Denmark, to interfere with his designs against the 
 Protestants in Germany. He reminded him of the 
 desire already expressed by the Swedes, to enter at 
 once upon a war in which it was certain that they 
 must sooner or later be engaged ; and the superior ad-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 169 
 
 vantages offered by the plan of carrying on hostilities 
 in the empire, in preference to awaiting the attacks of 
 the Imperialists at home, while the Edict of Restitu- 
 tion, and the persecutions in Austria were fresh in the 
 memories .of men, and an extensive revolt might be 
 again expected to take place, the moment the Swedish 
 standard should appear to form a rallying point for the 
 numerous malcontents, whom the late successes of 
 Ferdinand, and the severe use he had made of them, 
 had rather awed into inactivity, than disarmed of any 
 portion of their former enmity towards him. The 
 ambassadors of England and Holland earnestly se- 
 conded the reasoning of the representative of France, 
 and promised large subsidies on the part of their 
 respective nations. At the same time, the wishes of 
 the Swedes themselves were every day more loudly 
 expressed in favour of an open rupture with the 
 Emperor. Thus importuned on all sides, the king, 
 whose only hesitation had arisen from the uncertainty 
 of foreign aid towards sustaining the expenses of a 
 war, to which the revenues of his own kingdom were 
 inadequate, determined, without further delay, to 
 assume the part of the armed assertor of the liberties 
 of Germany, which the voice of thousands of its op- 
 pressed people had long ago assigned him. 
 
 In considering the motives which finally induced 
 Gustavus Adolphus to resolve upon his celebrated 
 expedition against the empire, it is perhaps impossible 
 to refuse all credit to the charge, that the temptations 
 of personal ambition, and the wish of acquiring dis- 
 tinction on a field where so many before him had 
 signally failed, were, to a certain extent, united with 
 the more honourable inducements which he himself 
 alleged, and possibly believed to be, the sole causes of 
 his entering upon his hazardous enterprise. It is 
 certain, however, that on all occasions, and almost to 
 the last moment of his life, he protested that his in- 
 vasion of Germany had been undertaken with no
 
 170 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 
 
 other view than to place the professors of the religion 
 towards which he showed so many marks of 'sincere 
 attachment, in a condition of security from persecu- 
 tion, by ensuring the blessings of civil liberty to their 
 possession. 
 
 An undertaking of such moment, however, was not 
 to be lightly or imprudently encountered. The first 
 care of the King of Sweden was to send an ambassa- 
 dor to ascertain the actual condition of the Protestant 
 states of Germany, as well as their general opinion 
 upon the design he was meditating, and the actual 
 support they were likely to afford in the event of his 
 making his appearance among them. It must not 
 from this be supposed, that the interference of Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus in the affairs of Germany had not 
 been directly requested by the oppressed party in that 
 country. So far was this from being the case, that, 
 since the year 1614, no less than four formal ap- 
 peals*, couched in the most earnest language, and 
 signed by various Protestant princes and representa- 
 tives of imperial cities, had been made to secure his 
 protection ; and there was little probability that their 
 sentiments had undergone a change from recent 
 events. The agent at present charged with the com- 
 mission of re-establishing a communication with 
 them, was Theodore Count Falkenberg, afterwards 
 famous for his defence of Magdeburg who was fur- 
 ther instructed, first to spend a short time at Copen- 
 hagen, and endeavour to ascertain the policy which 
 the King of Denmark was likely to pursue with re- 
 spect to the impending war. 
 
 Christian IV. assured the envoy of his good-will 
 towards the King of Sweden, but expressed his wish 
 that hostilities should not commence until every effort 
 had been made to settle the dispute in a friendly 
 manner ; and offered his services as mediator between 
 Gustavus and the emperor. Neither party could with 
 * Mauvillon.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 171 
 
 any decency refuse his proposal, and some slight at- 
 tempts at negotiation took place atDantzig ; but these 
 were so far from leading to a peaceful result, that they 
 only served to embitter the hostile feeling on both 
 sides, and to precipitate the contest they were osten- 
 sibly commenced to obviate. The Emperor did not 
 deign to confer the title of king upon Gustavus 
 Adolphus in his instructions to his deputies ; and 
 Oxenstiern, incensed at the insult, instead of appear- 
 ing at Dantzig to meet the Imperial Commissioners, 
 transmitted from Memel the ultimatum of the King 
 of Sweden, of which the restoration of the Dukes of 
 Mecklenburgh and Pomerania in full to their domi- 
 nions, the abandonment of the naval preparations 
 carrying on in the ports of the Baltic, the evacuation 
 of Lower Saxony by the troops of the Emperor, and 
 a satisfactory guarantee for the future safety of the 
 town of Stralsund, were the principal features 
 terms which the obstinacy of Ferdinand could scarcely 
 have allowed him to listen to, if the Swedish forces 
 had been already in sight of Vienna ; still less while 
 an army of 170,000 men was ready to act under 
 his directions, and while his confidence was raised to 
 the highest point by the vain-glorious boastings of 
 Wallenstein, who threatened to inflict such summary 
 chastisement upon Gustavus on their first encounter, 
 as should leave him little inclination for a second 
 expedition across the Baltic. 
 
 During the absence of Falkenberg, Gustavus sub- 
 mitted his proposed plan of an invasion to the exami- 
 nation of Oxenstiern, and requested his opinion as to 
 its practicability. The cool and wary temperament 
 of the chancellor was at first startled by the boldness 
 of the design, and rather disposed in favour of a defen- 
 sive war ; but at length, either apparently or really 
 convinced by the arguments of the king, he expressed 
 his full acquiescence in the project. A similar appro-
 
 172 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 bation was procured from a council composed of the 
 chief senators, to whom it was next submitted. Gus- 
 tavus then proceeded to summon a General Diet of 
 the Estates, in order that the sanction of the nation 
 might be added to that of his ministers. In this as- 
 sembly the proposal of an offensive war against the 
 empire was carried almost by acclamation ; and the 
 deputies of every rank expressed their determination 
 to stand by their king to the last, in his efforts against 
 the enemies of their religion and independence. The 
 result of the embassy of Falkenberg tended not a 
 little to increase the confidence of the king in the re- 
 solution he adopted. Through him the Dukes of 
 Mecklenburgh,Pomerania,and Lunenburg, the Land- 
 grave of Hesse, the Margrave of Baden, the late Ad- 
 ministrator of Magdeburg, and numbers of the inferior 
 nobility of Lower Saxony, pledged themselves to Gus- 
 tavus to join him upon his first arrival in Germany, 
 or to assist the Swedish army by every means in 
 their power. To this was added the information, that 
 extensive levies were carrying on in Holland, under 
 the express sanction of the government ; and that the 
 towns of Lubeck and Hamburg had promised to ad- 
 vance a considerable sum of money to cover the first 
 expenses of the war, on condition of future payment 
 from the proceeds of the mines of Sweden. 
 
 Gustavus now began to carry on his preparations 
 with increased activity. By dint of constant exer- 
 tion, a fleet, consisting of 30 ships of war, and 200 
 transports, was furnished with all necessaries from the 
 different arsenals, and brought to an anchor near the 
 city of Stockholm, where an army of 15,000 men 
 was at the same time collected. The defence of the 
 kingdom was entrusted to the national militia, and 
 that of the recent acquisitions in Prussia to the Chan- 
 cellor Oxenstiern, who was stationed in that province 
 with 10,000 select troops. The king next appointed
 
 THE LIFE OF GTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 173 
 
 a council of regency to manage the affairs of the na- 
 tion during his absence, the chief place in which was 
 held by his brother-in-law, the Prince Palatine, John 
 Cassimir, whom, as a necessary measure of precau- 
 tion, he strictly enjoined not to suffer the queen to 
 take any active part in the deliberations of the 
 council. In order to secure the safety of his domi- 
 nions on the side of Denmark, he confirmed, in a 
 personal interview with Christian IV., the treaty of 
 alliance already in existence between the two nations, 
 and finally wrote to the Electoral College a detail of 
 his grounds of complaint against the Emperor, request- 
 ing them at the same time to entreat Ferdinand to 
 afford him the satisfaction he required. The electors 
 answered in vague and general terms ; and in their let- 
 ter carefully avoided addressing him under his title as 
 king, a slight of which Gustavus took but little notice 
 when acknowledging the receipt of their communica- 
 tion. His real reply might be read in the immediate 
 descent of Sir Alexander Leslie upon Rugen, an 
 island in the vicinity of Stralsund, of which the king 
 had commanded him to take possession. The impe- 
 rial garrison, to whom its defence was intrusted, after 
 an ineffectual resistance, embarking with precipita- 
 tion on board their vessels, retired to Stettin ; and 
 the war between Sweden and the Empire was at 
 length openly begun. 
 
 Nothing remained to prevent the king from fol- 
 lowing up in person this first demonstration of hosti- 
 lity, but the ceremony of taking public leave of the 
 Estates of Sweden before his departure. A General 
 Diet was convoked for the purpose, and appointed to 
 meet at Stockholm on the 30th of May, 1630. 
 
 During the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, his whole 
 intercourse with this assembly, which most of his 
 predecessors had found endued with a spirit suffi- 
 ciently refractory, and at all times opposed to the
 
 174 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPJIUS. 
 
 extension of the royal prerogative, had been remark- 
 able for the unanimity with which compliance had 
 been yielded to his slightest wishes, and the absence 
 of all jealousy of his power on the part of the na- 
 tional representatives ; a fact only to be accounted for 
 by the many excellent qualities possessed by this 
 great monarch, and his singular influence over the 
 affections of all about him, whether the camp or the 
 chamber of legislation was the scene of its exercise. 
 His last meeting with the deputies of his people was 
 distinguished by the same kindly feeling and con- 
 fidence in his prudence, for which all the previous 
 Diets assembled in his name had been remarkable. 
 After the convention had been opened with the usual 
 ceremonies, the king entered the assembly in full 
 military costume, leading by the hand the Princess 
 Christina, then only in the fourth year of her age. 
 He commenced his address to the Estates, by re- 
 minding those present of the decree of a former Diet, 
 by which his infant daughter had been declared his 
 successor in the event of his decease without male 
 issue ; and desired a new act to be read confirming 
 this order of inheritance and sanctioning the plan 
 which he had designed for the guardianship and edu- 
 cation of the princess after his death, in the event of 
 his falling during the expedition in which he was 
 about to engage. He then took his daughter in his 
 arms, and recommended her to the protection of the 
 nation in such terms, as drew tears from the eyes of 
 all present,* after which the oath of allegiance to 
 the future queen was taken by the several deputies 
 in succession. As soon as this ceremony was finished, 
 the king again resumed his address. He thanked all 
 his faithful subjects for the attachment and fidelity 
 they had uniformly displayed towards him, and ex- 
 plained at length the actual condition of Sweden with 
 
 * M^moires de la Reine Christine.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 175 
 
 respect to foreign powers, and the articles of the six 
 years' truce concluded with the King of Poland. The 
 remainder of this remarkable oration, in which he 
 justified himself in regard to the existing dispute with 
 the Emperor, and solemnly bade farewell to the seve- 
 ral orders of the state before him, was couched nearly 
 in the following words : 
 
 " Let no one imagine that I have undertaken this 
 war lightly, or without sufficient provocation. I take 
 the Almighty God, in whose presence I this day 
 stand, to witness, that on entering upon it I am 
 actuated neither by any private feelings of my own, 
 nor by any natural inclination towards military 
 enterprise. But the insults we have received have 
 been many and often repeated. Our ambassadors 
 have been treated with insolence and contempt : the 
 Emperor has given assistance to our enemies, and 
 persecuted our allies; and our brethren, the Pro- 
 testants, who are groaning beneath the tyranny of 
 Rome, are loudly-requesting that succour at our 
 hands, of which, with God's blessing, they shall no 
 longer be deprived. 
 
 " With regard to myself, I am not ignorant of the 
 extent of the danger I am about to encounter, and 
 that it is far from improbable that I am on the point 
 of setting out upon an undertaking from which I 
 shall never return. On many previous occasions my 
 blood has been freely shed, and although by the 
 mercy of God my life has been hitherto preserved, I 
 feel convinced that it will one day terminate upon the 
 field of battle. It is with this view that I recom- 
 mend all present to the protection of the Almighty, 
 beseeching him to bestow upon you every blessing, 
 spiritual as well as temporal, on earth, so that after 
 this fleeting existence we may meet again in those 
 heavenly and eternal mansions which he has pre- 
 pared for us.
 
 176 THE LIFE OP GDSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 " Lords and Senators of the kingdom, I pray in an 
 especial manner for your welfare. May God be 
 pleased to enlighten your minds, that you may con- 
 tinue to fulfil your important charges with success, 
 and to the glory of that Being who will one day 
 demand an account of all our actions. May He 
 inspire you with wisdom in your councils, for the 
 peace and safety of the kingdom. You also, remain- 
 ing representatives of the nobility present, I solemnly 
 commend to the Divine guidance. May both your- 
 selves and your posterity prove worthy scions of those 
 ancient Goths, whose reputation once filled the whole 
 earth, but which is now nearly forgotten, or all but 
 regarded with contempt by foreign nations. Con- 
 tinue to behave as nobly as you have done since the 
 beginning of my reign, and be assured that you will 
 thus secure, not only a lasting renown, but all other 
 rewards which constitute the recompense of valour. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the order of the clergy, permit me 
 to exhort you to cultivate unanimity and concord, 
 and to inspire among your hearers, whose hearts you 
 may dispose at your pleasure, a love for all civil and 
 Christian virtues, and a submission to the govern- 
 ment of their superiors. Let your own example dis- 
 play those excellencies which you require in them, 
 and may your lives be holy and irreproachable. 
 Continue to preach the sacred Gospel ; beware of 
 pride and covetousness ; be humble, modest, and 
 charitable. It is thus that you will maintain your 
 flocks in a peaceful and tranquil condition, and in 
 that order so necessary to the salvation of souls and 
 the well-being of society. 
 
 " Deputies of the commons and of the order of 
 peasants, may God bestow his blessing upon the 
 labours of your hands. May he grant fertility to 
 your fields ; may he fill your granaries, and supply 
 you at all seasons with unfailing abundance.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 1 77 
 
 " I offer, lastly, my most earnest and unfeigned 
 supplications for the subjects of this kingdom uni- 
 versally, whether present or absent. I bid you all 
 an affectionate adieu, and it may be for ever, since 
 who shall tell whether after this meeting we may be 
 allowed to see each other again upon earth " 
 
 At this point the king's voice, which had hitherto 
 been firm and unfaltering, was choked with the 
 violence of sudden emotion. A pause of some minutes 
 ensued, only interrupted by the sobs of the assembly, 
 many of whom were compelled to give vent aloud to 
 those feelings which all expressed by their tears. The 
 king was the first to recover himself, and concluded 
 the meeting with the following prayer in the words 
 of Scripture, of which he was known to make frequent 
 use on occasions of public importance : 
 
 " Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last ; and be 
 gracious unto thy servants. Oh satisfy us early with 
 thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our 
 days. 
 
 " Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy 
 glory unto their children. And let the beauty of 
 the Lord our God be upon us ; and establish thou the 
 work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our 
 hands establish Thou it. Amen." 
 
 The meeting of the Estates was followed by a 
 splendid banquet, to which the king invited all the 
 deputies present, mingling freely with his guests of 
 all orders during the repast, and delighting them no 
 less with the affability of his manner, than with the 
 unaffected ease and intelligence of his conversation. 
 He then prepared for his immediate embarkation, but 
 his feelings were previously to be subjected to another 
 severe trial. While he was engaged in giving the 
 necessary directions to his officers, the Princess 
 Christina approached for the purpose of delivering a 
 little speech upon his departure, in which she had been
 
 1 78 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 carefully instructed by her tutors. The king, whose 
 mind was fully occupied by the busy scene before 
 him, was not for some time aware of her presence, 
 and the child, finding herself still disregarded, at 
 length plucked him two or three times by the skirts 
 of his buff coat, with the hope of attracting his 
 attention. Gustavus turned suddenly round, and on 
 thus unexpectedly beholding his daughter in the atti- 
 tude of commencing an address, was unable to pre- 
 vent his paternal feelings from displaying themselves 
 in a sudden burst of uncontrollable emotion. He 
 suddenly caught her up in his arms, and after bestow- 
 ing repeated caresses upon her, hung over her for a 
 long time in tears, as if willing to delay till the last 
 moment the final pang of separation. Christina, 
 although not much inclined by disposition to an 
 indulgence of the melting mood, informs xis that she 
 was so much affected with the king's words and 
 manner, as to weep incessantly for some hours after- 
 wards, notwithstanding all the efforts of her attend- 
 ants to console her. Long afterwards this pathetic 
 parting was remembered, and classed with the other 
 omens, which were supposed to have indicated the 
 fate of her parent. 
 
 As soon as the embarkation of the stores and 
 artillery was completed, and the troops destined for 
 the expedition conveyed safely to the transports 
 appointed to receive them, the king himself repaired 
 on board the fleet, and gave the signal for putting out 
 to sea. He was accompanied by a gallant train of 
 officers, many already distinguished for their exer- 
 tions in his service, while others were yet to earn 
 their reputation on fields more severe than any on 
 which the royal banner of Sweden had yet been dis- 
 played. The vessels which composed the armament 
 left their anchorage, and stood out of the road of 
 Elfsnaben in succession, amidst the thunder of artil-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 179 
 
 lery from the forts on shore, and the acclamations of 
 an immense multitude, who watched with eager eyes 
 the sails of the departing fleet. The wind, however, 
 which had at first proved favourable, suddenly 
 changed, and the flotilla after vainly struggling for 
 some time against it, was obliged to return to 
 Middelsten, a port at no great distance from Stock- 
 holm, where it remained at anchor three weeks 
 longer. It was not until the 24th of June 1630, a- 
 day already memorable in history, for the presenta- 
 tion of the Confession of Augsburg to Charles V. a 
 hundred years before, that after effecting the naviga- 
 tion of the Baltic without accident, the transports and 
 ships of war were safely moored off the small Isle of 
 Ruden situated at the mouth of the Oder, and close 
 to the two larger islands of Usedom and Wollin, the 
 former of which had been selected as the point for 
 the disembarkation of the army. 
 
 Gustavus was foremost among those who leaped on 
 shore at Ruden. It was already sunset, and the fires, 
 kindled by the imperialists upon the opposite coast, to 
 spread the intelligence of the approach of the Swedish 
 fleet, were plainly discernible. The conduct of the 
 king, immediately after landing, was in strict con- 
 formity with his character. He threw himself on his 
 knees upon the beach, and in a short but energetic 
 prayer, which has been preserved by contemporary 
 historians, expressed his thanks for the providential 
 mercies afforded him during his late voyage, again 
 calling upon that God " who searches the hearts and 
 tries the reins of the children of men," to witness the 
 purity and disinterestedness of his intentions ; at the 
 same time, earnestly imploring such an issue to his 
 undertaking, as might most redound to the Divine 
 glory. Perceiving his officers much affected by this 
 act of devotion, he is recorded to have observed that 
 sincere prayer comprehended at least half the means 
 
 N2
 
 180 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 requisite to ensure victory, and that the best soldier 
 would always be found to be the most devout Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 After ascertaining that the Isle of Ruden was 
 unoccupied by the Austrian?, the king returned to 
 his fleet, which he directed to be steered forward to 
 Usedom. During the ensuing night, eleven regiments 
 were landed and safely entrenched before daybreak*. 
 There was, however, little need of the latter precau- 
 tion. The Imperialists were far from entertaining 
 the design of preventing the descent of the invaders, 
 and after a few slight skirmishes withdrew to the con- 
 tinent, leaving both Usedom and "Wollin in the hands 
 of the Swedes. A formidable position was thus 
 secured at the mouth of the Oder ; and it became 
 evident that the king had determined to act along the 
 line of that river, in pursuing his future operations. 
 The plan evinced his usual penetration and soundness 
 of judgment, since, if successful, it would enable him 
 speedily to strike a blow at the very heart of Austria ; 
 or at any rate bring him into those districts which 
 had been most oppressed by the tyranny of Ferdinand, 
 and might naturally be expected to burst out into a 
 general revolt, on the first appearance of a deliverer. 
 Yet it may be as well to take a short review of the 
 forces which might, if necessary, be successively 
 brought against him, before this design could be fully 
 accomplished. 
 
 Pomerania and its coast were occupied by Turquato 
 Conti, an officer of Italian origin, terrible for his law- 
 less depredations and exactions, which had earned 
 for him the name of the Devil among the common 
 people of the North of Germany, as well as in Jut- 
 land and Holstein. The army under his command, 
 and that of the Duke of Savelli, a soldier of similar 
 or even of worse character, was reckoned at 16,000 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 181 
 
 men. That of the League with Tilly in Lower 
 Saxony, where William Landgrave of Hesse, still 
 refusing submission to the emperor, kept alive the 
 last sparks of revolt, amounted to at least 30,000. 
 The force under the command of the Counts Colalto 
 and Gallas in the Duchy of Mantua, might be cal- 
 culated at the same number. "Wallenstein's army, 
 cantoned partly in Suabia, and partly in Mecklen- 
 burg, must have far exceeded it. 10,000 Spanish 
 troops were quartered in the palatinate, and 8,000 
 in the Ecclesiastical Electorates. The Austrians in 
 Bohemia amounted also to 8,000, and in Silesia and 
 Lusatia to as many more ; while the Archduke 
 Leopold was stationed in Suabia with a separate 
 force of 10,000 men. To all these must be added 
 the garrisons quartered in the imperial cities and 
 fortified towns, before a just idea can be formed of 
 the enormous disproportion of force between the 
 Swedish army of invasion, which at this moment 
 could not possibly have exceeded 16,000 men, and 
 that of the power which might be expected instantly 
 to rise with collected strength to repel the daring 
 aggression. 
 
 According to the authors of those times, signs and 
 prodigies were not wanting to warn mankind of the 
 sanguinary character of the struggle now on the 
 point of taking place. In many parts of Germany, 
 the clang of arms and the tumult of battle were 
 heard at the dead of night, on wild heaths and in 
 solitary valleys, far remote from human habitation. 
 Armies were seen encountering in the heavens in 
 regular array, marshalled by aerial leaders and with 
 banners distinctly displayed. The usual portents of 
 monstrous births, mock-suns, and showers of fire, 
 raised the feelings of men to a still higher pitch of 
 awful expectation.
 
 182 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Assembly of the Diet of Ratisbou Intrigues of Richelieu Gene- 
 ral clamour against Wallenstein, and petitions to the Emperor 
 for his dismissal Policy of the Catholic League Arrival of 
 Gustavus Adolphus at Stettin He is received into the town by 
 the Duke of Pomerania Disgrace of Wallenstein Gustavus 
 publishes his manifesto Ferdinand writes to the King of 
 Sweden Torquato Conti falls back upon Gartz He entrenches 
 his forces Treachery of Quinti del Ponte The Swedes reduce 
 Wolgast Cruelties of the Imperialists at Passwalk Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Monro surprises Rugenwalde Expedition of Gustavus 
 Adolphus to the Duchy of Mecklenburg Colberg invested 
 Torquato Conti repulsed in an attempt to recover Stettin 
 Gustavus defeats the Duke of Savelli Dissolution of the Diet 
 of Ratisbon Letter from the King of Sweden to Oxenstiera 
 Torquato Conti "resigns his command, and is succeeded by Count 
 Schaumberg Greiffenhagen taken by the Swedes Schaumberg 
 sets fire to Gartz and retires to Frankfort Excesses of the 
 Imperialists in the March of Brandenburg Arrival of the Ad- 
 ministrator Christian William in Magdeburg, and revolt of the 
 city in his favour Insurrection excited by the Duke of Saxe 
 Lunenburg, who is defeated, and taken prisoner by Pappenheitn 
 Tilly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial armies 
 Investment of Magdeburg, and preparations for the defence of 
 the city. 
 
 THE long expected Diet of Ratisbon was opened on 
 the 29th of June, 1630. Ferdinand was accompanied 
 by the Empress Eleonora of Mantua, whose public 
 coronation was to make part of the approaching so- 
 lemnities. His son, Earnest Ferdinand, King of 
 Hungary, and afterwards Emperor, and the two arch- 
 duchesses Anna Maria and Cecilia Renata*, the 
 Electors of Mentz, Cologne, and Treves, Maximilian 
 of Bavaria, in his capacity of Elector Palatine, and 
 the Counts Tilly and Anhalt, attracted in turns the 
 
 * Mercure Franais, vol. 16.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 183 
 
 admiration of the populace by the number of their 
 attendants, and the gorgeous liveries in which they 
 were arrayed. But all were shortly afterwards 
 eclipsed by the arrival of Wallenstein, preceded by 
 600 horse, whose superb and lavish equipment far 
 exceeded that of the imperial escort itself, a circum- 
 stance which was not forgotten among the clamorous 
 accusations about to be raised against him. On the 
 part of foreign powers, Sir Robert Anstruther at- 
 tended as the representative of England, to second 
 the exertions of Rusdorf the minister of the ex-king 
 of Bohemia, who waited for the opening of the Diet 
 in the vain hope of softening the stern resolves of 
 Ferdinand, with respect to his exiled master. A 
 Spanish embassy presented itself to espouse the inte- 
 rests of the League, and Leon de Bruslart, as the de- 
 puty of Louis XIII. In the train of the latter was 
 to be seen the Capuchin friar, Father Joseph, the 
 well-known instrument of Richelieu. 
 
 France, indeed, was by this time reduced to look 
 to the wisdom of her representatives at the Imperial 
 Court, as the only means remaining to compensate 
 for the discredit which had recently fallen upon her 
 arms abroad. It was daily becoming more evident, 
 that the cause of the Duke of Nevers was all but 
 desperate in Italy. Louis XIII. , with Richelieu as 
 his generalissimo had, by taking Pignerol and Cham- 
 berri, in some measure avenged himself for the hos- 
 tility of the Duke of Savoy ; but almost the whole of 
 his good fortune was comprised within these successes. 
 The Spaniards were uninterrupted in the siege and 
 reduction of Casal ; nor could all the efforts of the 
 French prevent Mantua from falling into the hands 
 of the Counts Gallas and Altringer, who had for some 
 time closely invested it. Either from the prevalence 
 of sickness*, or treachery within its walls, the city 
 
 * Bisaccioni, Historia delle Guerre in Alemagna.
 
 181 THE LIFE OF GDSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 was at length taken by assault. The Austrians dis- 
 played their usual cruelty in the hour of conquest, and 
 their rapacity and insolence to such an extent after- 
 wards, as to alarm the State of Venice into a secret 
 connexion with Sweden, and even to induce the Papal 
 Government to express an indirect sympathy with 
 the heretical arms, which were on the point of being 
 moved against the Holy Roman Empire. 
 
 Richelieu was not ignorant of the estimation in 
 which Wallenstein, now considered the principal 
 favourite of Ferdinand, was regarded by the mem- 
 bers of the Catholic League, and more especially by 
 the Duke of Bavaria. The latter, one of the most 
 ambitious princes of his age, although carefully con- 
 cealing his designs under a mask of profound dissi- 
 mulation, had long looked with feelings of hatred and 
 jealousy upon a rival, whose services and devotion to 
 the Imperial interests were at least considered equal 
 to his own in the general opinion. The other electors, 
 stimulated, in addition to the feeling of enmity, which 
 those who have made rapid advances in the favour of 
 courts are tolerably certain of exciting, by the con- 
 sciousnessof being completely outshone by the grandeur 
 and wealth of Wallenstein, which hadnowbecomecom- 
 mon topics of conversation throughout Europe, were 
 additionally disgusted by his haughty and disdainful 
 bearing in all his intercourse with the secondary 
 powers of Germany, and his unhesitating assumption 
 of superiority over those in possession of the most 
 ancient dignities of the Empire. After a reciprocal 
 communication of these sentiments, it was finally 
 agreed among them, that before affording any assist- 
 ance to Ferdinand, or entering upon any deliberation 
 on the general condition of public affairs, the removal 
 of the Duke of Friedland from the command of the 
 Imperial army should be strenuously insisted upon, 
 and the dismissal of the force under his direction, if
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 185 
 
 possible, effected. In pursuance of this object, the 
 whole weight of the Spanish influence had been pro- 
 mised, and was confidently relied upon. The agents 
 of France had been carefully instructed to aid the 
 members of the League by every means in their 
 power, in fomenting the general hatred against Wal- 
 lenstein ; from which the twofold advantage was 
 expected, of weakening the power of Ferdinand with 
 his own consent, by the loss of his most zealous ge- 
 neral at the moment when an invasion of his domi- 
 nions was on the point of taking place ; and of securing 
 at the same time the interest of a strong party in the 
 Empire towards a settlement of the dispute respect- 
 ing the Duchy of Mantua, on conditions favourable 
 to France. 
 
 The first symptoms, from which the inutility of the 
 present Diet to compose the existing differences 
 throughout the Empire was inferred, was the absence 
 of the two Protestant Electors of Saxony and Bran- 
 denburg. Both were still highly incensed at the late 
 proceedings in regard to the Archbishopric of Mag- 
 deburg ; the former on account of the rejection of his 
 son notwithstanding his appointment by the chap- 
 ter ; and the latter, by the imperial ban, which had 
 deprived his uncle Christian William of that rich 
 diocese. Instead, therefore, of obeying the summons 
 of the Emperor, although it had been couched in the 
 most urgent terms, they alleged that their dominions 
 had been so utterly exhausted by the armies of Fer- 
 dinand, as to be wholly unable to furnish them with 
 the funds requisite for their appearance at the Diet 
 in a manner consistent with their rank, adding at the 
 same time the most forcible description of the excesses 
 committed by the troops of Wallensteiri, and the 
 misery occasioned by the insatiable rapacity of their 
 general. Heavy accusations were added on the part 
 of the Duke of Pomerania, who asserted that ten
 
 186 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 millions of florins had been drawn from the princi- 
 pality of Stettin within the space of twelve months. 
 The Duke of Wirtemberg, the deputies of Nuren- 
 berg, and those of several other cities, made similar 
 complaints. At the same time a printed account, 
 enlarging upon the magnificence observable in the 
 household of Wallenstein, and the vastness and 
 splendour of his new palace at Prague, alleged to 
 have been built upon the site of a hundred houses, 
 expressly pulled down for the purpose by his order, 
 was industriously circulated to increase the popular 
 odium. The Duke of Bavaria and his faction, with 
 the ambassadors of France and Spain, were not 
 backward in aiding the accusations of the Protestant 
 party : and Ferdinand, suddenly assailed by remon- 
 strances and invectives against his favourite from all 
 directions ; astonished at the unanimity with which 
 his dismissal was insisted upon, and perhaps thinking 
 that the sacrifice of "Wallenstein might prove a means 
 of conciliating the Diet to consent to the election of 
 his son to the dignity of King of the Romans, one of 
 the principal objects for which he had convoked the 
 assembly, was, after wavering for some time in his 
 resolution, at length induced to listen favourably to 
 the recommendation of a step, than which nothing 
 could have been more detrimental to his real inte- 
 rests. 
 
 In the mean time, the subject of all this obloquy, 
 who had retired to Memingen on his first discovery 
 of the combination formed against him, awaited, with 
 an appearance of stern composure, the sentence of 
 removal from his command, which he was in daily 
 expectation of receiving. Before the scrutiny into his 
 conduct was finished, intelligence reached the Diet, 
 from the Elector of Saxony, of the landing of Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus. The Emperor had made but little 
 mention of the preparations of the King of Sweden in
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 187 
 
 his opening speech to the Assembly ; as slight no- 
 tice was taken of his actual appearance in Pomerania 
 by the Catholic Electors, who were too eagerly 
 engaged in effecting the humiliation of a political 
 rival, to pay much attention to the descent of a 
 foreign enemy in a distant quarter. 
 
 While the Diet of Ratisbon was yet fully occupied 
 with the intrigues of the French and Bavarian fac- 
 tions, the King of Sweden was actively employed in 
 making preparations for transporting his army from 
 the island of Wollin to the vicinity of Stettin, of which 
 it was his intention to obtain immediate possession, 
 before the Imperialists had time to fortify it against 
 him. A violent storm took place, while his troops 
 were on the point of embarking for this expedition ; 
 but the soldiers, for a moment dispirited by the omen, 
 were quickly restored to confidence by a favourable 
 wind which sprung up immediately afterwards, and 
 carried them so rapidly over the wide expanse called 
 the Frisch Haff of the Oder, by which that river dis- 
 charges itself into the Baltic, that in the course of 
 two hours the armament was anchored beneath the 
 walls of the capital of Pomerania. Immediately on 
 the landing of Gustavus, Danitz, the Governor of 
 Stettin, sent a drummer to inform him of his reso- 
 lution to turn his cannon against him, unless he 
 instantly re-embarked and retired from before the 
 town ; a threat to which the king only replied, by 
 expressing his sense of the indignity shown him by 
 the employment of such a messenger, and requesting 
 the governor, if he had any communication to make, 
 to favour him by delivering it in person. After some 
 hesitation, Danitz appeared at the head of a depu- 
 tation sent by Bogislaus, Duke of Pomerania, then 
 present in Stettin, and, changing his first tone of reso- 
 lute defiance into supplication, earnestly entreated 
 the king to choose any other point for entering the
 
 188 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Empire than the territories of his sovereign. To this 
 demand Gustavus refused to give any definite answer, 
 until he had first obtained an interview with the duke 
 himself. Danitz was accordingly dismissed into the 
 city to make known his resolution. While expecting 
 his return, the king amused himself by freely con- 
 versing with the crowds who had flocked out of 
 Stettin from motives of curiosity ; and, after saluting 
 their burgomaster*, who was pointed out to him 
 among the multitude, and familiarly taking him by 
 the hand, informed him at some length of the reasons 
 which had induced him to leave his kingdom, and 
 his strong confidence in the ultimate success of his 
 undertaking ; a condescension which, with his en- 
 gaging manners, quickly gained him the affection of 
 the first auditory by which he was surrounded in 
 Germany. 
 
 The evening was drawing on, before Bogislaus, 
 surrounded by a strong body of his guards, and 
 attended by the principal members of his court, at 
 length approached the spot, where Gustavus was 
 expecting his arrival. An animated conversation 
 ensued, in which the king urged every argument to 
 induce him to consent to the occupation of Stettin ; 
 while Bogislaus, terrified by the vengeance which had 
 been inflicted upon the Elector Palatine, the Dukes 
 of Mecklenburg, and all who had hitherto set them- 
 selves in opposition to the enormous power of Aus- 
 tria, attempted, by every excuse which presented 
 itself, to evade his demand. The king, however, was 
 not to be discouraged by a first repulse. He turned 
 to the counsellors of Bogislaus in attendance, and re- 
 minded them of the atrocities which the Imperialists 
 had committed in their country ; of all the wrongs 
 inflicted upon the Protestants in other parts of the 
 Empire ; and of his own persuasion that he was cho- 
 
 * Mercure Frai^ois, vol. 16.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHtTS. 189 
 
 sen by Divine Providence as the instrument for 
 humbling the power of Ferdinand. He next pro- 
 fessed his intention of evacuating Stettin the instant 
 such a proceeding should be consistent with his safety, 
 and clearly demonstrated the impossibility of its re- 
 sistance in the present condition of its fortifications ; 
 at the same time pointing to the windows of the 
 town, which were crowded with ladies, who were 
 anxiously observing the scene below, and humorously 
 observing, that the reduction of such a garrison as then 
 presented itself would be a task involving but little 
 difficulty in its accomplishment. In conclusion, he 
 urged the necessity of a speedy decision in his favour, 
 adding, " The night is fast approaching, gentlemen, 
 and I am not accustomed to plant my sentinels in the 
 dark ; besides which, allow me to remind you, cou- 
 sin," again turning towards the duke, " that every 
 man who hesitates is not entitled to the reputation 
 of a Fabius." Whether convinced by the arguments 
 of the king, or, which is far more likely, overawed 
 by the presence of the Swedish force, the courtiers of 
 Bogislaus seconded this appeal with so much effect, 
 that the constancy of the duke at length gave way. 
 " Then be it so, in God's name ! " he exclaimed, and 
 ordered the gates of Stettin to be thrown open without 
 further delay to the Swedes. The king contented 
 himself for that night with placing a few sentinels 
 upon the ramparts, and again repaired on board his 
 fleet, observing, " That while his men were still 
 afloat, it ill became a general to indulge himself on 
 shore." The next morning, however, he disembarked 
 his whole army, and instantly set about repairing 
 the fortifications of the town. The plan was fur- 
 nished by his own hands, and the soldiers, encou- 
 raged by the example of their sovereign, who laboured 
 with his spade as diligently as the commonest pio- 
 neer, pursued their work with such good -will, that
 
 190 THE LIFE OP GU8TAVUS ADOLPHU8. 
 
 in the space of four days, Stettin was in a condition 
 to resist any force that could be suddenly brought 
 against it. 
 
 By this time, the fall of TVallenstein had been fully 
 effected at Batisbon. Ferdinand, overcome by the 
 clamours of the assembly, and partly influenced by 
 an understanding that the forces of the League, com- 
 manded by Tilly, should be placed at his disposal to 
 resist the Swedes, instead of those acting under the 
 Duke of Friedland, was not only induced to consent 
 to his removal from his service, but even to the dis- 
 banding of his whole army. The Baron de Ques- 
 tenbergandthe Count Verdenberg, were immediately 
 sent to intimate the resolution of Ferdinand to the 
 disgraced favourite. Contrary to the general ex- 
 pectation, Wallenstein received the information with 
 perfect composure, and after coolly observing that 
 the Emperor was betrayed by the advice of evil 
 counsellors, intimated his intention of immediately 
 obeying the mandate. It is said, that his astrologer 
 Seni assured him, on the authority of his favourite 
 science, that a period would shortly arrive, when he 
 would be requested to re-assume, with far greater 
 honours, the post he was now about to abandon*. 
 "Whether influenced by his representations or not, 
 Wallenstein, after a last act of munificence to the 
 deputies who had conveyed to him the news of his 
 dismissal, retired to Prague, and quietly re-assumed 
 his favourite habits of gloomy and sequestered gran- 
 deur. The immediate consequence of his disgrace 
 was, that numbers of the soldiers who had composed 
 his army, flocked to take service with the King of 
 Sweden, who readily received and incorporated them 
 with his own troops ; while he, at the same time, 
 took care to prevent any of the consequences of their 
 old habits of disorder, by compelling them at once to 
 
 * Schiller.
 
 THE LIFE OF GDSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 191 
 
 submit to the same rigid discipline, which prevailed 
 among the rest of the forces under his command. 
 
 Gustavus dated from Stettin his famous manifesto, 
 in which he, at length, formally avowed the motives 
 which had induced him to enter the Empire in arms. 
 This document was little more than a recapitulation 
 of grievances, which he had already made public in 
 his communication with his own Senate, and the 
 Electoral College. After commencing with the unde- 
 niable truth that no power, however pacifically 
 disposed, can remain at peace longer than is con- 
 sistent with the pleasure of its neighbours, he pro- 
 ceeded to specify anew the various causes of offence 
 given by Ferdinand to the Swedish nation, without 
 any provocation on its part. He stated that his 
 despatches to Bethlem Gabor had been unceremo- 
 niously seized and read before the Cabinet of Vienna, 
 and a false construction placed upon their contents ; 
 that the war with Sigismond had been strenuously 
 kept alive by the intrigues and open assistance of the 
 Emperor ; that throughout Germany it had been 
 publicly forbidden to furnish the Swedes with sup- 
 plies, and that the Imperial eagle had twice been 
 openly displayed against them ; first in 1627, when 
 a body of troops in the pay of Ferdinand, and led by 
 the Duke of Holstein, had been allowed to act in 
 conjunction with the Poles, and more recently in 
 1629, when Arnheim had been publicly dispatched 
 by Wallenstein, notwithstanding the remonstrances 
 of the king, to the assistance of the enemy. To these 
 accusations were added the encroachments of the 
 Imperialists on the coasts of the Baltic ; the assump- 
 tion of the title of Admiral of that sea, on the part of 
 Wallenstein, an honour hitherto only claimed by the 
 Kings of Sweden and Denmark ; the insults offered 
 to the Swedish deputies at Lubeck, and the sufferings 
 to which the Protestants had been exposed through-
 
 192 THE LIFE OF GtTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 out the whole German Empire, as well from the 
 excesses of the Imperial troops, as from a violation of 
 the most solemn treaties formerly confirmed in their 
 favour. The king stated in conclusion, that, com- 
 passionating the miserable condition of the people of 
 Pomerania, with whom the Swedes were connected 
 by the bonds of ancient friendship, and their suffer- 
 ings under the calamities inflicted upon them for the 
 last three years by the armies which were still occu- 
 pying their country, he had determined to take Stet- 
 tin under his protection, and with this view had 
 concluded a treaty of mutual defence with the Duke 
 of Pomerania. Amidst all bis charges, Gustavus 
 took care to confine his complaints to the conduct of 
 Ferdinand and the generals acting under his imme- 
 diate orders ; obviously designing to place the war 
 in the light of a quarrel with Austria alone, in 
 which neither the members of the Catholic League, 
 nor the other states of the Empire could with any 
 justice participate. 
 
 Bogislaus, at the same time, wrote to the Emperor 
 in justification of his conduct in admitting the Swedes 
 into Stettin, and in entering into the treaty to which 
 Gustavus had alluded in his manifesto. He stated, 
 that the Imperialists having abandoned the Islands 
 of Usedom and Wollin, which might be considered 
 the outworks of his capital, it was no longer in his 
 power to refuse an entrance to an army, which would 
 instantly have effected it by force, had he made any 
 opposition to the demand ; while the city must in 
 that case have been uselessly exposed to all the 
 horrors of an assault. The Emperor, by the advice 
 of his counsellors, pretended to consider the letter of 
 Bogislaus as a piece of specious sophistry, which was 
 meant to cover a wilful and premeditated revolt to the 
 Crown of Sweden ; and proceeded to treat him as a 
 declared rebel to his authority, by sending immediate
 
 THE LIFE OF GUST A V ITS ADOLPHUS. 193 
 
 orders to his generals, to give quarter to none of the 
 Pomeranians who should be found with arms in their 
 hands. This command was as remarkable for impru- 
 dence as for inhumanity, since Bogislaus was at once 
 induced, in order to ensure his own preservation, to 
 change the part he had at first assumed, of a person 
 who timidly acquiesces in the exertion of a force 
 which he is unable to resist, for that of an avowed 
 and strenuous ally. 
 
 Ferdinand next forwarded a letter to the King of 
 Sweden, in which, although he could not at the time 
 have been ignorant of the appearance of his manifesto, 
 and still less of his complaints to his own ministers 
 at Lubeck, or of his appeal to the College of Electors, 
 he affected the utmost surprise at the appearance of 
 an army of invasion in Germany, which he accused 
 Gustavus of leading against his subjects, without any 
 of the communications usually entered into by civil- 
 ised nations, before the commencement of an open 
 war. He expressed his ignorance of having afforded 
 the slightest pretext, since his accession to the Impe- 
 rial dignity, for the present aggression on the part of 
 the Swedes ; and demanded, in accordance with a 
 principle better comprehended by the jus-publicists 
 of the present day, than in that age, when the laws 
 of international justice were somewhat less accurately 
 determined, what right a foreign power possessed to 
 interfere with the internal Government of Germany, 
 with which its interests could not possibly be con- 
 nected. He concluded by warning Gustavus in- 
 stantly to withdraw to his own country, before he 
 was assailed by the whole force of the Empire, which, 
 in the event of his persisting in his design, would be 
 instantly sent against him. 
 
 Although this letter was dated from Ratisbon, on 
 the 18th of August, it was not delivered into the 
 hands of the King of Sweden until the 6th of Octo-
 
 194 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 her following. On receiving it, he is said to have- 
 observed to the messenger : " I shall not fail to 
 return an answer to the Emperor, as soon as I have 
 recovered from the wound which an eagle has lately 
 inflicted upon my right arm." He probably alluded 
 to the injury received in Prussia, from the effects of 
 which he seems never to have entirely recovered, and 
 for which he considered himself in some measure 
 indebted to the interference of Ferdinand. In his 
 reply which followed shortly afterwards, he con- 
 tented himself with again stating the motives which 
 had induced him to commence the war, and specify- 
 ing the terms on which he was willing to consent to 
 a peace. These were the same which had been before 
 proposed, during the unsuccessful attempt to mediate 
 a reconciliation on the part of the King of Denmark, 
 and, as on the former occasion, could hardly have 
 been seriously expected to attract the consideration of 
 the Emperor for a moment. With this feeble attempt 
 at negotiation, all diplomatic correspondence between 
 the two parties ended. 
 
 The sword, however, had not been idle in the 
 interval. Immediately after the occupation of Stet- 
 tin, the Swedes, whose ranks were daily increased 
 by the arrival of numbers, who, having formerly 
 served in the armies of the Elector Palatine, Count 
 Mansfeld, and Christian of Brunswick, resumed 
 their arms with enthusiasm in support of the old 
 cause, proceeded to reduce the town of Damen, which 
 the Austrians abandoned on their first approach. 
 Stargard was taken by surprise by a Pomeranian 
 corps, enlisted for the service of Sweden, and after- 
 wards celebrated under the name of the White Bri- 
 gade, from the colour of its banners, and the uniforms 
 of the men who composed it ; and the imperial 
 Colonel Piccolomini compelled, after losing the town, 
 to retire from the citadel in which he in vain endea-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 1Q5 
 
 voured to maintain himself. By this success, a 
 quantity of corn and military stores fell into the 
 hands of the victors. Camrnin was shortly after- 
 wards won in a similar manner, and by its fall 
 rendered the Swedes masters of the best part of 
 Pomerania. 
 
 Torquato Conti, on his part, immediately after 
 receiving information of the design of the Swedes 
 upon Stettin, had increased his forces by summoning 
 to his assistance several bodies of Imperialists sta- 
 tioned in the March of Brandenburg, Lusatia, and 
 Bohemia ; and decamping from Anclam, where he 
 had hitherto fixed his head-quarters, for the purpose 
 of guarding the coast, advanced with forced marches 
 in the hope of anticipating Gustavus in his design 
 upon Stettin, by occupying the town before his 
 arrival. Owing to the diligence of the Swedish 
 monarch, however, the town was already in a condi- 
 tion to repel his utmost efforts before he arrived in its 
 vicinity. The Italian general, finding himself frus- 
 trated in his first intention, determined upon render- 
 ing Stettin of as little use as possible to his adversary. 
 For this purpose he drew back as far as Gartz, where 
 he so skilfully entrenched himself beneath the cannon 
 of the place, as completely to bar the advance of the 
 Swedes by the direct line of the Oder, as long as he 
 should continue to hold his position. He then called 
 in all his detachments from Lower Pomerania, with 
 the exception of the garrisons in the principal forti- 
 fied towns ; resolving to remain upon the defensive, 
 until the arrival of the reinforcements which he had 
 earnestly requested from Tilly. This plan is consi- 
 dered the best that could have been adopted, but it 
 was effected at the cost of terrible sufferings inflicted 
 upon the wretched inhabitants of the country. The 
 Imperialists, as if desirous of interposing a desert 
 between themselves and the Swedes, set fire to every 
 o2
 
 196 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 village through which they passed, and wantonly 
 destroyed all the means of sustaining life which 
 chance threw into their way. The conduct of the 
 invaders afforded a remarkable contrast to this bar- 
 barous system of warfare. Gustavus, by his public 
 edicts and proclamations, entreated the people of the 
 neighbouring towns and villages to remain in their 
 houses without fear of being molested by his soldiers, 
 and appropriated great part of his own stores to feed- 
 ing numbers who were perishing with hunger, in 
 consequence of the desolating ravages of the enemy. 
 
 As soon as he had ascertained the direction in 
 which the main body of the Imperialists had retired, 
 the king gave immediate orders for marching upon 
 Gartz, in the hope of tempting Torquato Conti, by 
 drawing up his army in order of battle before his 
 entrenchments, to issue forth and hazard a general 
 engagement. The wary Italian, however, who was 
 fully conscious of the imprudence of such a move- 
 ment, was not to be diverted from his proposed plan 
 of operations. Notwithstanding the approach of the 
 Swedes, he continued quietly within his lines, which 
 were too formidable to be lightly assailed, partly 
 employed at the same time, if the dark charge made 
 against him by historians is correct, in forming plans 
 for removing the active enemy, whom he declined 
 encountering in the open: field, by the less honourable 
 means of secret treachery. Quinti del Ponte, an 
 officer in his own army, and Giovanni Baptista, a 
 captain in the regiment serving under Count Falken- 
 berg, were the first agents employed in this hazardous 
 undertaking. The former, pretending to have re- 
 ceived some occasion of disgust in the Imperial ser- 
 vice, passed over to the Swedish camp, where, in 
 conjunction with his confederate, he projected a 
 design against the life or liberty of Gustavus, which 
 nothing but accident prevented from being crowned
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 197 
 
 with success. In a conversation with the king, he 
 asserted, that it was in his power to point out a part 
 of the Imperial lines, on which an attack might be 
 made with the certain prospect of advantage. Gus- 
 tavus, highly gratified with the intelligence, imme- 
 diately called out a slight guard of twenty-five horse, 
 and appointing a picquet of cavalry, amounting to 
 about a hundred in number, to wait at some distance, 
 requested his informant to accompany him to recon- 
 noitre the spot. The traitor willingly complied with 
 the requisition; but as soon as the king appeared 
 sufficiently near the position of the Imperialists, after 
 insensibly withdrawing himself from the rest of the 
 company, and putting spurs to his horse, he galloped 
 to the quarters of Torquato Conti, and informed him 
 that, by stationing a detachment at a certain defile, 
 he would infallibly intercept his antagonist on his 
 return. Five hundred Neapolitan cuirassiers were 
 accordingly dismissed in haste, with Del Ponte at 
 their head, upon this errand, and reached the place 
 appointed for the ambuscade without discovery. 
 The king, after having completed his observations, 
 was slowly returning to his quarters, when he was 
 furiously assailed on all sides by an overwhelming 
 multitude, against whom resistance appeared to be 
 entirely hopeless. With the desperate resolution, 
 however, of selling his life as dearly as possible, he 
 instantly drew his sword, and encouraging his guards 
 by his voice and example, continued to maintain the 
 combat so long, that the assailants, who had been 
 strictly charged not to make use of their fire-arms, 
 were at length provoked to have recourse to their 
 pistols and carbines, as the surest means of effecting 
 their object. This circumstance proved the ruin of 
 the whole design. The Swedish picquet, attracted 
 by the sound of the firing, arrived on the field of 
 action at the moment when the king, whose horse
 
 198 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 had been shot under him, and who, after having been 
 made prisoner, had been only rescued by the most 
 devoted bravery of his attendants, was on the point 
 of sinking beneath the crowd of enemies which had 
 closed around him. A single charge delivered him 
 from his perilous situation, and restored the battle 
 on somewhat less unequal terms ; and after a few 
 minutes' hard fighting, the Neapolitans, who no 
 doubt expected every moment to be attacked by an 
 additional force, rode off the ground in confusion, and 
 hastily retired to their lines. Baptista, whose close 
 connexion with Del Ponte pointed him out as an 
 accomplice, was instantly seized; and, since full evi- 
 dence of the conspiracy was found among his papers, 
 subsequently condemned to death by a Swedish 
 court-martial. A few days after this occurrence, a 
 monk of Amberg, who had been observed for some 
 time lurking about the king's person, was appre- 
 hended on suspicion of a design upon his life, which 
 was fully confirmed both by papers found about him, 
 and his own confession at the place of execution. 
 
 After these narrow escapes, Gustavus, finding 
 himself unable to draw his antagonist from his posi- 
 tion by the offer of battle, resolved upon attacking 
 the fortified towns occupied by the Imperialists in 
 Pomerania, in the hope of inducing him to make 
 some movement for their defence. General Knip- 
 hausen, at the head of a separate division, laid siege 
 to "Wolgast, which was desperately defended by 
 Colonel Schlechter, who, after the town had been 
 carried, continued for a fortnight longer to maintain 
 his post in the citadel. Three hundred infantry were 
 at the same time sent to occupy the town of Pass- 
 walk, which they quickly effected, and commenced 
 throwing up entrenchments for their defence. But 
 before these were completed, they were surrounded 
 by an immensely superior force, which Torquato
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVtTS ADOLPHUS. 199 
 
 Conti had sent to surprise them, and cut off to a man. 
 The Austrians are accused on this occasion, not only 
 of having refused quarter to the Swedes, but of 
 having exercised the most brutal atrocities towards 
 the townspeople. It is certain, that Pass walk was 
 pillaged and laid in ashes before it was abandoned by 
 the victors. Some compensation for this check, 
 however, was derived by the capture of Rugenwald 
 by Lieutenant-Colonel Monro, at the head of 700 
 men of Lord Reay's regiment, who had been sent 
 from Pillau by the Chancellor Oxenstiern for the 
 purpose of joining the king. This exploit was one of 
 the most daring recorded in the whole war. The 
 Scots, on their passage to Wolgast, were encountered 
 by a furious storm, which drove their vessel upon the 
 coast, where it speedily became a complete wreck, 
 the men escaping with the greatest difficulty to the 
 shore, after having left behind them their provisions 
 and ammunition, as well as all their arms, with the 
 exception of a few swords and pikes, and two or 
 three wet muskets. Notwithstanding the destitute 
 condition of his soldiers, Monro, on learning that 
 Rugenwald was held by an Imperial garrison, who 
 had displaced that stationed there by the Duke of 
 Pomerania, sent word to the former governor that, 
 if he would furnish him with some fire-arms and a 
 supply of ammunition, he would engage speedily to 
 clear the town of its unwelcome visitors. The 
 governor replied by sending fifty muskets to the 
 Scots, and promising to admit them secretly into the 
 castle at midnight, on their presenting themselves 
 beneath its walls. Monro arrived with his band at 
 the appointed hour, and suddenly sallying forth upon 
 the Imperialists, who were quartered in the town 
 below, drove them from one post after another, 
 although resolutely disputing the ground after their 
 first surprise had subsided, until they at length
 
 200 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHIJS. 
 
 retired through the gates, and left the Scots in full 
 occupation of the town. He then set about repairing 
 the fortifications, in apprehension of being imme- 
 diately assailed from Colberg, which was held by 
 the Austrians in force, and only seven miles distant, 
 while the army of the king lay at least twenty 
 German miles from the place ; and sent a mounted 
 express by night to the Swedish head-quarters for 
 further orders. Gustavus desired him to maintain 
 his post at all hazards, and Monro, not contented 
 with obeying this order, after breaking down the 
 bridge between himself and the enemy, and strongly 
 besetting the passes with bodies of armed peasantry, 
 in a short time brought the whole country about him 
 into subjection, to the distance of twenty miles along 
 the coast*. 
 
 Gustavus had now turned his attention in the 
 direction of Mecklenburg, and finding that Torquato 
 Conti still continued inactive in his front, he was 
 induced to make a resolute attempt to deliver that 
 duchy from the tyranny of the Imperialists. After 
 detaching General Kniphausen to blockade Colberg, 
 and directing Colonel Monro, who had been relieved 
 at his post of Rugenwald by the regiment of Sir John 
 Hepburn, to act under his orders, he set out for the 
 western frontiers of Pomerania, leaving Gustavus 
 Horn, one of the most able of his generals, to com- 
 mand in Stettin during his absence. In this march, 
 the Swedes, although they had long been inured to 
 the horrors of warfare, were filled with indignation 
 at the destruction and ruin which presented them- 
 selves at every step. Nothing was to be seen in all 
 directions but wasted fields and smoking villages, or 
 the blackened walls of mills and farm-houses, which 
 had been destroyed by the Imperialists after they had 
 plundered them of everything valuable; while, in 
 
 * Monro's Second Expedition.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 201 
 
 many places, the rivers were covered with the float- 
 ing grain which they had thus endeavoured to render 
 useless, either to the enemy, or the people of the 
 country they were abandoning. The Swedes endea- 
 voured to remedy these evils as much as possible, by 
 freely paying for every article furnished them, while 
 the king continued to distribute corn to all who ap- 
 plied to him, from a fresh supply which had lately 
 been brought over by his fleet, although all his efforts 
 at relief still bore a lamentable disproportion to the 
 extent of the recently-inflicted calamities. The in- 
 vestment of Demmin was the ostensible object of his 
 march ; but, on mature consideration, the king deemed 
 it more advisable to embark his troops, and make a 
 descent upon Mecklenburg from the sea. Anclam, 
 which lay in his path towards the coast, was accord- 
 ingly reduced, and secured by a Swedish garrison. 
 During the ensuing voyage, through a channel ren- 
 dered particularly dangerous by the rocks and 
 shoals with which it abounds, the king paid a visit 
 to Stralsund, where he was received with all the 
 honours which the gratitude of the inhabitants could 
 invent. From thence he steered for the mouth of the 
 Trebel, and establishing himself in Ribnitz and Dam- 
 garten, which were carried sword in hand, issued a 
 proclamation to the people of Mecklenburg, in which, 
 after reproaching them for their late quiet submission 
 to the usurped power of Wallenstein, he invited them 
 immediately to return to their allegiance to their for- 
 mer rulers. His attempt, however, for the present 
 was attended with little success, beyond the posses- 
 sion of the two important posts above mentioned. 
 The Duke of Savelli poured his forces in such multi- 
 tudes into Mecklenburg, as completely to overawe 
 the people from any attempt at an insurrection ; and 
 occupied Rostock with so great a superiority of num- 
 bers, as to compel the Swedes to give up all hope of
 
 202 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 effecting any further progress, until they had received 
 additional reinforcements. Gustavus, therefore, again 
 resumed his plan of acting along the Oder, and 
 returned with his fleet to Stettin ; leaving a strong 
 garrison at Ribnitz, under the command of General 
 Pommer. It was from the latter place that he dated 
 his letter to the Emperor, which has been already 
 mentioned. 
 
 While Gustavus was occupied in his -expedition 
 into Mecklenburg, Torquato Conti had not been inac- 
 tive in endeavouring to derive some advantage from 
 his absence. As soon as he was informed that his 
 fleet was proceeding on its voyage, he left his en- 
 campment at Gartz, determined to make at least one 
 resolute effort for the recovery of Stettin. The for- 
 tifications which had been thrown up to cover the 
 town under the direction of Gustavus, were accord- 
 ingly assaulted by the greater part of his army, under 
 a vigorous and well-sustained cannonade from his 
 numerous artillery. But, notwithstanding the bravery 
 with which his troops, after two successive repulses, 
 returned a third time to the attack, he was at length 
 baffled by the dispositions of Horn, and the strength 
 of the works he attempted to carry, and retired afresh 
 to Gartz, leaving the field covered with his dead and 
 wounded. Around Colberg, hostilities were carried 
 on with no less vigour. The Imperialists, despising 
 the loose investment which the Swedes had formed 
 about the place, laid waste the neighbouring country 
 at their leisure, and attempted, though without suc- 
 cess, to carry the town of Scheffelbein, at that time 
 occupied by Colonel Monro, who, although he calls 
 the place " a scurvie hole for any cavalier to main- 
 tain his credit by,*" obstinately held his position, 
 until he was relieved by a strong detachment, which 
 the king, on his return to Stettin, dispatched under 
 
 * Monro's Second Expedition, p. 8.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHTTS. 203 
 
 Bauditzen, to invest Colberg more closely. A series 
 of fierce skirmishes ensued, in which the personal 
 valour of the Swedish General, who, frequently at 
 the head of his horse alone, charged both the cavalry 
 and the infantry of the enemy with success, was 
 eminently conspicuous; and in spite of their most 
 strenuous efforts, the Imperialists, after losing ground 
 step by step, were at last once more closely shut up 
 within the town. An attempt on the part of the 
 Duke of Savelli to relieve Demmin, around which 
 the Swedes were gathering, with the intention of 
 effecting its investment, was considered important 
 enough to demand the presence of Gustavus in per- 
 son. He accordingly set out from Stettin, determined, 
 if possible, to bring Savelli to a general action ; and, 
 after collecting about 3,000 men together, marched 
 at once in search of the enemy. The Italian, on his 
 approach, formed his army, which was greatly supe- 
 rior in number, after the fashion of his country, in a 
 long and extended line, with the design of outflank- 
 ing his opponent. Gustavus, who instantly perceived 
 the error, prepared with promptness to avail himself 
 of it. The Swedes were formed into a dense column, 
 which, rapidly and steady advancing, in spite of the 
 artillery of the Imperialists, bore down at once upon 
 their centre ; and, after severing it by the violence of 
 their charge, deployed to the right and left, and com- 
 pleted the destruction of the wings. A few batta- 
 lions, which still remained firm, were soon afterwards 
 dispersed by their own cannon, which the Swedes, 
 after seizing without resistance, immediately turned 
 against them. 
 
 Amidst these movements, the winter of 1630 set 
 in with unusual severity. The Imperialists, who had 
 intended to withdraw into their quarters towards the 
 end of the autumn, and who were now only keeping 
 the field until their antagonists should set them the
 
 204 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 example of retiring, were surprised to find the Swedes 
 undertaking new enterprises, at a time when the ri- 
 gours of the season seemed to preclude all possibility 
 of active operations. They were still further asto- 
 nished, on attempting to open a communication with 
 the enemy, for the purpose of fixing the exact posi- 
 tions which the contending armies should occupy until 
 the return of spring, at being informed, that whatever 
 plan the Imperialists might adopt, the Swedes had no 
 intention of suspending hostilities throughout the 
 winter. The latter, indeed, had everything to gain 
 by such a determination ; since, in addition to having 
 been inured at an early age to the severities of a 
 northern climate, they were well supplied with warm 
 clothing, and provided, by the foresight of their king, 
 with everything which could conduce to their com- 
 fort. Their adversaries, on the other hand, who had 
 been left, by the neglect of their generals, to clothe 
 themselves as they could, and who by their own im- 
 prudence had exhausted all the supplies afforded by 
 the neighbouring country, were placed by this means 
 in a condition of inferiority to their enterprising op- 
 ponents, which it was now too late to remedy, and 
 for which even victory itself would scarcely have 
 afforded any compensation. 
 
 The Diet of Ratisbon, after continuing its sittings 
 without intermission during the autumn, finally broke 
 up in the beginning of November, after scarcely ful- 
 filling a single object which Ferdinand had expected 
 from its convention. The election of the King of 
 the Romans, which he had strenuously urged upon 
 the meeting, was precluded by the continued absence 
 of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburgh, who, 
 in answer to his repeated messages to request their 
 attendance, only replied by renewed protestations 
 against the Edict of Restitution, and the grievances 
 under which the Protestants throughout Germany
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 205 
 
 were labouring. Maximilian of Bavaria, and the 
 Electors of the League, were as much disinclined to 
 listen to the proposal ; and the opposition of the for- 
 mer was so actively displayed, as to give rise to a 
 suspicion that he was ambitious enough to entertain 
 the hope of acquiring the dignity in question for him- 
 self at an early period. The only solid advantage 
 gained by the Emperor, if such it was to be esteemed, 
 consisted in the tardy substitution of the troops of 
 the League, and their general, to act against the 
 Swedes, in the place of Wallenstein and his forces ; 
 and with this, and the empty pageant of the corona- 
 tion of his Empress, he was obliged to content him- 
 self for the present. A second Diet was appointed 
 to meet at Frankfort-on-the- Maine in the ensuing 
 year, to be entitled the Diet of Composition, to which 
 all parties agreed without reluctance ; the Catholics 
 hoping that the army of Tilly would by that time 
 have proved successful in restoring the former pre- 
 ponderance of force in their favour ; while the Pro- 
 testants entertained as confident an expectation of a 
 favourable issue to the diversion made by the Swedes 
 for their deliverance. With these contrary anticipa- 
 tions, the Diet of Ratisbon was dissolved. France, 
 however, had previously obtained the full advantage 
 of her policy, in a treaty, by which the Duke of 
 Nevers was left in unmolested possession of the Duchy 
 of Mantua, and the German troops under Colalto and 
 Gallas recalled. The cause of the Elector Palatine, 
 which had been pleaded in a pathetic speech by the 
 English Ambassador, seconded by all the zeal of 
 Rusdorf, was scarcely listened to, and coldly dis- 
 missed, after a recapitulation on the part of the Em- 
 peror of the terms on which he might hope to be 
 re-admitted into favour : and of which it is enough 
 to remark, that the education of his children in the 
 Catholic religion was one of the principal features.
 
 206 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Torquato Coiiti, who, during the protracted dis- 
 putes of this assembly, had been left to struggle, 
 single-handed and destitute of all supplies, with the 
 Swedes in Pomerania, now no less disheartened by 
 his ill success, than disgusted at the neglect which he 
 imagined he had experienced, requested the permis- 
 sion of Ferdinand to resign his command, and retired 
 into Italy. Annibal Count Schaumberg, a soldier of 
 long experience, was appointed to succeed him, but 
 the fortune of the war was little altered by this change 
 of leaders. The King of Sweden, who had estab- 
 lished his head-quarters at Golnow, advanced from 
 thence, and invested Greiffenhagen on the Oder on 
 the 23rd of December. Don Ferdinand of Capua, 
 who commanded in the town, after a few days' resist- 
 ance abandoned it during the night, and leisurely 
 retired across the Oder in the direction of Gartz. On 
 the following morning Gustavus entered Greiffen- 
 hagen ; and, after sending his cavalry to follow the 
 garrison, who were speedily overtaken, and lost their 
 commander, with several of their rear-guard, in a 
 skirmish with the pursuers, proceeded to demolish 
 the fortifications, and make preparations for an im- 
 mediate advance upon Gartz, to endeavour once more 
 to dislodge the Austrians from the position in which 
 they had pertinaciously remained for the last three 
 months. Before quitting Golnow, he had written a 
 letter to Oxenstiern, which, as it is the only part of 
 his extensive private correspondence preserved by his 
 biographers, and moreover throws additional light 
 upon the sincerity of the feelings by which he pro- 
 fessed to be actuated, as well as upon many amiable 
 points in his disposition, may not be thought desti- 
 tute of interest if inserted entire. Its contents are as 
 follows* : 
 
 * This letter is given by Mauvillon, Histoire de Gustave 
 Adolphe, and by Archenholtz, Memoires de la Rciue Christine.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 207 
 
 " To our trusty and well-beloved Chancellor, 
 " Grace and especial favour." 
 
 " I have received your communication with respect 
 to the operations of the war for the ensuing year, as 
 a proof of your continued fidelity towards myself and 
 our common country. Whoever survives, will see its 
 results in our increased success, and posterity will 
 celebrate your praises, if to the wisdom of your coun- 
 sels you add your ordinary zeal and application in 
 carrying them into effect. It were greatly to be 
 desired, that we had many about us endued with the 
 same fidelity and ability for business as yourself. 
 The prosperity of the state, and the advancement of 
 the national interests, would be the certain conse- 
 quences. But, partly from the unequal manner in 
 which the Almighty is pleased to distribute his gifts, 
 and partly in consequence of those defects to which 
 all men are subject as the natural effects of a sinful 
 nature, I observe so many essential deficiencies in 
 several of my ministers, in the management of public 
 affairs, that I have reason to despair of their favour- 
 able issue, unless, indeed, God assists us where hu- 
 man succour is not to be expected. Continue your 
 praiseworthy exertions, without suffering yourself to 
 grow weary in your efforts, to deserve my gratitude 
 and that of the nation generally. Above all, endea- 
 vour to complete your proposal respecting the traffic 
 in corn, for I have more confidence in your judgment 
 in this matter than in that of any one else. I had 
 abandoned all expectations of deriving any advantage 
 from this source, not because I was insensible of the 
 benefit which might be expected from it, but because 
 I knew no one who, after securing the grain to him- 
 self, would leave me more than the husks. Now, 
 however, that you have expressed an inclination to 
 take upon yourself the management of this affair, I 
 am not only rejoiced at your determination, but con-
 
 203 TIIE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 fident that I shall find in you an able assistant, to 
 aid mo thus far in sustaining the weight of govern- 
 ment, by which I am already too much oppressed. 
 
 " If it be God's will that we should pass the winter 
 prosperously, I flatter myself that, with your efficient 
 support, the summer will terminate in a manner still 
 more to our advantage. I beseech that Almighty 
 Being who has hitherto granted us success, although 
 attended with much trouble and difficulty, to cause 
 our just undertaking to triumph, and to crown it with 
 success, to the glory of his holy name, the repose of 
 his church, and the furtherance of our salvation. 
 
 " I would describe to you our condition at length, 
 but my hand is yet stiff with the wound received near 
 Dirschau. Of this much, however, I must inform 
 you, that the enemy, although weak both in cavalry 
 and infantry, has a great advantage over us, since 
 the whole of Germany is before him, to plunder as 
 he pleases. I am assembling my forces close to tho 
 river, with the intention of attacking him speedily, 
 and driving him from his winter- quarters. Yet, 
 although our cause is good and just, the issue of the 
 war, in consequence of our sins, is still uncertain. 
 It is impossible to reckon upon the continuance of 
 the life of any man, and it is for this reason that I 
 now exhort you, by the love of Christ, if any un- 
 toward accident should happen to myself, not to feel 
 disheartened on that account. I conjure you, also, 
 in such a case, to show your regard to my memory 
 by consulting the interests of my family, and to do 
 for me all which it might be your desire that I 
 should do for yourself, under similar circumstances ; 
 which I should assuredly perform, if it were the 
 pleasure of God that I should survive you, and those 
 left behind you should stand in need of my assistance. 
 
 " I reflect at this moment, that I have already 
 sustained the labour of government for the space of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 209 
 
 twenty years, not without many anxieties, but still, 
 God be praised, with some reputation ; cherishing 
 and honouring the constitution, as well as all those 
 who faithfully obey it ; and having for their sakes 
 hazarded my life, and sacrificed my possessions and 
 ease, seeking nothing in this world but properly to 
 fulfil the duties- of my station, and of that condition 
 to which God was pleased that I should be born. If 
 that fate, which is the common lot and portion of 
 humanity, should now be near at hand, my family 
 are well worthy of your compassion, not only for my 
 sake, but from every other consideration. Remember 
 of whom it principally consists an aged mother 
 without a counsellor, a daughter yet in infancy ; both 
 of a sex which demands protection ; unfortunate if 
 they govern themselves ; and in peril if governed by 
 others. The affection natural to a husband and a 
 father, induces me to communicate to you freely my 
 sentiments upon this subject to you, whom I con- 
 sider an instrument granted by God not only to 
 sustain the burden of public business, but also to 
 meet any emergency which may take place, and to 
 regulate affairs nearest my heart of all the concerns 
 of this world. All those, however, I am ready to 
 submit to His holy will" as well as my own life, and 
 everything I possess as the fruit of his goodness, 
 hoping for the best in this stage of existence, and in 
 the next for repose, joy, and eternal salvation, which 
 I beseech Him to grant that you also may experience 
 at his own appointed time and hour. I remain, and 
 shall ever remain during life, your very gracious and 
 affectionate, " GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 " Golnow, 4th Dec. 1630." 
 
 The result of the plan of Gustavus for disturbing 
 the Imperialists in their winter- quarters, alluded to 
 in his letter to Oxenstiern, has been already partly
 
 210 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 seen in the reduction of Greiffenhagen. The long- 
 wished occupation of Gartz followed almost imme- 
 diately afterwards, Schaumberg abandoning that im- 
 portant position. The town, however, according to 
 the usual custom of the Imperialists, was first sacked, 
 and afterwards set on fire ; and the Swedes, on their 
 approach towards it, were met by a miserable multi- 
 tude, composed in great measure of women and chil- 
 dren, flying from the flames which were consuming 
 their habitations, and destitute of provisions or 
 shelter. The little which remained of Gartz uncon- 
 sumed by the fire, was entirely destroyed by a tre- 
 mendous explosion of several barrels of gunpowder, 
 which the Austrian General had left in the town- 
 house, for the purpose of completing its ruin. 
 Schaumberg himself, with his best troops, fell back, 
 vigorously pursued by the Swedish cavalry under 
 Bauditzen, towards Frankfort upon Oder. A con- 
 siderable portion of his army, however, retired in the 
 direction of Landsberg, while others, pouring into the 
 March of Brandenburg, and dispersing over the coun- 
 try, committed such fearful devastations, that the 
 Elector, George William, after issuing a manifesto 
 against them, called upon all his subjects to arm for 
 their mutual defence. The Swedes would have car- 
 ried their pursuit to the walls of Frankfort, and 
 possibly have taken possession of the city, in the 
 general panic of the enemy, had not the governor 
 of the fortress of Custrin closed his gates against 
 them, and thus erected a temporary barrier between 
 the pursuers and the pursued. The results of their 
 late exertions, however, were highly gratifying. 
 Throughout all Pomerania, Colberg, Greifswalde, 
 and Demmin alone remained in the occupation of the 
 troops of the Emperor. Of these, Gustavus was 
 contented to reduce the former by famine, since there 
 was now little chance of an attempt being made for
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU3. 211 
 
 its relief. The siege of Demmin was reserved as one 
 of the principal operations of the ensuing year. 
 
 It may appear surprising that, amidst such suc- 
 cesses on the part of the Swedes, the army of Tilly 
 still remained without making a single effort to im- 
 pede their progress. The inactivity of the veteran 
 general may be accounted for by various reasons. 
 During the continuance of the Diet of Ratisbon, he 
 was restrained by the members of the League from 
 any important operations, since they had not yet de- 
 termined how far the Emperor should be assisted by 
 the resources at their command. It is certain also, 
 that Tilly was well aware of the danger of encoun- 
 tering such a leader as Gustavus Adolphus, of whose 
 abilities he wrote in the highest terms to the Em- 
 peror ; comparing the events of war to a game of 
 chance, and the King of Sweden to a player, of 
 whom, although he himself might gain everything 
 in the contest, nothing could possibly be won. At 
 the same time the revolt of Magdeburg, and the in- 
 surrection excited by the Duke of Saxe Lauenburg, 
 in Lower Saxony, were additional motives for pre- 
 venting him, before he had accurately ascertained the 
 extent of the danger in that quarter, from quitting 
 the frontiers of Hesse. 
 
 Magdeburg, or the Maiden Town, had long been 
 no less distinguished for the antiquity of its origin 
 and the extent of its commerce, than for the almost 
 uninterrupted good-fortune it had experienced for 
 centuries. The inhabitants, who are said to have 
 been converted to Protestantism by the preaching 
 of* Melchior Muzius, in the year 1522, were at all 
 times among the foremost to maintain the interests 
 of that religion, and had the honour of being besieged 
 by the celebrated Maurice of Saxony, in consequence 
 of refusing obedience to the Act of Charles V., gene- 
 
 * Arlanidaeus Arena Suecica. 
 p2
 
 212 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 rally called the Interim. More recently, the city had 
 provoked the enmity of Wallenstein *, by refusing 
 to defray the expenses of raising a regiment of Impe- 
 rialists, and had for some time been blockaded by the 
 Croatians in his service. 
 
 A few weeks after the arrival of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus in Germany, the former Administrator, Christian 
 William, the forfeiture of whose dignity, in conse- 
 quence of his assistance afforded to the King of Den- 
 mark, has been recently noticed, after an interview 
 with the King of Sweden, in which the latter pro- 
 mised to assist him to the best of his power, arrived 
 at Magdeburg in disguise, and entering the town- 
 house with Stallman, the Swedish representative, 
 who had accompanied him on his journey, made him- 
 self known to the magistrates who were seated there 
 in deliberation, and subsequently to the common 
 people. A revolt in his favour, and an open alliance 
 with Sweden, were the immediate consequences. In 
 the excited state of feeling, caused by the harangues 
 of the Administrator, Gustavus was represented as 
 already almost at their gates, to second the citizens 
 in their exertions. The Te Deum was chaunted in 
 the churches : arms were freely distributed to alt 
 who were willing to enrol themselves in the public 
 service ; and the people of Magdeburg, not content 
 with remaining on the defensive till their deliverer 
 should arrive, boldly sallied forth, under the conduct 
 of the Administrator, into the neighbouring districts 
 of Mansfeld and Halle, and, attacking several scat- 
 tered posts of the Imperialists, returned to the town 
 in triumph, and laden with the booty they had ac- 
 quired. Almost simultaneously with this movement, 
 Francis, Duke of Saxe Lauenburg, endeavoured to 
 assemble an army to act along the Elbe, in favour of 
 the King of Sweden. This attempt was principally 
 
 * Bnchelius, lib. iii.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 213 
 
 made in the neighbourhood of Hamburgh and Lu- 
 beck, and was at first attended with some success. 
 Boitzenburg, Lauenburg, and Neuhaus, fell suc- 
 cessively into his hands, and an attempt upon Ratze- 
 burg, the residence of his brother, the Duke Augustus, 
 placed that town at his disposal. Here, however, he 
 was attacked by the Count Pappenheim, commanding 
 under Tilly, at the head of 6000 Imperialists, and 
 compelled to surrender at discretion. With his cap- 
 ture ended all hopes of a successful issue to the revolt; 
 and Pappenheim, after clearing the banks of the Elbe 
 of his adherents, and placing a strong guard at the 
 bridge of Dessau, to hinder all relief from approach- 
 ing Magdeburg in that direction, commenced a series 
 of attacks upon the advanced posts round the city, 
 with the intention of compelling their defenders to 
 take refuge within the walls and closely besetting it 
 on all sides. 
 
 The officer above-mentioned was, of all the leaders 
 in the Imperial service, the most remarkable for his 
 chivalrous bravery, and for his reckless exposure of 
 his person in action. Gustavus Adolphus, when 
 jocularly discoursing of the principal generals whom 
 it had been his fortune to encounter in Germany, 
 used to distinguish Tilly by the title of " the old 
 corporal." Wallenstein, he designated as " the mad- 
 man ;" while upon Pappenheim, he bestowed the 
 title of " the soldier," in allusion to his impetuous 
 valour, in the exercise of which he often forgot the 
 more important duties of the commander. He was 
 descended from a noble family, from which he 
 inherited at his birth, the dignity of Grand Marshal 
 of the Empire, and had, on many occasions since the 
 commencement of the Thirty Years' War, attracted 
 attention by his zeal in the service of the House of 
 Austria. The service on which he was now em- 
 ployed could not have been entrusted to better hands,
 
 214 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and the people of Magdeburg, who beheld one posi- 
 tion after another carried by his furious assaults, 
 began to make preparations for sustaining with con- 
 stancy the regular siege which they plainly saw to 
 be at hand. Their efforts were now somewhat more 
 scientifically conducted than at first, under the direc- 
 tion of Count Falkenberg, whom the king of Sweden, 
 although lie scrupled not to express his opinion that 
 the revolt was premature, had despatched to their 
 assistance. By his advice the fortifications were 
 strengthened, the burgher guards regularly assigned 
 to their respective posts, and such a quantity of pro- 
 visions brought into the public storehouses, as, what- 
 ever might be the result of the open force of the 
 enemy, at least placed Magdeburg beyond the pro- 
 bability of being speedily reduced by famine. 
 
 According to their usual practice, the historians of 
 that day have mentioned several portentous warnings, 
 which not obscurely intimated to the devoted city 
 the result of the struggle into which it had thus 
 fearlessly plunged. On the 6th of December*, a 
 tremendous hurricane, commencing at sunset, swept 
 over Magdeburg and its vicinity with such violence, 
 that several houses and mills were speedily laid in 
 ruins. Count Falkenberg was blown from his horse, 
 and dashed to the ground with such violence as to be 
 severely injured by the fall. The church of St. John 
 was almost entirely thrown down ; those of St. Anne, 
 St. Gertrude, and St. Catherine, materially injured, 
 and a great part of the town- wall precipitated into 
 the fosse below. Shortly after this occurrence, the 
 inhabitants were startled at midnight by a sound 
 resembling the explosion of heavy artillery, and ap- 
 pearing to proceed from a white cloud in the heavens, 
 which was slowly and distinctly repeated more than 
 
 * Bisaccioni. According to the author of the Anna Suecica, 
 this tempest took place on the 29th of November.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 215 
 
 a hundred times at regular intervals. A far more 
 ominous sign, however, of the danger to which they 
 were exposed, than warnings either from the earth or 
 the skies, was the investment of Count Tilly with 
 the full authority of Generalissimo in the Imperial 
 service, and his proceeding to summon various detach- 
 ments stationed in different quarters of the Empire to 
 effect a junction with the troops of the League under 
 his command. As soon as these had arrived, he 
 broke up from his quarters on the confines of Hesse ; 
 and the result of his approach was soon observed by 
 the burghers of Magdeburg, in the closer gathering 
 of the Imperial eagles around their city ; clearly indi- 
 cating that its investment was now completed, and 
 that no alternative remained between a speedy sur- 
 render, or a resolute defence of their walls. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Assembly of the Protestant Spates at Leipzig, convoked by the 
 Elector of Saxony Conclusions of the Diet Treaty between 
 Gustavus Adolphus and Louis XIII. Demmin besieged by the 
 Swedes Feeble resistance of its Governor, the Duke of Savelli 
 Surrender of Demmin Tilly advances towards Mecklenburg 
 His cruelty at Neu Brandenburg Returns to Magdeburg 
 The Swedes advance to Frankfort on the Oder, which is carried 
 by Assault Terrible Carnage among the Imperialists within the 
 Town The King of Sweden reduces Lansberg, and prepares to 
 march to the relief of Magdeburg He demands the Fortresses 
 of Custrin and Span da u from the Elector of Brandenburg 
 Hesitation of the Elector, which is at length overcome by the 
 entreaties of Gustavus The Swedes advance to Potzdam The 
 Elector of Saxony denies them a passage over the Elbe by the 
 Bridge of Wittemberg They are prevented from relieving 
 Magdeburg in consequence. 
 
 THE rapid progress of the Swedish arms in Pomerania 
 had by this time excited the Protestant states of 
 Germany to an attempt at deriving some advantage 
 from the perplexity and confusion in which the affairs
 
 216 THE LIFE OP GUSTAYUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of the Emperor were involved, while it appeared to 
 justify them in assuming a more commanding atti- 
 tude than any in which they had dared to place 
 themselves, for a long course of years, during which 
 the Imperial troops had been uniformly successful. 
 
 John George, Elector of Saxony, who had on 
 former occasions strenuously defended the cause of 
 Ferdinand in opposition to those of his own religion; 
 who had even appeared in arms to suppress various 
 movements in favour of the king of Bohemia, and 
 executed his adherents without mercy as traitors, 
 whenever they fell into his hands, was now the most 
 active agent in fomenting the spirit of disaffection, 
 and in affording facilities for its exercise, to the detri- 
 ment of the Emperor. The Elector was a man of 
 gross habits of intemperance, and of rude and un- 
 polished manners ; but, whenever his faculties were 
 unclouded by his excesses, by no means destitute of 
 that low and selfish cunning, which is often found to 
 accompany a disposition prone to sensual indulgence. 
 His dispute with the Emperor on account of the 
 diocese of Magdeburg has been already more than 
 once alluded to, and while sullenly brooding over this 
 affront, it was his fortune to meet with a counsellor, 
 in every wayqualified, both by inclination and ability, 
 to fan his suppressed indignation to an open flame. 
 Arnheim, once Field Marshal to Wallenstcin, but 
 who since his disgrace had passed into the service of 
 the Elector of Saxony, was influenced by a strong 
 desire of avenging the fall of his master upon the Em- 
 peror, andimagined he had found, in the Saxon prince, a 
 fitting instrument forhis purpose. By his advice, John 
 George first publicly disclaimed the consent given by 
 his ambassador to the Diet of Composition, which he 
 affirmed had been expressed without his authority, 
 and next proceeded to summon a General Assembly 
 of Representatives of the Protestant States at Leipzig,
 
 TIIE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 217 
 
 which he appointed to meet on the 6th of February, 
 1631. He had previously obtained the approbation 
 of a Convention of the Estates of his own Electorate 
 at Torgau to the meeting, and had secured the influ- 
 ence of the Elector of Brandenburg, to second his 
 views at a personal conference at Annaberg. It was 
 in vain that the Emperor by his rescripts endeavoured 
 to prevent this assembly, which he represented as 
 contrary to the fundamental laws of the Germanic 
 constitution. The Elector replied by quoting the 
 Recess of 1555, by which it was enacted, that in the 
 case of any flagrant violation of their public rights, 
 the several States should have power to assemble 
 themselves for the purpose of remonstrating against 
 it, or of adopting such measures as should appear 
 best to secure their liberties, if their remonstrances 
 were unattended with a beneficial effect. 
 
 Although John George, in pursuing this line of 
 conduct, was influenced merely by self-interested 
 motives, hoping that, without either affording direct 
 assistance to the King of Sweden, or openly revolting 
 on his own account from the Emperor, he might 
 contrive to hold the balance between the two parties, 
 and ensure a solid advantage to himself during the 
 impending struggle, it was evident, that the cause of 
 Gustavus must be materially benefitted by this new 
 ground of anxiety afforded to the counsellors of 
 Ferdinand, and the disheartening effect it would 
 naturally have upon his partisans. His position was 
 at the same time rendered yet more imposing by a 
 public alliance with France, negotiated after many 
 altercations on points of inferior importance, by 
 Charnace, and finally accepted by Richelieu. The 
 principal grounds of difference consisted in the refusal 
 of the ministers of Louis to confer the title of His 
 Majesty upon the King of Sweden ; while the latter, 
 on his part, gave serious cause of offence to the French
 
 218 THE LIFE OP GTTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Ambassador, by insisting upon his right of retaliating 
 upon the Catholics in Germany, if he should deem it 
 expedient, all the injuries they had inflicted upon the 
 Protestants, as the most effectual means of suppressing 
 the persecuting spirit in which they had so long 
 indulged. The dispute was for some time so animated, 
 as to threaten an open rupture between the two 
 powers ; but, by the exercise of mutual concession, 
 Gustavus was at length honoured with the title for 
 which he had contended, and the French, by an 
 express clause stipulating that the Catholics should 
 be unmolested by the Swedes in the exercise of their 
 religion throughout every part of the Empire, saved 
 from the scandal of aiding an heretical monarch in 
 the forcible suppression of their own faith. After 
 these preliminary difficulties had been surmounted, 
 the treaty was formally signed at Bernwalde, in the 
 new March of Brandenburg, by Generals Horn and 
 Banner, as plenipotentiaries of Sweden, and Charnace 
 on the part of France. The King of Sweden under- 
 took to keep constantly on foot, as long as the war 
 should continue in Germany, an army of not less than 
 30,000 foot, and 6,000 horse. France, on her part, 
 promised to furnish her ally with a subsidy of 
 400,000 rix-dollars, of which 40,000 were to be 
 advanced on the day of the signature of the treaty, 
 and the remainder furnished by two separate pay- 
 ments, either at Paris or Amsterdam, in the course of 
 the year. The liberty of remaining neutral during 
 the contest, was stipulated for the Duke of Bavaria 
 and the Catholic League ; and any of the remaining 
 princes or states of the Empire, who might wish to 
 avail themselves of the privilege, were freely to be 
 admitted as parties to the treaty. The attention of 
 the king, however, was not diverted for a moment 
 by these negotiations from the important military 
 enterprises which he had resolved upon carrying into
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 219 
 
 effect, while the army of Tilly was yet distant, and 
 before the Imperialists in his vicinity had recovered 
 from the effects of their recent defeats. One division 
 of his army was left witli Horn, to check any advance 
 of the enemy from the direction of Lansberg. With 
 the rest he hastened through the march of Branden- 
 burg, and after receiving the submission of Neu 
 Brandenburg and Treptow, and taking Loitz by sur- 
 prise, prepared, in the midst of an intense frost, to 
 commence the siege of Demmin. 
 
 As this town was commanded by the Duke of 
 Savelli in person, strongly fortified and provided with 
 all necessaries for sustaining a siege, it was expected 
 by the Imperialists to detain the Swedes, until Tilly 
 should be able to march to its relief. Tilly himself 
 had written to the Duke, earnestly entreating him to 
 hold out but for fifteen days ; and all who were 
 acquainted with the resources at his command were 
 aware that he might continue his defence for a much 
 longer period. The trenches were opened on the 
 12th of February, although the ground was so deeply 
 frozen, that the soldiers found the greatest difficulty 
 in making use of their tools, and the Swedish batteries, 
 planted on the neighbouring heights, at the same 
 time commenced a heavy fire, which was instantly 
 answered with no less vigour by the besieged. In 
 this siege, the king again narrowly escaped falling a 
 victim to his too great forwardness. In passing over 
 a morass, with the view of reconnoitring the works 
 mor.e closely, the ice gave way beneath him, and 
 before he could extricate himself, more than a 
 thousand musket shots were fired at him from the 
 rampart, although without taking 'effect*. Encou- 
 raged by his presence, and wishing to distinguish 
 themselves in the eyes of their sovereign, the Swedes 
 pressed their attacks with so much vigour, that the 
 * Monro's Second Expedition,
 
 220 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 most important outworks were won on the second 
 Jay of the siege. A fort, occupied by eight com- 
 panies of the regiment of Hoik, was carried by Todt, 
 at the head of 2,000 infantry from Stralsund, while 
 Baron Teuffel at the same time made himself master 
 of a half-moon, close upon the main fortifications. 
 Immediately after these successes, the besiegers were 
 astonished at hearing a parley beat by the garrison. 
 They could scarcely believe, that, while the principal 
 defences remained uninjured by their fire, and before 
 a summons to surrender had been sent to the Italian 
 General, he would deliver the strong fortress which 
 he commanded into their hands. Such, however, 
 was the case. Savelli, fearful of the consequences of 
 an assault, thought it best to ensure his own safety 
 at the earliest opportunity. He was allowed to 
 march out of Demmin with all the honours of war, 
 and ostentatiously defiled with his army the next 
 day before Gustavus, who politely desired him to 
 carry his respects to the Emperor, and to inform him 
 that, notwithstanding the war in which he was en- 
 gaged, he was perfectly free from entertaining towards 
 him any feelings of personal hostility. The king 
 could not, however, avoid at the same time making 
 some remarks aside to his officers, upon the flagrant 
 cowardice shown by Savelli, and his forgetfulness of 
 the interests of his master, in his anxiety to place 
 his own person out of danger. Among the articles 
 removed from Demmin according to the capitulation, 
 was the baggage of Quinti del Ponte, and a large 
 sum which he had received from Torquato Conti as 
 the reward of his former treachery. Some of the 
 attendants of the king informed him of this fact, and 
 urged that, as Del Ponte was a convicted traitor, as 
 well as a deserter from his army, there could be no 
 impropriety in seizing his effects. The king, however, 
 received the proposal with indignation : " I have
 
 THE LIFE OF GtTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 221 
 
 given my word," he said, " for the security of all 
 personal property, and' no one shall reproach me with 
 failing to fulfil it in a single particular." 
 
 If the timidity of Savelli had not precipitated the 
 surrender of Demmin, the Swedes would certainly not 
 have been undisturbed in their attempts to possess it. 
 Tilly, after leaving a sufficient force with Pappenheim, 
 to confine the people of Magdeburg within their walls, 
 had in the meantime directed his march towards 
 Frankfort on the Oder, where he arrived with 
 20,000 men in the early part of February. He then 
 received the remainder of the army of Schaumberg, 
 and leaving 500 men in Frankfort, turned towards 
 the Duchy of Mecklenburg by the way of Alt Bran- 
 denburg, Nauen and Ruppin, resolved to hazard a 
 general battle for the relief of Demmin. The unex- 
 pected surrender of that town at once frustrated his 
 plan. He received the news with bitter exclamations 
 of indignation against the cowardice of Savelli, and 
 sent a letter of accusation to the Emperor, in which 
 he requested that orders might be given for his 
 immediate arrest ; after which, still hoping to induce 
 the Swedes to venture upon a battle, he pursued his 
 march towards Neu Brandenburg, passing in his way 
 not more than the distance of a league from the 
 fortified camp of Gustavus near Passwalk. It was 
 no intention of the king, however, to fight at present, 
 and imagining that Tilly would naturally lay siege 
 to Neu Brandenburg, to provoke him to quit his 
 position, he sent orders to Major Kniphausen, who 
 commanded in the town, to withdraw the garrison, 
 which amounted to somewhat more than 2000 men, 
 including six companies of Lord Reay's regiment, 
 under Lieutenant- colonel Lindsay, and join him 
 immediately, before he should be invested by the 
 Imperialists. This despatch never reached Xeu 
 Brandenburg ; and Kniphausen, imagining it was the
 
 222 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPI1US. 
 
 king's intention that he should maintain himself at 
 all hazards, prepared to defend the town to the last 
 extremity. Tilly, after putting to the sword a 
 Swedish post at Feldsberg, soon afterwards presented 
 himself before the walls, and summoned the com- 
 mander to surrender in due form. Kniphausen 
 returned a resolute answer, and though only able to 
 answer the artillery of the besiegers with a fire of 
 musketry, and a few light field-pieces, repulsed 
 several successive assaults with success. 
 
 But his men, worn out with watching and fatigue, 
 were at length unable to sustain the uninterrupted 
 efforts of the enemy. The Imperialists, headed by 
 Count Montecuculi, afterwards the famous opponent 
 of Turenne, after effecting a practicable breach, 
 poured into the place with irresistible impetuosity ; 
 and though the besieged beat a parley, it was utterly 
 disregarded by the victors in the transports of their 
 fury, heightened by the intoxication of success. 
 Every living being in Neu Brandenburg the peace- 
 ful inhabitants as well as the armed garrison of the 
 town was put to the sword without mercy, with 
 the exception of about sixty persons of both sexes, 
 who took refuge in the town-house, and obtained 
 quarter after the conquerors had been sated with 
 destruction. This, however, was the only advantage 
 gained by Tilly in his march towards Mecklenburg. 
 Colberg, which had been blockaded by the Swedish 
 Colonel Todt for the last five months, surrendered in 
 despair of relief; and the Imperial commander, find- 
 ing that the army of Gustavus was too strongly 
 posted to justify him in an attack upon his entrench- 
 ments, retired again to Ruppin, from whence, after 
 sending 6000 men to garrison Frankfort, and 5000 
 to Lansberg, he proceeded to join Pappenheim before 
 Magdeburg, hoping to reduce that city before any 
 important movement could be made by the Swedes,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 223 
 
 whom he suspected from certain demonstrations 
 made purposely to deceive him to be still intent upon 
 penetrating into Mecklenburg ; and whom he hoped 
 to allure, by his temporary absence, to advance so 
 far from their stronghold at Stettin into that duchy, 
 as to enable him to throw his army upon their rear, 
 and preclude their return by any other means than 
 by a signal victory over his forces. 
 
 From the operations of the contending armies in 
 Mecklenburg, and the neighbouring country, it is 
 necessary to turn to the proceedings of the Diet of 
 Leipzig, which had now drawn up its famous Con- 
 clusions, and was preparing to carry them into effect. 
 In addition to the Electors of Saxony and Branden- 
 burg, the records of this assembly contained the 
 names of two Dukes of Saxe Weimar, Christian 
 Margrave of Brandenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, 
 the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, the Prince of An- 
 halt, the Count of Solmes, two Counts of Mansfeld, 
 Adolphus Frederic and John Albert, the deposed 
 Dukes of Mecklenburg and the Dukes of Brunswick 
 and Lunenburg. Several princes of the circles 
 of Suabia and Franconia, although not personally 
 present, were represented by their respective de- 
 puties, as well as the cities and towns of Nurem- 
 berg, Strasburg, Frankfort, Lubeck, Bremen, Hil- 
 desheim, and Mulhausen*. During the whole 
 of their deliberations, which continued from the 
 8th of February to the 5th of March, Leipzig pre- 
 sented the appearance of a city in expectation of 
 a sudden assault. Barriers were erected, and chains 
 suspended across the principal streets, the gates were 
 watched by numerous guards, and their keys brought 
 every night with great parade to the chamber of the 
 Elector of Saxony. Notwithstanding this appear- 
 ance of apprehension, however, the resolves of the 
 assembly were characterised by singular boldness 
 * Swedish Intelligencer. Part I.
 
 224 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and freedom. The conduct of the Emperor since 
 his accession, and his many tyrannical actions to- 
 wards the Protestants, were commented upon with 
 the greatest severity; and more especially his inor- 
 dinate ambition and avarice, displayed in the seques- 
 tration to his own use of the possessions of the nobles 
 and princes who had at various times advocated the 
 cause of the Elector Palatine. The Edict of Resti- 
 tution was not forgotten, and came in for its full 
 share of public reprobation. At the same time, the 
 continued violence and cruelty of the Imperial armies 
 the old and deserved subjects of complaint, were 
 set forth in the strongest oratory. In enlarging 
 upon these reasons for discontent, the Lutheran and 
 Calvinist parties at length forgot their private ani- 
 mosities. It was agreed that both persuasions should 
 from henceforth be known only by the common name 
 of the Evangelical Religion ; and under this title 
 they agreed to raise, for their mutual defence, a force 
 of 40,000 men, to be furnished in proportionate con- 
 tingents by the several states represented at the Diet. 
 It was further determined, that the Catholic Electors 
 should be invited to enter upon a treaty for restoring 
 that state of friendship and confidence which had 
 existed between Catholics and Protestants in former 
 times, and humbly supplicated to lend the assist- 
 ance of their interest in inducing the Emperor to 
 amend those grievances which had been imposed upon 
 them, contrary to his own oath, the Imperial laws, 
 the privileges of the German princes,, and the honour 
 and safety of the Empire. Although Gustavus had 
 written to the Diet after the capture of Demmin, and 
 sent his historian Chemnitz to acquaint them with 
 the event, and of his resolution not to consent to any 
 peace with the Emperor until the Protestants under 
 his dominion were restored to the full enjoyment of 
 their former privileges, hoping by this step to draw
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 225 
 
 some declaration from the Diet in his favour, no 
 notice whatever was taken of the war then raging in 
 the North of Germany in their resolutions. The 
 Elector of Saxony took upon himself to communicate 
 the result of the meeting to Ferdinand ; and after a 
 solemn religious service, the several princes and 
 representatives who had composed it dispersed for 
 the purpose of immediately exerting themselves to 
 raise the levies which had been just decreed. 
 
 On the very day on which the Conclusions of 
 Leipzig were signed, the Protestants assembled re- 
 ceived an additional incentive to persevere in their 
 resolutions by the fall of Frankfort on the Oder. As 
 soon as Tilly had commenced his retreat from Meck- 
 lenburg, the King of Sweden, who had long been 
 making preparations for a very different expedition, 
 while he amused the Imperialists by concentrating 
 his troops round Passwalk, as if on the point of 
 acting in that direction, embarked his heavy artillery 
 upon the Oder, commanding at the same time a 
 floating bridge, which had been constructed for keep- 
 ing up the communication between the Swedish 
 corps stationed on both sides of the river, to be towed 
 up the stream ; and rapidly remounting the left bank, 
 while Horn, with the force under his command, kept 
 pace with him on the right, came in sight of Frank- 
 fort on the 27th of March. The place itself was but 
 weakly fortified, but the presence of Count Schaum- 
 berg, and a garrison of not less than 7,000 Impe- 
 rialists, the flower of Tilly's army, rendered its 
 reduction no very light undertaking. On the first 
 news of the approach of the Swedes, Schaumberg 
 proceeded to station advanced parties of musketeers 
 in the vineyards surrounding the town, and to make 
 such additions to the works as the time permitted. 
 The main ditcb was deepened, and stockades erected 
 at several weak points, filled with his choicest troops.
 
 226 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Thus prepared, and encouraged by the presence of 
 Field-Marshal Tieffenbach, one of the best officers in 
 the Imperial army, who had been expressly sent to 
 take a part in the command, he doubted not to keep 
 the Swedes in check until Tilly should march to 
 relieve him ; or at least to compel the enemy to go 
 through the forms of a regular siege before effecting 
 his retreat from Frankfort, a course at all times open 
 to him in case of necessity, by means of the bridge 
 over the Oder in his rear. 
 
 Three days were spent in hot skirmishes upon the 
 surrounding heights and among the ruins of the 
 suburbs, which the Imperialists had thrown down, 
 that they might afford as little shelter as possible to 
 the assailants ; but, as might be expected from the 
 inequality of the numbers engaged, the Swedes con- 
 tinued, notwithstanding an obstinate resistance, and 
 some damage received from the fire of a sheltered 
 enemy, gradually to gain ground. On the evening 
 of the 29th, they had established themselves along 
 the whole site of the ruined suburbs, and commenced 
 working at their trenches, in a great measure covered 
 by their position from the cannon of the town, by 
 which they had hitherto been annoyed. The king 
 then directed a battery of twelve guns to be erected 
 against the gate of Guben, which the Imperialists, as 
 soon as it was finished, made a resolute attempt to 
 carry. They were, however, driven back into their 
 works with considerable loss ; while, at the same 
 time, the Swedes gained a churchyard close to the 
 gate*, from which they maintained so heavy a fire 
 of musketry as to overawe the Imperialists from 
 attempting a second sally in that quarter. 
 
 On Sunday the 3d of April, the Swedish army was 
 engaged, during the morning, in a solemn service, 
 which the king directed to be publicly performed, 
 
 Monro. Second Expedition.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 227 
 
 for the success of the assault he was meditating. The 
 Imperialists, finding that the fire of their opponents 
 had ceased, began to entertain hopes that they had 
 abandoned their enterprise as hopeless, and were pre- 
 paring to raise the siege. They consequently amused 
 themselves with bestowing the most bitter sarcasms 
 upon the Swedish soldiers within hearing, and taunt- 
 ingly asked whether they had yet eaten up all their 
 leathern cannon from hunger*, lowering at the same 
 time a wild goose, suspended from a pike, over the 
 ramparts, as a hint that it was time for their adver- 
 saries, like those birds of passage, to think of retiring 
 northward with the approach of spring ; an insult 
 which was sternly listened to, and too well remem- 
 bered in the attack about to take place. Shortly 
 after mid-day, the king commanded Banner and 
 Hepburn, with the Scottish brigade, to hold them- 
 selves in readiness for immediate service ; and per- 
 ceiving that several of the officers, from an ostenta- 
 tious courage, had omitted to put on their cuirasses, 
 he requested them not to expose themselves without 
 their armour, saying, " I hold him to possess no 
 friendship for myself who neglects his own safety, for 
 who are to lead my soldiers if their commanders are 
 disabled ?" The blue and yellow brigades were des- 
 tined to a separate attack, and the whole appointed 
 to move forward after a general discharge of all the 
 cannon mounted against the town. 
 
 On the given signal, the columns under Banner 
 and Hepburn rushed out of the trenches ; and after 
 passing the fosse up to their waists in water, and 
 hewing down a strong palisade planted along the 
 brink, placed their ladders against the rampart, and 
 began to ascend under a scattered fire from the 
 Imperialists, who at first made but a feeble defence, 
 astonished at the suddenness of the assault, and not 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer. Part I. 
 4 2
 
 228 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHITS. 
 
 having received orders for assembling at any given 
 point in case of alarm. The assailants, having made 
 themselves master of the outer wall, rushed on to 
 attack a large gate communicating with the streets of 
 the town, which was blown open by petards hastily 
 affixed to the valves. A severe loss was inflicted 
 upon the assailants at this point, since the Imperial- 
 ists had gained time to plant two field-pieces and a 
 body of musketeers at the entry, and swept away 
 whole ranks of the Scots on their first attempt to 
 force a passage. But before they had time to re-load, 
 Colonels Lumsdell and Monro, at the head of their 
 pikemen, charged with such effect, that the Impe- 
 rialists gave way, and hastily retired into the town, 
 omitting to drop the inner portcullis behind them. 
 Banner, with his division, followed closely after, and 
 sending several bodies of his men in close order up 
 the several streets, drove the enemy before him in 
 confusion wherever they attempted to rally. The 
 gate of Guben was then opened, and Bauditzen 
 entering with the whole of his cavalry, the Impe- 
 rialists, thinking further resistance hopeless, threw 
 down their arms, and made in all haste for the bridge 
 across the Oder. The attack made upon the other 
 quarter was equally successful, although the blue and 
 yellow brigades, on their first entry into the town, 
 met with a desperate and protracted resistance from 
 the Irish regiment under Colonel "Walter Butler; 
 who, after their commander was wounded and taken 
 prisoner, were almost all slain upon the spot, dis- 
 daining to ask for quarter, or despairing of receiving 
 it. During the Heat of the conflict, the Imperialists 
 had several times attempted to beat a parley ; but 
 either their drums were unheard amidst the unearthly 
 tumult which prevailed, or the Swedes, remembering 
 the late cruelty of Tilly on a similar occasion, were 
 determined to pay no regard to the signal. Little
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 229 
 
 mercy indeed was shown to any wearing the costume 
 of an enemy, the assailants replying with shouts of 
 " Neu Brandenburg quarter !" to every offer of sur- 
 render, unless accompanied by an appeal to the 
 avarice of the soldier strong enough to induce him to 
 forego his desire of vengeance. The streets were 
 choked with the bodies of the slain, and the passage 
 to the bridge rendered impassable by the numbers 
 who had perished there while endeavouring to escape 
 across it. A strong redoubt, built at its farther 
 extremity, was the means of saving Schaumberg and 
 Tieffenbach, with those of the Imperialists who had 
 retired in time from the scene of carnage. The officer 
 who commanded at this post, as soon as he saw the 
 Swedes mingled with the fugitives on the other side, 
 and preparing to cross the bridge after them, checked 
 their further advance by a well directed cannonade 
 from the redoubt, under which he contrived to set 
 fire to the wood-work of the structure ; and as soon 
 as he saw it enveloped in flames, after throwinghis 
 guns into the river, retired in good order with his 
 men to Glogau in Silesia, where he joined the 
 remaining wrecks of the garrison. During the whole 
 of the ensuing night, the Swedes were engaged in 
 plunder ; and as an immense number of waggons, 
 heavily laden, had been left by the Imperialists 
 standing in the streets, the booty they thus acquired 
 was far from inconsiderable. It was impossible to 
 save the town itself from a similar pillage ; but it is 
 recorded, to the credit of the victors, who on this, as 
 well as on other occasions, showed a very different 
 spirit from their enemies, that only one unarmed 
 inhabitant was slain in the affray ; and that, with 
 this exception, not a single individual had to com- 
 plain of sustaining any personal violence. A fire 
 broke out in the night, which, after consuming six- 
 teen houses, and appearing likely to destroy Frank-
 
 230 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 fort to its foundations, was checked by the exertions 
 of the king, who hastened from post to post with his 
 drawn sword in his hand, threatening instant death 
 to all who disobeyed the summons beating to recal 
 them to their colours. It was not until the next 
 morning, however, that the confusion was at length 
 quelled, and the conquerors at liberty to estimate the 
 advantages they had gained by their resolution. 
 Eighty pieces of cannon, two of them of extraor- 
 dinary size, and marked with the arms of the Empe- 
 ror Rudolph, 900 quintals of powder, 1,200 quintals 
 of lead, 700 quintals of match, 1,000 large cannon- 
 shot, and 24 stand of colours, with a vast quantity 
 of arms, were among the more substantial fruits of 
 the victory. Nearly 4,000 Imperialists lay slain in 
 the place, and 800, chiefly officers, had been made 
 prisoners. Such was what Monro terms the " Intak- 
 ing of Frankfort on the Oder." 
 
 The King of Sweden was in hopes that this signal 
 success would have the effect of inducing the Elector 
 of Saxony, and the Protestants still assembled at 
 Leipzig, at once to declare in his cause. Chemnitz, 
 his representative at the Convention, was accordingly 
 directed to urge anew the advantages of prompt alli- 
 ance with his sovereign, while Charnace, who had 
 been commissioned by Richelieu to attend the Diet 
 to effect the same object, seconded his arguments to 
 the best of his ability. John George, however, not- 
 withstanding every effort to gain him over to the 
 cause of the Swedes, continued to profess a strict 
 neutrality, and his reasons were satisfactory enough, 
 if his own interest had been the only object in ques- 
 tion. He asserted that as long as he refrained from 
 open war, his friendship with the Emperor might be 
 preserved, by the strong influence he possessed in 
 Germany, and the power he possessed of throwing 
 embarrassments into the way of Ferdinand, when-
 
 THE LIFE OF GDSTAVUS ADOLPJIUS. 231 
 
 ever he pleased ; while the king of Sweden, after 
 embroiling him in a contest with the Empire, might, 
 if his interests required it, return to Sweden at once, 
 and leave him to extricate himself as he could from 
 the difficulties into which he had been plunged. To 
 compensate, however, for the inactivity of the Elector 
 of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse and the Duke of 
 Lunenburg, with several of the inferior Protestant 
 princes, sent secret assurances to the king, that they 
 were only waiting for his further advance into Ger- 
 many to declare openly in his favour, and to join him 
 with all the troops they could muster. 
 
 While the king was on his march towards Frank- 
 fort, intelligence had been hastily sent to inform 
 Tilly of his probable design, and to urge the import- 
 ance of an immediate attempt at a diversion. The 
 Imperialist hastily retraced his steps at the receipt of 
 this information, but received at Alt Brandenburg 
 the news of the fall of the city he had intended to 
 relieve. He, therefore, a second time returned to the 
 vicinity of Magdeburg, hoping, by continuing the 
 siege he had commenced, to prevent Gustavus from 
 penetrating farther into the Empire, and to compel 
 him, for the preservation of a place of such import- 
 ance, to deliver the long-expected battle, which, if 
 decided in his favour, he hoped would finish the war 
 at a blow. 
 
 The Swedes were by this time engaged in the 
 reduction of Lansberg, the only object of moment 
 which Gustavus thought it expedient to effect, before 
 marching in the direction where Tilly was expecting 
 his approach. As he was well aware of the import- 
 ance of succouring Magdeburg immediately, he was 
 the more active in pressing his attacks, which were 
 carried on with such vigour, that Lansberg, although 
 resolutely defended by Colonel Cratz, and occupied 
 by a garrison of 3,000 select troops, capitulated four
 
 232 THE LIFE OF GUSTATUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 days after the commencement of the siege. The 
 garrison were allowed to march out with the honours 
 of war, and escorted with their baggage as far as 
 Great Glogau. The king then returned with haste 
 to Frankfort, and prepared instantly to set forward 
 for the relief of Magdeburg, with all the disposable 
 forces at his command. 
 
 On the 1st of May he arrived in the vicinity of 
 Coepnick, with ten regiments of infantry and all his 
 cavalry, where he established his camp, and received 
 several expected reinforcements. From his head- 
 quarters at this place he sent forward Count Orten- 
 burg to Berlin, to request the Elector of Branden- 
 burg to afford him a free passage through his domi- 
 nions, and to suffer the forts of Custrin and Spandau 
 to be garrisoned for a short time by the Swedes, 
 faithfully promising to restore them at his return. 
 The possession of these fortresses was absolutely 
 necessary, before he could march with safety to the 
 deliverance of Magdeburg. Gustavus was fully 
 aware that the Imperialists were fast rallying in 
 Silesia, and daily expected the approach of the army 
 of Gallas and Altringer, which Ferdinand some time 
 since had hastily summoned from Italy. If these 
 forces should unite, and occupy the strongholds of 
 Brandenburg in his rear, while he was advancing 
 towards the Elbe, his destruction would be inevitable. 
 He therefore expressed his hope that the elector 
 would comply with a request which was dictated by 
 absolute necessity, and further furnish him with a 
 month's pay and provision for his troops ; in return 
 for which, he undertook to observe the strictest disci- 
 pline on his march, and carefully to refrain from 
 injuring the property of the inhabitants of the coun- 
 try. The elector, unmoved by the earnestness of his 
 appeal, refused to listen to the Swedish envoy, as 
 well as to the representations of Marshal Horn, who
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 233 
 
 was sent the next day to repeat the request. The 
 king, therefore, as a last alternative, set out inpgrson 
 with a division of his army, and arriving in the 
 vicinity of Berlin, sent to request an interview with 
 the elector. The meeting took place in a neighbour- 
 ing wood, in which George William found the 
 Swedes, to the number of a thousand infantry and 
 six cornets of cavalry, drawn up in order, with four 
 pieces of cannon in their front*. The king, on his 
 appearance, briefly but forcibly again stated hid 
 demand. " I have," he said, " forced the Imperial- 
 ists to quit the best part of your dominions, and I 
 trust to have it in my power to prevent their return. 
 This service of mine deserves at least some gratitude 
 on your part. Your subjects will have no reason to 
 complain of my troops. They will never see those 
 horrors renewed, which they have been compelled to 
 witness while under the dominion of the enemy. If 
 Magdeburg falls, however, all is lost. The Impe- 
 rialists will return flushed with greater insolence 
 than ever. They will recover the confidence they 
 have now lost by so many successive defeats. Tilly 
 will deliver himself to all the fury of his bigotry, and 
 the soldiers of the League will be its willing instru- 
 mentst." 
 
 The words of Gustavus had at first as little effect 
 as the previous representations of his deputies. The 
 elector continued firm in his resolution, and deaf to 
 all the arguments used to induce him to change it. 
 The King of Sweden was on the point of returning 
 to his camp in despair, when he was requested by the 
 Dowager Electress Palatine, who, with the principal 
 members of his court, had attended the elector to the 
 spot, to honour Berlin with a visit before his depar- 
 ture. Gustavus, thinking that an opportunity might 
 yet occur of altering the determination of his brother- 
 
 * Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg. f Mauvillon.
 
 234 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 in-law, at once acceded to the request. A splendid 
 banquet was given the next day to celebrate his pre- 
 sence, and at a moment when the influence of hilarity 
 sometimes opens the heart of the most selfish to a 
 transient feeling of generosity, he for the last time 
 attempted to move the elector to a resolution in his 
 favour. " I advance," he said, to John Albert of 
 Mecklenburg, in a voice loud enough to be heard by 
 the whole assembly, "for the relief of Magdeburg; 
 not that my own advantage is concerned in its 
 deliverance, but since its destruction must involve the 
 ruin of the whole Protestant cause. If unassisted in 
 my attempt, I shall instantly return. I wash my 
 hands of all the consequences which may follow. I 
 shall offer peace to the Emperor, who will be but too 
 happy to grant any terms I may demand, and retire 
 with my forces to Stockholm. As for the Protest- 
 ants of Germany, I leave them to answer to God for 
 their reluctance to exert themselves in the cause of 
 the Evangelic Religion. Magdeburg lost, and the 
 Swedes no longer present to act as your allies, you 
 may extricate yourselves as you can by your own 
 efforts from the difficulties which will then surround 
 you*." The elector, who had been thoughtful and 
 absent during the greater part of the repast, returned 
 no immediate reply to this address ; but a night of 
 meditation upon it, and the advice of some of his 
 counsellors in the Swedish interests, at length effected 
 the change in his sentiments of which the king had 
 now given up all expectation. On the next morning 
 he sent word that he was willing to intrust Spandau 
 to the Swedes for the space of a month, and afford 
 them the facilities they had desired for their passage 
 through his country. Not a moment was lost in 
 seizing the advantage thus unexpectedly afforded. 
 The Swedish army, on the same day, passed through 
 
 * Mauvillon,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 233 
 
 Berlin, and defiled across the Spree, and leaving a 
 garrison in Spandau under Colonel Axel Lille, ad- 
 vanced towards Potzdam, which they reached on the 
 6th of May. On his way, the King of Sweden 
 fulfilled his promise to the elector, of maintaining 
 strict regularity among his troops, by publishing 
 anew the regulations he had caused to be observed in 
 Pomerania and Mecklenburg in regard to their con- 
 duct towards the inhabitants, with the addition of 
 several new articles. 
 
 From Potzdam two routes presented themselves, 
 by which the Swedes might advance upon Magde- 
 burg, the one to the westward, by Brandenburg and 
 Meckeren ; the other to the southward, through 
 Truenbreitzen, to Dessau or Wittemberg, at both 
 which points bridges were laid across the Elbe. The 
 first was at once renounced as impracticable, since 
 the country had been utterly laid waste by the 
 Imperialists, besides which, it would be necessary to 
 throw a bridge over the river in face of the enemy, 
 after arriving upon its bank, while the Swedes had 
 neither the time nor materials at their command for 
 the purpose. The bridge of Dessau would have 
 offered a more convenient point for their passage, but 
 the Imperial Colonel Gratz, who commanded a strong 
 detachment at Zerbst, had blown it up, together 
 with a fort which commanded it, on the first infor- 
 mation of their arrival at Potzdam. There remained, 
 therefore, but the bridge of Wittemberg, higher up 
 the Elbe, available for the purpose the king had in 
 view, which was then, as well as Wittemberg itself, 
 guarded by the troops of the Elector of Saxony. 
 Gustavus, therefore, without losing a moment's time, 
 wrote to John George, in terms similar to those in 
 which he had addressed the Elector of Brandenburg, 
 requesting him to place Wittemberg in his hands, 
 until he had compelled the Imperialists to raise the
 
 236 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 siege of Magdeburg, or at least, to grant him a pas- 
 sage over the bridge, and allow him to embark his 
 stores and ammunition on the Elbe; urging the 
 necessity of an immediate answer in his favour, 
 before the fall of the city should render the negotia- 
 tion fruitless. To his surprise and indignation, the 
 elector returned an unqualified refusal, asserting that 
 he had no inclination to draw the arms of the Empire 
 into his country, or to fail in the allegiance he owed 
 to his sovereign. The king, foreseeing the full con- 
 sequences of the conduct of the elector, could not 
 refrain from openly giving vent to the strong emo- 
 tions he felt. " Since these people," he said, alluding 
 to the Evangelic Princes, " are determined on their 
 own destruction, let them perish. For myself, I shall 
 return into Pomerania, until they are on the very 
 verge of the precipice, and compelled to entreat me 
 to hasten to their assistance. That men should see a 
 neighbour's house on fire, without attempting to 
 extinguish the flame ! Such conduct is incomprehen- 
 sible ! But I see it too well that unhappy city 
 will perish, and with it the little that remains of the 
 liberties of Germany." The words of the king on 
 this occasion were unhappily in part prophetic. Be- 
 fore his second appeal to the elector had met with a 
 reply, Magdeburg was beyond the reach of human 
 aid, although three days' march, if John George had 
 consented to the requisition of the Swedish monarch, 
 would have placed its deliverers beneath its walls, 
 and probably ensured its safety. So near to being 
 prevented was that catastrophe which constitutes the 
 most terrible episode in the history of the Thirty 
 Years' "War.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVU3 ADOLPHUS. 237 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Siege of Magdeburg Arrival of Tilly before the walls Pappen- 
 heim continues the Siege during bis expedition to Mecklenburg 
 He returns Count Falkenberg retires into the Old Town 
 Pappenheim pushes on his Approaches Preparations for a Gene- 
 ral Assault Storming of Magdeburg, and horrible atrocities 
 committed by the Imperialists Tilly enters the City in triumph 
 The King of Sweden publishes a Manifesto in justification of 
 his conduct in not relieving Magdeburg Spandau restored 
 Gustavus marches to Berlin, and compels the Elector of Bran- 
 denburg to place the fortress a second time in his hands He 
 returns to Stettin Arbitrary conduct of Ferdinand towards the 
 Bishop of Bremen and the Administrator of Wittemberg Sub- 
 mission of Suabia Greifswalde surrenders to the Swedes The 
 King prepares to advance towards the Elbe. 
 
 PAPPENHEIM, carrying on his approaches against 
 Magdeburg with but slight interruption to his suc- 
 cess, had, towards the end of the year 1630, obtained 
 possession of every post of consequence in its environs, 
 with the exception of the village of Ahlensleben, 
 which the besieged, after it had been once taken, had 
 again recovered, and made strenuous efforts to main- 
 tain, since it commanded the road by which they 
 derived the principal part of their supplies. As 
 vigorous exertions were made by the Imperialists for 
 its possession, and the strength of both parties was 
 long actively employed in the attack and defence of 
 the disputed point. Since, however, the assailants 
 were enabled to batter it with their cannon, which 
 the garrison could only answer by the fire of their 
 musketry, the latter were at length obliged to capi- 
 tulate, obtaining their lives with difficulty from their 
 incensed enemies, who at first clamorously demanded 
 that they should all be put to the sword. 
 
 Immediately after the capture of Ahlensleben,
 
 238 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 Tilly came up with the joint armies of the Emperor 
 and the League, and stationing his troops in the sight 
 of the city, in such a manner as he thought likely to 
 impress upon its inhabitants the hopelessness of an 
 expectation of relief, sent a haughty and laconic letter 
 to the Administrator, in which, after informing him 
 of his promotion to the command of the Imperial army, 
 he commanded him immediately to return to his alle- 
 giance to the Emperor, and place the city and duchy 
 of Magdeburg in his hands without further resist- 
 ance. The answer of the Administrator was such as 
 became the chief magistrate of a free people, deter- 
 mined upon maintaining to the last the just exercise 
 of their long-conceded privileges and rights. 
 
 This answer was immediately followed by an 
 effort which indicated that the Administrator was 
 perfectly in earnest in the resolution he had expressed, 
 of making the most vigorous resistance in his power 
 to the arms of the Emperor. The Magdeburghers, 
 determined upon a resolute effort to recover their 
 communication with Saxony, made a desperate sally 
 from the town, and not only drove the Imperialists 
 from their trenches, but gained the post of Schoenbeck, 
 two miles distant, and situated on the banks of the 
 Elbe, where they hastily threw up a fort of fascines 
 and turf, and retired, after leaving in it a consider- 
 able garrison. For the space of four weeks, during 
 which they continued to hold this position, every 
 article of which they were in need was freely con- 
 veyed to Magdeburg, and the public granaries, 
 already well supplied with corn, were furnished 
 with such additional stores as enabled the citizens, 
 throughout the siege, to experience absolute plenty, 
 while the assailants were experiencing great priva- 
 tions from the scarcity and irregularity of their sup- 
 plies. During the absence of Tilly, on his march to 
 Mecklenburg, a coolness took place between Pappen-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 239 
 
 heim and Mansfeld, the two principal officers left in 
 command of the besiegers, which produced a com- 
 parative inactivity in their operations, and gave the 
 besieged a still further opportunity of providing for 
 their defence, which they industriously attempted to 
 turn to their advantage by working without inter- 
 mission at their fortifications. On Tilly's second 
 approach towards the town, however, matters wore 
 a different aspect. Several advanced redoubts were 
 immediately stormed under his direction. Batteries 
 were erected on both banks of the Elbe, which main- 
 tained a ruinous fire night and day against the out- 
 works ; and Falkenberg, finding it at length advis- 
 able to confine his defence to the Old Town, set fire 
 to the New Town and suburbs, and withdrew the 
 troops who occupied them, to assist in manning the 
 main fortifications. Pappenheim instantly crossed 
 the Elbe with five regiments of infantry, and, esta- 
 blishing his quarters among the ruins of the suburbs, 
 commenced his approaches against the body of the 
 place at four different points, unimpeded by several 
 furious sallies made by the besieged, in one of which 
 his own aide-de-camp was made prisoner close beside 
 him. From the 14th to the 24th of April he con- 
 tinued to advance his trenches nearer to the counter- 
 scarp, while Tilly and Mansfeld at the same time 
 were employed in separate attacks. On both sides 
 the fire of cannon and musketry redoubled, as the 
 distance between the combatants was diminished. 
 The batteries of the Imperialists constantly increas- 
 ing in number, and erected at nearer points, made 
 fearful destruction in the city ; while the garrison, 
 no less actively employed in annoying their assailants, 
 filled the trendies with the dead and wounded, by 
 the vigour and precision with which their guns were 
 served. The regular defenders of the works were, 
 however, by this time reduced, in consequence of the
 
 240 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 hard service they had sustained, and the numbers 
 who had been put to the sword or taken prisoners, 
 in the several outworks won by the Imperialists, to 
 2,000 men. The plentiful supply of ammunition 
 with which the town had at first been provided, was 
 almost exhausted by the uninterrupted firing ; and 
 the burghers of Magdeburg, who might have been 
 expected, from the interests they had at stake, to 
 have eagerly assisted in the defence to the last, are 
 accused of having considerably relaxed in their efforts 
 towards the end of the siege : which can only be 
 accounted for by the supposition, that, confident of 
 being speedily relieved by the Swedish army, they 
 did not deem the exigency so pressing as to demand 
 any extraordinary exertions. Their spirit was still 
 unsubdued, whatever deficiency they might have 
 shown in seconding their resolutions by their actions. 
 Three letters, sent by Tilly to the Administrator, 
 the Magistracy, and Count Falkenberg, requesting 
 them not to defer their surrender until the Imperial 
 standards were planted on their ramparts, were 
 answered with the unanimous consent of all parties, 
 by the reply, that they were ready to perish rather 
 than submit. On the next day, three sallies were 
 made on the principal attacks of the Imperialists, in 
 which the Magdeburg) icrs filled up a great part of 
 the trenches, carried off a quantity of intrenching- 
 tools, and returned to the town with fifty prisoners. 
 The Imperialists, however, quickly repaired the 
 trifling damage they had sustained ; and on the night 
 of the 1st of May, seven new batteries were opened by 
 Pappenheim with great effect, while at the same 
 time saps were commenced for the purpose of sound- 
 ing the ditch. To the great disappointment of the 
 besiegers, this was found to be, in most places, far 
 too deep to be forded ; while, at the same time, the 
 garrison, having mounted two pieces of cannon on a
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 241 
 
 neighbouring tower, swept the new batteries in 
 reverse with such effect, that it was necessary to 
 silence the fire from this post before thinking of 
 carrying their approaches any further. The heavy 
 artillery of the Imperialists was accordingly directed 
 against it, and employed with such effect, that the 
 pile at length gave way with a tremendous crash ; 
 but instead of filling up the ditch, as had been ex- 
 pected, its ruins fell along the ramparts, which they 
 consequently rendered still more precipitous. Not- 
 withstanding the continued exertions of the besiegers, 
 they had not yet succeeded in breaching the curtain 
 of the bastion, against which their principal efforts 
 were directed. Pappenheim, however, had at last 
 reached the foot of the counterscarp, and exploring 
 the fosse more accurately, was overjoyed to find one 
 part more shallow than the rest, at which it was 
 possible to cross without much difficulty. He 
 instantly hastened to Tilly, and proposed an imme- 
 diate assault, without any further attempt to ruin the 
 works. The Imperial general was little inclined to 
 urge an objection to the plan. He was well aware 
 that the Swedes, whose advanced parties had by this 
 time pushed forward to Zerbst, a distance of but six 
 leagues from Magdeburg, might be hourly expected to 
 arrive in sight of the city, and that if a last attempt to 
 possess the place was to be made, it was time to issue 
 orders for it immediately. He therefore once more 
 summoned the garrison, although in a letter couched 
 in more moderate terms than before, and, receiving no 
 answer, prepared to act upon the advice of his 
 lieutenant. The people of Magdeburg, who saw in 
 the style of Tilly's summons a certain indication of 
 the approach of the King of Sweden for their deliver- 
 ance, and who never for a moment imagined that the 
 enemy would be so rash as to attempt to carry their 
 town by assault, while their ramparts remained
 
 212 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 entire, gave themselves up to the exultation in which 
 it was natural for them to indulge, at the prospect of 
 the honourable termination to their labours, which 
 they could scarcely be charged with presumption in 
 believing to be close at hand. 
 
 During the whole of the 8th of May, the batteries 
 of the Imperialists continued to thunder against the 
 ramparts, although apparently with as little effect as 
 before. Throughout the night which followed, 
 immense quantities of carcases and grenades were 
 thrown from the counterscarp, in the hope of setting 
 fire to the town. The inhabitants, however, were on 
 the alert to extinguish the first symptoms of a con- 
 flagration, and so well sheltered, that they suffered 
 the loss of but ten men from the effects of the formi- 
 dable missiles thickly showered upon them. On the 
 afternoon of the 9th, the fire of the besiegers suddenly 
 ceased, and the cannon were withdrawn from several 
 of the nearest batteries. Tilly was now busied in 
 making preparations for the assault of the following 
 day, and had made use of this artifice to lull the enemy 
 into a false sense of security. As he had expected 
 and desired, the citizens of Magdeburg considered 
 their anticipations of deliverance fully realised by the 
 movements they observed in the camp of the besiegers, 
 and flattered themselves that the next morning 
 would witness the Imperialists in full retreat before 
 the ensigns of the army of Sweden. The ensuing 
 night, affording a remarkable contrast to that which 
 had preceded it, was perfectly tranquil and undis- 
 turbed by a single shot, either from the town or the 
 Imperial lines ; and as soon as the dawn was some- 
 what advanced, the armed burghers, most of whom 
 were exhausted by their recent fatigue and long-con- 
 tinued watching, dispersed to their several homes to 
 indulge in a short repose the last they were to 
 experience on earth, and from which they were soon
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 243 
 
 to be startled by the shouts of a merciless foe in 
 possession of their gates, and eager to take vengeance 
 for the protracted resistance of Magdeburg, by the 
 indiscriminate massacre of all who breathed within 
 its walls. 
 
 The Imperial officers had been by no means unani- 
 mous in their opinions, delivered in the council of war 
 at which the assault of the city was determined. 
 Many among them considered it an undertaking little 
 less than desperate, considering the slightness of the 
 injury which had yet been done to the defences of the 
 city. One of the Austrian colonels, however, citing 
 the instance of Maestricht, which, in the preceding 
 century, had been taken by Alexander of Parma at 
 an early hour in the morning, while the citizens, after 
 a night spent in watching, were yet absent from their 
 posts, it was at length determined that Magdeburg 
 should be assailed, on the first appearance of day- 
 break, at three different points. The conduct of the 
 attacks was given to Pappenheim, Mansfeld, and 
 Adolplms Duke of Holstein, while three regiments 
 were ordered at the same time to distract the atten- 
 tion of the besieged by a feint of entering by a different 
 part of the town. The Imperialists, during the night, 
 occupied themselves, with as little noise as possible, in 
 pulling up a strong palisade, which was likely to 
 impede the assailants in their advance, and in the 
 preparation of scaling-ladders and fascines. Day 
 dawned, however, without the appointed signal, 
 which was to have been made by a general discharge 
 of all the artillery in the Imperial camp. Tilly, 
 seized with a sudden feeling of hesitation on the sub- 
 ject of his enterprise, thought it necessary to call a 
 second council of war, before ordering the execution 
 of the attempt previously resolved upon ; and it was 
 not until seven o'clock in the morning that the several 
 divisions at length moved onward from the trenches.
 
 244 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 According to the author of the Memoirs of the House 
 of Brandenburg, a party of Croatians, stationed along 
 the bank of the Elbe, observing the river to be 
 unusually shallow, easily passed over, and were the 
 first to make their way into the town. The common 
 account, however, which assigns the first entrance to 
 the division under Pappenheim, is more probably 
 correct. This officer, crossing the fosse, after he had 
 half filled it with fascines, at the point where he had 
 previously ascertained the water to be comparatively 
 of little depth, was already descending from the wall, 
 which, at that part, was extremely low, and un- 
 provided with a parapet, before the guard in the 
 neighbourhood, many of them buried in sleep at the 
 time, and the others scarcely believing the evidence 
 of their own senses on the unexpected apparition of 
 the enemy, assumed their arms in confusion, and 
 commenced a weak and ineffectual discharge. The 
 Imperialists, speedily silencing this feeble opposition, 
 were pursuing their progress into the town, when they 
 were suddenly assaulted by Falkenberg, who had 
 hastened from the town-house, where he had been 
 employed with the magistrates in dictating an answer 
 to Tilly's last summons, at the head of such a body of 
 troops as could be collected on the emergency, and 
 immediately on coming up, charged the assailants 
 with such determination, that Pappenheim's soldiery 
 were, for a moment, broken and driven back to the 
 foot of the rampart. The combat at this point, 
 however, was speedily re-established in favour of the 
 Imperialists by the aid of the numbers who were now 
 thronging over the wall. Falkenberg fell, mortally 
 wounded by a musket-shot, and his death was soon 
 followed by that of an officer named Schmidt, who 
 succeeded him in the command, and encouraged his 
 men to continue the defence by the most desperate acts 
 of personal valour. After the death of the latter,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 2^5 
 
 but little opposition of consequence was offered to the 
 progress of Pappenheim, since the defenders, dis- 
 heartened by the loss of their leaders, immediately 
 began to give way, and made every moment a more 
 faint resistance to the overwhelming force of the 
 enemy. 
 
 In the meantime the attacks of Mansfeld and the 
 Duke of Holstein were carried on with no less vigour, 
 and encountered by as ineffectual an opposition. By 
 means of flat-bottomed boats, launched upon the 
 Elbe, and on the deeper parts of the ditch, the Impe- 
 rialists were enabled to plant their ladders against the 
 wall at different points, while many of them ascended 
 by striking into it bars of iron, prepared for -the pur- 
 pose, and swinging themselves up to the crest of the 
 ramparts by this means of assistance. The confusion 
 within Magdeburg continued to rise to afearful height. 
 All quarters resounded with the clang of alarm-bells, 
 tolling from every steeple, the roll of drums beating to 
 arms, the reports of musketry, and the loud cries and 
 lamentations of women and children, who too truly 
 anticipated the horrible scenes on the point of taking 
 place. The soldiers and burghers, hastily snatching 
 up their weapons, continued to rush to the quarters at 
 which the noise of the battle appeared to be loudest ; 
 but their assistance, even if it could have availed at 
 first, was now too late to avert the certain issue of the 
 struggle. Before noon, the ramparts were fully in the 
 possession of the besiegers. Two gates were opened, 
 at which Tilly introduced a large body of infantry into 
 the town, and their officers, turning the field-pieces 
 they had brought with them upon the burghers, who 
 had taken their last stand in the great square, com- 
 manded them upon pain of death instantly to retire to 
 their houses. The discharge of two twelve-pounders 
 in the midst of the crowd, procured speedy obedience 
 to this order. In a few minutes all remaining signs
 
 246 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 of opposition had disappeared, and the streets were 
 occupied by the conquerors alone, who, resting upon 
 their arms, awaited the further orders of their com- 
 manders. An awful pause, broken but by the half- 
 suppressed lamentations of the inhabitants, ensued for 
 some time, during which the fate of Magdeburg hung 
 in suspense. If it had been the intention of Tilly to 
 spare the multitude who now lay at his mercy, there 
 is not the slightest doubt that his interference would 
 have been immediately effectual. No such orders, 
 however, were given, and the Imperial soldiery, finding 
 themselves left entirely to their own disposal, began 
 at length with loud shouts to break open the nearest 
 houses, and to commence the work of indiscriminate 
 massacre ; while at the same time the remaining gates 
 were thrown open to give admission to the cavalry 
 and the barbarous Croatians, who lay without, like 
 ferocious beasts in grim anticipation of their prey. 
 At this signal of the termination of all hopes, an ap- 
 palling shriek arose from every quarter of Magdeburg, 
 the despairing cry of a great city, on the point of 
 sinking with its inhabitants, to the number of nearly 
 40,000, beneath a fate which humanity shudders to 
 contemplate. Neither age nor infancy, neither sex 
 nor station, was able to excite compassion amidst the 
 terrible destruction, which the victors now set them- 
 selves industriously to effect, each desirous of surpass- 
 ing his fellow in deeds of violence and cruelty. On 
 the fate of the women of Magdeburg, it is impossible 
 for a moment to dwell. Those, on whom a speedy 
 death was bestowed, might consider it a merciful in- 
 fliction ; and it is recorded, that after the desolation of 
 the city had been fully effected, no less than fifty-three 
 headless corpses of females, with their hands tied 
 behind their backs, were found in the ruined cloisters 
 of the church of St. Catherine alone, a circumstance 
 from which all the horrors perpetrated in other quar-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPRUS. 247 
 
 ters may easily be imagined. In the midst of this 
 scene of ferocious barbarity and unresisting despair, 
 the city took fire in several places at once, and a 
 general conflagration added its terrors to the un- 
 slackening devastation of the sword*. Notwith- 
 standing its rapid progress, however, the Walloons 
 and Croatians continued the massacre to the last, 
 precipitating infants into the flames before the faces 
 of their parents, or immolating their miserable victims 
 on the verge of the blazing ruins, which precluded 
 their further flight. The heat at length became so 
 intense as to compel even these to withdraw, for the 
 purpose of ensuring their own safety ; and, retiring 
 to their lines without the walls, they contented 
 themselves with gloomily watching the progress of 
 the fire, which for six hours continued to redden the 
 broad Elbe with its light, until of the once -flourish- 
 ing city of Magdeburg, containing 6000 houses, 
 many of them built in a style of great magnificence, 
 and six parish churches, the cathedral church, and 
 the monastery of Our Lady, situated in its vicinity, 
 with about 600 fishermen's cabins on the ridge of the 
 river, alone remained distinguishable amidst the 
 general mass of ruins. As soon as the flames had in 
 some measure subsided, the work of pillage commenced 
 anew, and was continued as long as any valuables 
 remained to attract the cupidity of the plunderers. 
 Of the loss of human life inflicted on this dreadful 
 day, it is difficult to form an accurate estimate. 
 6000 corpses, which encumbered the streets, were 
 thrown hastily into the Elbe, and 24,000 afterwards 
 found among the ruins, buried within three weeks 
 
 * Bisaccioni asserts that this fire arose accidentally, from the 
 match attached to the musket of a soldier falling into a barrel of 
 sulphur in the shop of a chemist which he was plundering. The 
 majority of authors, however, charge the Croatians with being the 
 first to commence the conflagration.
 
 248 THE LIFE OF GU8TAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 after the assault*. About 900 of the surviving in- 
 habitants barricaded themselves in the cathedral 
 church, and providentially remained unmolested 
 during the massacre. Some hundreds more were 
 saved by the Imperialists not engaged in the storm, 
 who pushed off in boats from the opposite bank of 
 the Elbe towards points which the assailants had not 
 yet reached, and took those on board who were able 
 to purchase this means of escape at an enormous 
 ransom. The rest were left to their fate unheeded. 
 
 Whatever may be the degree of indignation with 
 which the inferior agents in these melancholy scenes 
 of suffering are to be regarded, the heaviest respon- 
 sibility must be considered as resting on the head of 
 their general. Shortly after the massacre had com- 
 menced, some of the officers of the League, whose 
 feelings revolted at the atrocities they saw perpetrat- 
 ing before their eyes, hastened to Tilly and requested 
 him to put a stop to the excesses of his soldiery. He 
 is reported to have replied, " The men cannot be 
 deprived of the reward of their exertions. The town 
 must bleed; but return in an hour's time, and I will 
 then see what is to be done." No second appeal was 
 made after this repulse, or if made, it was disre- 
 garded. The Administrator, Christian William, who 
 had been struck down and made prisoner in the 
 beginning of the affray, when conducted into his pre- 
 sence, boldly reproached him with the enormities he 
 had sanctioned, assuring him that God would not 
 fail to punish him for the crimes of his army, and 
 demand a severe account for the innocent blood he 
 had that day caused to be shed. Tilly heard him 
 without any signs of emotion, or showing that he 
 was in the least moved by his appeal. The next day, 
 however, he sent a drummer to offer quarter to 
 the few inhabitants who remained in the cathedral 
 
 * Mercure Fian^ois.
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 249 
 
 church, and ordered that they should be immediately 
 supplied with provisions, on being informed that they 
 had remained without food since the morning of the 
 assault. On the 12th of May he made his public 
 entrance into the city, surrounded by a numerous 
 staff of his officers. He was presented at the gate 
 with the standards taken from the garrison and the 
 burgher guards, which he directed to be planted 
 before the doors of the cathedral, where the Te Deum 
 was solemnly chaunted in his presence, accompanied 
 with a triple discharge of the artillery of the camp 
 and the town, as well as of all the musketry of the 
 Imperialists. From thence, remounting his horse, he 
 rode through the ruined streets, in which many of 
 the wounded still lay unregarded, and where, as it 
 is recorded by a creditable historian of his own party, 
 living infants were yet seen clinging to the breasts of 
 their slaughtered mothers, or endeavouring to hide 
 themselves from the eyes of the soldiers beneath the 
 piles of dead bodies a spectacle which is said by 
 some to have caused him to burst into tears, while 
 others report that even in the contemplation of such 
 horrors, he could not avoid showing marks of exulta- 
 tion, triumphantly repeating, with a slight alteration, 
 the words of Virgil : 
 
 " Venit summa dies, et ineluctabile fatutn. 
 
 fuit Ilium, et ingens 
 
 Gloria Parthenopes" 
 
 The news of the fall of Magdeburg excited the 
 greatest terror among the Protestants of Germany, 
 and loud murmurs were immediately raised against 
 the King of Sweden, who was considered to have 
 shown a blameable negligence in not advancing sooner 
 to its defence. Gustavus, who on receiving the in- 
 formation was overcome by the violence of his indig- 
 nation, and repeatedly denounced threats of a severe 
 and speedy reckoning with Tilly for his barbarities,
 
 250 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTTS. 
 
 justified himself by a manifesto, in which he clearly 
 showed the readiness with which he would have pre- 
 served the city from destruction, had his efforts for 
 that purpose been duly seconded, as he had expected, 
 by the Protestant princes through whose dominions 
 it was necessary for him to pass. To the accusation 
 of not having furnished Magdeburg with a sufficient 
 garrison, he stated, what was nothing more than the 
 truth, that up to the very moment at which the 
 enemy were close to their walls, the citizens, from a 
 feeling of jealousy or of self-sufficiency, had not only 
 declined to advance the smallest sum for the purpose 
 of raising a mercenary force in their defence, but 
 even refused to allow the soldiers of Sweden, or those 
 of the Administrator himself, to be quartered in their 
 houses. He called upon the cities of Hamburg and 
 Lubeck to witness his exertions before the siege to 
 forward letters of exchange to Magdeburg, since it 
 was not possible to introduce the sum with which he 
 had wished to supply the town in specie ; and asserted 
 that if the citizens had derived no advantage from 
 these bills by their conversion into money, the fault 
 must rest with a traitorous faction bribed by the 
 enemy. He, lastly, reviewed and commented upon 
 the whole series of his movements since the siege of 
 Lansberg, where he had at first received intelligence 
 of the danger to which Magdeburg was exposed, the 
 vacillating conduct of the Elector of Brandenburg, 
 which had so long delayed his advance, with the 
 earnest appeals he had made to that prince to obtain 
 a resolution in his favour, and finally, the direct 
 refusal of the Elector of Saxony to place the bridge of 
 Wittemberg in his hands, after which, the insur- 
 mountable barrier of the Elbe rendered his approach 
 to Magdeburg not merely a task of difficulty, but 
 one which was absolutely impracticable. It is impos- 
 sible to read this defence of the king's conduct with-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 251 
 
 out being convinced by the reasoning it contains ; 
 but even if no justification had appeared, the proba- 
 ble effect of the fate of Magdeburg upon his own 
 interests would be sufficient to remove every doubt of 
 the sincerity of his wishes for its preservation. By 
 its reduction the Protestants would lose one of the 
 strongest bulwarks of their cause, while the Catholics 
 might be expected to be immediately elevated to 
 a higher degree of confidence than ever, and instantly 
 to advance, with forces no longer divided by atten- 
 tion to separate objects, to remove the last obstacle 
 which remained to the permanent establishment of 
 their ascendancy, by the expulsion of the Swedish 
 armies from Germany. In this reasoning the sub- 
 mission of the city, on the usual terms allowed by 
 the laws of civilised nations, is alone supposed to 
 have been contemplated. The dreadful severity 
 exercised by the Imperialists, and their remorseless 
 cruelties, which ultimately injured the cause they 
 were intended to serve, it was, of course, impossible 
 to anticipate. 
 
 The embarrassments of the king were shortly after- 
 wards greatly increased, by a demand on the part of 
 the Elector of Brandenburg of the restitution of 
 Spandau, since the time stipulated for its occupation 
 by the Swedes had expired. Gustavus, bent on 
 transferring his operations to the Elbe, was sensibly 
 concerned at this request. Spandau, at that time 
 defended by 150 pieces of cannon, and containing 
 arms for 20,000 men*, with abundant supplies of 
 provisions and ammunition, was too important a 
 possession towards preventing any demonstrations of 
 the enemy in his rear, to be relinquished without 
 serious regret. It was, 'nevertheless, restored, in 
 compliance with the promise previously given to the 
 elector. The king, however, determined to bring his 
 
 * Monro's Second Expedition.
 
 252 TUB LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 brother-in-law to the adoption of a decided line of 
 conduct, and seeing that little was to be gained by 
 his professed neutrality, followed the restoration of 
 the fortress by an immediate march upon Berlin, and 
 a message to the elector, in which he required him at 
 once to decide whether the Swedes were to consider 
 him for the future in the light of a friend or an 
 enemy. George William would willingly have con- 
 tinued to temporise, but the necessity for a final reso- 
 lution was now become imperative. On the 9th of 
 June the troops of Sweden were close to the walls of 
 Berlin, against which they had already levelled their 
 cannon. The artillerymen were seen standing with 
 lighted matches in their hands, and a trumpeter 
 entering the city delivered a message in due military 
 form, demanding immediate permission to quarter 
 five regiments of infantry in the town, as a security 
 against its favouring the Imperialists. Notwith- 
 standing his danger, the elector continued to waver 
 for three days longer, at the expiration of which the 
 patience of Gustavus was exhausted. He insisted 
 upon an answer without further delay, adding, that 
 the elector had to choose between acceding at once to 
 his demand, or seeing his capital abandoned to pillage ; 
 " for which," he significantly observed, " the signal 
 of a single cannon-shot will be sufficient." All Ber- 
 lin was thrown into consternation by this message ; 
 and as the likeliest means of softening the resolution 
 of the king, a deputation, composed of the ladies of 
 the court, headed by the Dowager Electress Palatine, 
 were sent to make a last effort to dissuade him from 
 his resolution. These able intercessors had been judi- 
 ciously chosen. By their interference Gustavus was 
 induced to relax considerably in his demands, but on 
 the articles of the greatest importance he still re- 
 mained inexorable. It was at length agreed that 
 Spandau should be again garrisoned by the Swedish
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU9. 253 
 
 troops ; that the gates of Custrin should be opened 
 to them whenever they demanded a passage through 
 the fortress, and that the States of Brandenburg 
 should supply him with a monthly contribution of 
 30,000 crowns. 
 
 The late concession on the part of the elector ren- 
 dered it necessary for him to write a justificatory 
 letter, to deprecate the resentment of the Emperor, 
 and to cover his own conduct by the readiest excuses 
 which presented themselves. George William accord- 
 ingly dictated an epistle to Ferdinand, in which he 
 attempted his vindication at length commencing 
 with an enumeration of the ravages of the Imperialists 
 in his territories, which had so far impoverished his 
 subjects as to deprive them of all means of defending 
 themselves ; and ending by expressing his hope that, 
 considering the urgent necessity imposed upon him 
 by the appearance of an army, which he had no 
 means of resisting, he trusted his submission would 
 not be considered a breach of his allegiance to the 
 Empire, or preclude him from the state of neutrality 
 in which it was his wish to remain during the whole 
 of the present war. The Emperor's reply was cold 
 and ambiguous, alleging that the disunion among the 
 members of the Germanic body was the sole cause of 
 the rapid progress lately made by a foreign enemy ; 
 censuring the Conclusions of Leipzig, and complain- 
 ing that since the meeting of that assembly, his 
 soldiers had been treated in every part of the Protes- 
 tant states as open enemies. 
 
 Ferdinand was, in fact, at the time preparing, 
 while the horrors of Magdeburg were yet recent in 
 the minds of his adversaries, to abrogate, by an abso- 
 lute decree, the Conclusions which he had such 
 substantial grounds for condemning, but of which, 
 before the late signal success obtained by his arms, 
 he had not dared to express his full disapprobation.
 
 254 THE LIFE OP GDSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 The members of tho Catholic League, now consider- 
 ing their cause completely triumphant, and filled 
 with greater confidence than ever in the general 
 entrusted with the conduct of their armies, exclaimed, 
 that the patience of the Emperor had heen too long 
 exercised by those whose pretensions would be most 
 efficaciously answered by force of arms, and that it 
 was now high time to employ, to the fullest extent, 
 those means for restoring the public tranquillity 
 which had so manifestly on a late occasion expe- 
 rienced the Divine blessing. Ferdinand was not 
 slow in yielding to the wishes of his Catholic sub- 
 jects, communicated to him after a general meeting of 
 the principal supporters of the cause at Dinkelsbuhl, 
 and Tilly received orders immediately to advance 
 against any prince or state which should refuse to 
 renounce the Conclusions of Leipzig, and to exercise 
 the same severities, where he found resistance, as had 
 just been experienced by the unhappy citizens of 
 JVJ agdeburg. 
 
 A short absence of the King of Sweden at Stettin, 
 whither he had been summoned to give audience to 
 an embassy from the Czar of Muscovy, enabled the 
 Imperial general to commence the immediate execu- 
 tion of the orders of Ferdinand. The bishop of 
 Bremen was the first against whom his threats were 
 directed. " Submit to the decrees of the Emperor !" 
 was the haughty summons of Tilly, " or prepare to 
 encounter the last extremities of fire and sword." 
 The bishop at once gave in his submission, and 
 assented to the decree annulling the proceedings of 
 the Diet of Leipzig. At the same time, the Admi- 
 nistrator of "Wirtemberg was compelled to a similar 
 course by the Imperial army lately arrived from 
 Italy, and commanded by Count Furstemberg. On 
 the part of the duchy under his government, he pro- 
 mised a ready and unconditional obedience to the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 255 
 
 Imperial decrees, consented to the Edict of Restitu- 
 tion, agreed to receive the army of Ferdinand into his 
 territories, and undertook to raise a monthly contri- 
 bution of 100,000 crowns for their support. The 
 city of Ulm followed his example, and the whole 
 circle of Suabia, which had already raised 3,000 men, 
 was overawed into issuing immediate orders for dis- 
 banding them. The Elector of Saxony, provoked at 
 the arbitrary conduct of the Emperor, and the little 
 ceremony with which the resolutions of the Assem- 
 bly, convened under his auspices, were treated, 
 attempted in vain to urge the powers thus peremp- 
 torily addressed to an open resistance. All his per- 
 suasion was unavailing to counteract the brief com- 
 munication by which Furstemberg signified the 
 approach of his soldiers to the Protestant powers he 
 was advancing to disarm. " Renunciation and sub- 
 mission, or no quarter." 
 
 The king, after a satisfactory audience with the 
 ambassadors of the Czar, in which they proposed a 
 renewal of the existing treaty with Sweden, now just 
 on the point of expiring, and after expressing the 
 congratulations of their sovereign to Gustavus on his 
 recent conquests, offered him the aid of a body of 
 Muscovites to act as auxiliaries, prepared to set out 
 from Stettin with a numerous train of artillery to 
 assist in the reduction of Griefswalde, the last place 
 in Pomerania which remained unconquered, and 
 which was vigorously besieged by Achatius Todt. 
 On his way he received the welcome intelligence of 
 the fall of the fortress ; and, freed from every cause 
 of anxiety with respect to Pomerania, instantly 
 hastened back to pursue his operations in Lower 
 Saxony, with the immediate design of recovering 
 Magdeburg from the Imperialists. Brandenburg had 
 been the place of rendezvous at which the troops des- 
 tined for this service had been directed to assemble ;
 
 256 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and, as soon as he had ascertained that the several 
 divisions of his army had joined him, and were in 
 full readiness to march, the king advanced rapidly 
 towards the Elbe, which he intended crossing, in the 
 neighbourhood of Tangermond. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Adrance of Tilly into Thuringia against the Landgrave of Hesse 
 Gustavus crosses the Elbe at Tangermond Tilly marches to 
 meet him The Swedes retreat to Wirben, and entrench them- 
 selves between the Elbe and Havel Gustavus surprises five 
 Regiments of Imperial Cavalry at Rheindorf Arrival of six 
 thousand English, under the Marquis of Hamilton, in Pomerania 
 The Queen of Sweden lands at Wolgast Tilly approaches the 
 Swedish lines at Wirben, but is compelled to retire with loss 
 The Swedes overrun the Duchy of Mecklenburg Reinstallation 
 of the deposed Dukes at Gustrow Alliance between the King 
 of Sweden and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel Message of Tilly 
 to the Elector of Saxony Answer of John George, who declares 
 in favour of the Swedes The Imperialists ravage Saxony, and 
 lay siege to Leipzig Surrender of the City Tilly takes post at 
 Breitenfeldt Junction of the Swedish and Saxon forces at 
 Duben They advance to meet the Imperialists-^Battle of 
 Leipzig. 
 
 As soon as Tilly had sufficiently provided for the 
 defence of Magdeburg, among the ruins of which 
 Pappenheim was left entrenched with a strong garri- 
 son, and dispersed a few thousand men throughout 
 the duchy to guard the passages of the Elbe, he 
 turned to the south, and commenced his march 
 against the Protestant powers in that direction, hop- 
 ing to be able to enforce the renunciation of the Con- 
 clusions of Leipzig throughout the districts of Weimar, 
 Gotha, and Hesse Cassel, before the advance of Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus should render his presence necessary 
 in another quarter. During his passage across the 
 Harz mountains, a partial vengeance was inflicted
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 257 
 
 upon liis ,17-iny for the cruelties of Magdeburg, by the 
 wild people of that district, who massacred, without 
 mercy, every detached party of Imperialists which 
 fell into their way, and committed such havoc among 
 the stragglers, that the guards of a convoy of provi- 
 sions, appointed to follow from "Wolfenbuttel, were 
 induced to believe, from the number of dead bodies 
 they encountered on their road, that a series of obsti- 
 nate engagements had taken place for the possession 
 of the mountain passes. On descending from these 
 heights, and entering Thuringia, he immediately re- 
 commenced the course of devastation and outrage, to 
 which his soldiers had been so long inured. The 
 country of "Weimar was cruelly wasted throughout 
 its whole extent ; the town of Frankenhausen pillaged 
 and laid in ashes, and Erfurt compelled to purchase 
 exemption from entertaining an Imperial army by an 
 enormous contribution. Tilly then turned his march 
 towards Hesse Cassel, and, encamping at Mulhausen, 
 sent a letter to the Landgrave, in which he was 
 summarily commanded to admit five regiments of 
 Imperialists into his country ; to receive garrisons 
 into Cassel and the fortress of Ziegenhayn, to dismiss 
 his recent levies, or to send them to joyi the Imperial 
 forces ; and to contribute such sums as should be 
 demanded, towards supplying the soldiers of the 
 Emperor with the arrears of their pay, as well as 
 furnishing them with provisions and ammunition. 
 
 The Landgrave of Hesse, a prince of a very diffe- 
 rent character from those with whom Tilly had 
 recently had to deal, replied to the summons of the 
 Imperialists in terms of direct refusal, and was bold 
 enough to couch his answer in a style of ironical 
 pleasantry. He said that he should be especially 
 cautious, after the late behaviour of the troops of the 
 Empire, of admitting them into a single place in his 
 possession, and much more so of allowing them an
 
 258 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVU8 ADOLPHUS. 
 
 entrance into his own residence, and the strongest 
 fortress in his hands ; that he had himself full 
 employment for the force he had just levied, and 
 therefore could hardly be expected either to dismiss 
 it, or to place it under the command of another ; that 
 his soldiers were, besides, but young recruits, and 
 unworthy of the honour of serving with the practised 
 veterans of the Emperor and of the League, with 
 whom, he moreover feared, they might be disposed 
 to disagree, if troops of such different habits were 
 brought 'into close contact. As to the article of con- 
 tributions for pciying the army of Tilly, or supplying 
 it with provisions, he sincerely advised the Imperial- 
 ist to lead back his forces into Bavaria, where all 
 necessaries would no doubt be abundantly furnished 
 him, instead of seeking for them in Hesse, where, in 
 looking for supplies of which he stood in need, he 
 might be so unfortunate as to meet with an opposi- 
 tion, of which he was not in search. The officer to 
 whom this answer was at first verbally communi- 
 cated, was so astonished at the boldness it displayed, 
 that he refused to deliver it to Tilly unless communi- 
 cated in writing, and signed by the Landgrave of 
 Hesse, a demand which was readily complied with. 
 Its receipt, as he had expected, exasperated Tilly to 
 the highest pitch of fury. In the transports of his 
 indignation, he swore that he would treat the towns 
 of Hesse worse than the city of Magdeburg, and 
 instantly hastened the march of his troops across the 
 frontiers with the resolution of carrying his threat 
 into full effect. The Hessians, terrified at his ad- 
 vance, and well aware of what they had to expect if 
 they were so unfortunate as to fall into his hands, 
 abandoned the whole country threatened by the 
 advance of the Imperialists, after having laid it so 
 completely waste, that the invaders were obliged, for 
 want of provisions, to await the arrival of supplies
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHDS. 259 
 
 from a distance before making any further inroads. 
 This seasonable delay proved the preservation of 
 Hesse, since, before Tilly was again in a condition to 
 move forward, the advance of Gustavus Adolphus 
 towards Magdeburg compelled him to delay the 
 vengeance he was meditating, until a more favourable 
 opportunity. 
 
 The movements of the King of Sweden had been 
 for some time masked by sixteen cornets of cavalry 
 under the direction of Bauditzen, which, after reach- 
 ing Rathenau, and laying the whole surrounding 
 district under contribution, spread themselves along 
 the right bank of the Elbe, and finally crossed the 
 river at Tangermond, driving several scattered corps 
 of Imperialists before them until they were close to 
 the gates of Magdeburg. Pappenheim instantly 
 sallied forth to repulse them, but he was met by the 
 Rhinegrave Otho Louis, and so rudely encoxmtered, 
 as to be obliged to retreat fighting at the head of his 
 cavalry, until he was protected by the cannon of the 
 ramparts. As he justly anticipated this bold demon- 
 stration to augur the approach of the king in person, 
 he instantly sent a letter to Tilly, requesting him to 
 hasten to his succour without delay, if he did not 
 wish to see the whole duchy of Magdeburg in the 
 hands of the enemy. Pappenheim had not been 
 wrong in his conjecture, that the king was making 
 directly for the position which he occupied. Gus- 
 tavus, on the 2&th of June, breaking up from Bran- 
 denburg, and reconnoitring with a strong division of 
 cavalry the banks of the Elbe up to the bridge of 
 Magdeburg, had selected the vicinity of Tangermond 
 as the best point for passing the river. Tangermond 
 itself was first carried by assault, sixty of the garri- 
 son slain by the Swedes on their first entry, and the 
 rest removed until their fate should be decided by 
 the lips of Gustavus himself. The king entered the 
 s2
 
 260 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 
 
 town the next morning, after having thrown his pro- 
 jected bridge over the river, when the prisoners were 
 immediately presented before him, with several other 
 Imperial soldiers taken at Stendal, Arnberg, Wirben, 
 and other places in the old march of Brandenburg, 
 which had lately fallen into the hands of the Swedes. 
 As soon as he advanced towards them, the whole 
 crowd, who expected to receive from his hands the 
 same treatment which they had been accustomed 
 remorselessly to inflict upon others, threw themselves 
 upon their knees and demanded quarter. The king, 
 regarding them with a stern look, commanded them 
 immediately to rise. "Such an act of homage," he 
 said, " should be offered to no mortal. Prostrate 
 yourselves before the Almighty, and return Him 
 thanks for the life which I grant you. In this 
 country you have acted the part of banditti. You 
 have been accustomed to allow no quarter to my 
 Swedes, wherever you have proved the stronger 
 party, but have treated them with greater cruelty 
 than would have been shown by Infidels. You 
 deserve immediate death, no doubt, but I pardon you. 
 Begone ! take your lives, and praise God for my 
 forbearance." 
 
 But whatever diligence Gustavus had shown in his 
 attempt at the recovery of Magdeburg, he was unable 
 to anticipate the march of Tilly, who, on the first 
 intelligence from Pappenheim of the direction he was 
 pursuing, set forward in haste from the frontiers of 
 Hesse, giving out as he advanced that he was at 
 length on the point of bringing the King of Sweden 
 to a decisive action. His expectations, however, in 
 this respect were, for the present, to remain ungra- 
 tified. The Swedish monarch was as yet too far 
 inferior in numbers to the enemy to encounter the 
 hazard of the battle which had been so long expected, 
 and, on finding his design upon Magdeburg frustrated,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 261 
 
 determined upon a different plan of operation. He 
 bad lately been struck with the advantageous posi- 
 tion for an entrenched camp, offered by the conflu- 
 ence of the Elbe with the Havel, near the town of 
 Wirben, and had openly expressed his astonishment 
 that it had never been previously occupied as a 
 military station, in the course of the operations 
 between Tilly and the King of Denmark. In this 
 post he resolved to establish himself, and wear out 
 the strength of his antagonist by vain efforts to 
 force him from his post, until the occurrence of events 
 of which he was in daily expectation should justify 
 him in meeting the Imperialists in the field. The 
 principal cause of his adopting this resolution was 
 the increasing dissatisfaction expressed by the Elector 
 of Saxony against the Emperor, and the probability 
 that in a short time he would be induced to lay 
 aside the mask of neutrality, and openly to declare 
 for the Swedes. The Imperialists, under Tieffenbach, 
 after having rallied in Silesia, were making fresh 
 movements along the Oder, and having entered the 
 marquisate of Lusatia, were wasting the open country 
 with fire and sword. As the whole district had 
 been given in pledge to the elector for certain sums of 
 money advanced to the Emperor, he loudly exclaimed 
 against this spoliation of his property. His appeals 
 met with as little attention as those of others- in 
 similar circumstances had experienced before him ; 
 and it was evident, from the whole tone of his 
 remonstrances, and the vigour with which lie was 
 known to be at the same time carrying on his levies 
 and replenishing his arsenals, that the endurance of 
 John George had nearly reached its utmost limits. 
 
 The Swedes, concentrated in the neighbourhood of 
 Wirben, were now employed night and day in throw- 
 ing up the formidable entrenchments, under which 
 the king hoped to withstand all the efforts of Tilly,
 
 262 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 although the Imperial army was at this time some- 
 what more than double his own in number. Before 
 his lines were finished, he received intelligence that 
 his adversary was already at Wolmerstadt, while 
 several of his advanced regiments had taken up their 
 quarters at Rheindorf, which was but four miles dis- 
 tant from his own advanced posts at Tangermond. 
 The king, rightly conjecturing that the troops of the 
 enemy, wearied with the forced marches they had 
 lately been obliged to perform, would keep but a 
 alight watch against surprise ; and desirous of giving 
 them such a check as would enable him to finish the 
 work he had in hand at leisure, left his camp at 
 Wirben on the night of the 16th of August for 
 Arnsberg, where he had appointed two regiments of 
 cavalry and 500 dragoons to await his arrival. 
 With these he advanced towards Rheindorf, making 
 prisoners on his way a party of Imperialists, who 
 informed him that the cuirassier regiments of Hoik, 
 Montecuculi, Bernstein, Pappenlieim, and Coronini, 
 were quartered in the villages in his front without 
 any suspicion of the vicinity of an enemy. The king 
 resolved upon an immediate attack, and dividing his 
 cavalry into three bodies, and committing the conduct 
 of his right to Bauditzen, and of his left to the 
 Rhinegrave Otho Louis, while he himself took charge 
 of the centre, fell at once upon the quarters occupied 
 by the Imperial cavalry, most of whom, when 
 startled at length by the alarm given by the few 
 sentinels who were on duty, had scarcely time to 
 form before the enemy were in the midst of their 
 ranks. The regiments of Pappenheim and Monte- 
 cuculi, who were the first charged, had not even 
 assumed the appearance of a regular order, and were 
 driven in headlong flight by Bauditzen over the plain 
 in their rear, with a serious loss of men, either over- 
 thrown in the shock of the brief encounter they had
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTATUS ADOLPHUS. 263 
 
 attempted to sustain, or cut down by their pursuers, 
 who followed hard upon their rear as far as Wolmer- 
 stadt. The king, who had directed his attack upon 
 the village of Rheindorf, experienced a more serious 
 resistance, since, with only 300 men, he had to 
 oppose the whole regiment of Bernstein, which, 
 having taken the precaution to plant a strong picquet 
 in front, was enabled to assume a more respectable 
 array than the rest, and maintained a fierce combat 
 before giving way before the repeated charges which 
 Gustavus headed against it. Hoik, at the head of 
 his own regiment and that of Coronini, although his 
 men were as completely surprised as their companions 
 on the left, and thrown into equal confusion, defended 
 himself with still better success against the Rhine- 
 grave; and it was not till after an obstinate and 
 long-continued struggle, during which the Swedish 
 loss was far from inconsiderable, that he at length 
 quitted the field, leaving two standards in the pos- 
 session of his opponents. Among the slain in this 
 quarter, Gustavus had to lament the loss of the 
 young Prince Palatine, of Lauterech, who was mor- 
 tally wounded by a pistol ball while mingling with 
 the foremost combatants. 
 
 Tilly received the news of this check, the first he 
 had ever received, but which was only to prove the 
 prelude to a long series of reverses, with evident 
 marks of mortification. He consoled himself, how- 
 ever, with the hope of speedily obtaining his revenge 
 from the King of Sweden, whose ardent temperament 
 he hoped would at no distant perio I offer an oppor- 
 tunity of taking him at disadvantage. Gustavus, 
 having returned to Wirben, availed himself of the 
 momentary panic inspired among the Imperialists, 
 by his late successful skirmish, in carrying forward 
 his entrenchments with double activity. Within 
 the space of four days afterwards, the lines were
 
 264 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 entirely completed, and ready for the reception of 
 his army. The works which he threw up iipon this 
 occasion, as well as the judgment he had previously 
 displayed in the selection of his position, were con- 
 sidered among his highest claims to the approbation 
 of his military contemporaries. The most perfect 
 order prevailed throughout their extent, and every 
 arrangement was made to enable the several divisions 
 of the troops to act in complete concert with each 
 other, in the event of an attempt of the Imperialists 
 to carry the camp by assault. The brigades of in- 
 fantry were severally appointed to gxiard the quarters 
 they had been employed in fortifying, and were sus- 
 tained by strong bodies of cavalry stationed behind 
 them, with their horses constantly saddled and 
 bridled, for the purpose of sallying forth at a mo- 
 ment's notice, or immediately charging the first of 
 the enemy who should succeed in forcing an entrance. 
 Two sides of the enclosed space were defended by 
 the Elbe and the Havel, and 150 pieces of cannon *, 
 frowning along the rampart which was unguarded 
 by either of these streams, and consequently most 
 exposed, seemed sufficiently to discourage any hostile 
 attempt in that quarter. The whole was commanded 
 by the guns of the citadel of Wirben, which the king 
 had strengthened and furnished with additional plat- 
 forms for heavy artillery. At the same time, by 
 means of a floating bridge, his communication was 
 still maintained with Havelberg, Per-leberg, and 
 Rathenau, and a retreat still open to him in the 
 almost incredible event of the success of the Im- 
 perialists in compelling him to abandon his position. 
 While yet employed in superintending the com- 
 pletion of the celebrated Leaguer of AVirben, as it 
 was generally termed, the king was joined by the 
 Marquis of Hamilton, who had a short time pre- 
 
 * Monro. Second Expedition.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 265 
 
 viously landed in Pomerania, with 6,000 troops 
 levied in Great Britain for his service, and now 
 presented himself to receive the necessary directions 
 for their employment, having excited general asto- 
 nishment, during his journey through the North of 
 Germany, by the number of his attendants and his 
 personal magnificence, which was compared with the 
 state of Wallenstein himself. But of all the nations 
 engaged in forwarding the Protestant interests during 
 the Thirty Years' War, England was unfortunately 
 the most feeble and dilatory in her assistance. 
 Gustavus had naturally expected to be vigorously 
 seconded by the subsidies and powerful fleets of 
 Charles I. daring his contest with the house of 
 Austria, and hoped that the favourite scheme of the 
 recovery of the Palatinate would have induced that 
 monarch to carry on a maritime war with Spain, 
 simultaneously with his own exertions by land for 
 the humiliation of the common enemy. Charles, 
 however, was contented with empty promises; and 
 still fearful of compromising himself with a power 
 for which although he himself, as well as his father, 
 had been made the open ridicule of Europe by its 
 treacherous policy he seems, during the whole of his 
 life, to have entertained a singular respect, afforded 
 little more than good wishes to the cause of Sweden ; 
 his only substantial aid being rendered in a few 
 subsidies, which were but scantily granted, and soon 
 ceased altogether. Much of his backwardness in 
 affording pecuniary assistance was undoubtedly owing 
 to the impossibility of raising supplies from his par- 
 liament during the contests on the subject of the 
 royal prerogative, which may be said to have com- 
 menced with the first day of his reign. The real 
 political situation of his ally was, however, but 
 little understood by the King of Sweden, and a feel- 
 ing of difference was speedily created between the
 
 266 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 
 
 two monarchs, which the cold and reserved character 
 of Charles was so likely to inspire, and the ardent 
 and impetuous temperament of Gustavus Adolphus 
 equally apt to resent and increase. In the instance 
 of the late levies made by the Marquis of Hamilton, 
 considerable ground for dissatisfaction presented 
 itself, since Charles, instead of following the example 
 of the King of France, and openly forwarding the 
 enlistment of troops in his favour, cautiously re- 
 frained from any approach to an overt act of hostility 
 towards the house of Austria by appearing as a party 
 to the transaction. Although the marquis was aided 
 by him secretly with part of the necessary funds for 
 the purpose, he was publicly declared to have con- 
 ducted the levies entirely at his own expense ; and 
 to separate his expedition as much as possible from 
 the appearance of a national transaction, he was 
 authorised to take an oath of allegiance to the crown 
 of Sweden, on behalf of his troops, before landing in 
 Germany. In all this Gustavus imagined he dis- 
 cerned indications of the resolution of the English 
 monarch to disclaim his alliance on the first occur- 
 rence of a reverse, and was determined, on his part, 
 that the newly-arrived auxiliary army should act no 
 such prominent part in the war as should enable 
 Charles to boast of the assistance yielded him, or to 
 claim his gratitude in consequence. He received 
 the Marquis of Hamilton, however, with every ap- 
 pearance of courtesy and respect ; took great pains 
 in explaining to him the plan of defence he had 
 adopted against Tilly, and made many apologies for 
 the unpromising character of the quarters he was 
 able to assign for his army. The English were then 
 directed to co-operate in Silesia with the force under 
 Gustavus Horn. It is said that the first intention 
 of the king was to employ them in the duchy of 
 Bremen, a district comparatively unexhausted by
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 267 
 
 the war, while Silesia had experienced its most 
 wasting effects ; but that, since Hamilton, contrary 
 to his directions, had thought proper to land near 
 the mouth of the Oder, he was obliged to desire him 
 to act in conjunction with the Swedes at the nearest 
 point at which his services would be available. The 
 consequences to the English were in the highest 
 degree pernicious, since, either from the scantiness 
 and badness of their provisions, or the prevalence of 
 the many forms of disease which are never slow in 
 following the track of war, but 1,500 soldiers re- 
 mained, at the end of the ensuing summer, of the 
 well-armed and well-furnished force with which 
 Hamilton had at first appeared in Germany. The 
 marquis fell into constant disputes with the Swedish 
 commanders on points of precedency and etiquette, 
 and after having been removed from the banks of the 
 Oder to the Elbe, where he again contrived to em-- 
 broil himself with Banner, at that time blockading 
 Magdeburg, led back to England the last wrecks of 
 his army, which then consisted of but 500 men. 
 Among these were several of the cavaliers who 
 afterwards composed the best officers of the royal 
 army during the great civil war. It is almost need- 
 less to observe also, that many of the parliamentary 
 commanders learned in the same school the lessons 
 which both parties afterwards practised with an 
 ability so fatal to the welfare of their country. 
 
 The arrival of the Marquis of Hamilton in Ger- 
 many occurred nearly at the same time with that of 
 Maria Eleonora, the Queen of Gustavus, who safely 
 landed at Wolgast with a reinforcement of 8,000 
 men. These were reserved for the approaching 
 operations which the king meditated in the duchy 
 of Mecklenburg. Favourable news was soon after- 
 wards received from Holland, where 50,000 guilders 
 per month were voted by the states in aid of the
 
 2jS TUB LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 King of Sweden, and his levies not only counte- 
 nanced, but warmly promoted by the public authori- 
 ties. All these circumstances greatly tended to 
 increase the confidence ofGustavus, and to encourage 
 him to persist with still greater energy in the 
 prosecution of an enterprise, which was now begin- 
 ning to be redeemed from the accusation of rashness 
 by the astonishing success with which it had hither- 
 to been attended. 
 
 Soon after the preparations at Wirben for the pro- 
 tection of the Swedish army had been completed, 
 and the troops distributed in their respective quar- 
 ters, the army of Tilly appeared in sight, and drew 
 up in order of battle before the lines. After con- 
 tinuing in this position for some hours, and finding 
 that his enemies gave no indication of an intention to 
 accept his challenge, the Imperialist erected a battery 
 of thirty of his largest pieces of ordnance, and 
 commenced so close and heavy a fire, that the Swedes 
 were compelled to shelter themselves in haste by 
 drawing up close beneath their works*, where they 
 remained till nightfall, in momentary expectation of 
 an assault, returning at the same time the furious 
 greeting of their antagonists with the whole of the 
 artillery mounted along their ramparts. The next 
 day was spent in a succession of skirmishes between 
 advanced parties of Tilly's army and select detach- 
 ments which issued from the Swedish camp to check 
 them in their approach, during which the fire of the 
 cannon of both parties was maintained without 
 interruption. On the third morning after his arrival, 
 however, the Imperial general, who had by this 
 time sufficiently ascertained the strength of the 
 defences before him to abandon all thoughts of an 
 open attack, and who had for two nights successively 
 lain with his army disposed in the order in which ha 
 
 * Monro.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHtJS. 269 
 
 intended to fight, discouraged by the obstinacy of the 
 Swedes, and having suffered a severe loss from the 
 long exposure of his men without shelter to the guns 
 of the hostile camp and citadel of Wirben, reluct- 
 antly commanded a retreat. A dark and misty 
 morning was expected to conceal his design from the 
 enemy ; and for the purpose of deceiving them still 
 further, Tilly commanded all the drums and trum- 
 pets of his army to sound as if he were on the point 
 of advancing for a general assault*. The Swedes, 
 however, were quickly aware of his real movements ; 
 and issuing from their entrenchments, under the 
 conduct of the king in person, with six field-pieces, 
 made repeated attacks upon the rear-guard of their 
 retiring foes, and only returned when the main body 
 of the Imperialists drew up to receive their routed 
 companions, and to check all further pursuit. In the 
 skirmishes before Wirben, the young Duke Bernard 
 of Saxe Weimar, the most celebrated pupil of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, and who would probably have 
 equalled him in renown, had he not been removed 
 from the scene of his achievements at as early an 
 age and by a less glorious death than his patron, 
 first attracted the notice of the army in which he 
 had recently taken service. Tilly, after having lost 
 6,000 of his best troops, fell back into Saxony, and 
 the Swedes found themselves at full liberty to turn 
 their whole attention to the recovery of the duchy of 
 Mecklenburg. The next meeting of the two armies 
 was to be followed by more momentous consequences, 
 and to take place upon a more sanguinary field. 
 
 The possession of Mecklenburg might be con- 
 sidered the real prize contended for at Wirben, since, 
 if Tilly had forced that important post, the Swedes 
 must not only have abandoned all hope of its 
 conquest, but might have considered themselves 
 
 * Monro.
 
 270 THE LIFE OF GD8TAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 fortunate in escaping utter destruction at the hands 
 of their pursuers. As it was, the whole duchy was 
 instantly overspread by their troops, now increased 
 by the junction of the force lately arrived at Wolgast, 
 which had hastened to co-operate with them from 
 the side of Pomerania. Gustrow and Putzow were 
 abandoned by the Imperialists without resistance, 
 the garrisons retreating to the towns of Rostock and 
 Wismar. Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg, 
 was in consequence immediately besieged. Adolphus 
 Frederic, one of the dukes deposed by the Emperor, 
 hastily setting out from Lubeck, and collecting a 
 small force in his way, was the first to present 
 himself beneath its walls. Achatius Todt shortly 
 afterwards arrived, with six companies of infantry 
 and four pieces of cannon. By their joint efforts, 
 the Imperial garrison was soon compelled to submit 
 to honourable conditions, and escorted to Demmitz 
 and Wismar. 
 
 A few days after the recovery of Schwerin, the 
 ceremony of the reinstallation of its former sovereigns 
 in their dignity was solemnly performed at Gustrow, 
 in the presence of Gustavus, with such a pomp and 
 splendour, as were thought suitable to the import- 
 ance of the occasion. 
 
 After taking his leave of the Duke of Mecklenburg 
 and the magistracy of Gustrow, Gustavus again 
 returned to Wirben. He had scarcely arrived, when 
 William, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, presenting 
 himself in his camp in person, made proposals for a 
 public alliance, offensive and defensive, between his 
 country and Sweden. This was the first open and 
 voluntary avowal of a resolution to support his 
 cause among the Protestant princes, and contrasted 
 singularly with the hesitating policy hitherto pursued 
 by the powerful Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony. 
 The landgrave, however, had ample reason for the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 271 
 
 course he had adopted. The Emperor had given him 
 serious offence by determining a difference between 
 himself and the house of Hesse Darmstadt, respect- 
 ing the right of succession to the district of Marburg, 
 in favour of the latter. The Imperialists had drawn 
 a contribution of not less than seven millions of 
 crowns from the limited territory over which his 
 authority extended ; and the Edict of Restitution 
 had been carried into effect, enforced in his dominions 
 by the seizure on the part of the Dominican friars of 
 the rich monastery of Geismar, which had been 
 determined to constitute a part of his fief by the 
 Convention of Passau and the Religious Peace, and 
 from the proceeds of which he derived a fourth part 
 of the revenue. An additional cause for his placing 
 himself under the protection of a foreign power, 
 was to be found in the late threatening attitude of 
 Tilly towards his country, and the certain conviction, 
 that the vengeance threatened by that general would 
 be fully remembered at the first opportunity of 
 inflicting it. The articles of the treaty between 
 Sweden and Hesse Cassel were speedily adjusted, and 
 immediately signed. It was agreed that the forces of 
 the king should defend the territories of the land- 
 grave to the utmost of their ability, while those of 
 Hesse were promised to assist the Swedes in all 
 further operations, as soon as their country was 
 delivered from the presence of the enemy. Gustavus 
 further promised, not to enter into any agreement, 
 either with the Emperor, or the Catholic League, 
 until the landgrave was restored to all the rights and 
 prerogatives enjoyed by his house before the troubles 
 in Bohemia. The fortresses in Hesse were to be 
 garrisoned by Swedish troops, if necessary, but 
 restored at the first demand ; while the landgrave 
 was, without further delay, to proceed to the levy of 
 some thousands of men, which were to be ready, oil
 
 272 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPnUS. 
 
 the earliest opportunity, to co-operate with their new 
 allies. Other articles of minor consequence followed, 
 tending to prevent the possibility of future differ- 
 ences between the parties ; and as soon as the signa- 
 ture of Gustavus was obtained, the landgrave 
 departed, actively to fulfil his part of the agreement. 
 The king still continued at Wirben, in daily expec- 
 tation of a reinforcement of 4,000 men, under Horn, 
 which lie had commanded to join him, as well as of 
 several bodies of recently-levied troops, which Banner 
 had succeeded in raising in the Marches of Branden- 
 burg. 
 
 If the alliance of the Landgrave of Hesse was to 
 be considered an important acquisition to the cause of 
 Sweden, that of the Emperor was now strengthened 
 by a support which appeared more than sufficient to 
 turn the balance in his favour. Tilly, burning with 
 indignation at his late repulse, by which he had been 
 so far exasperated as to issue orders for giving no 
 quarter to the Swedes who fell into the hands of his 
 soldiers, had no sooner retreated to Wolmerstadt, than 
 he was informed of the approach of the army of Italy 
 to join him. The junction of this redoubted force, 
 composed entirely of veteran soldiers, the late con- 
 querors of Mantua, and justly considered the best of 
 the Imperial troops, raised his array to nearly 40,000 
 men, while the Swedes, even after the arrival of 
 Horn, could not be estimated at more than 16,000, 
 on the most favourable calculation. Tilly had no 
 doubt, with the increased force he had just received, 
 of speedily finishing the war in favour of the Im- 
 perialists. The warlike preparations, however, which 
 the Elector of Saxony continued to carry on, with 
 an activity which gave some reasonable ground for 
 suspicion, determined him, before marching against 
 Gustavus, to come to a definite understanding with 
 John George, on the course he intended to pursue in
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 2/3 
 
 reference to the belligerent parties. Before decamp- 
 ing from Wolmerstadt, therefore, he sent the Counts 
 Metternich, Furstemberg, and Cratzen,as ambassadors 
 to Merseburg, complaining, that notwithstanding the 
 decrees of the Emperor, the levies pursued in accord- 
 ance with the Conclusions of Leipzig were still carried 
 on in several of the Protestant States, which were 
 justified by the alleged authority of the Elector of 
 Saxony. He, consequently, desired him at once to 
 refuse all countenance to proceedings so completely at 
 variance with the constitutions of the Empire, and 
 as a proof of his desire to remain in the exercise of 
 allegiance to its head, to join the forces already raised 
 in Saxony to those who were on the point of march- 
 ing against the foreign enemy, who, owing to the 
 disunion among the members of the Germanic body, 
 had as yet been uninterrupted in his progress. In 
 order to enforce this command, Tilly, after dismissing 
 his ambassadors, advanced towards Alsleben, and 
 subsequently to Halle, where he awaited the answer 
 of the elector, having previously so disposed his forces 
 as to be ready, in the case of an unfavourable reply, 
 to ravage the whole country as far as the gates of 
 Leipzig, as the first infliction of Imperial vengeance 
 upon his contumacy. 
 
 John George, however, was no longer in a temper 
 to be intimidated by threats. His troops already 
 amounted to 16,000 men, and he flattered himself 
 that the Swedes, on the first news of his resistance 
 to the demands of Tilly, would hastily march to his 
 assistance. His virtual answer to the Imperial de- 
 puties was given at a banquet, at which, after drink- 
 ing to excess, according to his usual custom, lie felt 
 still more courageously disposed, and better inclined 
 to deliver the defiance he had been meditating. He 
 bluntly informed his guests that his preparations had 
 been made for the defence of the Protestant religion,
 
 274 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVOS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and that he was at a loss to know what right General 
 Tilly possessed to interfere with his conduct ; adding, 
 that the Imperialists, after devouring the other states, 
 appeared willing to reserve Saxony for the dessert, 
 but that he had taken order, while making prepara- 
 tions for their entertainment, to furnish them with 
 comfits, which would assuredly break the teeth of 
 those who attempted to bite them. "With such little 
 reserve did the prince, who a short time before had 
 been complimented by Ferdinand with the title of 
 Pillar of the Empire, now boldly throw off his late 
 mask of allegiance. It has been added, that he after- 
 wards bestowed gross personal abuse upon Metternich, 
 whose health he openly refused to drink, after freely 
 pledging the other deputies. The next morning, 
 however, he showed that he had fully recovered his 
 former quality of worldly prudence, by softening the 
 expressions of the previous night in a letter to Tilly, 
 intended to gain further time, and couched in such 
 terms as still to leave some doubt of the alternate 
 course he intended to pursue. At the same time he 
 despatched his minister and general, Arnheim, to urge 
 the King of Sweden to advance with all speed for the 
 purpose of protecting his country from the ravages of 
 the Imperialists, which, from his acquaintance with 
 the character of Tilly, he was still apprehensive would 
 not be delayed a single moment beyond the reception 
 of his reply. 
 
 Tilly, no doubt informed by his commissioners of 
 the words used by John George in the moments of 
 his intoxication, and construing his dubious letter, as 
 the elector had feared, into a certain sign of disaffection, 
 sent a trumpeter to insist once more upon his former 
 demands, at the same time charging the Saxon with 
 the full responsibility of all the evils about to ensue 
 in the event of his refusal. The Imperialists, how- 
 ever, were too eager to commence the spoliation of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 275 
 
 the rich province before them, to await the return of 
 their last messenger. On the night of the 2d of Sep- 
 tember, Tilly broke up from the neighbourhood of 
 Halle ; and sending detachments, according to his 
 preconcerted plan, in all directions, to plunder and 
 set fire to the neighbouring towns, while Hoik and 
 Gallas, bursting into Misnia, emulated the conduct of 
 their commander-in-chief, by unheard-of barbarities, 
 encamped at Skeuditsch, where he left his main body, 
 and pushing on with his advanced guard to Eutritz, 
 a village distant only a mile and a half from Leipzig, 
 sent forward a trumpeter to summon the city. The 
 magistrates, in their reply, testified the greatest sur- 
 prise at this indication of hostility, which they asserted 
 they had neither expected nor deserved, and repre- 
 sented that considering the perfect submission they 
 had always testified to the decrees of the Emperor, 
 they flattered themselves that no violence would be 
 shown towards them by troops acting under his com- 
 mission. The conduct of the Imperial general quickly 
 convinced them of their mistake. He sent back a 
 peremptory message, requiring the city of Leipzig 
 instantly to open its gates to admit an Imperial gar- 
 rison, and at the same time issued orders to his army 
 to advance from Halle without delay, intending, if 
 his demand was refused, to effect an immediate lodg- 
 ment in the suburbs. The magistrates, thus threat- 
 ened, showed more vigour in their defence than could 
 have been expected from the suddenness of the alarm, 
 and their recollections of the fate of Magdeburg. They 
 ordered that part of the suburbs which lay before 
 the gate of Halle to be fired in several quarters, and 
 began to assign their various posts to the burgher 
 guards, who having been enrolled under the name of 
 defenders, were now hastily summoned to man the 
 walls. The main body of the Imperialists arrived in 
 the midst of their preparations, but from the fury of 
 T 2
 
 276 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 the flames, which were consuming the suburbs, were 
 obliged to encamp at some distance. 
 
 On the 4th of September, Tilly opened two bat- 
 teries against the walls, from which he maintained a 
 constant fire until the evening of the 7th, at the same 
 time throwing combustibles of all kinds into the town. 
 The besieged replied with their musketry and cannon 
 from the ramparts, as long as the wall remained entire, 
 but on the first appearance of a practicable breach, 
 communicated to the Imperialists a desire to capitu- 
 late on honourable terms, under the conviction that 
 they were too weak to withstand a general assault. 
 Tilly at once accepted their offer, since he was alarmed 
 by a report that the King of Sweden and the Elector 
 of Saxony, having united their forces, were now in 
 full march to raise the siege ; information which was 
 soon found to be well founded. The defenders, who 
 only amounted to four companies, were accordingly 
 allowed to march out with all the honours of war. 
 
 The King of Sweden, on the first communication 
 through Arnheim of the recent conduct of the Im- 
 perial commander, and the request of the Elector for 
 his aid, assumed an air of indifference ; and coldly 
 replied, that he had long foreseen all that had occurred, 
 and that if the Elector of Saxony had been gifted with 
 the same foresight, Magdeburg would not at that 
 moment have been lying in ashes. Contrary to the 
 expectations of the Saxon deputy, he did not appear 
 to show the least eagerness to extricate John George 
 from his hazardous situation, and although he ex- 
 pressed a cool condolence with him for the misfortunes 
 of his country, gave no intimation that the Swedish 
 forces would be exposed to peril in an attempt at its 
 deliverance. On Arnheim's attempting to represent 
 more forcibly the circumstances of his master, Gus- 
 tavus stated briefly the only conditions on which he 
 would advance to his relief. He demanded possession
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 277 
 
 of the fortress of Wittemberg as a place of retreat in 
 the event of a disaster ; the delivery of the eldest son 
 of the elector into his hands as a hostage; the main- 
 tenance of the Swedish troops for three months, and 
 the surrender into his hands of all his counsellors who 
 had shown themselves attached to the Imperial in- 
 terests. " On these conditions," he said, " I am ready 
 to march, and on no others. If it does not suit the 
 elector to comply with them, let him deliver himself 
 from his enemies as he can." 
 
 John George was but too happy to purchase an 
 escape from the impending danger on such terms. 
 Arnheim was sent back to the king without delay, to 
 inform him that not only Wittemberg, but the whole 
 of Saxony should be placed at his disposal ; and that, 
 if he required it, the elector would send, as hostages, 
 all the members of his family, as well as his eldest 
 son, while he would readily undertake to furnish every 
 contribution for the pay of the Swedish troops, which 
 Gustavus might demand. The king, satisfied by these 
 concessions that the elector might now be depended 
 upon, then laid aside the coldness and reserved manner 
 he had hitherto assumed. He said, that it was not 
 without reason he had at first thought it necessary to 
 act in a cautious manner, when he remembered the 
 former conduct of John George, while he was march- 
 ing to the relief of Magdeburg ; but that since he had 
 now given full proof of his sincerity, he would acquit 
 him of all other obligations except that of furnishing 
 a month's pay for his army, for which he promised 
 him full compensation in the assistance he would derive 
 from its exertions. The elector, in return, sent a 
 declaration under his own hand and seal, in which, 
 premising that the entrance of Count Tilly into his 
 dominions, contrary to the laws of the empire, had 
 compelled him to have recourse to foreign aid, he 
 promised to join the King of Sweden with all his
 
 278 THE LIFE OP GDSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 forces the moment he should cross the Elbe, and act 
 for the future under his entire conduct and command ; 
 to open to the Swedes all the fortresses in his terri- 
 tories, in the event of their being compelled to retreat; 
 and to furnish them with quarters and provisions as 
 long as they thought proper to continue in Saxony. 
 Gustavus, on the receipt of this engagement, directed 
 his army by forced marches towards the Elbe, which 
 he crossed at Wittemberg, while John George, after 
 his troops were fully assembled, hastened forward to 
 meet him from Torgau. The two armies effected 
 their junction at Duben. The appearance of the 
 Saxon troops, in point of equipment, and the outward 
 semblance of discipline, was such as to strike their 
 allies with general admiration* ! Nothing was to be 
 seen along their ranks but burnished armour, flowing 
 plumes, and embroidered scarfs ; while the Swedish 
 soldiers, worn with long service, and covered with 
 the dust of a long and painful march, were little in a 
 condition to vie, in outward circumstance, with their 
 well-mounted and splendidly-dressed auxiliaries t. 
 The king, with the Elector of Brandenburg, who had 
 accompanied him thus far on his expedition, then 
 returned with the Elector of Saxony to Torgau, where 
 a council of war was held to determine upon their 
 future movements. John George strenuously advo- 
 
 * Monro calls it " the completes! little army for personages of 
 men, comely statures, well armed and well arrayed, that ever his 
 eyes did look on, whose officers did all look as if they were going, 
 in their best apparell and amirs, to be painted, where nothing wag 
 defective the eye could behold." 
 
 ( "Having lyeu overnight on a parcel of plow'd ground, they 
 were so dusty they look'd out like kitchen servants with their un- 
 cleanly rags, within which were hidden courageous hearts, being old 
 experimented blades, which, for the most part, had overcome by 
 custome the toyle of wars ; yet these Saxon gentry, in their bravery, 
 did judge of us and ours according to our outsides, thinking but 
 little of us; neverthelesse we thought not the lesse of ourselves" 
 Monro's Expedition, Part Sec., p. 62.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHT7S. 279 
 
 cated an immediate battle, which the king at first 
 appeared to oppose. But, finding the elector at 
 length excited to such a pitch of forwardness, as to 
 declare that if the Swedes refused to fight, he would 
 himself, at the head of the troops of his own nation, 
 bring Tilly to a general engagement, he exclaimed, 
 that he was charmed to find the elector so resolutely 
 bent upon a course so consistent with his dignity. 
 Then, turning to his generals, he cried, " Come, then, 
 my friends ; let us hasten to bring on this contest, 
 between the person of an old corporal on the one 
 side, and two electoral coronets and a royal crown on 
 the other." 
 
 Tilly, who, before the surrender of Leipzig, had 
 been earnestly advised by Pappenheim to fall upon 
 the Saxons at Torgau before they had time to effect 
 a junction with the Swedes, but who had unaccount- 
 ably neglected to follow this prudent suggestion, on 
 finding the intelligence of the approach of the com- 
 bined armies well founded, began carefully to select a 
 favourable position for battle. At a short distance 
 to the north-east of Leipzig, and in front of the small 
 village of Breitenfeldt, a slightly elevated ridge forms 
 the only acclivity visible for many miles on the 
 spacious plain which extends on all sides round the 
 walls of the city. Midway up this ascent the Im- 
 perial infantry were arranged in dense masses, forming, 
 with the exception of one or two regiments thrown 
 out in advance, but a single line, and wholly unpro- 
 vided with reserves. The heavy-armed cavalry were 
 stationed on the wings, having the Croatians and 
 Hungarians scattered along the front to act as skir- 
 mishers, while the artillery was disposed along the 
 crest of the rising ground, completely commanding 
 the plain beneath, but liable to be masked by the 
 troops it was intended to support, in the event of 
 their advancing from their first position. Tilly baa
 
 280 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 been charged with three grand errors in conduct at 
 the battle of Leipzig. The first, and perhaps the 
 most considerable, consisted in fighting at all, before 
 his army was increased by that of Altringer, number- 
 ing at least 12,000 men, which he daily expected to 
 join him. Pappenheim, it is said, after the ill success 
 of his previous counsel, had entreated his commander 
 to fortify Leipzig, and entrench himself behind it, at 
 least till these succours should come up to his assist- 
 ance, after which it would have been in his power to 
 give battle on terms of decided advantage ; a plan 
 which, whether its rejection arose from jealousy or a 
 confidence in his own superior judgment, the Imperial 
 general can scarcely be excused for not having adopted. 
 Tilly's second error was observable in the faulty and 
 cumbrous array of his infantry ; and the third, in the 
 disposition of his artillery above mentioned. The 
 command of the right wing was entrusted to Furs- 
 temberg, and that of the left to Pappenheim, who 
 had anxiously solicited the post in the hope of a per- 
 sonal encounter with Gustavus Adolphus, who was 
 known generally to charge at the head of the cavalry 
 of his extreme right. The centre was reserved by 
 Tilly as his own station during the expected engage- 
 ment. The whole army, comprising both the Imperial 
 troops and those of the League, amounted to about 
 35,000 men, all of them tried soldiers, and many the 
 veteran conquerors of Prague, Dessau, and Lutter. 
 
 The Swedes, with their allies, numbering some- 
 what less than 32,000, 16,000 of whom consisted of 
 the troops of Saxony, crossed the Mulda at daybreak 
 on the 6th of September ; and marching during the 
 greater part of the ensuing day, encamped late in the 
 afternoon at the distance of about two miles from the 
 enemy. From this station they sent back the greater 
 part of their baggage to Duben, now confident of the 
 delivery of a great battle on the following morning.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 281 
 
 With the first appearance of dawn on the 7th, the 
 drums and trumpets sounded to arms ; and after 
 prayers had been solemnly read at the head of the 
 several regiments, the armies again set forward with 
 banners displayed, and the full pomp of military 
 pageantry. Near the village of Podelwitz some diffi- 
 culty in the ground, which consisted in parts of a 
 deep swamp, and was intersected by a small rivulet, 
 occasioned some disorder among the troops, and Tilly 
 has been further accused of suffering his adversaries 
 to pass a spot unmolested, where considerable damage 
 might have been inflicted upon them by a few pieces 
 of cannon judiciously posted. Podelwitz, however, 
 was only occupied by a body of Croatians, who, after 
 setting tire to the village, returned at full gallop, and 
 carried to their general the certain intelligence of the 
 vicinity of the Swedish and Saxon armies. In the 
 meantime, the combined forces, having reformed their 
 columns, continued leisurely to advance until they 
 came in full sight of the eminence, darkened for the 
 extent of two miles by the close battalions of the 
 Imperialists, and crested with their formidable train 
 of ordnance. An immense flock of crows and ravens, 
 which had been feeding in the fields between the two 
 armies, took wing at their approach ; and, after seve- 
 ral times circling the plain, swept, in a dense cloud 
 and with loud clamours, directly over the centre of 
 Tilly's army a natural occurrence, which, however, 
 was regarded as ominous by the spectators, and after- 
 wards recorded as such by historians. Froissart has 
 mentioned a similar circumstance among the preludes 
 to the famous battle of Cressy. 
 
 When within about two cannon-shots of the enemy, 
 the king made his last arrangements, and assigned to 
 his several divisions the positions he intended them 
 to occupy. As he was somewhat suspicious of the 
 constancy of the Saxons, most of whom had never
 
 282 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHC8. 
 
 yet witnessed a regular engagement, he posted them 
 on his left, with such an interval between them and 
 his own troops as would ensure the latter from being 
 thrown into confusion in the event of their allies being 
 routed. Their further disposition was entirely left to 
 Arnheim and the Elector. The Swedish infantry 
 divided into brigades, according to the favourite plan 
 of Gustavus, was formed in two lines, each supported 
 by its own separate reserve. The artillery, much 
 inferior in calibre to that of the Imperialists, was 
 disposed in front of the infantry, four heavy and six 
 light pieces being assigned to each brigade, while a 
 separate park of four and six pounders was stationed 
 as a reserve in the rear. The greater part of the 
 right wing was composed of cavalry ; but as the king 
 was aware, from the comparatively small size of the 
 horses, and the lightness of the defensive armour worn 
 by the men, that they were ill-qualified to withstand 
 the shock of the heavily-armed Imperial cuirassiers, 
 he placed among them several small bodies of his best 
 musketeers, whose assistance, he hoped, would more 
 than cover the deficiency. The left of his first line, 
 in which a similar disposition had been made, was 
 commanded by Gustavus Horn; andthe centre, where 
 the royal banner of Sweden was displayed, by Baron 
 Teuffel, the king selecting for himself, as usual, the 
 command of the cavalry on the right. The second 
 line was assigned to Bauditzen and Colonel Haal. 
 Immediately behind the king, Banner commanded the 
 first reserve, while that appointed to sustain Haal and 
 Bauditzen was composed principally of Scottish 
 troops under Sir John Hepburn. Two regiments of 
 the same nation, and one of Germans, commanded by 
 Monro of Fowlis, Sir John Hamilton, and Sir James 
 Ramsay, and consisting entirely of select musketeers, 
 formed an advanced guard before the post of Teuffel 
 in the centre. The word among the Swedes was
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 283 
 
 " God with us ;" and each man had been ordered to 
 cnwreath his helmet with green leaves as a mark of 
 distinction in the action. On the part of the Im- 
 perialists; " Jesus Maria" was selected as the battle 
 cry, and the distinguishing badge consisted of a white 
 riband bound round the left arm. 
 
 As soon as his dispositions were fully completed, 
 the king, who, on this important occasion, was simply 
 arrayed in a dress of gray cloth*, and only distin- 
 guished by a green plume which he wore in his hat, 
 delivered a short harangue to his soldiers, containing 
 such appeals as he thought best calculated to excite 
 their courage in the action on the point of commencing. 
 He then advanced a few paces farther, in advance of 
 the line, and kneeling down, with his head uncovered, 
 and the point of his sword turned towards the 
 ground, uttered in a loud voice the following prayer: 
 " Almighty God, disposer of defeat and victory, 
 turn, we beseech thee, thine eyes in compassion upon 
 thy servants, whom injustice and oppression have 
 compelled to leave their homes and enter a foreign 
 land in defence of the truth and liberty of thy gospel, 
 and grant us the conquest of our enemies to the glory 
 of thy holy name." All within hearing responded 
 fervently to this expression of devotion, after which 
 Gustavus, mounting his horse, led on his army to their 
 last position in full range of the Imperial artillery. 
 
 The battle began about mid-day. Three cannon- 
 shots, discharged by order of Tilly as a signal, were 
 followed by a tremendous fire opened simultaneously 
 along his whole line. The same number of shots on 
 the Swedish left produced as furious a reply, and an 
 uninterrupted cannonade, attended with heavy loss to 
 both parties, ensued for the space of two hours; during 
 which, as the Swedes were dazzled by the sun, which 
 shone full in their faces, and greatly inqommoded by a 
 
 Gualdo Mossa, d'Arme di Gustavo Adolfo.
 
 284 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 strong wind, which swept incessant volumes of dust 
 from the newly-ploughed fields directly against their 
 columns, the king thought it necessary to order a slight 
 change of front, in order to avoid the annoyance. 
 This movement was executed with so much celerity 
 and precision, and at the same time so well concealed 
 by the smoke of the battle, that the Imperialists were 
 unable to make any attempt to hinder it until it was 
 completely effected. But the heavy Swedish guns had 
 by this time become so thoroughly heated, that most of 
 them were rendered unserviceable. Gustavus, there- 
 fore, commanded the light pieces of his reserve to be 
 brought up from the rear and placed in position. The 
 increased rapidity of the discharge which took place 
 from the Swedish line in consequence, and its effect 
 among his ranks, speedily convinced Tilly that he was 
 no longer a match for his opponents in their power to 
 inflict mischief at a distance. He accordingly deter- 
 mined to try the effect of a closer combat, and de- 
 scendingfrom hiselevated position with the impetuosity 
 of a torrent, and moving somewhat obliquely to avoid 
 the fire of the Swedish left wing, fell with irresistible 
 force upon the right and centre of their Saxon 
 auxiliaries. These yet unpractised warriors, already 
 sufficiently daunted by the havoc made by the 
 ordnance, and now still more terrified by the hail of 
 musketry poured upon them by the advancing 
 columns of the Imperialists, and* the wild howl with 
 which the Croatians accompanied their onset as they 
 furiously rushed forward to the charge, scarcely 
 waited to exchange a few feeble blows with their 
 assailants, before they gave way in confusion at all 
 points, and fairly fled from the field. The cavalry, 
 in particular, used their means of escape with such 
 good will, that few of them drew bridle until they 
 reached Eulenberg, a village ten miles in the rear. 
 The infantry, after being thrown into no less con-
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLprflTS. 285 
 
 fusion, had still sufficient presence of mind left to 
 plunder the Swedish baggage, together with that 
 of their own army in their retreat. The elector's 
 guards, with Arnheim at their head, alone stood 
 firm amidst the general rout, and gallantly main- 
 tained the honour of their nation during the rest of 
 the conflict. John George himself was among the 
 thickest of the fugitives, and on halting at Euknberg, 
 proceeded to console himself for his discomfiture hy a 
 night devoted to his usual excess. 
 
 The combat, on the right of the Swedes, had been 
 carried on more to the advantage of the allies. The 
 Croatians in that quarter were dispersed at the first 
 charge, leaving at the mercy of the enemy the ad- 
 vanced regiment of Holstein, which was speedily 
 routed with the loss of its commander, and causing 
 some confusion by their flight even among the heavy 
 armed cavalry under Pappenheim, who advanced to 
 support them. As soon as this had been remedied, the 
 Imperial cviirassiers drove at full speed against the 
 Finland and West Gothland hor;?e, which they hoped 
 easily to ride down and scatter before them by the 
 shock of the encounter. In the midst of their career, 
 however, they were met by several close volleys from 
 the detached parties of musketeers, and forced for a 
 moment to recoil beneath the weight of the discharge, 
 against which their armour, although pistol-proof, 
 afforded no protection. The Swedish cavalry, taking 
 instant advantage of their confusion, now charged in 
 their turn with so much spirit, that the Imperialists 
 were speedily compelled to give way before them. 
 After retiring to a short distance, they were again 
 rallied by Pappenheim, and brought back to try the 
 fortune of a second attempt. But notwithstanding 
 the exertions of that commander, who received several 
 wounds while gallantly seconding his exhortations by 
 his personal exertions, every fresh encounter was
 
 285 THtf LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 attended with the same results. The Imperialists 
 were first checked by volleys of musketry, and then 
 driven back by the cavalry, who fell upon them as soon 
 as the fire of their supporters had been delivered*. 
 They still, however, maintained a resolute front ; and 
 although gradually forced to give way by the success 
 of their opponents in several successive charges, ob- 
 stinately continued to rally and dispute the field 
 anew. 
 
 The king, who was personally engaged in this de- 
 termined conflict, was informed, while it was yet un- 
 decided, of the movement of Tilly against the Saxons, 
 and its success. He immediately hastened towards 
 his left wing, and although from the shortness of his 
 vision, a defect to which he afterwards in a great 
 measure owed his death, he was unable clearly to 
 discover the condition of the battle, he had no doubt, 
 from the clouds of dust which rose before him, that 
 the information was perfectly correct. Although the 
 rout of his auxiliaries at once reduced his force to one 
 half of its former numbers, while that of the enemy 
 was at the same time rendered more than twice as 
 numerous as his own, he displayed no symptoms of 
 discomposure, but, coolly desiring Horn to throw back 
 the regiments under his command, so as to form a 
 front towards the quarter from which the Imperialists 
 might be immed-iately expected to advance, and 
 strengthening them with the reserve of the second 
 line under Hepburn, rode again, to the right, pro- 
 mising speedily to return with fresh assistance. As 
 soon as Horn had obeyed the king's orders, the 
 Imperial regiments, with Tilly at their head, returning 
 from the discomfiture of the Saxons, and expecting to 
 find the left flank of the Swedes exposed, bore down 
 upon them with impetuosity, and, after the exchange 
 of a few volleys of musketry, advanced to determine 
 
 * Moiiro.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 287 
 
 the battle at the pike's point. They were met with 
 a resolution equal to their own, and a sanguinary 
 struggle ensued, which was for some time maintained 
 without advantage to either party. But the king, 
 who had by repeated efforts at length succeeded in 
 totally routing the cavalry of Pappenheim, pushed 
 vigorously forward to the village of Breitenfelt, and, 
 seizing the heavy artillery of the Imperialists, pro- 
 ceeded to turn it against Tilly's centre and right wing, 
 which were now stationed nearly at right angles to 
 their former position, and exposed to being completely 
 enfiladed by the fire of their own guns. He at the 
 same time commanded several parties of musketeers 
 to move round from the Swedish centre, and, by 
 taking the enemy in the rear, to assist the efforts of 
 General Horn, who, while holding them at bay in 
 front, had contrived at the same time to outflank 
 them, with the assistance of Hepburn's reserve. The 
 well-disciplined troops against whom these move- 
 ments were directed, who were now arranged in four 
 large masses, each consisting of four regiments, 
 although shattered by an incessant discharge of 
 artillery, which struck down whole ranks at a time, 
 and placed by their unwieldy array almost at the 
 mercy of the Swedish musketry, which maintained 
 from three sides a close and destructive fire, continued, 
 nevertheless, until sunset, to offer such a resistance as 
 might have been expected from their previously esta- 
 blished reputation. At that time, the greater number, 
 throwing down their arms, endeavoured, under cover 
 of the evening, to ensure their safety by a precipitate 
 flight, leaving the only appearance of a regular array 
 to be maintained by the Walloon regiments originally 
 composing the Imperial centre, which, continuing the 
 combat in sullen desperation, were cut down by the 
 conquerors in repeated assaults, until the wreck still 
 remaining contrived to fight their way to the shelter
 
 288 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of a neighbouring wood. The last show of opposition 
 was made by the cuirassiers of Baron Cronenburgh, 
 who, sheathed from head to foot in black armour, 
 affirmed to be musket- proof, had as yet continued 
 unbroken, and, on perceiving that their companions 
 had all dispersed, at length finished the action by a 
 parting volley from their carbines, after which they 
 leisurely rode off the field, imposing so much respect 
 upon the victors by their formidable appearance, that 
 they were suffered to make their escape unmolested. 
 They were joined in their retreat by Tilly, who had 
 received three severe contusions from pistol-balls 
 during the engagement, and narrowly avoided death 
 or captivity at the hands of the pursuers. A Swedish 
 lieutenant-colonel, generally known by the name of 
 Frederick the Long, on account of his lofty stature, 
 overtaking him as he withdrew among the last of the 
 fugitives, and receiving no reply to his demand of an 
 instant surrender, inflicted several heavy blows upon 
 him with the stock of his pistol, and would probably 
 have slain him outright, had he not himself been shot 
 through the head by Rudolph Maximilian, Duke of 
 Saxe Lauenburg, then serving in the Imperial army, 
 who came up at a fortunate moment to effect the 
 rescue of his commander*. Under the escort of 
 Cronenburgh's cuirassiers, all that remained to re- 
 present the magnificent force he had headed in the 
 morning, he continued his course to Halle. Here, 
 after his wounds had been dressed, after the fashion 
 of the barbarous surgery of the time, he was joined 
 by Pappenheim at the head of fourteen hundred men, 
 whom the general had succeeded in rallying on his 
 way, and uniting these with the cavalry who had 
 accompanied him from the field, he retired the next 
 morning to Wolmerstadt, whither most of the scat- 
 tered bodies of Imperialists were directing their flight. 
 
 * Heylman Leo Arctous.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHDS. 289 
 
 Thus ended the battle of Leipzig, in which, to 
 borrow the words of Hume, " the conduct of Tilly 
 and the valour of the Imperialists were overcome by 
 the superior conduct of Gustavus, and the superior 
 valour of the Swedes." Few victories have been 
 more decisive. Of the formidable army which had 
 so long kept Germany in awe. scarcely a single regi- 
 ment remained entire. The hereditary dominions of 
 Austria lay fully exposed by its destruction ; and 
 there appears but little reason to doubt that, if the 
 Swedes had thought proper to pursue their march in 
 that direction, they would have been unencountered 
 by a single enemy, before pitching their camp be- 
 neath the walls of Vienna. The loss of the victors 
 amounted to but 3,000 men, including the Saxons, 
 and was principally inflicted by the artillery at the 
 beginning of the engagement. The Imperialists left 
 7,000 men dead on the field, among whom were 
 reckoned the Duke of Holstein, Major-General 
 Schaumberg, and several officers of distinction ; and 
 5,000 were wounded or taken prisoners. Many 
 hundreds more were slain by the Swedish cavalry, 
 who continued to press hard upon the traces of their 
 routed foes, until the obscurity of night put an end 
 to the pursuit, or massacred by the incensed pea- 
 santry of the neighbouring districts, who, on the first 
 intimation of the event of the day, which was 
 announced by alarm-bells, sounded from the steeples 
 of the village churches near the scene of action, 
 hastily armed themselves, and sallied forth to inflict 
 that vengeance upon the fugitives which they had 
 provoked by their late ravages. The spoils of the 
 field comprised a hundred standards and ensigns, the 
 whole of the baggage of the vanquished, the value of 
 which was immense, since it consisted of the fruits of 
 many months of indiscriminate spoliation ; and 28 
 pieces of cannon, some of them 48 pounders, each
 
 290 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHD8. 
 
 requiring the strength of forty horses to transport it 
 from place to place. The circumstances which prin- 
 cipally contributed to the success of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus on this momentous day, at the close of which 
 he found himself entitled to take his place among the 
 greatest generals, have been generally found in his 
 judicious use of his light artillery, his skilful inter- 
 mixture of infantry with his horse, by which he was 
 enabled to overcome a cavalry better appointed, and 
 superior in numbers to his own ; and, finally, his 
 presence of mind in making such dispositions after 
 the flight of the Saxons, as turned the defeat of one 
 half of his army to his ultimate advantage. As on 
 most similar occasions, however, a greater benefit 
 may be supposed to have been derived by the con- 
 queror from the errors of the Imperial general, whose 
 star, after the capture of Magdeburg, seems to have 
 been fated invariably to pale before that of the 
 Swedish monarch ; or rather whose advanced years, 
 producing a greater degree of caution and hesitation 
 than had been perceptible in the former part of his 
 military career, rendered him no longer a fit match 
 for the bold and vigorous system of warfare carried 
 on by his more youthful and enterprising rival. 
 
 " Oh," exclaims Monro, with a pardonable spirit 
 of exultation, when reflecting upon the conduct of 
 his great commander, at what was then termed the 
 Cannae of the house of Austria, " would to God I 
 had once such a leader againe to fight such an other 
 day in this old quarrell ! And though I died stand- 
 ing, I should be persuaded I died well. And I wish 
 that, as we have received the light of truth happily 
 that fought in that quarrell, even so we may happen 
 to restore that light againe pleasantly ; that as we 
 did overcome that day our carnal enemies, even so 
 we may overcome in our last fight our spiritual 
 enemies, that after death we may be crowned with 
 immortal glorie."
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 291 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Plans of the Allied Armies after the Battle of Leipzig Separation 
 of the Swedish and Saxon Forces Gustavus marches upon 
 Erfurt, crosses the Duringer Wald, and reduces Konigshofen 
 Siege and Assault of Wurzburg Movements of Tilly Defeat 
 of the Troops of Prince Charles of Lorrain, who retreats across 
 the Rhine Operations of the Saxons under the Elector and 
 Arnheim in Bohemia Recovery of Prague Victory gained over 
 the Imperialists under Tieffenhach Surrender of Eger Dis- 
 tress of Ferdinand, and perplexity of the Imperial Councils 
 Negotiations with Wallenstein on the subject of his reassuming 
 the command He agrees to superintend the levy of afresh Army 
 for the Emperor The King of Sweden advances to Frankfort on 
 the Maine Frankfort surrenders Triumphal Entry of Gustavns 
 into the City. 
 
 THE morning after their victory was devoted by the 
 Swedes to a solemn service of thanksgiving for the 
 success of their arms ; after which, the whole army 
 advanced towards Leipzig, where Tilly had left an 
 Imperial garrison of 1,500 men. The Elector of 
 Saxony had been in the mean time informed at 
 Eulenburg of the issue of the battle, and hastened to 
 rejoin his allies with all the troops he had been able 
 to assemble round his standard. On his attempting 
 to apologise for the recent conduct of the Saxons, the 
 king politely answered, that, considering they were 
 but recent levies, they had behaved quite as well as 
 could have been expected ; and that the Elector had 
 sufficiently shown his own courage by his advice 
 given at Torgau, to which the recent advantage was 
 in a great measure to be attributed. He then re- 
 quested John George to undertake with his Saxons 
 the recovery of Leipzig, while he himself proceeded 
 to reduce Merseburg and Halle. Both these places
 
 292 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUSl 
 
 were yielded up on honourable conditions, at the first 
 approach of the Swedes ; and the Elector, having in 
 a few days compelled the Imperialists left at Leipzig 
 to a capitulation, again returned to unite his forces 
 with those acting under the king. From Halle Gus- 
 tavus wrote to Louis XIII., Charles I., and the 
 United States of Holland, modestly informing them 
 of his late victory, which he attributed entirely to 
 the Divine assistance, and the valour of his soldiers. 
 Of himself he made no mention. He next convoked 
 a general council, which was attended by the Elector 
 of Saxony, the Princes of Anhalt, and the Dukes of 
 Weimar, to determine upon the best plan for improv- 
 ing the result of Leipzig. Many conferences were 
 held upon the subject ; but Gustavus at length ended 
 the deliberations, by assigning the task of invading 
 the hereditary dominions of Austria to the Saxons, 
 who were desired to hasten their march into Bohe- 
 mia, and make directly for Prague, at the same time 
 taking proper steps to keep in check the Imperialists 
 under the command of Tieffenbach, in Silesia. The 
 troops of Sweden were destined to act in the circles 
 of Franconia, the Upper Rhine, and Bavaria, where 
 the king was now determined to continue his opera- 
 tions against the members of the Catholic League. 
 This division of the combined forces, and in parti- 
 cular the part allotted to the performance of the 
 Elector of Saxony, excited general astonishment. It 
 had been confidently expected, that after the decisive 
 day of Leipzig, the King of Sweden, leaving his ally 
 to make head against the enemy in other quarters, 
 would have marched straight to Vienna, and forced 
 the Emperor to consent to a peace upon his own con- 
 ditions. Oxenstiern was so convinced of the practi- 
 cability of the plan, that, on his first meeting with 
 Gustavus in Germany, he could not avoid indirectly 
 reproaching him with his error in not having carried
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 293 
 
 it into effect. " I am happy to see you here, Sire," 
 he said, " victorious and covered with glory ; but I 
 would much rather have preferred meeting you in 
 Vienna." The conduct of Gustavus Adolphus on 
 this occasion has been variously accounted for. By 
 some it has been affirmed, that, considering it far 
 more important to break the spirit of the League, by 
 whose assistance Ferdinand was principally enabled 
 to continue the war, than to hazard an expedition of 
 uncertain success against the capital of his enemy, who 
 might easily have abandoned it at his approach, and 
 retired into Styria and Carniola, until a formidable 
 army was collected in the rear of the invaders, he 
 determined upon turning his arms against the Catho^ 
 lie Electors, as the readiest means of effecting the 
 object for which he had entered the Empire. Others 
 have sought for an explanation of his conduct in 
 motives of personal ambition, and alleged, that with 
 the secret design of securing for himself the dignity 
 of King of the Romans, he thought it necessary first 
 to place himself in such a position as would overawe 
 the Electors into giving their votes in his favour. 
 How far he might be influenced by either or both of 
 these motives, it is difficult to determine. It is, 
 however, beyond a question, that the event of the 
 battle of Leipzig produced a considerable change in 
 his views, and that from that moment the vision of a 
 great empire in Germany, existing under a Protestant 
 head, or at least the dignity of permanent protector 
 of a confederation of the princes and estates professing 
 the reformed religion, was no stranger to his imagin- 
 ation, if indeed it was not the object at which he 
 directly aspired. In contemplating such a station of 
 honour for himself, it is far from impossible that he 
 believed the most essential service would be rendered 
 to the cause he had espoused, and even that he had 
 been expressly raised up by Divine Providence for
 
 294 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 the purpose of filling it ; but that the promotion of 
 his own greatness now entered more evidently than 
 before into his plans and actions, it would be vain, in 
 contradiction to the evidence afforded by subsequent 
 events, to deny. 
 
 The news of the battle of Leipzig was received 
 throughout Europe, according to the religion or poli- 
 tical condition of different states, with feelings of 
 triumphant exultation or ill-suppressed concern. By 
 Holland, England, France, and Venice, the intelli- 
 gence was hailed as a cause for general rejoicing. 
 The Kings of Denmark and Poland, although little 
 inclined the former from jealousy, and the latter 
 from the recollection of recent hostilities to sympa- 
 thise with the good fortune of the Swedes, thought 
 it necessary to send embassies of congratulation. 
 Ferdinand II., whom the event most deeply con- 
 cerned, accustomed by the vicissitudes of early life to 
 sudden reverses, and at all times displaying a cha- 
 racter more worthy of admiration in adversity than 
 prosperity, was, perhaps, the least apparently con- 
 cerned of all the sovereigns to whom it was commu- 
 nicated. He was, however, less careful to conceal his 
 feelings in regard to the conduct of France in her 
 recent alliance with Sweden, to which he justly, in a 
 great measure, attributed the success of his enemies. 
 The stipulations of the treaty of Ratisbon had, it is 
 true, been confined to the affairs of Italy ; yet a verbal 
 agreement had been entered into by the French de- 
 puties, pledging that the nation they represented 
 should abstain from all interference with the affairs 
 of Germany, a promise which was only intended to 
 amuse the Emperor until the question of Mantua 
 should be determined. The mortification of Ferdi- 
 nand was further increased by the recollection, that 
 his ministers had earnestly advised the insertion of 
 an express clause in the treaty, to prevent France
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 295 
 
 from lending any assistance to the Swedes ; and that 
 his own too great credulity alone was the principal 
 cause of his present embarrassments. 
 
 The Saxon and Swedish armies separated on the 
 17th of September, the former setting forward on 
 their expedition into Bohemia, and the latter prepar- 
 ing to march upon Erfurt, a free and Imperial city, 
 under the protection of the Princes of Saxe AVeimar, 
 with the reservation of certain rights possessed by 
 the Elector of Mentz. Erfurt was taken by a stra- 
 tagem scarcely justifiable, although it tended to save 
 the effusion of blood. The magistrates, on receiving 
 a message from the King of Sweden, commanding 
 them to admit a garrison of 1,500 men into the city, 
 sent a deputation to request the favour of a short 
 delay before returning their final answer. The king 
 pretended to assent to their request, but at the same 
 time ordered William Duke of Saxe Weimar to hasten 
 with a regiment of cavalry, and, if possible, enter the 
 gates when they were opened to re-admit the deputies. 
 The duke accomplished the command, by feigning a 
 wish to visit Erfurt, and accompanied the ambassadors 
 on their return in his coach, having given orders to 
 his cavalry to follow quietly at a short distance. On 
 reaching the gateway of the city, his coach was sud- 
 denly stopped, and at that moment the cavalry rushed 
 forward, and made for the entrance at full speed, 
 through which they quickly poured into the town, 
 since it was impossible to close the gates against them 
 while the duke's carriage remained in the way. The 
 garrison of Erfurt, thus surprised, surrendered without 
 resistance ; and Gustavus shortly afterwards entered 
 the city, assuring the magistrates of his intention to 
 preserve their rights and liberties entire. He cordially 
 received a deputation of the Catholic ecclesiastics, 
 composing the chapter of the cathedral church, and 
 signified his resolution of protecting the members of
 
 296 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 their communion in the exercise of their privileges 
 equally with their Protestant fellow-citizens. The 
 Jesuits did not meet with so gracious a reception. 
 The king sternly reminded them of the trouble they 
 had occasioned, and the blood they had caused to be 
 shed by their ambitious intrigues, for which he as- 
 sured them they would have one day to render a 
 severe account to God. He informed them that he 
 was well acquainted with their deceitful policy and 
 dangerous maxims ; and recommended them, in imi- 
 tation of their brethren of other orders, to confine 
 their attention to their chaplets and breviaries, instead 
 of meddling with the affairs of state. He then dis- 
 missed them, affirming that, on condition of their 
 following his advice and strictly confining themselves 
 to the duties of their office, he would undertake in 
 return to secure them from personal injury. 
 
 Gustavus re-established the Protestant University 
 at Erfurt in its former condition, and intrusted the 
 government of the city to the Duke of Saxe Weimar, 
 whom he directed to repair and increase the fortifi- 
 cations according to a plan which he himself furnished. 
 Two of his envoys were at the same time sent forward 
 on an embassy to the Protestant states of the circle 
 of Franconia, to dispose them to unite themselves with 
 the Swedes, and aid them in sustaining the burden 
 of the war. On the 27th of September the army re- 
 sumed its march, after a detached force had effected 
 the reduction of Gotha, directing its course by Arn- 
 stadt and Ilmenau towards the Duringer Wald, or 
 vast forest of Thuringia. During this march, the 
 king passed a night at the castle of the Count of 
 Schwartzburg, whose father had formerly distinguished 
 himself in the service of Christian of Denmark, while 
 engaged in his war with Sweden. This nobleman 
 deemed it necessary to make some apology to Gus- 
 tavus upon the subject, but the king, interrupting
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 297 
 
 him in the midst of his excuses, replied that his 
 father had done hut his duty ; that, for his own part, 
 he could well wish to be surrounded by officers dis- 
 tinguished for the same zeal and ability ; and that so 
 far from entertaining any feeling of enmity towards 
 his children, he deemed them, in consequence of their 
 father's merits, to possess an unquestionable claim to 
 his regard. 
 
 Three days were spent by the Swedes in defiling 
 through the forest, and traversing the rugged and 
 difficult country between Ilmenau and Konigshofen, 
 upon which the king now directed the army with a 
 diligence which left his soldiers but a few hours in 
 the middle of the night for repose. Their march was 
 frequently pursued in total darkness ; but to prevent 
 any division from wandering from the right track, 
 the line of route was carefully marked by advanced 
 parties attended by experienced guides, who were 
 directed to affix burning matches to the trees as they 
 proceeded, or erect lanterns upon posts at certain 
 intervals, as beacons to direct their comrades. At 
 the distance of a league from Konigshofen, the army 
 was safely re-assembled, and a trumpeter sent forward 
 to summon the fortress, the king at the same time 
 approaching the walls for the purpose of more closely 
 reconnoitring the place. A vigorous fire of musketry 
 and artillery was immediately opened against him and 
 his attendants, and his messenger shortly returned 
 with a resolute answer from the governor, signifying 
 his intention of holding his post to the last. Gus- 
 tavus accordingly erected two batteries, and sent to 
 assure the garrison that if they deferred their sur- 
 render for a longer space than twenty-four hours, 
 they would be exposed to all the consequences of an 
 assault. He therefore requested them at least to send 
 out from the fortress all whom it contained not ac- 
 tually under arms, in order that the effusion of inno-
 
 298 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 cent blood might be spared. No answer was given 
 to this demand, and the fire on both sides was renewed 
 with increased activity ; but the garrison, finding that 
 the Swedes were making preparations for carrying 
 their threat into execution, beat a parley at the mo- 
 ment when the assault was on the point of taking 
 place, and were still allowed an honourable capitula- 
 tion. The fall of Konigshofen struck terror into the 
 Catholics throughout the whole circle of Franconia, 
 who began to abandon their homes in every direction, 
 following the example set by the Bishop of Wurzburg, 
 who left his residence in consternation, although the 
 King of Sweden had offered him a neutrality on 
 favourable conditions, and proclaimed openly that no 
 man should be molested for his religion. The town 
 of Schweinfurth was the next place which fell into 
 the hands of the Swedes. It was abandoned as in- 
 capable of defence by the Imperialists ; but the king 
 was so impressed with its importance, that he gave 
 orders for fortifying it with all diligence, and shortly 
 succeeded in rendering it one of the strongest posts in 
 the occupation of his forces. 
 
 The conquest of Wurzburg was an undertaking of 
 more consequence and of far greater difficulty. The 
 town was considered the capital of Franconia, and 
 had been selected as a place of retreat by many of the 
 religious orders in its vicinity, who had carried with 
 them an immense treasure, which they had deposited 
 in the castle as in a place of undoubted security. 
 The first summons of the King of Sweden was un- 
 noticed by the magistrates. The Swedes, however, 
 speedily made their way into the suburbs by blowing 
 open one of the gates with a petard ; and, dispersing 
 the few burghers who feebly attempted to oppose 
 them, were proceeding to effect an entrance into the 
 town in the same manner, when the magistrates took 
 the resolution of delivering it into their hands with-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 299 
 
 out further opposition, and sent their keys to the 
 king as a token of unconditional surrender. Gus- 
 tavus carefully restrained his soldiers from commit- 
 ting any violence towards the inhabitants, and turned 
 his attention to the immediate conquest of the cita- 
 del. This was an undertaking which at first seemed 
 to present scarcely a possibility of success. The 
 castle of Marienberg, a Gothic structure, consisting 
 of a square donjon with flanking towers, but sur- 
 rounded with strong outworks constructed in the 
 more recent style of fortification, was situated on a 
 steep ledge of rocks which rose on the other side of 
 the Maine, and completely commanded with its guns 
 the bridge across the river, the central arch of which 
 had been blown up by the Imperialists, as an addi- 
 tional means of providing for their defence. The 
 King of Sweden, who wished to preserve the reli- 
 gious persons of both sexes, who had taken refuge in 
 the castle, from the danger of violence at the hands 
 of his soldiers, as well as to prevent the indiscrimi- 
 nate plunder of the treasures which the fortress 
 contained, sent a message to Colonel Keller, the 
 governor, offering him the power of capitulating on 
 the most honourable terms. The Imperialist, how- 
 ever, confiding in the strength of his defences, which 
 he believed to be impregnable, refused to listen to 
 every proposition, and prepared to maintain an ob- 
 stinate defence ; a course of conduct which might 
 be considered justified, not only by the means of 
 resistance afforded by the situation of the fortress, 
 and the strength of the garrison, which amounted to 
 1,500 men, but by the circumstance of its having 
 lately been amply provisioned for sustaining a siege 
 for a much longer time than the Swedes were likely 
 to continue beneath its walls. There remained, 
 therefore, but the perilous expedient of carrying it 
 by assault ; and the difficulties in the way of those
 
 300 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 employed in such an undertaking, must be acknow- 
 ledged to have been such as to discourage the most 
 stout-hearted assailants, since not only was the whole 
 town completely exposed to the cannon of the castle, 
 but the only way of advancing to invest the fortress, 
 lay across the bridge over the Maine. The Swedes, 
 by dint of great exertion, had at length managed to 
 place a single plank over the arch which the Impe- 
 rialists had destroyed ; yet this unstable support, 
 elevated nearly fifty feet above the current of the 
 Maine, and requiring a sure step to be passed in 
 safety, even were there no enemy to hinder the 
 effort, was so completely exposed to the fire from 
 the garrison, that every man who attempted the 
 passage fell instantly beneath a shower of balls, 
 directed with certain aim and maintained without 
 intermission. The regiments of Sir James Ramsay 
 and Sir John Hamilton were, nevertheless, com- 
 manded, if possible, to force a passage over the 
 bridge, and effect a lodgment on the other side, and 
 without hesitation attempted to carry the order into 
 effect. Their first effort, as might have been ex- 
 pected, proved wholly unsuccessful. Many fell 
 before the storm of shot, which redoubled from the 
 opposite works as they advanced, and the remainder 
 shrank back, refusing to throw away their lives in 
 an enterprise which would but involve them in de- 
 struction, without in the least degree contributing 
 to the success of their companions. Ramsay and 
 Hamilton, therefore, changed their plan of proceed- 
 ing, and leaving the greater part of their soldiers at 
 the foot of the bridge, embarked the rest in several 
 small boats, with which they pushed off, with the 
 view of gaining the other bank, although the whole 
 surface of the river around them was instantly fur- 
 rowed by the balls of the Imperialists ; and after 
 suffering a severe loss, contrived to gain a footing
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVU3 ADOLPHCS. 301 
 
 among the rocks on the opposite side, from which, 
 after dislodging a party of skirmishers, posted to 
 prevent their landing, they commenced an irregular 
 fire upon the ramparts. On seeing their comrades 
 engaged in this arduous attack, those who were left 
 upon the bridge resolved upon one last effort at 
 effecting the hazardous passage ; and running at full 
 speed across the plank, which only allowed them to 
 cross in a single file, they at length succeeded, while 
 the attention of the garrison was in some measure 
 distracted by the progress of Hamilton and Ramsay 
 below, in driving the defenders, stationed at the op- 
 posite end of the bridge, into the castle, and gaining 
 a more sheltered position beneath the outworks. 
 The king followed up their success by transporting 
 fresh troops across the river during the whole night, 
 and on the following morning the commander of 
 Marienberg beheld the complete investment of his 
 fortress by numerous parties, who were employed in 
 raising batteries in the most commanding situations 
 for breaching his walls. The castle was cannonaded 
 during two whole days, after which the Swedes pre- 
 pared for the assault. A second summons was, 
 however, first despatched by the king to the governor, 
 who still persisted obstinately in refusing to listen to 
 terms of surrender : the signal for a general attack 
 immediately followed. An advanced half-moon was 
 carried by the Swedes sword in hand ; and the de 
 fenders, while making their retreat into the castle, 
 were so closely followed by the pursuers, that the 
 garrison were unable to raise the drawbridge before 
 the enemy had rushed across it, and gained posses- 
 sion of the entrance. At the same time the castle 
 walls were escaladed at different points, Gustavus 
 himself being the ninth man who reached the sum- 
 mit*, and the ramparts speedily cleared by the 
 
 * Scheffer : Memor. Succica; Gentis.
 
 302 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 assailants, who gave no quarter, in their first fury, 
 to a single person found in arms. Several monks, 
 who had taken their posts in the Imperial ranks and 
 shared in the conflict, perished, together with the 
 greatest part of the garrison ; but although the castle 
 was crowded with ecclesiastics and nuns, and con- 
 tained many of the townspeople, who had placed 
 themselves under the protection of the governor, the 
 only known act of violence perpetrated was the death 
 of a Capuchin monk, who, although unarmed, was 
 slain, perhaps accidentally, in the general confusion. 
 The rest of the order, apprehensive of the same fate, 
 threw themselves at the king's feet and demanded 
 protection. Gustavus insisted upon their rising, 
 before he would hear a single word of their request, 
 and listened to them with his head uncovered, in 
 token of respect. He protested, on being informed 
 of what had passed, that if he could discover the 
 soldier by whom the action of which they had made 
 mention had been committed, he would have him 
 executed upon the spot ; and assured the rest of the 
 occupants of Marienberg, by the most solemn asseve- 
 rations, that they had no cause for apprehension 
 respecting their personal safety. The prisoners were 
 dismissed on their giving a promise of raising an ap- 
 pointed ransom, and the women conducted under an 
 escort into the town. The plunder of the property 
 found in the castle, chiefly belonging to the bishop, 
 and of great value, was freely allowed to the soldiers 
 who had been engaged in the assault. A prodigious 
 quantity of provisions and Rhenish wine, 30 large 
 pieces of cannon, and pikes sufficient to arm 8,000 
 men, were among the means of assistance towards 
 the further prosecution of the war afforded by the 
 fall of Marienberg. 
 
 Tilly, who, since the battle of Leipzig, had been 
 busily employed in re-assembling the wrecks of his
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 303 
 
 army, in effecting his junction with Aldringer, and 
 receiving into his ranks the Imperial garrisons in 
 Lower Saxony, had, by incredible efforts, the effect of 
 his deep mortification at the defeat he had received, 
 and his intense desire to avenge it, by this time suc- 
 ceeded in again raising his force to 30,000 men. 
 With these he descended anew upon the dominions 
 of the Landgrave of Hesse, and, giving the usual 
 manifestations of his presence wherever he passed, in 
 the unsparing desolation of the surrounding country, 
 directed his march upon Fulda, with the intention of 
 entering Franconia, and disputing its possession with 
 Gustavus Adolphus in a second general action. At 
 the latter place he was joined by Charles Duke of 
 Lorrain, at the head of 15,000 well-appointed troops, 
 who, in defiance of the power of France, had ventured 
 to take part with the Emperor, excited, as it was 
 supposed, by an indirect promise of the electoral 
 coronet of Brandenburg or Saxony, in the event of 
 the present contest terminating to the advantage of 
 the house of Austria. Charles of Lorrain proved 
 himself but a feeble ally, and his officers speedily ex- 
 cited the contempt of the veterans with whom they 
 co-operated, by their foppish vanity and ignorance, 
 which were amusingly exemplified during their march, 
 by their inquiring of the Germans, " who this Land- 
 grave of Hesse, of whom they had heard so much, 
 was, and whether he was a gentleman of good family." 
 They, however, at least, contributed in appearance to 
 render the force now at Tilly's command more efficient 
 for active operations, and it was not doubted that 
 Franconia would speedily be the scene of an attempt 
 at reversing the fortune of Leipzig ; a result not 
 deemed improbable, when it was considered that the 
 Swedish army, although greatly increased by the 
 numbers who hastened to join it after the recent 
 victory, did not muster more than 25,000 strong.
 
 304 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Tilly himself, in full confidence of such a compensation 
 for his past disasters, proceeded up the western bank 
 of the Maine with such rapidity, that he was only 
 within two days' march of Wurzburg when the town 
 was taken by the Swedes ; and the king was obliged 
 to hurry, with the greatest precipitation, towards the 
 bridge of Ochsenfurth * with a select detachment, to 
 prevent that important pass from falling into the 
 hands of his advanced parties. But, at the moment 
 when the Imperial general was flattering himself that 
 the opportunity for redeeming his lost credit was in 
 his grasp, he was doomed to suffer a bitter disappoint- 
 ment, by receiving a letter from Maximilian of Ba- 
 varia, in which he was strictly enjoined not to venture 
 upon a decisive engagement, the loss of which would 
 leave the circles of Bavaria and Suabia, and the elec- 
 torates of the Rhine, at the mercy of the Swedes, but 
 to remain as much as possible upon the defensive, 
 and content himself with destroying the forces of the 
 enemy in detail. Tilly, although he did not scruple 
 to express his deep resentment at a command which 
 paralysed his exertions, and reduced him almost to 
 the condition of a spectator of the further conquests 
 of his antagonists, proceeded, nevertheless, to comply 
 with the orders he had received. He directed his 
 course to the southward ; and, after leaving garrisons 
 in Wertheim, Rothenburg, and Windsheimt, ad- 
 vanced towards Nurenberg, and encamping his army 
 beneath its walls, demanded provisions for his troops, 
 and a large contribution of money. The magistrates, 
 without hesitation, refused the demand, nor were 
 they terrified into submission by observing the Im- 
 perialists preparing to invest their city, since they 
 were well aware that Tilly, from the near approach 
 of winter, had no time to spare for so important a 
 siege. The Imperial general, who had only made a 
 
 * Monro. Second Expedition. f Braclielius, Hist, sui temp.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 305 
 
 feint of employing force, perceiving that his threats 
 were entirely disregarded, quickly abandoned his in- 
 vestment of Nurenberg, and despatching one consider- 
 able division of his army to take their winter quarters 
 in the Upper Palatinate, and another, under Pappen- 
 heim, to act upon the Elbe and the Weser, fell back 
 with the rest as far as Nordlingen, guarding the 
 frontiers of Bavaria, and carefully watching the 
 progress of the Swedes, in the hope of wresting an 
 important advantage from them at an unguarded 
 moment. Charles of Lorrain, who had threatened 
 to drive the King of Sweden back to the snows and 
 ices of his own country, being left to himself in con- 
 sequence of these movements, speedily learned from 
 experience against what kind of adversary he had 
 ventured to take up arms. Bauditzen was dispatched 
 by the king to make an attack upon his quarters, 
 and encountering a detachment of his troops near 
 Mergenthal, utterly defeated them, and returned to 
 the camp loaded with booty. Gustavus soon followed 
 the warning by a movement in person with a select 
 corps, to pursue a more extensive series of attacks 
 against this negligent enemy. The Lorrainers, posted 
 without judgment or means of communication, were 
 compelled to fly before him wherever he advanced, 
 and were so dispirited with the result of their first 
 campaign, that they began to desert by hundreds 
 from the standard of their leader, and retire across 
 the Rhine. The duke soon imitated their example, 
 and led back the wrecks of his army to Nancy, in a 
 very different state of feeling from that in which he 
 had rashly plunged into the war. His baggage was 
 plundered by the German peasants as he was crossing 
 the bridge of Strasburg ; and a waggoner had the 
 audacity to apply his whip to his horse, exclaiming, 
 " It becomes a man to make more haste, sir, when 
 he is flying before the great Gustavus." His con-
 
 306 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJ8. 
 
 querors, satisfied that nothing more was to be appre- 
 hended from his interference, returned to pursue their 
 successes in other quarters. Every day witnessed 
 some new acquisition made by the arms of Sweden. 
 The Bishop of Bamberg purchased the safety of his 
 territories by promising to withdraw all his troops 
 from the army of the League, to furnish the king 
 with a contribution to the amount of 300,000 crowns, 
 and to give up the towns of Forcheim and Cronach 
 to be held by Swedish garrisons. Almost all the 
 towns of Franconia sent deputies to the camp of 
 Gustavus to take the oath of fidelity to his cause. 
 The city of Nurenberg hazarded the wrath of the 
 Emperor, by openly placing itself under his protection; 
 Ulm and Strasburg followed its example ; and the 
 Swedes shortly afterwards, having driven the Im- 
 perialists from Wertheim and Rothenburg, began to 
 threaten a speedy advance upon Hanau and Frankfort. 
 The Diet of Composition, which was sitting at the 
 latter city, for the purpose of flattering the Protestants 
 with a hope of the repeal of the Edict of Restitution, 
 broke up in confusion at the intelligence, the members 
 hastily dispersing to their several abodes, to await the 
 result of the astonishing events passing around them. 
 The news from the Swedish armies acting in other 
 quarters was no less satisfactory. Rostock, Wismar, 
 and Demmitz, the only places remaining in the hands 
 of the Imperialists throughout the duchy of Mecklen- 
 burg, fell in succession before the arms of Achatius 
 Todt and the deposed dukes, who assisted him with 
 an auxiliary force ; while Banner, who had succeeded 
 in raising a force of 15,000 men in the marches of 
 Brandenburg, employed it so successfully against 
 Wolf Count Mansfeld, who commanded for the em- 
 peror in the bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, 
 that he compelled his adversary to retire before him, 
 and finally held him closely invested within the half-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 307 
 
 ruined walls which had been, a few months before, 
 the scene of such terrible barbarities on the part of 
 the Imperial soldiery. 
 
 The prudence of Gustavus in availing himself of 
 all these advantages, was as conspicuous as the ability 
 with which most of them had been ensured. The 
 hostility which the Catholics had at first entertained 
 towards him was gradually lessened by his repeated 
 declarations that he had no wish to place the least 
 restriction upon the public exercise of their religion, 
 and that he appeared in Germany as the vindicator 
 of its liberties, and not as the persecutor of a creed 
 differing from his own ; while his clemency and mo- 
 deration on all occasions inspired a personal respect 
 for his character, even among those who were openly 
 in arms against him. The councils of his enemies, on 
 the contrary, sufficiently perplexed by the difficulties 
 which were thickening around them, began to be still 
 further weakened by their internal dissensions and 
 ill-concealed distrust. The emperor was offended by 
 the coldness of the members of the League, whom he 
 had lately in vain endeavoured to gain over to assent 
 to a declaration of war with France, in return for 
 what he considered the late infraction of the Treaty 
 of Ratisbon. The Electors imagined they had reason 
 to be disgusted with the selfish policy of Ferdinand, 
 who showed himself perfectly careless of the evils 
 inflicted upon others in his efforts to gratify his own 
 ambition, and seemed little disposed to listen to their 
 representations of the exhausted condition of the 
 Empire, and the necessity of peace upon any terms 
 with foreign states. They were also justly alarmed 
 at the danger which now threatened their own, do- 
 minions, and inclined, in the unjust petulance of self- 
 reproach, to transfer to any other the blame which 
 they were well aware was strictly due to their own 
 wavering and unstable policy in the support of his 
 x 2
 
 308 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 cause. The gloomy and suspicious temper of Ferdi- 
 nand was excited to greater distrust by the discovery 
 that a defensive alliance was on the point of being 
 signed between France and the Elector of Bavaria, in 
 which the former power entered into an engagement 
 to furnish an army for the protection of the dominions 
 of Maximilian, in the event of his wishing to preserve 
 a neutrality during the remainder of the war ; nor 
 can it be greatly surprising, if he considered such a 
 proceeding as an indirect intimation, that the most 
 active prince of the League was resolved upon aban- 
 doning it, the moment the safety of his own territory 
 should -be affected by the vicinity of the enemy. 
 
 The progress of the Elector of Saxony in Bohemia 
 afforded him an additional cause of alarm. Ferdinand 
 had at first endeavoured to detach his old ally from 
 his connection with the Swedes by fair words and 
 apologies for the conduct of Tilly, whom he asserted 
 to have acted not only without his authority, but in a 
 manner altogether contrary to his wishes. Tieffen- 
 bach, who had invaded the Marquisate of Lusatia, 
 and carried on his ravages almost to the gates of 
 Dresden, was at the same time ordered to retire into 
 Silesia, as a pledge of the Emperor's desire to remain 
 in amity witli Saxony. But John George had already 
 reaped too many advantages from his new course of 
 policy, and saw too many more in prospect, to bo 
 diverted from pursuing the plan upon which he had 
 now determined. It was to no purpose that the 
 Court of Spain deputed an extraordinary ambassador 
 to offer his good offices to effect a reconciliation 
 between the two parties, and to represent to the 
 Elector the willingness of Ferdinand to listen to an 
 accommodation, and his innocence with regard to the 
 late acts of hostility. The Saxon replied that he was 
 not so ignorant of the world as to believe that Tilly 
 would have dared to venture upon the invasion of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 309 
 
 his territories without an express order from Vienna; 
 and that, if fortune had favoured the arras of the 
 Emperor at the battle of Leipzig, the conduct of the 
 Imperial general would not only have been openly 
 avowed, but thought worthy of the highest honours ; 
 that he had long plainly seen that the ruin of Saxony 
 was determined upon, after that of the other Pro- 
 testant states should be effected, and that he had been 
 in consequence compelled by the law of self-preserva- 
 tion to place himself under the protection of the 
 King of Sweden, to whom, after God, he owed not 
 only the possession of his estates and dignities, but 
 the very air he breathed. To such a benefactor, he 
 added, he was placed under too many important 
 obligations not to be guilty of the blackest ingrati- 
 tude if he hesitated to endanger his life or possessions 
 in the future support of his just and honourable cause. 
 Having thus answered, the Elector resumed his 
 march through Lusatia. 
 
 This province, which had just been abandoned by 
 the Imperialists in consequence of the late order of 
 the Emperor, was easily recovered by the Saxons, who, 
 after leaving in it a sufficient force for its defence, pur- 
 sued their way into Bohemia by Tetschen, Leitmeritz, 
 and Aussig. They were received with transport by 
 the Protestant population, who had for many years 
 been suffering under the severest persecution which 
 the bigotry and unbounded power of the Catholic 
 priesthood could inflict. The Jesuits, in particular, 
 had distinguished themselves by actions of unexampled 
 violence, traversing the country with parties of men 
 armed with muskets, and threatening instant death 
 to all the members of the Reformed churches who 
 refused to abjure their faith. At the first approach 
 of the Electoral army, these remorseless oppressors, 
 fearing the severities they had lately inflicted would 
 now be retorted upon themselves, fled from their habi-
 
 310 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVOS ADOLPHU3. 
 
 tations. Most of the members of their communion, 
 struck with a similar panic, followed their example, 
 and all the roads between the Saxon camp and the 
 city of Prague were soon covered with crowds of 
 fugitives. Amidst this general consternation, the in- 
 vaders continued rapidly to advance upon the capital, 
 unencountered by even the semblance of opposition to 
 their progress. Tieffenbach, who had received orders 
 to throw himself into the city and defend himself to the 
 last, although he made all haste to obey the order, and 
 traversed Silesia and Bohemia with forced marches, 
 found himself too late to effect his object. The Saxons, 
 having the advantage of a shorter route, and proceed- 
 ing with almost equal speed, came within sight of the 
 walls of Prague on the 29th of October. As soon as 
 they were perceived at a distance, the flight among the 
 Catholics began afresh. Thousands poured out of the 
 opposite gates, and directed their course to Budweis. 
 Others retired as far as Znaim and Brunn, in Moravia, 
 while some of the most timid pursued their way to 
 Vienna, striking terror into the capital of Austria 
 itself by exaggerated accounts of the numbers and suc- 
 cesses of the invaders. The Duke of Friedland, who 
 was at that time living in retirement at Prague, and 
 to whom the approach of the Saxons could not but be 
 a subject of unmingled satisfaction, thought it neces- 
 sary to retire with the rest of the Catholic inhabit- 
 ants. Balthasar Count Maradas, a veteran Spanish 
 officer, but without any definite appointment or com- 
 mand in the city, having assembled a slight force for 
 its defence, sent to request that he would take its 
 direction upon himself; but "Wallenstein, with whose 
 policy such a step was totally at variance, and who 
 was willing that his enemies should begin to reap the 
 fruits of their hostility towards him, coolly answered 
 that, being but a private individual, and vested with 
 no authority from the Emperor, he could not presume
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 311 
 
 to place himself in a situation of such responsibility. 
 He shortly afterwards set out on his retreat ; and 
 Maradas, giving up all hope of a successful resistance 
 upon his departure, and thinking himself justified in 
 abandoning a post which an officer of so much higher 
 rank had refused, withdrew with the few troops 
 under his command to Tabor. 
 
 The Saxons, on their near approach to Prague, were 
 surprised that not a single cannon-shot was fired upon 
 their advanced guard, and still more so when they 
 discovered that the ramparts were unoccupied by their 
 accustomed guards. Arnheim, who first advanced to 
 reconnoitre the place more closely, was of opinion that 
 some stratagem was concealed under these external 
 appearances of tranquillity ; and could not at first 
 believe that a city capable of making a vigorous 
 defence, and which might daily be expected to be 
 relieved by the Imperialists advancing from Silesia, 
 could be surrendered without a single blow for its 
 preservation. He was, however, assured by several 
 of the inhabitants, who had left the gates to gaze 
 upon the Saxon army, that the military had all with- 
 drawn, together with the Council of Regency, and 
 retired to Budweis. Arnheim, notwithstanding 
 their representations, continued incredulous, until he 
 observed an old servant of Wallenstein's in the crowd, 
 who was personally known to him, and who fully 
 confirmed the information previously given. He then 
 turned to his officers, and exclai-ning, " Gentlemen, 
 we shall in a short time be masters of Prague without 
 expending an ounce of powder!"* immediately com- 
 missioned a trumpeter to carry a formal summons to 
 the city. The articles of capitulation were speedily 
 agreed upon ; and as soon as these were ratified, the 
 Saxons were admitted into Prague, conducting them- 
 selves with an order and sobriety which showed that 
 
 * Mauvillon.
 
 312 TUB LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 they had learned at least one important lesson from 
 the conduct of their Swedish allies. Among their 
 ranks was the aged Count Thurn, who had played 
 so important a part in the commencement of the war ; 
 and who, after many years of exile, now returned once 
 more as a conqueror to pay a brief visit to the scene of 
 his former triumphs and disasters. As he passed the 
 bridge over the Moldau, he burst into tears, on observ- 
 ing the heads of his former companions still exposed on 
 poles planted along the parapet, and commanding them 
 instantly to be taken down, superintended in person 
 their decent interment. He then proceeded to his 
 palace, which had been granted by Ferdinand to the 
 Count Michna ; and finding everything in good order, 
 and the apartments filled with handsome furniture 
 and valuable ornaments, politely returned thanks to 
 the house-steward left behind by the Count for the 
 pains he had taken in rendering his residence fit for 
 his reception. " But, mark me," he continued, with 
 a burst of rising indignation, " should I be so fortunate 
 as to lay hands upon your master, I will speedily set 
 his head in the place of the honourable gentlemen 
 who have been martyred in this city for their attach- 
 ment to their country and their religion." 
 
 Shortly after the surrender of Prague, the Elector 
 of Saxony returned to Dresden, gratified at having 
 conquered the greater part of Bohemia and its capital 
 without the effusion of blood. But, by this time, the 
 troops of Tieffenbach, having arrived from Silesia, 
 and effected a junction with a small force sent by 
 Tilly for their assistance, had entrenched themselves 
 near Nimburg; and were scouring the country around 
 them with parties of Croatians and irregular horse. 
 Arnheim, therefore, led his Saxons up to their posi- 
 tion, and after a spirited harangue, in which he 
 reminded them that they had an honour to recover, 
 commanded an immediate attack. The troops under
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 313 
 
 his command, anxious to wipe off the remembrance 
 of their panic at Leipzig, assailed the lines of the 
 enemy in spite of a murderous fire, with such resolu- 
 tion, that the Imperialists, after an obstinate combat, 
 were compelled to fly from their camp and take 
 refuge in the town of Nimburg, from which they 
 were driven in confusion by a second attack, and 
 forced to retire to some distance from the Elbe. The 
 surrender of Eger, which was delivered up by the 
 townspeople, in despite of the exertions of their magis- 
 trates, followed closely upon this victory ; an acqui- 
 sition of some importance, but which was destined to 
 be the last of the Saxon successes in Bohemia. 
 
 In the meantime the operations of the Landgrave 
 of Hesse in a different part of the Empire, although 
 conducted upon a smaller scale, were crowned with 
 equal good fortune. This prince, aided by Duke 
 Bernard of Saxe Weimar, as soon as Tilly had ad- 
 vanced into Franconia, commenced a course of harass- 
 ing operations against the Imperialists stationed in 
 his dominions, and driving them from one post after 
 another, while his army continued to increase by the 
 addition of fresh recruits, at length found himself 
 strong enough to intercept, near Corbach, a large 
 convoy of provisions on its way to join the grand army 
 of the Imperialists. Munden was soon afterwards 
 carried by assault. The Landgrave then ascended 
 the Werra towards Hoxter, of which he made him- 
 self master with so much facility, that the Imperial 
 commander was condemned to lose his head for his 
 feeble resistance. 
 
 By this uninterrupted series of conquests on the 
 part of Sweden and its allies, the mighty fabric of 
 ambition, reared by the house of Austria, seemed 
 already tottering to its very foundation. At least 
 one half of Germany was wrested from the Imperial 
 dominion by the exertions of a foreign enemy, who
 
 314 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 was still lodged in the very heart of the Empire. 
 An army of 50,000 men alone remained to defend 
 the electorates of the Rhine, and to cover the circles 
 of Bavaria and Austria. The Saxons were masters 
 of Bohemia, and Hungary was on the point of being 
 invaded by a Turkish army, which, although the 
 Sultan disclaimed any knowledge of its operations, 
 was no doubt acting under his express orders. To 
 add to these causes of disquietude, the Protestants 
 throughout the hereditary domains of Austria, were 
 daily expected to break out into an open revolt. 
 The councils of Ferdinand were the scenes of fierce 
 dispute and mutual recrimination, and little benefit 
 was to be expected from the advice of the Imperial 
 ministers. The Emperor, however, was convinced 
 that the assistance of a single individual was able to 
 rescue him from his present state of difficulty and 
 danger, and he was not mistaken in his judgment. 
 He had long complained that by the retirement of 
 Wallenstein, his councillors had deprived him of his 
 right arm ; and there is no doubt that if the dis- 
 placed favourite had made a single step towards a 
 reconciliation, he would at once have been readmitted 
 into favour and loaded with additional honours. 
 Wallenstein, hawever, who continued to look with 
 proud satisfaction upon the humiliation of the power 
 which he had once so successfully served, and from 
 which he conceived he had met with so ungrateful a 
 return, was determined that all concessions should 
 come from the party who had injured him ; and 
 remained quietly in Moravia, buried apparently in 
 his favourite mystic studies, and paying no attention 
 to the changes which affected the material world. 
 At a grand council held in Vienna, on the critical 
 circumstances of the Empire, the feeling of reserve 
 on the subject was at length broken through, on a 
 review of the increasing dangers which beset the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 315 
 
 government on all sides, by one of the Imperial 
 ministers, who, after ascribing the successes of the 
 enemy to the want of a suitable person to command 
 the forces destined to oppose the progress of Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus, proposed that either the King of 
 Hungary should be placed at the head of the armies 
 of Ferdinand, or Wallenstein recalled, and requested 
 to undertake their chief guidance. The latter pro- 
 position was fiercely combated by the Bavarian 
 faction, who urged the danger of soliciting a man of 
 such boundless ambition and arrogance, to accept a 
 power, which he would not fail immediately to 
 employ in taking vengeance for the affronts offered 
 him at the Diet of Ratisbon, as well as the humi- 
 liation to which the Emperor would be exposed in 
 courting the assistance of a subject, who had been 
 heard to declare among his friends that he would 
 devote himself to all the infernal gods, if he ever 
 again accepted a commission in his service. The 
 urgent necessity of the moment, however, proved a 
 sufficient answer to every objection, and the recal of 
 Wallenstein was demanded by a considerable majo- 
 rity, including many who had been most active in 
 procuring his disgrace. But as it was thought 
 advisable to join the King of Hungary with him in 
 the command, Ferdinand endeavoured artfully to 
 soften down this division of authority, which he 
 knew would give mortal offence to his haughty 
 favourite, by pretending an anxiety that his son 
 should study the art of war under so able a general, 
 and gain from personal observation all the benefit to 
 be derived from his skill and experience. The Count 
 Maximilian de Wallenstein, the brother of the Duke 
 of Friedland, was despatched with this message, 
 which he delivered at Znaim, where Wallenstein 
 himself, who had refused every summons to appear 
 at court, was waiting, in affected deference to the
 
 315 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 command of the Emperor. The intimation of Fer- 
 dinand's wish respecting the King of Hungary met 
 at once with a direct refusal ; and the Count, finding 
 his brother inflexible, was obliged to return to Vienna 
 to give an account of his ill success. The Prince of 
 Eggenberg, who was known to have formerly pos- 
 sessed a considerable influence over Wallenstein, was 
 substituted as an ambassador in his place ; and 
 directed, in addition to urging the request of the 
 Emperor by every argument in his power, to offer 
 100,000 crowns as some recompense for the desired 
 concession. The prince succeeded better than the 
 envoy who had preceded him. By dint of earnest 
 expostulations and entreaties, Wallenstein was at last 
 prevailed upon to exert himself in a levy for the 
 Imperial service. He limited this engagement, how- 
 ever, to the space of three months ; and moreover 
 affirmed, that, during that time he would neither 
 engage in a siege, nor deliver a battle, nor enter upon 
 any enterprise whatever, but confine his attention to 
 the one object of raising an effective army. After 
 the stipulated period had elapsed, the Emperor, he 
 said, might send whomsoever he pleased to assume 
 the command. For himself, he desired no remune- 
 ration ; and suggested that the 100,000 crowns 
 intended for his recompense, would be far better 
 reserved as a reward to those officers who should 
 raise the greatest number of recruits. He further 
 refused every title of honour while employed in 
 executing his commission, affirming that he would 
 act throughout its execution in the character of a 
 private individual a refinement in pride which was 
 intended to show how little his popularity depended 
 upon the splendour of his former military Tank, or 
 his character of a favourite of the Emperor. With 
 these concessions, Ferdinand was obliged for the pre- 
 sent to remain satisfied. Funds, however, were
 
 TI1E LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 317 
 
 wanting to meet the expense of raising an additional 
 army, and these it was not easy to procure from a 
 country exhausted with twelve years' continual war- 
 fare, and affected to no inconsiderable extent with a 
 spirit of disaffection. The zeal of individuals partly 
 supplied this deficiency, and extraordinary means 
 were adopted to procure the remaining sum demanded. 
 The King of Spain offered a contribution of 300,000 
 ducats, and the King of Hungary as many rix-dollars. 
 All ecclesiastical property was charged with heavy 
 imposts, and a general capitation tax levied upon 
 every individual in the Austrian dominions. 
 
 As soon as it was known that Wallenstein was 
 again charged with the levy of an army for the ser- 
 vice of Ferdinand, thousands of recruits of all nations, 
 attracted by his well-known liberality and profusion 
 in rewarding actions of merit on the part of his fol- 
 lowers, hastened to join him, every daring and ambi- 
 tious spirit hoping to gain an opportunity of earning 
 those splendid rewards, to which the chances of war 
 justified all in aspiring. More than three hundred 
 officers, who had formerly served under his standard, 
 presented themselves before the Aulic council of war, 
 and requested commissions. The numbers of the 
 new Imperial army daily increased with almost 
 incredible rapidity ; but with their increase, the 
 miserable inhabitants of the country which they 
 traversed, felt a renewal of all those calamities which 
 had formerly rendered the name of Wallenstein a 
 sound of universal terror to the peaceful population 
 of Germany. Ferdinand felt his hopes revive by the 
 powerful succour which was rising on all sides in 
 support of his throne, and flattered himself that he 
 should now be able to dispense with the jealous and 
 restricted aid of the League. Maximilian of Bavaria 
 and his party were loud in their exclamations against 
 the new levies; but their remonstrances were little
 
 318 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 attended to. Ferdinand was too deeply offended at 
 the orders lately given to Tilly, to confine his opera- 
 tions to the defence of the confederate electorates, 
 and the discovery of the secret application of Maxi- 
 milian to France for assistance, to sacrifice a single 
 opportunity of strengthening his power to their 
 remonstrances ; and, once having experienced the ill 
 effect of disbanding his army at their request, was 
 too politic to fall a second time into the same error. 
 
 While the Duke of Friedland was actively exert- 
 ing himself at Znaim in collecting an army worthy 
 of encountering the victors of Leipzig, the enemy 
 against whom his preparations were directed conti- 
 nued his progress undismayed by the storm gathering 
 against him under the direction of Wallenstein, or 
 the nearer danger which threatened him from the side 
 of Franconia. Gustavus Horn was left to defend the 
 passes over the Maine, by which he was still sepa- 
 rated from the army of Tilly. The rest of his forces 
 were employed in reducing Aschaffenburg, Steinheim, 
 and Hanau*. By the fall of the town last mentioned, 
 Frankfort lay fully exposed, and the king speedily 
 presented himself before the gates of the city with 
 the demand of instant admittance. The magistrates 
 in vain attempted by deputations to gain time for 
 deliberation. Gustavus refused to listen to any 
 proposition short of an immediate surrender, and the 
 citizens, ill furnished with the means of defence, and 
 little inclined to employ those in their hands, at 
 length acceded without resistance to the command. 
 Frankfort opened its gates on the 16th of November, 
 and the next morning the king made his public entry 
 into the city. 
 
 The procession formed by the triumphant army on 
 the occasion has been minutely described. Fifty-six 
 pieces of cannon, followed by numerous bodies of 
 
 * SvYc-dish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 319 
 
 cavalry and infantry, composed the first part of the 
 spectacle. Most of the nobility representing Wetter- 
 avia, at the Imperial Diet, including the Counts of 
 Nassau, Wittgenstein, Isenberg, and Holberg, fol- 
 lowed. The king himself in a scarlet dress embroi- 
 dered with gold, mounted on a Spanish jennet, and 
 holding his hat in his hand, next attracted the atten- 
 tion of the spectators. He was saluted by the 
 acclamations of the multitude as he passed, and fre- 
 quently bowed to the citizens, who were stationed at 
 their windows to witness the sight. The Duke of 
 Saxe Weimar followed, superbly mounted, and head- 
 ing the regiment of the royal guards, after which 
 came the king's coach, richly decorated, and drawn 
 by eight horses. The march was closed by two 
 Swedish, two Scottish, and as many English regi- 
 ments, and four regiments of Germans, followed by a 
 train of artillery, and an immense number of carriages. 
 The procession lasted from eight in the morning until 
 four in the afternoon, and was followed by a banquet, 
 given by the magistrates in honour of Gustavus. In 
 the evening he set out with a body of his troops for 
 the town of Hochst, which was occupied by a garrison 
 of 400 men, and encamping before it during the 
 night, compelled it to surrender on the following 
 morning. On his return to the city he received in- 
 formation of the approach of the forces of Hesse, led 
 by the Landgrave in person ; and the junction of 
 these troops with the Swedes being soon after effected, 
 found himself at the head of 35,000 men, the greatest 
 force he had yet commanded in Germany, and once 
 more on equal terms with the army of Tilly, the 
 increased numbers of which had lately given him 
 considerable cause of anxiety, and taxed his ingenuity 
 to the utmost, to counterbalance his own numerical 
 deficiency by a more skilful disposition of the forces 
 at his command.
 
 320 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The King of Sweden prepares to besiege Mentz Passage of the 
 Rhine Mentz surrenders Foundation of Gustavusburg 
 Arrival of the Queen of Sweden at Frankfort on the Maine 
 Negotiations with Sir Henry Vane respecting the Restitution of 
 the Palatinate, and with the French Court on the Neutrality of 
 the Catholic League Proposed Interview between the King of 
 Sweden and Louis XIII. The Elector of Treves places himself 
 under the protection of France Creutznach besieged and taken 
 by the Swedes Terms of Peace proposed by the King of 
 Sweden His Ambition Operations of Gustavus Horn against 
 Tilly in Franconia The Swedes take Bamberg and lay siege to 
 Forcheim Advance of Tilly Horn is defeated Retires to 
 Schweinfurth State of the contending parties on the Elbe and 
 the Weser Operations of Oxenstiern and the Rhinejjrave Otho 
 Louis against the Spaniards Completion of the Levies carried 
 
 i on by the Duke of Friedlaud The Emperor Ferdinand again 
 requests him to accept the command Terms of Agreement pro- 
 posed by Wallenstein, which are accepted by Ferdinand. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the winter of 1631 set in with great 
 severity shortly after the Swedes had obtained posses- 
 sion of Frankfort, the operations of the king were 
 still continued, almost without intermission, during its 
 continuance. As soon as the ceremony of a public 
 thanksgiving, in gratitude for the acquisition of so 
 important a conquest without bloodshed, had been 
 performed, his army was directed to the Rhine, and 
 ascending the right bank of the river, as far as Hei- 
 delburg, dislodged the Spanish troops and those of 
 Lorrain, which were still garrisoning the Palatinate, 
 from every fortified post in their way. The king is 
 said at the same time to have contemplated a formal 
 declaration of war against Spain, but apprehensive of 
 the damage which would probably be inflicted by the 
 cruisers of Dunkirk upon the commerce of Sweden,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 321 
 
 to have afterwards changed his resolution, and con- 
 tented himself with making no distinction between 
 the Imperialists and Spaniards, whenever he found 
 the latter in armed occupation of any part of the 
 Empire. The Landgrave of Hesse shortly afterwards 
 decamped from before Frankfort, and directed his 
 march along the Maine, to the great terror of the 
 Elector of Mentz, who now plainly perceived that 
 his capital was aimed at by these movements. Mentz 
 was at that time held by a Spanish garrison, consist- 
 ing of 2,000 men, under the command of Don Philip 
 de Sylva, who, with true Castilian haughtiness, when 
 theElector expressed his apprehension that the number 
 of the defenders would be insufficient to maintain the 
 city, replied that such an observation could have only 
 been made by a churchman, and that he was strong 
 enough to repulse the attacks of three kings of Sweden. 
 He probably hoped that the Rhine would be his best 
 protection, and endeavoured to make the most of this 
 natural barrier, by carefully sinking every boat he 
 could discover, and directing numerous parties of 
 cavalry to patrol the banks, imagining that before 
 the Swedes could make the necessary preparations 
 for crossing the river, he would be able to collect 
 enough men at any point to oppose their passage. 
 But the Castilian soon discovered that he had been 
 flattering himself with a vain expectation. The king, 
 after cautiously examining the course of the stream 
 for some miles, selected the neighbourhood of Oppen- 
 heitn as the spot for conveying his army across the 
 most renowned of German rivers ; and the under- 
 taking, although it has been many times effected by 
 far more numerous forces, and attended by circum- 
 stances better calculated to impose upon the imagina- 
 tion, was perhaps never attended with the exhibition 
 uf so much resolution and personal daring on the part 
 of those engaged in its accomplishment. In order to
 
 322 THE LIFE OF GTTSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 ascertain the facilities for landing on the opposite side, 
 Gustavus first embarked with three of his officers in 
 a small fisherman's skiff, the only means of transport 
 which, after the most diligent search, could be pro- 
 cured, and having gained the further bank, began to 
 employ himself in making the necessary observations. 
 His passage, however, was not unobserved by the 
 enemy, and a patrol, composed either of the garrison 
 of Mentz or of Oppenheim, hastily approaching the 
 spot, came down upon him with such speed, that he 
 had only time to regain his boat and push off from the 
 shore before it was lined with his pursuers, who kept 
 up a vigorous fire on the skiff, until the king had 
 again reached his own bank, providentially uninjured 
 by the balls, which flew about him in all directions. 
 On his return, he was informed that a peasant had 
 discovered a large boat recently sunk by the Spaniards, 
 bnt which might be weighed up and repaired with 
 little trouble. A fisherman of Nierstein was fortunate 
 enough to make a similar discovery. In the course 
 of the night both vessels were got afloat, and early on 
 the following morning*, the king, embarking 300 of 
 his guards, under the command of Count Brahe, in 
 one, while he himself, with the same number, selected 
 from the regiments of Lord Reay, Ramsay, and Spence,^ 
 followed in the other, pushed hastily across the stream, 
 and landed his men without accident. But he had 
 scarcely time to draw them up in order before he was 
 charged by a thousand cuirassiers and dragoons, 
 forming the greater part of the garrison of Oppenheim, 
 who fell upon him with such fury, that, had not his 
 front been partly protected by a hedge, from behind 
 which his infantry directed several well aimed and 
 heavy volleys, which had the effect of checking the 
 assailants in their onset, the Swedes and Scots would 
 probably have been driven back in confusion into the 
 
 * Dec. 1 7th : Bracbelius.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVITS ADOLPIIUS. 323 
 
 river. The combat was for some time obstinately 
 continued, but the arrival of fresh reinforcements from 
 the other bank at last compelled the Spaniards to re- 
 treat into Oppenheim, leaving 600 slain and wounded 
 behind them, and affording free power to the Swedes 
 to transport the rest of their army over the Rhine 
 without interruption. The king ordered a public 
 thanksgiving throughout his army in gratitude for 
 the event, which was further commemorated by a 
 stone pillar, sixty feet high, surmounted by a lion, 
 bearing on its head a helmet, encircled with a regal 
 crown, and holding a drawn sword in one of its claws. 
 Oppenheim, weakened by the loss of its garrison, 
 fell into the hands of the Swedes the morning after 
 they had crossed the river. The troops of Lorrain 
 abandoned Worms, finishing a long train of previous 
 outrages by pillaging the town, and setting fire to the 
 villages in the line of their retreat. Manheim was 
 surprised by the Duke of Saxe Weimar ; Spire yielded 
 upon capitulation ; and the Spaniards scattered along 
 the left bank of the Rhine retreating to Frankenthal, 
 shut themselves up in the town to the number of 
 8,000 men, in the hourly expectation of being be- 
 sieged. A sufficient force was left to keep them close 
 within the fortifications ; with the rest, the king 
 continued his march for Mentz, before which the 
 Landgrave of Hesse, after descending along the Maine 
 and, seizing upon Ehrenfels and the Mouse Tower, 
 had already begun to erect his batteries. Don Philip 
 de Sylva now saw his boasted resolution on the point 
 of being put to the test, and for a while made such a 
 resistance as accorded with his promise. But, on 
 finding that the Swedes were preparing for an assault, 
 he adopted the more prudent course of offering to sur- 
 render, and was allowed to quit the city, after pledg- 
 ing his word, in behalf of himself and the garrison, 
 not to be found again in opposition to the crown of 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Sweden. The conqueror found in Mentz 80 pieces 
 of artillery and 600 quintals of powder. A contri- 
 bution of 80,000 florins was demanded from the 
 citizens, but the Jews and clergy were compelled to 
 purchase their safety at a still higher rate. The king 
 bestowed the electoral library upon Oxenstiern, who 
 destined it as a present to the college of Westeraas, 
 but it was unfortunately lost in its conveyance across 
 the Baltic. 
 
 Most of the late operations had been pursued in 
 defiance of the winds and storms accompanying the 
 depth of a tempestuous winter; but the cold had now 
 become so intense, that the Swedish soldiers were 
 compelled to retire into quarters until the inclemency 
 of the season had somewhat abated. The king ac- 
 cordingly, after distributing them into cantonments 
 in the neighbourhood of Mentz, returned for a short 
 time to Frankfort, where he was joined by his Queen 
 Maria Eleonora, who, from her place of landing at 
 Wolgast, had traversed Germany to meet him. This 
 princess, as long as she was under the influence of 
 Gustavus, showed herself a worthy consort of the 
 husband to whom she had been united. During her 
 short stay at Stettin, she had expressed a wish that 
 the fetes and entertainments prepared by the Duke 
 of Pomerania, in honour of her arrival, should be 
 dispensed with, saying, that it did not become her to 
 spend her time in diversions, while the king, her hus- 
 band, was exposing his life to perils in the field ; and 
 that she would much prefer seeing the money, in- 
 tended to be laid out for her amusement, expended in 
 the offices of charity. She had afterwards remained 
 for three months at Berlin, in anxious expectation of 
 receiving from Gustavus a summons to join him, and 
 immediately on the delivery of his letter appointing 
 Frankfort as the place of meeting, had resumed her 
 journey through Leipzig and Erfurt. At the former
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 325 
 
 city she had heen welcomed with extraordinary 
 honours, and presented, in the name of the magis- 
 tracy and the university, with a copy of the Bible 
 and a service of silver plate ; and wherever she passed, 
 was gratified by hearing from every mouth the praises 
 of a husband whom, there is no doubt, she loved with 
 an intense and unchanging affection. On her first 
 interview with the king, she could not avoid testify- 
 ing her joy by her actions, although the meeting took 
 place in public ; but, throwing her arms around him, 
 exclaimed, " Behold, at length, the great Gustavus 
 fairly taken prisoner ! " 
 
 The first care of the king, after his return to 
 Mentz, was to employ his troops in adding strength 
 to the old fortifications, and throwing up new works 
 round the city. He at the same time began the 
 erection of a strong fortress, consisting of six bastions, 
 near the confluence of the Rhine and the Maine, 
 which he called by the name of Gustavusburg, 
 although the common people, in allusion to its com- 
 manding situation with respect to the ecclesiastical 
 electorates, delighted to designate it by the title of 
 the " Priests' Fetters." It was his intention to found 
 a town on the same site, to which inhabitants were 
 to be invited by numerous privileges, and which he 
 hoped would remain a standing memorial of his 
 victories in the eyes of posterity. Like the conquests 
 it was intended to celebrate, however, Gustavusburg 
 has passed away, without leaving any further vestige 
 of its existence than a few inequalities of the ground 
 where it once stood, which, but for the recollections 
 connected with the spot, possess nothing capable of 
 detaining the footsteps of the traveller. While these 
 works were pursued by his soldiers, most of whom 
 were summoned from their winter quarters, to render 
 them fit to defy the force of an enemy before the 
 commencement of the spring, the king proceeded, iu
 
 326 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 company with his chancellor, Oxenstiern, who, after 
 the battle of Leipzig, had been summoned from 
 Prussia to aid him with his counsels, to consider the 
 more complicated relations of Sweden with other 
 powers, in consequence of her increasing elevation in 
 the scale of national greatness. 
 
 Mentz now wore the appearance of a busy court, 
 and was not without its external appendages, in the 
 brilliant trains of the German princes and foreign 
 ambassadors. The first important question discussed 
 was the restitution of the Palatinate to the Elector 
 Frederick V., who, on hearing of the recent Swedish 
 successes, had hastened from the Hague to claim the 
 aid of Gustavus in re-establishing him in his here- 
 ditary dominions. Sir Henry Vane, the English 
 ambassador, seconded the request with an importu- 
 nity hardly justified by the assistance hitherto ren- 
 dered by his country to the King of Sweden. Gus- 
 tavus was influenced, however, by two considerations 
 to delay his compliance with the request. He hoped, 
 in the first place, by still keeping the claims of 
 Frederick in abeyance, to induce England to be more 
 explicit in her declarations in his cause, and to assist 
 him by the resources at her command, on a much 
 more extensive scale than that on which he had 
 hitherto experienced her succour. On this point he 
 was explicit. He represented to Vane the feeble 
 efforts which Charles I. had as yet made to sustain 
 him in the difficult and expensive war in which he 
 was engaged, complaining at the same time of the 
 peace which the English monarch had lately con- 
 cluded with Spain, instead of employing his fleets in 
 making a diversion in favour of the Protestants, 
 although the Spaniards had been the chief agents in 
 despoiling the Elector of his principality, and were 
 then actually in possession of the better part of the 
 Lower Palatinate. He justly represented, that if
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVVS ADOLPHUS. 327 
 
 Charles had thought proper to enter into a treaty 
 with the worst enemies of his brother-in-law, with- 
 out any stipulation in favour of the latter, or of his 
 own sister and nephews, it could not be expected 
 that he should venture more to serve the family of 
 Frederick, than the relation who had virtually aban- 
 doned them. " Nevertheless," he added, " if the 
 King of England will enter into a treaty of alliance, 
 offensive and defensive, with Sweden against Spain, 
 furnish a present subsidy of five tuns of gold,* and 
 undertake to maintain an army of 12,000 men at his 
 own expense, to co-operate with the Swedes in Ger- 
 many, I will readily engage to force both the 
 Spaniards and the Elector of Bavaria to relinquish 
 their hold of the Palatinate." To this direct pro- 
 posal, which had been before made at Wurzburg, 
 where Vane obtained his first interview with the 
 king, the English envoy replied in general and ambi- 
 guous terms ; and Gustavus, indignant that so much 
 was demanded by an ally who would hazard nothing, 
 as well as influenced by a dislike towards the ambas- 
 sador himself, whose dark and subtle character was 
 utterly at variance with his own open and fiery tem- 
 perament, determined that the Palatinate should 
 remain unrestored to its lawful possessors until more 
 substantial advantages were likely to accrue from its 
 restitution. Such was the first and principal motive 
 by which his conduct towards Frederick V. may be 
 accounted for. But a second consideration remained 
 behind, and probably had a considerable share in 
 strengthening his resolution. By leaving Maximilian 
 of Bavaria unmolested in his share of the spoil of the 
 Palatinate, he might be enabled to tempt him into a 
 neutrality, which would disarm the members of the 
 League, and leave him to deal with the Emperor 
 single-handed. The subsequent negotiations with 
 
 * Forty-five tboueand pounds sterling.
 
 328 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Maximilian left no doubt that the king would not 
 have been unwilling to purchase this advantage, by 
 suffering the pretensions of the deposed Elector to 
 remain to a considerable extent unenforced. That he 
 would have kept his word with England, however, 
 had his previous offer to Vane been accepted, may be 
 considered equally certain. With respect to Frede- 
 rick himself, he was at all times, probably from 
 mingled motives of policy and humanity, treated by 
 Gustavus with studied respect. As King of Bohe- 
 mia, he was suffered to take the place of honour at 
 table, and invariably served before the Swedish 
 monarch himself a treatment from which he was 
 induced to form the most flattering hopes, sufficiently 
 expressed in one of his letters to Sir Henry Vane, in 
 which he informed him, that he had nothing to com- 
 plain of in the conduct of the King of Sweden, who 
 seemed to entertain the most friendly disposition 
 towards him, and bestowed upon him many marks of 
 regard. " I do not," he added, " press my claims 
 upon his notice at present, since I am confident that 
 all will be well in the end*." 
 
 * With the exception of Sir Thomas Roc, who was inspired with 
 a sincere respect and regard for the personal merits of Gustavus, 
 most of the agents of England with whom he had intercourse seem 
 to have been little capable of estimating his great qualities, and 
 wrote home the most distorted accounts of his character. He was 
 sarcastically called the Dragoon King ; and Harte quotes a letter 
 from Sir Toby Mathew to Sir Henry Vane, which contains the 
 following passage : " Yesterday I waited at supper on my good 
 Lord of Carlisle, your true friend ; and there we had Sir Jacob 
 Ashley at large. He seems a very worthy gentleman, and a great 
 lover of my Lord Marquis of Hamilton and you ; he speaks highly 
 well of the courage, and other, both intellectual and experimental, 
 abilities of the King of Sweden, but I have heard no wise man say 
 any such thing yet of that prince, as may totally exclude covetous- 
 ness and arrogancy, and inordinate ambition." Sir Henry Vane, 
 however, although no friend to the King of Sweden, could not 
 sometimes avoid expressions of admiration at his conduct as a com- 
 mander, as well as at the high state of discipline among his soldiers.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 329 
 
 The connexion of the King of Sweden with France, 
 from which he derived the advantage of subsidies 
 regularly paid, and expected the co-operation of a 
 numerous force lately raised, and threatening to act 
 against the house of Austria in the Low Countries as 
 well as in Italy and Catalonia, required a more 
 delicate management, and was rendered, by recent 
 circumstances, rather critical in its character. Since 
 the conclusion of the late treaty between the two 
 powers, the partisans of the house of Austria had 
 done all in their power to weaken their alliance, by 
 suggesting to the timid and superstitious mind of 
 Louis XIII. the sinfulness of supporting an heretical 
 prince in his attempts against the Catholic cause in 
 Germany. The Bishop of AVurzburg, who, after the 
 loss of his dominions, had fled to the French court to 
 plead the cause of the League, was foremost in these 
 representations, to which he added suggestions of the 
 existence of a private correspondence between Gus- 
 tavus and the Huguenot party, and of the probability 
 that the revolt of the latter would be the consequence 
 of the nearer approach of the Swedes to the frontier. 
 These insinuations were in some measure counte- 
 nanced by the march of the King of Sweden towards 
 the Rhine ; and the threatening position he had 
 now assumed, with regard to Lorrain and Alsace, 
 made him, even if the accusation of his secret con- 
 nexion with the French Protestants was discredited, 
 
 remarking, " that better men, and better clothed, he never saw, and 
 that there was not a sick man or boy among them ;" and that, 
 " with regard to the actions and enterprises of the king, all seasons 
 were alike to him, while the most difficult achievements seemed to 
 him easy, if he once took them in hand ; and as the courage of the 
 soldiers, under so daring a leader, was great, so the fear of his 
 enemies, who every day came to serve him ; and, though other 
 armies are diminished by marching, his increased ; so that he was 
 able to supply the towns he took in with garrisons, and obliged them 
 to maintain the same." HARTE'S Life of Gustavus Adolphus.
 
 330 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 too near a neighbour to be regarded without some 
 degree of anxiety. Gustavus had foreseen this cause 
 of apprehension, and, in some measure, endeavoured 
 to obviate it, by an offer of friendship and neutrality 
 to the Duke of Lorrain, whom he might easily have 
 chased out of his dominions. But the French cabi- 
 net, desirous of obtaining an explicit declaration on 
 the subject of his future intentions, sent to urge the 
 further request, that he would not carry his arms 
 into Alsace, but leave to his allies the task of recover- 
 ing a province which had constituted a part of the 
 French monarchy as early as the time of Dagobert*. 
 The King of Sweden, however, replied, that he had 
 come into Germany to protect and not to betray the 
 Empire, to re-establish it in its primitive condition, 
 and not to assist in its dismemberment. He no less 
 decidedly rejected the proposition that the French 
 army should enter Germany to co-operate with his 
 own troops, asserting that such a plan would only 
 have the effect of exciting dissension between the 
 forces of the two nations ; that Louis would act in a 
 manner much more to the common advantage, by 
 attacking the Spaniards in Catalonia ; and that he 
 needed no ally to aid him in resisting his enemies in 
 Germany, since the Swedes alone had hitherto been 
 found fully sufficient for the purpose. The French 
 ministers deeming it useless, after so positive an 
 answer, to press their first demand any further, 
 resolved upon a change of policy, and on endeavouring 
 to effect a neutrality between- the Electors of the 
 League and the King of Sweden. This expedient 
 promised not only to remove the arms of Gustavus 
 to another and more distant quarter, but to erect a 
 strong barrier before the French territory on the side 
 of the Rhine. It was also likely to prove the readiest 
 means of extricating Richelieu from some perplexity, 
 
 * Mauvillou.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 331 
 
 arising from his having entered into apparently con- 
 tradictory treaties with Maximilian of Bavaria and 
 his Swedish enemy, the former of whom now required 
 from France the assistance previously stipulated, in 
 defence of his territory. Richelieu began by evading 
 the demand, and with that political casuistry which 
 is never at fault in justifying a violation of the most 
 solemn obligations, represented that the late engage- 
 ment was never intended to abrogate the conditions 
 of an anterior treaty entered into with the crown of 
 Sweden ; that, however willing France might be to 
 protect him against any other enemy, she could not, 
 in consistency with good faith, extricate him from 
 difficulties which he had drawn upon his own head, 
 by placing his troops under the command of Count 
 Tilly, for the purpose of opposing a king whom he 
 knew to be bound to Louis XIII. by a formal alliance. 
 He, however, offered his good offices towards pro- 
 curing favourable conditions from Gustavus, if 
 Maximilian should deem it advisable to consent to a 
 neutrality, either for himself separately, or in con- 
 junction with the other members of the League; and 
 proposed sending an ambassador, on the part of 
 France, to ascertain on what terms the Swedish 
 monarch would accede to the proposal. The Bavarian 
 ambassador at the French court having signified his 
 acquiescence, the Marquis de Breze was despatched, 
 as an extraordinary envoy, to Mentz, whither he was 
 accompanied by a crowd of the French nobility, 
 anxious to ascertain, from personal observation, 
 whether rumour had exaggerated the qualities of a 
 prince, whose exploits had lately filled Europe with 
 astonishment and admiration. 
 
 Amidst these movements of refined policy, Louis, 
 who had lately been compelled to take arms to sup- 
 press an insurrection excited by the turbulent Gaston 
 Duke of Orleans, and availed himself of the oppor-
 
 332 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 tunity to punish the Duke of Lorrain, as well for 
 other instances of disaffection as for his recent efforts 
 in favour of the Emperor, approached the town of 
 Metz with his forces ; and a proposal was made 
 (whether by Gustavus himself, or by the Marquis 
 de Breze, is uncertain), that the two kings should 
 mutually discuss the subjects which concerned the 
 interests of both in a personal interview. The meet- 
 ing, however, was declined by Louis, who alleged, 
 as excuses, the ill state of his health, and the many 
 affairs of moment which required his immediate return 
 to his capital. The real reason of his refusal, how- 
 ever, was conjectured to be the bashfulness of his dis- 
 position, added to his punctilious regard to etiquette, 
 and a fear that he should be obliged to treat the King 
 of Sweden openly as his equal. De Breze endeavoured 
 to substitute Richelieu, no doubt at the instigation of 
 the ambitious minister, in the place of his sovereign, 
 to receive the intended honour, and informed Gus- 
 tavus that, if he would approach somewhat nearer to 
 Lorrain, the cardinal would advance to meet him. 
 But the king, whose sense of his own dignity was at 
 least equal to that of Louis himself, at once took fire 
 at the proposal. " Know, sir," he replied to the 
 ambassador, " that I do not consider myself inferior 
 to any prince upon earth. All kings are equal ; and 
 my predecessors have never yet made a concession 
 towards the monarchs of France. If the king, your 
 master, thinks it sufficient to send me his minister, I 
 will commission some one in my service to listen to 
 the proposals of the cardinal*." 
 
 * The truth of this anecdote, which principally rests upon the 
 authority of Khevenhuller, has been questioned. Mauvillon quotes 
 a different version of the circumstance from Chiflet, in which it is 
 asserted that Gustavus, on a proposal from Richelieu of a conference 
 with Louis XIII., simply stipulated for all the honours due to his 
 rank, a deniand whicli ended in apprehending all further negotia- 
 tions upon the subject.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 333 
 
 Notwithstanding this slight appearance of differ- 
 ence, the negotiations on the subject of the proposed 
 neutrality on the part of the Elector of the League 
 were continued without interruption. Some difficulty 
 at first arose in consequence of Gustavus insisting 
 upon retaining all he had already conquered, while 
 the French ambassador required the restitution of 
 Mentz, Bamberg, and Spire. All preliminaries, how- 
 ever, were at length arranged to the satisfaction of 
 both parties, and the conditions on which the King 
 of Sweden consented that the territories of the League 
 should remain unmolested, were made public. Con- 
 sidering the recent progress of the Swedish arms, and 
 the power which the king possessed to enforce still 
 more important concessions, these must be considered 
 as sufficiently moderate. The Elector of Bavaria and 
 the confederated princes were to refrain from all acts 
 of violence and hostility, both against the troops of 
 Sweden and their allies. They were required to de- 
 liver up all the towns and fortresses in Lower Saxony 
 which had been taken from the Protestants since the 
 year 1618, and to recal all their troops stationed in 
 the territories of any states professing the reformed 
 religion. The army of the League was to be restricted 
 to 12,000 men, and distributed in detachments at 
 some distance from each other throughout the terri- 
 tories of the Catholic Electors. The house of Austria 
 and its allies were not to be suffered either to quarter 
 their troops or to make any levies in those countries ; 
 and the passes were to be left open to both the con- 
 tending parties without favour or distinction. The 
 King of Sweden, in return, engaged both in his own 
 name and in that of his allies to abstain from hostility 
 against the country of the Duke of Bavaria, and the 
 other members of the Catholic League ; and to deliver 
 to the former all the places he had taken in the Lower 
 Palatinate, to be held by him until a friendly accom-
 
 334 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 modation should be effected with the Elector Palatine 
 by the mediation of France and England. The Baron 
 de Charnace was sent into Bavaria immediately to 
 lay the project before Maximilian. The Marquis de 
 Breze predicted that within fifteen days he would 
 bring back a full ratification of all the articles, and 
 the king consented to an armistice for that period. 
 
 Maximilian contrived at first so successfully to 
 amuse the French ambassador, that Charnace, shortly 
 after his arrival at Munich, wrote to Gustavus that 
 he hoped soon to return with such securities for the 
 future peaceful conduct of the Elector as should give 
 him ample satisfaction. The Bavarian, however, was 
 only acting with his usual wily policy, by assuming 
 an apparent willingness to accede to the articles of 
 pacification, while he was secretly encouraging his 
 confederates to make the best of the cessation from 
 hostilities which had been granted him as a space for 
 deliberation, by providing means for a renewal of the 
 war. He even flattered himself that, by affecting a 
 hesitation, which was daily on the point of giving 
 way before the arguments of Charnace, he should be 
 able to gain from Gustavus a still further suspension 
 of arms ; but full light was in the meantime thrown 
 upon his real sentiments by an intercepted despatch, 
 in his own handwriting, directed to Pappenheim, 
 requesting him to proceed with all haste in the levy 
 of fresh troops, and enclosing an order for 100,000 
 crowns to aid him in meeting the necessary expenses. 
 This letter having fallen into the hands of Banner, 
 was transmitted without delay to the king, who 
 showed it to De Breze, with the simple observation, 
 that he now saw how much he had to expect from 
 the sincerity of the Elector of Bavaria. All hope of 
 a favourable termination was now dropped, and both 
 parties prepared with eagerness for an immediate re- 
 newal of hostilities.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 335 
 
 But before commencing a fresh campaign, the King 
 of Sweden exerted himself to procure as extensive a 
 diversion in his favour as possible, by endeavouring 
 to excite every foreign power to which Ferdinand 
 had given cause for dissatisfaction to a declaration of 
 war against the Empire. Bethlem Gabor, from whom 
 he had expected so important a support, while pre- 
 paring for his expedition into Germany, had died at 
 the moment when his aid would have proved most 
 efficient. George Ragotzi, who succeeded him, was, 
 however, endued with a spirit of enterprise and am- 
 bition little inferior to that of his predecessor ; and 
 Gustavus endeavoured to excite him to an exercise of 
 both qualities, at the cost of his enemy, by represent- 
 ing to him the favourable opportunity which presented 
 itself for recovering the kingdom of Hungary, while 
 the Emperor, weakened by his late losses, would be 
 unable to make any effective effort in its defence. He 
 sent, at the same time, an ambassador to Venice, 
 where the disputes relating to the succession of 
 Mantua were not forgotten, soliciting the senate to 
 enter into an offensive alliance with him against 
 Ferdinand, or at least to furnish him with a sum of 
 money towards sustaining the war. A similar appli- 
 cation was made to the city of Geneva, but little 
 benefit was derived by the Swedes from any of these 
 states, which were either too far distant from the field 
 of action to take much interest in the contest, or too 
 little concerned in its results to be induced to make 
 any sacrifices to sustain it. 
 
 The King of Sweden, incensed at the perfidy shown 
 towards him in his late communications with the 
 League, was now determined to take vengeance upon 
 its weakest members, by attacking the dominions of 
 the Electors of Treves and Cologne. The former, 
 who had at first endeavoured to negotiate a separate 
 neutrality with Sweden, escaped the storm by placing
 
 336 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 himself under the protection of France, and agreeing 
 to receive a French garrison into the fortress of 
 Ehrenbreitstein ; to the no small indignation of Gus- 
 tavus, who thus saw a rich prize intercepted by his 
 allies at the moment when he had reason to believe 
 it was already within his grasp. It was, however, 
 agreed as some compensation, that the Swedes should 
 be free to pass through the Electorate of Treves and 
 the town of Coblentz, on their way to attack the ter- 
 ritories of the Elector of Cologne, and that the troops 
 of France should assist them in expelling the Spaniards 
 from all the country south of the Moselle. That 
 beautiful stream was ordained to be the boundary of 
 the conquests of Gustavus towards the west, since, 
 before he could carry his projected expedition against 
 the territory of Cologne into effect, he was recalled to 
 a different theatre of warfare by the progress of Tilly 
 in Franconia. It was, however, distinguished as one 
 of the scenes of his successes by a considerable ad- 
 vantage gained by the Swedes upon its banks. Two 
 Spanish regiments, which had pushed across the river 
 as the advanced guard of an army of 10,000 men, 
 were assaulted by the Rhinegrave, Otho Louis, and 
 compelled to make a precipitate retreat with serious 
 loss, leaving eight standards in the hands of the vic- 
 tors. A more numerous force, which endeavoured to 
 recover the ground lost by this check, was compelled 
 to retire with equal haste by the king, who advanced 
 in person from Mentz to repel them. The siege of 
 Creutznach was his next undertaking, the last place 
 of consequence held by the Spaniards in the Electorate 
 of Mentz, and which he did not wish to leave behind 
 him in the hands of an enemy. It was invested in 
 the middle of the month of January, and the trenches 
 opened against it, notwithstanding a severe frost 
 which rendered the ground so hard as frequently to 
 break the tools of the besiegers. The town in a short
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 337 
 
 time was carried by assault ; and the inhabitants, who 
 expected the usual fate which the merciless code of 
 war allows to be inflicted on such occasions, were 
 astonished at the moderation and discipline of the 
 Swedes, who, although they showed little mercy to 
 the Spaniards found in arms at their entrance, pro- 
 ceeded quietly to the market-place as soon as all 
 resistance had ended, and drew up in order without 
 daring to enter a single house for the purpose of 
 plunder*. The castle, strongly fortified, and occupied 
 by 600 veteran soldiers, still held out, and was not 
 won until after a gallant resistance on the part of its 
 defenders. But a breach was at length effected by 
 mining, and assaulted with so much spirit by a body 
 of volunteers, principally English, and headed by 
 Lord Craven, that the garrison, after a fierce combat 
 of two hours, were compelled to propose a capitula- 
 tion. Many valuable officers were lost before this 
 formidable fortress. Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot was 
 killed on the verge of the breach, Lord Craven pierced 
 through the thigh with a pike, and Sir Francis Vane, 
 brother to the Earl of Westmoreland, dangerously 
 wounded by a musket-shot in the hip. The king 
 himself, who was present as usual at the post of 
 greatest danger, narrowly escaped with life, and one 
 of his soldiers was killed close at his side. 
 
 On his return to Frankfort, after the reduction of 
 Creutznach, Gustavus began to assemble his troops 
 for the purpose of marching towards the south, and 
 commencing his final and most brilliant campaign. 
 While his detachments were collecting at Aschaffen- 
 burg, he granted a neutrality to the Duke of Nt uberg, 
 and published the conditions on which he was willing 
 to consent to a peace with Ferdinand. If the articles 
 have been correctly worded, they indicate a full con- 
 sciousness of the importance of his victories, and place 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 338 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 beyond a doubt his ambitious contemplation of a dig- 
 nity to which some have denied that he ever aspired. 
 The principal preliminaries are as follows : 
 
 The edict of the emperor, touching the restitu- 
 tion of ecclesiastical property, shall be repealed, and 
 remain so for ever. 
 
 The Protestant and Catholic religions shall equally 
 enjoy a full and entire liberty and security, whether 
 in towns or villages, whether under secular or eccle- 
 siastical princes. 
 
 Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, shall be restored to 
 their former condition ; and all banished persons and 
 exiles shall be recalled. 
 
 The Count Palatine Frederick V. shall be re-esta- 
 blished in the possession of all which belonged to 
 him before the troubles of Bohemia. The electoral 
 dignity shall be restored to him ; and the Duke of 
 Bavaria shall relinquish all claim to it. 
 
 The exercise of the Evangelic religion shall be 
 re-established at Augsburg, and the city placed in 
 possession of its former liberty. 
 
 All Jesuits, without exception, shall be for ever 
 banished from the empire, as enemies of the laws and 
 Germanic Constitutions, especially of the Peace of 
 Religion, and as disturbers of the public tranquillity. 
 
 All the monasteries seized in the Duchy of "Wir- 
 temberg, contrary to justice, shall be restored and 
 placed in their former condition. 
 
 His Royal Majesty of Sweden having saved the 
 empire from total subversion, shall be elected King 
 of the Romans. 
 
 After so explicit a declaration as that contained in 
 the last article, little further proof is required that 
 the Imperial throne was viewed by the Swedish 
 monarch as the distant object at which his career was 
 not unlikely to terminate. Other evidence is not 
 wanting to show that he contemplated no common
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 339 
 
 elevation for the members of his family, if this was 
 denied him. While employed against the Imperialists 
 in Brandenburg, he had proposed a marriage between 
 the Electoral Prince and his daughter Christina. On 
 his arrival at Frankfort, the project was resumed in 
 an interview with Goetze, the chancellor of the 
 Elector. " I have still a serious ground of difference," 
 he said, " with your master, respecting Pornerania ; 
 but there remains a means of conciliation. Let us 
 resume the plan of the marriage of the son of the 
 Elector with my daughter : at any rate, let the Elector 
 send his son to be educated with her, and place her 
 in the way of gaining the affections of the Swedes. 
 I know no other obstacle than the difference of reli- 
 gions ; but Bergius has already found the means of 
 uniting them at Leipzig. I have seen his contem- 
 plated plan, and am well satisfied with it. I foresee 
 the foundation of a great Empire. I will make the 
 young prince Elector of Mentz and Duke of Fran- 
 conia ; but for this purpose the Elector of Branden- 
 burg must act altogether in concert with me." The 
 discourse happening to turn on the affairs of Poland, 
 Gustavus added, " What say you to making the 
 Electoral prince King of Poland ? I am still young, 
 and may have sons to succeed me in the kingdom of 
 Sweden. You have pretensions on the Duchy of 
 Juliers we will make them heard at the proper time 
 and place. But none of the pitiful treaties of Count 
 Schwartzenberg*. It is to you alone that I recom- 
 mend the affair. Assuredly," he continued, as if 
 gazing on the lofty vision of the dignities contemplated 
 for his descendants "assuredly this would be a 
 formidable Empire." 
 
 Such were the dim and shadowy plans of greatness 
 now present to the mind of the conqueror of Leipzig ; 
 and to which, if he had survived the conflict, the 
 
 * The favourite minister of the Elector. 
 z2
 
 340 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 battle of Luteen miglit possibly have given both dis- 
 tinctness and consistency. As they were yet intimated 
 but by words, they gave but little umbrage to his 
 Protestant allies, who were, besides, not yet suffi- 
 ciently free from the dread of the army of the League 
 to examine too closely the motives which had in- 
 fluenced their deliverer ; but at a later period their 
 jealousy was established upon more substantial 
 foundations and openly expressed. 
 
 Before setting out from Frankfort for Aschaffen- 
 burg, the king was gratified by the intelligence of the 
 capture of Kirchberg, Bacharach, and Braunfelds, by 
 the Bhinegrave ; the conquest of which finished the 
 subjection of Wetteravia. On the 6th of March, 
 after taking an affectionate leave of his queen at 
 Steinheim, he reviewed his army at the appointed 
 place of rendezvous, which was found to consist of 
 25,000 men in the highest state of efficiency and dis- 
 cipline. Oxenstiern was left at Mentz with such a 
 force as was deemed requisite for its protection, and 
 for keeping the Spaniards from any attempts to re- 
 cover the posts of which they had been recently 
 deprived. The rest of the Swedes who had been em- 
 ployed upon the Rhine, advanced rapidly into Fran- 
 couia, by Lohr, Arstein, and Gilderscheim. 
 
 While the main army of Gustavus was employed 
 in the Lower Palatinate and the Electorate of Mentz, 
 Horn, who had been left with 10,000 men in Fran- 
 conia, was engaged in active operations against the 
 territories of the Bishop of Bamberg. The prelate 
 who occupied that see, on the approach of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, had readily consented to purchasing a 
 neutrality on terms proposed by the king, but as soon 
 as he saw the Swedish army pursuing its march 
 towards the Rhine, hastily sent to Tilly, requesting 
 his immediate succour. The king was greatly in- 
 censed at this instance of duplicity, and declared,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 341 
 
 that from that hour he would never trust to the word 
 of a Catholic priest or monk. The bishop, however, 
 was not long without receiving a severe punishment 
 for his subtle policy. Horn arrived before Bamberg 
 on the 1st of February, and demanded immediate 
 admission for his troops. The city had been aban- 
 doned by the Imperialists as untenable ; and the few 
 canons who were left to superintend the management 
 of public affairs after the flight of the bishop, who 
 had retired with all haste at the news of the approach 
 of the enemy, deeming resistance hopeless, agreed to 
 open their gates to the Swedes on condition of no 
 injury being inflicted on the citizens. But the capitu- 
 lation had hardly been signed when 500 militia 
 arrived from Cronach, and were secretly admitted 
 into the place. The town's-people, encouraged by 
 the sight of this assistance, immediately took arms, 
 and, at the moment when the Swedes expected that 
 Bamberg would be surrendered into their hands, 
 according to the agreement just concluded, opened 
 upon them a severe fire of musketry, accompanied by 
 the discharge of several pieces of cannon planted 
 upon one of their towers, which they continued to 
 keep up until midnight. By that time, however, the 
 Swedes, by their superior fire, had driven the de- 
 fenders from the ramparts; and, having fixed a petard 
 to the gates, speedily blew them open, and rushed 
 into the town. The militia immediately fled, and 
 escaped by the opposite gate ; and the armed inhabit- 
 ants, who had at first retired to the town-hall, 
 intending to defend themselves to the last, on finding 
 themselves deserted by their allies, dispersed to their 
 homes, expecting nothing less than a general massacre 
 in return for the flagrant breach of faith they had com- 
 mitted. Had the conquerors been Imperialists, such 
 would inevitably have been the fate of the people of 
 Bamberg ; but the Swedes, instead of entering a single
 
 342 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 house in the city or offering to molest any of its inhabit- 
 ants, drew up in the market-place and remained under 
 arms until the morning. The houses of the principal 
 burghers who had violated the capitulation were then 
 given up to pillage, as well as the college of the 
 Jesuits ; but, with this exception, nothing occurred 
 which could remind the inhabitants that their town 
 was in the hands of a foreign enemy, who had gained 
 it by an open assault. The forbearance of the Swedes 
 upon this occasion was in strict accordance with their 
 conduct in similar instances ; and they were now led 
 by a general, who was distinguished above all the 
 officers of Gustavus by his humanity and clemency 
 towards his vanquished enemies, while he was inferior 
 to none in point of military abilities. Horn was 
 generally complimented by the king with the title of 
 his right arm, an appellation which he proved had 
 not been unjustly bestowed upon him, as well during 
 the life as subsequently to the death of his celebrated 
 leader, by that consummate ability and prudence 
 which, after contributing to their success on so many 
 fields, would, probably, if they had been suffered to 
 have full scope, have saved the Swedes from the 
 humiliating disaster of Nordlingen. His domestic 
 history was marked by severe calamity. Before the 
 expedition of Gu.stavus into Germany, he had married 
 the daughter of the chancellor Oxenstiern,a woman no 
 less remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments 
 than for her conjugal affection, which led her to 
 prefer accompanying her husband to the seat of war, 
 to remaining at the court of Stockholm, in daily 
 anxiety and suspense as to his fate. But this amiable 
 consort was carried off almost immediately after her 
 arrival in Prussia, with two of her children, by a con- 
 tagious disease, and expired in the arms of her 
 husband, who anxiously attended her in the extremity 
 of her sickness, and never so far recovered from the
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 343 
 
 shock occasioned by her death as to think of a second 
 marriage, although he was still a young man at the 
 time of the occurrence, and the noblest houses of 
 Sweden were known to have courted his alliance. 
 
 As soon as Horn had gained possession of Bamberg, 
 he set his forces in motion against Forcheim. But 
 the prelate, whose territories were thus on the point 
 of being altogether wrested from him, made such 
 clamorous remonstrances to the Duke of Bavaria 
 on the inactivity of the array of the League, while 
 one of their most zealous supporters was driven from 
 his possessions before their eyes, that Tilly, who had 
 distributed the greater part of his troops in the Upper 
 Palatinate, which, from the movements of Gustavus 
 upon the Rhine, he judged would be the next province 
 invaded by the Swedes, and lay with the rest at 
 Nordlingen, was at length commanded to resume 
 the offensive and march to the recovery of Bamberg. 
 The veteran general was overjoyed at the command, 
 and hastily calling in his troops from the Palatinate, 
 advanced first to Amberg, for the purpose of con- 
 ferring with the bishop, and from thence turned his 
 course towards Neumarkt and Nurenberg. Around 
 the latter city he left a part of his army stationed, 
 principally in the towns of Lauff and Altdorf, and 
 proceeded with the rest, amounting to about 20,000 
 men, to drive Horn from his recent conquests. The 
 Protestant territory of Anspach felt the full effects of 
 the licence of his soldiery on their arrival at Nuren- 
 berg. All the horrors which follow in the train of a 
 war of desolation were to be witnessed during the 
 short period for which they occupied this defenceless 
 country, in which the Imperialists, among other 
 outrages, broke open the tomb of the Margrave of 
 Anspacli, who had once commanded the troops of the 
 Evangelic Union, for the purpose of despoiling the 
 corpse of a rich collar, set with diamonds, with which 
 it had been interred.
 
 344 THE LIFE OF GC8TAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Horn, who had been compelled by violent rains, 
 followed by a frost of intense vigour, to delay the 
 siege of Forcheim, had retired to Bamberg, where he 
 received undoubted intelligence of the approach of 
 Tilly's army. Although the town in which his troops 
 were quartered was not regularly fortified, he thought 
 that with the assistance of a few field-works hastily 
 thrown up, he might contrive to keep the Imperialists 
 at bay until the king arrived to relieve him. But 
 Tilly, on coming up, at once attacked his outposts 
 with so much vigour, that the Swedes, whose con- 
 fusion was increased by their mistaking an order of 
 their general, were quickly obliged to retire into the 
 suburbs. These were immediately assailed by the 
 victors, and with equal success. Although Horn 
 exerted himself to the utmost to restore the battle, 
 and frequently repulsed the enemy by charging at the 
 head of the regiment of Bauditzen, he was at last 
 obliged to content himself with an orderly retreat, 
 and falling back upon Kutzingen and Ettman, re- 
 crossed the main, and took post at Hassfurt, breaking 
 down the bridges over the river behind him. Tilly, 
 however, eager in the pursuit, and aided by the 
 inhabitants of the country, who brought him materials 
 in abundance, speedily re-established the communica- 
 tions he had just destroyed, and had pushed forward 
 several regiments of cavalry within two miles of 
 Hassfurt, before the Swedish general received the 
 intelligence that the Maine was no longer between 
 himself and the enemy. Horn was accordingly 
 obliged to commence his retreat anew, although he 
 first derived some satisfaction for the loss he had sus- 
 tained at Bamberg, by cutting off two regiments of 
 Imperialists forming the advance of his pursuers, and 
 directed his course towards Schweinfurth. Here he 
 received the welcome intelligence that the King of 
 Sweden was close at hand, and soon after effected his
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 345 
 
 junction with the main army, which was increased 
 by this addition to the number of 32,000. 
 
 In other parts of Germany the war continued to 
 burn with undiminished violence, although generally 
 to the advantage of the Swedes. In the neighbour- 
 hood of Magdeburg, a strenuous effort was made by 
 Pappenheim to relieve Count Mansfeld, still blockaded 
 by Banner amidst the ruins of that unhappy city. 
 The sudden revolt, however, of George, Duke of 
 Lunenburg, from the Emperor, and the levies he was 
 making in Lower Saxony, compelled him to turn his 
 attention in another direction. Magdeburg was ac- 
 cordingly abandoned, after the defenders had set fire 
 to the barracks, spiked part of their artillery, and 
 thrown the rest into the Elbe ; and the Swedes, tak- 
 ing possession of the ramparts, were enabled to invite 
 the surviving inhabitants, who remained scattered 
 throughout the neighbouring country, to commence 
 the re-erection of a few scattered houses upon the 
 blackened sites of so many magnificent mansions. 
 Pappenheim was not successful in his operations 
 against George of Lunenburg. He had advanced to 
 Burgdorf, and was endeavouring to terrify the duke 
 into submission, by threatening to lay the town of 
 Zell in ashes, when he was compelled to retire before 
 Banner, whose army, now increased by a force under 
 the Duke of Weimar, whom Gustavus had sent 
 through Thuringia to join him, was much superior to 
 his own. The two generals soon added Nordheim, 
 Goslar, and Gottingen, to the Swedish conquests, 
 and would probably have obtained further successes 
 had they not been summoned to join the king, who 
 despatched the Landgrave of Hesse with his troops 
 to take their places. Achatius Todt was at the same 
 time desired to move from Mecklenburg, and co-ope- 
 rate with the Landgrave and the troops of Bremen 
 and Lunenburg, in driving the Imperialists from the
 
 346 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 right bank of the Weser. Pappenheim, however, was 
 upon the alert to take advantage of this change of the 
 generals appointed to act against him. Having re- 
 collected his scattered forces, he suddenly re-crossed 
 the Weser, and placed himself in such a position as 
 to cut off the communication of the Hessians with the 
 Duke of Lunenhurg ; he first defeated the Landgrave, 
 and, subsequently, a force which had been sent from 
 Lunenburg to his assistance. The Hessians retreated 
 towards Paderborn, in the hope of drawing him to 
 follow them in that direction ; but Pappenheim, after 
 entering the territory of Hesse, and committing fear- 
 ful ravages over a wide extent of country, advanced 
 against Achatius Todt, who was then besieging Stade, 
 a town near the mouth of the Elbe, against whom he 
 manoeuvred so skilfully, that he speedily compelled 
 him to raise the siege, and would probably have 
 compelled him to retire to the other side of the Elbe, 
 had not a sudden insurrection, excited by Francis 
 Charles, Duke of Saxe Lauenburg, again turned the 
 balance in favour of his enemies. This prince, after 
 the unsuccessful issue of his former attempt, had been 
 released from captivity by Ferdinand, in consequence 
 of a feigned conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. 
 He now resumed his old religion and his former efforts 
 in the cause of freedom together, and exerted himself 
 with so much better success, that he compelled Pap- 
 penheim, overwhelmed by numbers, and destitute of 
 the means of subsisting his men, to retrace his steps 
 towards Hesse. The Imperial garrison of Stade ac- 
 companied him in his retreat, and the Swedes, finding 
 themselves masters of the navigation of the Elbe, 
 immediately improved their advantage by erecting a 
 strong fort on the bank of the river in the vicinity of 
 Stade, and garrisoning it with two of their best regi- 
 ments. 
 
 In the meantime the Spaniards, who, stationed
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 347 
 
 along the banks of the Moselle, had anxiously watched 
 the departiire of Gustavus Adolphus for Franconia, 
 had not been idle in endeavouring to recover their 
 lost ground in the vicinity of Mentz and the Lower 
 Palatinate. The first corps which crossed the river 
 was defeated by the Rhinegrave, who sent seven 
 standards and several prisoners of rank to Oxenstiern 
 as the fruits of his victory ; but a fresh force having 
 advanced under the Count de Riedberg and Don 
 Philip de Sylva, he was compelled to fall back to 
 Mentz ; and the Spaniards, crossing the Hundstruck, 
 immediately invested Spire, which was rendered by 
 Colonel Horneck without resistance, although the 
 Chancellor had sent him word that he was on the 
 point of marching to his assistance. But the inroad 
 of the Spaniards was not of long duration. They 
 were speedily recalled into the Low Countries by the 
 movements of the Prince of Orange, and fearfully 
 harassed during their retreat by Oxenstiern and 
 the Rhinegrave, who having by this time collected 
 the Swedish garrisons in their neighbourhood into a 
 force sufficient to give them battle, followed close upon 
 their rear, and inflicted upon them a loss of 2,000 
 men before the pursuit was discontinued. Spire was 
 immediately recovered and garrisoned anew by the 
 Swedes ; but its former governor, Colonel Horneck, 
 was sent by Oxenstiern as a prisoner to Mentz, and 
 subsequently condemned by a court-martial to lose 
 his head for his feeble resistance*. 
 
 Such was the state of the contending parties in the 
 Empire at the commencement of the celebrated cam- 
 paign of 1632, But to the list of the antagonists 
 opposed to the Swedes, was now to be added one 
 more to be dreaded than any they had yet encoun- 
 tered. Wallenstein was by this time once more in 
 
 * This sentence was afterwards mitigated, at the intercession of 
 the Queen of Sweden.
 
 318 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 arms, and ready to lead in person the well-appointed 
 force he had been employed in levying. It is said, 
 that Ferdinand, almost reduced to despair by the 
 disastrous events of the preceding year, and the evils 
 which on all sides appeared to threaten the ruin of his 
 dominion, had resolved upon putting himself at the 
 head of his army, and leading it to the field in person, 
 a determination which could not have failed to give 
 the final blow to the fortunes of his house, when he 
 was persuaded by his ministers to endeavour once 
 more to prevail upon Wallenstein to reassume the 
 command of the Imperial forces. The Prince of 
 Eggenberg was sent a second time to Znaim, offering 
 his own terms to the Duke of Friedland, upon the 
 sole condition of his consenting to gratify the Em- 
 peror by returning to his former post ; and Ferdinand 
 even condescended to add his personal entreaties, to 
 influence the resolution of his haughty subject. As 
 soon as Eggenberg had arrived at Znaim, and com- 
 municated the object of his mission, Wallenstein 
 replied that he needed but twenty-four hours to spe- 
 cify the sole conditions on which he would accept the 
 command. At the expiration of that time, a memo- 
 rial was presented to the Imperial ambassador, con- 
 taining the proposed articles, which were such as to 
 confound even those best acquainted with the aspiring 
 character of their author. 
 
 This singular document was nearly to the follow- 
 ing effect : 
 
 " The Duke of Friedland shall be now and from 
 henceforth sole generalissimo, not only of his Imperial 
 Majesty, but of the whole house of Austria, and the 
 Crown of Spain, and shall command in chief the 
 forces of both ; nor shall any one, of whatsoever rank, 
 make pretensions detrimental to his unrestricted pos- 
 session of the office. 
 
 " The Emperor shall never be personally "present
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 349 
 
 with the army, nor shall he take upon himself any 
 part of the command. Yet, after his armies have 
 recovered the kingdom of Bohemia, it will be fit that 
 the King of Hungary establish his residence at 
 Prague, and that twelve hundred men be left with 
 Don Balthasar Maradas, for the purpose of protect- 
 ing him, until a general peace of the Empire, since 
 the Duke of Freidland has observed that it is the 
 wish of the Bohemians to have a king resident among 
 them ; and by this means the Emperor and his 
 general will be secure from all apprehension of 
 rebellion. 
 
 "The Emperor shall grant to the Duke of Friedland, 
 under the title of ' ordinary recompense,' security 
 for his accession to some one of the countries con- 
 stituting the hereditary possessions of Austria, and 
 that in the most ample form possible. 
 
 " The Duke of Friedland shall possess the direct 
 dominion, and shall be sovereign lord, of all the 
 countries which shall be recovered in the Empire, as 
 a ' recompense extraordinary.' 
 
 " All territories, lordships, and countries which 
 shall be confiscated, shall belong to the Duke of 
 Friedland, and the confiscation shall be devoted to 
 his profit in the most extended form, so that neither 
 the Aulic Council of the Empire, nor the Imperial 
 Chamber of Spire, shall pretend to any right or juris- 
 diction over them, general or particular, under any 
 pretext whatever. The Duke of Friedland shall re- 
 main in the possession of absolute power of punishing 
 or of pardoning, with respect to all prisoners in a 
 military capacity, of whatever rank or quality they 
 may happen to be, so that all safe conducts and 
 letters of respite or grace, granted by the Emperor 
 and signed by his hand, shall be null and void, if 
 not confirmed and countersigned by the said Duke 
 of Friedland.
 
 350 THE LIFE OF G'JSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 " Applications for letters of grace shall be made to 
 the Duke of Friedland alone, and he only shall have 
 the power to grant and despatch them, since the 
 Emperor is of too merciful a disposition, and suffers 
 guilty characters of every description to receive 
 pardon at his court ; so that the commander-in-chief 
 is in the condition of a person whose hands are tied, 
 and finds himself deprived of the assistance of the two 
 great motives which influence the conduct of mankind 
 the fear of punishment and the hope of reward. 
 
 " As, sooner or later, a definitive treaty must be 
 concluded in the Empire, the Emperor shall bind 
 himself to include in it the Duke of Friedland, and 
 to maintain his interests with respect to the duchy 
 of Mecklenburg." 
 
 Extraordinary as these propositions might appear, 
 the Emperor did not hesitate to sign them. To such 
 a condition of weakness was the once despotic house 
 of Austria reduced in Germany. Yet it is not im- 
 possible that, in assenting to such extravagant de- 
 mands, Ferdinand foresaw their ultimate issue in the 
 ruin of his ambitious general. Wallenstein, elated 
 with the result of the negotiation, and inspired by 
 the desire of proving himself worthy of his new 
 honours, exerted himself with so much diligence, 
 and lavished his riches with so unsparing a hand, 
 that, in point of equipment, his troops exceeded any 
 force which had yet been seen in the Empire. His 
 army amounted to 40,000 men, the number he had 
 originally undertaken to raise; and with these, he 
 doubted not of speedily driving the Saxons out of 
 Bohemia, the object to which his attention was 
 directed, previously to throwing himself in the way 
 of Gustavus, and presenting himself before him as 
 his last and most formidable opponent.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVU* ADOLPIIUS. 351 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Tilly retreats into the Upper Palatinate The Swedes enter Nuren- 
 berg The Swedes lay siege to Donawerth, which is abandoned 
 by the Duke of Saxe Lauenberg Gustavus crosses the Danube 
 Maximilian and Tilly take post on the banks of the Lech 
 The King determines to attack them in their position Difficul- 
 ties of the Undertaking He constructs a Bridge over the Lech 
 under the Artillery of the Enemy Tilly endeavours to oppose 
 his Passage, and is mortally wounded in the Attempt Retreat 
 of Maximilian Death of Tilly Conquest of Rain by the 
 Swedes Gustavus besieges Augsburg Capitulation of the Im- 
 perial Garrison The King enters the City in Triumph Oath 
 of Allegiance to the Crown of Sweden, taken by the Magistrates 
 General Dissatisfaction of the Allies of Gustavus Siege of 
 Ingolstadt Narrow Escape of the King, and Death of the Mar- 
 quis of Baden Durlach Speech of Gustavus on the occasion 
 Siege of Ingolstadt raised Interference of St. Etienne in favour 
 of the Elector of Bavaria His Dialogue with Gustavus 
 Recovery of Bohemia by the Imperial Army under Wallenstein. 
 
 ON the first intelligence of the approach of the King 
 of Sweden, and the junction of his forces with those 
 of Gustavus Horn, Tilly, who was sensible that he 
 was far too weak to keep the field against such 
 superior numbers, had commenced his retreat from 
 Hassfurt, intending to retire towards Bavaria, and 
 defend its frontier to the best of his ability. Having 
 called in his detachments, and re-assembled his army 
 at Forcheim, he accordingly commenced his retreat 
 towards Forcheim, and from thence fell back through 
 Erlangen to Nurenberg. But Maximilian, who had 
 no wish that his country should become the seat of 
 war, perceiving that his general was in full march 
 towards the Danube, sent hastily to desire him to 
 alter his course, and to retreat into the Upper 
 Palatinate, with the hope that the Swedes would
 
 3.")2 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 pursue him into that province, and by delaying for 
 a time the invasion of Bavaria, afford him further 
 time for providing for its defence. Tilly, thus 
 instructed, complied with the directions of the 
 Elector, by altering his course towards Altdorf, and 
 from thence, still sinking deeper into the Upper 
 Palatinate, proceeded to Neumarkt, where he awaited 
 the effect of his recent movements upon the operations 
 of the King of Sweden. Gustavus, in the mean 
 time, leisurely advancing from Schweinfurth to 
 Windsheim, where he was joined by Banner and the 
 Duke of Saxe Weimar, and found his numbers in- 
 creased to 40,000 men by their arrival, determined, 
 since no enemy appeared to oppose him, on con- 
 tinuing his inarch towards Bavaria, without paying 
 the least attention to the movements of Tilly. 
 Nurenberg, however, which had lately so resolutely 
 declared in his cause, was too near his projected 
 route to remain unvisited ; and, after having halted 
 his army at Furth, he set out with a numerous escort, 
 composed of his principal officers, and accompanied 
 by the King of Bohemia, and a crowd of the German 
 nobility, to make his public entry into the city. He 
 was received with a lavish pomp, which indicated 
 the immense wealth of the citizens, no less than their 
 unbounded exultation at the event, A body of 
 cavalry, magnificently dressed, and composed of the 
 flower of the youth of Nurenberg, followed by a long 
 train of coaches containing the wives and daughters 
 of the principal magistrates and burgesses, met him 
 at some distance from the gates, and accompanied 
 him at his entrance. The garrison and the burgher 
 guards, newly clothed for the occasion, were assem- 
 bled under arms ; the streets hung with the richest 
 tapestry; and the windows filled with spectators, 
 who, on his appearance, saluted him with a general ' 
 burst of acclamations, mingled with fervent blessings
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 353 
 
 upon the deliverer of the Protestant Church of Ger- 
 many. As soon as he had alighted at the hotel pre- 
 pared for his reception, he was presented, in the 
 name of the senate, with four large cannon beauti- 
 fully finished and superbly mounted, two silver 
 globes, the one filled with new golden ducats, and 
 the other with guilders, and six waggons laden with 
 oats, fish, and wine. Two of the principal members 
 of the senate accompanied these presents, and de- 
 livered a complimentary oration to the king, in the 
 name of the whole body, to which Gustavus made 
 an appropriate reply. 
 
 A costly entertainment followed these manifesta- 
 tions of regard on both sides, at which the king's 
 table was served by the principal senators of Nu- 
 reuberg. 
 
 After a visit of two days, he set out to rejoin his 
 army, carrying with him a number of Capuchin 
 friars, whom he had directed to be seized as hostages 
 for the safety of several persons of rank residing in 
 the neighbourhood of Nurenberg, or who had been 
 made prisoners by Tilly and conveyed to Neumarkt. 
 He then gave orders for continuing his march towards 
 Donawerth, detaching a portion of his army towards 
 Hochstet, at both which points he intended to effect 
 the passage of the Danube. Tilly, at the first inti- 
 mation of this movement, abandoning the Upper 
 Palatinate, hastened by forced marches to the defence 
 of Bavaria, and crossing the Danube by the bridge of 
 Ingolstadt*, took post along the banks of the Lech, 
 where he was shortly afterwards joined by Maxi- 
 milian and 8,000 Bavarians under his command. 
 The king arrived before Donawerth on the 26th of 
 March, and despatched a trumpeter to the town with 
 the usual summons. The governor, Maximilian, 
 Duke of Saxe Lauenburg, who commanded the gar- 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer. 
 
 A A
 
 354 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVOS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 risen, consisting of 1,500 infantry and 500 horse, 
 scornfully replied, that he had nothing at the service 
 of the King of Sweden but gunpowder and load, and 
 the sharp points of his soldiers' swords; and that if 
 these were not to his taste, it was no fault of the 
 Governor of Donawerth. The Swedes answered this 
 bravado by immediately erecting their batteries upon 
 Mount Schellenberg, and commencing a vigorous 
 cannonade against the lower town, while they pushed 
 forward their trenches without intermission, notwith- 
 standing the heavy fire of the place, and several brisk 
 sallies made by the choicest troops of the garrison. 
 The Duke of Saxe Lauenburg had been encouraged 
 to give his haughty answer of defiance, by a pre- 
 valent report that Tilly was on his way to raise the 
 siege ; and with this expectation replied to the ma- 
 gistrates, who had requested him not to cause the 
 ruin of their town by a useless resistance, " that 
 there was no hurry, and that he should take especial 
 care not to quit his post at the moment when he was 
 on the point of being relieved." With the bridge 
 over the Danube behind him, he had little fear of 
 effecting his escape, even if the hope of succour from 
 Tilly should prove fallacious. But his situation was 
 soon rendered precarious by the activity of his assail- 
 ants. The fortifications were ruined by the fire of 
 the Swedish batteries, and the king, sending a force 
 under Colonel Hepburn to cross the Wormitz, and 
 effect a lodgment among the gardens and enclosed 
 grounds near the foot of the bridge on the opposite 
 side of the town, threatened to cut off all means of 
 retreat from the besieged, before making the assault 
 for which he was evidently preparing. At the same 
 time the Swedish artillery was so advantageously 
 planted to command the opposite bank of the Danube, 
 that a body of Bavarian troops, despatched to rein- 
 force the garrison, were compelled to retire without
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 355 
 
 effecting their object. The Governor of Donawerth 
 now thought it full time to withdraw with his garri- 
 son, and after communicating his intention to the 
 magistrates, employed a whole night in transporting 
 his baggage across the river, with the design of 
 following it early on the ensuing morning. But his 
 intention was made known to the Swedes by the 
 noise of the waggons as they defiled over the bridge, 
 and the King of Sweden sent orders to Hepburn to 
 be on the alert, as he expected the Imperialists were 
 on the point of abandoning the town. As the duke, 
 therefore, issued forth from Donawerth at break of 
 day, he found the Scottish colonel with his detach- 
 ment under arms, to oppose his further progress. 
 The ground in the vicinity of the bridge immediately 
 became the scene of a sanguinary combat, and the 
 disputed pass was long contested at the pike's point. 
 The Imperialists, however, rendered desperate by 
 their perilous situation, at length succeeded, after 
 repeated efforts, in clearing a passage in their front ; 
 but they had no sooner burst through the enemies 
 with whom they had been engaged in close combat, 
 than they were exposed to a heavy cross-fire of artiL 
 lery and musketry, which was so well directed, that 
 nearly 500 of their number were found, after the 
 skirmish, to have fallen upon the bridge alone. At 
 the expense of this terrible loss, the Duke of Saxe 
 Lauenburg was enabled to gain the opposite shore 
 with the remainder of the shattered band, which had 
 followed him in his retreat. A part of the Imperial 
 garrison, however, had been left in the town, which, 
 while Hepburn was employed in the action at the 
 bridge, had been assaulted and won by the Swedes 
 under the guidance of the king in person. The vic- 
 tors, in their first fury, gave little quarter to the 
 Imperial soldiery who fell into their hands, and even 
 broke open some of the houses of the citizens, although
 
 356 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLP11US. 
 
 without maltreating the inhabitants ; but Gustavus 
 gave instant orders to put a stop to all excesses, and 
 perfect tranquillity was restored in Donawerth, after 
 it had suffered but a few hours' interruption. The 
 expedition against Hochstet, commanded by Augus- 
 tus, Prince Palatine of Sultzbach, was equally suc- 
 cessful. The king, now master of two important 
 passes over the Danube, after leaving a garrison in 
 Donawerth, lost no time in transferring the rest of 
 his army to the right bank of the river. All the 
 country between the Lech and the Danube, as far as 
 to Ulm and Augsburg, was instantly overspread by 
 his troops, who found themselves amply supplied with 
 provisions from the rich territory of which they had 
 recently gained possession. Tilly, however, was 
 in front, and in a position apparently inaccessible, 
 quietly awaited the arrival of reinforcements from the 
 army of Wallenstein in Bohemia, and the junction of 
 fresh levies raised in Bavaria, to pour such superior 
 numbers upon the invaders as would quickly compel 
 them to recross the Danube iu confusion, or enable 
 him to take satisfaction for a long course of reverses 
 in the issue of a pitched field. 
 
 The Lech, a stream inseparably connected with the 
 memory of Gustavus Adolphus, takes its rise among 
 the mountains of the Tyrol, and, after washing the 
 walls of Landsberg and Augsburg, falls into the 
 Danube at a short distance from the town of Rain. 
 The banks are broken and irregular, and the channel 
 uncertain, nor are there many rivers of the same size 
 in Germany which can be compared with it in the 
 strength and rapidity of its current. The united 
 forces of Bavaria and the League, with this efficient 
 means of defence in front, extended their right wing 
 towards the Danube and their left towards Rain, 
 while the banks of the river, as far as the city of 
 Augsburg, were observed by their patrols, supported
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 357 
 
 by detached bodies of infantry. Tilly had taken the 
 precaution of breaking down the bridges over the 
 Lech, and had thrown up field-works at points where 
 he judged the passage might be considered attended 
 with fewest difficulties. That the Swedes would 
 attack him in his main position, was a pitch of daring 
 to which, well as he was acquainted with the enter- 
 prising spirit of the king, he could scarcely suspect 
 him of having yet attained. Such, however, was the 
 full determination of Gustavus. After he had recon- 
 noitred the course of the Lech for some miles, at the 
 imminent peril of his life, he fixed upon a point be- 
 tween Rain and Thierhauppen, where the river makes 
 a sweep to the eastward, as the spot for carrying his 
 venturous design into effect. The plan of forcing a 
 passage over the Lech had been previously debated 
 at a general council of war held at Nordheim, but so 
 perilous and desperate was the undertaking considered 
 by most of those who were present, that the king 
 found but few to support him with their approbation. 
 Horn did not hesitate to declare that it was altogether 
 impracticable, and many veteran officers expressed 
 themselves to the same effect. Gustavus, however, 
 cut short the deliberation, by declaring his resolution 
 to be fixed. " What," he exclaimed, " shall we, 
 who have not only passed the Baltic, but the Oder, 
 the Rhine, and the Danube, turn back from the Lech, 
 a stream which can scarcely be dignified with the 
 name of a river ?" His generals, finding his resolu- 
 tion unalterable, ceased from further opposition ; and 
 it only remained to carry fearlessly into effect a design 
 which, under existing difficulties, could apparently 
 only owe its success to the most unhesitating self- 
 devotion on the part of those entrusted with its exe- 
 cution. The king was, perhaps, the only person in 
 his army who possessed an unshaken confidence in 
 the result. " You will see," he coolly said, on re-
 
 358 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 ceiving information of every fresh obstacle which had 
 been discovered, " that we shall do well enough 
 presently, notwithstanding all appearances to the 
 contrary." 
 
 In order fully to understand the relative positions 
 now occupied by the Swedes and their opponents, it 
 must be observed, that within the space embraced by 
 the curvature of the Lech the armies of Maximilian 
 and Tilly had taken post in order of battle, partly 
 sheltered by an entrenchment in their front, running 
 parallel with an imaginary chord of the arc formed 
 by the winding of the river, and partly by a dense 
 wood on their right, which was principally occupied 
 by the Bavarians. The ground before them consti- 
 tuting a natural glacis, descended by a gentle slope to 
 the Lech, gradually acquiring the character of a 
 muddy swamp, in some places overgrown with beds 
 of osiers. The Swedes, therefore, had first to pass a 
 deep and rapid torrent, which was, moreover, recently 
 swollen with melted snows, and about forty yards 
 across at the point selected for their passage ; and 
 next, to struggle through a marsh, under full sweep 
 of the cannon and small arms of the Imperialists ; 
 after which the enemy must be driven from a com- 
 manding situation, in which they had entrenched 
 themselves to their teeth ; and finally dislodged from 
 the wood towards their right, before the victory could 
 be deemed complete. It must be acknowledged that 
 the most sanguine among them might be justified in 
 regarding with no favourable eye an enterprise which 
 held out such little prospect of advantage, and which 
 threatened to be followed by the most serious conse- 
 quences, if unattended with success. 
 
 The king was occupied during the 3rd of April in 
 endeavouring to gain correct intelligence of the depth 
 of the river, and in selecting the most convenient spots 
 for the erection of his batteries. While he was thus
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 359 
 
 employed, the heavy artillery of the Imperialists 
 opened against the several divisions of his army, as 
 they came within range upon the opposite bank ; and 
 the best marksmen among their musketeers, descend- 
 ing towards the Lech, and availing themselves of the 
 cover afforded by every bush and inequality of the 
 ground, commenced a scattered fire along the edge of 
 the river, upon every object which approached it. 
 Seventy-two pieces of cannon speedily answered this 
 salute on the part of the Swedes, and a similar body 
 of skirmishers was thrown forward towards the 
 western bank to oppose the Imperial marksmen. At 
 the same time, the king, in order to keep Tilly igno- 
 rant of his real movements, caused several pits to be 
 dug along his front, and filled with damp straw, 
 which he commanded to be set on fire. The dense 
 smoke which instantly arose, mingled with that of 
 the artillery and musketry, drafting heavily along the 
 valley of the Lech, soon veiled both armies from each 
 other's view. The firing on both sides was, never- 
 theless, maintained without being interrupted by the 
 partial obscurity ; and for three days and two nights 
 the banks of the river were almost incessantly shaken 
 by the thunder of a conflict, which was distinctly 
 heard and listened to with fearful expectation, within 
 the distance of twelve miles, in every direction, from 
 the scene of action. The king's first intention was to 
 throw a floating bridge over the stream ; but the 
 attempt was no sooner made, than it was found to be 
 rendered hopeless by the rapidity of the current. It 
 was then imagined that tressels might be sunk and 
 firmly secured by weights in the bed of the river, on 
 which the flooring of the bridge might afterwards be 
 securely laid. The king approved of this plan, and 
 workmen were commanded to prepare the necessary 
 materials at the small village of Oberendorf, situated 
 about half a mile from the spot. During the night
 
 360 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, 
 
 of the 4th of April, the work was entirely finished, 
 the supports fixed in the stream, and the planks for 
 forming the bridge brought down to the water's edge. 
 The king had, in the meantime, ordered a trench to 
 be dug along the bank of the river for the reception 
 of bodies of musketeers, and several new batteries to 
 be constructed close to the shore, the fire from which, 
 as they were disposed along a convex line, necessarily 
 crossed upon the opposite side ; those upon the left 
 hand of the Swedes playing upon the left of the 
 enemy, and those on the right, upon the wood held 
 by the Bavarians. Another battery, slightly retired 
 from the rest, directed its fire against the entrench- 
 ments occupied by Tilly's centre. By daybreak on 
 the 5th, all necessary preparations having been made, 
 the bridge was begun to be laid, and completed under 
 the king's inspection. Three hundred Finland volun- 
 teers were the first who crossed, excited by the reward 
 of ten crowns each, to undertake the dangerous ser- 
 vice of throwing up a slight work upon the other side 
 for its protection. Tilly was now aware of the exact 
 spot at which his enemy had determined to attempt 
 his passage, and the greater part of his artillery was 
 accordingly directed against it. At the same time, 
 he gave orders for felling a number of trees in the 
 wood upon his right, for the purpose of raising a 
 strong abattis in front of his entrenchments. The 
 Swedes, informed of his intention by the sound of 
 axes heard at intervals amidst the roar of the battle, 
 redoubled their fire against the wood, and an extensive 
 loss of life was occasioned among its occupants, not 
 only by the balls of the enemy, but by the splinters 
 and boughs which were continually struck from the 
 trees around them. By four in the afternoon, the 
 Finlanders had finished their undertaking, having 
 been protected from a close attack by the musketry 
 of their own party and the batteries behind them,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 361 
 
 from which the king is said to have discharged more 
 than sixty shots with his own hand, to encourage his 
 gunners to charge their pieces more expeditiously. 
 The work consisted merely of an embankment sur- 
 rounded by a trench, but it was defended both by 
 the direct and cross fire of the Swedes. As soon as 
 it was completed, Gustavus, stationing himself with 
 the King of Bohemia at the foot of the bridge, com- 
 manded Colonel "Wrangel, with a chosen body of 
 infantry, and two or three field-pieces, to pass over ; 
 and, after occupying the work, to station a number of 
 musketeers in a bed of osiers upon the opposite side. 
 The Swedes crossed the bridge with little loss, since, 
 in addition to the embankment raised by the Fin- 
 landers, they were in a great measure covered from 
 their adversaries by the greater steepness of the east- 
 ern shore of the Lech, which was several feet higher 
 than that on their own side. The bridge had also 
 been purposely laid close to the surface of the water, 
 so that the balls of the Imperialists, although they 
 repeatedly grazed the crest of the bank, passed over 
 the heads of those stationed below it without inflict- 
 ing any injury. After Wrangel had securely esta- 
 blished himself in his position, the remainder of the 
 infantry began to pour across the river, encouraged 
 as they passed by the words of the king, who con- 
 tinued at the foot of the bridge, as the most conve- 
 nient spot for giving orders. A body of Finland horse, 
 at the same time, having discovered a ford at some 
 distance to the right, hastily availed themselves of 
 the passage, and were followed by the whole of the 
 Swedish cavalry, who, by this movement, threatened 
 to turn the left flank of the Imperialists. In order 
 to drive back the assailants, Tilly descended from his 
 entrenchments, at the head of several select regiments 
 of infantry, among whom were many veterans who 
 had grown grey in his service, with the intention of
 
 352 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 charging the Swedes before they had time to form. 
 His troops, however, were exposed to repeated volleys 
 of musketry from Wrangel's musketeers ; and this 
 vigorous opposition, together with the difficult nature 
 of the ground, speedily threw his own array into a 
 confusion equal to that which prevailed amongst his 
 enemies. Notwithstanding the determined spirit with 
 which they had advanced, the Imperialists were 
 routed, after a fierce struggle of twenty minutes' du- 
 ration, towards the close of which, Tilly was struck a 
 little above the right knee by a shot of three pounds 
 weight, discharged from a falconet, and carried off the 
 field fainting with the intense agony of the wound. 
 His Lieutenant, Count Altringer, endeavoured to rally 
 his men, but without success, and was soon afterwards 
 himself laid senseless by a ball which closely grazed 
 his temple. These two chance shots decided the event 
 of the combat upon the Lech, which, had either Tilly 
 or his favourite officer remained to defend the strong 
 position still tenable in their rear, might possibly have 
 had a very different termination. The Elector of 
 Bavaria, although not destitute of personal courage, 
 kept his forces within the wood which he occupied, 
 confused by the unexpected termination of the contest 
 in the distance, or thinking all attempts useless to 
 recover the fortune of the day ; and the whole of the 
 Swedish army was soon upon the eastern bank of 
 the Lech, where the king, without troubling him- 
 self with the pursuit of the enemy, commanded his 
 army to encamp, and ordered the customary thanks- 
 givings to be offered for his victory. During the 
 ensuing night, the Elector of Bavaria, after a hurried 
 council of war, determined not to await the attack of 
 the Swedes upon his entrenchments, thinking it more 
 advisable to fall back before them, until he should 
 effect a junction with the army of Wallenstein. In 
 this opinion he was confirmed by the advice of Tilly:
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 363 
 
 the Bavarians, therefore, were commanded to prepare 
 for an immediate retreat, and by the next morning 
 were far ad vanced on their way to Neuburg. Gustavus 
 was astonished, on reconnoitring the position lately 
 held by the enemy, at finding their entrenchments 
 abandoned, and the ground, for the possession of which 
 he had expected a second engagement more obstinate 
 than the first, relinquished without a single blow. 
 " If I had been the Bavarian," he observed to those 
 around him, " I would not have quitted such a post 
 as this, even if a cannon-shot had carried away my 
 beard and half my chin with it." The loss of the 
 conquered parties engaged in the late encounter has 
 been variously reported. That of the Bavarians is 
 usually reckoned at a thousand men, and their allies 
 could not have suffered less. The Swedes have left 
 no account of their own killed and wounded. 
 
 The result of this signal victory completed the con- 
 sternation of the Catholic and Austrian factions in 
 Germany. Cardinal Pasman, the Imperial ambassa- 
 dor at the Court of Rome, on receiving intelligence 
 of the event, exclaimed, " The play is over we may 
 now drop the curtain!" and it is certain that the 
 sentiment, thus laconically expressed, was almost 
 universally felt. Gustavus himself, on reflecting on 
 the circumstances of his recent success, is said to have 
 observed that he was better pleased with the result 
 of that day's work than with the issue of the battle 
 of Leipzig. His military reputation was undoubtedly 
 far more increased by it in the estimation of Europe, 
 since nothing was now considered impossible to a 
 general whose conduct and genius seemed to increase 
 in exact proportion with the difficulties to be sur- 
 mounted, and to be formed to triumph over enter- 
 prises, by which the reputation of any other leader 
 would be irreparably ruined. In our own days the 
 banks of the Alpon and Adda have witnessed under-
 
 364 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 takings somewhat similar, attended, perhaps, with 
 greater peril, and crowned with equal success. Yet 
 it must be remembered that the victors at Lodi, as 
 well as at Arcola, had no bridge to construct in the 
 face of an entrenched enemy, and no higher ground to 
 win after their passage; neither, however imposing 
 may have been the personal valour displayed on each 
 of these occasions, was the issue of the contest so 
 much the effect of superior generalship, as of a greater 
 exertion of desperate courage and physical force. 
 Under all circumstances, it is believed that the pas- 
 sage of the Lech is still without its parallel in the 
 history of modern warfare. 
 
 The unfortunate general, whose humiliation, com- 
 mencing at Leipzig, received its full accomplishment 
 in his unsuccessful defence of the Bavarian frontier, 
 was conveyed the day after the battle to Ingolstadt, 
 frequently swooning on his way with the pain occa- 
 sioned by the motion of the carriage. If human guilt 
 could be atoned for by bodily suffering, even the 
 atrocities of Magdeburg might be considered suf- 
 ficiently avenged by the tortures which he continued 
 to suffer during fifteen days, and which were much 
 increased by the ignorance of the surgeons who 
 attended him, and lacerated the injured part with 
 deep incisions in all directions, according to their 
 usual practice. His constitution, already weakened 
 by age, was unable to bear up against the recent 
 injury he had received in addition to the mental 
 anguish which frequently prompted him to exclaim 
 with bitterness, on his recollection of the past, that 
 his hands had been tied by the League, and that his 
 days ought never to have been prolonged beyond the 
 battle of Leipzig. Before his death he was visited 
 by the Elector of Bavaria, on whom he repeatedly 
 urged the importance of occupying Ratisbon with a 
 strong garrison, adding his advice, that his Lieutenant
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHCS. 365 
 
 Cratzen should be entrusted with the chief command 
 in his place. Maximilian was much moved at his 
 last interview with his aged general, who, however 
 dark the stains upon some parts of his character 
 might be, had invariably served him with unshaken 
 disinterestedness and fidelity. He is asserted to have 
 closed his conversation with his patron in the follow- 
 ing words : " Not being conscious I have used your 
 highness ill in the command of your armies, I shall 
 ask no forgiveness, contented and thankful to die, as 
 you honour me with your attention in my last 
 moments, of which very few now remain upon my 
 hands. Let me entreat you, therefore, out of pure 
 compassion, to leave me ; and as I have an account 
 to render for human frailties, transgressions, and 
 errors, permit me, after having justified myself in 
 your opinion, to make my peace with God."* Tilly's 
 remaining hours were spent in attending to the 
 offices of devotion prescribed by his church ; yet, in 
 the slight delirium which immediately preceded his 
 dissolution, the interests of the cause he had so long 
 upheld were still near his heart ; and he expired re- 
 peating the words, " Ratisbon ! Ratisbon!" with his 
 latest breath, t Gustavus, on being made acquainted 
 with the event, forgot the rigid bigotry and spirit of 
 persecution by which he had through life been dis- 
 tinguished, in his desire to do full justice to the best 
 qualities of a deceased enemy, calling him, according 
 to Monro, " the honourable old Tilly, whose acts were 
 so heroic that after his death they were his everlasting 
 monuments, making his memory eternal, suffering 
 his name never to rot with the time." " And my 
 wish were," adds the same author, with his usual 
 quaint improvement of his subject, " that I might 
 prove as valiant in advancing Christ's kingdom as he 
 was forward in hindering of it ; my death then should 
 
 * Ilartc. f Heylman Leo Arctous.
 
 366 THE LIFE OP GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 not be bitter unto my friends, I leaving an immortal 
 name behind me."* 
 
 Rain was the first conquest effected by the Swedes 
 after crossing the Lech. The town was carried 
 sword in hand, and compelled to redeem itself from 
 pillage by a heavy contribution. Augsburg, the 
 cradle of the reformation, was the next object toward 
 which the conquerors directed their march. In this 
 city the Protestants had sustained their full share of 
 the burthen imposed upon all members of their com- 
 munion in the Catholic states. Xo Lutheran was 
 suffered to possess arms, or to enter upon any public 
 office, and the reformed worship had been publicly 
 interdicted, upon pain of severe penalties. On his 
 way, Gustavus sent Colonel Landsperg to take pos- 
 session of Neuburg, from which the Bavarians had 
 retreated, intending to cross the Danube at Ingol- 
 stadt. He then continued to advance along the right 
 bank of the Lech, while his heavy artillery was 
 conveyed up the Suabian shore, since the recently 
 constructed bridge was not deemed strong enough to 
 support its weight, and arrived on the 9th of April 
 within sight of Augsburg. The place was garrisoned 
 by eighteen companies of infantry, chiefly militia, the 
 regular garrison having abandoned the city to join 
 the main army of Maximilian. Although this force 
 was insufficient for a regular defence, and the greater 
 part of the people of Augsburg were well known to 
 be in favour of the King of Sweden, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel De Treberes, the officer in command, broke 
 down the bridge over the Lech, and asserted his 
 resolution to maintain his post to the last extremity. 
 It was, therefore, necessary to have immediate re- 
 course to the usual means for enforcing a surrender. 
 The king, having thrown two bridges over the river, 
 began to raise his batteries against the principal 
 
 * Monro's Second Expedition.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 367 
 
 defences. He would not, however, suffer a single 
 shot to be fired from them, until lie had sent an 
 expostulatory letter to the magistrates, requesting 
 them to use their influence with the governor to 
 induce him to relinquish a resistance which must he 
 altogether useless, and would unavoidably be pro- 
 ductive of serious damage to a city which it was his 
 ardent desire to preserve uninjured. After a pro- 
 tracted correspondence, through Marshal Horn, the 
 governor was at length persuaded to abandon his 
 rash design, and agreed to place the Swedes in pos- 
 session of the gates, on condition that his garrison 
 should be allowed to march out with the honours of 
 war, and suffered to proceed unmolested to Ingolstadt. 
 The articles of capitulation with the town were not 
 adjusted until some days after his departure, and 
 gave universal oftence to the allies of Sweden. The 
 Catholic magistrates were replaced by those of the 
 Lutheran persuasion, and the pulpits of the churches 
 given up to the Protestant ministers. These, how- 
 ever, were but the ordinary changes which it was 
 the invariable practice of the king to introduce in 
 every town which submitted to his arms. The grand 
 cause of dissatisfaction was an oath of allegiance to 
 his crown, which indicated no intention, on the part 
 of Gustavus, to return to Sweden until he had pro- 
 cured to himself a substantial recompense for the 
 labour and expense of the war. The capitulation 
 was signed on the 23d of April, and the next day 
 the king made his public entry into the city. The 
 people of Augsburg, desirous of imitating the exam- 
 ple recently set by the citizens of Nurenberg, made 
 every attempt to render the ceremony of his recep- 
 tion as imposing as possible. The procession was 
 opened by the newly established magistrates, followed 
 by a body of cavalry, after whom Gustavus appeared, 
 accompanied by the King of Bohemia, the two
 
 368 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Counts Palatine of Sultzbach, William Duke of Saxe 
 Weimar, John Duke of Holstein, the Margrave of 
 Baden Durlach, Marshal Banner, and a long train of 
 nobility and ambassadors. He proceeded first to the 
 Church of St. Anne, where the Te Deum was sung, 
 accompanied, as usual, with peals of artillery from 
 the ramparts and the Swedish camp. A sermon was 
 then preached by the king's own chaplain, Fabricius, 
 from the words of the 12th Psalm, verse 5 : " For 
 the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the 
 needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set 
 him in safety from him that puffeth at him." The 
 service was concluded by the 103d Psalm, chaunted 
 by the whole congregation ; after which the king 
 proceeded to the principal market-place, and took his 
 post at the window of the house provided for his 
 reception. His suite were stationed in the square 
 below, which was occupied by several regiments of 
 infantry drawn up under arms. The magistrates of 
 Augsburg, then advancing into the open space in 
 presence of the king, went through the ceremony of 
 performing their homage, and of taking the oath of 
 fidelity, in the following words: "We solemnly 
 swear and vow to the most serene and mighty prince, 
 Gustavus Adolphus, by the grace of God King of 
 Sweden, our very gracious lord and sovereign, faith, 
 homage, obedience, and duty ; that we will prevent, 
 with all our power, everything prejudicial to the 
 interests of the said king and the crown of Sweden ; 
 and do everything which shall conduce to his advan- 
 tage and service, or to our fulfilling all the duties of 
 good and faithful servants. This we undertake to 
 perform, as we hope for the protection of God." 
 
 After this ceremony of the public homage had been 
 duly performed, the king proceeded to partake of a 
 magnificent entertainment, which was followed by a 
 ball, to which he had invited the principal ladies of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVDS ADOLPHUS. 369 
 
 Augsburg. He then remounted his horse and re- 
 turned to his camp at Lechausen, leaving Benedict 
 Oxenstiern, son of the chancellor, as governor of the 
 city in his absence. 
 
 The act of Gustavus, in requiring the oath of 
 fidelity from the magistrates of Augsburg was, per- 
 haps, the most impolitic proceeding in his life ; nor 
 does it seem to have been calculated to answer any 
 single purpose of utility. The people of the chy from 
 whom it had been required did not hesitate to 
 clamour against this apparent proof of selfish motives, 
 on the part of a prince who had constantly avowed 
 himself the disinterested protector of the liberties of 
 Germany. The Electors of Saxony and Branden- 
 burg, already suspicious allies, were now still further 
 cooled by the prospect of becoming subordinate to 
 the ambition of a sovereign whom they had assisted 
 to gain his present elevation. The French were no 
 less inclined to take offence at the transaction ; and 
 Louis XIII., in a conference with Soranzo the Vene- 
 tian ambassador, said, in full presence of his court, 
 " It is time that the republic and myself should 
 seriously think of the means of stopping this Goth in 
 his progress." Gustavus, without troubling himself 
 about the comments either of his allies or his enemies, 
 continued in the vicinity of Augsburg until the 
 beginning of May, wishing to recruit the strength of 
 his army by a short interval of rest before employing 
 it in further service. His time, during this interval, 
 was chiefly occupied by public fetes and amusements ! 
 and his enemies at length gave out that the Swedes 
 had found a Capua upon the banks of the Lech. 
 The assertion was speedily proved to be unfounded. 
 The king, as soon as he judged that sufficient time 
 had been given to relaxation, called in his detach- 
 ments, and, breaking up his encampment at Lechau- 
 een, directed his columns towards Ingolstadt, expect-
 
 370 THE LIFE OF GTJSTAVTJS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 ing that the Duke of Bavaria, who was lying 
 entrenched beneath the cannon of the place, might be 
 tempted by his approach to risk a general engage- 
 ment. Before quitting Augsburg, however, he per- 
 formed an act of liberality by conferring upon 
 General Ruthven, the governor of Ulm, the lordship 
 of Kirkberg, as a reward for his long-continued ser- 
 vices. During his temporary rest, his generals in 
 other quarters had not been inactive. Nordlingen, 
 in the circle of Franconia, was compelled to receive a 
 Swedish garrison. Memingen, Landsberg, and Kemp- 
 ten, were reduced shortly afterwards, and parties of 
 the Swedes pushed forward even to Lindau, and the 
 banks of the lake of Constance. Ingolstadt, before 
 which the king appeared within a few days after 
 decamping from Lechausen, was occupied by a nume- 
 rous garrison, commanded by a nephew of the cele- 
 brated Tilly, who had just expired within its walls. 
 The fortress itself boasted the proud name of La 
 Pucelle, and, besides the strength of its situation, 
 was further protected by the Bavarian army in its 
 vicinity, which was disposed along the northern bank 
 of the Danube, in full view of the Swedes, who 
 were encamped upon the opposite shore. Two re- 
 doubts, upon the Bavarian side, whicli guarded the 
 bridge over the river, were first closely examined 
 by the king, as their possession, even if Ingolstadt 
 itself remained untaken, would enable him to cut off 
 the return of the Elector to his own country ; but 
 while he was engaged in reconnoitring, a ball, weigh- 
 ing fourteen pounds, fired from a culverin of extra- 
 ordinary length, passed through the body of the 
 horse on which he was mounted, which, immediately 
 falling with its rider, was several times rolled over 
 and over upon the earth by the violence of the shock. 
 The king, after being extricated from his dead steed, 
 was found to have received no injury, except that the
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 371 
 
 skin of his leg had been slightly razed by the shot. 
 He displayed no emotion at the time, merely observ- 
 ing to his equerry, that he had not supposed himself 
 to be within range of the artillery of the town ; and 
 adding, " I have had a fortunate escape, but appa- 
 rently my hour is not yet come." A few minutes 
 after a cannon-shot carried off the head of the young 
 Margrave of Baden Durlach, who was a favourite no 
 less of the king than of the whole Swedish army. 
 His father, an aged nobleman, who had distinguished 
 himself against Tilly in the early part of the Thirty 
 Years' War, on receiving the intelligence, replied to 
 those who were attempting to console him, " I am a 
 father, my friends, it is true ; but I am at the same 
 time a Christian. My son belonged to God before 
 he belonged to me. He has met with a death be- 
 coming a prince and a soldier ; and tears should be 
 reserved for those alone whose lives are spent in 
 infamy, and whose ends are disgraced by cowardice. 
 Everything which I have loved in this world I have 
 long prepared myself to resign, whenever the sacrifice 
 should be demanded, with the exception of my con- 
 science and my liberty." The king could not refrain 
 from testifying strong emotion, when he was made 
 acquainted with the premature fate of a prince so dear 
 to him, which was increased by the recollection of 
 his own narrow escape. When his officers assembled 
 around him, on his return to his tent, to repeat the 
 solicitations which they had often urged upon him 
 before, that he would, for the time to come, be more 
 careful with regard to his own safety, he replied as 
 follows : 
 
 " The death of my cousin, the Margrave of Baden 
 Durlach a prince the more worthy of our regrets as 
 he was endued with every civil and Christian virtue 
 and the danger to which I have been exposed from 
 yonder ball, which is still almost reeking before my 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 eyes, have reminded me afresh of the important truth 
 that I am mortal, and subject to the same casualties 
 as the lowest in rank among my soldiers. Such is 
 the ancient law of Nature, from which neither my 
 high birth nor my royal dignity, nor my victories, 
 can afford me any means of escape. For this reason 
 it becomes me to be prepared for every event, and to 
 resign myself entirely to Divine Providence. But 
 imagine not for an instant that, if it be the will of 
 that Providence to summon me from this world, it 
 will in consequence abandon the just cause which I 
 am armed to maintain, nor the re-establishment of 
 the ancient liberties of Germany. God will raise up 
 some other defender, who will acquit himself of the 
 task far better than I have done. I am not ignorant 
 that my success has excited the envy of many who 
 endeavour to persuade the credulous that I am only 
 seeking to enrich and aggrandise myself. But both 
 the princes whom I have re-established, and my cre- 
 ditors, of whom there are many in Frankfort on the 
 Maine, can witness whether my wealth has been 
 increased by the spoils of Germany, as my adver- 
 saries wish it to be believed. If I have left my 
 kingdom and all I hold dearest in the world, it has 
 been with no other view than to oppose the tyranny 
 of the house of Austria, and to bring about a secure 
 and honourable peace. For the rest, I have received 
 thirteen wounds, some of which have been considered 
 mortal. They have indeed been cured, but they con- 
 tinue to preach to me my liability to death, and the 
 peril of to-day has impressed it still more powerfully 
 upon my mind *." 
 
 The siege of Ingolstadt continued for eight days, 
 during which the Swedes made a spirited attempt to 
 carry the redoubts near the bridge sword in hand, 
 although without success, since the works were so 
 
 * Mauvillon.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVFS ADOLPHUS. 373 
 
 obstinately defended, and the assailants so much 
 exposed to the fire directed over the Danube from the 
 walls of the town, that they were obliged, after a 
 severe loss, to abandon the attempt. In the mean 
 time the Duke of Bavaria, after adding three of his 
 best regiments to the garrison, broke up from his 
 encampment, and pursued his march towards Ratis- 
 bon. His design was, after obtaining possession of 
 that city, to advance through the Upper Palatinate; 
 and after effecting a junction with Wallenstein, to 
 whom, as well as to the Emperor, he daily sent the 
 most urgent requests for assistance, to return and 
 overwhelm the King of Sweden with a force im- 
 mensely superior to his own. Gustavus was quickly 
 informed of his departure, and easily penetrating into 
 his design decided upon abandoning the siege of In- 
 golstadt for the present, and marching immediately 
 upon his capital, in the hope that the duke might be 
 diverted from his present intention by the danger to 
 which his whole territory would be exposed, or pos- 
 sibly induced to risk a general engagement in its 
 defence. "While he was yet encamped before Ingol- 
 stadt, however, an embassy arrived from Christian 
 of Denmark, who had been entreated by the Emperor 
 to use his good offices in mediating between himself 
 and the King of Sweden. Christian, it is probable, 
 had undertaken to execute the commission, rather 
 from a disinclination to offend the Emperor by his 
 refusal, than with any hope of success. The negotia- 
 tions, upon this occasion, were confined to a single 
 conference, which was confined to general proposi- 
 tions and compliments of little meaning ; after whicli 
 the Danish ambassadors returned to Copenhagen, 
 satisfied with having gone through the form of inter- 
 ference, and convinced from the expressions of Gus- 
 tavus that it would be useless to proceed beyond it. 
 They were succeeded by St. Etienne, the French
 
 37* THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 envoy resident at the court of Bavaria, who had 
 been sent by Maximilian to make another attempt at 
 effecting the often-proposed neutrality in his favour. 
 But the King of Sweden was now thoroughly in- 
 censed with the deceitful policy of the Elector, and 
 well convinced that he was only seeking, as before, 
 to entice him into a negotiation until he had effected 
 a junction with Wallenstein ; an event which, since 
 the Imperial army by this time amounted to 50,000 
 men, and the Elector had 30,000 in the field, while 
 the Swedes reckoned no more than 40,000, would 
 speedily place Bavaria in a condition to fear little 
 from the arms of its invaders. It was in vain that 
 the envoy used all his arguments to persuade the 
 king of the sincerity of Maximilian. Gustavus was 
 thoroughly convinced to the contrary, both by letters 
 which he had lately intercepted, and orders which 
 Ferdinand was well known to have sent to Wallen- 
 stein, to make all haste to the assistance of his ally. 
 St. Etienne, however, persisted in his attempts to 
 justify the Elector, and the conversation grew warm 
 on both sides. The envoy having made use of cer- 
 tain terms of disrespect, and almost of menace, the 
 king interrupted him with a severe rebuke. " I 
 pardon your ignorance," said he, " but you forget 
 yourself, and pass beyond the limits even of French 
 familiarity. You are utterly unacquainted with the 
 terms of the agreement made between your master 
 and myself. I am confident that you have received 
 no instruction from your own court to come hither 
 and negotiate in behalf of the Duke of Bavaria. 
 "When you bring proper credentials, signed by the 
 hand of your sovereign, I will attend to them ; but 
 remember to whom, and in what place you speak ; 
 and since you came hither to plead in favour of the 
 Elector of Bavaria, let your conduct be a little more 
 like that of a person who requests a favour. These
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 375 
 
 freedoms, so common with people of your nation, are 
 insufferable ; and French levity is not at all to my 
 taste, I can assure you." St. Etienne, on receiving 
 this repulse, assumed a tone somewhat more humble. 
 " Your majesty," he said, " will then at least be 
 pleased to specify the conditions on which you are 
 willing to grant a neutrality to the duke." " When 
 the duke has laid down his arms," replied the king, 
 " I will make him acquainted with my intentions." 
 " But, sire," observed the envoy, " it is not unusual 
 to offer terms to a vanquished enemy." " All your 
 arguments," rejoined Gustavus, " only serve to con- 
 firm me in my suspicions, that the Duke of Bavaria 
 is aiming at nothing else than to gain time until the 
 Emperor has sent his army to his assistance. When 
 an offender is truly contrite, he shows his change of 
 sentiment by reforming his conduct, and entirely 
 renouncing his evil practices. It is a mockery of the 
 common sense of mankind to demand pardon sword 
 in hand. I have been offended, and am victorious. 
 If the Duke of Bavaria wishes me to forget the past, 
 let him give me some substantial proof that he is in 
 earnest in his desire. Does he think that I shall con- 
 sider dispositions calculated to do me mischief as 
 marks of amity ? " St. Etienne, in his reply, re- 
 peated on his own responsibility, the ardent desire of 
 Maximilian to come to an accommodation, provided 
 the articles of neutrality were specified. " That," 
 rejoined the king, " shall be very soon done. Listen. 
 The duke shall restore all the dominions he has 
 usurped from my allies. He shall dismiss all his 
 troops, or at least the greater part. He shall not 
 permit those whom he disbands to enter the service 
 of the Emperor, nor shall he assist my enemies under 
 any pretext whatever. He shall engage himself by 
 oath not to make war against me for three years, 
 and shall give me sufficient security for his fulfiment
 
 376 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 of these several articles. On such conditions, I pro- 
 mise him, on the faith of a king, an entire security for 
 his dominions ; and even that my army shall imme- 
 diately quit them, provided he will grant me a pas- 
 sage by Ingolstadt to march in search of my enemies." 
 These conditions were not of a nature to be accepted 
 by the minister of a third power, who was only acting 
 the part of a mediator. St. Etienne contented himeelf 
 with affirming, " That the duke would immediately 
 disband the troops in his own pay ; but that since he 
 was no longer master of those which he had furnished 
 to the Emperor and the Catholic League, it was im- 
 possible that their dismissal could form one of the 
 articles of the treaty." The king interrupted him 
 with indignation. " Did I not say," he exclaimed, 
 " that you were only endeavouring to take me at 
 disadvantage? All these subterfuges are so many 
 manifest proofs of the dissimulation and evil intentions 
 of the Duke of Bavaria. Tell him from me, that if 
 within twenty- four hours after he receives them, he 
 does not comply with the conditions I offer, he shall 
 see his whole country in flames. It is time that this 
 prince and his confederates should learn that I am a 
 dangerous enemy, and not to be provoked with im- 
 punity." " Sire," rejoined St. Etienne, "your majesty 
 will use your own discretion upon this point ; but I 
 can assure you that the king, my master, will take it 
 in ill part that the Duke of Bavaria, his friend and 
 ally, should be treated with so much severity, espe- 
 cially by a king upon whom his Christian Majesty 
 has conferred some obligations, and from whom he 
 might therefore have expected a little more complai- 
 sance and deference. France, after all, may yet adopt 
 the interests of a different party, and afford a power- 
 ful succour to her allies." At this undisguised threat 
 Gustavus could scarcely repress his anger. Accord- 
 ing to some authors, it actually showed itself, by his
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 377 
 
 indignantly exclaiming, " Be it so ! since the king, 
 your master, wishes me for an antagonist, he shall be 
 spared the trouble of coming to meet me. I will 
 immediately march at the head of a hundred thousand 
 men, and indulge him with a battle beneath the walls 
 of Paris." Others, however, have made him speak 
 somewhat more consistently with his general charac- 
 ter, and represented him as delivering himself to the 
 following effect, after a moment spent in mastering 
 his emotion. " Monsieur St. Etienne, I have com- 
 municated my intentions in general to his Christian 
 Majesty, by his own ambassadors, and in particular, 
 by the Baron de Charnace, and I am much better 
 acquainted than yourself with those of the king your 
 master. I have reason to reckon upon a continuation 
 of his friendship ; and believe that you have uttered 
 what you have spoken entirely upon your own autho- 
 rity, and under the influence of your zeal for the 
 Duke of Bavaria ; but know, that even if the king 
 of France should break off the alliance between us, 
 such an event should not make me recede' a single 
 step. I have made war all my life, and have by this 
 time discovered that there is no nation invincible." 
 St. Etienne was convinced by the king's reply, that 
 he was neither to be diverted from his resolution by 
 persuasion nor intimidation, and returned to give an 
 account of his ill success to Maximilian, who had in 
 the meantime crossed the Danube, and returned to 
 the environs of Munich. The duke was no sooner 
 informed of the result of the negotiation, than he in- 
 stantly commenced his retreat afresh towards Ratis- 
 bon. This city, in violation of all law and justice, 
 was surprised, according to the previous intention of 
 Maximilian, by an advanced guard of his army, and 
 experienced the effect of his resentment at the unfa- 
 vourable issue of the embassy of St. Etienne, in the 
 severities exercised by the Bavarians upon the Pro-
 
 378 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 testants, who were pillaged without mercy, and com- 
 pelled to bear the whole expense of quartering and 
 maintaining their unwelcome visitors. These undis- 
 ciplined marauders proceeded afterwards to acts of 
 personal violence towards the citizens, whom they 
 designated by the titles of heretics and Swedish dogs ; 
 and it was not until the Emperor himself interfered 
 to prevent such scandalous excesses in a free and 
 Imperial city, that the duke thought proper to issue 
 orders for stopping further irregularities on the part 
 of his troops. His antagonist, in the meantime, 
 moving southwards from Ingolstadt, had seized the 
 important bridge over the Iser at Mossburg, possessed 
 himself of Landshut, and after subjecting the whole 
 bishopric of Freysingen, was now in uninterrupted 
 march towards the Bavarian capital. 
 
 While the Swedes continued their rapid course of 
 conquest, almost without impediment, in Suabia and 
 Bavaria, the cause of the Emperor began to revive 
 under the conduct of Wallenstein in Bohemia. As 
 early as- the month of February, his army, concen- 
 trated at Znaim, had been ready to take the field, 
 and shortly afterwards commenced operations by dis- 
 lodging the Saxons from Saatz. Count Gallas was 
 entrusted with this enterprise, the success of which 
 had such an effect upon the troops of the Elector, 
 that they instantly abandoned Kaden, Komotau, and 
 Schiackenwalde, and retreated upon Annaberg. The 
 Duke of Friedland then prepared to attempt the re- 
 covery of Prague, which was already blockaded by 
 the swarms of Croatians who composed great part of 
 his army, and under their well-known leader, Isolani, 
 did excellent service in interrupting the enemy's com- 
 munications. John George is accused of spending 
 his whole time in hunting and revelry, while these 
 preparations were making to dispossess him of the 
 conquests which he seems to have thought might be
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 379 
 
 retained with as little trouble as they had cost to 
 acquire ; and of delaying to send the necessary rein- 
 forcements to his General, Arnheim, until the suc- 
 cesses of the Imperialists had rendered hopeless any 
 attempt to establish the Saxon ascendancy in Bo- 
 hemia. In the beginning of May, the investment of 
 Prague was completed, by the arrival of the whole 
 Imperial army beneath its walls. A battery of 20 
 pieces of cannon was immediately raised against the 
 Lesser City, upon which, as soon as a breach had been 
 effected, two attacks were made, and repulsed by the 
 bravery of the garrison. The Imperialists were spared 
 the necessity of a third attempt by the treachery of a 
 fraternity of Capuchin monks, who, having worked 
 a hole through the wall near their convent, invited a 
 regiment, led by Marquis of Grana, to pass through 
 the aperture. The entrance of the Imperialists was 
 concealed by the darkness of night; and the next 
 morning the garrison of Lesser Prague retired into 
 the castle, where they soon afterwards surrendered on 
 disgraceful conditions, since they were obliged to 
 march out without either arms or colours. Every- 
 thing in the citadel was found in the same order as 
 when it was abandoned by the Imperialists ; the seals 
 placed by the Elector of Saxony upon the doors at his 
 first entrance having still been preserved unbroken. 
 After the recovery of Prague, the Duke of Friedland 
 endeavoured to divert the attention of Arnheim, then 
 encamped at Leitmeritz, by making proposals for a 
 negotiation, while he was at the same time meditating 
 a stroke which, if successful, would cut off all hope 
 from the Saxons of a retreat to their own country, by 
 sending detachments to seize the passes of the Hartz- 
 wald mountains between Pirna and Aussig. He had, 
 however, to deal with a leader no less crafty than 
 himself. Arnheim, pretending eagerly to listen to his 
 offers, sent one trumpeter after another to fix the time
 
 380 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 and place of meeting, and to arrange the necessary 
 preliminaries ; but while Wallenstein imagined he was 
 still stationary, and fully bent upon the proposed 
 interview, he was busily engaged in sending off his 
 heavy baggage and artillery ; and as soon as he had 
 received intelligence of its arrival at Aussig, followed 
 it with his whole army by such rapid marches, that 
 he had passed the important defiles long before the 
 arrival of the Imperialists, who had been detached 
 for the purpose of closing them against him. Wallen- 
 stein, on finding that the main army of the Saxons 
 had thus escaped his grasp, immediately laid siege to 
 Eger, which its governor only defended long enough 
 to acquire a favourable capitulation. Elnbogen and 
 Falckenau fell into his possession shortly afterwards. 
 After this quick succession of conquests, by which 
 Bohemia was recovered in a manner precisely similar 
 to that in which it had been won by the Elector a 
 few months before, Wallenstein was preparing to roll 
 back the tide of invasion into Saxony itself, when he 
 was compelled to comply with the urgent demands 
 of the Emperor, and hasten to the succour of Maxi- 
 milian. Accordingly, after leaving a corps of his 
 army, consisting of 10,000 men, under Don Balthasar 
 de Maradas, whom he directed to regulate his opera- 
 tions by those of an Imperial army which was as- 
 sembling in Silesia to invade Lusatia, he set out on 
 his march to join the Elector of Bavaria.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 381 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Swedes advance to Munich Surrender of the City Clemency 
 of the King of Sweden towards its inhabitants He refuses to 
 destroy the Electoral Palace His visit to the Arsenal Cruelties 
 exercised hy the Bavarian Peasants upon the Swedes Conster- 
 nation of the Emperor Ferdinand Intrigues of his Agents at 
 Rome Dialogue between Gustavus Adolphus and Sir Henry 
 Vane His constitutional irritability The Imperialists recover 
 Weissenberg Junction of the Armies of Maximilian of Bavaria . 
 and Wallenstein at Eger They advance towards Nurenberg 
 The City implores the assistance of the King of Sweden, who 
 hastens to its relief, and entrenches himself beneath the Walls 
 Encampment of Wallenstein Speech of the King of Sweden to 
 the German Officers in his Army He intercepts an Imperial Con- 
 Toy Is joined by Oxenstiern and other Generals Distress of 
 both Armies Gustavus resolves to attack the Entrenchments of 
 the Imperialists His ill success in the attempt He decamps 
 from before Nurenberg and marches to Neustadt The Impe- 
 rialists leave their lines near Nurenberg and retire to Forcheim. 
 
 BY the flight of the Elector Maximilian to Ratisbon, 
 nothing remained to prevent his enemies from ravaging 
 Bavaria from one extremity to the other, and avenging 
 to the full the former excesses of the troops of the 
 League in the Palatinate. Munich, now lay an un- 
 defended prize in the path of the Swedish conqueror; 
 the fairest, if not the richest acquisition which had yet 
 rewarded the success of his arms. The magistrates, 
 apprehending the exercise of no ordinary severities 
 towards a city which might be considered the capital 
 of the League, as soon as they had received intelli- 
 gence of the arrival of Gustavus at Freysingen, sent a 
 deputation to deprecate his resentment. All they 
 were able to obtain from the king was a promise of 
 security for their lives and property ; and on their 
 endeavouring to plead for more favourable conditions,
 
 382 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 the king commanded his army to march at once upon 
 Munich without listening further to their reqxiest. 
 The magistrates, terrified at the reception of their 
 deputies, and fully aware of their defenceless condi- 
 tion, next appeared in person, and presenting the king 
 with the keys of the city, signified their intention of 
 throwing themselves unconditionally upon his mercy. 
 The assumed sternness of Gustavus soon gave way 
 before this suppliant appeal. " You have chosen the 
 wisest course," he observed to the magistrates, " and 
 disarmed me by your submission. I might have 
 avenged upon your city the miserable sack of Magde- 
 burg. But you have nothing to fear, either for your- 
 selves or your property ; for your children or your 
 religion. Go in peace my word once pledged to you 
 is better than all the capitulations in the world." The 
 magistrates hastily departed to assure their fellow- 
 citizens of the favourable disposition of the king 
 towards them ; and the Swedish army, slowly 
 following in the same direction, drew up in order of 
 battle beneath the walls. 
 
 Before the king entered Munich, he resolved that 
 the amount of the contribution demanded from the 
 conquered city should be settled, and fixed the sum at 
 400,000 rix-dollars. The citizens, assembled in the 
 town-hall, declared their utter inability to furnish the 
 money, representing to the king the circumstance that 
 most of the rich inhabitants had betaken themselves 
 to flight, and that none but persons of moderate fortune 
 remained behind. Gustavus at first considered this as 
 a subterfuge, and abruptly commanded the towns- 
 people at once to determine whether they would 
 defend themselves or comply with his demand ; but 
 on their earnestly protesting that their statement was 
 correct, he at length consented to deduct 100,000 
 rix-dollars from the required contribution. 
 
 His entrance into the city took place on the day of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAYUS ADOLPHTTS. 383 
 
 Ascension, May 10, 1632. His first visit was made 
 to the electoral palace, where he commanded prayers 
 to be read, and a sermon to be preached in Swedish, 
 by one of his chaplains. He next proceeded to the 
 church of Our Lady, and attended to the Catholic 
 form of devotion with every appearance of respect. 
 After the service was ended, he continued for some 
 time to promenade near the building, in the midst of 
 an immense crowd, who thronged to satisfy their 
 curiosity with the sight of a prince of whom they 
 had heard so many wonderful reports. He then 
 remounted his horse and rode to the College of Jesuits, 
 where the Rector received and complimented him in 
 a long Latin speech. The king replied with many 
 expressions of favour in the same language ; and the 
 conversation shifting to the subject of religion, at 
 length terminated in a formal disputation which lasted 
 for a whole hour, and was conducted with much 
 learning and perfect decorum on both sides. Some of 
 his officers who were present, possessed of a less 
 tolerant spirit than their sovereign, murmured, loudly 
 enough to be overheard by him, at his amusing him- 
 self in disputing with persons whom he ought rather 
 to destroy. " Why should you wish me to do any 
 harm to these people ? " said the king in answer ; 
 " do you not see that they are in the world for the 
 very purpose of discrediting the erroneous faith which 
 they uphold, and of reflecting a greater degree of 
 credit upon the truth against which they contend ? " 
 On previous occasions, when he had been requested 
 to enforce civil penalties against the members of the 
 Roman church, he had manifested similar liberality ; 
 invariably observing that both Catholics and Protes- 
 tants were alike God's creatures*, and therefore not 
 to be oppressed without drawing down the vengeance 
 of their common Creator. 
 
 * Affirmando essere tuttc failure di Dio. Gualdo. Lib. v. 157.
 
 384 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 On his return to the electoral palace, the king 
 expressed the highest admiration at the beauty of the 
 building, and the taste and elegance observable in all 
 its decorations. He was led from one apartment to 
 another filled with the most exquisite works of art, 
 and adorned with pictures executed by the first 
 masters, which the duke, who was no contemptible 
 judge of their merit, had collected at an immense 
 expense. After his curiosity had been satisfied, he 
 asked the aged domestic who had conducted him 
 through the palace, the name of the architect who 
 had designed and superintended the construction of so 
 beautiful an edifice. " Who should it be," replied 
 the conductor, " but the Elector himself?" " Truly," 
 said the king, laughing, " I should like to lay my 
 hands upon this architect ; I would send him to 
 Stockholm to build just such a palace there." " Ah, 
 sire," replied the domestic, " the architect will take 
 especial care how he gives your majesty any such 
 trouble. He knows better how to find a place of 
 security." 
 
 Both Catholic and Protestant historians have 
 recorded that, during his stay at Munich, Gustavus 
 was frequently importuned to burn the electoral 
 palace by Frederic V. and the Duke of Saxe Weimar ; 
 and it has been asserted that these princes even went 
 so far as to prepare mines beneath the foundations of 
 the building, which they were ready to spring at the 
 least hint which could authorise the action. But the 
 king was far above lending himself to a vengeance 
 which he considered unworthy of him. " Would you 
 have me," he asked, " imitate the Goths, my ances- 
 tors, and make my memory as odious as they have 
 rendered theirs ?" He even gave orders that no one, 
 on pain of death, should dare to take or to displace 
 the least article in the palace. All his officers were 
 permitted to inspect a collection of more than twelve
 
 THE LIFE OK GUST A V US ADOLPHUS. 385 
 
 hundred gold medals of the Roman emperors, con- 
 tained in a cabinet of ivory ; but notwithstanding 
 the crowds who availed themselves of the permission, 
 not a single medal was afterwards missed from its 
 place. As an additional precaution against all sub- 
 jects of complaint, the king suffered but few of the 
 common soldiers to enter Munich, but kept the 
 greater part of his army encamped without the walls. 
 Munich had been known to possess a numerous 
 train of artillery, mounted on the ramparts or con- 
 tained within the arsenal. The Swedes, however, 
 found nothing but the carriages left, and were at a 
 loss to account for the disappearance of the pieces. 
 The mystery was explained by some of the persons 
 who had been employed to secrete them, and who, 
 after stipulating for an appropriate reward, informed 
 the king that all the cannon belonging to the Elector 
 would be found buried beneath the earth, at a certain 
 spot within the arsenal, which they were ready to 
 point out, or, as they expressed it, " to bring the 
 dead to life." A hundred and forty pieces of ordnance 
 were the fruit of this discovery, twelve of which, 
 called the Twelve Apostles, were of extraordinary 
 size and beauty. Several among them were marked 
 with the arms of the Palatinate, Brunswick, and 
 Denmark, and some with the bearings of Sweden, 
 having been taken by Christian the Fourth in his 
 wars with that power, and afterwards lost at the 
 battle of Lutter. The pleasure of the king at so im- 
 portant an acquisition was increased by the detection 
 of 15,000 golden ducats, concealed in a culverin of 
 enormous length, known by the name of the " Wild 
 Sow," which Gustavus appropriated to the use of his 
 army without scruple. 
 
 As if he had appeared determined to conciliate the 
 regards of those who had hitherto been among his 
 most active enemies, by a display of all the best points
 
 386 TIIK LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 of his character, he treated the inhabitants of Munich, 
 during the remainder of his stay in their city, with 
 the greatest courtesy and confidence, mingling freely 
 with the people, and encouraging them by his affa- 
 bility to an unreserved intercourse. He even ordered 
 several reviews of his army for their amusement ; 
 and after causing his pikemen to go through the 
 exercise of that weapon, commanded his musketeers 
 to exhibit the different methods of delivering their 
 fire, either in the ordinary manner, or sitting, or 
 by three ranks together, the first placing one knee 
 upon the ground, the second slightly stooping, and 
 the third remaining upright. The spectators, accus- 
 tomed to the cold and distant behaviour of their own 
 prince, were astonished to see the king cheerfully 
 instructing his men by his example in the manage- 
 ment of the pike or musket, or passing from rank 
 to rank accosting the veteran soldiers by the fami- 
 liar title of comrades, and reminding individuals 
 among them of past dangers which they had shared 
 together. Such conduct speedily attracted the admira- 
 tion of the people of Munich towards their conqueror, 
 nor were they less gratified by the studied respect 
 with which he treated their clergy upon all occasions. 
 He presented the Capuchins with a considerable sum, 
 to be distributed as alms among the sick and necessi- 
 tous ; and one of the fathers having deemed it his 
 duty to invite him to embrace the Catholic faith, he 
 only smiled at his exhortation without manifesting any 
 signs of displeasure. But if the people of Munich 
 were conciliated by the kindness and humanity of 
 Gustavus, the population without its walls retained an 
 unmitigated feeling of hatred and detestation towards 
 the heretical bands which had entered their territory 
 in the character of vistors. Every straggler from the 
 Swedish army who fell into their hands was put to 
 death with such tortures as the unenlightened savage
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTTS. 387 
 
 is accustomed to inflict upon his captives. Some 
 hundreds of the Swedes are said to have perished in 
 this horrible manner, which at length produced an 
 equally fierce spirit of revenge ; and the contests be- 
 tween the outposts of the invaders and the peasants 
 under arms, began to assume the character of a war 
 of utter extermination. The king himself was obliged 
 to take the field to suppress a more extensive muster 
 than usual of these undisciplined enemies, aiid more 
 than a hundred villages were laid waste by his scat- 
 tered detachments during the expedition. Such was, 
 and such must ever be the picture of warfare, though 
 conducted by the most humane of leaders, and main- 
 tained from the best of motives. 
 
 The invasion of Bavaria, and the occupation of its 
 capital, raised the already existing panic at the court 
 of the Emperor to the highest pitch, since the bar- 
 rier of the Hereditary States was now completely 
 overthrown, and from Munich to Vienna there 
 was not a single place to impede for a moment 
 the progress of the Swedes. Passau and Lintz were 
 in no condition to refuse the first summons to sur- 
 render. The peasants of Upper Austria were on the 
 eve of a revolt, and had already several times sent 
 deputies to the Swedish camp to demand assistance. 
 Four thousand Imperialists, under Colonel Ossa, who 
 had made an attempt to surprise Memingen, were re- 
 pulsed with loss, and beaten off from Biberach, which 
 they endeavoured to recover as some compensation 
 for their disappointment. Every effort in the cause 
 of the Empire seemed, when directed against the in- 
 vaders or their leader, to involve a certain and neces- 
 sary failure. Ferdinand endeavoured to excite afresh 
 the jealousy of Louis XIII. against his ally, and the 
 French ambassador received instructions from his 
 court to inquire of the King of Sweden how much 
 farther he intended to carry his arms. The answer 
 cc 2
 
 388 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPI1US. 
 
 of Gustavus indicated a desire to cut short all dis- 
 cussion upon the subject. " Just so far," he replied, 
 " as my own interests appear to require it." Ferdi- 
 nand experienced no better success from his intrigues 
 at Rome, where Cardinal Borgia, the representative of 
 the Spanish faction, harangued the Consistory with 
 vehemence in favour of the Emperor, and after accus- 
 ing the Pope of coldness in the cause of religion, pro- 
 posed that the King of France should be formally 
 excommunicated, unless he renounced his connexion 
 with an heretical monarch. Urban VIII. had not for- 
 gotten the excesses of Mantua, and easily frustrated 
 all the efforts of the Imperial agents in the Sacred 
 College. Yet, as it was necessary to do something to 
 preserve appearances, he offered the grant of a contri- 
 bution to be levied upon ecclesiastical property, and 
 published a universal jubilee to implore the Divine 
 assistance for the protection of the Holy See, the ex- 
 tirpation of heretics, and the restoration of union and 
 concord among Christian princes. 
 
 The despatches of Sir Henry Vane mention an in- 
 cident as having occurred at Munich, which affords a 
 striking illustration of the besetting infirmity of the 
 King of Sweden, and at the same time of his habitual 
 efforts to obtain a mastery over it. Lieutenant - 
 colonel Douglas, an officer in Ramsay's regiment of 
 infantry, had conducted himself with so much valour 
 at the siege of Wurzburg, that he had been designed 
 for the office of governor of the place. Douglas, 
 however, in a memorial presented to the king, had 
 made use of certain expressions which the hasty 
 temper of Gustavus construed into a studied insult. 
 He therefore sent directions that the lieutenant- 
 colonel should be immediately placed in confinement; 
 although the order was scarcely issued before he 
 despatched a second message to contradict it, accom- 
 panying the revocation of his former command with
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIirs. 339 
 
 a commission, by which Douglas was preferred to the 
 post of governor of Wurzburg. But the Scottish offi 
 cer, deeming he had received a mortal insult, which he 
 openly protested he would bear from no hand whatso- 
 ever, when Oxenstiern tendered him his commission, 
 requested a pass for Munich, for the purpose of de- 
 manding his discharge from the Swedish servica from 
 the king in person, which the chancellor reluctantly 
 granted. Gustavus was engaged at tennis with the 
 King of Bohemia when Douglas presented himself 
 before him ; and indignant at the want of respect 
 shown by the interruption, abruptly inquired, why 
 he had left his post of command ? " Sire," replied 
 Douglas, " I have none." " Commit him to prison 
 then," rejoined the king, and the interview ended. 
 
 Vane's account of his interference on this occasion, 
 and the singular conversation which ensued, is to the 
 following effect : " Lieutenant-colonel Douglas being 
 thrown into a common prison by his majesty's orders, 
 for making a journey to Munich without his master's 
 permission, it was my fortune the next morning, the 
 king being then upon the point of leaving the said 
 city, as I was going to take my leave of the King of 
 Bohemia, to meet his Swedish majesty by mere acci- 
 dent in the great saloon, when it appeared to me 
 neither impertinent nor unreasonable to solicit him in 
 favour of the said Douglas, and make an attempt to 
 procure his liberty ; remonstrating in his behalf that, 
 though he had taken this step without his majesty's 
 concurrence or assent, yet that nevertheless he had 
 obtained permission and leave to go from the Swedish 
 chancellor. Upon which the king, kindling into 
 some wrath, swore he would take care to see the 
 chancellor hanged. As his majesty went down stairs, 
 in order to step into his coach, I renewed my appli- 
 cations, and besought him once more to receive 
 Douglas into favour ; upon which, turning short, he
 
 390 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPUUS. 
 
 replied with vehemence, ' By Heaven, if you speak 
 one syllable more upon that subject, I will order the 
 man to be hanged before your eyes ;' to which my 
 reply was, that I hoped his majesty would never 
 commit such a sort of action. 'And why so?' 
 answered the king ; ' if your master were present, I 
 would do the same ; and if the man who has affronted 
 me in this manner were held in the arms of his Bri- 
 tannic majesty, I would tear him thence, although 
 obliged to go to England for that purpose, and com- 
 mence a war of a hundred years' duration ; but sure 
 I am the King of England will never support a sub- 
 ject in a cause where I am affronted.' To which my 
 answer was, ' Your majesty rnay say at Munich 
 whatever you please, but will never persist in such 
 an opinion after mature reflection.' Upon which he 
 replied, ' Do not tempt me into a passion.' ' Sire,' 
 said I, ' you cannot be offended when an ambassador 
 of Britain interferes for one of his master's subjects.' 
 ' Well, then,' rejoined the king, ' I at length release 
 him upon your parole only, but will not be affronted 
 a second time.' To which my answer was, ' Sire, it 
 never appeared to me in the light of an affront to 
 interpose in behalf of a cavalier who has served your 
 majesty with so much fidelity.' ' Yes,' replied the 
 king, ' to seek to quit my service after I had released 
 him, was not only an affront, but a contravention of 
 my military edicts.' ' Sire,' added I, ' I acknowledge 
 the favour which your majesty formerly granted to 
 my solicitations ; and it will still be a fresh act of 
 clemency if you condescend to pardon him, even 
 after a second transgression/ To which the king 
 added once more, ' Do not provoke me into a passion.' 
 ' Adieu, sire,' said I ; and being on the point of de- 
 parting from him, ' By Heaven/ cried the king, ' the 
 fellow is a rascal, and I do not choose to be served 
 by such sort of animals.' ' May it please your
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 391 
 
 majesty,' answered I, ' I have always understood that 
 the subjects of the king, my master, have rendered 
 you the most excellent and faithful service.' ' Yes,' 
 said the king, ' I acknowledge the people of your 
 nation have served me well, and far better than any 
 others ; but this dog, concerning whom we are talking, 
 has affronted me, and I am resolved to chastise him. 
 It was my purpose to have resumed the conversation, 
 but the king cut me short by saying, ' Sir, I request 
 you not to take exception at what has lately dropped 
 from my lips. It was the effect of a warm and hasty 
 temper. I am at present entirely cool, and beseech 
 you to pardon me.' " Harte has justly observed that, 
 in his report of this dialogue, the English ambassador 
 may have suppressed a considerable part of the pro- 
 vocation given by himself; nor is it improbable that 
 from the personal dislike he is known to have enter- 
 tained towards the king, he has given a distorted 
 account of the whole conversation. Even upon his 
 own showing it will be seen that Gustavus, finding 
 himself upon the point of giving way to his constitu- 
 tional frailty, twice requested him to drop the sub- 
 ject, which, as he was then on the very point of 
 quitting Munich, and distracted by more important 
 concerns, he was irritated to find unseasonably ob- 
 truded upon his notice. But it is impossible not to 
 feel admiration at the quickness with which the 
 passion of the king was checked when at its very 
 height, and the frank and noble manner in which the 
 fault, as soon as recognised, was confessed, and fol- 
 lowed by a request of forgiveness towards the party 
 offended. On another occasion, at a general council, 
 he as readily acknowledged his infirmity to his offi- 
 cers, and pleaded for their consideration and indul- 
 gence. " I am thought by many of you," he said, 
 " to speak hastily and angrily on some occasions; 
 but alas ! my fellow-soldiers, consider what a bur-
 
 392 THE LIFE OF GU8TAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 then constantly lies upon my mind ! I am to 
 perform everything, and to be everywhere present ; 
 and when the attention of men is excited to the 
 utmost, all sudden obstacles and interruptions neces- 
 sarily produce a momentary petulance. You must 
 bear with my infirmities in the same manner as I 
 make allowance for yours. One general is tempted 
 by covetousness ; another is too much attached to 
 the pleasures of the table ; a third carries on war 
 with Croatian barbarity ; yet, contenting myself 
 with admonishing and advising you, I have discarded 
 no one ; but, on the contrary, kept you all about my 
 person, and more or less esteemed you all*." It is 
 certain, that whatever might have been the severity 
 of the king's expressions on occasions when a sudden 
 provocation excited his irritability, no man ever 
 showed more moderation and humility in his cooler 
 moments ; and the enthusiastic affection entertained 
 towards him by all in his service, is a sufficient proof 
 that his anger seldom extended itself beyond a few 
 hasty expressions, which were speedily atoned for by 
 substantial acts of kindnesst. 
 
 As soon as Suabia had been restored to tranquillity, 
 Gustavus, a second time disappointing the general 
 expectation, instead of marching from Munich upon 
 Vienna, returned with his army to Augsburg, proba- 
 bly waiting to see the direction in which the tempest 
 of war, gathering among the mountains of Bohemia, 
 would burst. Maximilian, who, by the valuable 
 possession of Ratisbon, could retreat into the Palati- 
 nate, or advance into Bavaria, at pleasure, as soon as 
 he was informed of the king's arrival at Augsburg, 
 formed a bold plan for recovering his capital. Colonels 
 
 * HARTE. 
 
 f Nell' amore verso gli esserciti ardirei a proponerlo a cliiunque 
 perclie amo' come fratello ogni soldato. BISACCIONI, Memoric 
 Historiche.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 393 
 
 Cratzen and Cronenberg were charged with the conduct 
 of the expedition, and set out from Ratisbon, hoping, 
 by a vigorous push, to surprise the Swedish garrison 
 in Munich, which was so slightly provided with 
 defences, as scarcely to deserve the name of a fortified 
 city. They, however, received intelligence on their 
 way that the Swedes were already acquainted with 
 their intention, and drawn up before the gates to 
 receive them. As it was useless to pursue their first 
 design any further, they immediately retreated to 
 Ingolstadt ; and proceeding from thence, invested 
 Weissenburg, the garrison of which, after an obstinate 
 resistance, agreed to surrender the town on condition 
 of marching out with their arms and baggage. The 
 capitulation, however, was shamelessly violated by 
 the Bavarians, who, as soon as the Swedes had 
 quitted their post, surrounded them with their cavalry, 
 and barbarously massacred, in cold blood, all who 
 refused to take service with the League. As the 
 possession of Weissenburg cut off the direct com- 
 munication of the Swedish army with Nurenberg, 
 the king, who was on his way to Ulm, where affairs 
 of moment required his presence, retraced his steps 
 immediately to Augsburg ; and after calling in his 
 garrisons from Freysingen, Landshut, and Munich, 
 and leaving Duke "William of Saxe Weimar, with 
 2000 cavalry, to observe the movements of the Im- 
 perialists in Bavaria, and cover the places most ex- 
 posed, set out in direct march for Donawerth. The 
 garrison of Weissenburg instantly retreated from the 
 town at his approach towards the Danube, and the 
 communication with Nurenberg was immediately 
 re-established. 
 
 By this time the long-looked-for junction of the 
 grand Imperial and Bavarian armies had taken place 
 at Eger. Notwithstanding the urgent necessity for 
 such a union, the hatred entertained towards each
 
 39 A THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPI1US. 
 
 other by Maximilian and AVallenstein had delayed it 
 till the last moment ; the latter looking on with 
 malicious pleasure while the territories of his hated 
 rival were overrun by the Swedish troops, and only 
 moving forward to his assistance when it was not 
 possible to refuse any longer to comply with the re- 
 peated and urgent solicitations of the Emperor. The 
 curiosity of all men was excited by conjectures as to 
 the manner in which these ancient enemies would 
 conduct themselves at their first interview ; and the 
 countenances and behaviour of both were narrowly 
 watched by the surrounding spectators. Maximilian, 
 whose dissimulation was perfect in all times and 
 circumstances, addressed the Duke of Friedland with 
 such compliments and expressions of regard as he 
 might have been expected t > bestow upon his dearest 
 friend after a long separation ; but the lips of Wal- 
 lenstein were observed to quiver, and his whole frame 
 to tremble with agitation, at the sight of the man 
 who had been so active an agent in effecting his late 
 disgrace, and in whom he saw the most formidable 
 obstacle to his further aggrandisement. The adjust- 
 ment of the exact portion of authority to be enjoyed 
 by each of the generals was expected to be the first 
 cause of open dissension, and a long negotiation took 
 place upon the subject ; but the Elector was at length 
 obliged to be contented with the subordinate part of 
 commanding his Bavarians only when acting sepa- 
 rately from their allies. In all operations undertaken 
 by the combined armies conjointly, the sole direction 
 of their movements was to be left in the hands of the 
 Duke of Friedland. As soon as. all ground for 
 future dissension had been removed by this agree- 
 ment, the Austro-Bavarian columns began to pour 
 through the defiles of Kaden. The whole of the 
 splendid force now under the command of Wallen- 
 stein was reckoned at more than 60,000 men. Not
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 393 
 
 only had immense sums supplied by Ferdinand been 
 exhausted in its equipment, but a considerable part 
 also of the private fortune of the Duke of Friedland, 
 who spared no expense to procure the services of 
 efficient officers, and to render the appointment of 
 his soldiers complete. Among its ranks were found 
 individuals of almost every nation of Europe, 
 gathered from the Ebro to the Vistula from the 
 British isles to the shores of the Adriatic the disci- 
 plined Walloon, the wild Cossack, the active hunter 
 of the Tyrol, and the fierce horseman of Croatia 
 men of all languages, sentiments, and customs, but 
 blended into a unity of spirit and action by the un- 
 bounded influence of a leader, whose munificence 
 held out a full recompense for every exertion, and 
 whose unrelenting severity visited the first symptoms 
 of neglect of duty with a punishment as terrible as 
 it was certain. 
 
 As soon as it was known that the combined 
 armies had entered the Upper Palatinate, it was 
 conjectured that the city of Nurenberg would be 
 their first object. In his resentment against this 
 city for the devotion it had shown to the interests 
 of the King of Sweden, Wallenstein had solemnly 
 declared that he would make it a second Magde- 
 burg ; and none who were acquainted with his cha- 
 racter doubted his intention of fulfilling his promise* 
 The magistrates of Nurenburg, terrified at the pros- 
 pect before them, sent messengers in haste to the 
 King of Sweden, conjuring him not to leave them 
 exposed to the vengeance of this dreaded enemy. 
 Gustavus hesitated not an instant on the course to be 
 pursued ; and remembering the former reproaches 
 to which he had been subject after the destruc- 
 tion of the first Protestant city which had armed 
 in his cause, was determined on putting every- 
 thing to the hazard rather than afford his enemies
 
 396 TIIF; LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 such another opportunity of triumph. " Return 
 immediately," he said, "to the magistracy and 
 people of Nurenberg, and tell them that, with God's 
 assistance, which they must diligently implore, they 
 have little to apprehend from the approach of the 
 Imperialists. There are three cities in Germany 
 Ulm, Nurenberg, and Strasburg which I am de- 
 termined never to abandon. From these I received 
 petitions for assistance as early as the year 1614, 
 and they have a better title than any of my allies to 
 my protection. Assure, therefore, the city of Nuren- 
 berg in my name, that as long as I continue to 
 breathe, Wallenstein shall never see the inside of its 
 walls." 
 
 In advancing to the relief of Nurenberg, the king 
 was compelled to deviate from his established maxim 
 of confining his operations to the course of large 
 rivers, to which he had hitherto almost invariably 
 adhered. But a much more serious consideration 
 presented itself in the comparatively small force at 
 his command for the expedition, since, after leaving 
 garrisons in Augsburg, Donawerth, and Rain, his 
 army amounted to no more than 16,000 men. 
 
 The Swedes, crossing the Danube at Donawerth, 
 came in sight of Nurenberg on the 8th of June, and 
 after a short visit had been paid to the city by the 
 king, proceeded on their march in three columns 
 towards Amberg. Sultzbach was at the same time 
 reduced, and the Imperial garrison forced to take 
 service under the crown of Sweden, in retaliation 
 for the perfidy of the Bavarians at Weissenburg. 
 Gustavus was still doubtful whether the enemy 
 really intended to attack Nurenberg with all his 
 forces, or whether the Elector of Bavaria would be 
 left to conduct the operations against the city, while 
 Wallenstein turned with the Imperial army to enter 
 Misnia through Thuringia. Saxony at the time was
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 397 
 
 fully open to an invasion, since Arnheim was en- 
 gaged in Silesia, and the king could hardly believe 
 that Wallenstein would neglect the opportunity of 
 making John George at length feel the full weight of 
 Imperial vengeance. Under this conviction he 
 ordered the Duke of Saxe Weimar to march with 
 6,000 troops to the assistance of the Elector, taking 
 care to regulate his movements in such a manner as 
 to be ready to rejoin him if Wallenstein should 
 threaten Xurenberg in person. The duke was spee- 
 dily recalled on certain information that the Austro- 
 Bavarians had already pushed their advanced guards 
 as far as Sultzbach ; and the king, now no longer in 
 doubt of the intention of the Imperial general to 
 throw the whole of his forces upon his dimimitive 
 army, wrote express to Oxeustitrn and his other 
 generals commanding detached corps in different 
 parts of Germany, to reinforce him with the troops 
 under their direction. 
 
 The main body of the Swedes was immediately 
 drawn back towards Nurenberg, and encamped at 
 the distance of half a mile from the city, where, with 
 the assistance of the neighbouring peasants, the 
 celebrated Leaguer of Nurenberg was begun, and 
 speedily advanced towards perfection. In two days 
 a great part of the works was completed, and the 
 citizens, who were spectators of its progress, looked 
 in utter amazement at beholding a chain of strong 
 redoubts, connected by steep embankments, and 
 guarded by outworks of all shapes and dimensions, 
 rapidly rising from the earth for their protection, as 
 if beneath the spell of an enchanter. The whole 
 town, as well as the Swedish camp, was encircled by 
 these fortifications, which, in addition to eight prin- 
 cipal forts, consisted of numerous half-moons and 
 bastions, the whole stockaded, and surrounded by a 
 fosse in some parts eighteen feet wide and twelve
 
 398 THE LIFE OF CUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 deep ; while more than 300 pieces of artillery are 
 calculated to have been mounted along the lines or 
 upon the ramparts of the city. As different parts 
 of the works were finished, the divisions appointed 
 to occupy them took their posts in succession. The 
 people of Nurenberg were at the same time busily 
 employed in collecting immense quantities of corn 
 from the neighbouring villages, and made such good 
 use of the time still allowed them for the purpose as 
 to feel little apprehension of suffering from scarcity, 
 however long the expected blockade might continue. 
 
 As the Imperial army approached nearer to Nuren- 
 berg, the advanced parties of both sides began to close, 
 and several hot skirmishes took place between scat- 
 tered bodies of light cavalry. The Swedes, however, 
 sustained a severe check from the too great eagerness 
 of Colonel Dubatel, who, on false intelligence that the 
 artillery of the enemy had arrived at Neumarkt, with 
 an escort of but 2,000 men, pushed on for the place 
 in the hope of surprising it, and suddenly found him- 
 self in presence of at least twice the expected number. 
 The greater part of the regiment of dragoons which he 
 commanded was in consequence cut to pieces on the 
 spot, and himself taken prisoner, by the Imperialists. 
 
 Wallenstein had now arrived at Neumarkt, and 
 having made a general review of his army, was so 
 elated with the numbers and excellent condition of 
 his men, as to exclaim, that within four days it would 
 be seen whether the King of Sweden or himself was 
 to possess the mastery of the world. As he ap- 
 proached Radelsburg upon the Biber, after having 
 reduced the town of Schwabach, he was astonished 
 to behold all the Swedish cavalry drawn up in order 
 of battle, headed by the king, and apparently await- 
 ing an attack. But Gustavus had chosen his ground 
 with so much skill, that he could neither be outflanked 
 nor assaulted in the rear ; and a short examination of
 
 TUB LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 399 
 
 his position determined the Imperial general to decline 
 the contest. A subsequent careful reconnoissance of 
 the works about Nurenbefg convinced him that it 
 would be utter madness to attempt to carry them by 
 force. " We have had fighting enough," he observed 
 to his officers as he returned to his quarters, " it is 
 necessary to adopt some other course;" and having 
 given orders to part of his army to cross the Pegnitz, 
 he proceeded to occupy a range of heights about three 
 miles from the Swedish entrenchments, and to trace 
 out an extensive encampment of a similar description. 
 A succession of ravines and tangled thickets rendered 
 it less necessary to strengthen his position by artificial 
 means of defence, and he accordingly contented him- 
 self with entrenching its weakest points only, and 
 raising barricades at intervals, composed of overturned 
 baggage-waggons, gabions, and the trunks of felled 
 trees. After these forms of precaution, he distributed 
 his infantry in quarters assigned for their occupation ; 
 and sending out his light cavalry to scour the country 
 in all directions, speedily cut off from the Swedes all 
 communication with Thuringia, Suabia, and Fran- 
 conia, evidently intending to starve his enemy into a 
 capitulation, since his retreat was rendered all but an 
 impossibility ; and an attempt to extricate himself 
 by force could only have the effect of accelerating his 
 ruin. In the general estimation of Europe, the king, 
 enveloped by the overwhelming numbers of his anta- 
 gonists, and apparently deprived of every hope of 
 succour, was considered already lost ; and the news 
 of a treaty was daily expected, by which the con- 
 queror, who had borne down all opposition before 
 him from the Baltic to the Danube, would be com- 
 pelled to surrender all his previously acquired honours 
 upon the banks of the Pegnitz. Wallenstein was 
 evidently in expectation of a capitulation ; and in 
 order to make the first advances towards it, ransomed
 
 400 THE LIFE OF GCSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 at his own expense several Swedish officers who had 
 been taken by the Croatians, and among them Colonel 
 Dubatel, whom he instructed to acquaint the king 
 with the sincere respect he entertained towards him 
 as the first general in Europe, and his earnest desire 
 to be the instrument of bringing about an accommo- 
 dation between the crown of Sweden and the Em- 
 peror. He had yet to learn the full extent of the 
 activity and resolution of his great opponent; and, 
 while flattering his imagination with the prospect of 
 reducing the Swedes to sue for peace by the prospect 
 of perishing with want, he was himself, by one bold 
 movement of the enemy, reduced to the brink of the 
 same necessity. 
 
 The Imperialists, after exerting themselves to col- 
 lect provisions throughout Bavaria, the Upper Pala- 
 tinate, and the bishoprics of Ratisbon and Eichstadt, 
 had formed an immense magazine at Freystadt, a 
 town sixteen miles from Nurenberg, which they were 
 directed by Wallenstein to transport to the Imperial 
 camp. The King of Sweden was informed of the 
 order by an Austrian officer, who had been taken 
 prisoner the very day before it was to have been car- 
 ried into effect ; and, two hours before midnight, he 
 sent forward Dubatel, with three regiments of cavalry, 
 towards Freystadt, with instructions to surprise the 
 town ; and, if possible, to bring off the stores it con- 
 tained. The Swedes accomplished their undertaking 
 with secrecy and expedition. The gates of Freystadt 
 were blown open with a petard the few Imperialists 
 who resisted cut to pieces upon the spot several 
 hundred waggon-loads of stores, and a thousand oxen, 
 carried away by the conquerors and one thousand 
 loads of corn and hay set on fire and consumed before 
 they quitted the place. But this was necessarily the 
 work of some time ; and Wallenstein, informed of the 
 circumstance by some of the fugitives from Freystadt,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU3. 401 
 
 imagined there would still be time to intercept Du- 
 batel on his return. Eight select troops of cavalry, 
 with twenty squadrons of Croatians and a regiment 
 of infantry, were destine;! for the service ; but instead 
 of falling in with Dubatel as they had expected, found 
 themselves suddenly in presence of the king himself, 
 with 2,000 cavalry, which, in expectation of such a 
 movement on the part of the Imperialists, he had 
 posted so as to intercept their advance, and cover the 
 return of his first detachment. Both sides eagerly 
 closed without a moment's delay ; but although they 
 were encountered by a force double their number, the 
 fortune of the Swedes again prevailed. The Impe- 
 rialists were first driven from the plain upon which 
 the battle was commenced, and subsequently dislodged, 
 after a desperate resistance, from a wood in their rear, 
 which they continued to hold as long as they had a 
 single charge of powder remaining. The king was 
 exposed to the greatest peril during the contest, and 
 two of his immediate attendants were killed at his 
 side. The results of the victory, however, were such 
 as amply to reward the conquerors for the dangers 
 they had encountered. Colonel Sparre, who had 
 commanded the Imperialists, with his Lieutenant, 
 Colonel Tertsky, brother-in-law to Wallenstein, were 
 made prisoners; and of the whole detachment not 
 more than 150 men returned to the Imperial lines to 
 convey the intelligence of their defeat. A general 
 thanksgiving was offered at Nurenberg and in the 
 Swedish camp ; and the king was so well satisfied 
 with the conduct of his troops, that he presented 
 every man engaged with a donation in money, and 
 each of his ofiicers with a gold medal, which he com- 
 manded to be struck upon the occasion. 
 
 The Imperial general was well aware of the extent 
 of the injury which had just been inflicted, and was 
 not slow in experiencing its effects. Provisions 
 speedily became so scarce in his camp, that he was
 
 402 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 obliged to diminish the rations of his soldiers, and 
 the means of subsisting the immense multitude under 
 his command could at length only be procured by 
 sending foraging parties to great distances, which, as 
 his enemies were supplied with intelligence of his 
 movements by the people of the country, were fre- 
 quently cut off by ambuscades laid for them as they 
 returned. Several weeks of comparative inactivity 
 ensued, during which Wallenstein continued obsti- 
 nately bent upon his plan of blockade, and the King 
 of Sweden in quiet expectation of the forces he had 
 summoned to his relief. 
 
 The combination of these several bodies was effected 
 by a series of masterly movements on the part of the 
 generals of Gustavus, partly suggested by the genius 
 of their great chief, and executed with the conduct 
 which distinguished all the officers of the school 
 formed under his eye. William, Duke of Saxe 
 Weimar, who had penetrated to the shores of the 
 Lake of Constance, terrifying Italy itself with the 
 prospect of an invasion, was directed to retrace his 
 course as far as the duchy of Magdeburg ; and after 
 collecting as many troops as could be spared from 
 Lower Saxony and Thuringia, to direct his march to 
 Schweinfurth in Franconia. He was there joined by 
 Augustus, Count Palatine of Sultzbach, with four 
 regiments of Saxons. This prince had been lately 
 sent by Gustavus on an embassy to the Elector, to 
 counteract the intrigues of the agents of Ferdinand, 
 who were indefatigable in their endeavours to per- 
 suade him to renounce his alliance with Sweden, 
 and brought with him the above-mentioned reinforce- 
 ment as a proof of the successful execution of his 
 commission. The Landgrave of Hesse was also 
 enabled to furnish a considerable contingent, since his 
 indefatigable enemy, Pappenheim, dazzled by an offer 
 of the Collar of the Golden Fleece from the Infanta 
 Isabella, was now absent upon a romantic and inef-
 
 THE LTPE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 403 
 
 fectual attempt to relieve Maastricht, then closely 
 blockaded by the Prince of Orange. All these de- 
 tachments, uniting like the tributary streams of a 
 great river, fell in at Wurzburg, with the army led 
 from Mentz by Oxenstiern, who had been appointed 
 to assume the chief command. The Chancellor passed 
 the Maine by the bridge of Kutsingen, and marching 
 upon Windsheim, was there joined by Banner, who, 
 receiving at Augsburg the order of the king to join 
 him, after crossing the Danube, and passing to the 
 west of Nurenberg, had first advanced thus far to 
 protect the approach of the confederates. The pru- 
 dence of the king, however, had already anticipated 
 this movement ; and Banner, on his arrival at Wind- 
 sheim, found Bernard of Saxe Weimar already occu- 
 pying the town, with a small force detached from 
 the line before Nurenberg. By these several addi- 
 tions, the army of Oxenstiern was now increased to 
 26,000 men, a number which placed any attempt of 
 Wallenstein to oppose their entrance into Nurenberg 
 entirely out of the question. The Chancellor, accord- 
 ingly, after seizing upon a convoy intended for the 
 Imperial camp near Neustadt, and sending it forward 
 to the Swedish lines as a signal of his approach, was 
 met near the village of Bruck* upon the Aurach by 
 Gustavus, who triumphantly returned to his en- 
 trenchments, defiling in full view of Wallenstein the 
 formidable force which he was on the point of uniting 
 to his own. The Imperialists perceived, with the 
 bitterest mortification, this sign of the ruin of their 
 cherished expectations ; and now reduced to defend 
 themselves in their turn, began diligently to 
 strengthen the commanding situation in which they 
 were posted, by deepening their trenches, and cori- 
 structing fresh barricades at all accessible points. 
 The Swedish camp and the city of Nurenberg, on the 
 other hand, resounded with expressions of rejoicing; 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer. 
 ii 9
 
 404 THE LIFE OF GUST A V US ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 and a public thanksgiving was immediately ordered, 
 in acknowledgment of an event which was considered 
 equally advantageous with a decisive victory. Wal- 
 lenstein was reduced at this moment to a still greater 
 degree of inaction, by the absence of six thousand 
 men, whom the increasing scarcity in his camp had 
 induced him to detach from his army, under Colonel 
 Hoik, for the purpose of invading Misnia. The hor- 
 rors perpetrated by these ruthless banditti, in obe- 
 dience to the command of their leader, were such as 
 to exceed even the worst atrocities hitherto recorded 
 to the disgrace of the Imperial arms. The soldiery 
 of Hoik, not content with setting fire to the crops, and 
 laying every village throughout the devoted country, 
 which lay exposed to their fury, spared the life of no 
 human being, of whatever age or sex who fell into their 
 hands. Voigtland, a flourishing and fertile district 
 a few weeks before, is described as presenting the 
 appearance of a silent and blackened waste, only 
 diversified by smoking ruins after this torrent of de- 
 vastating warfare had passed across it. Zwickaw, 
 Annaberg, and Oelnitz, were successively won by the 
 Imperialists, and a blow inflicted upon the Saxon ter- 
 ritory, which was spoken of for many subsequent ge- 
 nerations with mingled feelings of horror and dismay. 
 A grand council of war was convoked by the King 
 of Sweden, shortly after the arrival of Oxenstiern, for 
 the purpose of determining upon the plan of future 
 operations. The effects of their confinement to one 
 spot for so many weeks, now began to be seriously 
 felt by the Swedes. Although they were amply sup- 
 plied with corn from the garrisons of Nurenberg, the 
 country was so exhausted for miles round that it was 
 impossible to procure fresh provisions or fodder for 
 their horses. Many hundreds of the latter died in 
 consequence, and lay unburied without the camp, or 
 choked upthe channel of the river Pegnitz which flowed 
 beside it with their carcases. The intense heat of a
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPITUS. 405 
 
 sultry summer produced its usual effect upon multi- 
 tudes confined within a narrow space, and breathing 
 a close and tainted atmosphere; and a pestilential fever, 
 which broke out in the city, speedily found its way 
 to the hosts encamped without it. To this calamity 
 the army of "Wallenstein was equally subjected with 
 that of his opponent. The Imperialists, however, in 
 addition to struggling with a greater degree of scarcity, 
 were exposed, in consequence of their position among 
 woods and thickets, to the persecutions of clouds of 
 insects, which swarmed in such numbers as frequently 
 to darken the air, precluding the possibility of rest 
 night or day, and driving the horses to such a pitch 
 of distraction, that whole squadrons together broke 
 from their pickets and rushed wildly over the open 
 country. Yet Wallenstein, from whose calculations all 
 consideration of the suffering involved in any resolu- 
 tion was invariably excluded, continued with useless 
 perverseness to watch from his heights the city he had 
 destined for his prey, nor could all the manoeuvres of 
 the Swedish monarch tempt him to descend and 
 venture a battle. The king, therefore, proposed in 
 his council the bold experiment of attacking him in 
 his lines. All who were present gave their opinions 
 without hesitation against such an enterprise. They 
 represented in forcible terms the impossibility of storm- 
 ing a range of entrenched heights thickly wooded, and 
 intersected by numerous ravines, in the face of a 
 vigilant enemy completely under cover, and enabled 
 to pour destruction into the ranks of his assailants 
 without the possibility of suffering any extensive 
 injury in return. But the recollections of the Lech 
 had encouraged Gustavus to believe that nothing was 
 impossible to a soldiery like his own ; and after the 
 council had been dismissed, the appointment of a day 
 for solemn prayer and humiliation was an indication 
 that his determination was fixed, and that a general 
 action might be confidently expected soon to occur.
 
 406 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU8. 
 
 As the prelude to an assault with his whole army, 
 the king ordered three batteries to be erected nearer 
 the Imperial camp, and commenced a furious fire 
 against the opposite heights, under which the Swedes, 
 advancing towards the Rednitz, crossed that stream at 
 a short distance from the town of Furth, and con- 
 tinued encamped for two days ; the whole of this time 
 being spent in reconnoitring all means of approach 
 towards the lines of the enemy. Wallenstein employed 
 the interval in concentrating his troops towards the 
 points most exposed, and in diligently strengthening 
 the ruined castle of Altenberg, an ancient hunting 
 seat, which formed the key of his position. The hill 
 upon which it was situated was encircled by three 
 several breastworks, rising one above the other, pro- 
 tected by deep trenches, and composed of empty casks 
 and the trunks and branches of trees; while the wooded 
 crest of the height and the ruins of the castle con- 
 cealed a train of heavy ordnance, served by the best of 
 the Imperial artillerymen and engineers. 
 
 On the morning of the 24th of August, the king, 
 who was strengthened in his desperate resolution by 
 receiving false intelligence that Wallenstein was then 
 actually employed in changing his position, led on his 
 army to the attack he had long meditated. His chief 
 efforts were directed against the castle of Altenberg, 
 which he directed to be assailed by detachments of 
 select musketeers, commanded by all the officers serv- 
 ing in the several regiments from which they had 
 been draughted. These were ordered to advance by 
 brigades which were to be relieved at intervals of two 
 hours, the main body or reserve continuing stationed 
 in a hollow at a short distance. Similar attacks were 
 arranged against different parts of the position of the 
 Imperialists, and the Swedes took their stations in stea- 
 diness and silence, availing themselves as much as pos- 
 sible of the shelter of the uneven ground and neighbour- 
 ing thickets to conceal their movements fromtheenemy.
 
 THE LIFE OF GCSTA.VUS ADOLPHUS. 407 
 
 At a given signal, the awful pause of suspense which 
 had for a short time pervaded both armies, was broken 
 by a tremendous burst of artillery on the part of the 
 assailants, who had more than a hundred pieces of 
 cannon in position during the action, answered by as 
 heavy a discharge from different parts of the Aus- 
 trian lines. The castle of Altenberg, and the hill 
 on which it stood, were in an instant hidden by clouds 
 of smoke, through which the flashes of the ordnance 
 continued to glance without a moment's interruption ; 
 and the whole range of woods and ravines which se- 
 parated the Swedes from their antagonists rang with 
 the echoes of musketry and the shouts of the con- 
 tending multitudes. At the same time, wherever the 
 nature of the ground permitted them to act, the ca- 
 valry of both parties encountered without hesitation, 
 and a furious combat ensued between the redoubted 
 cuirassiers of Baron Cronenberg and a regiment of 
 Finland horse, which speedily terminated in the rout 
 of the former, with the loss of three of their stand- 
 ards. The contest at other points, however, was too 
 unequal. The Swedish infantry were no sooner 
 formed and set in motion, than they were staggered 
 by the stream of shot which issued from the Impe- 
 rial entrenchments, and compelled to fall back in 
 confusion. Some regiments were thus broken six or 
 seven times in succession, and had still sufficient 
 courage to rally and renew the attempt. The chief 
 stress of the battle lay in the vicinity of the hill of 
 Altenberg. The German auxiliaries were at first 
 directed to carry the post, but speedily shrank back 
 from the destructive fire to which they were exposed; 
 and the Landgrave of Hesse did not scruple to com- 
 plain to the king of the injustice of commanding his 
 allies to encounter a peril which the Swedes them- 
 selves apparently declined. Gustavus immediately 
 ordered a division of Philanders to take the place of 
 the Germans ; but the efforts of his choicest troops
 
 408 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPUUS. 
 
 availed nothing towards the possession of an inch of 
 ground in this quarter. The sole advantage gained 
 by the Swedes, after a long and obstinate contention, 
 the deafening tumult of which was equalled neither on 
 the day of Leipzig, nor at the passage of the Lech, 
 was the occupation of a height which commanded the 
 Imperial camp by Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar, but 
 from its steepness and the slippery character of the 
 ground, it was found impossible to mount a single 
 piece of artillery upon its summit. Gustavus, when 
 informed of this trifling success, was standing almost 
 alone, with no one of the rank of a field officer near 
 him, with the exception of Sir John Hepburn, who, 
 in consequence of a supposed affront, had given up his 
 commission a few days before, and was composedly 
 looking on in the character of a spectator. On 
 the king's anxiously exclaiming, " Is there no one 
 present who will examine the place, and bring me au 
 account of the nature of the ground V" " That," said 
 Hepburn, " is now the only service I can render your 
 Majesty, since it is accompanied with danger." He 
 then drew his sword, and proceeded to reconnoitre the 
 post in question amidst the balls of the enemy, which 
 killed a Swedish sergeant close to his side. On his 
 return, the king was induced by his report to request 
 him to accompany him while he examined the spot in 
 person. Hepburn complied with his wish, and con- 
 tinued in attendance until his observations were 
 finished. He then replaced his sword in its scabbard, 
 exclaiming that it had been for the last time drawn in 
 the service of Sweden. The king made no reply, since 
 he had before ineffectually attempted to pacify the 
 resentment of his high-spirited officer, but returned to 
 his former station, dejected at the failure of an enter- 
 prise in which he plainly saw it was useless to perse- 
 vere, and lamenting the serious loss sustained by his 
 army to so little purpose *. The battle had now con- 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVU3 ADOLPHUS. 409 
 
 tinned for ten hours, and night was fast gathering 
 upon the field, yet the fire of hoth armies continued 
 unslackened, and was not only sustained long after 
 darkness had prevented its being directed with any 
 degree of certainty, but renewed at intervals until 
 the next morning. The king passed the night in his 
 coach, near a glimmering watch-fire, which was from 
 time to time extinguished by torrents of rain, either 
 employed in consultation with his staff, or in melan- 
 choly meditation upon the eventsof the preceding day; 
 and as soon as dawn appeared, the Swedes were 
 ordered to fall back upon their former position. This 
 movement was conducted with steadiness and order ; 
 the king having taken the precaution to place several 
 bodies of musketeers in the woods close to the enemy, 
 in order that any attempt on their part to pursue his 
 retiring army might be checked, and to station a regi- 
 ment of Finland horse to keep back the enemy's 
 cavalry. The rear of the Swedes was then withdrawn, 
 and followed by the main body ; after which, it only 
 remained to bring off the detachments stationed to 
 protect the retreat. Lieutenant-Colonel Monro was 
 appointed to the service. This officer had been 
 seriously wounded on the preceding day * ; but was, 
 
 * Monro gives the following account of the accident : " By one 
 o'clock in the afternoon, Duke William of Weimar commanded 
 me (being the first service I was on as Colonel) for my credit, to 
 goe towards the poste on the hill where the Grave Son Torne was 
 shot. I taking leave of my comrades went to the poste, and finding 
 the place warm at my coming, divers officers and soldiers lying 
 bloody on the ground, I went first and ordered the soldiers on the 
 poste, to my judgement, as most to our advantage for our safeties 
 and harming of our euernies; and perceiving the enemy sometimes 
 to fall out with small plottons of musketeers to give fire upon us, 
 and to spy our actions, returning again as their powder was spent, 
 to trap them the next time I advanced a sergeant with twenty-four 
 musketeers to lie in ainhush to attend on their next out-coming, 
 which, they perceiving, came out uo more, but one single mau to 
 spy. I retiring again to iny maine reserve to direct others, some- 
 times standing, sometimes walking, and being taken notice of as a 
 chief officer, the enemy commanded out a single man with a long
 
 410 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLP1IUS. 
 
 nevertheless, proceeding to execute his commission, 
 when the king, perceiving his state of weakness and 
 exhaustion, insisted upon his retiring ; and, taking a 
 partisan in his own hand, proceeded to marshal and 
 direct the retreat of his musketeers, being himself one 
 of the last to withdraw. The Swedes, recrossing the 
 Rednitz, and retiring in the direction of Furth, en- 
 trenched themselves in a new position, having lost by 
 their late attempt in killed and wounded at least two 
 thousand men. Several officers of distinction were 
 slain, many severely wounded, and a few taken pri- 
 soners. Among the latter was the famous Tors- 
 tenson, who was at that time general of the Swedish 
 artillery. The loss of the Imperialists was commonly 
 stated, probably without exaggeration, at twelve 
 hundred. Both Wallenstein and the Duke of Saxe 
 Weimar had horses killed under them ; and the king, 
 who exposed himself in the hottest of the fire, nar- 
 rowly escaped a serious injury, part of the sole of his 
 boot having been carried away by a musket shot. 
 
 For fifteen days longer the hostile armies, protected 
 by their entrenchments, continued to gaze upon each 
 other without attempting any movement of conse- 
 quence. It was evident that this condition of tilings 
 could not last much longer. The sufferings both of 
 the Austrians and Swedes continued to increase, and 
 both generals were only deterred from decamping from 
 regard to an empty point of honour, neither being 
 willing to set the example of retiring from his ground. 
 The King of Sweden at length determined upon sacri- 
 ficing this unsubstantial subject of contention to the 
 more solid advantage of providing for the health and 
 
 piece, who, from a tree, aiming at me, shot me right above the 
 haunch-bone on the left side, which lighted, fortunately for me, on 
 the iron clicket of my hanger, which cut close the iron away, taking 
 the force from the bullet, which, being battered flat with the iron, 
 entered not above two inches in my side, where I found a little 
 armes of proof being well put on most commodious in preserving 
 my life, by God's providence, for that time."
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPUUS. 411 
 
 comfort of his men, by removing to a district less 
 wasted. He had now little to fear for the safety of 
 Nurenberg, since he was confident that Wallenstein 
 would not commence so important a siege in the be- 
 ginning of autumn, and while he continued within a 
 few days' march of the place. The city was supplied 
 with a garrison of 6,000 men, and placed under the 
 care of the Chancellor Oxenstiern ; and the king as- 
 sured the magistrates that if Wallenstein shoiild make 
 any further demonstrations against them, he would 
 immediately return to their relief. He then drew out 
 his army, and after marching close to the entrench- 
 ments of the Imperialists, and offering them a last 
 opportunity of battle, which, as before, was declined 
 by their general, defiled to the north-west towards 
 Neustadt, to the no small satisfaction of Wallenstein, 
 who was only waiting his departure as a signal to 
 commence his own. 
 
 The Austro-Bavarian army decamped from their 
 position near Nurenberg six days after the Swedes 
 had abandoned their lines before the city, pursuing 
 with all haste their way towards Forcheim. The 
 march commenced at midnight, and was illuminated 
 by the flames of all the villages within ten miles round, 
 which, after having been plundered, were barbarously 
 fired by the Croatians, previously to their departure, 
 as well as by those of the temporary buildings lately 
 occupied by their own soldiery, presenting the mag- 
 nificent spectacle of a line of fire more than a league 
 and a half in length. The garrison of Nurenberg 
 issued forth at the signal, and attacked the rear of the 
 retiring enemy with such vigour as to disperse it in 
 confusion. A considerable booty was gained by this 
 sally, and the inhabitants of Nurenberg acquired still 
 more in the deserted camp of the Imperialists, where 
 many waggon-loads of stores, and an immense quan- 
 tity of arms, were found abandoned by the enemy, 
 and still uninjured by the fire.
 
 412 THE LIFE OP GTJSTAVrS ADOLPIIU8. 
 
 The operations before Nurenberg could not but be 
 considered as reflecting additional lustre on the name 
 of Gustavus Adolphus. With an army of but 16,000 
 men, he had withstood for many weeks the attempts 
 of 50,000, and fully effected the object which he had 
 quitted Bavaria to accomplish. Europe, however, 
 had expected nothing less, after the Swedes had be- 
 come equal to their enemies in number, than a general 
 battle, by which the destinies of Germany would be 
 irreversibly fixed, and the astonishment was universal 
 when it was known that the two mighty armies, from 
 whose collision such momentous consequences were 
 expected, had parted after an indecisive contest, like 
 the severed clouds of the tempest, and were hastening 
 to discharge, in opposite directions, the elements of 
 terror and destruction with which they had so long 
 been fraught. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Movements of the Swedes upon the Rhine Expedition of the 
 Saxons under Arnheiin into Silesia Their Successes Wullen- 
 stein breaks up from Forcheim and prepares for the Invasion of 
 Saxony He is repulsed from before Culmbach and the Castle 
 of Plassenburg, and enters the Defiles of Thuringia Consterna- 
 tion of the Elector of Saxony Gustavus determines to march to 
 his assistance Arrival of the Swedes at Erfurt Gustavus takes 
 leave of his Queen His Humility at Nauinburg, and Sentiments 
 respecting Conquerors in general Wallenstein despatches Pap- 
 penheim to Halle Advance of the Swedes from Naumburg 
 The Imperialists encamp at Lutzen Preparations for Battle, and 
 Disposition of both Armies Battle of Lutzen Death of the 
 King of Sweden Pappenheim arrives upon the field He is 
 slain Defeat of the Imperialists by the Duke of Saxc Weimar, 
 who succeeds to the command of the Swedish Army Flight of 
 Wallenstein to Leitmeiitz Funeial Honours of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, and Reflections upon his Character. 
 
 AMIDST the interest excited by the operations before 
 Nurenberg, the progress of the war in other directions 
 was comparatively little noticed. Yet the movements
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 413 
 
 of the subordinate leaders on both sides, during the 
 interval, were such as would have been considered in 
 the highest degree important at an earlier period of 
 the struggle. In Lower Saxony and Westphalia, 
 Bauditzen, freed from the presence of Pappenheim, 
 whose activity and admirable generalship had for 
 some time kept him on the defensive, after recovering 
 his posts along the Weser, and penetrating as far as 
 to the vicinity of Cologne, carried the strong position 
 of Deutz by assault, and overawed the city itself into 
 a promise of neutrality. The Swedish operations 
 upon the Rhine were attended with yet more decisive 
 advantages. Gustavus Horn, in conjunction with 
 the French who had been admitted by the Elector of 
 Treves into Ehrenbreitstein, passed the river by the 
 bridge of Coblentz, and speedily forced the Spanish 
 garrison on the opposite bank to surrender. Coblentz 
 was ceded to France for a valuable consideration, and 
 Horn, after driving the enemy from every post in its 
 vicinity, completed the object of his expedition by 
 the conquest of the castle of Traerbach. The com- 
 munication between the Netherlands and the Lower 
 Palatinate having been by this means entirely cut off, 
 his troops remounted the Rhine for the purpose of 
 joining an army of Germans, French, and Scots, un- 
 der the Rhinegrave Otho Louis, which was destined 
 to act in Alsace against the Imperial generals Ossa 
 and Montecuculi, and had already gained possession 
 of the city of Strasburg. Within a few weeks Alsace 
 was almost wholly in the power of the invaders, in 
 the list of whose conquests were to be found the im- 
 portant fortress of Benfeldt and the town of Colmar. 
 The Swedish generals then turned towards the Pala- 
 tinate, laid immediate siege to Frankenthal, and kept 
 the city of Heidelburg in a state of closs investment. 
 Frankenthal surrendered on the 3rd of November ; 
 but the subsequent operations in this quarter do not 
 fall within the scope of the present history. It is
 
 414 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOI.PIIUS. 
 
 sufficient to notice that the unfortunate Frederick V., 
 now believing his re-establishment in his hereditary 
 dominions certain, took leave of the King of Sweden 
 and set out for Frankfort, with the hope of speedily 
 re-entering his capital in the character of its restored 
 sovereign, after ten years of tedious exile. On his 
 way from Frankfort to Mentz, however, he was 
 seized with a dangerous illness, in the midst of which 
 he received intelligence of the death of the only sup- 
 porter of his cause, from whose aid he was justified 
 in expecting his re-establishment in his dignity. This 
 sudden frustration of his hopes when on the very point 
 of fulfilment, gave a fatal strength to his disorder. 
 Frederick expired on the 19th of November, thirteen 
 days after the battle of Lutzen, having throughout 
 the latter part of his life afforded one of the most 
 striking instances on record of the mutability of human 
 affairs, and the danger of attempting the highest walks 
 of earthly ambition with powers inadequate to the 
 effort. 
 
 The progress of the arms of Saxony, during the 
 summer of 1632, was such as in some measure to 
 compensate for the previous reverses sustained in 
 Bohemia. An invasion of Lusatia, by 6,000 Impe- 
 rialists, was quickly repelled by Arnheim, who fol- 
 lowing" the retreating enemy into Silesia, attacked 
 Great Glogau on the 18th of August, and gaining 
 the town by open assault, put the whole of its gar- 
 rison, amounting to a thousand men, to the sword. 
 He then advanced against Breslau, from which Don 
 Balthasar Maradas hastily retired at his approach, 
 and encamped along the other side of the Oder. The 
 Saxons, however, who had imbibed somewhat of the 
 daring spirit of the Swedes by their service under 
 Gustavus Adolphus, did not hesitate to assault him 
 in this position, after having thrown a bridge over 
 the river in face of the Imperialists, an operation 
 attended with the less difficulty, since they were far
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 415 
 
 superior in number to their antagonists. Maradas 
 was now compelled to resume his flight, and retired 
 towards Oppeln and Kosel, after having lost the whole 
 of his rear-guard, which was overtaken and cut to 
 pieces by the pursuers ; while Arnheim, continuing 
 his progress without further interruption, acquired 
 possession of Neisse, Jauer, and Wartenburg. The 
 Saxons next laid siege to Oppeln ; and having taken 
 it by assault, penetrated into the county of Glatz, 
 forcing back the discomfited Imperialists to the very 
 borders of Hungary. Arnheim, however, has been 
 accused of a design of the darkest treachery in push- 
 ing thus far his career of victory, while Saxony itself 
 was left comparatively undefended ; and is said to 
 have adopted such a plan of operations to invite 
 "Wallenstein to wreak his full vengeance upon the 
 territories of the Elector, while his best troops were 
 .yet absent upon a distant service, and too far to be 
 recalled in time for the defence of their own country. 
 Whether this charge had any solid foundation, or 
 whether it was merely prompted by the well-known 
 qualities of a general whose conduct for the most part 
 was such as to justify every imputation of a similar 
 nature, it is certain that the Duke of Friedland was 
 not slow in availing himself of the opportunity pre- 
 sented by the expedition of the Saxons into Silesia. 
 Hoik, whose ravages in Voigtland have been already 
 noticed, was immediately strengthened by a fresh 
 body of 10,000 Imperialists, under Count Gallas, in 
 conjunction with whom he laid siege to Freyburg ; 
 and after the capitulation of the town, in which 
 G^llas caused the ancient tombs of the electors to be 
 broken open in search of plunder, spread his troops 
 in detached parties over the whole of the open country 
 as far as to Dresden and Leipzig. Terrible, however, 
 as was the conduct of these subordinate agents of 
 destruction, the people of Saxony were speedily 
 thrown into a state of deeper consternation by news
 
 416 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 of the approach of Wallenstein in person. That 
 general, in company with the Elector of Bavaria, de- 
 camping from Forcheim on the 24th of September, 
 advanced leisurely towards Bamberg, where he halted 
 for a few days, and appointed a general review of the 
 combined forces. The effects of the privation and 
 disease sustained 'in the encampment near Nurenberg 
 were then fully visible. Of the Bavarian army but 
 7,000 men remained fit for service, while but 15,000, 
 exclusive of the detachments sent forward into 
 Saxony, gathered round the Imperial eagles, to re- 
 present the powerful force with which the Duke of 
 Friedland had taken the field at the commencement 
 of the campaign. A sufficient number, however, 
 remained for the infliction of every description of 
 misery upon the unfortunate territory of Bayreuth, 
 towards which he first directed the fierce soldiery 
 under his guidance. The town, which gave name to 
 the province, was assailed by a separate division, 
 while Wallenstein presented himself in person before 
 Culmbach, which he summoned with the terrible 
 menace, that if resisted, he would not spare even the 
 infant within its mother's womb. By the bravery 
 of the Swedish governor, he was spared the addi- 
 tional guilt of carrying his threat into execution. 
 The walls of Culmbach were found to be too reso- 
 lutely manned to be won by any other means than 
 by approaches in due form ; and Wallenstein, who 
 had no time to waste in a regular siege, was com- 
 pelled to retire from before it, disappointed and furi- 
 ous at his failure. After exhausting all the means of 
 destruction at his command upon the neighbouring 
 country, he turned towards Coburg, which, as it was 
 but slightly provided with the means of defence, was 
 immediately taken by the Imperialists, and became 
 the scene of a renewal of all the excesses which had 
 so frequently disgraced their arms in other quarters. 
 The castle of Plassenburg however, occupied by a
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 417 
 
 Swedish garrison under Colonel Dubatel, continued 
 to offer an undaunted resistance, and an attempt to 
 escalade its walls ended in a complete repulse of the 
 assailants. Wallenstein, after this check, determined 
 upon transferring his operations from Franconia to 
 Saxony. Accordingly, after separating, with many 
 external marks of respect, from Maximilian of Bavaria, 
 who, with the wreck of his army, took the direction 
 of Ratisbon, he began to direct the march of his 
 remaining forces through the defiles of Thuringia, 
 striking a general panic wherever he advanced, and 
 alarming Misnia with the hourly expectation of his 
 appearance, accompanied by all the horrors of war, 
 and eager to satiate his thirst for vengeance by the 
 complete destruction of a country in which the pro- 
 ceedings of his heartless satellites were considered 
 but as an earnest of what might be expected on the 
 arrival of their more powerful lord. The Elector of 
 Saxony, who saw the whole of his dominions on the 
 point of being inundated on one side by the army of 
 Wallenstein, and on the other by that of Pappen- 
 heim, who, after returning from the Low Countries, 
 and successfully resuming his operations against 
 Bauditzen, was now rapidly descending from the 
 banks of the Weser, in obedience to a summons from 
 the Duke of Friedland to co-operate with him in his 
 projected invasion, sent message after message to the 
 King of Sweden, adjuring him to hasten to his 
 assistance before his electorate was reduced to the 
 condition of a desert. 
 
 Gustavus, after detaching the Duke of Saxe Wei- 
 mar for the protection of Wirtemberg, and spending 
 a few days at Donawerth, had been for the most part 
 employed, since his departure from Nurenberg, in 
 the recovery of Rain, which the Bavarians, owing to 
 the conduct of Colonel Mitzval the governor, had 
 retaken from the Swedes during his absence in Fran- 
 conia. Mitzval was tried by a court-martial, and
 
 418 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 sentenced to be beheaded, a sentence which was 
 shortly afterwards inflicted ; and Rain, destitute of 
 all prospect of relief, and vigorously besieged, was 
 almost immediately reduced to surrender a second 
 time to its former captors. After this conquest the 
 king was making preparations for laying siege to 
 Ingolstadt a second time, when he received informa- 
 tion of the movements of the Duke of Friedland 
 towards Saxony, and the distress of the Elector. His 
 resolution was immediately taken. Although Oxen- 
 stiern, whom he hastened to consult at Nurenberg, 
 strenuously advised him to leave John George to his 
 fate, and after effecting the conquest of Bavaria, and 
 sending assistants to the peasants, who were in open 
 revolt in Upper Austria, to march at once upon 
 Vienna, and complete the humiliation of Ferdinand 
 by the possession of his capital, he determined to 
 forego every advantage which presented itself from 
 such a plan, rather than incur the disgrace of suffering 
 his ally to remain exposed to the dreaded vengeance 
 of Wallenstein, while he himself continued his con- 
 quests in a different direction, regardless of his appeals 
 for aid. In a merely political point of view, moreover, 
 the deliverance of Saxony was not without its sub- 
 stantial advantages, since there was every prospect 
 that the Elector, if abandoned by the ^Swedish mo- 
 narch, would be compelled to avert the threatened 
 ruin of his country by renouncing all connexion with 
 Gustavus and the allied Protestant princes, and 
 devote his resources for the future to the advantage 
 of the cause of Ferdinard. With a view, therefore, to 
 present himself before the Imperial general at the 
 commencement of his destructive career, and to make 
 the plains of Misnia the theatre of the great battle 
 which had been expected to take place beneath the 
 walls of Nurenberg, he hastily called in his nearest 
 detachments, appointing the general rendezvous at 
 Sehweinfurth, for which place he shortly afterwards
 
 THE LIFE OF GU3TAVUS ADOLPHUS. 419 
 
 set out, after taking an affectionate leave of Oxen- 
 stiern, who still continued at Nurenberg to superin- 
 tend the affairs of Franconia. 
 
 The march of the Swedish army on this memor- 
 able expedition was conducted with so much celerity 
 as completely to eclipse all the previous reputation 
 for activity which had hitherto been acquired by 
 their movements under the conduct of their great 
 commander. It was directed by Dinkelsbuhl, 
 Rothenburg, and Kutzingen, towards Schweinfurth, 
 where the Queen of Sweden awaited the arrival 
 of the king from Nurenberg, intending to accompany 
 him as far as possible upon his road. After quit- 
 ting Schweinfurth, the Swedes, now under the 
 guidance of Gustavus in person, plunged into the 
 gloomy forests of the Duringer Wald, and, retracing 
 nearly the same path which they had pursued after 
 the battle of Leipzig, arrived, after accomplishing 
 a series of toilsome marches with unslackening 
 vigour, notwithstanding the difficult character of 
 the country, in the vicinity of Erfurt on the 24th 
 of October, where they were joined by the forces 
 under the command of the Duke of Saxe Weimar. 
 At this place the king made a general review of his 
 army, which he found to consist of 20,000 men, for 
 the most part veteran troops, and the companions 
 of his greatest victories, in the highest condition of 
 health and discipline. He then prepared for the 
 painful task of bidding adieu to his queen, whom 
 lie had designed to remain at Erfurt until the result 
 of his meditated encounter with Wallenstein should 
 be determined. The night previous to his departure 
 was spent, with little interruption, in penning and 
 dictating several important despatches, and at day- 
 break the magistrates of the town were sum- 
 moned to his presence. The king took leave of them 
 in an earnest and friendly address, marked, how- 
 ever, by that spirit of presentiment which had
 
 420 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, 
 
 haunted him ever since the commencement of his 
 German expedition, and which, like the Evil 
 Genius of the Roman, seems to have presented 
 itself with greater distinctness and frequency to his 
 imagination as he approached the scene of his last 
 great battle. His speech on this occasion was closed 
 in the following terms : u I need not remind all 
 persons who are present of the well-known mutabi- 
 lity of earthly affairs; and that the issue of war is, 
 of all uncertanties, the greatest. The expedition on 
 which I am entering may probably prove fatal to 
 myself; and in anticipation that such may be the 
 pleasure of God, I beseech you by the honour and 
 integrity you possess, to continue firm in your 
 attachment to my dear consort, and in this hope 
 earnestly pray that the blessing and protection of 
 the Most High may continue to accompany you all." 
 He then turned towards the Queen ; but the violence 
 of his emotions was such as to prevent his giving 
 utterance to the words he wished to express, and, 
 after several times fervently repeating the exclama- 
 tion, " God bless you !" he was obliged, in order to 
 prevent himself from being wholly unmanned, to 
 hurry from her presence ; and, hastily remounting 
 his horse, galloped forward to overtake the rear 
 of his army, which was now in full march for 
 Naumburg. Gustavus, on his way, detached Ber- 
 nard of Saxe Weimar, with a strong body of horse, 
 to harass the rear of the army under Pappenheim, 
 who had, a short time previously, been advancing 
 in the direction of Erfurt and Naumburg with the 
 expectation of making himself master of both 
 places ; but, finding his intention frustrated by the 
 rapid approach of the King of Sweden, had now 
 altered his plan, and determined to effect his junc- 
 tion with the grand Imperial army without further 
 delay. The hostile forces narrowly escaped coming 
 into collision, since Pappenheim had but just time
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 421 
 
 to anticipate the attack of the Swedes by turning 
 short through the territory of Freyburg, and cross- 
 ing the river Saale, before their arrival. He then 
 continued his march unmolested to Merseburg, and 
 united his force with that under Wallenstein, who 
 had penetrated thus far on receiving the submission 
 of Leipzig, which was yielded after the semblance 
 rather than the reality of a siege, of but a few days' 
 continuance. 
 
 The town of Naumburg, delivered from the fear 
 of destruction at the hands of the Imperialists, 
 by the advance of the army of Gustavus, received 
 him with such transports of gratitude as might 
 have been supposed to be excited by the presence of 
 a tutelary divinity. The inhabitants flocked in 
 crowds around him, eager to touch his stirrups, the 
 scabbard of his sword, or the hem of his garment, 
 and saluted him whenever he appeared with expres- 
 sions of the most enthusiastic applause and vene- 
 ration. But, with these marks of esteem, the in- 
 cense by which an ordinary ambition would have 
 been excited to a more vain-glorious estimate of 
 its own power, the more rational and less arrogant 
 spirit of the King of Sweden was at once shocked 
 and humiliated. His feelings upon the subject are 
 recorded in a memorable discourse with his chaplain 
 Fabricius : " Alas !" he exclaimed, " have I not 
 reason to believe that God, who has declared him- 
 self a jealous God, will punish me for the weakness 
 of this people ? Our affairs, I confess, are in a pro- 
 mising condition ; but too much reliance is placed 
 upon me, and all but divine honours are bestowed 
 upon a feeble mortal, who exists to-day and may be 
 no more to-morrow. Great God ! Thou art wit- 
 ness that I take no delight in this kind of homage 
 which is rendered to myself, but is due to Thee 
 alone, by whose assistance I am what I am. I aban- 
 don, myself to Thy Providence. Thou art the
 
 422 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 Creator and Lord of all things, and wilt not permit 
 that the good work commenced for the deliverance 
 of Thy true servants should remain imperfect." 
 Schiller, whose taste, essentially dramatic, was tho- 
 roughly awake to all the beauties scattered through 
 the productions of the ancient tragedians, has com- 
 pared the conduct of the King of Sweden, upon this 
 occasion, to that of the Agamemnon of .ZEschylus, 
 who is represented by the great founder of the 
 Greek theatre as refusing to descend from his 
 chariot upon the purple tapestry which the treach- 
 erous assiduity of Clytemnestra has spread before 
 the vestibule of his palace. The same author has 
 justly observed, that the character of Gustavus 
 Adolphus appears more amiable as we are on the 
 point of losing sight of him for ever. Yet there 
 was nothing of novelty in his unwillingness to 
 receive the extravagant popular honours lavished 
 upon him by the gratitude of the people of Naum- 
 burg ; and a spirit precisely similar had been shown 
 at Kemberg in 1631, while he was on his way 
 to encounter the army of Tilly. At this place, 
 a crowd of children, surrounding the house in which 
 he was lodged, were clamorously saluting him 
 by the name of the " Great Gustavus," when the 
 king, who was conversing with a Protestant minis- 
 ter of the town, demanded the meaning of their 
 acclamations. On being informed, he immediately 
 descended into the street, and presented himself 
 before them with the words, " My dear children, 
 you see before you nothing more than a great sinner 
 from Sweden, whom your silly parents have taught 
 you to call the Great King."* If his example, 
 however, is considered valuable in point of humility, 
 the opinion which he is recorded to have expressed a 
 short time previous to his death, respecting con- 
 querors in general, is equally worthy of being perpe- 
 * Mauvillon.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 423 
 
 tuated, since it shows that the scenes of destruction 
 through which he had lately passed had begun to 
 open his eyes to the true nature of that glory to 
 which so many have sacrificed the lives of thousands 
 without a single feeling of compunction or moment 
 of regret. On the occasion of some German officers 
 expressing at his table a sentiment that he had been 
 born as the express instrument of the delivery 
 of their nation, and that the appearance of an indi- 
 vidual endued with so much courage and conduct 
 was a manifest sign of the favour of the Divine 
 Being ; " Say, rather," replied the king, " that it is 
 a token of his anger. If the war which I wage is a 
 remedy, it is one less supportable than the disease 
 itself. God never departs from his established law 
 of moderation to pass to extremes without intending 
 the chastisement of some one : and it is an evidence 
 of his love towards nations when he confers but 
 ordinary abilities upon their kings. He who is 
 gifted with a soul unelevated above that of the 
 generality of mankind, conceives only such designs 
 as are upon a level witli his abilities. His repose is 
 untroubled by dreams of glory and ambition. If he 
 applies himself to state affairs, the prosperity of his 
 dominions is increased in consequence ; if he relieves 
 himself from the weight of government by commit- 
 ting part of his authority to another, the worst that 
 can happen is, that his minister may enrich himself 
 at the expense of the people, may lay additional im- 
 posts upon them for the increase of his own fortune, 
 or that of his friends, or excite a feeling of hatred 
 and indignation among his former equals, who 
 are jealous of his elevation. But these evils are 
 trifling, and utterly unworthy of comparison with 
 such as are induced by the ambition of a great king. 
 That insatiate thirst which he feels for glory leaving 
 him no wish for the enjoyment of rest, necessarily 
 compels him to deprive his subjects of the same bless-
 
 424 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHU8. 
 
 ing. He holds as his enemies all who are unwilling 
 to become his vassals. He is a raging torrent, 
 which carries desolation wheresoever it turns ; and 
 carrying his arms as far as his hopes, he fills the 
 whole world with terror, misery, and confusion."* 
 
 The march of Gustavus Adolphus towards Naum- 
 burg was no sooner known to Wallenstein, who, when 
 he received the intelligence, was stationed at Eulen- 
 burg, than he hastily retraced his steps by Merseburg, 
 towards Weisseufels, hoping to be still in time to 
 paralyse the movements of his enemy by the occupa- 
 tion of Naumburg before his arrival. The extraordi- 
 nary activity of Gustavus alone, frustrating him in 
 this project, prevented all the important consequences 
 which would have resulted from its execution. Once 
 in possession of Naumburg, the Imperialists might 
 with ease have shut the entrance into Saxony against 
 the Swedes, since the only road by which they could 
 advance lay through the steep mountain gorge, which, 
 threaded by the rapid river Saala, extends to the 
 vicinity of the town of Weissenfels, where the vast 
 plain spread around the walls of Leipzig begins to 
 open upon the traveller. The value of Naumburg, as 
 the key to this pass, was sufficiently known to Wal- 
 lenstein to induce him to hurry forward a detachment 
 to seize and maintain it at all hazards ; but the force 
 which was sent upon the service was met half way 
 by the intelligence that the King of Sweden was 
 already master of the place ; and, moreover, prepar- 
 ing to intrench himself in its neighbourhood. The 
 Imperial general, upon this, summoned a council of 
 war composed of his favourite officers, at which 
 Pappenheim and Hoik earnestly advised that, since 
 the autumn was already far spent, and the Swedes 
 were evidently preparing to assume a position merely 
 defensive, in probable expectation of being joined by 
 
 * CAILLERES, Fortunes des Gens de Qualite ; quoted by ARCHEN- 
 HOLTZ, Memoires de la Reine Christine.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 425 
 
 the reinforcements which were known to be hasten- 
 ing to join them from Lunenburg, he should despatch 
 a part of his army to oppose Bauditzen in Lower 
 Saxony, and canton the rest in the neighbouring 
 towns in such a manner as to be able to reassemble 
 them, if necessary, with the least possible delay. 
 Wallenstein was not unwilling to adopt this advice. 
 Pappenheim, with 12,000 men, was commissioned to 
 undertake the siege of Halle prior to resuming his 
 operations upon the Weser, and immediately set out 
 to execute his commission. One regiment of Impe- 
 rialists was directed towards Zwickau, and another 
 towards Altenberg. The remainder of the army 
 under Wallenstein retired afresh towards Merseburg, 
 leaving Colonel Colloredo, with several squadrons of 
 Croatians, to convey immediate intelligence of any 
 movement of consequence on the part of the King of 
 Sweden. 
 
 Pappenheim had hardly set forward upon his expe- 
 dition against Halle when Gustavus received intel- 
 ligence of his departure, and at once conceived the 
 design of breaking up from Naumburg and marching 
 against Wallenstein, encouraged by the hope that, 
 even if unsuccessful in surprising him, he might at 
 least compel him to fight while under the disadvan- 
 tage of being weakened by so considerable a detach- 
 ment. His preparations for an advance were com- 
 menced and completed without a moment's delay. 
 The Swedes decamped from Naumburg two hours 
 after midnight on the 5th of November, and early in 
 the morning were observed from the tower of Weis- 
 senfels issuing from the neighbouring defiles in such 
 numbers as left little doubt that the whole army was 
 in motion, and advancing under the conduct of the 
 king in person. Colloredo, after despatching some of 
 his best-mounted horsemen at the spur, to convey the 
 important intelligence to Wallenstein, intimated by 
 three cannon-shots the vicinity of the enemy, and the
 
 428 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHfS. 
 
 necessity of an immediate return to head-quarters, to 
 the scattered parties of Imperialists in his neighbour- 
 hood. He then collected his Croatians, and leisurely 
 abandoning a post which was untenable in the face of 
 the powerful host approaching towards it, withdrew 
 to effect his junction with the main body under the 
 Duke of Friedland. Wallenstein, who had received 
 Colloredo's communication at an early hour of the 
 day, lost no time in sending messengers in all haste 
 to Pappenheim, urging upon him the necessity of his 
 instant return, with all the disposable force under his 
 command, since he was upon the eve of a general 
 engagement. The plain near Lutzen was the spot 
 towards which he was ordered to direct his march, 
 and where A\ 7 allenstein himself, after a slight retro- 
 grade movement from Merseburg, took up at noon on 
 the 5th the position in which he intended to offer 
 battle. 
 
 The village of Lutzen is one of those places which 
 seem destined to be from time to time witnesses to 
 the strife of encountering armies, although possessing 
 in themselves neither military nor political import- 
 ance to justify occurrences of such moment ; and 
 perhaps no plain in Europe has been oftener irrigated 
 with human blood than that which lies in its imme- 
 diate vicinity. Besides affording a field for the great 
 action which closed the long series of the triumphs of 
 the Swedes under their immortal king, it had been 
 many centuries before the scene of a sanguinary 
 defeat of the Hungarians by the famous Henry, sur- 
 named the Fowler. In the year 1757, a French 
 army retreating before the arms of Frederick of 
 Prussia, narrowly avoided delivering upon the same 
 ground the general action which was attended with 
 such calamitous results at Rosbach ; but Lutzen has 
 derived a far greater historic celebrity in connexion 
 with the military annals of France, as the place 
 where the descending sun of victory shed a delusive
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 427 
 
 gleam upon the eagles of Napoleon, before the deci- 
 sive result of Leipzig drove him back in utter and 
 irremediable ruin upon his own frontier. At the 
 time when Wallenstein encamped beside it, as at the 
 present day, the place consisted but of one long street, 
 and boasted no buildings of importance besides its 
 church, the spire of which is of an extraordinary 
 height, and an ancient chateau, surmounted by a 
 tower, in which, when Mauvillon visited it, in the 
 middle of the last century, a few old matchlocks 
 were still exhibited as relics of the battle of 1632. 
 The Imperial army was stationed on a line parallel 
 with the high road from Leipzig to Weissenfels, 
 which runs directly through Lutzen, having that 
 village immediately beyond their extreme right, 
 which terminated near a group of five windmills. 
 The ground which Wallenstein had selected was per- 
 fectly undistinguished by inequalities ; but before his 
 front, two parallel ditches, dug for the purpose of 
 draining the high road, afforded a formidable means 
 of defence, which he immediately strengthened by a 
 slight parapet of turf, and lined with his choicest 
 musketeers. Beyond these, a kind of canal, called 
 the Floess Graben, used for floating timber to Leipzig, 
 and lined with a few scattered willow trees, running 
 somewhat diagonally across the field, afforded a 
 convenient support for his left wing. It is difficult 
 to state with accuracy the strength of the Austrian 
 army on this occasion ; but there is sufficient reason 
 to believe, that, exclusively of the division under 
 Pappenheim, it did not number less than 30,000 men, 
 exceeding by one third the Swedish force arrayed 
 against it at the very commencement of the action. 
 
 While the Austrians were busily employed in 
 making their necessary dispositions, the Swedes con- 
 tinued rapidly to advance over the flat country between 
 Weissenfels and Lutzen. The king, who had in his way 
 received accurate information of the arrival of Wai-
 
 428 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 lenstein at the latter village, still entertained hopes of 
 being able to bring on the expected engagement before 
 evening. A false calculation of his real distance from 
 Lutzen contributed to confirm him in this erroneous 
 expectation. On inquiring of his guide the direction 
 in which the place was situated, the lofty church 
 spire was pointed out to him, conspicuously rising in 
 the distance ; and the height of this building, together 
 with the level character of the intervening space, 
 naturally induced him to believe, that the Imperialists 
 were almost close at hand, while they were still 
 separated by a distance of eight or nine miles from 
 their enemies. The march was accordingly resumed 
 with vigour ; but in addition to the fatigue caused by 
 several hours of unremitted exertion, the Swedes had 
 now to contend with the nature of the ground, which 
 consisted of land newly ploughed for the reception of 
 the next year's crops, and of so light a quality, that 
 the soldiers sank nearly to the midleg at every step. 
 Under these disadvantages, notwithstanding all the 
 ardour which they exerted, the brief light of a 
 November day was already fast declining before they 
 found themselves actually in presence of their adver- 
 saries. Near the village of Rippach, where a small 
 rivulet intersected their line of march, a fierce and 
 obstinate encounter took place between their advanced 
 cavalry and two regiments of Imperial horse, one of 
 them consisting entirely of Croatians, which ended in 
 the complete route of the latter, and the capture of 
 an ensign by the Swedes, bearing a figure of Fortune 
 upon one side and the Austrian eagle on the other. 
 This trophy was immediately presented to the king 
 as an assured omen of victory : but the countenance 
 of Gustavus was observed to be overcast, and to 
 indicate but little satisfaction at the circumstance. 
 An Austrian officer, who had been taken prisoner at 
 the commencement of the skirmish, and after being 
 sent to the rear, had been examined by the king him-
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 429 
 
 self, with the threat of certain death if his information 
 should turn out to be incorrect, knowing the import- 
 ance of a few hours' delay to his general, and nobly 
 preferring the interests of the cause he served to any 
 consideration of his own safety, had not only persisted 
 that Wallenstein was fully prepared for battle, but 
 that Pappenheim was already returned from Halle, 
 and had united his division with the main army. 
 This information, the truth of which was not doubted 
 at the time, rendered it necessary to consult afresh 
 upon the prudence of venturing upon a general action 
 with a force so far superior in number, and now fully 
 upon their guard ; but the Swedish officers, as well 
 as their monarch, were unanimously of opinion that 
 it was too late to retreat, and that the most resolute 
 course was, in the present instance, that which held 
 out the fairest promise of success. The army, there- 
 fore, proceeded until within full sight of the Imperial 
 encampment, coming on with such an appearance of 
 spirit, and halting at so short a distance, that Wal- 
 lenstein commanded his drums to beat to arms, and 
 formed his line of battle, in expectation of being 
 assailed without delay. His infantry, according to the 
 account of the generality of historians, were then ob- 
 served stationed in his centre in four immense square 
 masses, with smaller bodies of musketeers placed at 
 each angle; a singular arrangement, which, if correctly 
 described, has not undeservedly met with the un- 
 qualified reprobation of every military critic since his 
 time. The greater part of his artillery, consisting of 
 twenty-four pieces of heavy ordnance, was planted 
 close beside the windmills on his right, and seven 
 pieces more behind the ditches in front. His cavalry, 
 with scattered parties of Croatians disposed in advance, 
 formed in strength upon his left, where space was at 
 the same time allowed for the troops under Pappen- 
 heim, who were momentarily expected. The Swedes, 
 on the other hand, rested their right upon the Floess
 
 430 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 Graben, and extended their left towards Lutzen, 
 forming an array of about a mile and a half in length, 
 and fairly dividing the plain with their adversaries. 
 The king, however, by this time, had determined 
 upon delaying his attack until the morning, since, as 
 his last division reached the ground, the mist, which 
 proved so serious an obstacle to the operations of the 
 following day, began to gather fast along the plain ; 
 and by the time his dispositions were finally made, 
 the increasing darkness rendered any offensive move- 
 ment in the highest degree imprudent. The arrange- 
 ment of his army was nearly the same as that which 
 he had adopted on the memorable day of Leipzig. 
 His cavalry, interspersed, as usual, with chosen bodies 
 of musketeers, were equally distributed on both wings, 
 and his infantry stationed by brigades in the centre, 
 forming two lines supported by reserves. Bernard of 
 Saxe Weimar, assisted by Prince Ernest of Anhalt, 
 was appointed to the command of the right. Nicholas 
 Brahe, Count of Weissenburg, at the head of the 
 Yellow Brigade, or king's own regiment of guards, 
 took charge of the centre, having Henderson's Scot- 
 tish reserve close behind him, and further in the rear, 
 the main body of the second line under General 
 Kniphausen ; the king, as usual, selecting the right 
 wing for his own post. The few pieces of artillery 
 which the Swedes had brought with them irt their 
 hasty march from Franconia, consisting mostly of 
 such light cannon as were known by the name of 
 drakes in the English civil wars, were dispersed at 
 intervals along the front. Thus disposed, the Swedes, 
 after their usual devotions, lay down to rest in full 
 order of battle, part of the infantry sleeping with their 
 pikes planted in the earth at their heads, and the rest 
 beside their muskets, piled for immediate service*. 
 During the whole of the night, which wore heavily 
 away to the officers on both sides, detachments con- 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPilUS. 431 
 
 tinued to arrive in the Imperial camp, and "Wallen- 
 stein eagerly turned the interval afforded to account, 
 by deepening the trenches which covered his front, 
 and strengthening the parapet along their brink. 
 His great rival, like himself, devoted but a few 
 moments to repose, whiliiig away the tedious hours 
 before morning in conversation with his attendants, or 
 engaged in reflections upon the important interests at 
 stake, mingled with those more serious meditations 
 which on the eve of battle find their way to the 
 hearts of the most unthinking, and cast a momentary 
 shadow over the resolution of the bravest. 
 
 Two hours before daybreak the king's attendants 
 presented themselves, for the purpose of arraying him 
 for the field. Either owing to his known dislike to 
 heavy armour, or to the circumstance of his having 
 lately received a contusion in his right shoulder, which 
 rendered its weight insupportable, he refused to wear 
 the cuirass presented to him, with the words, " The 
 Lord God himself is my sufficient defence ;" as- 
 suming an uadervest of elk-skin alone, which was 
 supposed to be proof against a sword-thrust. The 
 drums were then ordered to sound the reveillee, and 
 in a few minutes the whole Swedish force, standing 
 to arms, listened to the solemn service of devotion 
 performed by the chaplains of the several regiments. 
 By this time the morning had dawned, but its rays 
 struggled feebly with the heavy fog which had fallen 
 on the preceding evening, and still continued so closely 
 to envelop the field as to hide every object from view 
 at the distance of two pikes' length. In one direction 
 alone the dense medium was partially dispersed by a 
 glimmering light, afterwards found to have proceeded 
 from the Barnes consuming the village of Lutzen, 
 which Wallenstein had commanded to be set on fire 
 for the purpose of preventing the Swedes from acting 
 upon his right flank. As it was absolutely necessary 
 to wait for the dispersion of the mist before giving
 
 432 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 orders for an advance, the king commanded the 
 feverish interval of suspense to be employed in a 
 general chant of Martin Luther's celebrated para- 
 phrase of the 46th Psalm, commencing with " God is 
 our strong tower of refuge," accompanied by the 
 kettle-drums and trumpets of his whole army, fol- 
 lowed by a hymn which he had himself composed, 
 containing sentiments similar to those expressed by 
 the Psalmist. This sublime prelude to the work of 
 mortal contention was scarcely over, when a sudden 
 breeze, drifting before it the mist which had hitherto 
 hung like a curtain between the opposite hosts, 
 allowed a burst of sunshine to fall upon the field, and 
 presented the majestic array of each other's battle to 
 the full gaze of either army. 
 
 The King of Sweden took immediate advantage 
 of the opportunity. After kneeling and devoutly re- 
 peating his accustomed prayer, "O Lord Jesu Christ, 
 bless our arms and this day's battle, for the glory of 
 thy holy name*," he remounted his horse, and with 
 his drawn sword in his hand rode along his front, 
 addressing his soldiers by the appellation of his chil- 
 dren, and adjuring them to distinguish themselves in 
 the contest at hand by their devotion to the cause of 
 God and his gospel, at the same time adding, that if 
 forgetful of their duty, there was not an individual 
 among them whose bones would be suffered to repose 
 in the earth of Sweden. Towards his German allies 
 he made use of similar incentives, reminding them 
 that the preservation of their civil and religious liber- 
 ties would probably be determined by their conduct in 
 the present struggle. He then gave as the word of 
 battle, " God with us," the same which he had 
 adopted at Leipzig ; after which, the infantry of the 
 first line, breaking into columns of attack, each pre- 
 ceded by two field-pieces, advanced with the inten- 
 tion of dislodging the Imperial musketeers from the 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 433 
 
 trenches before them. Wallenstein had, in the mean 
 time, been as urgent in his appeals to his soldiers ; 
 and his exertions were ably seconded by the Bishop 
 of Fnlda, afterwards killed by a cannon-shot towards 
 the close of the action, who presented himself in all 
 parts of the field, hastening from rank to rank witli 
 a crucifix in his hand, and exhorting the troops to 
 acquit themselves manfully in defence of the Holy 
 Catholic Church, and the honour of the Imperial 
 House. 
 
 The Swedish infantry, commencing the battle with 
 irresistible impetuosity under the guidance of the king, 
 who led them on in person, not only succeeded in spite 
 of the heavy and uninterrupted discharges of artillery 
 from the Imperial right, and the close fire of musketry 
 from the concealed enemy in front, in carrying the 
 trenches at the first charge, but, pushing on still fur- 
 ther, attacked and gained possession of the seven 
 pieces of cannon planted behind them, throwing Wal- 
 lenstein's main body itself into some degree of confu- 
 sion. The Imperial commander, however, rallying 
 his wavering troops, directed so furious an onset 
 against them in return, that the Swedes, borne back 
 by superiority of numbers, were compelled to repass 
 the trenches in confusion, leaving the artillery they 
 had captured in the hands of its former possessors, 
 and the space between the trenches and the Austrian 
 lines covered with dead and wounded. In the mean 
 time the king, who, as soon as his infantry had passed 
 the trenches, had departed towards his right wing, as 
 yet unacquainted with their repulse, and observing 
 through his perspective - glass two regiments of 
 heavy cavalry arrayed in black armour, under Colonel 
 Piccolomini, drawn up in order before him, covered 
 by a swarm of Croatian horse, commanded by their 
 general, Isolani, observed to Colonel Stalhanske, who 
 was at the head of his Finland cuirassiers, " "We 
 must charge yonder black troopers, or they will do
 
 434 TUB LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTTS. 
 
 us some serious mischief ;" and with these words, 
 leaping his horse across the ditch, advanced against 
 them, imagining himself followed by the whole of the 
 Finland and Smaland cavalry. These troops, how- 
 ever, were considerably retarded by the difficulty oc - 
 casioned by the ditch in their way, and Gustavus, 
 hurried forward by his ardent courage, and unaware 
 from his shortness of vision of the close proximity of 
 the enemy, was attended but by a few of his suite 
 who were still able to keep up with him, and among 
 others by Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, 
 when he became a conspicuous object to their marks- 
 men. An Imperial captain, guessing from his bearing 
 that he was a person of consequence, commanded one 
 of his musketeers to single out the mounted officer, 
 who was thus fearlessly exposing himself; and the 
 soldier, in obedience to the order, fired with so true 
 an aim that the left arm of Gustavus was shattered 
 a little above the elbow by the shot. The king, 
 almost fainting with the sudden pain, exclaimed to 
 the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, " Cousin, I feel myself 
 seriously wounded ; lead me, I entreat you, from the 
 field" and, turning his horse's head, endeavoured to 
 regain the protection of his cavalry. But at this 
 juncture, the mist which had for a short time dis- 
 persed at the commencement of the action, was again 
 enshrouding the conflict in comparative darkness, 
 and the king, with the small party about him, mis- 
 taking the right direction, was wandering from the 
 right to the left wing, when he was overtaken by a 
 body of Piccolomini's cuirassiers. One among them, 
 a cavalier in bright armour, generally supposed to have 
 been Falkenberg, colonel of the regiment of Florence, 
 who was shortly afterwards slain in the melee, recog- 
 nising his person, and uttering the words, " Is it 
 thou ? Long have I sought thee !" immediately shot 
 him through the body with his pistol; while the 
 horse which he rode, stumbling at the same moment,
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 435 
 
 threw him forward in the midst of a group of the 
 dead and wounded, principally composed of his own 
 household who had fallen around him. After he 
 had for some time lain in this condition, unnoticed 
 both by friends and enemies, amidst the general con- 
 fusion, a party of irregular cavalry in the Imperial 
 service, arriving upon the spot, and dismounting to 
 despoil the slain, on finding him still exhibit symp- 
 toms of life, inquired his name and quality. " I am 
 the King of Sweden," replied the dying monarch, 
 " and seal with my blood the liberty and religion of 
 the German nation !" A soldier among the plun- 
 derers, on receiving this answer, without a moment's 
 hesitation discharged his pistol through his head, 
 while a second transfixed him with his sword. Not- 
 withstanding these terrible wounds, the king had still 
 sufficient strength left to pronounce the exclamation, 
 " My God ! my God !" to which he afterwards added, 
 " Alas ! my poor queen !" These are said to have 
 been his last words. His body was immediately 
 stripped by the Imperialists, who afterwards sold the 
 spoils acquired on the occasion at enormous prices, to 
 the principal officers of the Austrian army. His 
 buff coat was sent to Vienna, where it is still exhi- 
 bited, perforated by the fatal ball, in the arsenal of 
 that city. Hoik obtained possession of his spurs and 
 ring ; and a valuable gold chain, with a turquoise of 
 large size, which had from time immemorial formed 
 part of the regalia of the crown of Sweden, fell into 
 the hands of an officer of the family of Schneburg. 
 Before the spoilers had completed their work, Picco- 
 lomini, to whom immediate intelligence of the event 
 had been sent, arrived with a few of his soldiers, but 
 the king was by this time wholly insensible, and his 
 features convulsed by the last agonies of death ; nor 
 had the Imperialists long to gaze upon the melan- 
 choly spectacle, since the Swedish cavalry, under 
 Colonel Stalhanske, charged at the moment with so 
 
 F F 2
 
 436 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIF8. 
 
 much vigour that they were compelled to retreat in 
 confusion. The body of Gustavus, being soon after- 
 wards discovered, was borne to the rear with as much 
 secrecy as possible, and from thence (as his own coach 
 had been removed in the panic occasioned by a 
 tumultuous onset of the Croatians upon the baggage) 
 slowly conveyed in an ammunition-waggon, preceded 
 by his favourite white standard, to the town of Weis- 
 senfels. A rude fragment of rock, known by the 
 name of the Swedish Stone, still points out to the 
 notice of posterity the spot near which the royal 
 corpse was discovered, so much mangled by wounds, 
 and disfigured by bruises, received beneath the horses' 
 feet, as only to be discernible by its superior size, 
 and the marks of one or two well-known scars, from 
 the less distinguished dead scattered around it. 
 
 In this manner perished, at the height of his fame, 
 and in the full vigour of life since he had not yet 
 attained the age of thirty-eight years the conqueror, 
 whose dazzling successes had so long excited the ad- 
 miration of the world, and whose career of victory 
 had hitherto been uninterrupted by a single defeat, 
 unless the failure of his attack upon Wallenstein's 
 lines is thought deserving of the name. In the rela- 
 tion of his last moments, that account has been pre- 
 ferred which was published a few days after the battle, 
 by the chaplain of the Duke of Saxe- "Weimar*, and 
 was asserted to have been taken from the lips of an 
 eye-witness attached to the king's household, who lay 
 mortally wounded beside him, and expired shortly 
 after being removed from the field. The accounts 
 given by most other authors are less circumstantial, 
 rather than contradictory to the above. Puffendorff, 
 however, a writer almost proverbially credulous, has 
 not hesitated openly to charge the Duke of Saxe- 
 Lauenburg with the assassination of his commander, 
 by firing the fatal pistol-shot at his back, amidst the 
 
 * Swedish Intelligencer.
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 437 
 
 tumult and obscurity of the encounter in which he 
 fell. Cardinal Richelieu has not escaped from a share 
 in the imputation, having been accused, although by 
 little more than a vague rumour, propagated by the 
 lovers of the marvellous in that day, of having both 
 suggested the murder and amply rewarded the instru- 
 ment employed in its perpetration, from fear of the 
 further successes of an ally, whose power he already 
 considered too extensive to be compatible with the 
 interests of France. Such accusations are far too 
 common in history to be received without the support 
 of positive and substantial evidence, which is found 
 to be wholly wanting in the present instan'ce, to the 
 corroboration of so serious a charge. It is true that 
 the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg had in early life received 
 a serious affront from Gustavus Adolphus, that he 
 had quitted the Imperial service without any apparent 
 cause, and that he left the army of the Swedes two 
 days after the battle of Lutzen ; but within these 
 particulars, enough possibly to justify some degree of 
 suspicion, but wholly insufficient to warrant anything 
 like a positive affirmation of his guilt, is comprised 
 the whole of the evidence adduced against him. 
 
 The first intimation of the fall of their sovereign 
 was conveyed to the Swedish army by the sight of 
 his horse galloping wildly along the front, with its 
 saddle and caparisons dyed with blood ; and the ap- 
 prehensions inspired by this spectacle were speedily 
 confirmed by a rumour which ran through the ranks, 
 that his body had been seen in the act of being con- 
 veyed from the field. The intelligence, however, 
 instead of damping their ardour, had the effect of 
 arousing them to a transport of fury, mingled with a 
 desire to avenge his death, which banished all consi- 
 derations of personal security. Under the guidance 
 of the heroic Duke of Saxe- Weimar, who, on this 
 terrible day, left no duty of a great commander un- 
 fulfilled, a fresh charge was undertaken along the
 
 438 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 whole line, and executed with such determination, 
 that the battle was quickly restored in favour of the 
 Swedes. The ditches were again crossed, and the 
 cannon which defended them captured for the second 
 time. The heavy masses of the Imperial infantry 
 were compelled to give ground, and receded so far 
 from their original position, that their adversaries even 
 gained a temporary possession of the artillery planted 
 near the windmills, with which they commenced a 
 close and destructive fire upon the exposed flank of 
 the Imperial general. The latter, at this critical 
 juncture, however, was rescued from the prospect of 
 immediate ruin by the long- wished- for arrival of 
 Pappenheim, who came up with eight regiments of 
 cavalry at a hand-gallop, just in time to prevent the 
 full rout of the Austrian army. Allowing his troops 
 but a brief space to recover breath, he proceeded to 
 wheel them into line, and, charging with headlong 
 fury, not only recovered the captured guns, but rolled 
 back the tide of battle on the right to the ground on 
 which it had begun. Piccolomini's cuirassiers, rally- 
 ing under cover of this assault, fell nearly at the same 
 moment upon the Swedish infantry, which had ad- 
 vanced beyond the trenches, with fatal effect, and 
 compelled such as survived their assault to fall back 
 upon the main body with precipitation. In the des- 
 perate contention which took place at this point, the 
 king's guards, with their commander the Count of 
 Weissenburg at their head, disdaining to recede, and 
 defending themselves to the last, were almost entirely 
 cut off, and were observed the next morning, distin- 
 guished by their yellow uniforms, stretched on the 
 earth in the same order in which they had formed to 
 receive the Imperial cavalry. Pappenheim, after his 
 success on the right, hurried, without pausing a mo- 
 ment, towards the other wing, where he flattered 
 himself with the expectation of encountering the King 
 of Sweden with better success than at Leipzig ; but
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVCS ADOLPHUS. 439 
 
 before he could reach his station he was informed of 
 the fate which had befallen his intended antagonist. 
 He had scarcely time to express his satisfaction at 
 the intelligence, when he was himself struck down by 
 a ball, fired from a falconet, which took effect upon 
 his right shoulder, inflicting so ghastly a wound, that 
 his recovery was at once perceived to be hopeless*. 
 His attendants, raising him from the ground, con- 
 veyed him to the rear, and he was shortly afterwards 
 conducted in his coach, attended by his chaplain, to 
 Leipzig, where he breathed his last in the castle of 
 Pleissenburg, after lingering for twenty-four hours 
 after receiving the injury which caused his death. 
 The Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who, after his mo- 
 mentary repulse, had but retired so far from the 
 ground he had won as to receive the succour of the 
 second line under Kniphausen, and had by almost 
 incredible efforts re-formed the Swedes for a third 
 charge, resumed the attack shortly after he had been 
 borne from the contest. The same terrible scene of 
 carnage which had been twice before witnessed, was 
 now for the third time exhibited along the front of 
 the closing armies, who expended all their remaining 
 energies upon a struggle which it was evident must 
 prove decisive. 
 
 The Imperialists, as before, were driven from the 
 ditches, the cannon retaken, and the heavy Austrian 
 infantry compelled, after a long and obstinate con- 
 tention, gradually to give ground. The Swedes on 
 the left, advancing equally with the rest of the army, 
 although under an incessant cannonade from the ar- 
 tillery near the windmills, continued to deliver their 
 fire with so much rapidity and with such murderous 
 precision, that no force of the enemy seemed capable 
 of standing before it. The Imperial right was driven 
 back upon the high-road, and meeting there with 
 
 * According to Khevchuller, whom Schiller has followed, he 
 received two musket-balls in the breast.
 
 440 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 the regiments of the centre, which were retreating 
 towards the same point, the confusion, notwithstand- 
 ing all the efforts of Wallenstein, who exposed himself 
 in the midst of a storm of halls to remedy it, became 
 in a moment irretrievable. The whole of the way 
 between Lutzen and Leipzig was speedily covered 
 with soldiers of all arms hurrying from the scene of 
 battle, intermingled with baggage and ammunition- 
 waggons ; and the Duke of Friedland, at length 
 finding it hopeless to attempt to rally his discomfited 
 forces, was compelled to take the same road. The 
 cavalry of Piccolomini alone remained to cover the 
 retreat ; and their commander, who had been struck 
 by no less than ten musket-shots in the action, some 
 of which, notwithstanding his armour of proof, inflicted 
 severe wounds, was among the last who quitted the 
 field. While he was in the act of retiring, eight 
 regiments of infantry, forming part of the force with 
 which Pappenheim had set out from Halle, presented 
 themselves at Lutzen ; but finding the battle lost be- 
 yond recovery, took the road to Leipzig with the rest 
 of the routed army. The Swedes were consequently 
 left masters of the ground, although in entire igno- 
 rance of their success, since the same mist which had 
 so frequently impeded their movements during the 
 day, fell once more so densely towards its close as 
 completely to hide the proceedings of the Imperialists 
 from their view, and to draw from their general the 
 bitter complaint that the victory had been a second 
 time wrested from his hands. He was deceived into 
 the belief that a considerable body at least of the 
 enemy yet stood firm, by the fire of a few hundred 
 musketeers who lined the garden walls near Lutzen, 
 with whom his infantry continued to exchange volleys 
 at intervals, amidst the increasing darkness, although 
 the soldiers were only able to guess the position of 
 their adversaries by the flashes of the fire-arms dis- 
 charged in their front. As the night deepened, a last
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 441 
 
 charge was made for the possession of this post, of 
 which the Swedes gained possession with less resist- 
 ance than they had expected ; and with the desultory 
 struggle accompanying it, ended the battle of Lutzen. 
 The conquerors returned to their camp, where they 
 passed the night in melancholy silence, dispirited with 
 the loss of their king, and prevented from sleeping 
 by an intense frost, which proved fatal to numbers of 
 the wounded, who were exposed to its full severity. 
 During the whole of this interval, the cannon of both 
 parties remained unguarded and abandoned upon the 
 plain ; and it was not until the next morning that 
 the Swedes, pushing forward their advanced parties, 
 gained possession of these trophies of their victory, 
 together with the Imperial baggage, and the ground 
 on which the contest had taken place. Wallenstein, 
 after sending a few regiments of Croatians to recon- 
 noitre the posture of the enemy, on understanding 
 that they still kept the field in order of battle, pursued 
 his way to Leitmeritz, fifty leagues from the scene of 
 action, and from thence to Prague, where he gave 
 vent to the feelings of mortification and anger, caused 
 by his defeat, in merciless severities towards his 
 officers, several of whom he caused to be executed a 
 few weeks afterwards upon a public scaffold under a 
 charge of cowardice. So complete had been the dis- 
 persion of the Imperialists at Lutzen, that, of an army 
 of 40,000 men, fifteen battalions of infantry alone, 
 preserving the appearance of a regular array, and for 
 the most part without arms, passed through Leipzig 
 the next day on their road to Bohemia, followed by 
 a few shattered regiments of cavalry, in the same in- 
 efficient condition. About 5,000 were left on the 
 field of battle ; but it was remarked, that of the 
 numbers engaged, scarcely a single individual escaped 
 wholly unwounded from the contest. The Swedish 
 loss in killed and wounded was little inferior to that 
 of their adversaries.
 
 442 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 The news of the death of Gustavus occasioned, 
 throughout the Protestant kingdoms of Europe, a 
 feeling of dismay and despondency, which was violent 
 in proportion as it was sudden and unexpected. Men 
 had been so long familiarised to almost daily accounts 
 of wonders performed and dangers surmounted by his 
 conduct, as almost to consider him charmed from 
 ordinary casualties, and to forget that he was, to use 
 his own words, as liable to the chances of battle as 
 the least-noticed soldier who fought beneath his ensign. 
 In addition to this, his moderation and courtesy, his 
 fervent piety and known eagerness to soften the cala- 
 mities unavoidably attendant in the train of war, 
 attracted so general a regard towards him, that even 
 in the retired circles of private life, the sensation oc- 
 casioned by the intelligence of his fall was nearly akin 
 to that which follows the intimation of the sudden 
 demise of an old and esteemed friend. Even among 
 his enemies, multitudes were found who gave their 
 full testimony to his merits ; and Pope Urban VIII. 
 did not hesitate to express openly his high sense of his 
 many excellent qualities, and his regret at his prema- 
 ture end. The house of Austria discovered its full 
 appreciation of the talents of the enemy from whom 
 it had just been delivered, by public rejoicings, con- 
 cealed in Germany under the form of religious thanks- 
 givings for the event of Lutzen, but openly manifested 
 throughout Spain by public fetes, and bonfires kindled 
 in the streets of the principal cities. The court of 
 Philip IV. was even entertained with a drama in 
 fourteen acts, written expressly for the occasion, and 
 entitled " The Last Days of Gustavus Adolphus," 
 which none who were unwilling to be considered 
 enemies to the reigning family declined to attend. 
 The results of the victories of Gustavus, however, 
 were felt long after his disappearance from the scene 
 of contention ; and the effect of his diversion in favour 
 of the German liberties was too powerful to allow of
 
 THE LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 443 
 
 counteraction, although many years of fierce and de- 
 structive warfare were yet to pass away before they 
 were fully established by the general pacification of 
 Munster in 1648. The balance which had dropped 
 from the hands of the Swedish monarch on the plains 
 of Lutzen, was in the meantime held with a steady 
 grasp by Oxenstiern, who remained to represent his 
 vigorous and uncompromising policy ; while a crowd 
 of generals, trained under his own inspection, among 
 whom were to be found the names of the Duke of 
 Saxe- Weimar, Horn, Banner, Wrangel, and Torsten- 
 son, continued nobly to maintain the honour of the 
 Swedish arms, until the less obstinate disposition of 
 Ferdinand III., the weariness of all parties engaged, 
 and the dreadful state of exhaustion to which Ger- 
 many was reduced by thirty years of uninterrupted 
 warfare, concurred to put an end to a contest which, 
 from its singular fluctuations, the character of the 
 chief actors engaged, and the important interests ad- 
 vocated in it, together with its effects upon the whole 
 political constitution of Europe, stands almost alone 
 in point of interest among the many similar con- 
 vulsions which history has recorded for the instruction 
 and warning of subsequent generations. 
 
 The body of the king, after being conveyed to 
 Weissenfels, was opened and prepared for embalm- 
 ment by an apothecary of the place. His heart is 
 said to have excited general astonishment by its 
 extraordinary size : but all the internal organs were 
 found in so healthy a state, as to indicate that he 
 would probably have lived to an advanced age, if his 
 days had not been shortened by premature violence. 
 His queen, who had hastened from Erfurt almost in 
 a state of distraction, on receiving intelligence of the 
 calamity which had befallen her, soon after arrived at 
 Weissenfels, and took her station as chief mourner 
 beside the body, which she scarcely quitted for a 
 moment until its final interment under her direction.
 
 414 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 
 
 The funeral procession, received, wherever it passed, 
 with the highest marks of honour and respect, set 
 out for the castle of Wolgast in Pomerania, where 
 the remains of the Deliverer of Germany lay in state 
 for some months. The ceremony of their removal 
 from Wolgast to the vessel appointed to convey them 
 to Sweden, was marked by all the melancholy mag- 
 nificence which the renown of the deceased conqueror 
 appeared to require. Many of the most distinguished 
 German princes and nobles availed themselves of this 
 opportunity to show their feelings of respect towards 
 the memory of a protector who had so often con- 
 ducted their armies to conquest, and accompanied the 
 body as far as the sea-shore. Four thousand Swe- 
 dish soldiers, clothed in deep mourning, and with 
 arms reversed, formed a guard of honour, preceding 
 the bier, which was followed by more than a hun- 
 dred horses caparisoned in black. The royal standard 
 of Sweden, so heavy with emblazonry as to require 
 the strength of several persons to support and display 
 it ; the richly-inlaid armour of Gustavus, together 
 with his sword recovered from the field of Lutzen, 
 and the pistol-ball by which he had perished, held 
 by one of his favourite generals, and yet stained with 
 his blood, were among the objects which attracted 
 the general interest of the spectators.* The flotilla 
 arrived off the coast of Sweden early in the month 
 of August 1633, and the funeral procession, advanc- 
 ing to Nykoping, was there met by the queen- 
 mother and a deputation of the Swedish senate, by 
 whom the body was accompanied to the castle of 
 Stockholm, in which it was deposited, until the tomb 
 appointed to receive it should be prepared. Contem- 
 porary historians have remarked that, at the moment 
 of its disembarkation, the sky, hitherto serene, was 
 suddenly overcast, and that the thunder of a tre- 
 
 * Order how the King of Sweden's Corpse was conveyed from 
 Wolgast, &c. London, 1633.
 
 THE LIFE OF GTJSTATUS ADOLPHUS. 445 
 
 mendous tempest, answering that of the artillery 
 from the forts and ships of war, seemed to indicate a 
 willingness, even on the part of inanimate nature 
 itself, to join in the funeral honours of the deceased 
 hero. After remaining for more than a year in the 
 castle of Stockholm, the royal remains were at length 
 solemnly interred in the mausoleum erected for their 
 reception, which is still to be seen inscribed with an 
 epitaph scarcely worthy of the deceased whose virtues 
 it commemorates*. The text of the sermon preached 
 on the occasion by the bishop of Nykoping, was 
 taken from the 9th chapter of the first book of Mac- 
 cabees, and selected by Maria Eleanora herself; whose 
 grief, long continuing deep and inconsolable, and dis- 
 playing itself in a manner common with persons of a 
 highly-imaginative temperament, seemed to take a 
 
 * The inscription on the tomb is as follows : 
 "Gloria Altissimo 
 
 Suorum refugio 
 
 Sepultura Potentissimi Principis 
 Gustavi Adolphi Magni, 
 
 Dei gmtia 
 Regnorum Sueciae Regis incomparabilis, 
 
 Qui 
 
 Regno undique bostibus obsesso 
 
 Ad Imperium intravit : 
 
 Pacatis denique Danis, 
 
 Moscoque et Polono mitioribus factis,, 
 
 Regnum ampliavit 
 Summ&que prudentia regnum gubernavit. 
 
 Tandem retruso Caesare 
 Germanisque a Papae defonnatione 
 
 liberatis, 
 In pugn& Lutzensi Victor 
 
 Heroice occubuit 
 
 vi Cal. Novem. Anno Dom. MDCXXXII. 
 
 IN AUGUSTUS INTRATIT : 
 
 Pietatem amavit 
 
 Hostes prostravit 
 
 Regnum dilatavit 
 
 Suecos exaltavit 
 
 Oppresses liberavit : 
 
 MORIKNS THIUMPHAVIT."
 
 446 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 melancholy satisfaction in keeping its painful remi- 
 niscences alive by the aid of all external circum- 
 stances. Long after the last funeral solemnities had 
 been performed, she continued to keep in her cham- 
 ber a golden box containing the heart of her deceased 
 husband, which she would not permit to be com- 
 mitted to the tomb with the body, visiting it several 
 times in the day to renew her tears and expressions 
 of lamentation ; and when she was at length induced 
 by the entreaties of the senate, who feared the effects 
 of this singular indulgence of sorrow upon her health, 
 to consent to its interment, instituted in memory of 
 the circumstance the celebrated Order of the Golden 
 Heart, the decoration of which, distributed equally 
 among both sexes, and worn by almost all the 
 nobility of her court, consisted of a medal bearing 
 a heart-shaped figure, inscribed with a motto in 
 Swedish in honour of Gustavus Adolphus. 
 
 In concluding the history of the great monarch, 
 whose exploits have been imperfectly recorded in the 
 preceding pages, it would be superfluous to enter into 
 anything like a minute analysis of his character, or to 
 assign the exact degree of preponderance or deficiency 
 to the qualities of which it was composed. Such an 
 estimate will be far better formed from his actions 
 themselves, and must, after all, materially vary with 
 the tastes, ages, and temperaments of different readers. 
 Yet it should never be forgotten, and it is a truth 
 which it may neither be inappropriate nor unneces- 
 sary to repeat, after the display of much adapted to 
 excite the imagination and enlist the heart in favour 
 of what is in itself pernicious, false, and hollow, 
 that, imposing as may be the fancied or real excel- 
 lencies of the triumphant warrior, pursuing his course 
 in the light of victory, amidst the acclamations of an 
 applauding world, and armed with the thunder ,of 
 physical power in defence of the violated rights and 
 liberties of oppressed nations there is a character
 
 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 447 
 
 which, when weighed in that awful balance whence 
 everything calculated to dazzle and mislead the senses 
 will be rigorously rejected, will be pronounced by the 
 evidence of heavenly truth itself (if indeed the oppo- 
 site qualities of each can admit of a momentary coun- 
 terpoise) of infinitely greater value a character 
 whose conquests are tearless whose victories, if 
 uncelebrated by the voice of time, will assuredly be 
 hailed by the blessings of eternity ; and which, if 
 unknown or unappreciated in a state of nature, is 
 among the first fruits of that influence by which 
 nature is adorned and fitted for a better state of 
 existence; which opposes meekness to persecution, 
 blessing to reviling ; and, separating the commissioned 
 agent of evil from the trial of patience in which he is 
 necessarily employed, is circumscribed in the exercise 
 of its charity and beneficence but by the boundaries 
 of human existence itself. It is consoling to remem- 
 ber, after reflecting upon the wasting destruction 
 which has distinguished the annals of so many ages, 
 and unfortunately of none more than our own, that 
 the judgment of men seems fast verging to a due esti- 
 mate of that harmless beauty and excellence, that 
 majestic forbearance and subduing spirit of love, 
 which, figuratively shadowed by the poets of anti- 
 quity as distinguishing the commencement of the 
 history of mankind, we are assured by the more 
 certain voice of prophecy shall shine forth with 
 unclouded lustre towards its close that the world is 
 fast approaching a period in its destinies when the 
 name of war shall exist but among the reminiscences 
 of things that are past ; and when the array of 
 nation against nation, and the desolation occasioned 
 by licensed hatred and violence, shall be regarded as 
 the geologist contemplates the terrible indications of 
 past convulsions, which, during the course of unre- 
 corded cycles, may have shaken to its centre the 
 ponderous mass of the globe he inhabits, but have
 
 448 THE LIFE OP GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS. 
 
 now no longer a place in the list of existing pheno- 
 mena. Yet, even amidst the light of such a period ; 
 when the sentence of unprejudiced justice shall award 
 to the generality of the disturbers of the peace of 
 earth the full censure which their heartless ambition 
 merits, the name of Gustavus Adolphus will proba- 
 bly excite feelings of pity rather than of indignation. 
 The many virtues for which he stands singularly 
 conspicuous and eminent above all his contemporaries, 
 may be thought in some degree to compensate for 
 faults from which few, occupying the same station in 
 far more enlightened periods, have been exempt ; and 
 if the justice of the cause in which his arms were 
 employed does not place him in the same rank with 
 those patriots who have encountered labour, priva- 
 tion, and death, in defence of an enthralled country, 
 he will at least be thought not undeserving of as 
 much praise as is contained in the title of the mildest 
 the humblest, the noblest the most pious, and the 
 least interested of conquerors. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
 
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