assaulted the Polish entrenchments on the banks of the Niester, but was repelled with the loss of about thirty thousand men. The discouraged soltan now proposed an armistice, to which his adversary readily assented'.]

Gustavus Adolphus was a minor by the law of Sweden when he ascended the throne; but he was permitted by the states of the realm to assume the personal exercise of government. He soon signalized himself by his exploits against the Danes, the ancient enemies of his crown. Profiting afterwards by peace, which he had found necessary, he applied himself to the study of civil affairs; and, in the course of a wise and vigorous administration, supported by salutary laws, he reformed many public abuses, improved the state of the community, and increased the respectability of the realm. His cousin Sigismund treating him as an usurper, and refusing peace, when offered by Gustavus, he over-ran Livonia, Prussia, and Lithuania'. An advantageous truce of six years, concluded with Poland, in 1629, gave him leisure to take part in the affairs of Germany, and to exhibit more fully those heroic qualities which will ever be the admiration of mankind.

Gustavus had various reasons for making war against the emperor. Ferdinand had assisted his enemy, the king of Poland, had treated the Swedish ambassador with disrespect, and had formed a project for extending his dominion over the Baltic. If the king of Sweden should look tamely on, till the German princes were finally subjected, the independence of the northern kingdoms, he thought, would be exposed to great danger.

But the motives which chiefly induced Gustavus to take arms against the head of the empire were the love of glory and zeal for the Protestant religion. These, however, did not transport him beyond the bounds of prudence. He imparted his design to the states of Sweden; and he negotiated with France, England, and Holland, before he began his march. Charles I., still

1 Bizardière.

2 Loccen. lib. viii.-Puffend. lib. ii.-During this war, the practice of duelling rose to such a height, both among officers and private men, that Gustavus published a severe edict, denouncing death against every offender: and by a strict execution of that edict, the evil was effectually removed. (Harte's Life of Gustavus, vol. i.) When two of the generals demanded permission to decide a quarrel by the sword, he gave a seeming consent, and told them he would himself be an eye-witness of their valour and prowess. He accordingly appeared on the ground, but was accompanied by the public executioner, who had orders to cut off the head of the conqueror. The high-spirited combatants, subdued by such firmness, fell on their knees at the king's feet, were ordered to embrace, and continued friends to the end of their lives. Scheffer, Memorand. Suec. Gent

desirous of the restoration of the Palatine, agreed to send the king of Sweden six thousand men. These troops were raised in the name of the marquis of Hamilton, and supposed to be maintained by that nobleman, that the appearance of neutrality might be preserved'. The people were more forward than the king. The flower of Gustavus's army, and many of his best officers, by the time he entered Germany, consisted of Scottish and English adventurers, who thronged over to support the Protestant cause, and to seek renown under the champion of their religion'; so that the conquests even of this illustrious hero may partly be ascribed to British valour and British sagacity!

The most necessary supply, however, that Gustavus received, was an annual subsidy from Cardinal Richelieu of twelve hundred thousand livres; a small sum in our days, but considerable at that time, especially in a country where the precious metals are still scarce. The treaty between France and Sweden is a masterA.D. piece in politics. Gustavus agreed, in consideration of the 1631. stipulated subsidy, to maintain in Germany an army of thirty-six thousand men; bound himself to observe a strict neutrality toward the duke of Bavaria, and all the princes of the Catholic league, on condition that they should not join the emperor against the Swedes; and to preserve the rights of the Romish church, wherever he should find it established'. By these ingenious stipulations, which do so much honour to the genius of Richelieu, the Catholic princes were not only freed from all alarm on the score of religion, but furnished with a pretext for withholding their assistance from the emperor, as a step which would expose them to the arms of Sweden.

Gustavus had entered Pomerania when this treaty was concluded, and soon after made himself master of Colberg, Frankfort upon the Oder, and several other important places. The Protestant princes, however, were still backward in declaring themselves, lest they should be separately crushed by the imperial power, before the king of Sweden could march to their assistance. In order to put an end to this irresolution, Gustavus summoned the elector of Brandenburg to declare himself openly in three days; and, on receiving an evasive answer, he marched directly to Berlin. This spirited conduct had the desired effect the gates were thrown open, and the king was received as a friend. He was soon after joined by the landgrave

1 Rushworth, vol. i.

2 Burnet's Mem. of the House of Hamilton, vol. i. Londorp. Act. Pub. vol. iv.

of Hesse and the elector of Saxony, who, being persecuted by the Catholic confederates, put themselves under his protection. He now marched towards Leipsic, where Tilly lay en- Sept. 7. camped. That experienced general advanced into the N.S. plain of Breitenfeld to meet his antagonist, at the head of thirty thousand veterans. The king's army consisted nearly of an equal number of men; but the Saxon auxiliaries, being raw and undisciplined, fled at the first onset; yet did Gustavus, by his superior conduct, and the superior prowess of the Swedes, obtain a complete victory over Tilly and the Imperialists'.

This blow threw Ferdinand into the utmost consternation; and if the king of Sweden had marched immediately to Vienna, it is supposed that he could have made himself master of that capital. But it is impossible for human foresight to discern all the advantages that may be reaped from a great stroke of good fortune. Hannibal wasted his time at Capua, after the battle of Cannæ, when he might have led his victorious army to Rome; and Gustavus Adolphus, instead of besieging Vienna, or ravaging the emperor's hereditary dominions, took a different route, and had the satisfaction of erecting a column on the opposite bank of the Rhine, in order to perpetuate the progress of his arms3.

The consequences of the battle of Leipsic, however, were great; nor did Gustavus fail to improve that victory which he had so gloriously earned. He was instantly joined by all the members of the Evangelical Union, whom his success had inspired with courage. The measures of the Catholic confederates were utterly disconcerted: and the king of Sweden made himself master of the whole country from the Elbe to the Rhine-a space of about ninety leagues, abounding with fortified towns.

The elector of Saxony, in the mean time, entered Bohemia, and took Prague. Count Tilly was killed in disput- April 15, 1632. ing with the Swedes the passage of the Lech and N.S. Gustavus, who by that passage gained immortal honour, soon after reduced Augsburg, and there re-established the Protestant religion. He then marched into Bavaria, where he found the gates of almost every city thrown open on his approach. He entered the capital in triumph, and there had an opportunity of displaying the liberality of his mind. When pressed to revenge

1 Pet. Bapt. Burg. de Bello Suecico Comment. lib. ii.-Harte's Life of Gustavus, vol. ii.

2 Mercure François.-Harte, vol. ii.

on Munich the cruelties (too horrid to be described) which Tilly had perpetrated at Magdeburgh, to give up the city to pillage, and reduce the elector's magnificent palace to ashes, "No!" replied he: "let us not imitate the barbarity of the Goths, our ancestors, who rendered their memory detestable by abusing the rights of conquest, in doing violence to humanity, and destroying the precious monuments of art'."

During these transactions, the renowned Wallestein, who had been for some time in disgrace, but was restored to the chief command with unlimited powers, soon after the defeat at Leipsic, had recovered Prague, and the greater part of Bohemia. Gustavus offered him battle near Nuremberg; but the cautious veteran prudently declined the challenge, and the king was repulsed in attempting to force his entrenchments. The action lasted for ten hours, during which every regiment in the Swedish army, not excepting the body of reserve, was led on to the attack.

The king's person was in imminent danger; the Austrian cavalry sallying out furiously from their entrenchments on the right and the left, when the efforts of the Swedes began to slacken; and a masterly retreat alone could have saved him from a total overthrow. That service was partly performed by an old Scotch colonel of the name of Hepburn, who had resigned his commission in disgust, but was present at this assault. To him Gustavus applied in his distress, seeing no officer of equal experience at hand, and trusting to the colonel's natural generosity of spirit. He was not deceived. Hepburn's pride overcame his resentment. "This," said he, (and he persevered in his resolution) "is the last time that ever I will serve so ungrateful a prince !"-Elate with the opportunity of gathering fresh laurels, and of exalting himself in the eyes of a master by whom he thought himself injured, he rushed into the midst of the battle, delivered the orders of the king of Sweden to his army, and conducted the retreat with so much order and ability, that the Imperialists durst not give him the smallest disturbance'.

This severe check, and happy escape from almost inevitable ruin, ought surely to have moderated the ardour of Gustavus. But it had not sufficiently that effect. In marching to the

1 Harte, vol. ii.-La Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII.

2 Mod. Univ. Hist. art. Swed. sect. viii.-This anecdote relative to Hepburn is told somewhat differently by Mr. Harte; who, jealous of the honour of his hero Gustavus, seems scrupulous in admitting the merit of the Scottish and English officers.

assistance of the elector of Saxony, he again gave battle to Wallestein with an inferior force, in the wide plain of Lutzen, and lost his life in a hot engagement, which terminated in the defeat of the imperial army. That engagement was attended with circumstances sufficiently memorable to merit a particular detail.

Soon after the king of Sweden arrived at Naumburg, he learned that Wallestein had moved his camp from Weissenfels to Lutzen; and although that movement freed him from all necessity of fighting, as it left open his way into Saxony by Degaw, he was keenly stimulated by an appetite for battle. He accordingly convened in his own apartment his two favourite generals, Bernard, duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Kniphausen, and desired them to give their opinions freely, and without reserve. The youthful and ardent spirit of the duke, congenial to that of the king, instantly caught fire; and he declared in favour of an engagement. But Kniphausen, whose courage was matured by reflection and chastised by experience, steadily and uniformly dissuaded the king from hazarding an action at that juncture, as contrary to the true principles of military science. "No commander," said he, "ought to encounter an enemy greatly superior to him in strength, unless compelled so to do by some pressing necessity. Now your majesty is neither circumscribed in place, nor in want of provisions, forage, or warlike stores '."

Gustavus seemed to acquiesce in the opinion of this able and experienced general; yet he was still ambitious of a new trial in arms with Wallestein. And being informed, on his nearer approach, that the imperial army had received no alarm, nor the general any intelligence of his motions, he declared his resolution of giving battle to the enemy.

That declaration was received with the strongest demonstrations of applause and the most lively expressions of joy. At one moment the whole Swedish army made its evolutions and pointed its course toward the imperial camp. No troops were ever known to advance with so much alacrity; but their ardour was damped and their vigour wasted, before they could reach the camp of their antagonists. By a mistake in computing the distance, they had eight miles to march instead of five, and chiefly through fresh-ploughed lands, the passage of which was difficult beyond description; the miry ground clinging to the feet and legs of the soldiers, and reaching, in some places, almost as high as the knee'.

Harte, vol. ii.

2 Id. Ibid.