MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER.
PART I.
It may suffice the reader, without being very inquisitive after myname, that I was born in the county of Salop, in the year 1608, underthe government of what star I was never astrologer enough toexamine; but the consequences of my life may allow me to suppose someextraordinary influence affected my birth.
My father was a gentleman of a very plentiful fortune, having anestate of above L5000 per annum, of a family nearly allied to severalof the principal nobility, and lived about six miles from the town;and my mother being at ---- on some particular occasion, was surprisedthere at a friend's house, and brought me very safe into the world.
I was my father's second son, and therefore was not altogether so muchslighted as younger sons of good families generally are. But my fathersaw something in my genius also which particularly pleased him, and somade him take extraordinary care of my education.
I was taught, therefore, by the best masters that could be had,everything that was needful to accomplish a young gentleman for theworld; and at seventeen years old my tutor told my father an academiceducation was very proper for a person of quality, and he thought mevery fit for it: so my father entered me of ---- College in Oxford,where I continued three years.
A collegiate life did not suit me at all, though I loved books wellenough. It was never designed that I should be either a lawyer,physician, or divine; and I wrote to my father that I thought I hadstayed there long enough for a gentleman, and with his leave I desiredto give him a visit.
During my stay at Oxford, though I passed through the proper exercisesof the house, yet my chief reading was upon history and geography,as that which pleased my mind best, and supplied me with ideas mostsuitable to my genius; by one I understood what great actions had beendone in the world, and by the other I understood where they had beendone.
My father readily complied with my desire of coming home; for besidesthat he thought, as I did, that three years' time at the universitywas enough, he also most passionately loved me, and began to think ofmy settling near him.
At my arrival I found myself extraordinarily caressed by my father,and he seemed to take a particular delight in my conversation. Mymother, who lived in perfect union with him both in desires andaffection, received me very passionately. Apartments were provided forme by myself, and horses and servants allowed me in particular.
My father never went a-hunting, an exercise he was exceeding fond of,but he would have me with him; and it pleased him when he found melike the sport. I lived thus, in all the pleasures 'twas possible forme to enjoy, for about a year more, when going out one morning with myfather to hunt a stag, and having had a very hard chase, and gottena great way off from home, we had leisure enough to ride gently back;and as we returned my father took occasion to enter into a seriousdiscourse with me concerning the manner of my settling in the world.
He told me, with a great deal of passion, that he loved me above allthe rest of his children, and that therefore he intended to do verywell for me; and that my eldest brother being already marriedand settled, he had designed the same for me, and proposed a veryadvantageous match for me, with a young lady of very extraordinaryfortune and merit, and offered to make a settlement of L2000 per annumon me, which he said he would purchase for me without diminishing hispaternal estate.
There was too much tenderness in this discourse not to affect meexceedingly. I told him I would perfectly resign myself unto hisdisposal. But as my father had, together with his love for me, a verynice judgment in his discourse, he fixed his eyes very attentively onme, and though my answer was without the least reserve, yet hethought he saw some uneasiness in me at the proposal, and from thenceconcluded that my compliance was rather an act of discretion thaninclination; and that, however I seemed so absolutely given up to whathe had proposed, yet my answer was really an effect of my obediencerather than my choice.
So he returned very quick upon me: "Look you, son, though I give youmy own thoughts in the matter, yet I would have you be very plain withme; for if your own choice does not agree with mine, I will be youradviser, but will never impose upon you, and therefore let me knowyour mind freely." "I don't reckon myself capable, sir," said I, witha great deal of respect, "to make so good a choice for myself as youcan for me; and though my opinion differed from yours, its being youropinion would reform mine, and my judgment would as readily comply asmy duty." "I gather at least from thence," said my father, "that yourdesigns lay another way before, however they may comply with mine; andtherefore I would know what it was you would have asked of me if I hadnot offered this to you; and you must not deny me your obedience inthis, if you expect I should believe your readiness in the other."
"Sir," said I, "'twas impossible I should lay out for myself justwhat you have proposed; but if my inclinations were never so contrary,though at your command you shall know them, yet I declare them to bewholly subjected to your order. I confess my thoughts did not tendtowards marriage or a settlement; for, though I had no reason toquestion your care of me, yet I thought a gentleman ought always tosee something of the world before he confined himself to any part ofit. And if I had been to ask your consent to anything, it should havebeen to give me leave to travel for a short time, in order to qualifymyself to appear at home like a son to so good a father."
"In what capacity would you travel?" replied my father. "You must goabroad either as a private gentleman, as a scholar, or as a soldier.""If it were in the latter capacity, sir," said I, returning prettyquick, "I hope I should not misbehave myself; but I am not sodetermined as not to be ruled by your judgment." "Truly," replied myfather, "I see no war abroad at this time worth while for a man toappear in, whether we talk of the cause or the encouragement; andindeed, son, I am afraid you need not go far for adventures of thatnature, for times seem to look as if this part of Europe would find uswork enough." My father spake then relating to the quarrel likelyto happen between the King of England and the Spaniard,' [1] for Ibelieve he had no notions of a civil war in his head.
In short, my father, perceiving my inclinations very forward to goabroad, gave me leave to travel, upon condition I would promise toreturn in two years at farthest, or sooner, if he sent for me.
While I was at Oxford I happened into the society of a younggentleman, of a good family, but of a low fortune, being a youngerbrother, and who had indeed instilled into me the first desires ofgoing abroad, and who, I knew, passionately longed to travel, but hadnot sufficient allowance to defray his expenses as a gentleman. Wehad contracted a very close friendship, and our humours being veryagreeable to one another, we daily enjoyed the conversation ofletters. He was of a generous free temper, without the leastaffectation or deceit, a handsome proper person, a strong body, verygood mien, and brave to the last degree. His name was Fielding and wecalled him Captain, though it be a very unusual title in a college;but fate had some hand in the title, for he had certainly the lines ofa soldier drawn in his countenance. I imparted to him the resolutionsI had taken, and how I had my father's consent to go abroad, and wouldknow his mind whether he would go with me. He sent me word he would gowith all his heart.
My father, when he saw him, for I sent for him immediately to cometo me, mightily approved my choice; so we got our equipage ready, andcame away for London.
'Twas on the 22nd of April 1630, when we embarked at Dover, landed ina few hours at Calais, and immediately took post for Paris. I shallnot trouble the reader with a journal of my travels, nor with thedescription of places, which every geographer can do better than I;but these Memoirs being only a relation of what happened either toourselves, or in our own knowledge, I shall confine myself to thatpart of it.
We had indeed some diverting passages in our journey to Paris, asfirst, the horse my comrade was upon fell so very lame with a slipthat he could not go, and hardly stand, and the fellow that rid withus express, pretended to ride away to a town five miles off to get afresh horse, and so left us on the road with one horse between two ofus
. We followed as well as we could, but being strangers, missed theway, and wandered a great way out the road. Whether the man performedin reasonable time or not we could not be sure, but if it had not beenfor an old priest, we had never found him. We met this man, by a verygood accident, near a little village whereof he was curate. We spokeLatin enough just to make him understand us, and he did not speak itmuch better himself; but he carried us into the village to his house,gave us wine and bread, and entertained us with wonderful courtesy.After this he sent into the village, hired a peasant, and a horse formy captain, and sent him to guide us into the road. At parting hemade a great many compliments to us in French, which we could justunderstand; but the sum was, to excuse him for a question he hada mind to ask us. After leave to ask what he pleased, it was if wewanted any money for our journey, and pulled out two pistoles, whichhe offered either to give or lend us.
I mention this exceeding courtesy of the curate because, thoughcivility is very much in use in France, and especially to strangers,yet 'tis a very unusual thing to have them part with their money.
We let the priest know, first, that we did not want money, and nextthat we were very sensible of the obligation he had put upon us; andI told him in particular, if I lived to see him again, I wouldacknowledge it.
This accident of our horse was, as we afterwards found, of some useto us. We had left our two servants behind us at Calais to bring ourbaggage after us, by reason of some dispute between the captain of thepacket and the custom-house officer, which could not be adjusted, andwe were willing to be at Paris. The fellows followed as fast as theycould, and, as near as we could learn, in the time we lost our way,were robbed, and our portmanteaus opened. They took what they pleased;but as there was no money there, but linen and necessaries, the losswas not great.
Our guide carried us to Amiens, where we found the express and our twoservants, who the express meeting on the road with a spare horse, hadbrought back with him thither.
We took this for a good omen of our successful journey, having escapeda danger which might have been greater to us than it was to ourservants; for the highwaymen in France do not always give a travellerthe civility of bidding him stand and deliver his money, butfrequently fire on him first, and then take his money.
We stayed one day at Amiens, to adjust this little disorder, andwalked about the town, and into the great church, but saw nothingvery remarkable there; but going across a broad street near the greatchurch, we saw a crowd of people gazing at a mountebank doctor, whomade a long harangue to them with a thousand antic postures, and gaveout bills this way, and boxes of physic that way, and had a greattrade, when on a sudden the people raised a cry, "_Larron, Larron_!"(in English, "Thief, thief"), on the other side the street, and allthe auditors ran away, from Mr Doctor to see what the matter was.Among the rest we went to see, and the case was plain and shortenough. Two English gentlemen and a Scotchman, travellers as we were,were standing gazing at this prating doctor, and one of them catcheda fellow picking his pocket. The fellow had got some of his money, forhe dropped two or three pieces just by him, and had got hold ofhis watch, but being surprised let it slip again. But the reason oftelling this story is for the management of it. This thief had hisseconds so ready, that as soon as the Englishman had seized him theyfell in, pretended to be mighty zealous for the stranger, takes thefellow by the throat, and makes a great bustle; the gentleman notdoubting but the man was secured let go his own hold of him, and lefthim to them. The hubbub was great, and 'twas these fellows cried,"_Larron, larron_!" but with a dexterity peculiar to themselves hadlet the right fellow go, and pretended to be all upon one of their owngang. At last they bring the man to the gentleman to ask him what thefellow had done, who, when he saw the person they seized on, presentlytold them that was not the man. Then they seemed to be in moreconsternation than before, and spread themselves all over the street,crying, "_Larron, larron_!" pretending to search for the fellow; andso one one way, one another, they were all gone, the noise went over,the gentlemen stood looking one at another, and the bawling doctorbegan to have the crowd about him again. This was the first Frenchtrick I had the opportunity of seeing, but I was told they have agreat many more as dexterous as this.
We soon got acquaintance with these gentlemen, who were going toParis, as well as we; so the next day we made up our company withthem, and were a pretty troop of five gentlemen and four servants.
As we had really no design to stay long at Paris, so indeed, exceptingthe city itself, there was not much to be seen there. CardinalRichelieu, who was not only a supreme minister in the Church, butPrime Minister in the State, was now made also General of the King'sForces, with a title never known in France before nor since, viz.,Lieutenant-General "au place du Roi," in the king's stead, or, as somehave since translated it, representing the person of the king.
Under this character he pretended to execute all the royal powers inthe army without appeal to the king, or without waiting for orders;and having parted from Paris the winter before had now actually begunthe war against the Duke of Savoy, in the process of which he restoredthe Duke of Mantua, and having taken Pignerol from the duke, put itinto such a state of defence as the duke could never force it out ofhis hands, and reduced the duke, rather by manage and conduct thanby force, to make peace without it; so as annexing it to the crown ofFrance it has ever since been a thorn in his foot that has alwaysmade the peace of Savoy lame and precarious, and France has since madePignerol one of the strongest fortresses in the world.
As the cardinal, with all the military part of the court, was in thefield, so the king, to be near him, was gone with the queen and allthe court, just before I reached Paris, to reside at Lyons. All theseconsidered, there was nothing to do at Paris; the court looked like acitizen's house when the family was all gone into the country, andI thought the whole city looked very melancholy, compared to all thefine things I had heard of it.
The queen-mother and her party were chagrined at the cardinal, who,though he owed his grandeur to her immediate favour, was now grown toogreat any longer to be at the command of her Majesty, or indeed in herinterest; and therefore the queen was under dissatisfaction and herparty looked very much down.
The Protestants were everywhere disconsolate, for the losses they hadreceived at Rochelle, Nimes, and Montpelier had reduced them to anabsolute dependence on the king's will, without all possible hopes ofever recovering themselves, or being so much as in a condition totake arms for their religion, and therefore the wisest of them plainlyforesaw their own entire reduction, as it since came to pass. And Iremember very well that a Protestant gentleman told me once, as wewere passing from Orleans to Lyons, that the English had ruined them;and therefore, says he, "I think the next occasion the king takes touse us ill, as I know 'twill not be long before he does, we must allfly over to England, where you are bound to maintain us for havinghelped to turn us out of our own country." I asked him what he meantby saying the English had done it? He returned short upon me: "I donot mean," says he, "by not relieving Rochelle, but by helping to ruinRochelle, when you and the Dutch lent ships to beat our fleet, whichall the ships in France could not have done without you."
I was too young in the world to be very sensible of this before, andtherefore was something startled at the charge; but when I came todiscourse with this gentleman, I soon saw the truth of what he saidwas undeniable, and have since reflected on it with regret, that thenaval power of the Protestants, which was then superior to the royal,would certainly have been the recovery of all their fortunes, had itnot been unhappily broke by their brethren of England and Holland,the former lending seven men-of-war, and the latter twenty, for thedestruction of the Rochellers' fleet; and by these very ships theRochellers' fleet were actually beaten and destroyed, and they neverafterwards recovered their force at sea, and by consequence sunk underthe siege, which the English afterwards in vain attempted to prevent.
These things made the Protestants look very dull, and expected theruin of all their party, whi
ch had certainly happened had the cardinallived a few years longer.
We stayed in Paris, about three weeks, as well to see the court andwhat rarities the place afforded, as by an occasion which had like tohave put a short period to our ramble.
Walking one morning before the gate of the Louvre, with a design tosee the Swiss drawn up, which they always did, and exercised justbefore they relieved the guards, a page came up to me, and speakingEnglish to me, "Sir," says he, "the captain must needs have yourimmediate assistance." I, that had not the knowledge of any personin Paris but my own companion, whom I called captain, had no room toquestion, but it was he that sent for me; and crying out hastily tohim, "Where?" followed the fellow as fast as 'twas possible. He ledme through several passages which I knew not, and at last through atennis-court and into a large room, where three men, like gentlemen,were engaged very briskly two against one. The room was very dark, sothat I could not easily know them asunder, but being fully possessedwith an opinion before of my captain's danger, I ran into the roomwith my sword in my hand. I had not particularly engaged any of them,nor so much as made a pass at any, when I received a very dangerousthrust in my thigh, rather occasioned by my too hasty running in,than a real design of the person; but enraged at the hurt, withoutexamining who it was hurt me, I threw myself upon him, and run mysword quite through his body.
The novelty of the adventure, and the unexpected fall of the man bya stranger come in nobody knew how, had becalmed the other two, thatthey really stood gazing at me. By this time I had discovered that mycaptain was not there, and that 'twas some strange accident broughtme thither. I could speak but little French, and supposed they couldspeak no English, so I stepped to the door to see for the page thatbrought me thither, but seeing nobody there and the passage clear,I made off as fast as I could, without speaking a word; nor did theother two gentlemen offer to stop me.
But I was in a strange confusion when, coming into those entries andpassages which the page led me through, I could by no means find myway out. At last seeing a door open that looked through a house intothe street, I went in, and out at the other door; but then I was atas great a loss to know where I was, and which was the way to mylodgings. The wound in my thigh bled apace, and I could feel the bloodin my breeches. In this interval came by a chair; I called, and wentinto it, and bid them, as well as I could, go to the Louvre; forthough I knew not the name of the street where I lodged, I knew Icould find the way to it when I was at the Bastille. The chairmen wenton their own way, and being stopped by a company of the guards as theywent, set me down till the soldiers were marched by; when looking outI found I was just at my own lodging, and the captain was standing atthe door looking for me. I beckoned him to me, and, whispering, toldhim I was very much hurt, but bid him pay the chairmen, and ask noquestions but come to me.
I made the best of my way upstairs, but had lost so much blood, that Ihad hardly spirits enough to keep me from swooning till he came in.He was equally concerned with me to see me in such a bloody condition,and presently called up our landlord, and he as quickly called in hisneighbours, that I had a room full of people about me in a quarterof an hour. But this had like to have been of worse consequence to methan the other, for by this time there was great inquiring after theperson who killed a man at the tennis-court. My landlord was thensensible of his mistake, and came to me and told me the danger I wasin, and very honestly offered to convey me to a friend's of his, whereI should be very secure; I thanked him, and suffered myself to becarried at midnight whither he pleased. He visited me very often, tillI was well enough to walk about, which was not in less than ten days,and then we thought fit to be gone, so we took post for Orleans. Butwhen I came upon the road I found myself in a new error, for my woundopened again with riding, and I was in a worse condition than before,being forced to take up at a little village on the road, called ----,about ---- miles from Orleans, where there was no surgeon to be had,but a sorry country barber, who nevertheless dressed me as well as hecould, and in about a week more I was able to walk to Orleans at threetimes. Here I stayed till I was quite well, and took coach for Lyonsand so through Savoy into Italy.
I spent nearly two years' time after this bad beginning in travellingthrough Italy, and to the several courts of Rome, Naples, Venice, andVienna.
When I came to Lyons the king was gone from thence to Grenoble to meetthe cardinal, but the queens were both at Lyons.
The French affairs seemed at this time to have but an indifferentaspect. There was no life in anything but where the cardinal was: hepushed on everything with extraordinary conduct, and generally withsuccess; he had taken Susa and Pignerol from the Duke of Savoy, andwas preparing to push the duke even out of all his dominions.
But in the meantime everywhere else things looked ill; the troopswere ill-paid, the magazines empty, the people mutinous, and a generaldisorder seized the minds of the court; and the cardinal, who was thesoul of everything, desired this interview at Grenoble, in order toput things into some better method.
This politic minister always ordered matters so, that if there wassuccess in anything the glory was his, but if things miscarried it wasall laid upon the king. This conduct was so much the more nice, as itis the direct contrary to the custom in like cases, where kings assumethe glory of all the success in an action, and when a thing miscarriesmake themselves easy by sacrificing their ministers and favouritesto the complaints and resentments of the people; but this accuraterefined statesman got over this point.
While we were at Lyons, and as I remember, the third day after ourcoming thither, we had like to have been involved in a state broil,without knowing where we were. It was of a Sunday in the evening, thepeople of Lyons, who had been sorely oppressed in taxes, and the warin Italy pinching their trade, began to be very tumultuous. We foundthe day before the mob got together in great crowds, and talked oddly;the king was everywhere reviled, and spoken disrespectfully of, andthe magistrates of the city either winked at, or durst not attempt tomeddle, lest they should provoke the people.
But on Sunday night, about midnight, we were waked by a prodigiousnoise in the street. I jumped out of bed, and running to the window,I saw the street as full of mob as it could hold, some armed withmuskets and halberds, marched in very good order; others in disorderlycrowds, all shouting and crying out, "Du paix le roi," and the like.One that led a great party of this rabble carried a loaf of bread uponthe top of a pike, and other lesser loaves, signifying the smallnessof their bread, occasioned by dearness.
By morning this crowd was gathered to a great height; they ran rovingover the whole city, shut up all the shops, and forced all thepeople to join with them from thence. They went up to the castle, andrenewing the clamour, a strange consternation seized all the princes.
They broke open the doors of the officers, collectors of the newtaxes, and plundered their houses, and had not the persons themselvesfled in time they had been very ill-treated.
The queen-mother, as she was very much displeased to see suchconsequences of the government, in whose management she had no share,so I suppose she had the less concern upon her. However, she came intothe court of the castle and showed herself to the people, gave moneyamongst them, and spoke gently to them; and by a way peculiar toherself, and which obliged all she talked with, she pacified the mobgradually, sent them home with promises of redress and the like; andso appeased this tumult in two days by her prudence, which the guardsin the castle had small mind to meddle with, and if they had, would inall probability have made the better side the worse.
There had been several seditions of the like nature in sundry otherparts of France, and the very army began to murmur, though not tomutiny, for want of provisions.
This sedition at Lyons was not quite over when we left the place,for, finding the city all in a broil, we considered we had no businessthere, and what the consequence of a popular tumult might be we didnot see, so we prepared to be gone. We had not rid above three milesout of the city but we were brought as prisoners of war
, by a party ofmutineers, who had been abroad upon the scout, and were chargedwith being messengers sent to the cardinal for forces to reduce thecitizens. With these pretences they brought us back in triumph, andthe queen-mother, being by this time grown something familiar to them,they carried us before her.
When they inquired of us who we were, we called ourselves Scots; foras the English were very much out of favour in France at this time,the peace having been made not many months, and not supposed tobe very durable, because particularly displeasing to the people ofEngland, so the Scots were on the other extreme with the French.Nothing was so much caressed as the Scots, and a man had no more todo in France, if he would be well received there, than to say he was aScotchman.
When we came before the queen-mother she seemed to receive us withsome stiffness at first, and caused her guards to take us intocustody; but as she was a lady of most exquisite politics, she didthis to amuse the mob, and we were immediately after dismissed; andthe queen herself made a handsome excuse to us for the rudeness we hadsuffered, alleging the troubles of the times; and the next morning wehad three dragoons of the guards to convoy us out of the jurisdictionof Lyons.
I confess this little adventure gave me an aversion to popular tumultsall my life after, and if nothing else had been in the cause, wouldhave biassed me to espouse the king's party in England when ourpopular heats carried all before it at home.
But I must say, that when I called to mind since, the address, themanagement, the compliance in show, and in general the whole conductof the queen-mother with the mutinous people of Lyons, and compared itwith the conduct of my unhappy master the King of England, I could notbut see that the queen understood much better than King Charles themanagement of politics and the clamours of the people.
Had this princess been at the helm in England, she would haveprevented all the calamities of the Civil War here, and yet not haveparted with what that good prince yielded in order to peace neither.She would have yielded gradually, and then gained upon them gradually;she would have managed them to the point she had designed them, as shedid all parties in France; and none could effectually subject her butthe very man she had raised to be her principal support--I mean thecardinal.
We went from hence to Grenoble, and arrived there the same day thatthe king and the cardinal with the whole court went out to view a bodyof 6000 Swiss foot, which the cardinal had wheedled the cantons togrant to the king to help to ruin their neighbour the Duke of Savoy.
The troops were exceeding fine, well-accoutred, brave, clean-limbed,stout fellows indeed. Here I saw the cardinal; there was an air ofchurch gravity in his habit, but all the vigour of a general, andthe sprightliness of a vast genius in his face. He affected a littlestiffness in his behaviour, but managed all his affairs with suchclearness, such steadiness, and such application, that it was nowonder he had such success in every undertaking.
Here I saw the king, whose figure was mean, his countenance hollow,and always seemed dejected, and every way discovering that weakness inhis countenance that appeared in his actions.
If he was ever sprightly and vigorous it was when the cardinal waswith him, for he depended so much on everything he did, he that was atthe utmost dilemma when he was absent, always timorous, jealous, andirresolute.
After the review the cardinal was absent some days, having been towait on the queen-mother at Lyons, where, as it was discoursed, theywere at least seemingly reconciled.
I observed while the cardinal was gone there was no court, the kingwas seldom to be seen, very small attendance given, and no bustle atthe castle; but as soon as the cardinal returned, the great councilswere assembled, the coaches of the ambassadors went every day to thecastle, and a face of business appeared upon the whole court.
Here the measures of the Duke of Savoy's ruin were concerted, and inorder to it the king and the cardinal put themselves at the headof the army, with which they immediately reduced all Savoy, tookChamberri and the whole duchy except Montmelian.
The army that did this was not above 22,000 men, including the Swiss,and but indifferent troops neither, especially the French foot, who,compared to the infantry I have since seen in the German and Swedisharmies, were not fit to be called soldiers. On the other hand,considering the Savoyards and Italian troops, they were good troops;but the cardinal's conduct made amends for all these deficiencies.
From hence I went to Pignerol, which was then little more than asingle fortification on the hill near the town called St Bride's, butthe situation of that was very strong. I mention this because of theprodigious works since added to it, by which it has since obtained thename of "the right hand of France." They had begun a new line belowthe hill, and some works were marked out on the side of the town nextthe fort; but the cardinal afterwards drew the plan of the works withhis own hand, by which it was made one of the strongest fortresses inEurope.
While I was at Pignerol, the governor of Milan, for the Spaniards,came with an army and sat down before Casale. The grand quarrel,and for which the war in this part of Italy was begun, was this: TheSpaniards and Germans pretended to the duchy of Mantua; the Dukeof Nevers, a Frenchman, had not only a title to it, but had gotpossession of it; but being ill-supported by the French, was beatenout by the Imperialists, and after a long siege the Germans tookMantua itself, and drove the poor duke quite out of the country.
The taking of Mantua elevated the spirits of the Duke of Savoy, andthe Germans and Spaniards being now at more leisure, with a completearmy came to his assistance, and formed the siege of Montferrat.
For as the Spaniards pushed the Duke of Mantua, so the French byway of diversion lay hard upon the Duke of Savoy. They had seizedMontferrat, and held it for the Duke of Mantua, and had a strongFrench garrison under Thoiras, a brave and experienced commander; andthus affairs stood when we came into the French army.
I had no business there as a soldier, but having passed as a Scotchgentleman with the mob at Lyons, and after with her Majesty thequeen-mother, when we obtained the guard of her dragoons, we had alsoher Majesty's pass, with which we came and went where we pleased. Andthe cardinal, who was then not on very good terms with the queen, butwilling to keep smooth water there, when two or three times our passescame to be examined, showed a more than ordinary respect to us on thatvery account, our passes being from the queen.
Casale being besieged, as I have observed, began to be in danger, forthe cardinal, who 'twas thought had formed a design to ruin Savoy, wasmore intent upon that than upon the succour of the Duke of Mantua; butnecessity calling upon him to deliver so great a captain as Thoiras,and not to let such a place as Casale fall into the hands of theenemy, the king, or cardinal rather, ordered the Duke of Montmorency,and the Marechal D'Effiat, with 10,000 foot and 2000 horse, to marchand join the Marechals De La Force and Schomberg, who lay already withan army on the frontiers of Genoa, but too weak to attempt the raisingthe siege of Casale.
As all men thought there would be a battle between the French and theSpaniards, I could not prevail with myself to lose the opportunity,and therefore by the help of the passes above mentioned, I came tothe French army under the Duke of Montmorency. We marched through theenemy's country with great boldness and no small hazard, for the Dukeof Savoy appeared frequently with great bodies of horse on the rear ofthe army, and frequently skirmished with our troops, in one of whichI had the folly--I can call it no better, for I had no businessthere--to go out and see the sport, as the French gentlemen called it.I was but a raw soldier, and did not like the sport at all, for thisparty was surrounded by the Duke of Savoy, and almost all killed, foras to quarter they neither asked nor gave. I ran away very fairly,one of the first, and my companion with me, and by the goodness of ourhorses got out of the fray, and being not much known in the army, wecame into the camp an hour or two after, as if we had been only ridingabroad for the air.
This little rout made the general very cautious, for the Savoyardswere stronger in horse by three or four thousand, and the army alwaysmarched in a bod
y, and kept their parties in or very near hand.
I escaped another rub in this French army about five days after, whichhad like to have made me pay dear for my curiosity.
The Duke de Montmorency and the Marechal Schomberg joined their armyabout four or five days after, and immediately, according to thecardinal's instructions, put themselves on the march for the relief ofCasale.
The army had marched over a great plain, with some marshy groundson the right and the Po on the left, and as the country was so welldiscovered that 'twas thought impossible any mischief should happen,the generals observed the less caution. At the end of this plain was along wood and a lane or narrow defile through the middle of it.
Through this pass the army was to march, and the van began to filethrough it about four o'clock. By three hours' time all the army wasgot through, or into the pass, and the artillery was just enteredwhen the Duke of Savoy with 4000 horse and 1500 dragoons with everyhorseman a footman behind him, whether he had swam the Po or passed itabove at a bridge, and made a long march after, was not examined, buthe came boldly up the plain and charged our rear with a great deal offury.
Our artillery was in the lane, and as it was impossible to turn themabout and make way for the army, so the rear was obliged to supportthemselves and maintain the fight for above an hour and a half.
In this time we lost abundance of men, and if it had not been for twoaccidents all that line had been cut off. One was, that the wood wasso near that those regiments which were disordered presently shelteredthemselves in the wood; the other was, that by this time the MarechalSchomberg, with the horse of the van, began to get back through thelane, and to make good the ground from whence the other had beenbeaten, till at last by this means it came to almost a pitched battle.
There were two regiments of French dragoons who did excellent servicein this action, and maintained their ground till they were almost allkilled.
Had the Duke of Savoy contented himself with the defeat of fiveregiments on the right, which he quite broke and drove into the wood,and with the slaughter and havoc which he had made among the rest,he had come off with honour, and might have called it a victory; butendeavouring to break the whole party and carry off some cannon, theobstinate resistance of these few dragoons lost him his advantages,and held him in play till so many fresh troops got through the passagain as made us too strong for him, and had not night parted them hehad been entirely defeated.
At last, finding our troops increase and spread themselves on hisflank, he retired and gave over. We had no great stomach to pursue himneither, though some horse were ordered to follow a little way.
The duke lost about a thousand men, and we almost twice as many, andbut for those dragoons had lost the whole rear-guard and half ourcannon. I was in a very sorry case in this action too. I was with therear in the regiment of horse of Perigoort, with a captain of whichregiment I had contracted some acquaintance. I would have rid off atfirst, as the captain desired me, but there was no doing it, for thecannon was in the lane, and the horse and dragoons of the van eagerlypressing back through the lane must have run me down or carried mewith them. As for the wood, it was a good shelter to save one's life,but was so thick there was no passing it on horseback.
Our regiment was one of the first that was broke, and being all inconfusion, with the Duke of Savoy's men at our heels, away we ran intothe wood. Never was there so much disorder among a parcel of runawaysas when we came to this wood; it was so exceeding bushy and thick atthe bottom there was no entering it, and a volley of small shot froma regiment of Savoy's dragoons poured in upon us at our breaking intothe wood made terrible work among our horses.
For my part I was got into the wood, but was forced to quit my horse,and by that means, with a great deal of difficulty, got a littlefarther in, where there was a little open place, and being quite spentwith labouring among the bushes I sat down resolving to take my fatethere, let it be what it would, for I was not able to go any farther.I had twenty or thirty more in the same condition come to me in lessthan half-an-hour, and here we waited very securely the success of thebattle, which was as before.
It was no small relief to those with me to hear the Savoyards werebeaten, for otherwise they had all been lost; as for me, I confess,I was glad as it was because of the danger, but otherwise I cared notmuch which had the better, for I designed no service among them.
One kindness it did me, that I began to consider what I had to dohere, and as I could give but a very slender account of myself forwhat it was I run all these risks, so I resolved they should fight itamong themselves, for I would come among them no more.
The captain with whom, as I noted above, I had contracted someacquaintance in this regiment, was killed in this action, and theFrench had really a great blow here, though they took care to concealit all they could; and I cannot, without smiling, read some of thehistories and memoirs of this action, which they are not ashamed tocall a victory.
We marched on to Saluzzo, and the next day the Duke of Savoy presentedhimself in battalia on the other side of a small river, giving us afair challenge to pass and engage him. We always said in our camp thatthe orders were to fight the Duke of Savoy wherever we met him; butthough he braved us in our view we did not care to engage him, but webrought Saluzzo to surrender upon articles, which the duke could notrelieve without attacking our camp, which he did not care to do.
The next morning we had news of the surrender of Mantua to theImperial army. We heard of it first from the Duke of Savoy's cannon,which he fired by way of rejoicing, and which seemed to make himamends for the loss of Saluzzo.
As this was a mortification to the French, so it quite damped thesuccess of the campaign, for the Duke de Montmorency imagining thatthe Imperial general would send immediate assistance to the MarquisSpinola, who besieged Casale, they called frequent councils of warwhat course to take, and at last resolved to halt in Piedmont. A fewdays after their resolutions were changed again by the news of thedeath of the Duke of Savoy, Charles Emanuel, who died, as some say,agitated with the extremes of joy and grief.
This put our generals upon considering again whether they should marchto the relief of Casale, but the chimera of the Germans put them by,and so they took up quarters in Piedmont. They took several smallplaces from the Duke of Savoy, making advantage of the consternationthe duke's subjects were in on the death of their prince, and spreadthemselves from the seaside to the banks of the Po. But here an enemydid that for them which the Savoyards could not, for the plague gotinto their quarters and destroyed abundance of people, both of thearmy and of the country.
I thought then it was time for me to be gone, for I had no manner ofcourage for that risk; and I think verily I was more afraid of beingtaken sick in a strange country than ever I was of being killed inbattle. Upon this resolution I procured a pass to go for Genoa, andaccordingly began my journey, but was arrested at Villa Franca by aslow lingering fever, which held me about five days, and then turnedto a burning malignancy, and at last to the plague. My friend, thecaptain, never left me night nor day; and though for four days more Iknew nobody, nor was capable of so much as thinking of myself, yet itpleased God that the distemper gathered in my neck, swelled and broke.During the swelling I was raging mad with the violence of pain, whichbeing so near my head swelled that also in proportion, that my eyeswere swelled up, and for the twenty-four hours my tongue and mouth;then, as my servant told me, all the physicians gave me over, as pastall remedy, but by the good providence of God the swelling broke.
The prodigious collection of matter which this swelling dischargedgave me immediate relief, and I became sensible in less than an hour'stime; and in two hours or thereabouts fell into a little slumber whichrecovered my spirits and sensibly revived me. Here I lay by it tillthe middle of September. My captain fell sick after me, but recoveredquickly. His man had the plague, and died in two days; my man held itout well.
About the middle of September we heard of a truce concluded betweenall parties, and being u
nwilling to winter at Villa Franca, I gotpasses, and though we were both but weak, we began to travel inlitters for Milan.
And here I experienced the truth of an old English proverb, thatstanders-by see more than the gamesters.
The French, Savoyards, and Spaniards made this peace or truce all forseparate and several grounds, and every one were mistaken.
The French yielded to it because they had given over the relief ofCasale, and were very much afraid it would fall into the hands of theMarquis Spinola. The Savoyards yielded to it because they were afraidthe French would winter in Piedmont; the Spaniards yielded to itbecause the Duke of Savoy being dead, and the Count de Colalto, theImperial general, giving no assistance, and his army weakened bysickness and the fatigues of the siege, he foresaw he should nevertake the town, and wanted but to come off with honour.
The French were mistaken, because really Spinola was so weak that hadthey marched on into Montferrat the Spaniards must have raised thesiege; the Duke of Savoy was mistaken, because the plague had soweakened the French that they durst not have stayed to winter inPiedmont; and Spinola was mistaken, for though he was very slow, if hehad stayed before the town one fortnight longer, Thoiras the governormust have surrendered, being brought to the last extremity.
Of all these mistakes the French had the advantage, for Casale, wasrelieved, the army had time to be recruited, and the French had thebest of it by an early campaign.
I passed through Montferrat in my way to Milan just as the truce wasdeclared, and saw the miserable remains of the Spanish army, who bysickness, fatigue, hard duty, the sallies of the garrison and suchlike consequences, were reduced to less than 2000 men, and of themabove 1000 lay wounded and sick in the camp.
Here were several regiments which I saw drawn out to their arms thatcould not make up above seventy or eighty men, officers and all, andthose half starved with hunger, almost naked, and in a lamentablecondition. From thence I went into the town, and there things werestill in a worse condition, the houses beaten down, the walls andworks ruined, the garrison, by continual duty, reduced from 4500 mento less than 800, without clothes, money, or provisions, the bravegovernor weak with continual fatigue, and the whole face of things ina miserable case.
The French generals had just sent them 30,000 crowns for presentsupply, which heartened them a little, but had not the truce been madeas it was, they must have surrendered upon what terms the Spaniardshad pleased to make them.
Never were two armies in such fear of one another with so littlecause; the Spaniards afraid of the French whom the plague haddevoured, and the French afraid of the Spaniards whom the siege hadalmost ruined.
The grief of this mistake, together with the sense of his master,the Spaniards, leaving him without supplies to complete the siege ofCasale, so affected the Marquis Spinola, that he died for grief, andin him fell the last of that rare breed of Low Country soldiers, whogave the world so great and just a character of the Spanish infantry,as the best soldiers of the world; a character which we see them sovery much degenerated from since, that they hardly deserve the name ofsoldiers.
I tarried at Milan the rest of the winter, both for the recovery of myhealth, and also for supplies from England.
Here it was I first heard the name of Gustavus Adolphus, the king ofSweden, who now began his war with the emperor; and while the kingof France was at Lyons, the league with Sweden was made, in which theFrench contributed 1,200,000 crowns in money, and 600,000 per annumto the attempt of Gustavus Adolphus. About this time he landed inPomerania, took the towns of Stettin and Stralsund, and from thenceproceeded in that prodigious manner of which I shall have occasion tobe very particular in the prosecution of these Memoirs.
I had indeed no thoughts of seeing that king or his armies. I hadbeen so roughly handled already, that I had given over the thoughtsof appearing among the fighting people, and resolved in the springto pursue my journey to Venice, and so for the rest of Italy. YetI cannot deny that as every Gazette gave us some accounts of theconquests and victories of this glorious prince, it prepossessed mythoughts with secret wishes of seeing him, but these were so youngand unsettled, that I drew no resolutions from them for a long whileafter.
About the middle of January I left Milan and came to Genoa, fromthence by sea to Leghorn, then to Naples, Rome, and Venice, but sawnothing in Italy that gave me any diversion.
As for what is modern, I saw nothing but lewdness, private murders,stabbing men at the corner of a street, or in the dark, hiring ofbravos, and the like. These were to me the modern excellencies ofItaly; and I had no gust to antiquities.
'Twas pleasant indeed when I was at Rome to say here stood theCapitol, there the Colossus of Nero, here was the Amphitheatre ofTitus, there the Aqueduct of----, here the Forum, there the Catacombs,here the Temple of Venus, there of Jupiter, here the Pantheon, and thelike; but I never designed to write a book. As much as was useful Ikept in my head, and for the rest, I left it to others.
I observed the people degenerated from the ancient gloriousinhabitants, who were generous, brave, and the most valiant of allnations, to a vicious baseness of soul, barbarous, treacherous,jealous and revengeful, lewd and cowardly, intolerably proud andhaughty, bigoted to blind, incoherent devotion, and the grossest ofidolatry.
Indeed, I think the unsuitableness of the people made the placeunpleasant to me, for there is so little in a country to recommend itwhen the people disgrace it, that no beauties of the creation can makeup for the want of those excellencies which suitable society procurethe defect of. This made Italy a very unpleasant country to me;the people were the foil to the place, all manner of hateful vicesreigning in their general way of living.
I confess I was not very religious myself, and being come abroad intothe world young enough, might easily have been drawn into evils thathad recommended themselves with any tolerable agreeableness to natureand common manners; but when wickedness presented itself full-grown inits grossest freedoms and liberties, it quite took away all the gustto vice that the devil had furnished me with.
The prodigious stupid bigotry of the people also was irksome to me; Ithought there was something in it very sordid. The entire empire thepriests have over both the souls and bodies of the people, gave me aspecimen of that meanness of spirit, which is nowhere else to be seenbut in Italy, especially in the city of Rome.
At Venice I perceived it quite different, the civil authority havinga visible superiority over the ecclesiastic, and the Church being moresubject there to the State than in any other part of Italy.
For these reasons I took no pleasure in filling my memoirs of Italywith remarks of places or things. All the antiquities and valuableremains of the Roman nation are done better than I can pretend to bysuch people who made it more their business; as for me, I went to see,and not to write, and as little thought then of these Memoirs as I illfurnished myself to write them.
I left Italy in April, and taking the tour of Bavaria, though verymuch out of the way, I passed through Munich, Passau, Lintz, and atlast to Vienna.
I came to Vienna the 10th of April 1631, intending to have gone fromthence down the Danube into Hungary, and by means of a pass, which Ihad obtained from the English ambassador at Constantinople, I designedto have seen all the great towns on the Danube, which were then in thehands of the Turks, and which I had read much of in the history ofthe war between the Turks and the Germans; but I was diverted from mydesign by the following occasion.
There had been a long bloody war in the empire of Germany for twelveyears, between the emperor, the Duke of Bavaria, the King ofSpain, and the Popish princes and electors on the one side, and theProtestant princes on the other; and both sides having been exhaustedby the war, and even the Catholics themselves beginning to dislike thegrowing power of the house of Austria, 'twas thought all parties werewilling to make peace. Nay, things were brought to that pass that someof the Popish princes and electors began to talk of making allianceswith the King of Sweden.
Here it is necessary to obs
erve, that the two Dukes of Mecklenburghaving been dispossessed of most of their dominions by the tyrannyof the Emperor Ferdinand, and being in danger of losing the rest,earnestly solicited the King of Sweden to come to their assistance;and that prince, as he was related to the house of Mecklenburg, andespecially as he was willing to lay hold of any opportunity to breakwith the emperor, against whom he had laid up an implacable prejudice,was very ready and forward to come to their assistance.
The reasons of his quarrel with the emperor were grounded upon theImperialists concerning themselves in the war of Poland, where theemperor had sent 8000 foot and 2000 horse to join the Polish armyagainst the king, and had thereby given some check to his arms in thatwar.
In pursuance, therefore, of his resolution to quarrel with theemperor, but more particularly at the instances of the princesabove-named, his Swedish Majesty had landed the year before atStralsund with about 12,000 men, and having joined with some forceswhich he had left in Polish Prussia, all which did not make 30,000men, he began a war with the emperor, the greatest in event, filledwith the most famous battles, sieges, and extraordinary actions,including its wonderful success and happy conclusion, of any war evermaintained in the world.
The King of Sweden had already taken Stettin, Stralsund, Rostock,Wismar, and all the strong places on the Baltic, and began to spreadhimself in Germany. He had made a league with the French, as Iobserved in my story of Saxony; he had now made a treaty with the Dukeof Brandenburg, and, in short, began to be terrible to the empire.
In this conjuncture the emperor called the General Diet of the empireto be held at Ratisbon, where, as was pretended, all sides wereto treat of peace and to join forces to beat the Swedes out of theempire. Here the emperor, by a most exquisite management, brought theaffairs of the Diet to a conclusion, exceedingly to his own advantage,and to the farther oppression of the Protestants; and, in particular,in that the war against the King of Sweden was to be carried on insuch manner as that the whole burden and charge would lie on theProtestants themselves, and they be made the instruments to opposetheir best friends. Other matters also ended equally to theirdisadvantage, as the methods resolved on to recover the Church lands,and to prevent the education of the Protestant clergy; and whatremained was referred to another General Diet to be held atFrankfort-au-Main in August 1631.
I won't pretend to say the other Protestant princes of Germany hadnever made any overtures to the King of Sweden to come to theirassistance, but 'tis plain they had entered into no league with him;that appears from the difficulties which retarded the fixing of thetreaties afterward, both with the Dukes of Brandenburg and Saxony,which unhappily occasioned the ruin of Magdeburg.
But 'tis plain the Swede was resolved on a war with the emperor. HisSwedish majesty might, and indeed could not but foresee that if heonce showed himself with a sufficient force on the frontiers of theempire, all the Protestant princes would be obliged by their interestor by his arms to fall in with him, and this the consequence madeappear to be a just conclusion, for the Electors of Brandenburg andSaxony were both forced to join with him.
First, they were willing to join with him--at least they could notfind in their hearts to join with the emperor, of whose power theyhad such just apprehensions. They wished the Swedes success, and wouldhave been very glad to have had the work done at another man's charge,but, like true Germans, they were more willing to be saved than tosave themselves, and therefore hung back and stood upon terms.
Secondly, they were at last forced to it. The first was forced to joinby the King of Sweden himself, who being come so far was not to bedallied with, and had not the Duke of Brandenburg complied as he did,he had been ruined by the Swede. The Saxon was driven into the armsof the Swede by force, for Count Tilly, ravaging his country, made himcomply with any terms to be saved from destruction.
Thus matters stood at the end of the Diet at Ratisbon. The Kingof Sweden began to see himself leagued against at the Diet both byProtestant and Papist; and, as I have often heard his Majesty saysince, he had resolved to try to force them off from the emperor, andto treat them as enemies equally with the rest if they did not.
But the Protestants convinced him soon after, that though theywere tricked into the outward appearance of a league against him atRatisbon, they had no such intentions; and by their ambassadors to himlet him know that they only wanted his powerful assistance to defendtheir councils, when they would soon convince him that they had a duesense of the emperor's designs, and would do their utmost for theirliberty. And these I take to be the first invitations the King ofSweden had to undertake the Protestant cause as such, and whichentitled him to say he fought for the liberty and religion of theGerman nation.
I have had some particular opportunities to hear these things form themouths of some of the very princes themselves, and therefore am theforwarder to relate them; and I place them here because, previousto the part I acted on this bloody scene, 'tis necessary to let thereader into some part of that story, and to show him in what mannerand on what occasions this terrible war began.
The Protestants, alarmed at the usage they had met with at the formerDiet, had secretly proposed among themselves to form a general unionor confederacy, for preventing that ruin which they saw, unless somespeedy remedies were applied, would be inevitable. The Elector ofSaxony, the head of the Protestants, a vigorous and politic prince,was the first that moved it; and the Landgrave of Hesse, a zealous andgallant prince, being consulted with, it rested a great while betweenthose two, no method being found practicable to bring it to pass, theemperor being so powerful in all parts, that they foresaw the pettyprinces would not dare to negotiate an affair of such a nature,being surrounded with the Imperial forces, who by their two generals,Wallenstein and Tilly, kept them in continual subjection and terror.
This dilemma had like to have stifled the thoughts of the union asa thing impracticable, when one Seigensius, a Lutheran minister, aperson of great abilities, and one whom the Elector of Saxony madegreat use of in matters of policy as well as religion, contrived forthem this excellent expedient.
I had the honour to be acquainted with this gentleman while I was atLeipsic. It pleased him exceedingly to have been the contriver of sofine a structure as the Conclusions of Leipsic, and he was glad to beentertained on that subject. I had the relation from his own mouth,when, but very modestly, he told me he thought 'twas an inspirationdarted on a sudden into his thoughts, when the Duke of Saxony callinghim into his closet one morning, with a face full of concern, shakinghis head, and looking very earnestly, "What will become of us,doctor?" said the duke; "we shall all be undone at Frankfort-au-Main.""Why so, please your highness?" says the doctor. "Why, they will fightwith the King of Sweden with our armies and our money," says the duke,"and devour our friends and ourselves by the help of our friends andourselves." "But what is become of the confederacy, then," said thedoctor, "which your highness had so happily framed in your thoughts,and which the Landgrave of Hesse was so pleased with?" "Become of it?"says the duke, "'tis a good thought enough, but 'tis impossible tobring it to pass among so many members of the Protestant princes asare to be consulted with, for we neither have time to treat, nor willhalf of them dare to negotiate the matter, the Imperialists beingquartered in their very bowels." "But may not some expedient be foundout," says the doctor, "to bring them all together to treat of it ina general meeting?" "'Tis well proposed," says the duke, "but in whattown or city shall they assemble where the very deputies shall notbe besieged by Tilly or Wallenstein in fourteen days' time, andsacrificed to the cruelty and fury of the Emperor Ferdinand?" "Willyour highness be the easier in it," replies the doctor, "if a way maybe found out to call such an assembly upon other causes, at which theemperor may have no umbrage, and perhaps give his assent? You know theDiet at Frankfort is at hand; 'tis necessary the Protestants shouldhave an assembly of their own to prepare matters for the General Diet,and it may be no difficult matter to obtain it." The duke, surprisedwith joy at the motion, embraced the doctor wi
th an extraordinarytransport. "Thou hast done it, doctor," said he, and immediatelycaused him to draw a form of a letter to the emperor, which he didwith the utmost dexterity of style, in which he was a great master,representing to his Imperial Majesty that, in order to put an end tothe troubles of Germany, his Majesty would be pleased to permit theProtestant princes of the empire to hold a Diet to themselves, toconsider of such matters as they were to treat of at the GeneralDiet, in order to conform themselves to the will and pleasure of hisImperial Majesty, to drive out foreigners, and settle a lasting peacein the empire. He also insinuated something of their resolutionsunanimously to give their suffrages in favour of the King of Hungaryat the election of a king of the Romans, a thing which he knew theemperor had in his thought, and would push at with all his might atthe Diet. This letter was sent, and the bait so neatly concealed, thatthe Electors of Bavaria and Mentz, the King of Hungary, and severalof the Popish princes, not foreseeing that the ruin of them all lay inthe bottom of it, foolishly advised the emperor to consent to it.
In consenting to this the emperor signed his own destruction, for herebegan the conjunction of the German Protestants with the Swede, whichwas the fatalest blow to Ferdinand, and which he could never recover.
Accordingly the Diet was held at Leipsic, February 8, 1630, where theProtestants agreed on several heads for their mutual defence,which were the grounds of the following war. These were the famousConclusions of Leipsic, which so alarmed the emperor and the wholeempire, that to crush it in the beginning, the emperor commanded CountTilly immediately to fall upon the Landgrave of Hesse and the Duke ofSaxony as the principal heads of the union; but it was too late.
The Conclusions were digested into ten heads:--
1. That since their sins had brought God's judgments upon the wholeProtestant Church, they should command public prayers to be made toAlmighty God for the diverting the calamities that attended them.
2. That a treaty of peace might be set on foot, in order to come to aright understanding with the Catholic princes.
3. That a time for such a treaty being obtained, they should appointan assembly of delegates to meet preparatory to the treaty.
4. That all their complaints should be humbly represented to hisImperial Majesty and the Catholic Electors, in order to a peaceableaccommodation.
5. That they claim the protection of the emperor, according to thelaws of the empire, and the present emperor's solemn oath and promise.
6. That they would appoint deputies who should meet at certaintimes to consult of their common interest, and who should be alwaysempowered to conclude of what should be thought needful for theirsafety.
7. That they will raise a competent force to maintain and defend theirliberties, rights, and religion.
8. That it is agreeable to the Constitution of the empire, concludedin the Diet at Augsburg, to do so.
9. That the arming for their necessary defence shall by no meanshinder their obedience to his Imperial Majesty, but that they willstill continue their loyalty to him.
10. They agree to proportion their forces, which in all amounted to70,000 men.
The emperor, exceedingly startled at the Conclusions, issued out asevere proclamation or ban against them, which imported much thesame thing as a declaration of war, and commanded Tilly to begin,and immediately to fall on the Duke of Saxony with all the furyimaginable, as I have already observed.
Here began the flame to break out; for upon the emperor's ban, theProtestants send away to the King of Sweden for succour.
His Swedish Majesty had already conquered Mecklenburg, and part ofPomerania, and was advancing with his victorious troops, increasedby the addition of some regiments raised in those parts, in order tocarry on the war against the emperor, having designed to follow upthe Oder into Silesia, and so to push the war home to the emperor'shereditary countries of Austria and Bohemia, when the first messengerscame to him in this case; but this changed his measures, and broughthim to the frontiers of Brandenburg resolved to answer the desiresof the Protestants. But here the Duke of Brandenburg began to halt,making some difficulties and demanding terms, which drove the king touse some extremities with him, and stopped the Swedes for a while,who had otherwise been on the banks of the Elbe as soon as Tilly,the Imperial general, had entered Saxony, which if they had done, themiserable destruction of Magdeburg had been prevented, as I observedbefore. The king had been invited into the union, and when he firstcame back from the banks of the Oder he had accepted it, and waspreparing to back it with all his power.
The Duke of Saxony had already a good army which he had with infinitediligence recruited, and mustered them under the cannon of Leipsic.The King of Sweden having, by his ambassador at Leipsic, entered intothe union of the Protestants, was advancing victoriously to their aid,just as Count Tilly had entered the Duke of Saxony's dominions. Thefame of the Swedish conquests, and of the hero who commanded them,shook my resolution of travelling into Turkey, being resolved to seethe conjunction of the Protestant armies, and before the fire wasbroke out too far to take the advantage of seeing both sides.
While I remained at Vienna, uncertain which way I should proceed, Iremember I observed they talked of the King of Sweden as a prince ofno consideration, one that they might let go on and tire himself inMecklenburg and thereabout, till they could find leisure to deal withhim, and then might be crushed as they pleased; but 'tis never safeto despise an enemy, so this was not an enemy to be despised, as theyafterwards found.
As to the Conclusions of Leipsic, indeed, at first they gave theImperial court some uneasiness, but when they found the Imperialarmies, began to fright the members out of the union, and that theseveral branches had no considerable forces on foot, it was thegeneral discourse at Vienna, that the union at Leipsic only gavethe emperor an opportunity to crush absolutely the Dukes of Saxony,Brandenburg, and the Landgrave of Hesse, and they looked upon it as athing certain.
I never saw any real concern in their faces at Vienna till news cameto court that the King of Sweden had entered into the union; but asthis made them very uneasy, they began to move the powerfulest methodspossible to divert this storm; and upon this news Tilly was hastenedto fall into Saxony before this union could proceed to a conjunctionof forces. This was certainly a very good resolution, and no measurecould have been more exactly concerted, had not the diligence of theSaxons prevented it.
The gathering of this storm, which from a cloud began to spread overthe empire, and from the little duchy of Mecklenburg began to threatenall Germany, absolutely determined me, as I noted before, as totravelling, and laying aside the thoughts of Hungary, I resolved, ifpossible, to see the King of Sweden's army.
I parted from Vienna the middle of May, and took post for Great Glogauin Silesia, as if I had purposed to pass into Poland, but designingindeed to go down the Oder to Custrim in the marquisate ofBrandenburg, and so to Berlin. But when I came to the frontiers ofSilesia, though I had passes, I could go no farther, the guards onall the frontiers were so strict, so I was obliged to come back intoBohemia, and went to Prague. From hence I found I could easily passthrough the Imperial provinces to the lower Saxony, and accordinglytook passes for Hamburg, designing, however, to use them no fartherthan I found occasion.
By virtue of these passes I got into the Imperial army, under CountTilly, then at the siege of Magdeburg, May the 2nd.
I confess I did not foresee the fate of this city, neither, I believe,did Count Tilly himself expect to glut his fury with so entire adesolation, much less did the people expect it. I did believe theymust capitulate, and I perceived by discourse in the army that Tillywould give them but very indifferent conditions; but it fell outotherwise. The treaty of surrender was, as it were, begun, nay, somesay concluded, when some of the out-guards of the Imperialists findingthe citizens had abandoned the guards of the works, and looked tothemselves with less diligence than usual, they broke in, carried anhalf-moon, sword in hand, with little resistance; and though it wasa surprise on both sides, the ci
tizens neither fearing, nor the armyexpecting the occasion, the garrison, with as much resolution as couldbe expected under such a fright, flew to the walls, twice beat theImperialists off, but fresh men coming up, and the administrator ofMagdeburg himself being wounded and taken, the enemy broke in, tookthe city by storm, and entered with such terrible fury, that,without respect to age or condition, they put all the garrison andinhabitants, man, woman, and child, to the sword, plundered the city,and when they had done this set it on fire.
This calamity sure was the dreadfulest sight that ever I saw; therage of the Imperial soldiers was most intolerable, and not to beexpressed. Of 25,000, some said 30,000 people, there was not a soul tobe seen alive, till the flames drove those that were hid in vaults andsecret places to seek death in the streets rather than perish in thefire. Of these miserable creatures some were killed too by the furioussoldiers, but at last they saved the lives of such as came out oftheir cellars and holes, and so about two thousand poor desperatecreatures were left. The exact number of those that perished inthis city could never be known, because those the soldiers had firstbutchered the flames afterwards devoured.
I was on the outer side of the Elbe when this dreadful piece ofbutchery was done. The city of Magdeburg had a sconce or fort overagainst it called the toll-house, which joined to the city by a veryfine bridge of boats. This fort was taken by the Imperialists a fewdays before, and having a mind to see it, and the rather because fromthence I could have a very good view of the city, I was going overTilley's bridge of boats to view this fort. About ten o'clock in themorning I perceived they were storming by the firing, and immediatelyall ran to the works; I little thought of the taking the city, butimagined it might be some outwork attacked, for we all expectedthe city would surrender that day, or next, and they might havecapitulated upon very good terms.
Being upon the works of the fort, on a sudden I heard the dreadfulestcry raised in the city that can be imagined; 'tis not possible toexpress the manner of it, and I could see the women and childrenrunning about the streets in a most lamentable condition.
The city wall did not run along the side where the river was withso great a height, but we could plainly see the market-place and theseveral streets which run down to the river. In about an hour's timeafter this first cry all was in confusion; there was little shooting,the execution was all cutting of throats and mere house murders. Theresolute garrison, with the brave Baron Falkenberg, fought it outto the last, and were cut in pieces, and by this time the Imperialsoldiers having broke open the gates and entered on all sides, theslaughter was very dreadful. We could see the poor people in crowdsdriven down the streets, flying from the fury of the soldiers, whofollowed butchering them as fast as they could, and refused mercy toanybody, till driving them to the river's edge, the desperate wretcheswould throw themselves into the river, where thousands of themperished, especially women and children. Several men that could swimgot over to our side, where the soldiers not heated with fight gavethem quarter, and took them up, and I cannot but do this justice tothe German officers in the fort: they had five small flat boats, andthey gave leave to the soldiers to go off in them, and get what bootythey could, but charged them not to kill anybody, but take them allprisoners.
Nor was their humanity ill rewarded, for the soldiers, wisely avoidingthose places where their fellows were employed in butchering themiserable people, rowed to other places, where crowds of people stoodcrying out for help, and expecting to be every minute either drownedor murdered; of these at sundry times they fetched over near sixhundred, but took care to take in none but such as offered them goodpay.
Never was money or jewels of greater service than now, for those thathad anything of that sort to offer were soonest helped.
There was a burgher of the town who, seeing a boat coming near him,but out of his call, by the help of a speaking trumpet, told thesoldiers in it he would give them 20,000 dollars to fetch him off.They rowed close to the shore, and got him with his wife and sixchildren into the boat, but such throngs of people got about the boatthat had like to have sunk her, so that the soldiers were fain todrive a great many out again by main force, and while they were doingthis some of the enemies coming down the street desperately drove themall into the water.
The boat, however, brought the burgher and his wife and children safe,and though they had not all that wealth about them, yet in jewels andmoney he gave them so much as made all the fellows very rich.
I cannot pretend to describe the cruelty of this day: the town byfive in the afternoon was all in a flame; the wealth consumed wasinestimable, and a loss to the very conqueror. I think there waslittle or nothing left but the great church and about a hundredhouses.
This was a sad welcome into the army for me, and gave me a horror andaversion to the emperor's people, as well as to his cause. I quittedthe camp the third day after this execution, while the fire was hardlyout in the city; and from thence getting safe-conduct to pass into thePalatinate, I turned out of the road at a small village on the Elbe,called Emerfield, and by ways and towns I can give but small accountof, having a boor for our guide, whom we could hardly understand, Iarrived at Leipsic on the 17th of May.
We found the elector intense upon the strengthening of his army, butthe people in the greatest terror imaginable, every day expectingTilly with the German army, who by his cruelty at Magdeburg was becomeso dreadful to the Protestants that they expected no mercy wherever hecame.
The emperor's power was made so formidable to all the Protestants,particularly since the Diet at Ratisbon left them in a worse casethan it found them, that they had not only formed the Conclusions ofLeipsic, which all men looked on as the effect of desperation ratherthan any probable means of their deliverance, but had privatelyimplored the protection and assistance of foreign powers, andparticularly the King of Sweden, from whom they had promises of aspeedy and powerful assistance. And truly if the Swede had not witha very strong hand rescued them, all their Conclusions at Leipsic hadserved but to hasten their ruin. I remember very well when I was inthe Imperial army they discoursed with such contempt of the forcesof the Protestant, that not only the Imperialists but the Protestantsthemselves gave them up as lost. The emperor had not less than 200,000men in several armies on foot, who most of them were on the back ofthe Protestants in every corner. If Tilly did but write a threateningletter to any city or prince of the union, they presently submitted,renounced the Conclusions of Leipsic, and received Imperial garrisons,as the cities of Ulm and Memmingen, the duchy of Wirtemberg, andseveral others, and almost all Suaben.
Only the Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse upheld the droopingcourage of the Protestants, and refused all terms of peace, slightedall the threatenings of the Imperial generals, and the Duke ofBrandenburg was brought in afterward almost by force.
The Duke of Saxony mustered his forces under the walls of Leipsic,and I having returned to Leipsic, two days before, saw them pass thereview. The duke, gallantly mounted, rode through the ranks, attendedby his field-marshal Arnheim, and seemed mighty well pleased withthem, and indeed the troops made a very fine appearance; but I thathad seen Tilly's army and his old weather-beaten soldiers, whosediscipline and exercises were so exact, and their courage so oftentried, could not look on the Saxon army without some concern for themwhen I considered who they had to deal with. Tilly's men were ruggedsurly fellows, their faces had an air of hardy courage, mangled withwounds and scars, their armour showed the bruises of musket bullets,and the rust of the winter storms. I observed of them their clotheswere always dirty, but their arms were clean and bright; they wereused to camp in the open fields, and sleep in the frosts and rain;their horses were strong and hardy like themselves, and well taughttheir exercises; the soldiers knew their business so exactly thatgeneral orders were enough; every private man was fit to command, andtheir wheelings, marchings, counter-marchings and exercise were donewith such order and readiness, that the distinct words of commandwere hardly of any use among them; they were flushed with
victory, andhardly knew what it was to fly.
There had passed some messages between Tilly and the duke, and he gavealways such ambiguous answers as he thought might serve to gain time;but Tilly was not to be put off with words, and drawing his armytowards Saxony, sends four propositions to him to sign, and demands animmediate reply. The propositions were positive.
1. To cause his troops to enter into the emperor's service, and tomarch in person with them against the King of Sweden.
2. To give the Imperial army quarters in his country, and supply themwith necessary provisions.
3. To relinquish the union of Leipsic, and disown the ten Conclusions.
4. To make restitution of the goods and lands of the Church.
The duke being pressed by Tilly's trumpeter for an immediate answersat all night, and part of the next day, in council with his privycouncillors, debating what reply to give him, which at last wasconcluded, in short, that he would live and die in defence of theProtestant religion, and the Conclusions of Leipsic, and bade Tillydefiance.
The die being thus cast, he immediately decamped with his whole armyfor Torgau, fearing that Tilly should get there before him, and soprevent his conjunction with the Swede. The duke had not yet concludedany positive treaty with the King of Swedeland, and the Duke ofBrandenburg having made some difficulty of joining, they both stoodon some niceties till they had like to have ruined themselves all atonce.
Brandenburg had given up the town of Spandau to the king by a formertreaty to secure a retreat for his army, and the king was advancedas far as Frankfort-upon-the-Oder, when on a sudden some smalldifficulties arising, Brandenburg seems cold in the matter, and witha sort of indifference demands to have his town of Spandau restored tohim again. Gustavus Adolphus, who began presently to imagine the dukehad made his peace with the emperor, and so would either be his enemyor pretend a neutrality, generously delivered him his town of Spandau,but immediately turns about, and with his whole army besieges him inhis capital city of Berlin. This brought the duke to know his error,and by the interpositions of the ladies, the Queen of Sweden being theduke's sister, the matter was accommodated, and the duke joined hisforces with the king.
But the duke of Saxony had like to have been undone by this delay,for the Imperialists, under Count de Furstenberg, were entered hiscountry, and had possessed themselves of Halle, and Tilly was onhis march to join him, as he afterwards did, and ravaging thewhole country laid siege to Leipsic itself. The duke driven to thisextremity rather flies to the Swede than treats with him, and on the2nd of September the duke's army joined with the King of Sweden.
I had not come to Leipsic but to see the Duke of Saxony's army, andthat being marched, as I have said, for Torgau, I had no businessthere, but if I had, the approach of Tilly and the Imperial army wasenough to hasten me away, for I had no occasion to be besieged there;so on the 27th of August I left the town, as several of the principalinhabitants had done before, and more would have done had not thegovernor published a proclamation against it, and besides they knewnot whither to fly, for all places were alike exposed. The poor peoplewere under dreadful apprehensions of a siege, and of the mercilessusage of the Imperial soldiers, the example of Magdeburg being freshbefore them, the duke and his army gone from them, and the town,though well furnished, but indifferently fortified.
In this condition I left them, buying up stores of provisions,working hard to scour their moats, set up palisadoes, repair theirfortifications, and preparing all things for a siege; and followingthe Saxon army to Torgau, I continued in the camp till a few daysbefore they joined the King of Sweden.
I had much ado to persuade my companion from entering into theservice of the Duke of Saxony, one of whose colonels, with whom we hadcontracted a particular acquaintance, offering him a commission to becornet in one of the old regiments of horse; but the difference I hadobserved between this new army and Tilly's old troops had made suchan impression on me, that I confess I had yet no manner of inclinationfor the service, and therefore persuaded him to wait a while till wehad seen a little further into affairs, and particularly till we hadseen the Swedish army which we had heard so much of.
The difficulties which the Elector-Duke of Saxony made of joining withthe king were made up by a treaty concluded with the king on the 2ndof September at Coswig, a small town on the Elbe, whither the king'sarmy was arrived the night before; for General Tilly being now enteredinto the duke's country, had plundered and ruined all the lower partof it, and was now actually besieging the capital city of Leipsic.These necessities made almost any conditions easy to him; the greatestdifficulty was that the King of Sweden demanded the absolute commandof the army, which the duke submitted to with less goodwill than hehad reason to do, the king's experience and conduct considered.
I had not patience to attend the conclusions of their particulartreaties, but as soon as ever the passage was clear I quitted theSaxon camp and went to see the Swedish army. I fell in with theout-guards of the Swedes at a little town called Beltsig, on the riverWersa, just as they were relieving the guards and going to march, andhaving a pass from the English ambassador was very well received bythe officer who changed the guards, and with him I went back intothe army. By nine in the morning the army was in full march, the kinghimself at the head of them on a grey pad, and riding from one brigadeto another, ordered the march of every line himself.
When I saw the Swedish troops, their exact discipline, their order,the modesty and familiarity of their officers, and the regular livingof the soldiers, their camp seemed a well-ordered city; the meanestcountry woman with her market ware was as safe from violence as in thestreets of Vienna. There were no women in the camp but such as beingknown to the provosts to be the wives of the soldiers, who werenecessary for washing linen, taking care of the soldiers' clothes, anddressing their victuals.
The soldiers were well clad, not gay, furnished with excellent arms,and exceedingly careful of them; and though they did not seem soterrible as I thought Tilly's men did when I first saw them, yet thefigure they made, together with what we had heard of them, made themseem to me invincible: the discipline and order of their marchings,camping, and exercise was excellent and singular, and, which was tobe seen in no armies but the king's, his own skill, judgment, andvigilance having added much to the general conduct of armies then inuse.
As I met the Swedes on their march I had no opportunity to acquaintmyself with anybody till after the conjunction of the Saxon army,and then it being but four days to the great battle of Leipsic, ouracquaintance was but small, saving what fell out accidentally byconversation.
I met with several gentlemen in the king's army who spoke English verywell; besides that there were three regiments of Scots in the army,the colonels whereof I found were extraordinarily esteemed by theking, as the Lord Reay, Colonel Lumsdell, and Sir John Hepburn. Thelatter of these, after I had by an accident become acquainted with, Ifound had been for many years acquainted with my father, and on thataccount I received a great deal of civility from him, which afterwardsgrew into a kind of intimate friendship. He was a complete soldierindeed, and for that reason so well beloved by that gallant king, thathe hardly knew how to go about any great action without him.
It was impossible for me now to restrain my young comrade fromentering into the Swedish service, and indeed everything was soinviting that I could not blame him. A captain in Sir John Hepburn'sregiment had picked acquaintance with him, and he having as muchgallantry in his face as real courage in his heart, the captain hadpersuaded him to take service, and promised to use his interest to gethim a company in the Scotch brigade. I had made him promise me notto part from me in my travels without my consent, which was the onlyobstacle to his desires of entering into the Swedish pay; and beingone evening in the captain's tent with him and discoursing very freelytogether, the captain asked him very short but friendly, and lookingearnestly at me, "Is this the gentleman, Mr Fielding, that has doneso much prejudice to the King of Sweden's service?" I was doublysurprised at
the expression, and at the colonel, Sir John Hepburn,coming at that very moment into the tent. The colonel hearingsomething of the question, but knowing nothing of the reason of it,any more than as I seemed a little to concern myself at it, yet afterthe ceremony due to his character was over, would needs know what Ihad done to hinder his Majesty's service. "So much truly," says thecaptain, "that if his Majesty knew it he would think himself verylittle beholden to him." "I am sorry, sir," said I, "that I shouldoffend in anything, who am but a stranger; but if you would please toinform me, I would endeavour to alter anything in my behaviour that isprejudicial to any one, much less to his Majesty's service." "I shalltake you at your word, sir," says the captain; "the King of Sweden,sir, has a particular request to you." "I should be glad to know twothings, sir," said I; "first, how that can be possible, since I amnot yet known to any man in the army, much less to his Majesty? andsecondly, what the request can be?" "Why, sir, his Majesty desires youwould not hinder this gentleman from entering into his service, whoit seems desires nothing more, if he may have your consent to it." "Ihave too much honour for his Majesty," returned I, "to deny anythingwhich he pleases to command me; but methinks 'tis some hardship youshould make that the king's order, which 'tis very probable he knowsnothing of." Sir John Hepburn took the case up something gravely, anddrinking a glass of Leipsic beer to the captain, said, "Come, captain,don't press these gentlemen; the king desires no man's service butwhat is purely volunteer." So we entered into other discourse, and thecolonel perceiving by my talk that I had seen Tilly's army, was mightycurious in his questions, and seeming very well satisfied with theaccount I gave him.
The next day the army having passed the Elbe at Wittenberg, and joinedthe Saxon army near Torgau, his Majesty caused both armies to drawup in battalia, giving every brigade the same post in the lines as hepurposed to fight in. I must do the memory of that glorious generalthis honour, that I never saw an army drawn up with so much variety,order, and exact regularity since, though I have seen many armiesdrawn up by some of the greatest captains of the age. The order bywhich his men were directed to flank and relieve one another, themethods of receiving one body of men if disordered into another, andrallying one squadron without disordering another was so admirable;the horse everywhere flanked lined and defended by the foot, and thefoot by the horse, and both by the cannon, was such that if thoseorders were but as punctually obeyed, 'twere impossible to put an armyso modelled into any confusion.
The view being over, and the troops returned to their camps, thecaptain with whom we drank the day before meeting me told me I mustcome and sup with him in his tent, where he would ask my pardon forthe affront he gave me before. I told him he needed not put himselfto the trouble, I was not affronted at all; that I would do myself thehonour to wait on him, provided he would give me his word not to speakany more of it as an affront.
We had not been a quarter of an hour in his tent but Sir John Hepburncame in again, and addressing to me, told me he was glad to find methere; that he came to the captain's tent to inquire how to send tome; and that I must do him the honour to go with him to wait on theking, who had a mind to hear the account I could give him of theImperial army from my own mouth. I must confess I was at some loss inmy mind how to make my address to his Majesty, but I had heard so muchof the conversable temper of the king, and his particular sweetness ofhumour with the meanest soldier, that I made no more difficulty, buthaving paid my respects to Colonel Hepburn, thanked him for the honourhe had done me, and offered to rise and wait upon him. "Nay," saysthe Colonel, "we will eat first, for I find Gourdon," which was thecaptain's name, "has got something for supper, and the king's order isat seven o'clock." So we went to supper, and Sir John, becoming veryfriendly, must know my name; which, when I had told him, and of whatplace and family, he rose from his seat, and embracing me, told me heknew my father very well, and had been intimately acquainted withhim, and told me several passages wherein my father had particularlyobliged him. After this we went to supper, and the king's health beingdrank round, the colonel moved the sooner because he had a mind totalk with me.
When we were going to the king he inquired of me where I had been, andwhat occasion brought me to the army. I told him the short history ofmy travels, and that I came hither from Vienna on purpose to see theKing of Sweden and his army. He asked me if there was any service hecould do me, by which he meant, whether I desired an employment.I pretended not to take him so, but told him the protection hisacquaintance would afford me was more than I could have asked, since Imight thereby have opportunity to satisfy my curiosity, which was thechief end of my coming abroad. He perceiving by this that I had nomind to be a soldier, told me very kindly I should command him inanything; that his tent and equipage, horses and servants shouldalways have orders to be at my service; but that as a piece offriendship, he would advise me to retire to some place distant fromthe army, for that the army would march to-morrow, and the king wasresolved to fight General Tilly, and he would not have me hazardmyself; that if I thought fit to take his advice, he would have metake that interval to see the court at Berlin, whither he would sendone of his servants to wait on me.
His discourse was too kind not to extort the tenderest acknowledgmentfrom me that I was capable of. I told him his care of me was soobliging, that I knew not what return to make him, but if he pleasedto leave me to my choice I desired no greater favour than to trail apike under his command in the ensuing battle. "I can never answer itto your father," says he, "to suffer you to expose yourself so far."I told him my father would certainly acknowledge his friendship in theproposal made me; but I believed he knew him better than to think hewould be well pleased with me if I should accept of it; that I wassure my father would have rode post five hundred miles to have beenat such a battle under such a general, and it should never be toldhim that his son had rode fifty miles to be out of it. He seemed tobe something concerned at the resolution I had taken, and replied veryquickly upon me, that he approved very well of my courage; "but," sayshe, "no man gets any credit by running upon needless adventures, norloses any by shunning hazards which he has no order for. 'Tis enough,"says he, "for a gentleman to behave well when he is commanded upon anyservice; I have had fighting enough," says he, "upon these pointsof honour, and I never got anything but reproof for it from the kinghimself."
"Well, sir," said I, "however if a man expects to rise by his valour,he must show it somewhere; and if I were to have any command in anarmy, I would first try whether I could deserve it. I have never yetseen any service, and must have my induction some time or other. Ishall never have a better schoolmaster than yourself, nor a betterschool than such an army." "Well," says Sir John, "but you may havethe same school and the same teaching after this battle is over; forI must tell you beforehand, this will be a bloody touch. Tilly hasa great army of old lads that are used to boxing, fellows withiron faces, and 'tis a little too much to engage so hotly the firstentrance into the wars. You may see our discipline this winter, andmake your campaign with us next summer, when you need not fear butwe shall have fighting enough, and you will be better acquainted withthings. We do never put our common soldiers upon pitched battles thefirst campaign, but place our new men in garrisons and try them inparties first." "Sir," said I, with a little more freedom, "I believeI shall not make a trade of the war, and therefore need not serve anapprenticeship to it; 'tis a hard battle where none escapes. If Icome off, I hope I shall not disgrace you, and if not, 'twill be somesatisfaction to my father to hear his son died fighting under thecommand of Sir John Hepburn, in the army of the King of Sweden, and Idesire no better epitaph upon my tomb."
"Well," says Sir John, and by this time we were just come to theking's quarters, and the guards calling to us interrupted his reply;so we went into the courtyard where the king was lodged, which was inan indifferent house of one of the burghers of Dieben, and Sir Johnstepping up, met the king coming down some steps into a large roomwhich looked over the town wall into a field where part of theartillery was dr
awn up. Sir John Hepburn sent his man presently to meto come up, which I did; and Sir John without any ceremony carries medirectly up to the king, who was leaning on his elbow in the window.The king turning about, "This is the English gentleman," says SirJohn, "who I told your Majesty had been in the Imperial army." "Howthen did he get hither," says the king, "without being taken by thescouts?" At which question, Sir John saying nothing, "By a pass,and please your Majesty, from the English ambassador's secretary atVienna," said I, making a profound reverence. "Have you then been atVienna?" says the king. "Yes, and please your Majesty," said I; uponwhich the king, folding up a letter he had in his hand, seemed muchmore earnest to talk about Vienna than about Tilly. "And, pray, whatnews had you at Vienna?" "Nothing, sir," said I, "but daily accountsone in the neck of another of their own misfortunes, and yourMajesty's conquests, which makes a very melancholy court there." "But,pray," said the king, "what is the common opinion there about theseaffairs?" "The common people are terrified to the last degree," saidI, "and when your Majesty took Frankfort-upon-Oder, if your army hadmarched but twenty miles into Silesia, half the people would have runout of Vienna, and I left them fortifying the city." "They need not,"replied the king, smiling; "I have no design to trouble them, it isthe Protestant countries I must be for."
Upon this the Duke of Saxony entered the room, and finding the kingengaged, offered to retire; but the king, beckoning with his hand,called to him in French; "Cousin," says the king, "this gentleman hasbeen travelling and comes from Vienna," and so made me repeat whatI had said before; at which the king went on with me, and Sir JohnHepburn informing his Majesty that I spoke High Dutch, he changedhis language, and asked me in Dutch where it was that I saw GeneralTilly's army. I told his Majesty at the siege of Magdeburg. "AtMagdeburg!" said the king, shaking his head; "Tilly must answer to mesome day for that city, and if not to me, to a greater King than I.Can you guess what army he had with him?" said the king. "He had twoarmies with him," said I, "but one I suppose will do your Majestyno harm." "Two armies!" said the king. "Yes, sir, he has one armyof about 26,000 men," said I, "and another of about 15,000 women andtheir attendants," at which the king laughed heartily. "Ay, ay," saysthe king, "those 15,000 do us as much harm as the 26,000, for theyeat up the country, and devour the poor Protestants more than the men.Well," says the king, "do they talk of fighting us?" "They talk bigenough, sir," said I, "but your Majesty has not been so often foughtwith as beaten in their discourse." "I know not for the men," says theking, "but the old man is as likely to do it as talk of it, and I hopeto try them in a day or two."
The king inquired after that several matters of me about the LowCountries, the Prince of Orange, and of the court and affairs inEngland; and Sir John Hepburn informing his Majesty that I was the sonof an English gentleman of his acquaintance, the king had the goodnessto ask him what care he had taken of me against the day of battle.Upon which Sir John repeated to him the discourse we had together bythe way; the king seeming particularly pleased with it, began to takeme to task himself. "You English gentlemen," says he, "are tooforward in the wars, which makes you leave them too soon again." "YourMajesty," replied I, "makes war in so pleasant a manner as makesall the world fond of fighting under your conduct." "Not so pleasantneither," says the king, "here's a man can tell you that sometimes itis not very pleasant." "I know not much of the warrior, sir," saidI, "nor of the world, but if always to conquer be the pleasure of thewar, your Majesty's soldiers have all that can be desired." "Well,"says the king, "but however, considering all things, I think you woulddo well to take the advice Sir John Hepburn has given you." "YourMajesty may command me to anything, but where your Majesty and so manygallant gentlemen hazard their lives, mine is not worth mentioning;and I should not dare to tell my father at my return into Englandthat I was in your Majesty's army, and made so mean a figure thatyour Majesty would not permit me to fight under that royal standard.""Nay," replied the king, "I lay no commands upon you, but you areyoung." "I can never die, sir," said I, "with more honour than in yourMajesty's service." I spake this with so much freedom, and his Majestywas so pleased with it, that he asked me how I would choose to serve,on horseback or on foot. I told his Majesty I should be glad toreceive any of his Majesty's commands, but if I had not that honour Ihad purposed to trail a pike under Sir John Hepburn, who had done meso much honour as to introduce me into his Majesty's presence. "Do so,then," replied the king, and turning to Sir John Hepburn, said, "andpray, do you take care of him." At which, overcome with the goodnessof his discourse, I could not answer a word, but made him a profoundreverence and retired.
The next day but one, being the 7th of September, before day the armymarched from Dieben to a large field about a mile from Leipsic, wherewe found Tilly's army in full battalia in admirable order, which madea show both glorious and terrible. Tilly, like a fair gamester, hadtaken up but one side of the plain, and left the other free, and allthe avenues open for the king's army; nor did he stir to the chargetill the king's army was completely drawn up and advanced toward him.He had in his army 44,000 old soldiers, every way answerable to whatI have said of them before; and I shall only add, a better army, Ibelieve, never was so soundly beaten.
The king was not much inferior in force, being joined with the Saxons,who were reckoned 22,000 men, and who drew up on the left, making amain battle and two wings, as the king did on the right.
The king placed himself at the right wing of his own horse, GustavusHorn had the main battle of the Swedes, the Duke of Saxony had themain battle of his own troops, and General Arnheim the right wing ofhis horse. The second line of the Swedes consisted of the two Scotchbrigades, and three Swedish, with the Finland horse in the wings.
In the beginning of the fight, Tilly's right wing charged with suchirresistible fury upon the left of the king's army where the Saxonswere posted, that nothing could withstand them. The Saxons fled amain,and some of them carried the news over the country that all was lost,and the king's army overthrown; and indeed it passed for an oversightwith some that the king did not place some of his old troops among theSaxons, who were new-raised men. The Saxons lost here near 2000 men,and hardly ever showed their faces again all the battle, except somefew of their horse.
I was posted with my comrade, the captain, at the head of threeScottish regiments of foot, commanded by Sir John Hepburn, withexpress directions from the colonel to keep by him. Our post was inthe second line, as a reserve to the King of Sweden's main battle,and, which was strange, the main battle, which consisted of four greatbrigades of foot, were never charged during the whole fight; and yetwe, who had the reserve, were obliged to endure the whole weightof the Imperial army. The occasion was, the right wing of theImperialists having defeated the Saxons, and being eager in the chase,Tilly, who was an old soldier, and ready to prevent all mistakes,forbids any pursuit. "Let them go," says he, "but let us beat theSwedes, or we do nothing." Upon this the victorious troops fell inupon the flank of the king's army, which, the Saxons being fled, layopen to them. Gustavus Horn commanded the left wing of the Swedes, andhaving first defeated some regiments which charged him, falls in uponthe rear of the Imperial right wing, and separates them from the van,who were advanced a great way forward in pursuit of the Saxons, andhaving routed the said rear or reserve, falls on upon Tilly's mainbattle, and defeated part of them; the other part was gone in chase ofthe Saxons, and now also returned, fell in upon the rear of the leftwing of the Swedes, charging them in the flank, for they drew up uponthe very ground which the Saxons had quitted. This changed the wholefront, and made the Swedes face about to the left, and made a greatfront on their flank to make this good. Our brigades, who were placedas a reserve for the main battle, were, by special order from theking, wheeled about to the left, and placed for the right of this newfront to charge the Imperialists; they were about 12,000 of their bestfoot, besides horse, and flushed with the execution of the Saxons,fell on like furies. The king by this time had almost defeated theImperialists' left wing; their horse, with more
haste than good speed,had charged faster than their foot could follow, and having broke intothe king's first line, he let them go, where, while the second linebears the shock, and bravely resisted them, the king follows them onthe crupper with thirteen troops of horse, and some musketeers, bywhich being hemmed in, they were all cut down in a moment as it were,and the army never disordered with them. This fatal blow to the leftwing gave the king more leisure to defeat the foot which followed, andto send some assistance to Gustavus Horn in his left wing, who had hishands full with the main battle of the Imperialists.
But those troops who, as I said, had routed the Saxons, being calledoff from the pursuit, had charged our flank, and were now grown verystrong, renewed the battle in a terrible manner. Here it was I saw ourmen go to wreck. Colonel Hall, a brave soldier, commanded the rear ofthe Swede's left wing; he fought like a lion, but was slain, and mostof his regiment cut off, though not unrevenged, for they entirelyruined Furstenberg's regiment of foot. Colonel Cullembach, with hisregiment of horse, was extremely overlaid also, and the colonel andmany brave officers killed, and in short all that wing was shattered,and in an ill condition.
In this juncture came the king, and having seen what havoc the enemymade of Cullembach's troops, he comes riding along the front of ourthree brigades, and himself led us on to the charge; the colonel ofhis guards, the Baron Dyvel, was shot dead just as the king had givenhim some orders. When the Scots advanced, seconded by some regimentsof horse which the king also sent to the charge, the bloodiest fightbegan that ever men beheld, for the Scottish brigades, giving firethree ranks at a time over one another's heads, poured in their shotso thick, that the enemy were cut down like grass before a scythe;and following into the thickest of their foot with the clubs of theirmuskets made a most dreadful slaughter, and yet was there no flying.Tilly's men might be killed and knocked down, but no man turned hisback, nor would give an inch of ground, but as they were wheeled, ormarched, or retreated by their officers.
There was a regiment of cuirassiers which stood whole to the last,and fought like lions; they went ranging over the field when alltheir army was broken, and nobody cared for charging them; they werecommanded by Baron Kronenburg, and at last went off from the battlewhole. These were armed in black armour from head to foot, and theycarried off their general. About six o'clock the field was cleared ofthe enemy, except at one place on the king's side, where some of themrallied, and though they knew all was lost would take no quarter, butfought it out to the last man, being found dead the next day in rankand file as they were drawn up.
I had the good fortune to receive no hurt in this battle, exceptinga small scratch on the side of my neck by the push of a pike; but myfriend received a very dangerous wound when the battle was as good asover. He had engaged with a German colonel, whose name we could neverlearn, and having killed his man, and pressed very close upon him,so that he had shot his horse, the horse in the fall kept the coloneldown, lying on one of his legs; upon which he demanded quarter, whichCaptain Fielding granting, helped him to quit his horse, and havingdisarmed him, was bringing him into the line, when the regiment ofcuirassiers, which I mentioned, commanded by Baron Kronenburg, cameroving over the field, and with a flying charge saluted our front witha salvo of carabine shot, which wounded us a great many men, and amongthe rest the captain received a shot in his thigh, which laid him onthe ground, and being separated from the line, his prisoner got awaywith them.
This was the first service I was in, and indeed I never saw any fightsince maintained with such gallantry, such desperate valour, togetherwith such dexterity of management, both sides being composed ofsoldiers fully tried, bred to the wars, expert in everything, exact intheir order, and incapable of fear, which made the battle be much morebloody than usual. Sir John Hepburn, at my request, took particularcare of my comrade, and sent his own surgeon to look after him;and afterwards, when the city of Leipsic was retaken, provided himlodgings there, and came very often to see him; and indeed I was ingreat care for him too, the surgeons being very doubtful of him agreat while; for having lain in the field all night among the dead,his wound, for want of dressing, and with the extremity of cold, wasin a very ill condition, and the pain of it had thrown him into afever. 'Twas quite dusk before the fight ended, especially where thelast rallied troops fought so long, and therefore we durst not breakour order to seek out our friends, so that 'twas near seven o'clockthe next morning before we found the captain, who, though very weak bythe loss of blood, had raised himself up, and placed his back againstthe buttock of a dead horse. I was the first that knew him, andrunning to him, embraced him with a great deal of joy; he was not ableto speak, but made signs to let me see he knew me, so we brought himinto the camp, and Sir John Hepburn, as I noted before, sent his ownsurgeons to look after him.
The darkness of the night prevented any pursuit, and was the onlyrefuge the enemy had left: for had there been three hours moredaylight ten thousand more lives had been lost, for the Swedes (andSaxons especially) enraged by the obstinacy of the enemy, were sothoroughly heated that they would have given quarter but to few. Theretreat was not sounded till seven o'clock, when the king drew up thewhole army upon the field of battle, and gave strict command that noneshould stir from their order; so the army lay under their arms allnight, which was another reason why the wounded soldiers suffered verymuch by the cold; for the king, who had a bold enemy to deal with, wasnot ignorant what a small body of desperate men rallied together mighthave done in the darkness of the night, and therefore he lay in hiscoach all night at the head of the line, though it froze very hard.
As soon as the day began to peep the trumpets sounded to horse, andall the dragoons and light-horse in the army were commanded to thepursuit. The cuirassiers and some commanded musketeers advanced somemiles, if need were, to make good their retreat, and all the footstood to their arms for a reverse; but in half-an-hour word wasbrought to the king that the enemy were quite dispersed, upon whichdetachments were made out of every regiment to search among the deadfor any of our friends that were wounded; and the king himself gave astrict order, that if any were found wounded and alive among the enemynone should kill them, but take care to bring them into the camp--apiece of humanity which saved the lives of near a thousand of theenemies.
This piece of service being over, the enemy's camp was seized upon,and the soldiers were permitted to plunder it; all the cannon, arms,and ammunition was secured for the king's use, the rest was given upto the soldiers, who found so much plunder that they had no reason toquarrel for shares.
For my share, I was so busy with my wounded captain that I got nothingbut a sword, which I found just by him when I first saw him; but myman brought me a very good horse with a furniture on him, and onepistol of extraordinary workmanship.
I bade him get upon his back and make the best of the day for himself,which he did, and I saw him no more till three days after, when hefound me out at Leipsic, so richly dressed that I hardly knew him; andafter making his excuse for his long absence, gave me a very pleasantaccount where he had been. He told me that, according to my order,being mounted on the horse he had brought me, he first rid into thefield among the dead to get some clothes suitable to the equipage ofhis horse, and having seized on a laced coat, a helmet, a sword, andan extraordinary good cane, was resolved to see what was become of theenemy; and following the track of the dragoons, which he couldeasily do by the bodies on the road, he fell in with a small partyof twenty-five dragoons, under no command but a corporal, making toa village where some of the enemies' horse had been quartered. Thedragoons, taking him for an officer by his horse, desired him tocommand them, told him the enemy was very rich, and they doubted nota good booty. He was a bold, brisk fellow, and told them, with allhis heart, but said he had but one pistol, the other being broken withfiring; so they lent him a pair of pistols, and a small piece they hadtaken, and he led them on. There had been a regiment of horse andsome troops of Crabats in the village, but they were fled on the firstnotice of the purs
uit, excepting three troops, and these, on sightof this small party, supposing them to be only the first of a greaternumber, fled in the greatest confusion imaginable. They took thevillage, and about fifty horses, with all the plunder of the enemy,and with the heat of the service he had spoiled my horse, he said, forwhich he had brought me two more; for he, passing for the commander ofthe party, had all the advantage the custom of war gives an officer inlike cases.
I was very well pleased with the relation the fellow gave me, and,laughing at him, "Well, captain," said I, "and what plunder have yegot?" "Enough to make me a captain, sir," says he, "if you please, anda troop ready raised too; for the party of dragoons are posted in thevillage by my command, till they have farther orders." In short,he pulled out sixty or seventy pieces of gold, five or six watches,thirteen or fourteen rings, whereof two were diamond rings, one ofwhich was worth fifty dollars, silver as much as his pockets wouldhold; besides that he had brought three horses, two of which wereladen with baggage, and a boor he had hired to stay with them atLeipsic till he had found me out. "But I am afraid, captain," says I,"you have plundered the village instead of plundering the enemy." "Noindeed, not we," says he, "but the Crabats had done it for us and welight of them just as they were carrying it off." "Well," said I, "butwhat will you do with your men, for when you come to give them ordersthey will know you well enough?" "No, no," says he, "I took care ofthat, for just now I gave a soldier five dollars to carry them newsthat the army was marched to Merseburg, and that they should followthither to the regiment."
Having secured his money in my lodgings, he asked me if I pleased tosee his horses, and to have one for myself? I told him I would go andsee them in the afternoon; but the fellow being impatient goes andfetches them. There were three horses, one whereof was a very goodone, and by the furniture was an officer's horse of the Crabats, andthat my man would have me accept, for the other he had spoiled, ashe said. I was but indifferently horsed before, so I accepted of thehorse, and went down with him to see the rest of his plunder there.He had got three or four pair of pistols, two or three bundles ofofficers' linen, and lace, a field-bed, and a tent, and several otherthings of value; but at last, coming to a small fardel, "And this,"says he, "I took whole from a Crabat running away with it under hisarm," so he brought it up into my chamber. He had not looked into it,he said, but he understood 'twas some plunder the soldiers had made,and finding it heavy took it by consent. We opened it and found it wasa bundle of some linen, thirteen or fourteen pieces of plate, and in asmall cup, three rings, a fine necklace of pearl and the value of 100rix-dollars in money.
The fellow was amazed at his own good fortune, and hardly knew whatto do with himself; I bid him go take care of his other things, andof his horses, and come again. So he went and discharged the boor thatwaited and packed up all his plunder, and came up to me in his oldclothes again. "How now, captain," says I, "what, have you alteredyour equipage already?" "I am no more ashamed, sir, of your livery,"answered he, "than of your service, and nevertheless your servant forwhat I have got by it." "Well," says I to him, "but what will you donow with all your money?" "I wish my poor father had some of it," sayshe, "and for the rest I got it for you, sir, and desire you would takeit." He spoke it with so much honesty and freedom that I could notbut take it very kindly; but, however, I told him I would not take afarthing from him as his master, but I would have him play the goodhusband with it, now he had such good fortune to get it. He told mehe would take my directions in everything. "Why, then," said I, "I'lltell you what I would advise you to do, turn it all into ready money,and convey it by return home into England, and follow yourself thefirst opportunity, and with good management you may put yourself in agood posture of living with it." The fellow, with a sort of dejectionin his looks, asked me if he had disobliged me in anything? "Why?"says I. "That I was willing to turn him out of his service." "No,George" (that was his name), says I, "but you may live on this moneywithout being a servant." "I'd throw it all into the Elbe," says he,"over Torgau bridge, rather than leave your service; and besides,"says he, "can't I save my money without going from you? I got it inyour service, and I'll never spend it out of your service, unless youput me away. I hope my money won't make me the worse servant; if Ithought it would, I'd soon have little enough." "Nay, George," saysI, "I shall not oblige you to it, for I am not willing to lose youneither: come, then," says I, "let us put it all together, and seewhat it will come to." So he laid it all together on the table, and byour computation he had gotten as much plunder as was worth about 1400rix-dollars, besides three horses with their furniture, a tent, a bed,and some wearing linen. Then he takes the necklace of pearl, a verygood watch, a diamond ring, and 100 pieces of gold, and lays them bythemselves, and having, according to our best calculation, valued thethings, he put up all the rest, and as I was going to ask him whatthey were left out for, he takes them up in his hand, and coming roundthe table, told me, that if I did not think him unworthy of my serviceand favour, he begged I would give him leave to make that present tome; that it was my first thought his going out, that he had got itall in my service, and he should think I had no kindness for him if Ishould refuse it.
I was resolved in my mind not to take it from him, and yet I couldfind no means to resist his importunity. At last I told him, I wouldaccept of part of his present, and that I esteemed his respect inthat as much as the whole, and that I would not have him importune mefarther; so I took the ring and watch, with the horse and furniture asbefore, and made him turn all the rest into money at Leipsic, andnot suffering him to wear his livery, made him put himself into atolerable equipage, and taking a young Leipsicer into my service, heattended me as a gentleman from that time forward.
The king's army never entered Leipsic, but proceeded to Merseberg, andfrom thence to Halle, and so marched on into Franconia, while the Dukeof Saxony employed his forces in recovering Leipsic and driving theImperialists out of his country. I continued at Leipsic twelve days,being not willing to leave my comrade till he was recovered; but SirJohn Hepburn so often importuned me to come into the army, and sentme word that the king had very often inquired for me, that at last Iconsented to go without him; so having made our appointment where tomeet, and how to correspond by letters, I went to wait on Sir JohnHepburn, who then lay with the king's army at the city of Erfurt inSaxony. As I was riding between Leipsic and Halle, I observed myhorse went very awkwardly and uneasy, and sweat very much, though theweather was cold, and we had rid but very softly; I fancied thereforethat the saddle might hurt the horse, and calls my new captain up."George," says I, "I believe this saddle hurts the horse." So wealighted, and looking under the saddle found the back of the horseextremely galled; so I bid him take off the saddle, which he did, andgiving the horse to my young Leipsicer to lead, we sat down to see ifwe could mend it, for there was no town near us. Says George, pointingwith his finger, "If you please to cut open the pannel there, I'll getsomething to stuff into it which will bear it from the horse's back."So while he looked for something to thrust in, I cut a hole inthe pannel of the saddle, and, following it with my finger, I feltsomething hard, which seemed to move up and down. Again, as I thrustit with my finger, "Here's something that should not be here," says I,not yet imagining what afterwards fell out, and calling, "Run back,"bade him put up his finger. "Whatever 'tis," says he, "'tis this hurtsthe horse, for it bears just on his back when the saddle is set on."So we strove to take hold on it, but could not reach it; at last wetook the upper part of the saddle quite from the pannel, and therelay a small silk purse wrapped in a piece of leather, and full of goldducats. "Thou art born to be rich, George," says I to him, "here'smore money." We opened the purse and found in it four hundred andthirty-eight small pieces of gold.
There I had a new skirmish with him whose the money should be. Itold him 'twas his, he told me no; I had accepted of the horse andfurniture, and all that was about him was mine, and solemnly vowed hewould not have a penny of it. I saw no remedy, but put up the moneyfor the present, mended
our saddle, and went on. We lay that night atHalle, and having had such a booty in the saddle, I made him searchthe saddles of the other two horses, in one of which we found threeFrench crowns, but nothing in the other.
We arrived at Erfurt the 28th of September, but the army was removed,and entered into Franconia, and at the siege of Koningshoven we cameup with them. The first thing I did was to pay my civilities to SirJohn Hepburn, who received me very kindly, but told me withal thatI had not done well to be so long from him, and the king hadparticularly inquired for me, had commanded him to bring me to him atmy return. I told him the reason of my stay at Leipsic, and how I hadleft that place and my comrade, before he was cured of his wounds, towait on him according to his letters. He told me the king had spokensome things very obliging about me, and he believed would offer mesome command in the army, if I thought well to accept of it. I toldhim I had promised my father not to take service in an army withouthis leave, and yet if his Majesty should offer it, I neither knewhow to resist it, nor had I an inclination to anything more than theservice, and such a leader, though I had much rather have served as avolunteer at my own charge (which, as he knew, was the custom of ourEnglish gentlemen) than in any command. He replied, "Do as you thinkfit; but some gentlemen would give 20,000 crowns to stand so fair foradvancement as you do."
The town of Koningshoven capitulated that day, and Sir John wasordered to treat with the citizens, so I had no further discourse withhim then; and the town being taken, the army immediately advanced downthe river Maine, for the king had his eye upon Frankfort and Mentz,two great cities, both which he soon became master of, chiefly bythe prodigious expedition of his march; for within a month after thebattle, he was in the lower parts of the empire, and had passed fromthe Elbe to the Rhine, an incredible conquest, had taken all thestrong cities, the bishoprics of Bamberg, of Wurtzburg, and almost allthe circle of Franconia, with part of Schawberland--a conquest largeenough to be seven years a-making by the common course of arms.
Business going on thus, the king had not leisure to think of smallmatters, and I being not thoroughly resolved in my mind, did not pressSir John to introduce me. I had wrote to my father with an accountof my reception in the army, the civilities of Sir John Hepburn, theparticulars of the battle, and had indeed pressed him to give meleave to serve the King of Sweden, to which particular I waited foran answer, but the following occasion determined me before an answercould possibly reach me.
The king was before the strong castle of Marienburg, which commandsthe city of Wurtzburg. He had taken the city, but the garrison andricher part of the burghers were retired into the castle, and trustingto the strength of the place, which was thought impregnable, they badethe Swedes do their worst; 'twas well provided with all things, and astrong garrison in it, so that the army indeed expected 'twould be along piece of work. The castle stood on a high rock, and on the steepof the rock was a bastion which defended the only passage up the hillinto the castle; the Scots were chose out to make this attack, and theking was an eye-witness of their gallantry. In the action Sir John wasnot commanded out, but Sir James Ramsey led them on; but I observedthat most of the Scotch officers in the other regiments prepared toserve as volunteers for the honour of their countrymen, and Sir JohnHepburn led them on. I was resolved to see this piece of service,and therefore joined myself to the volunteers. We were armed withpartisans, and each man two pistols at our belt. It was a piece ofservice that seemed perfectly desperate, the advantage of the hill,the precipice we were to mount, the height of the bastion, theresolute courage and number of the garrison, who from a completecovert made a terrible fire upon us, all joined to make the actionhopeless. But the fury of the Scots musketeers was not to be abated byany difficulties; they mounted the hill, scaled the works like madmen,running upon the enemies' pikes, and after two hours' desperate fightin the midst of fire and smoke, took it by storm, and put all thegarrison to the sword. The volunteers did their part, and had theirshare of the loss too, for thirteen or fourteen were killed out ofthirty-seven, besides the wounded, among whom I received a hurt moretroublesome than dangerous by a thrust of a halberd into my arm, whichproved a very painful wound, and I was a great while before it wasthoroughly recovered.
The king received us as we drew off at the foot of the hill, callingthe soldiers his brave Scots, and commending the officers by name.The next morning the castle was also taken by storm, and the greatestbooty that ever was found in any one conquest in the whole war; thesoldiers got here so much money that they knew not what to do with it,and the plunder they got here and at the battle of Leipsic made themso unruly, that had not the king been the best master of discipline inthe world, they had never been kept in any reasonable bounds.
The king had taken notice of our small party of volunteers, and thoughI thought he had not seen me, yet he sent the next morning for SirJohn Hepburn, and asked him if I were not come to the army? "Yes,"says Sir John, "he has been here two or three days." And as he wasforming an excuse for not having brought me to wait on his Majesty,says the king, interrupting him, "I wonder you would let him thrusthimself into a hot piece of service as storming the Port Graft.Pray let him know I saw him, and have a very good account of hisbehaviour." Sir John returned with this account to me, and pressedme to pay my duty to his Majesty the next morning; and accordingly,though I had but an ill night with the pain of my wound, I was withhim at the levee in the castle.
I cannot but give some short account of the glory of the morning; thecastle had been cleared of the dead bodies of the enemies, and whatwas not pillaged by the soldiers was placed under a guard. There wasfirst a magazine of very good arms for about 18,000 or 20,000 foot,and 4000 horse, a very good train of artillery of about eighteenpieces of battery, thirty-two brass field-pieces, and four mortars.The bishop's treasure, and other public monies not plundered by thesoldiers, was telling out by the officers, and amounted to 400,000florins in money; and the burghers of the town in solemn procession,bareheaded, brought the king three tons of gold as a composition toexempt the city from plunder. Here was also a stable of gallant horseswhich the king had the curiosity to go and see.
When the ceremony of the burghers was over, the king came down intothe castle court, walked on the parade (where the great train ofartillery was placed on their carriages) and round the walls, and gaveorder for repairing the bastion that was stormed by the Scots; andas at the entrance of the parade Sir John Hepburn and I made ourreverence to the king, "Ho, cavalier!" said the king to me, "I am gladto see you," and so passed forward. I made my bow very low, but hisMajesty said no more at that time.
When the view was over the king went up into the lodgings, and SirJohn and I walked in an antechamber for about a quarter of an hour,when one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber came out to Sir John, andtold him the king asked for him; he stayed but a little with the king,and come out to me and told me the king had ordered him to bring me tohim.
His Majesty, with a countenance full of honour and goodness,interrupted my compliment, and asked me how I did; at which answeringonly with a bow, says the king, "I am sorry to see you are hurt; Iwould have laid my commands on you not to have shown yourself in sosharp a piece of service, if I had known you had been in the camp.""Your Majesty does me too much honour," said I, "in your care of alife that has yet done nothing to deserve your favour." His Majestywas pleased to say something very kind to me relating to my behaviourin the battle of Leipsic, which I have not vanity enough to write;at the conclusion whereof, when I replied very humbly that I was notsensible that any service I had done, or could do, could possiblymerit so much goodness, he told me he had ordered me a small testimonyof his esteem, and withal gave me his hand to kiss. I was nowconquered, and with a sort of surprise told his Majesty I found myselfso much engaged by his goodness, as well as my own inclination, thatif his Majesty would please to accept of my devoir, I was resolved toserve in his army, or wherever he pleased to command me. "Serveme," says the king, "why, so you do, but I must not have you be amusketeer
; a poor soldier at a dollar a week will do that." "Pray,Sir John," says the king, "give him what commission he desires." "Nocommission, sir," says I, "would please me better than leave to fightnear your Majesty's person, and to serve you at my own charge till Iam qualified by more experience to receive your commands." "Why, then,it shall be so," said the king, "and I charge you, Hepburn," says he,"when anything offers that is either fit for him, or he desires, thatyou tell me of it;" and giving me his hand again to kiss, I withdrew.
I was followed before I had passed the castle gate by one of theking's pages, who brought me a warrant, directed to Sir John Hepburn,to go to the master of the horse for an immediate delivery of thingsordered by the king himself for my account, where being come, theequerry produced me a very good coach with four horses, harness, andequipage, and two very fine saddle-horses, out of the stable of thebishop's horses afore-mentioned; with these there was a list for threeservants, and a warrant to the steward of the king's baggage to defrayme, my horses, and servants at the king's charge till farther order.I was very much at a loss how to manage myself in this so strangefreedom of so great a prince, and consulting with Sir John Hepburn, Iwas proposing to him whether it was not proper to go immediately backto pay my duty to his Majesty, and acknowledge his bounty in the bestterms I could; but while we were resolving to do so, the guards stoodto their arms, and we saw the king go out at the gate in his coachto pass into the city, so we were diverted from it for that time. Iacknowledge the bounty of the king was very surprising, but I must sayit was not so very strange to me when I afterwards saw the course ofhis management. Bounty in him was his natural talent, but he neverdistributed his favours but where he thought himself both loved andfaithfully served, and when he was so, even the single actions ofhis private soldiers he would take particular notice of himself, andpublicly own, acknowledge, and reward them, of which I am obliged togive some instances.
A private musketeer at the storming the castle of Wurtzburg, whenall the detachment was beaten off, stood in the face of the enemy andfired his piece, and though he had a thousand shot made at him, stoodunconcerned, and charged his piece again, and let fly at the enemy,continuing to do so three times, at the same time beckoning with hishand to his fellows to come on again, which they did, animated by hisexample, and carried the place for the king.
When the town was taken the king ordered the regiment to be drawn out,and calling for that soldier, thanked him before them all fortaking the town for him, gave him a thousand dollars in money, and acommission with his own hand for a foot company, or leave to go home,which he would. The soldier took the commission on his knees, kissedit, and put it into his bosom, and told the king, he would never leavehis service as long as he lived.
This bounty of the king's, timed and suited by his judgment, wasthe reason that he was very well served, entirely beloved, and mostpunctually obeyed by his soldiers, who were sure to be cherished andencouraged if they did well, having the king generally an eye-witnessof their behaviour.
My indiscretion rather than valour had engaged me so far at the battleof Leipsic, that being in the van of Sir John Hepburn's brigade,almost three whole companies of us were separated from our line, andsurrounded by the enemies' pikes. I cannot but say also that we weredisengaged rather by a desperate charge Sir John made with the wholeregiment to fetch us off, than by our own valour, though we were notwanting to ourselves neither, but this part of the action being talkedof very much to the advantage of the young English volunteer, andpossibly more than I deserved, was the occasion of all the distinctionthe king used me with ever after.
I had by this time letters from my father, in which, though with somereluctance, he left me at liberty to enter into arms if I thought fit,always obliging me to be directed, and, as he said, commanded bySir John Hepburn. At the same time he wrote to Sir John Hepburn,commending his son's fortunes, as he called it, to his care, whichletters Sir John showed the king unknown to me.
I took care always to acquaint my father of every circumstance, andforgot not to mention his Majesty's extraordinary favour, which soaffected my father, that he obtained a very honourable mention of itin a letter from King Charles to the King of Sweden, written by hisown hand.
I had waited on his Majesty, with Sir John Hepburn, to give him thanksfor his magnificent present, and was received with his usual goodness,and after that I was every day among the gentlemen of his ordinaryattendance. And if his Majesty went out on a party, as he wouldoften do, or to view the country, I always attended him among thevolunteers, of whom a great many always followed him; and he wouldoften call me out, talk with me, send me upon messages to towns, toprinces, free cities, and the like, upon extraordinary occasions.
The first piece of service he put me upon had like to have embroiledme with one of his favourite colonels. The king was marching throughthe Bergstraet, a low country on the edge of the Rhine, and, as allmen thought, was going to besiege Heidelberg, but on a sudden ordersa party of his guards, with five companies of Scots, to be drawn out;while they were drawing out this detachment the king calls me to him,"Ho, cavalier," says he, that was his usual word, "you shall commandthis party;" and thereupon gives me orders to march back all night,and in the morning, by break of day, to take post under the walls ofthe fort of Oppenheim, and immediately to entrench myself as well as Icould. Grave Neels, the colonel of his guards, thought himself injuredby this command, but the king took the matter upon himself, and GraveNeels told me very familiarly afterwards, "We have such a master,"says he, "that no man can be affronted by. I thought myself wronged,"says he, "when you commanded my men over my head; and for my life,"says he, "I knew not which way to be angry."
I executed my commission so punctually that by break of day I was setdown within musket-shot of the fort, under covert of a little mount,on which stood a windmill, and had indifferently fortified myself, andat the same time had posted some of my men on two other passes, butat farther distance from the fort, so that the fort was effectuallyblocked up on the land side. In the afternoon the enemy sallied on myfirst entrenchment, but being covered from their cannon, and defendedby a ditch which I had drawn across the road, they were so wellreceived by my musketeers that they retired with the loss of six orseven men.
The next day Sir John Hepburn was sent with two brigades of foot tocarry on the work, and so my commission ended. The king expressedhimself very well pleased with what I had done, and when he was sowas never sparing of telling of it, for he used to say that publiccommendations were a great encouragement to valour.
While Sir John Hepburn lay before the fort and was preparing to stormit, the king's design was to get over the Rhine, but the Spaniardswhich were in Oppenheim had sunk all the boats they could find. Atlast the king, being informed where some lay that were sunk, causedthem to be weighed with all the expedition possible, and in the nightof the 7th of December, in three boats, passed over his regiment ofguards, about three miles above the town, and, as the king thought,secure from danger; but they were no sooner landed, and not drawn intoorder, but they were charged by a body of Spanish horse, and had notthe darkness given them opportunity to draw up in the enclosuresin several little parties, they had been in great danger of beingdisordered; but by this means they lined the hedges and lanes so withmusketeers, that the remainder had time to draw up in battalia, andsaluted the horse with their muskets, so that they drew farther off.
The king was very impatient, hearing his men engaged, having no boatsnor possible means to get over to help them. At last, about eleveno'clock at night, the boats came back, and the king thrust anotherregiment into them, and though his officers dissuaded him, would goover himself with them on foot, and did so. This was three months thatvery day when the battle of Leipsic was fought, and winter time too,that the progress of his arms had spread from the Elbe, where it partsSaxony and Brandenburg, to the Lower Palatine and the Rhine.
I went over in the boat with the king. I never saw him in so muchconcern in my life, for he was in pain for his men; b
ut before we goton shore the Spaniards retired. However, the king landed, ordered hismen, and prepared to entrench, but he had not time, for by that timethe boats were put off again, the Spaniards, not knowing more troopswere landed, and being reinforced from Oppenheim, came on again, andcharged with great fury; but all things were now in order, and theywere readily received and beaten back again. They came on again thethird time, and with repeated charges attacked us; but at lastfinding us too strong for them they gave it over. By this time anotherregiment of foot was come over, and as soon as day appeared the kingwith the three regiments marched to the town, which surrendered at thefirst summons, and the next day the fort yielded to Sir John Hepburn.
The castle at Oppenheim held out still with a garrison of 800Spaniards, and the king, leaving 200 Scots of Sir James Ramsey's menin the town, drew out to attack the castle. Sir James Ramsey beingleft wounded at Wurtzburg, the king gave me the command of those 200men, which were a regiment, that is to say, all that were left of agallant regiment of 2000 Scots, which the king brought out of Swedenwith him, under that brave colonel. There was about thirty officers,who, having no soldiers, were yet in pay, and served as reformadoeswith the regiment, and were over and above the 200 men.
The king designed to storm the castle on the lower side by the waythat leads to Mentz, and Sir John Hepburn landed from the other sideand marched up to storm on the Rhine port.
My reformado Scots, having observed that the town port of the castlewas not so well guarded as the rest, all the eyes of the garrisonbeing bent towards the king and Sir John Hepburn, came running to me,and told me they believed they could enter the castle, sword in hand,if I would give them leave. I told them I durst not give them orders,my commission being only to keep and defend the town; but they beingvery importunate, I told them they were volunteers, and might do whatthey pleased, that I would lend them fifty men, and draw up the restto second them, or bring them off, as I saw occasion, so as I mightnot hazard the town. This was as much as they desired; they salliedimmediately, and in a trice the volunteers scaled the port, cut inpieces the guard, and burst open the gate, at which the fifty entered.Finding the gate won, I advanced immediately with 100 musketeers more,having locked up all the gates of the town but the castle port, andleaving fifty still for a reserve just at that gate; the townsmen,too, seeing the castle, as it were, taken, ran to arms, and followedme with above 200 men. The Spaniards were knocked down by the Scotsbefore they knew what the matter was, and the king and Sir JohnHepburn, advancing to storm, were surprised when, instead ofresistance, they saw the Spaniards throwing themselves over the wallsto avoid the fury of the Scots. Few of the garrison got away, but wereeither killed or taken, and having cleared the castle, I set open theport on the king's side, and sent his Majesty word the castle was hisown. The king came on, and entered on foot. I received him at the headof the Scots reformadoes; who all saluted him with their pikes. Theking gave them his hat, and turning about, "Brave Scots, brave Scots,"says he smiling, "you were too quick for me;" then beckoning to me,made me tell him how and in what manner we had managed the storm,which he was exceeding well pleased with, but especially at thecaution I had used to bring them off if they had miscarried, andsecured the town.
From hence the army marched to Mentz, which in four days' timecapitulated, with the fort and citadel, and the city paid his Majesty300,000 dollars to be exempted from the fury of the soldiers. Here theking himself drew the plan of those invincible fortifications which tothis day makes it one of the strongest cities in Germany.
Friburg, Koningstien, Neustadt, Kaiserslautern, and almost all theLower Palatinate, surrendered at the very terror of the King ofSweden's approach, and never suffered the danger of a siege.
The king held a most magnificent court at Mentz, attended by theLandgrave of Hesse, with an incredible number of princes and lordsof the empire, with ambassadors and residents of foreign princes;and here his Majesty stayed till March, when the queen, with a greatretinue of Swedish nobility, came from Erfurt to see him. The king,attended by a gallant train of German nobility, went to Frankfort, andfrom thence on to Hoest, to meet the queen, where her Majesty arrivedFebruary 8.
During the king's stay in these parts, his armies were not idle, histroops, on one side under the Rhinegrave, a brave and ever-fortunatecommander, and under the Landgrave of Hesse, on the other, ranged thecountry from Lorraine to Luxemburg, and past the Moselle on the west,and the Weser on the north. Nothing could stand before them: theSpanish army which came to the relief of the Catholic Electors waseverywhere defeated and beaten quite out of the country, and theLorraine army quite ruined. 'Twas a most pleasant court sure as everwas seen, where every day expresses arrived of armies defeated, townssurrendered, contributions agreed upon, parties routed, prisonerstaken, and princes sending ambassadors to sue for truces andneutralities, to make submissions and compositions, and to pay arrearsand contributions.
Here arrived, February 10, the King of Bohemia from England, and withhim my Lord Craven, with a body of Dutch horse, and a very fine trainof English volunteers, who immediately, without any stay, marched onto Hoest to wait upon his Majesty of Sweden, who received him with agreat deal of civility, and was treated at a noble collation by theking and queen at Frankfort. Never had the unfortunate king so fair aprospect of being restored to his inheritance of the Palatinate asat that time, and had King James, his father-in-law, had a soulanswerable to the occasion, it had been effected before, but it was astrange thing to see him equipped from the English court with one lordand about forty or fifty English gentlemen in his attendance, whereashad the King of England now, as 'tis well known he might have done,furnished him with 10,000 or 12,000 English foot, nothing could havehindered him taking a full possession of his country; and yet evenwithout that help did the King of Sweden clear almost his wholecountry of Imperialists, and after his death reinstal his son in theElectorate; but no thanks to us.
The Lord Craven did me the honour to inquire for me by name, and hisMajesty of Sweden did me yet more by presenting me to the King ofBohemia, and my Lord Craven gave me a letter from my father. Andspeaking something of my father having served under the Prince ofOrange in the famous battle of Nieuport, the king, smiling, returned,"And pray tell him from me his son has served as well in the warmbattle of Leipsic."
My father being very much pleased with the honour I had received fromso great a king, had ordered me to acquaint his Majesty that, if hepleased to accept of their service, he would raise him a regiment ofEnglish horse at his own charge to be under my command, and to besent over into Holland; and my Lord Craven had orders from the King ofEngland to signify his consent to the said levy. I acquainted my oldfriend Sir John Hepburn with the contents of the letter in order tohave his advice, who being pleased with the proposal, would have mego to the king immediately with the letter, but present service put itoff for some days.
The taking of Creutznach was the next service of any moment. The kingdrew out in person to the siege of this town. The town soon came toparley, but the castle seemed a work of difficulty, for its situationwas so strong and so surrounded with works behind and above one andanother, that most people thought the king would receive a checkfrom it; but it was not easy to resist the resolution of the King ofSweden.
He never battered it but with two small pieces, but having viewed theworks himself, ordered a mine under the first ravelin, which beingsprung with success, he commands a storm. I think there was notmore commanded men than volunteers, both English, Scots, French, andGermans. My old comrade was by this time recovered of his wound atLeipsic, and made one. The first body of volunteers, of about forty,were led on by my Lord Craven, and I led the second, among whom weremost of the reformado Scots officers who took the castle of Oppenheim.The first party was not able to make anything of it; the garrisonfought with so much fury that many of the volunteer gentlemen beingwounded, and some killed, the rest were beaten off with loss. The kingwas in some passion at his men, and rated them for running away, as hecalled
it, though they really retreated in good order, and commandedthe assault to be renewed. 'Twas our turn to fall on next. Our Scotsofficers, not being used to be beaten, advanced immediately, and myLord Craven with his volunteers pierced in with us, fighting gallantlyin the breach with a pike in his hand; and, to give him the honour dueto his bravery, he was with the first on the top of the rampart, andgave his hand to my comrade, and lifted him up after him. We helpedone another up, till at last almost all the volunteers had gainedthe height of the ravelin, and maintained it with a great deal ofresolution, expecting when the commanded men had gained the sameheight to advance upon the enemy; when one of the enemy's captainscalled to my Lord Craven, and told him if they might have honourableterms they would capitulate, which my lord telling him he would engagefor, the garrison fired no more, and the captain, leaping down fromthe next rampart, came with my Lord Craven into the camp, where theconditions were agreed on, and the castle surrendered.
After the taking of this town, the king, hearing of Tilly's approach,and how he had beaten Gustavus Horn, the king's field-marshal, out ofBamberg, began to draw his forces together, and leaving the care ofhis conquests in these parts to his chancellor Oxenstiern, prepares toadvance towards Bavaria.
I had taken an opportunity to wait upon his Majesty with Sir JohnHepburn and being about to introduce the discourse of my father'sletter, the king told me he had received a compliment on my accountin a letter from King Charles. I told him his Majesty had by hisexceeding generosity bound me and all my friends to pay theiracknowledgments to him, and that I supposed my father had obtainedsuch a mention of it from the King of England, as gratitude moved himto that his Majesty's favour had been shown in me to a family bothwilling and ready to serve him, that I had received some commands frommy father, which, if his Majesty pleased to do me the honour to acceptof, might put me in a condition to acknowledge his Majesty's goodnessin a manner more proportioned to the sense I had of his favour; andwith that I produced my father's letter, and read that clause in itwhich related to the regiment of horse, which was as follows:--
"I read with a great deal of satisfaction the account you give of thegreat and extraordinary conquests of the King of Sweden, and with morehis Majesty's singular favour to you; I hope you will be careful tovalue and deserve so much honour. I am glad you rather chose to serveas a volunteer at your own charge, than to take any command, which,for want of experience, you might misbehave in.
"I have obtained of the king that he will particularly thank hisMajesty of Sweden for the honour he has done you, and if his Majestygives you so much freedom, I could be glad you should in the humblestmanner thank his Majesty in the name of an old broken soldier.
"If you think yourself officer enough to command them, and his Majestypleased to accept them, I would have you offer to raise his Majestya regiment of horse, which, I think, I may near complete in ourneighbourhood with some of your old acquaintance, who are very willingto see the world. If his Majesty gives you the word, they shallreceive his commands in the Maes, the king having promised me to givethem arms, and transport them for that service into Holland; and Ihope they may do his Majesty such service as may be for your honourand the advantage of his Majesty's interest and glory."
"YOUR LOVING FATHER."
"'Tis an offer like a gentleman and like a soldier," says the king,"and I'll accept of it on two conditions: first," says the king, "thatI will pay your father the advance money for the raising the regiment;and next, that they shall be landed in the Weser or the Elbe; forwhich, if the King of England will not, I will pay the passage; forif they land in Holland, it may prove very difficult to get them to uswhen the army shall be marched out of this part of the country."
I returned this answer to my father, and sent my man George intoEngland to order that regiment, and made him quartermaster. I sentblank commissions for the officers, signed by the king, to be filledup as my father should think fit; and when I had the king's order forthe commissions, the secretary told me I must go back to the king withthem. Accordingly I went back to the king, who, opening the packet,laid all the commissions but one upon a table before him, and bademe take them, and keeping that one still in his hand, "Now," says he,"you are one of my soldiers," and therewith gave me his commission, ascolonel of horse in present pay. I took the commission kneeling,and humbly thanked his Majesty. "But," says the king, "there is onearticle-of-war I expect of you more than of others." "Your Majesty canexpect nothing of me which I shall not willingly comply with," said I,"as soon as I have the honour to understand what it is." "Why, it is,"says the king, "that you shall never fight but when you have orders,for I shall not be willing to lose my colonel before I have theregiment." "I shall be ready at all times, sir," returned I, "to obeyyour Majesty's orders."
I sent my man express with the king's answer and the commission to myfather, who had the regiment completed in less than two months' time,and six of the officers, with a list of the rest, came away to me,whom I presented to his Majesty when he lay before Nuremberg, wherethey kissed his hand.
One of the captains offered to bring the whole regiment travelling asprivate men into the army in six weeks' time, and either to transporttheir equipage, or buy it in Germany, but 'twas thought impracticable.However, I had so many come in that manner that I had a complete troopalways about me, and obtained the king's order to muster them as atroop.
On the 8th of March the king decamped, and, marching up the riverMaine, bent his course directly for Bavaria, taking several smallplaces by the way, and expecting to engage with Tilly, who he thoughtwould dispute his entrance into Bavaria, kept his army together; butTilly, finding himself too weak to encounter him, turned away, andleaving Bavaria open to the king, marched into the Upper Palatinate.The king finding the country clear of the Imperialists comes toNuremberg, made his entrance into that city the 21st of March, andbeing nobly treated by the citizens, he continued his march intoBavaria, and on the 26th sat down before Donauwerth. The town wastaken the next day by storm, so swift were the conquests of thisinvincible captain. Sir John Hepburn, with the Scots and the Englishvolunteers at the head of them, entered the town first, and cut allthe garrison to pieces, except such as escaped over the bridge.
I had no share in the business of Donauwerth, being now among thehorse, but I was posted on the roads with five troops of horse, wherewe picked up a great many stragglers of the garrison, whom we madeprisoners of war.
'Tis observable that this town of Donauwerth is a very strong placeand well fortified, and yet such expedition did the king make, andsuch resolution did he use in his first attacks, that he carried thetown without putting himself to the trouble of formal approaches.'Twas generally his way when he came before any town with a design tobesiege it; he never would encamp at a distance and begin his trenchesa great way off, but bring his men immediately within half musket-shotof the place; there getting under the best cover he could, he wouldimmediately begin his batteries and trenches before their faces;and if there was any place possibly to be attacked, he would fall tostorming immediately. By this resolute way of coming on he carriedmany a town in the first heat of his men, which would have held outmany days against a more regular siege.
This march of the king broke all Tilly's measures, for now he wasobliged to face about, and leaving the Upper Palatinate, to cometo the assistance of the Duke of Bavaria; for the king being 20,000strong, besides 10,000 foot and 4000 horse and dragoons which joinedhim from the Duringer Wald, was resolved to ruin the duke, who laynow open to him, and was the most powerful and inveterate enemy of theProtestants in the empire.
Tilly was now joined with the Duke of Bavaria, and might together makeabout 22,000 men, and in order to keep the Swedes out of the countryof Bavaria, had planted themselves along the banks of the river Lech,which runs on the edge of the duke's territories; and having fortifiedthe other side of the river, and planted his cannon for several milesat all the convenient places on the river, resolved to dispute theking's passage.
I shall
be the longer in relating this account of the Lech, beingesteemed in those days as great an action as any battle or siege ofthat age, and particularly famous for the disaster of the gallant oldGeneral Tilly; and for that I can be more particular in it than otheraccounts, having been an eye-witness to every part of it.
The king being truly informed of the disposition of the Bavarian army,was once of the mind to have left the banks of the Lech, have repassedthe Danube, and so setting down before Ingolstadt, the duke's capitalcity, by the taking that strong town to have made his entrance intoBavaria, and the conquest of such a fortress, one entire action;but the strength of the place and the difficulty of maintaining hisleaguer in an enemy's country while Tilly was so strong in the field,diverted him from that design; he therefore concluded that Tillywas first to be beaten out of the country, and then the siege ofIngolstadt would be the easier.
Whereupon the king resolved to go and view the situation of the enemy.His Majesty went out the 2nd of April with a strong party of horse,which I had the honour to command. We marched as near as we couldto the banks of the river, not to be too much exposed to the enemy'scannon, and having gained a little height, where the whole course ofthe river might be seen, the king halted, and commanded to draw up.The king alighted, and calling me to him, examined every reach andturning of the river by his glass, but finding the river run a longand almost a straight course he could find no place which he liked;but at last turning himself north, and looking down the stream, hefound the river, stretching a long reach, doubles short upon itself,making a round and very narrow point. "There's a point will do ourbusiness," says the king, "and if the ground be good I'll pass there,let Tilly do his worst."
He immediately ordered a small party of horse to view the ground, andto bring him word particularly how high the bank was on each side andat the point. "And he shall have fifty dollars," says the king, "thatwill bring me word how deep the water is." I asked his Majesty leaveto let me go, which he would by no means allow of; but as the partywas drawing out, a sergeant of dragoons told the king, if he pleasedto let him go disguised as a boor, he would bring him an account ofeverything he desired. The king liked the notion well enough, andthe fellow being very well acquainted with the country, puts on aploughman's habit, and went away immediately with a long pole uponhis shoulder. The horse lay all this while in the woods, and theking stood undiscerned by the enemy on the little hill aforesaid. Thedragoon with his long pole comes down boldly to the bank of the river,and calling to the sentinels which Tilly had placed on the otherbank, talked with them, asked them if they could not help him over theriver, and pretended he wanted to come to them. At last being come tothe point where, as I said, the river makes a short turn, he standsparleying with them a great while, and sometimes, pretending to wadeover, he puts his long pole into the water, then finding it prettyshallow he pulls off his hose and goes in, still thrusting his pole inbefore him, till being gotten up to his middle, he could reach beyondhim, where it was too deep, and so shaking his head, comes back again.The soldiers on the other side, laughing at him, asked him if he couldswim? He said, "No," "Why, you fool you," says one of the sentinels,"the channel of the river is twenty feet deep." "How do you knowthat?" says the dragoon. "Why, our engineer," says he, "measured ityesterday." This was what he wanted, but not yet fully satisfied,"Ay, but," says he, "maybe it may not be very broad, and if one of youwould wade in to meet me till I could reach you with my pole, I'd givehim half a ducat to pull me over." The innocent way of his discourseso deluded the soldiers, that one of them immediately strips and goesin up to the shoulders, and our dragoon goes in on this side to meethim; but the stream took t' other soldier away, and he being a goodswimmer, came swimming over to this side. The dragoon was then in agreat deal of pain for fear of being discovered, and was once goingto kill the fellow, and make off; but at last resolved to carry on thehumour, and having entertained the fellow with a tale of a tub, aboutthe Swedes stealing his oats, the fellow being a-cold wanted to begone, and he as willing to be rid of him, pretended to be very sorryhe could not get over the river, and so makes off.
By this, however, he learned both the depth and breadth of thechannel, the bottom and nature of both shores, and everything the kingwanted to know. We could see him from the hill by our glasses veryplain, and could see the soldier naked with him. Says the king, "Hewill certainly be discovered and knocked on the head from the otherside: he is a fool," says the king, "he does not kill the fellow andrun off." But when the dragoon told his tale, the king was extremelywell satisfied with him, gave him a hundred dollars, and made him aquartermaster to a troop of cuirassiers.
The king having farther examined the dragoon, he gave him a verydistinct account of the shore and the ground on this side, which hefound to be higher than the enemy's by ten or twelve foot, and a hardgravel.
Hereupon the king resolves to pass there, and in order to it gives,himself, particular directions for such a bridge as I believe neverarmy passed a river on before nor since.
His bridge was only loose planks laid upon large tressels in the samehomely manner as I have seen bricklayers raise a low scaffold to builda brick wall; the tressels were made higher than one another to answerto the river as it became deeper or shallower, and was all framed andfitted before any appearance was made of attempting to pass.
When all was ready the king brings his army down to the bank of theriver, and plants his cannon as the enemy had done, some here and somethere, to amuse them.
At night, April 4th, the king commanded about 2000 men to march tothe point, and to throw up a trench on either side, and quite roundit with a battery of six pieces of cannon at each end, besides threesmall mounts, one at the point and one of each side, which had each ofthem two pieces upon them. This work was begun so briskly and so wellcarried on, the king firing all the night from the other parts ofthe river, that by daylight all the batteries at the new work weremounted, the trench lined with 2000 musketeers, and all the utensilsof the bridge lay ready to be put together.
Now the Imperialists discovered the design, but it was too lateto hinder it; the musketeers in the great trench, and the five newbatteries, made such continual fire that the other bank, which, asbefore, lay twelve feet below them, was too hot for the Imperialists;whereupon Tilly, to be provided for the king at his coming over, fallsto work in a wood right against the point, and raises a great batteryfor twenty pieces of cannon, with a breastwork or line, as near theriver as he could, to cover his men, thinking that when the king hadbuilt his bridge he might easily beat it down with his cannon.
But the king had doubly prevented him, first by laying his bridge solow that none of Tilly's shot could hurt it; for the bridge lay notabove half a foot above the water's edge, by which means the king, whoin that showed himself an excellent engineer, had secured it fromany batteries to be made within the land, and the angle of the banksecured it from the remoter batteries on the other side, and thecontinual fire of the cannon and small shot beat the Imperialists fromtheir station just against it, they having no works to cover them.
And in the second place, to secure his passage he sent over about200 men, and after that 200 more, who had orders to cast up a largeravelin on the other bank, just where he designed to land his bridge.This was done with such expedition too, that it was finished beforenight, and in condition to receive all the shot of Tilly's greatbattery, and effectually covered his bridge. While this was doing theking on his side lays over his bridge. Both sides wrought hard allday and night, as if the spade, not the sword, had been to decidethe controversy, and that he had got the victory whose trenches andbatteries were first ready. In the meanwhile the cannon and musketbullets flew like hail, and made the service so hot that both sideshad enough to do to make their men stand to their work. The king, inthe hottest of it, animated his men by his presence, and Tilly, togive him his due, did the same; for the execution was so great, andso many officers killed, General Altringer wounded, and twosergeant-majors killed, that at last Tilly himself w
as obligedto expose himself, and to come up to the very face of our line toencourage his men, and give his necessary orders.
And here about one o'clock, much about the time that the king'sbrigade and works were finished, and just as they said he had orderedto fall on upon our ravelin with 3000 foot, was the brave oldTilly slain with a musket ball in the thigh. He was carried off toIngolstadt, and lived some days after, but died of that wound thesame day as the king had his horse shot under him at the siege of thattown.
We made no question of passing the river here, having broughteverything so forward, and with such extraordinary success; but weshould have found it a very hot piece of work if Tilly had lived oneday more, and, if I may give my opinion of it, having seen Tilly'sbattery and breastwork, in the face of which we must have passed theriver, I must say that, whenever we had marched, if Tilly had fallenin with his horse and foot, placed in that trench, the whole armywould have passed as much danger as in the face of a strong town inthe storming a counterscarp. The king himself, when he saw with whatjudgment Tilly had prepared his works, and what danger he must haverun, would often say that day's success was every way equal to thevictory of Leipsic.
Tilly being hurt and carried off, as if the soul of the army had beenlost, they began to draw off. The Duke of Bavaria took horse and ridaway as if he had fled out of battle for his life.
The other generals, with a little more caution, as well as courage,drew off by degrees, sending their cannon and baggage away first, andleaving some to continue firing on the bank of the river, to concealtheir retreat. The river preventing any intelligence, we knew nothingof the disaster befallen them; and the king, who looked for blows,having finished his bridge and ravelin, ordered to run a line withpalisadoes to take in more ground on the bank of the river, to coverthe first troops he should send over. This being finished the samenight, the king sends over a party of his guards to relieve the menwho were in the ravelin, and commanded 600 musketeers to man the newline out of the Scots brigade.
Early in the morning a small party of Scots, commanded by one CaptainForbes, of my Lord Reay's regiment, were sent out to learn somethingof the enemy, the king observing they had not fired all night; andwhile this party were abroad, the army stood in battalia; and my oldfriend Sir John Hepburn, whom of all men the king most depended uponfor any desperate service, was ordered to pass the bridge with hisbrigade, and to draw up without the line, with command to advance ashe found the horse, who were to second him, come over.
Sir John being passed without the trench, meets Captain Forbes withsome prisoners, and the good news of the enemy's retreat. He sends himdirectly to the king, who was by this time at the head of his army,in full battalia, ready to follow his vanguard, expecting a hot day'swork of it. Sir John sends messenger after messenger to the king,entreating him to give him orders to advance; but the king would notsuffer him, for he was ever upon his guard, and would not venture asurprise; so the army continued on this side the Lech all day and thenext night. In the morning the king sent for me, and ordered me todraw out 300 horse, and a colonel with 600 horse, and a colonel with800 dragoons, and ordered us to enter the wood by three ways, butso as to be able to relieve one another; and then ordered Sir JohnHepburn with his brigade to advance to the edge of the wood to secureour retreat, and at the same time commanded another brigade of foot topass the bridge, if need were, to second Sir John Hepburn, so warilydid this prudent general proceed.
We advanced with our horse into the Bavarian camp, which we foundforsaken. The plunder of it was inconsiderable, for the exceedingcaution the king had used gave them time to carry off all theirbaggage. We followed them three or four miles, and returned to ourcamp.
I confess I was most diverted that day with viewing the works whichTilly had cast up, and must own again that had he not been taken offwe had met with as desperate a piece of work as ever was attempted.The next day the rest of the cavalry came up to us, commanded byGustavus Horn, and the king and the whole army followed. We advancedthrough the heart of Bavaria, took Rain at the first summons, andseveral other small towns, and sat down before Augsburg.
Augsburg, though a Protestant city, had a Popish Bavarian garrisonin it of above 5000 men, commanded by a Fugger, a great family inBavaria. The governor had posted several little parties as out-scoutsat the distance of two miles and a half or three miles from the town.The king, at his coming up to this town, sends me with my little troopand three companies of dragoons to beat in these out-scouts. The firstparty I lighted on was not above sixteen men, who had made a smallbarricado across the road, and stood resolutely upon their guard. Icommanded the dragoons to alight and open the barricado, which, whilethey resolutely performed, the sixteen men gave them two volleys oftheir muskets, and through the enclosures made their retreat to aturnpike about a quarter of a mile farther. We passed their firsttraverse, and coming up to the turnpike, I found it defended by 200musketeers. I prepared to attack them, sending word to the king howstrong the enemy was, and desired some foot to be sent me. My dragoonsfell on, and though the enemy made a very hot fire, had beat them fromthis post before 200 foot, which the king had sent me, had comeup. Being joined with the foot, I followed the enemy, who retreatedfighting, till they came under the cannon of a strong redoubt, wherethey drew up, and I could see another body of foot of about 300 jointhem out of the works; upon which I halted, and considering I was inview of the town, and a great way from the army, I faced about andbegan to march off. As we marched I found the enemy followed, butkept at a distance, as if they only designed to observe me. I had notmarched far, but I heard a volley of small shot, answered by two orthree more, which I presently apprehended to be at the turnpike,where I had left a small guard of twenty-six men with a lieutenant.Immediately I detached 100 dragoons to relieve my men and securemy retreat, following myself as fast as the foot could march. Thelieutenant sent me back word the post was taken by the enemy, and mymen cut off. Upon this I doubled my pace, and when I came up I foundit as the lieutenant said; for the post was taken and manned with 300musketeers and three troops of horse. By this time, also, I found theparty in my rear made up towards me, so that I was like to be chargedin a narrow place both in front and rear.
I saw there was no remedy but with all my force to fall upon thatparty before me, and so to break through before those from the towncould come up with me; wherefore, commanding my dragoons to alight, Iordered them to fall on upon the foot. Their horse were drawn up inan enclosed field on one side of the road, a great ditch securing theother side, so that they thought if I charged the foot in front theywould fall upon my flank, while those behind would charge my rear;and, indeed, had the other come in time, they had cut me off. Mydragoons made three fair charges on their foot, but were received withso much resolution and so brisk a fire, that they were beaten off, andsixteen men killed. Seeing them so rudely handled, and the horse readyto fall in, I relieved them with 100 musketeers, and they renewedthe attack; at the same time, with my troop of horse, flanked on bothwings with fifty musketeers, I faced their horse, but did not offerto charge them. The case grew now desperate, and the enemy behindwere just at my heels with near 600 men. The captain who commanded themusketeers who flanked my horse came up to me; says he, "If we do notforce this pass all will be lost; if you will draw out your troop andtwenty of my foot, and fall in, I'll engage to keep off the horse withthe rest." "With all my heart," says I.
Immediately I wheeled off my troop, and a small party of themusketeers followed me, and fell in with the dragoons and foot, who,seeing the danger too as well as I, fought like madmen. The foot atthe turnpike were not able to hinder our breaking through, so wemade our way out, killing about 150 of them, and put the rest intoconfusion.
But now was I in as great a difficulty as before how to fetch off mybrave captain of foot, for they charged home upon him. He defendedhimself with extraordinary gallantry, having the benefit of a piece ofa hedge to cover him, but he lost half his men, and was just uponthe point of being defeated when the king, in
formed by a soldier thatescaped from the turnpike, one of twenty-six, had sent a party of 600dragoons to bring me off; these came upon the spur, and joined withme just as I had broke through the turnpike. The enemy's foot ralliedbehind their horse, and by this time their other party was come in;but seeing our relief they drew off together.
I lost above 100 men in these skirmishes, and killed them about 180.We secured the turnpike, and placed a company of foot there with 100dragoons, and came back well beaten to the army. The king, to preventsuch uncertain skirmishes, advanced the next day in view of the town,and, according to his custom, sits down with his whole army withincannon-shot of their walls.
The King won this great city by force of words, for by two or threemessages and letters to and from the citizens, the town was gained,the garrison not daring to defend them against their wills. HisMajesty made his public entrance into the city on the 14th of April,and receiving the compliments of the citizens, advanced immediately toIngolstadt, which is accounted, and really is, the strongest town inall these parts.
The town had a very strong garrison in it, and the Duke of Bavaria layentrenched with his army under the walls of it, on the other side ofthe river. The king, who never loved long sieges, having viewed thetown, and brought his army within musket-shot of it, called a councilof war, where it was the king's opinion, in short, that the town wouldlose him more than 'twas worth, and therefore he resolved to raise hissiege.
Here the king going to view the town had his horse shot with acannon-bullet from the works, which tumbled the king and his horseover one another, that everybody thought he had been killed; but hereceived no hurt at all. That very minute, as near as could be learnt,General Tilly died in the town of the shot he received on the bank ofthe Lech, as aforesaid.
I was not in the camp when the king was hurt, for the king had sentalmost all the horse and dragoons, under Gustavus Horn, to face theDuke of Bavaria's camp, and after that to plunder the country; whichtruly was a work the soldiers were very glad of, for it was veryseldom they had that liberty given them, and they made very good useof it when it was, for the country of Bavaria was rich and plentiful,having seen no enemy before during the whole war.
The army having left the siege of Ingolstadt, proceeds to take in therest of Bavaria. Sir John Hepburn, with three brigades of foot, andGustavus Horn, with 3000 horse and dragoons, went to the Landshut, andtook it the same day. The garrison was all horse, and gave us severalcamisadoes at our approach, in one of which I lost two of mytroops, but when we had beat them into close quarters they presentlycapitulated. The general got a great sum of money of the town, besidesa great many presents to the officers. And from thence the kingwent on to Munich, the Duke of Bavaria's court. Some of the generalofficers would fain have had the plundering of the duke's palace, butthe king was too generous. The city paid him 400,000 dollars; and theduke's magazine was there seized, in which was 140 pieces of cannon,and small arms for above 20,000 men. The great chamber of the duke'srarities was preserved, by the king's special order, with a great dealof care. I expected to have stayed here some time, and to have takena very exact account of this curious laboratory; but being commandedaway, I had no time, and the fate of the war never gave me opportunityto see it again.
The Imperialists, under the command of Commissary Osta, hadbesieged Biberach, an Imperial city not very well fortified; and theinhabitants being under the Swedes' protection, defended themselvesas well as they could, but were in great danger, and sent severalexpresses to the king for help.
The king immediately detaches a strong body of horse and foot torelieve Biberach, and would be the commander himself. I marched amongthe horse, but the Imperialists saved us the labour; for the newsof the king's coming frighted away Osta, that he left Biberach,and hardly looked behind him till he got up to the Bodensee, on theconfines of Switzerland.
At our return from this expedition the king had the first news ofWallenstein's approach, who, on the death of Count Tilly, beingdeclared generalissimo of the emperor's forces, had played the tyrantin Bohemia, and was now advancing with 60,000 men, as they reported,to relieve the Duke of Bavaria.
The king, therefore, in order to be in a posture to receive this greatgeneral, resolves to quit Bavaria, and to expect him on the frontiersof Franconia. And because he knew the Nurembergers for their kindnessto him would be the first sacrifice, he resolved to defend that cityagainst him whatever it cost.
Nevertheless he did not leave Bavaria without a defence; but, on theone hand, he left Sir John Baner with 10,000 men about Augsburg, andthe Duke of Saxe-Weimar with another like army about Ulm and Meningen,with orders so to direct their march as that they might join him uponany occasion in a few days.
We encamped about Nuremberg the middle of June. The army, after somany detachments, was not above 19,000 men. The Imperial army, joinedwith the Bavarian, were not so numerous as was reported, but werereally 60,000 men. The king, not strong enough to fight, yet, as heused to say, was strong enough not to be forced to fight, formed hiscamp so under the cannon of Nuremberg that there was no besieging thetown but they must besiege him too; and he fortified his camp in soformidable a manner that Wallenstein never durst attack him. On the30th of June Wallenstein's troops appeared, and on the 5th of Julyencamped close by the king, and posted themselves not on the Bavarianside, but between the king and his own friends of Schwaben andFrankenland, in order to intercept his provisions, and, as theythought, to starve him out of his camp.
Here they lay to see, as it were, who could subsist longest. The kingwas strong in horse, for we had full 8000 horse and dragoons in thearmy, and this gave us great advantage in the several skirmishes wehad with the enemy. The enemy had possession of the whole country, andhad taken effectual care to furnish their army with provisions; theyplaced their guards in such excellent order, to secure their convoys,that their waggons went from stage to stage as quiet as in a time ofpeace, and were relieved every five miles by parties constantlyposted on the road. And thus the Imperial general sat down by us, notdoubting but he should force the king either to fight his way throughon very disadvantageous terms, or to rise for want of provisions, andleave the city of Nuremberg a prey to his army; for he had vowed thedestruction of the city, and to make it a second Magdeburg.
But the king, who was not to be easily deceived, had countermined allWallenstein's designs. He had passed his honour to the Nurembergersthat he would not leave them, and they had undertaken to victual hisarmy, and secure him from want, which they did so effectually, thathe had no occasion to expose his troops to any hazard or fatigues forconvoys or forage on any account whatever.
The city of Nuremberg is a very rich and populous city, and the kingbeing very sensible of their danger, had given his word for theirdefence. And when they, being terrified at the threats of theImperialists, sent their deputies to beseech the king to take care ofthem, he sent them word he would, and be besieged with them. They, onthe other hand, laid in such stores of all sorts of provision, bothfor men and horse, that had Wallenstein lain before it six monthslonger, there would have been no scarcity. Every private house wasa magazine, the camp was plentifully supplied with all manner ofprovisions, and the market always full, and as cheap as in times ofpeace. The magistrates were so careful, and preserved so excellent anorder in the disposal of all sorts of provision, that no engrossing ofcorn could be practised, for the prices were every day directed at thetown-house; and if any man offered to demand more money for corn thanthe stated price, he could not sell, because at the town store-houseyou might buy cheaper. Here are two instances of good and bad conduct:the city of Magdeburg had been entreated by the king to settle funds,and raise money for their provision and security, and to have asufficient garrison to defend them, but they made difficulties, eitherto raise men for themselves, or to admit the king's troops to assistthem, for fear of the charge of maintaining them; and this was thecause of the city's ruin.
The city of Nuremberg opened their arms to receive the assistanceproffered by
the Swedes, and their purses to defend their townand common cause; and this was the saving them absolutely fromdestruction. The rich burghers and magistrates kept open houses, wherethe officers of the army were always welcome; and the council of thecity took such care of the poor that there was no complaining nordisorders in the whole city. There is no doubt but it cost the citya great deal of money; but I never saw a public charge borne with somuch cheerfulness, nor managed with so much prudence and conduct in mylife. The city fed above 50,000 mouths every day, including their ownpoor, besides themselves; and yet when the king had lain thus threemonths, and finding his armies longer in coming up than he expected,asked the burgrave how their magazines held out, he answered, theydesired his Majesty not to hasten things for them, for they couldmaintain themselves and him twelve months longer if there wasoccasion. This plenty kept both the army and city in good health, aswell as in good heart; whereas nothing was to be had of us but blows,for we fetched nothing from without our works, nor had no businesswithout the line but to interrupt the enemy.
The manner of the king's encampment deserves a particular chapter.He was a complete surveyor and a master in fortification, not to beoutdone by anybody. He had posted his army in the suburbs of the town,and drawn lines round the whole circumference, so that he begirtthe whole city with his army. His works were large, the ditch deep,flanked with innumerable bastions, ravelins, horn-works, forts,redoubts, batteries, and palisadoes, the incessant work of 8000 menfor about fourteen days; besides that, the king was adding somethingor other to it every day, and the very posture of his camp wasenough to tell a bigger army than Wallenstein's that he was not to beassaulted in his trenches.
The king's design appeared chiefly to be the preservation of thecity; but that was not all. He had three armies acting abroad inthree several places. Gustavus Horn was on the Moselle, the chancellorOxenstiern about Mentz, Cologne, and the Rhine, Duke William andDuke Bernhard, together with General Baner, in Bavaria. And though hedesigned they should all join him, and had wrote to them all to thatpurpose, yet he did not hasten them, knowing that while he kept themain army at bay about Nuremberg, they would, without opposition,reduce those several countries they were acting in to his power. Thisoccasioned his lying longer in the camp at Nuremberg than he wouldhave done, and this occasioned his giving the Imperialists so manyalarms by his strong parties of horse, of which he was well provided,that they might not be able to make any considerable detachments forthe relief of their friends. And here he showed his mastership in thewar, for by this means his conquests went on as effectually as if hehad been abroad himself.
In the meantime it was not to be expected two such armies should lielong so near without some action. The Imperial army, being mastersof the field, laid the country for twenty miles round Nuremberg in amanner desolate. What the inhabitants could carry away had been beforesecured in such strong towns as had garrisons to protect them,and what was left the hungry Crabats devoured or set on fire; butsometimes they were met with by our men, who often paid them home forit. There had passed several small rencounters between our partiesand theirs; and as it falls out in such cases, sometimes one side,sometimes the other, got the better. But I have observed there neverwas any party sent out by the king's special appointment but alwayscame home with victory.
The first considerable attempt, as I remember, was made on a convoy ofammunition. The party sent out was commanded by a Saxon colonel, andconsisted of 1000 horse and 500 dragoons, who burnt above 600 waggonsloaded with ammunition and stores for the army, besides taking about2000 muskets, which they brought back to the army.
The latter end of July the king received advice that the Imperialistshad formed a magazine for provision at a town called Freynstat, twentymiles from Nuremberg. Hither all the booty and contributions raised inthe Upper Palatinate, and parts adjacent, was brought and laid up asin a place of security, a garrison of 600 men being placed to defendit; and when a quantity of provisions was got together, convoys wereappointed to fetch it off.
The king was resolved, if possible, to take or destroy this magazine;and sending for Colonel Dubalt, a Swede, and a man of extraordinaryconduct, he tells him his design, and withal that he must be the manto put it in execution, and ordered him to take what forces he thoughtconvenient. The colonel, who knew the town very well, and the countryabout it, told his Majesty he would attempt it with all his heart; buthe was afraid 'twould require some foot to make the attack. "But wecan't stay for that," says the king; "you must then take some dragoonswith you;" and immediately the king called for me. I was just comingup the stairs as the king's page was come out to inquire for me, soI went immediately in to the king. "Here is a piece of hot workfor you," says the king, "Dubalt will tell it you; go together andcontrive it."
We immediately withdrew, and the colonel told me the design, and whatthe king and he had discoursed; that, in his opinion, foot would bewanted: but the king had declared there was no time for the foot tomarch, and had proposed dragoons. I told him, I thought dragoons mightdo as well; so we agreed to take 1600 horse and 400 dragoons. Theking, impatient in his design, came into the room to us to know whatwe had resolved on, approved our measures, gave us orders immediately;and, turning to me, "You shall command the dragoons," says the king,"but Dubalt must be general in this case, for he knows the country.""Your Majesty," said I, "shall be always served by me in any figureyou please." The king wished us good speed, and hurried us away thesame afternoon, in order to come to the place in time. We marchedslowly on because of the carriages we had with us, and came toFreynstat about one o'clock in the night perfectly undiscovered. Theguards were so negligent, that we came to the very port before theyhad notice of us, and a sergeant with twelve dragoons thrust in uponthe out-sentinels, and killed them without noise.
Immediately ladders were placed to the half-moon which defendedthe gate, which the dragoons mounted and carried in a trice, abouttwenty-eight men being cut in pieces within. As soon as the ravelinwas taken, they burst open the gate, at which I entered at the head of200 dragoons, and seized the drawbridge. By this time the town wasin alarm, and the drums beat to arms, but it was too late, for by thehelp of a petard we broke open the gate, and entered the town. Thegarrison made an obstinate fight for about half-an-hour, but ourmen being all in, and three troops of horse dismounted coming to ourassistance with their carabines, the town was entirely mastered bythree of the clock, and guards set to prevent anybody running to givenotice to the enemy. There were about 200 of the garrison killed, andthe rest taken prisoners. The town being thus secured, the gates wereopened, and Colonel Dubalt came in with the horse.
The guards being set, we entered the magazine, where we found anincredible quantity of all sorts of provision. There was 150 tons ofbread, 8000 sacks of meal, 4000 sacks of oats, and of other provisionsin proportion. We caused as much of it as could be loaded to bebrought away in such waggons and carriages as we found, and set therest on fire, town and all. We stayed by it till we saw it past apossibility of being saved, and then drew off with 800 waggons, whichwe found in the place, most of which we loaded with bread, meal, andoats. While we were doing this we sent a party of dragoons into thefields, who met us again as we came out, with above 1000 head of blackcattle, besides sheep.
Our next care was to bring this booty home without meeting with theenemy, to secure which, the colonel immediately despatched anexpress to the king, to let him know of our success, and to desire adetachment might be made to secure our retreat, being charged with somuch plunder.
And it was no more than need; for though we had used all the diligencepossible to prevent any notice, yet somebody, more forward thanordinary, had escaped away, and carried news of it to the Imperialarmy. The general, upon this bad news, detaches Major-General Sparrwith a body of 6000 men to cut off our retreat. The king, who hadnotice of this detachment, marches out in person with 3000 men to waitupon General Sparr. All this was the account of one day. The king metGeneral Sparr at the moment when his troops were divided, fell
uponthem, routed one part of them, and the rest in a few hours after,killed them 1000 men, and took the general prisoner.
In the interval of this action we came safe to the camp with ourbooty, which was very considerable, and would have supplied our wholearmy for a month. Thus we feasted at the enemy's cost, and beat theminto the bargain.
The king gave all the live cattle to the Nurembergers, who, thoughthey had really no want of provisions, yet fresh meat was not soplentiful as such provisions which were stored up in vessels and laidby.
After this skirmish we had the country more at command than before,and daily fetched in fresh provisions and forage in the fields.
The two armies had now lain a long time in sight of one another,and daily skirmishes had considerably weakened them; and the king,beginning to be impatient, hastened the advancement of his friendsto join him, in which also they were not backward; but havingdrawn together their forces from several parts, and all joined thechancellor Oxenstiern, news came, the 15th of August, that they werein full march to join us; and being come to a small town called Brock,the king went out of the camp with about 1000 horse to view them. Iwent along with the horse, and the 21st of August saw the reviewof all the armies together, which were 30,000 men, in extraordinaryequipage, old soldiers, and commanded by officers of the greatestconduct and experience in the world. There was the rich chancellor ofSweden, who commanded as general; Gustavus Horn and John Baner, bothSwedes and old generals; Duke William and Duke Bernhard of Weimar; theLandgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the Palatine of Birkenfelt, and abundanceof princes and lords of the empire.
The armies being joined, the king, who was now a match forWallenstein, quits his camp and draws up in battalia before theImperial trenches: but the scene was changed. Wallenstein was no moreable to fight now than the king was before; but, keeping within histrenches, stood upon his guard. The king coming up close to hisworks, plants batteries, and cannonaded him in his very camp. TheImperialists, finding the king press upon them, retreat into a woodycountry about three leagues, and, taking possession of an old ruinedcastle, posted their army behind it.
This old castle they fortified, and placed a very strong guard there.The king, having viewed the place, though it was a very strong post,resolved to attack it with the whole right wing. The attack was madewith a great deal of order and resolution, the king leading the firstparty on with sword in hand, and the fight was maintained on bothsides with the utmost gallantry and obstinacy all the day and the nextnight too, for the cannon and musket never gave over till the morning;but the Imperialists having the advantage of the hill, of their worksand batteries, and being continually relieved, and the Swedes naked,without cannon or works, the post was maintained, and the king,finding it would cost him too much blood, drew off in the morning.
This was the famous fight at Altemberg, where the Imperialists boastedto have shown the world the King of Sweden was not invincible. Theycall it the victory at Altemberg; 'tis true the king failed in hisattempt of carrying their works, but there was so little of a victoryin it, that the Imperial general thought fit not to venture a secondbrush, but to draw off their army as soon as they could to a saferquarter.
I had no share in this attack, very few of the horse being in theaction, but my comrade, who was always among the Scots volunteers, waswounded and taken prisoner by the enemy. They used him very civilly,and the king and Wallenstein straining courtesies with one another,the king released Major-General Sparr without ransom, and the Imperialgeneral sent home Colonel Tortenson, a Swede, and sixteen volunteergentlemen, who were taken in the heat of the action, among whom mycaptain was one.
The king lay fourteen days facing the Imperial army, and using allthe stratagems possible to bring them to a battle, but to no purpose,during which time we had parties continually out, and very oftenskirmishes with the enemy.
I had a command of one of these parties in an adventure, wherein I gotno booty, nor much honour. The King had received advice of a convoyof provisions which was to come to the enemy's camp from the UpperPalatinate, and having a great mind to surprise them, he commandedus to waylay them with 1200 horse, and 800 dragoons. I had exactdirections given me of the way they were to come, and posting my horsein a village a little out of the road, I lay with my dragoons in awood, by which they were to pass by break of day. The enemy appearedwith their convoy, and being very wary, their out-scouts discovered usin the wood, and fired upon the sentinel I had posted in a tree atthe entrance of the wood. Finding myself discovered, I would haveretreated to the village where my horse were posted, but in a momentthe wood was skirted with the enemy's horse, and 1000 commandedmusketeers advanced to beat me out. In this pickle I sent away threemessengers one after another for the horse, who were within two milesof me, to advance to my relief; but all my messengers fell into theenemy's hands. Four hundred of my dragoons on foot, whom I had placedat a little distance before me, stood to their work, and beat off twocharges of the enemy's foot with some loss on both sides. Meantime 200of my men faced about, and rushing out of the wood, broke througha party of the enemy's horse, who stood to watch our coming out. Iconfess I was exceedingly surprised at it, thinking those fellows haddone it to make their escape, or else were gone over to the enemy; andmy men were so discouraged at it, that they began to look aboutwhich way to run to save themselves, and were just upon the point ofdisbanding to shift for themselves, when one of the captains calledto me aloud to beat a parley and treat. I made no answer, but, as ifI had not heard him, immediately gave the word for all the captains tocome together. The consultation was but short, for the musketeers wereadvancing to a third charge, with numbers which we were not likely todeal with. In short, we resolved to beat a parley, and demand quarter,for that was all we could expect, when on a sudden the body of horseI had posted in the village, being directed by the noise, had advancedto relieve me, if they saw occasion, and had met the 200 dragoons,who guided them directly to the spot where they had broke through, andaltogether fell upon the horse of the enemy, who were posted on thatside, and, mastering them before they could be relieved, cut them allto pieces and brought me off. Under the shelter of this party, we madegood our retreat to the village, but we lost above 300 men, and wereglad to make off from the village too, for the enemy were very muchtoo strong for us.
Returning thence towards the camp, we fell foul with 200 Crabats, whohad been upon the plundering account. We made ourselves some amendsupon them for our former loss, for we showed them no mercy; but ourmisfortunes were not ended, for we had but just despatched thoseCrabats when we fell in with 3000 Imperial horse, who, on theexpectation of the aforesaid convoy, were sent out to secure them.All I could do could not persuade my men to stand their ground againstthis party; so that finding they would run away in confusion, I agreedto make off, and facing to the right, we went over a large commona full trot, till at last fear, which always increases in a flight,brought us to a plain flight, the enemy at our heels. I must confessI was never so mortified in my life; 'twas to no purpose to turn head,no man would stand by us; we run for life, and a great many we left bythe way who were either wounded by the enemy's shot, or else could notkeep race with us.
At last, having got over the common, which was near two miles, we cameto a lane; one of our captains, a Saxon by country, and a gentleman ofa good fortune, alighted at the entrance of the lane, and with a boldheart faced about, shot his own horse, and called his men to stand byhim and defend the lane. Some of his men halted, and we rallied about600 men, which we posted as well as we could, to defend the pass;but the enemy charged us with great fury. The Saxon gentleman, afterdefending himself with exceeding gallantry, and refusing quarter, waskilled upon the spot. A German dragoon, as I thought him, gave me arude blow with the stock of his piece on the side of my head, and wasjust going to repeat it, when one of my men shot him dead. I was sostunned with the blow, that I knew nothing; but recovering, I foundmyself in the hands of two of the enemy's officers, who offered mequarter, which I accepted; and indeed, to give
them their due, theyused me very civilly. Thus this whole party was defeated, and notabove 500 men got safe to the army; nor had half the number escaped,had not the Saxon captain made so bold a stand at the head of thelane.
Several other parties of the king's army revenged our quarrel, andpaid them home for it; but I had a particular loss in this defeat,that I never saw the king after; for though his Majesty sent a trumpetto reclaim us as prisoners the very next day, yet I was not delivered,some scruple happening about exchanging, till after the battle ofLuetzen, where that gallant prince lost his life.
The Imperial army rose from their camp about eight or ten days afterthe king had removed, and I was carried prisoner in the army till theysat down to the siege of Coburg Castle, and then was left with otherprisoners of war, in the custody of Colonel Spezuter, in a smallcastle near the camp called Neustadt. Here we continued indifferentwell treated, but could learn nothing of what action the armies wereupon, till the Duke of Friedland, having been beaten off from thecastle of Coburg, marched into Saxony, and the prisoners were sent forinto the camp, as was said, in order to be exchanged.
I came into the Imperial leaguer at the siege of Leipsic, and withinthree days after my coming, the city was surrendered, and I gotliberty to lodge at my old quarters in the town upon my parole.
The King of Sweden was at the heels of the Imperialists, for findingWallenstein resolved to ruin the Elector of Saxony, the king hadre-collected as much of his divided army as he could, and came uponhim just as he was going to besiege Torgau.
As it is not my design to write a history of any more of these warsthan I was actually concerned in, so I shall only note that, uponthe king's approach, Wallenstein halted, and likewise called all histroops together, for he apprehended the king would fall on him, andwe that were prisoners fancied the Imperial soldiers went unwillinglyout, for the very name of the King of Sweden was become terrible tothem. In short, they drew all the soldiers of the garrison they couldspare out of Leipsic; sent for Pappenheim again, who was gone butthree days before with 6000 men on a private expedition. On the 16thof November, the armies met on the plains of Luetzen; a long and bloodybattle was fought, the Imperialists were entirely routed and beaten,12,000 slain upon the spot, their cannon, baggage, and 2000 prisonerstaken, but the King of Sweden lost his life, being killed at the headof his troops in the beginning of the fight.
It is impossible to describe the consternation the death of thisconquering king struck into all the princes of Germany; the grieffor him exceeded all manner of human sorrow. All people looked uponthemselves as ruined and swallowed up; the inhabitants of two-thirdsof all Germany put themselves into mourning for him; when theministers mentioned him in their sermons or prayers, wholecongregations would burst out into tears. The Elector of Saxony wasutterly inconsolable, and would for several days walk about his palacelike a distracted man, crying the saviour of Germany was lost, therefuge of abused princes was gone, the soul of the war was dead; andfrom that hour was so hopeless of out-living the war, that he soughtto make peace with the emperor.
Three days after this mournful victory, the Saxons recovered the townof Leipsic by stratagem. The Duke of Saxony's forces lay at Torgau,and perceiving the confusion the Imperialists were in at the news ofthe overthrow of their army, they resolved to attempt the recovery ofthe town. They sent about twenty scattering troopers, who, pretendingthemselves to be Imperialists fled from the battle, were let in one byone, and still as they came in, they stayed at the court of guard inthe port, entertaining the soldiers with discourse about the fight,and how they escaped, and the like, till the whole number being gotin, at a watchword they fell on the guard, and cut them all in pieces;and immediately opening the gate to three troops of Saxon horse, thetown was taken in a moment.
It was a welcome surprise to me, for I was at liberty of course; andthe war being now on another foot, as I thought, and the king dead, Iresolved to quit the service.
I had sent my man, as I have already noted, into England, in order tobring over the troops my father had raised for the King of Sweden. Heexecuted his commission so well, that he landed with five troops atEmbden in very good condition; and orders were sent them by the king,to join the Duke of Lunenberg's army, which they did at the siege ofBoxtude, in the Lower Saxony. Here by long and very sharp servicethey were most of them cut off, and though they were several timesrecruited, yet I understood there were not three full troops left.
The Duke of Saxe-Weimar, a gentleman of great courage, had the commandof the army after the king's death, and managed it with so muchprudence, that all things were in as much order as could be expected,after so great a loss; for the Imperialists were everywhere beaten,and Wallenstein never made any advantage of the king's death.
I waited on him at Heilbronn, whither he was gone to meet the greatchancellor of Sweden, where I paid him my respects, and desired hewould bestow the remainder of my regiment on my comrade the captain,which he did with all the civility and readiness imaginable. So I tookmy leave of him, and prepared to come for England.
I shall only note this, that at this Diet, the Protestant princes ofthe empire renewed their league with one another, and with the crownof Sweden, and came to several regulations and conclusions for thecarrying on the war, which they afterwards prosecuted, under thedirection of the said chancellor of Sweden. But it was not the work ofa small difficulty nor of a short time. And having been persuadedto continue almost two years afterwards at Frankfort, Heilbronn, andthere-about, by the particular friendship of that noble wise man, andextraordinary statesman, Axeli Oxenstiern, chancellor of Sweden, I hadopportunity to be concerned in, and present at, several treaties ofextraordinary consequence, sufficient for a history, if that were mydesign.
Particularly I had the happiness to be present at, and have someconcern in, the treaty for the restoring the posterity of the trulynoble Palsgrave, King of Bohemia. King James of England had indeed toomuch neglected the whole family; and I may say with authority enough,from my own knowledge of affairs, had nothing been done for them butwhat was from England, that family had remained desolate and forsakento this day.
But that glorious king, whom I can never mention without some remarkof his extraordinary merit, had left particular instructions with hischancellor to rescue the Palatinate to its rightful lord, as a proofof his design to restore the liberty of Germany, and reinstate theoppressed princes who were subjected to the tyranny of the house ofAustria.
Pursuant to this resolution, the chancellor proceeded very much likea man of honour; and though the King of Bohemia was dead a littlebefore, yet he carefully managed the treaty, answered the objectionsof several princes, who, in the general ruin of the family, hadreaped private advantages, settled the capitulations for the quota ofcontributions very much for their advantage, and fully reinstalledthe Prince Charles in the possession of all his dominions in the LowerPalatinate, which afterwards was confirmed to him and his posterity bythe peace of Westphalia, where all these bloody wars were finishedin a peace, which has since been the foundation of the Protestants'liberty, and the best security of the whole empire.
I spent two years rather in wandering up and down than travelling;for though I had no mind to serve, yet I could not find in my heart toleave Germany; and I had obtained some so very close intimacies withthe general officers that I was often in the army, and sometimes theydid me the honour to bring me into their councils of war.
Particularly, at that eminent council before the battle of Noerdlingen,I was invited to the council of war, both by Duke Bernhard of Weimarand by Gustavus Horn. They were generals of equal worth, and theircourage and experience had been so well, and so often tried, that morethan ordinary regard was always given to what they said. Duke Bernhardwas indeed the younger man, and Gustavus had served longer under ourgreat schoolmaster the king; but it was hard to judge which was thebetter general, since both had experience enough, and shown undeniableproofs both of their bravery and conduct.
I am obliged, in the course o
f my relation, so often to mention thegreat respect I often received from these great men, that it makes mesometimes jealous, lest the reader may think I affect it as a vanity.The truth is, that I am ready to confess, the honours I received, uponall occasions, from persons of such worth, and who had such an eminentshare in the greatest action of that age, very much pleased me, andparticularly, as they gave me occasions to see everything that wasdoing on the whole stage of the war. For being under no command,but at liberty to rove about, I could come to no Swedish garrison orparty, but, sending my name to the commanding officer, I could havethe word sent me; and if I came into the army, I was often treated asI was now at this famous battle of Noerdlingen.
But I cannot but say, that I always looked upon this particularrespect to be the effect of more than ordinary regard the great kingof Sweden always showed me, rather than any merit of my own; and theveneration they all had for his memory, made them continue to show meall the marks of a suitable esteem.
But to return to the council of war, the great and, indeed, the onlyquestion before us was, Shall we give battle to the Imperialists, ornot? Gustavus Horn was against it, and gave, as I thought, the mostinvincible arguments against a battle that reason could imagine.
First, they were weaker than the enemy by above 5000 men.
Secondly, the Cardinal-Infant of Spain, who was in the Imperial armywith 8000 men, was but there _en passant_, being going from Italy toFlanders, to take upon him the government of the Low Countries; and ifhe saw no prospect of immediate action, would be gone in a few days.
Thirdly, they had two reinforcements, one of 5000 men, under thecommand of Colonel Cratz, and one of 7000 men, under the Rhinegrave,who were just at hand--the last within three days' march of them: and,
Lastly, they had already saved their honour; in that they had put 600foot into the town of Noerdlingen, in the face of the enemy's army, andconsequently the town might hold out some days the longer.
Fate, rather than reason, certainly blinded the rest of the generalsagainst such arguments as these. Duke Bernhard and almost all thegenerals were for fighting, alleging the affront it would be to theSwedish reputation to see their friends in the town lost before theirfaces.
Gustavus Horn stood stiff to his cautious advice, and was against it,and I thought the Baron D'Offkirk treated him a little indecently;for, being very warm in the matter, he told them, that if GustavusAdolphus had been governed by such cowardly counsel, he had neverbeen conqueror of half Germany in two years. "No," replied old GeneralHorn, very smartly, "but he had been now alive to have testified forme, that I was never taken by him for a coward: and yet," says he,"the king was never for a victory with a hazard, when he could have itwithout."
I was asked my opinion, which I would have declined, being in nocommission; but they pressed me to speak. I told them I was forstaying at least till the Rhinegrave came up, who, at least, might, ifexpresses were sent to hasten him, be up with us in twenty-four hours.But Offkirk could not hold his passion, and had not he been overruledhe would have almost quarrelled with Marshal Horn. Upon which the oldgeneral, not to foment him, with a great deal of mildness stood up,and spoke thus--
"Come, Offkirk," says he, "I'll submit my opinion to you, and themajority of our fellow-soldiers. We will fight, but, upon my word, weshall have our hands full."
The resolution thus taken, they attacked the Imperial army. I mustconfess the counsels of this day seemed as confused as the resolutionsof the night.
Duke Bernhard was to lead the van of the left wing, and to posthimself upon a hill which was on the enemy's right without theirentrenchments, so that, having secured that post, they might leveltheir cannon upon the foot, who stood behind the lines, and relievedthe town at pleasure. He marched accordingly by break of day, andfalling with great fury upon eight regiments of foot, which wereposted at the foot of the hill, he presently routed them, and madehimself master of the post. Flushed with this success, he neverregards his own concerted measures of stopping there and possessingwhat he had got, but pushes on and falls in with the main body of theenemy's army.
While this was doing, Gustavus Horn attacks another post on the hill,where the Spaniards had posted and lodged themselves behind someworks they had cast up on the side of the hill. Here they defendedthemselves with extreme obstinacy for five hours, and at last obligedthe Swedes to give it over with loss. This extraordinary gallantry ofthe Spaniards was the saving of the Imperial army; for DukeBernhard having all this while resisted the frequent charges of theImperialists, and borne the weight of two-thirds of their army, wasnot able to stand any longer, but sending one messenger on the neck ofanother to Gustavus Horn for more foot, he, finding he could not carryhis point, had given it over, and was in full march to second theduke. But now it was too late, for the King of Hungary seeing theduke's men, as it were, wavering, and having notice of Horn's wheelingabout to second him, falls in with all his force upon his flank,and with his Hungarian hussars, made such a furious charge, that theSwedes could stand no longer.
The rout of the left wing was so much the more unhappy, as it happenedjust upon Gustavus Horn's coming up; for, being pushed on with theenemies at their heels, they were driven upon their own friends, who,having no ground to open and give them way, were trodden down by theirown runaway brethren. This brought all into the utmost confusion.The Imperialists cried "Victoria!" and fell into the middle of theinfantry with a terrible slaughter.
I have always observed, 'tis fatal to upbraid an old experiencedofficer with want of courage. If Gustavus Horn had not been whettedwith the reproaches of the Baron D'Offkirk, and some of the othergeneral officers, I believe it had saved the lives of a thousand men;for when all was thus lost, several officers advised him to make aretreat with such regiments as he had yet unbroken; but nothing couldpersuade him to stir a foot. But turning his flank into a front, hesaluted the enemy, as they passed by him in pursuit of the rest,with such terrible volleys of small shot, as cost them the lives ofabundance of their men.
The Imperialists, eager in the pursuit, left him unbroken, till theSpanish brigade came up and charged him. These he bravely repulsedwith a great slaughter, and after them a body of dragoons; till beinglaid at on every side, and most of his men killed, the brave oldgeneral, with all the rest who were left, were made prisoners.
The Swedes had a terrible loss here, for almost all their infantrywere killed or taken prisoners. Gustavus Horn refused quarter severaltimes; and still those that attacked him were cut down by his men,who fought like furies, and by the example of their general, behavedthemselves like lions. But at last, these poor remains of a body ofthe bravest men in the world were forced to submit. I have heard himsay, he had much rather have died than been taken, but that he yieldedin compassion to so many brave men as were about him; for none of themwould take quarter till he gave his consent.
I had the worst share in this battle that ever I had in any action ofmy life; and that was to be posted among as brave a body of horse asany in Germany, and yet not be able to succour our own men; butour foot were cut in pieces (as it were) before our faces, and thesituation of the ground was such as we could not fall in. All that wewere able to do, was to carry off about 2000 of the foot, who, runningaway in the rout of the left wing, rallied among our squadrons, andgot away with us. Thus we stood till we saw all was lost, and thenmade the best retreat we could to save ourselves, several regimentshaving never charged, nor fired a shot; for the foot had soembarrassed themselves among the lines and works of the enemy, and inthe vineyards and mountains, that the horse were rendered absolutelyunserviceable.
The Rhinegrave had made such expedition to join us, that he reachedwithin three miles of the place of action that night, and he was agreat safeguard for us in rallying our dispersed men, who else hadfallen into the enemy's hands, and in checking the pursuit of theenemy.
And indeed, had but any considerable body of the foot made an orderlyretreat, it had been very probable they had given the enemy a brushthat would have
turned the scale of victory; for our horse beingwhole, and in a manner untouched, the enemy found such a check in thepursuit, that 1600 of their forwardest men following too eagerly, fellin with the Rhinegrave's advanced troops the next day, and were cut inpieces without mercy.
This gave us some satisfaction for the loss, but it was but smallcompared to the ruin of that day. We lost near 8000 men upon the spot,and above 3000 prisoners, all our cannon and baggage, and 120 colours.I thought I never made so indifferent a figure in my life, and so wethought all; to come away, lose our infantry, our general, and ourhonour, and never fight for it. Duke Bernhard was utterly disconsolatefor old Gustavus Horn, for he concluded him killed; he tore the hairfrom his head like a madman, and telling the Rhinegrave the story ofthe council of war, would reproach himself with not taking his advice,often repeating it in his passion. "Tis I," said he, "have been thedeath of the bravest general in Germany;" would call himself fooland boy, and such names, for not listening to the reasons of an oldexperienced soldier. But when he heard he was alive in the enemy'shands he was the easier, and applied himself to the recruiting histroops, and the like business of the war; and it was not long beforehe paid the Imperialists with interest.
I returned to Frankfort-au-Main after this action, which happened the17th of August 1634; but the progress of the Imperialists was so greatthat there was no staying at Frankfort. The chancellor Oxenstiernremoved to Magdeburg, Duke Bernhard and the Landgrave marched intoAlsatia, and the Imperialists carried all before them for all the restof the campaign. They took Philipsburg by surprise; they took Augsburgby famine, Spire and Treves by sieges, taking the Elector prisoner.But this success did one piece of service to the Swedes, that itbrought the French into the war on their side, for the Elector ofTreves was their confederate. The French gave the conduct of the warto Duke Bernhard. This, though the Duke of Saxony fell off, and foughtagainst them, turned the scale so much in their favour, that theyrecovered their losses, and proved a terror to all Germany. Thefarther accounts of the war I refer to the histories of those times,which I have since read with a great deal of delight.
I confess when I saw the progress of the Imperial army, after thebattle of Noerdlingen, and the Duke of Saxony turning his arms againstthem, I thought their affairs declining; and, giving them over forlost, I left Frankfort, and came down the Rhine to Cologne, and fromthence into Holland.
I came to the Hague the 8th of March 1635, having spent three yearsand a half in Germany, and the greatest part of it in the Swedisharmy.
I spent some time in Holland viewing the wonderful power of art,which I observed in the fortifications of their towns, where the verybastions stand on bottomless morasses, and yet are as firm as any inthe world. There I had the opportunity of seeing the Dutch army,and their famous general, Prince Maurice. 'Tis true, the men behavedthemselves well enough in action, when they were put to it, but theprince's way of beating his enemies without fighting, was so unlikethe gallantry of my royal instructor, that it had no manner of relishwith me. Our way in Germany was always to seek out the enemy and fighthim; and, give the Imperialists their due, they were seldom hard tobe found, but were as free of their flesh as we were. Whereas PrinceMaurice would lie in a camp till he starved half his men, if by lyingthere he could but starve two-thirds of his enemies; so that indeedthe war in Holland had more of fatigues and hardships in it, and ourshad more of fighting and blows. Hasty marches, long and unwholesomeencampments, winter parties, counter-marching, dodging andentrenching, were the exercises of his men, and oftentimes killedhim more men with hunger, cold and diseases, than he could do withfighting. Not that it required less courage, but rather more, fora soldier had at any time rather die in the field _a la coup demousquet_, than be starved with hunger, or frozen to death in thetrenches.
Nor do I think I lessen the reputation of that great general; for 'tismost certain he ruined the Spaniard more by spinning the war thus outin length, than he could possibly have done by a swift conquest.For had he, Gustavus-like, with a torrent of victory dislodged theSpaniard of all the twelve provinces in five years, whereas he wasforty years a-beating them out of seven, he had left them rich andstrong at home, and able to keep them in constant apprehensions of areturn of his power. Whereas, by the long continuance of the war, heso broke the very heart of the Spanish monarchy, so absolutely andirrecoverably impoverished them, that they have ever since languishedof the disease, till they are fallen from the most powerful, to be themost despicable nation in the world.
The prodigious charge the King of Spain was at in losing the sevenprovinces, broke the very spirit of the nation; and that so much,that all the wealth of their Peruvian mountains have not been able toretrieve it; King Philip having often declared that war, besides hisArmada for invading England, had cost him 370,000,000 of ducats, and4,000,000 of the best soldiers in Europe; whereof, by an unreasonableSpanish obstinacy, above 60,000 lost their lives before Ostend, a townnot worth a sixth part either of the blood or money it cost in a siegeof three years; and which at last he had never taken, but that PrinceMaurice thought it not worth the charge of defending it any longer.
However, I say, their way of fighting in Holland did not relish withme at all. The prince lay a long time before a little fort calledSchenkenschanz, which the Spaniard took by surprise, and I thought hemight have taken it much sooner. Perhaps it might be my mistake, butI fancied my hero, the King of Sweden, would have carried it sword inhand, in half the time.
However it was, I did not like it; so in the latter end of the year Icame to the Hague, and took shipping for England, where I arrived, tothe great satisfaction of my father and all my friends.
My father was then in London, and carried me to kiss the king's hand.His Majesty was pleased to receive me very well, and to say a greatmany very obliging things to my father upon my account.
I spent my time very retired from court, for I was almost wholly inthe country; and it being so much different from my genius, whichhankered after a warmer sport than hunting among our Welsh mountains,I could not but be peeping in all the foreign accounts from Germany,to see who and who was together. There I could never hear of a battle,and the Germans being beaten, but I began to wish myself there.But when an account came of the progress of John Baner, the Swedishgeneral in Saxony, and of the constant victories he had there over theSaxons, I could no longer contain myself, but told my father this lifewas very disagreeable to me; that I lost my time here, and might tomuch more advantage go into Germany, where I was sure I might make myfortune upon my own terms; that, as young as I was, I might have beena general officer by this time, if I had not laid down my commission;that General Baner, or the Marshal Horn, had either of them so muchrespect for me, that I was sure I might have anything of them; andthat if he pleased to give me leave, I would go for Germany again. Myfather was very unwilling to let me go, but seeing me uneasy, toldme that, if I was resolved, he would oblige me to stay no longer inEngland than the next spring, and I should have his consent.
The winter following began to look very unpleasant upon us in England,and my father used often to sigh at it; and would tell me sometimeshe was afraid we should have no need to send Englishmen to fight inGermany.
The cloud that seemed to threaten most was from Scotland. My father,who had made himself master of the arguments on both sides, used to beoften saying he feared there was some about the king who exasperatedhim too much against the Scots, and drove things too high. For mypart, I confess I did not much trouble my head with the cause; but allmy fear was they would not fall out, and we should have no fighting.I have often reflected since, that I ought to have known better, thathad seen how the most flourishing provinces of Germany were reduced tothe most miserable condition that ever any country in the world was,by the ravagings of soldiers, and the calamities of war.
How much soever I was to blame, yet so it was, I had a secret joyat the news of the king's raising an army, and nothing could havewithheld me from appearing in it; but my eagerness was anticipatedby
an express the king sent to my father, to know if his son was inEngland; and my father having ordered me to carry the answer myself, Iwaited upon his Majesty with the messenger. The king received me withhis usual kindness, and asked me if I was willing to serve him againstthe Scots?
I answered, I was ready to serve him against any that his Majestythought fit to account his enemies, and should count it an honour toreceive his commands. Hereupon his Majesty offered me a commission. Itold him, I supposed there would not be much time for raising of men;that if his Majesty pleased I would be at the rendezvous with as manygentlemen as I could get together, to serve his Majesty as volunteers.
The truth is, I found all the regiments of horse the king designed toraise were but two as regiments; the rest of the horse were such asthe nobility raised in their several countries, and commanded themthemselves; and, as I had commanded a regiment of horse abroad, itlooked a little odd to serve with a single troop at home; and the kingtook the thing presently. "Indeed 'twill be a volunteer war," said theking, "for the Northern gentry have sent me an account of above 4000horse they have already." I bowed, and told his Majesty I was glad tohear his subjects were forward to serve him. So taking his Majesty'sorders to be at York by the end of March, I returned to my father.
My father was very glad I had not taken a commission, for I know notfrom what kind of emulation between the western and northern gentry.The gentlemen of our side were not very forward in the service; theirloyalty to the king in the succeeding times made it appear it was notfor any disaffection to his Majesty's interest or person, or to thecause; but this, however, made it difficult for me when I came hometo get any gentlemen of quality to serve with me, so that I presentedmyself to his Majesty only as a volunteer, with eight gentlemen andabout thirty-six countrymen well mounted and armed.
And as it proved, these were enough, for this expedition ended in anaccommodation with the Scots; and they not advancing so much as totheir own borders, we never came to any action. But the armies layin the counties of Northumberland and Durham, ate up the country,and spent the king a vast sum of money; and so this war ended, apacification was made, and both sides returned.
The truth is, I never saw such a despicable appearance of men in armsto begin a war in my life; whether it was that I had seen so manybraver armies abroad that prejudiced me against them, or that itreally was so; for to me they seemed little better than a rabble mettogether to devour, rather than fight for their king and country.There was indeed a great appearance of gentlemen, and those ofextraordinary quality; but their garb, their equipages, and theirmien, did not look like war; their troops were filled with footmenand servants, and wretchedly armed, God wot. I believe I might say,without vanity, one regiment of Finland horse would have made sportat beating them all. There were such crowds of parsons (for this wasa Church war in particular) that the camp and court was full of them;and the king was so eternally besieged with clergymen of one sort oranother, that it gave offence to the chief of the nobility.
As was the appearance, so was the service. The army marched to theborders, and the headquarter was at Berwick-upon-Tweed; but the Scotsnever appeared, no, not so much as their scouts; whereupon the kingcalled a council of war, and there it was resolved to send the Earl ofHolland with a party of horse into Scotland, to learn some news of theenemy. And truly the first news he brought us was, that finding theirarmy encamped about Coldingham, fifteen miles from Berwick, as soon ashe appeared, the Scots drew out a party to charge him, upon whichmost of his men halted--I don't say run away, but 'twas next door toit--for they could not be persuaded to fire their pistols, and wheelof like soldiers, but retreated in such a disorderly and shamefulmanner, that had the enemy but had either the courage or conduct tohave followed them, it must have certainly ended in the ruin of thewhole party.
[Footnote 1: Upon the breach of the match between the King of Englandand the Infanta of Spain; and particularly upon the old quarrel of theKing of Bohemia and the Palatinate.]