sixe fresh Regiments that had not beene engaged in the Battaile After the often sending of his Posts to all parts at length Altringer had order from the Duke of Bavaria to joyne halfe his Army to that of Walstein Notwithstanding the somiserable defeat of the Imperialists bonefires were made in diverse parts of Bavaria for the death of the King and Te Deum chanted aloude through all the streets of Ingolstatt and Ratisbone But these vaine fires and triumphs seru'd for so many Trumpets to sound forth the praise and glory of the departed King since in the Enemies owne judgement his death was thought sufficient to counterpoize the dissipation and slaughter of so puissant an Army And indeed except this accursed blow there was no one circumstance that did not oblige the Imperiall partie to a funerall Equipage Nothing was more to bee admired then the moderation of the Court of Vienna which expressed no joy in triumph or exultation They contented themselves with the discharging of a few Ordnance to make the silly people believe they had the better of the day Some judg'd this modest behaviour to proceed from sensible losses suffered in the Battaile from the consideration of the Swedish Forces and the difficulty to set on foot againe an Army of that vastnesse Others deemed it to proceed from the dispersed rumour of the Emperours death which they thought countervail'd that of the King and cast the Imperiall Court into an irrecoverable dejection The failing of the Saxon to appeare in the Field on the day of Battaile when his aide concerned his owne honour and the Kings good was attributed to the like sad accident a rumour being divulged not onely of the Dukes death but the manner of it to wit suddaine Apoplexie But these false bruits both of the one and the other were contradicted by assuted newes that both the Princes were living That the Saxon was not dead hee gave good proofs resolving to take occasion by the lock to revenge the ruine of his Cities and depopulation of his Countrey and to hinder the Imperialifts from sending into his Dominions any more Incendiaries The continuance of the Emperours life was favourable to his party the very name and splendour of Majesty being of vertue to animate and retaine diverse spirits in devotion and obedience to the Austrian Line which else perhaps might have followed the Charriot of the victorious Triumpher But will'st the foolish people spread abroad or by designe or credulity the death of these two Princes there came too assured newes from Nayence of the King of Bohemia's death When this vnfortunate Prince was ready to take a new possession of his Countrey and the conditions drawne up betweene him the King of Sweden and the Governour of Frankendale hee was surprised in Nayence with a contagious disease presently after his returne from Deux-ponts where hee had visited a Prince of his alliance The care and sufficiency of the Phisitian was so great that he quickly expelled the pestilent quality and set him in all appearnace free from danger but the great calamities through which hee had passed had much estranged his Constitution from its first puritie and quite altred his colour and complexion When he thought to quit his tedious bed and take possession of Frankendale it unfortunately happened that the King of Swedens death came to his eare which wrought so on his mind and body that his disease was aggravated and his death ensued on the 29. of November His death was much deplored by those of his bloud by his servants and subjects yet did their griefe receiue an allay by his devotion and his last words full of faith and pietie The life of this Prince was a meere Medley and like a Picture with many faces His entry into the Electorate was glorious his beginning happy his Vertues eminent and courted hee was by the whole Empire His Alliance and friends within and without Germany the consideration of his House of his Dominions and the great Bodie that depended on his direction were the cause of his election to the Crowne of Bohemia which was fatall to him and all Germanie which felt the sad accidents that attended this Comet and was foorthwith invaded by an universall Warre in her heart and all her quarters which hath never since forsooke her having engaged all the Imperiall States and Provinces every one whereof to this day carries her markes And though this Prince hath sought all meanes of reconciliation hoping that way to quench this Wild-fire yet hath hee from time to time found such fatall oppositions and such an ingrasted malice in the incensed partie that all the motiues propositions and intercessions of great Kings haue hetherto beene unprofitable and this good Prince hath beene constrained to liue an exile from his Countrey At length when a most pleasing prospect laid at once open to his view the frontiers of his Countrey and the end of his afflictions a suddaine death deprived him of his sight and the fruition of so delightfull an object The calamitie of this Prince hath given occasion to many licentious tongues and pens to declaime against him and unjustly to judge of his cause by the sad event Those that were of his more inward acquaintance avow that hee was unfortunate beyond defect and that the most magnanimous and Heroicke soule could beare afflictions with no greater moderation and patience then he did If many of his vertues haue beene clouded and obscured by his infelicity yet are there more which his darker fortune could not hinder from shining forth and striking envie blind His great Family his Extraction his Allies and Confederates and his Princely vertues me thinkes should haue contained within the bounds of Honour and truth certaine Mercenary Satyricke Spirits who haue common places of prayses and Invectiues which they draw forth to exalt or depresse whom they please and mainetaine their looser vaine at the cost of Princes and play upon their persons qualities and estates whom the greatnesse of their births should priviledge from such contumelies Wee owe honour and respect to Princes of what party soever whether they bee Friends Enemies or Neuters And I thought this short Apologie due to my so much deplored Subject whom his miseries rendered to some contemptible though by others he was truely honoured in the midst of his disgraces and afflictions The King of Sweden gaue many braue testimonies of him being forced oftentimes to giue him a stop in the carreere of honour lest courage should engage him too sarre exhorting him to preserue his life the good of his Countrey and the publike cause All the comfort of his Subjects is contained in that generous unparalell'd Princesse and in her faire line and numerous issue which promiseth them one day an entire liberty and the reestablishment and subsistence of a house so many wayes considerable as being one of the first and most ancient of Europe The Reader I doubt not will pardon this digression of the Souldier who
THE GREAT AND FAMOVS BATTEL OF LVTZEN Fought betweene the renowned King of Sweden and Walstein Wherein were left dead vpon the place between 5 and 6000. of the Swedish party and between 10 and 12000. of the Imperialists where the King himselfe was vnfortunatly slain whose death counterpoyz'd all the other Pappenheim Merode Isolani and divers other great Commanders were offred up like so many Sacrifices on the Swedish Altar to the memory of their King Here is also Inserted an Abridgment of the Kings life and a Relation of the King of Bohemia's Death Faithfully translated out of the French Coppie ⧠Imprinted 1633. To the Reader VVEE see that in the greater Maps things are expressed more plainly then they can be in the smaller though they be drawen all by one skill So Vertue in Princes is more perspicuous then in Plebeians in the sormer shee is drawen at length with all her dimensions in the latter shee is limn'd in little being invisible vnlesse you approach very neere her And indeed this is consonant to Natures owne Wisedome who suffers the vitali spirits in the body to go to the least member yea to the very fingers end yet doth shee most plentifully bestow them where shee hath the greatest imployment for them so on the vulgar shee conferres gifts sutable to so lowe a Calling But in Princes and Monarchs shee centuples and irradiates her ornaments because by them she speakes and giues Lawes to Humanitie Yet is not this Rule so generall that it often suffers not an exception for as Nature distinguisheth betweene the Subject and the Prince by Soveraigntie so doth shee betweene Prince and Prince by Vertue and Abilitie That this is true this our deare Tragicall subject will serue for a liuely and cleare demonstration whom neither this Age nor any of the former could paralell in the management both of the Scepter and the Sword In his whole Reigne his Prudencie at home hath not deserued more admiration then his Prowesse abroad For indeede from his Youth vpwards Mars hath beene the Spheare wherein he hath mooved into which violated Iustice first hall'd him and out of which nothing but shee appeased or Death could remooue him Hee was a Generall ere a Man and with a yet vnreaped Chin mowed downe his Enemies before him With many Kingdomes at once hee waged warre from all which hee forced conditions advantagious to him and his This was not without the amazement of all men to see a Poynt oppose and conquer so vaste a circumference In his warres I will onely obserue three things His Way to Victory his behaviour in it his Carriage after it For the first hee did animate his Souldiers rather by Fighting then Exhorting nor did hee challenge to himselfe any advantage aboue the meanest of them but Honour and Commaund Hee knew that it is in Empire as in the Bodie where the most dangerous diseases flowe from the Head Wherefore hee work'd on their manners by his owne the onely firme Ciment of a Generall and his Armie Hee well understood that Faith and Loyaltie are not to bee expected where wee impose thraldome and servitude and therefore at times he would bee familiar as wel with the Common Souldier as the Commaunder His Invention and execution of all Military stratagems were ever twinnes for in all his Conquests hee owed as much to his Celeritie as Valour When his foes were in their Tents securely discoursing of him as a farre off hee like the Wolfe broke into their fable to their irrecoverable astonishment They could not withstand the force of his Fame much lesse that of his Armes One feather more I must adde without which his Victories had not been fully plumed nor could haue soared so high and that was this Hee never perswaded any man to an Enterprise in which hee would not himselfe make one Hee taught them as well by Hand as Tongue I may adde that neither Antiquitie can nor Posteritie ever shall produce a Prince so patient of all Military wants as of meate drinke warmth sleepe c. all which are necessary to the maintenance of life In divers sufferings of his hee recalls to my mind the most accomplisht of the Romans Cato who leading his Troups through the contagious and poysonous Deserts was ever the last of his Army that dranke saue once when he began to them all in water taken from a spring suspected to be envenomed Thus much of his way to Victorie now let vs come to his Deportment in it After all his Conquests such a calme immediately ensued that the passed storme was soone forgotten and the Enemie appeared rather like one suddenly wakened then frighted There was not any of his Victories that washed not her hands of all cold and innocent blood He was so severe a Iusticer that he ofen revēged the violating of his mercifull Decrees euen vpon the place sometime on men of qualitie whom he affected The Lawes of Retaliation hee knew so well that hee gaue to all men punctuall satisfaction for all offences received from his partie according to the nature of the wrong done For this cause his Tribunall like the Roman stood euer open All his great Atchieuements were ever attended by Devotion within and Circumspection without He first praised God and then provided for man at once having an eye on his enemies next designes his souldiers present necessities The greatest of his glories purchased with blood sweat could neither change the estate of his mind or copie of his countenance The true greatnesse of his spirit was such that in all his actions he placed Ostentation behind Conscience before him sought not the reward of a good deed from Fame but from the deed it selfe I conclude this poynt with this assertion That Honestie had as strict and great a command over him as Necessitie over mankind He was a Prince of so great cleare a fame that Envie her selfe blushed to oppose it and therefore was forced to assume the maske of Religion under which she might securely display her invectiues Religion Religion it is thou that shouldst vnite but dost estrange hearts and makest us seeke to take away euen those liues that gaue us ours Let a man haue in eminency all the Cardinall and Theologicall vertues he of a contrary sect looks on all these through a mist raised by his malice which makes him either not see them at all or not as they are O Iesus Iesus in thy best blessed time gather thy straied flock into one fold let Truth and Peace kisse each other This testimony the perfections of this Prince drew from me who was abstemious continent in euery thing saue in the search of Glory and Vertue It now remaines that I say something of the ensuing Treatise in which is contained the last and greatest Battell of this King his deplored Death and other weightie Circumstances The Originall is French written by one of the ablest Pennes of that Nation Hee begins at the
Kings comming downe into Germany and extends his Story to his death Of all the Moderne Histories I dare make it the Chorus for it is written in a stile so Attick and so judiciall that it may well be called The French Tacitus What hath been before deliver'd in other Discourses concerning this Subject is to this nought else but a Faile The full and perfect Translation of this rare piece I heere promise the Courteous Reader and in the meane time intreat him to weare as a favour this Branch by which hee may judge the whole body Dixâ— The great and famous Battell of Lutzen fought betweene the renowned King of Sweden and Walstein vvherein were left dead vpon the place between 5. and 6000 of the Swedish party and betweene 10. and 12000. of the Imperialists where the King himselfe was vnfortunately slaine whose death counterpoyz'd all the other Pappenheim Merode Islonain and divers other great Commanders were offered vp like so many sacrifices on the Swedish Altar to the memory of their King Here is also Inserted an Abridgment of the Kings life and a Relation of the King of Bohemia's Death THE King having mustred his Troups and those of Duke Bernard of Saxon-Weymar about Erffurt the Armie received command to advance towards Naumburg The King came thither in person on Saint Martins day and cutt in pieces two Regiments of Merode that oppos'd him by the way Hee was no sooner arrived at Naumbourg but hee received Intelligence that the Enemies forces lay encamped at Leipzig and Noerspurg and stretched thence in length as farre as Weissenfels and that they were entrenched in a place advantageous Which proceeding of theirs obliged the King to doe the like at Naumbourg and to seeke the meanes to joyne his Armie with the Electorall which then lay about Torgau consisting of fifteene thousand men and reenforced with two thousand Horse belonging to the Duke of Lunebourg Hee sent divers Postes to informe them of his comming and of the courses were to bee taken for their vniting Walstein and Pappenheim being lodg'd between them had an eye on them both and made it their onely studie to hinder their coniunction On the fourteenth of November the Scours of the King brought him word the Enemie had sack'd and abandon'd the Citie and Castle of Weissenfells layd plaine his Trenches and retyred himselfe towards Lutzen two German miles from Leipzig The King hearing this newes resolved no longer to delay the Fight his courage not permitting him to temporize any further nor to attend the returne of his Posts sent to the Electour That which confirm'd him in this his Resolution was the assurance of certaine prisoners brought him by Relinguen that Pappenheim was gone to Hall with sixe Regiments Wherefore his Armie had order to march toward the enemie the fifteenth three houres before day and to dare him to a Battaile The diligence of the Van was such that it reached the enemie by the second houre after Noone and began the Assault The Imperialists failed not to make head and a strong resistance Many charges were giuen with advantage and losse equall the victorie enclining now to this side then to that till at length the Swedes gaue fire to their small Field-pieces which pierc'd and broke sundry Imperiall Companies and forc'd them to a Retreat The Swedes became Masters of the Field and brought to the King a Standard taken from the Enemie with this Deuise La Fortune l'Aigle Romain Fortune and the Roman Eagle Hence some drewe this Prognosticke that the enemie should ere long part with the one and the other A thicke miste and the night comming upon them the Swedes were hindered in the pursuit of the enemy and the victory The King remained in the Field and stood in order of Battaile all night having no other shelter then his Caroach resolved to follow close his Designe and engage the enemie to a generall Combate Hee communicated his Intention to the Dukes of Saxon-Weymar and other remarkeable Commanders who passed away that night neere his Caroach having nothing over their heads but the Heavenly Arch nor any thing under them but trusses of strawe layd upon the earth Their field furniture they left behind believing they should returne to lodge in Naumbourg But the patience of their Generall made them with ease passe over these inconveniences Some of the principall Officers endeavour'd to diswade the King from giving Battaile alleadging that the Forces of the Enemie were great his Seates advantagious their owne Armie feeble and wearied with continuall Marches and that it was farre safer to wayt for the arrivall of the Saxon and make so strong an vnion as may promise successe in the equalitie of their Armies Their reasons were not received but crossed by the King with many more solid derived from the Experience of the times past and the present astonishment of the enemie from the courage of his Souldiers and his advantages obteined from the Iustice of his Armes from the Benediction from aboue from the absence of Pappenheim and the discommodities he should bee subiect to in that season now waxing bitter in case hee should suffer the enemie to perfect his Trenches which hee had alreadie begun in many places To which hee added his Reputation and how important it was to hasten the Combate saying alowd That hee could not suffer Walstein to beard him without calling him to an account and letting him see by proofe he was not to be faulted that ere this hee had not seene him with his sword in his hand that hee desired to make tryall of his ability in the Field and ferret him out of his burrowes The Commanders perceiving by the language and tone of the King that his decree to fight was inevitable and their opposition fruitlesse conformed their wills by an humble obedience to his not without reiterated protestations to subscribe themselves his in their owne bloud and seale it with the losse of their lives Whereat the King rejoyced extreamely nor could he containe his joy from appearing in his face but by his cheerefull lookes expressed his inward content and forth-with called for a new sute of Chammois which hee presently put on Then they presented to him his Armes and the Duke Bernard of Saxon Weymar and sundry other Princes and Officers conjur'd him by all things deare and holy to weare his Helmet and Cuirasse but they could not winne him to it hee objecting the incumbrance and laying his hand on the Musket bullet still remaining in his shoulder which to him made the least weight unsupportable The Kings designe was to beginne the combate by the peepe of day but so thicke and darke a mist arose that it confin'd the eye to a small distance and rendred any enterprise not onely difficult but dangerous Wherefore the King was constrained to expect till the Sunne had chased it away which till then had deprived him of all sight of the Enemy The interim according to his custome hee imployed in his
began to flie and the Swedes pressed and pursude them far within night which favour'd the retreat of the fugitiues and hinder'd the Swedes from ranging further in the chase Indeede they were so tyred that they had neither breath nor force furtherto follow them The Imperiallists giving fire to their campe and part of their baggage tooke some the way of Leipzig others that of Leutmeritz towards the Frontiers of Bohemia whither it was thought Walstein was gone having heard of the losse of the Battell to find a safe place of retreat and to gather together his dispersed Troupes The Swedes remained in possession of the Enemies campe and most of his Baggage of one and twentie exquifite Cannon besides inseriour ones and a multitude of Standards and Corners Vpon the mustering of their Armie they found wanting over and aboue the incomparable and irreparable losse of their King the Major Generall Isslet and other Coronells and Officers A Prince of Anhalt a Count of Nilis the Coronels Brandestein Wildenstein Relinguen and Winchell received that day deepe and honourable wounds The Duke Bernhard of Weymar also was hurt to whose valour and conduct the Swedian partie after God owes the glorie of that day more bloudy by far then that which was sought the yeare past in the neighbouring fields of Leipzig The Duke Ernest of Weymar also infinuated himselfe into the hearts of all men by his courage and leading that day The Regiments of these two Princes and those of the Prince of Anhalt of the Count of Lewestein of Coronell Brandestein and the two Swedish Coronells surnamed The Blew and the Yellow bore the brunt of that day The Swedes lost betweene fiue and sixe thousand men and the enemie betweene ten and twelue thousand remaining on the place and two thirds of their Armie ruin'd and dispersed besides the death or mortall wounds of divers of their remarkable Commaunders as Calas Merode Holok Piccolomini ' Isolani and divers others Pappenheim aboue all the rest was bewayled by his partie and not without just cause his courage his Conduct his Vigilancie and Experience having conspired to ranke him in the Souldiers esteeme amongst the bravest Generalls of these times But this glorious Victory of the Swedian Armie suffered an Ecclipse by the death of that truely great King who was the soule of his Friends and the terrour and scourge of his Enemies His bodie could not bee found till the next day when after a curious search it was discover'd amidst the dead heapes rifled and halfe naked and so disfigur'd with bloud and durt that hee could hardly bee knowne This at once so dolefull and glorious a spectacle of the end of so great a Monarch work'd so strongly and effectually on the hearts of his Souldiers that with teares and lamentations for a losse so irreparable they made an unanimous Vow upon the place to revenge his death and make him reviue in the rigorous pursuite of his Designes which hee had so often conjur'd them to continue especially a little before this Battell when hee seem'd to presage his ende touching which hee discoursed often and seriously with many of his familiars Amongst other passages the King marking the multitude of people that flock'd about him at his entry into Naumbourg three dayes before the Battell and hearing their shouts of Ioy and this generall acclamation Long liue the King as if now they had nothing to feare since hee was present hee made to the standers by this short but memorable speech Our Affaires answere our desires but I doubt God will punish mee for the folly of the people who attribute too much to mee and esteeme mee as it were their God and therefore hee will make them shortly see I am but a man Hee bee my witnesse it is a thing distastfull to mee What ever befall mee I shall receiue it as proceeding from his divine will In this onely I rest fully satisfied that hee will not leaue this great Enterprise of mine imperfect The seventeenth of November immediately following the day of Battaile and the Kings death Duke Bernard of Weymar retir'd to Weissenfels to take a generall review of his Army and to give rest and breath to his over wearyed Troopes By the review of his Regiments it appeared that his Army was be tweene fifteene and sixteene thousand strong The Duke imparted his present estate and all other necessary particulars to the Court of Saxon and urg'd the Electour to an uniting of their Forces to the end they might follow close their designe and pursue Walstein to the remotest parts of Austria After this all the Army as well Swedish as Germane agreed in the election of Duke Bernard for their Generall and tooke a new Oath faithfully to serve him who had deserved so well of the Swedian party by so many benefits by his vigilancy his conduct and the greatnesse of his same in Warre but above all by his resolution and incomparable valour of which he made so oportune and cleare a demonstration on that bloudy day of Battaile The Chancellour Oxesterne who lay when about Frankfort was sent for in all hast to manage the affaires of the Chancery Royall removed to Erfurt but chiefely to serve and counsell the desolate and disconsolate Queen environ'd wih griefes and crosses inexprimable yet but equall to the greatnesse of her losse The said Chancellour and the Chevalier Rache served happily to rectify sundry disorders and to raise the spirits of such as were dejected but principally to stop the floud of teares flowing from the eyes of this most vertuous Princesse and to replant in her mind generous and masculine resolutions De la Gorde was sent for in post hast who was imbarked in Swedeland with certaine Regiments of Swedes and Finlanders to bring a supply to the Campe Royall and reinforce it the dead King beeing anchor'd in this maxime to make continuall levies notwithstanding the number of his Armies that so hee might have men at will to fill up those empty Companies which the Sword mortallity and many other militarie miseries might unhappily depopulate But notwithstanding the death of this mighty Prince the astonishment and fright of the Enemy was such that hee basely forsooke diverse strong and impregnable places in the Electorate of Saxony Amongst others the City of Leipzig was forsaken and the Castle rased to the ground Chemnits was taken Zwickaw invested and forced the Duke Bernard following close his good fortune and making good use of the Enemies amazement To this hee was animated the more by the fixt decree of the consederate Princes to make all fast and more and more to knit a firme Vnion with the Swedes that so joyntly that so both of them joyntly might execute and fulfill the intentions and exhortations of the deceased King Walstein having notice betimes of his mens infortunity and the advantage of the Swedes recovered Leipsig that night and before day tooke the way of Leutmeritz where hee recollected is disbanded men and added to them
held himselfe obliged to speake for a Prince who had beene a long time the common But of all afflictions and infultations That which hath made him the more bold and earnest in his defence is the neare alliance of this Prince to mighty Monarchs I shut up all concerning this point in this Assertion that all Princes haue a common interest in the honour of their equals and should all joyne to place their Crownes and purple aboue the reach of Envie The death of these two Kings was sufficient to make the Germans approue of the calculation and prognosticks of their great Astrologer Herlicius who had noted this Moneth of November as fatall to great Princes and Commanders and foretold by the Aspects and fiery constellations the tragicall encounters of these two great Armies and the death of such eminent persons as may well compose the greatest part of the History of our time The Swedes were even wedded to sorrow for the death of their King vowing they would more willingly haue suffered the losse of many battailes then that of him if it had lyen in their power to dispose of the Arrests of Heaven and the satall lawes of the eternall Providence which with a Diamantine poynt markes all things and giues them a Character which never can bee changed or defaced Indeed all the dayes of this Moneth of November were at strife for Superioritie in evill but the sixteenth overcame to which all stories shall giue a brand in that it gaue so strange an alteration to the face of Christendome The battaile sought on that day is enobled by many memorable accidents which exalts it aboue those of former Ages Amongst others are remarkeable the small number of the victors and the multitude of the vanquist the violent and surious charges the durance of the fight the doubtfull event of the combat when victory as if the had beene the daughter of Ianus had two faces and looked two waies the piles of the dead the losse of eminent Commanders and the different effect which one and the same cause wrought in both parties the Kings death kindling indignation and desire of revenge in the bosome of the Swede and the death of Pappenheins and other great Commanders begetting an astonishment in the hearts and lookes of the Imperialists And wee may well affirme that amongst all the Accidents of that saddest of daies this particular hath bin most remarkable that the Swedes having lost their King in the first shocke this unparaleld mischance served rather to confirme then shake their courage and was one of the most apparant causes of the victory This also raised as high as Heaven the Kings renowne that in his fall hee crusht in pieces so vast a body and the hearts of his men were so inflamed with this his disaster that after his death they made the palme and the Lawrell to spring out of his blood Nor was the life of this Prince lesse famous then his death His youth was exercised in great affaires which hardened his body to endure travell and armed his mind against all finister accidents and infus'd into him a courage which might easily bee provoked never subdued The entrie of his Raigne which was the Eleventh of this age and the Seventeenth of his was thorny and sallebrous At one and the same time hee was confronted by the Danes the Polonians and the Muscovites who on all sides assaulted him And though their motives to warre were diverse yet all their intentions like so many lines met in this Center to ruine the Swede Sometimes hee shewed himselfe on the Frontiers of Denmarke sometimes on those of Muscovia somtimes againe on those of Livonia and all with that promptnesse and celerity that his Enemies believed his body to bee ubiquitary And his troubles were increased by corruption of many of his Subjects to a base revolt But his valour his dexterity and the continuall travaile of his body and mind were such that hee passed through these and greater impediments without stop or diminution of his Fame His composition with the Danes and Muscovites was honourable and to his advantage The quarrell betweene him and the Polonian was not about any small petty Territorie but the Crowne and Scepter it selfe and therefore hardly to be decided The Prowesse and agility of this King were such that the Polonians saw him in all parts like another Hanniball before their gates and after many great losses received in Livonia and Prussia they tooke counsell of the Pillow and to preserve the remainder of those Countries unviolated concluded to come to a treatry on which attended a Truce which from their soules they wish'd had beene a Peace whereby their repose might bee eternized Our youthfull Mars had not a soule so narrow as to bee contented to weare onely the Lawrell of the North. More wreathes were prepared for him and a Theater more spacious and glorious Posterity will hardly beleeve that what this Prince hath done was by a man fesible That the conquest of so many vast Provinces and the ruine of so many Armies was the worke onely of two yeares and a few moneths That a puissant Empire formidable in her greatnesse in her supports in her extension in her Armies in her conquests and successe fortifyed with so many Garrisons who hath for her bounds the Ocean and the Alps should in so short a time be forc'd to put on the yoak A man would think infinite Forces were required to manage well an Enterprise of this nature and greatnesse The personall qualities of this Prince were admirable His externall bravery consisted in a sweet yet majesticall aspect in a comely stature in a piercing eye in a commanding voyce in an agility and universall application to all such as might hinder or further him But the great guests that lodg'd within were farre more illustrious a quicke spirit a sollid judgement an incomparable wisedome an inexprimable courage an indefatigable nature and an admirable conduct which were the happy instruments of all his victories and the embellishment of this rare piece I may justly adde his Encampments his Discipline his foresight his direction and unequall'd Industrie Nor was his readinesse lesse in the disposition of his affaires in the governement of his men and his complying with their severall humours which made him as well Lord of hearts as Provinces and Cities But above all the rest his devotion was conspicuous and his frequent pious exercises which received no interruption by his most serious imployments And which draweth neere to a miracle hee himselfe projected and executed all things It suffised not him to bee onely a Generall but hee would also bee a Captaine and Engenier a Serjeant a Cannonier a common Souldier or of any Militarie calling The most dangerous occurrences dazled not his judgement but then was he most venturous when his valour was most required Hee never formed a military project in the execution whereof hee would not himselfe make one And which bred in all an amazement