Sir John Hepburn sent his man presently to me
to come up, which I did; and Sir John without any ceremony carries me
directly up to the king, who was leaning on his elbow in the window.
The king turning about, "This is the English gentleman," says Sir
John, "who I told your Majesty had been in the Imperial army." "How
then did he get hither," says the king, "without being taken by the
scouts?" At which question, Sir John saying nothing, "By a pass,
and please your Majesty, from the English ambassador's secretary at
Vienna," said I, making a profound reverence. "Have you then been at
Vienna?" says the king. "Yes, and please your Majesty," said I; upon
which the king, folding up a letter he had in his hand, seemed much
more earnest to talk about Vienna than about Tilly. "And, pray, what
news had you at Vienna?" "Nothing, sir," said I, "but daily accounts
one in the neck of another of their own misfortunes, and your
Majesty's conquests, which makes a very melancholy court there." "But,
pray," said the king, "what is the common opinion there about these
affairs?" "The common people are terrified to the last degree," said
I, "and when your Majesty took Frankfort-upon-Oder, if your army had
marched but twenty miles into Silesia, half the people would have run
out of Vienna, and I left them fortifying the city.
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