"Tis I," said he, "have been the
death of the bravest general in Germany;" would call himself fool
and boy, and such names, for not listening to the reasons of an old
experienced soldier. But when he heard he was alive in the enemy's
hands he was the easier, and applied himself to the recruiting his
troops, and the like business of the war; and it was not long before
he paid the Imperialists with interest.
I returned to Frankfort-au-Main after this action, which happened the
17th of August 1634; but the progress of the Imperialists was so great
that there was no staying at Frankfort. The chancellor Oxenstiern
removed to Magdeburg, Duke Bernhard and the Landgrave marched into
Alsatia, and the Imperialists carried all before them for all the rest
of the campaign. They took Philipsburg by surprise; they took Augsburg
by famine, Spire and Treves by sieges, taking the Elector prisoner.
But this success did one piece of service to the Swedes, that it
brought the French into the war on their side, for the Elector of
Treves was their confederate. The French gave the conduct of the war
to Duke Bernhard. This, though the Duke of Saxony fell off, and fought
against them, turned the scale so much in their favour, that they
recovered their losses, and proved a terror to all Germany.
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