took ship at Pillau; but in their passage were assailed with such constant storms, that forty-eight men were obliged to work constantly at the pumps to keep the leaky vessel from sinking. At length it was stranded near Rügenwald. A fearful surf broke over the wreck, and it was with the greatest difficulty and danger that Monro and his men succeeded in gaining the shore. But even then their condition did not seem to be much bettered. They were without provisions, without powder and shot, almost without arms, except pikes and swords, and a few wet muskets. The country all around was still in the hands of the enemy, and the nearest Swedes were at a distance of eighty miles. But Monro did not lose courage. He accidentally knew that the commandant of the castle of Rügenwald, a Pomeranian by birth, was secretly in favor of the Swedes, though the numerous enemies, by whom he was surrounded, forced him to pretend the contrary. Monro sent a secret message, begging the commandant to admit the Scots in the night-time through a postern; when he undertook to drive out. the imperialists, and defend the place against them. for the future. The commandant accepted Monro's proposal. The Scots were admitted, the imperialists expelled, the fortifications repaired and valiantly defended against the enemy's attempts to retake the castle. Shortly afterwards, Monro was joined by four hundred Germans, who had also been driven thither by stress of weather, and by Colonel Hepburn with another regiment of Scots from Prussia, so that in this fortuitous manner a considerable force was collected in Rügenwald. Gustavus, when informed of Monro's adventure, exclaimed: "We may well expect a prosperous issue, when Heaven expresses its approval by such extraordinary events."

The approach of winter was favorable to the Swedes, as Conti's army, consisting mostly of Italians, was unable to endure the cold. The imperialist commanders invited the Swedish officers to a parley, and gave them a magnificent dinner. After the bottle had circulated pretty freely, Cratz, an Austrian colonel, rose, and remarking that it was unworthy of soldiers to contend with snow and ice, proposed a truce for the winter months; at the expiration of which, he said, they would be happy to meet the Swedes again in the spring. The oldest officer among the Swedes replied that, being una

ware of the object of this entertainment, they had not taken the commands of their sovereign on the subject proposed. He was pretty sure, however, that no truce would be granted on account of the winter. Their king was indefatigable, and easily bore hunger, thirst, cold, and all sorts of inconvenience, nor could it be supposed that his officers were more tender than their master. They were soldiers both for summer and winter, not swallows that waited till the ice had disappeared.

A

Gustavus highly approved of this answer. winter campaign was the very thing he had reckoned on. His soldiers were provided with coats lined with fur, and during the winter months he made immense progress. Reinforcements streamed in from every side. Instead of melting away, the Snow King, as if to prove the justness of the epithet bestowed on him, though in an opposite sense from that intended, increased in bulk as he rolled forwards. During the winter Pomerania and Mecklenburg were pretty well cleared of the imperialists. In the spring Frankfort was taken by storm.

Gustavus was now master of the Oder, and could penetrate at will into Silesia, Brandenburg, or Saxony.

The Protestant princes began to take courage and speak in a more decided tone. The emperor, on the other hand, was astonished at his losses, and enraged with the counsellors who had talked so lightly of the Swedish power, and thus occasioned the delay in adequately opposing it. His courtiers no longer displayed their wit at the expense of the Snow King. The electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, however, who were well aware how valuable their friendship must be to either side, held back for a time, observing an armed neutrality; which Gustavus would not break up by violent means, lest he should at once furnish them with an excuse for joining the emperor. This delay decided the fate of Magdeburg, which had received no aid from Gustavus except the sending them one of his officers-Colonel Falkenburg-who entered the place in the disguise of a boatman, and took command of the feeble and dispirited garrison.

On the night of the 10th of May, 1631, the imperial party within the walls called loudly for surrender. At four o'clock in the morning Falkenburg hastened to the town-hall, and, whilst he was in consultation with the magistrates, Pappenheim, without waiting orders from Tilly, scaled the walls at a

place where the sentinel was asleep. Falkenburg rushed out, and had nearly succeeded, with the troops he had hastily collected, in driving the imperialists out of the town, when he was shot dead. Still the citizens, in spite of the overwhelming force brought against them, resisted bravely until their powder failed, when they were obliged to surrender at discretion.

Meanwhile the rest of the imperialists had entered at the two undefended gates, and a scene ensued too horrible for description. Even a humane general might have found it impossible to restrain such troops in the moment of victory; but this ferocious old man who commanded the imperialists did not even attempt. Some officers, who implored him to have mercy on the unresisting citizens, were ordered to return within an hour. "I will then," said he, แ "see what can be done, but the soldier must have something for his labor and danger." In less than half that time, the work of blood was at its height. The furious soldiers spared neither age nor sex. Almost all the men were beheaded, and a great number of the women. Two clergymen were slain as they stood before the altar. On entering the town Pappenheim had ordered some houses to be set on fire; the wind being strong the flames soon spread, and in a short time the whole city, with the exception of a few houses and the cathedral, was a heap of ashes. These scenes continued until the 13th, when Tilly himself entered and restored discipline. Four thousand persons, who had taken refuge in the fire-proof cathedral, were admitted to quarter, and for the first time during three days. obtained something to eat. It is said that they owed this favor to the vanity of Tilly, who was flattered at being addressed in a Latin oration by one of their preachers. The terrible commander, whose singular style of dress gave him the appearance of a lunatic mountebank, rode slowly through the town, revelling on the heaps of dead bodies, with which the streets were covered. In a letter to the emperor, he speaks of this scene of murder and desolation as the greatest victory that had been achieved since the taking of Troy and Jerusalem. "And sincerely," he adds, "do I pity the ladies of your imperial family, that they could not be present as spectators of the same." Gustavus Adolphus now resolved, come what might, no longer to spare the electors whose indecision had caused this terri

ble calamity. On the 11th of June he appeared before Berlin, and offered George William the choice either of instantly joining him, or seeing his capital laid in ashes.

The terrified elector, after a little resistance, signed the treaty of alliance; and Gustavus garrisoned the fortresses of Berlin, Spandau, and Küstrin. Tilly, having been repulsed on the Hessian frontier, had marched to the great plain of Leipsic, in the hope of terrifying the elector of Saxony into an alliance: but that prince now declared himself on the side of the Swedes; and 18,000 Saxons having joined Gustavus Adolphus, the allied army advanced on Leipsic, which was already in the hands of Tilly. The difference between the Swedish and imperial armies was very remarkable. In the camp of Gustavus religious service was regularly performed, sometimes to the army in general, on which occasions the king was always present, sometimes by the chaplain of each regiment to those more immediately intrusted to his charge. The kindness with which the Swedish soldiers treated the unarmed citizens and peasants, the strict morality of their lives, and the gentleness of their manners, rendered them universally objects of respect and love, and presented a striking contrast to the fearful oaths and shouts of licentious revelry with which Tilly's camp resounded day and night, and to the cruelties practiced by his soldiers on the defenceless inhabitants. The Swedish troops had lately been equipped by Gustavus Adolphus with a view to rapid movements; they therefore wore no armor, and were accompanied by only a very light train of field artillery. The imperialists on the contrary wore cuirasses, greaves, and helmets, had much less discipline among them than the Swedes, and were encumbered by heavy ordnance. Tilly had intended to await the coming up of two of his generals with reinforcements, before he engaged the enemy; although his own force amounted to 40,000 men, a number equal to that of the united Swedish and Saxon army; but the impetuous Pappenheim having entangled himself in a skirmish with the Swedes, Tilly was obliged to march to his assistance, muttering as he went, "That fellow will ruin me yet in honor and reputation, and the emperor in land and people." Gustavus Adolphus, dressed in a simple grey coat, with a white hat and green feathers, rode in the front of the line, and exhorted his men to fight bravely. The Swedes com

posed the right wing, the Saxons, the left. Tilly's army formed, according to the ancient mode of warfare, one long line, but Gustavus had broken his force into several small masses.. The imperial artillery was planted on the ridge of a low hill immediately behind the army. The battle began on the 7th of September, 1631, with a furious cannonade, which lasted two hours. Then Tilly, abandoning his position on the hills, marched to meet the Swedes; but their fire was so galling, that he was obliged to make a movement to the right, and attack the Saxons, who soon fled in confusion.

Meanwhile, Pappenheim, at the head of his terrible cuirassiers, had seven times charged the Swedes, and as often been driven back with great loss. Whilst Tilly was engaged with the Saxons, the Swedes attacked him in flank, captured his artillery, and turning it against himself, threw both him and Pappenheim into irrecoverable confusion. Four regiments of veterans, who had become grey in the imperial service, resolved to be cut to pieces rather than yield. In detached bodies they forced their way through the midst of the victorious army, and reached a little wood, where they continued to fight until night came on. The rest of the army fled in disorder, pursued by the Swedes, who cut down hundreds of the fugitives. In all the villages around the tocsin was rung, and the peasants rushed out to wreak vengeance on the oppressors. Meanwhile, Tilly, now a veteran of seventy-two years of age, who had never before either sustained a defeat, or been wounded, stood like a monument of despair, stupefied and motionless. Three bullets had already pierced his body, but he refused to surrender himself, and an officer belonging to the Count Palatine, called by the soldiers "Long Fritz," was in the act of cutting him down, when he was rescued by Duke Rodolph of Lauenburg. The miserable remains of his army took refuge in Halberstadt, where Tilly joined them. During his flight the curses of the peasants rang in his ears, and he was exasperated beyond measure at hearing everywhere the words of a rude song, in which his defeat was celebrated, and the chorus, "Fly, Tilly, Fly!" howled by hundreds of voices. After this victory the country people rose in a mass, and joined the standard of Gustavus in such numbers, that in a few days his army was stronger than it had been before the battle. Gustavus had two narrow escapes from death by

assassination. An Italian colonel, named Quinti del Ponte, in the service of the imperialists, in order to carry out his designs against Gustavus, deserted to the Swedes, by whom he was received without suspicion. Hearing one day that Gustavus intended to reconnoitre the camp of the imperialists, attended by only a small guard of horse, del Ponte hastened to Garz, and having obtained from Conti a body of five hundred Neapolitan cuirassiers, posted them on both sides of a hollow way through which the Swedish king must necessarily pass. They were commanded to take Gustavus alive, if possible; and with this view, as well as not to give the alarm, not to fire. No sooner had Gustavus entered the defile than the Neapolitans broke from their ambush and surrounded his little guard on all sides. The Swedes pressed around their king and defended him with desperate resolution. As they had the advantage of using their fire-arms, they succeeded, for some time, in keeping their assailants at bay; till del Ponte, becoming impatient, and fearing that the reports of the Swedish carabines would bring assistance to the king, ordered his men also to fire. The affair now became desperate. Gustavus's horse was shot under him, and one of the Italian troopers seized him by the belt, though, from the plain style of the king's dress, without being aware of the value of his captive. At this critical juncture a welcome but not unexpected succor arrived. By way of precaution three troops of horse and a company of infantry had been ordered to follow the king at some distance-an arrangement which had not come to the knowledge of del Ponte. These troops, alarmed by the firing, now arrived at full speed, fell upon the surprised Neapolitans, who had already suffered considerable loss, and drove them from the field. Gustavus escaped in the confusion, and returned in safety to the Swedish camp, where he was received with cries of joy.

Not long afterward the life of Gustavus was attempted in a still more insidious manner. A fanatical monk entered the Swedish camp in the disguise of an English priest, to deliver to the king a letter impregnated with poison of the deadliest kind, the mere vapor of which would cause certain death. Oxenstiern, however, was informed of the matter by some trusty spies, and the diabolical design was frustrated.

The horrors of the Thirty Years' War may be il

lustrated by the fate of the town of Pasewalk, which the industry and love of order of its inhabitants had rendered thriving and handsome. In the year 1627, three troops of Wallenstein's cavalry appeared before it, and requested to be accommodated with quarters for three weeks. The unsuspicious citizens consented, and opened their gates. Three years passed over, and their unwelcome guests were still there, but in three or four times greater numbers. The inhabitants, on the contrary, had dwindled down to little more than a third, the rest having either fled or left the place. The wealth of the little town had decreased in the same degree, and it was reckoned that 147,000 dollars had been extorted over and above the usual war taxes. Such was Wallenstein's method for supporting his troops. But it would have been happy for the inhabitants had their misfortunes ended here. After Stettin had gone over to the Swedes, the emperor directed Tilly to show no mercy to Pomerania. The imperial commanders now proceeded to divide the towns of that unfortunate province amongst themselves by lot.

Pasewalk fell to the share of Colonel Hans Götz, who demanded from the inhabitants a contribution of 18,000 rix-dollars. They scraped together what they could, but were unable to make up the whole sum, and begged for indulgence. Götz, however, was inexorable. He seized the burgomaster, and seven of the principal citizens, whom he sent to the camp at Garz; where, loaded with heavy chains, they were exposed without any sort of shelter to the inclemency of the weather, and to the brutal jests and ill-usage of the soldiery. Meanwhile troops of cavalry and lansquenets were marched into the ill-fated town to plunder it at discretion until the balance of the impost should be paid. The inhabitants now collected what goods they possessed, and offered to pay in kind what they could not liquidate in money. A great part of these

goods, however, were pillaged on the way to the camp; and Götz, who was the valuer, declared that the debt had not been satisfied. But worse remained behind. On Sept. 3, 1630, the approach of the Swedes was announced. The imperialists evacuated the town, which was entered by the Swedes amidst shouts of joy from the inhabitants. In a few days, however, Götz returned with a reinforcement, took the town by assault, and put all the Swedes to the sword. A dreadful vengeance was now at hand. The town was abandoned to pillage. The officers themselves rushed into the more opulent houses, and by the exhibition of thumb-screws and other instruments of torture, compelled the owners to produce their valuables. Then came the turn of the common soldiers, who stripped the miserable inhabitants even of their clothes. The streets were strewed with dead and dying. These horrors lasted for three days, and then the town was fired. A considerable portion having escaped the flames, Götz commanded the fire to be rekindled. At a signal, troops of Croats, with lighted brands, rushed to the houses which were still standing, and completed the work of plunder, massacre and desolation. The imperialists then marched out, whilst the lurid flames of the burning town lighted up the horizon for miles around.

We now come to the famous battle of Lützen, 1632. Leaving his generals Baudis and Banner to follow up his successes in northern Germany, Gustavus marched to Erfürt, and thence crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim, and, in commemoration of his passage, caused a high pillar to be erected, having on the top the figure of a lion, with its head encased in a helmet, and bearing a sword in its claws. Charles of Lorraine endeavored to defend the left bank of the river, but Gustavus defeated him. After the taking of Mayence, the valuable library of the archbishopric was destroyed.

IN 1617, Michael made peace with Gustavus Adolphus, the English court assisting as mediator. The Swedes surrendered Novgorod and other places, but held on to the shores of the Gulf of Finland, and received an indemnity of 20,000 roubles. Two generations passed ere Russia could obtain the right to launch a boat on the Baltic. Sweden and Poland held the whole coast line. Poland consented to a truce of fourteen years, one of its conditions being the release of Philarète, the Tsar's father, who was thereupon promoted to the rank of patriarch.

Vladislas, the son of Sigismund of Poland, succeeded his father in 1632. The war was renewed with the gain to Poland of Smolensk. Michael added vast territory on the Caspian, and in North Asia. It is notable that his reign is the turningpoint in the history of Russia, her conquests and aggrandizements dating from this period. He was succeeded by his son Alexis in 1645.

In the year 1654 the Cossacks sought permission to become subjects of Russia. Alexis gladly received them, and made war upon Poland. Charles X., king of Sweden, becoming alarmed at the success of the Russian arms in Poland, stepped in to the rescue, and thirteen years beheld alternate wars with Poland and Sweden, during which Alexis invaded Lithuania, and made his authority a fact in the Ukraine. His invasion of the Baltic provinces proved a failure. The Poles again resumed their domination over the Cossacks, who revolted and called to their assistance the Turks, who, under Mahomet IV., ravaged the eastern, while Alexis

held the western banks of the Dnieper, the Poles being driven out by the Turks.

Alexis was married twice. By his first wife he had two sons, Feodor and Ivan, and six daughters, and by his second wife, one son, the famous Peter, and two daughters. In 1676, Feodor, on the death of his father, ascended the throne. He reigned six years. Peace with Turkey was concluded in 1681, after Russia had gained a complete victory in the Crimea, Turkey formally acknowledging Russia's right to the whole of the territory as far as the cataracts of the Dnieper.

Feodor, in order to curtail the powers of the nobles, whose "precedence," and the etiquette relating thereunto, seriously trammelled the action of state affairs, caused the abrogation of their privi leges, and the books detailing their precedences to be burned.

Peter the Great now takes his place in the History of the World, 1682. "Politically speaking," says Boulton, "Russia was scarcely reckoned among the nations. Turkey was sovereign mistress of the Black Sea; she had conquered all its European coasts. The Tartar khans of the Crimea were her subjects, and the Sea of Azof was under her dominion. Her aggressive power, indeed, as a formidable danger to the liberties of the whole of Europe, had begun to decline. Her sultans were no longer, as they had once been, the greatest generals and the most skilled military engineers amongst contemporary princes. They were still girded with the sword of Othman, but they no longer flashed it in the van of battle. The viziers now led the armies of the sultan, and their defeats by the Austrians at St. Gothard, on the