As soon as he was strong enough Malcolm rode with the count on his visits to the different parts of his estates, joined in several parties got up to hunt the boar in the hills, or to make war on a small scale against the wolves which, since the outbreak of the troubles, had vastly increased in number, committing great depredations6 upon the flocks and herds7, and rendering8 it dangerous for the peasants to move between their villages except in strong parties.
The evenings were passed pleasantly and quietly. The countess would read aloud or would play on the zither, with which instrument she would accompany herself while she sang. Thekla would sit at her embroidery9 and would chat merrily to Malcolm, and ask many questions about Scotland and the life which the ladies led in that, as she asserted, “cold and desolate10 country.” Sometimes the count's chaplain would be present and would gravely discuss theological questions with the count, wearying Malcolm and Thekla so excessively, that they would slip away from the others and play checkers or cards on a little table in a deep oriel window where their low talk and laughter did not disturb the discussions of their elders.
Once Malcolm was absent for two days on a visit to the village in the mountains he had so much aided in defending. Here he was joyfully11 received, and was glad to find that war had not penetrated13 to the quiet valley, and that prosperity still reigned14 there. Malcolm lingered at Mansfeld for some time after he felt that his strength was sufficiently15 restored to enable him to rejoin his regiment16; but he knew that until the spring commenced no great movement of troops would take place, and he was so happy with his kind friends, who treated him completely as one of the family, that he was loath17 indeed to tear himself away. At last he felt that he could no longer delay, and neither the assurances of the count that the Protestant cause could dispense18 with his doughty19 services for a few weeks longer, or the tears of Thekla and her insistance that he could not care for them or he would not be in such a hurry to leave, could detain him longer, and mounting a horse with which the count had presented him he rode away to rejoin his regiment.
No military movements of importance had taken place subsequent to the battle of Lutzen. Oxenstiern had laboured night and day to repair as far as possible the effects of the death of Gustavus. He had been left by the will of the king regent of Sweden until the king's daughter, now a child of six years old, came of age, and he at once assumed the supreme20 direction of affairs. It was essential to revive the drooping21 courage of the weaker states, to meet the secret machinations of the enemy, to allay22 the jealousy23 of the more powerful allies, to arouse the friendly powers, France in particular, to active assistance, and above all to repair the ruined edifice24 of the German alliance and to reunite the scattered25 strength of the party by a close and permanent bond of union.
Had the emperor at this moment acted wisely Oxenstiern's efforts would have been in vain. Wallenstein, farseeing and broad minded, saw the proper course to pursue, and strongly urged upon the emperor the advisability of declaring a universal amnesty, and of offering favourable26 conditions to the Protestant princes, who, dismayed at the loss of their great champion, would gladly accept any proposals which would ensure the religious liberty for which they had fought; but the emperor, blinded by this unexpected turn of fortune and infatuated by Spanish counsels, now looked to a complete triumph and to enforce his absolute will upon the whole of Germany.
Instead, therefore, of listening to the wise counsels of Wallenstein he hastened to augment27 his forces. Spain sent him considerable supplies, negotiated for him with the ever vacillating Elector of Saxony, and levied28 troops for him in Italy. The Elector of Bavaria increased his army, and the Duke of Lorraine prepared again to take part in the struggle which now seemed to offer him an easy opportunity of increasing his dominions29. For a time the Elector of Saxony, the Duke of Brunswick, and many others of the German princes wavered; but when they saw that Ferdinand, so far from being disposed to offer them favourable terms to detach them from the league, was preparing with greater vigour than ever to overwhelm them, they perceived that their interest was to remain faithful to their ally, and at a great meeting of princes and deputies held at Heilbronn the alliance was re-established on a firmer basis.
Before, however, the solemn compact was ratified30 scarce one of the German princes and nobles but required of Oxenstiern the gratification of private greed and ambition, and each bargained for some possession either already wrested31 or to be afterwards taken from the enemy. To the Landgrave of Hesse the abbacies of Paderborn, Corvey, Munster, and Fulda were promised, to Duke Bernhard of Weimar the Franconian bishoprics, to the Duke of Wurtemburg the ecclesiastical domains32 and the Austrian counties lying within his territories, all to be held as fiefs of Sweden.
Oxenstiern, an upright and conscientious33 man, was disgusted at the greed of these princes and nobles who professed34 to be warring solely35 in defence of their religious liberties, and he once exclaimed that he would have it entered in the Swedish archives as an everlasting36 memorial that a prince of the German empire made a request for such and such territory from a Swedish nobleman, and that the Swedish noble complied with the request by granting him German lands. However, the negotiations37 were at last completed, the Saxons marched towards Lusatia and Silesia to act in conjunction with Count Thurn against the Austrians in that quarter, a part of the Swedish army was led by the Duke of Weimar into Franconia, and the other by George, Duke of Brunswick, into Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
When Gustavus had marched south from Ingolstadt on the news of Wallenstein's entry into Saxony he had left the Count Palatine of Birkenfeld and General Banner to maintain the Swedish conquests in Bavaria. These generals had in the first instance pressed their conquests southward as far as Lake Constance; but towards the end of the year the Bavarian General Altringer pressed them with so powerful an army that Banner sent urgent requests to Horn to come to his assistance from Alsace, where he had been carrying all before him. Confiding38 his conquests to the Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig, Horn marched at the head of seven thousand men towards Swabia. Before he could join Banner, however, Altringer had forced the line of the Lech, and had received reinforcements strong enough to neutralize39 the aid brought to Banner by Horn. Deeming it necessary above all things to bar the future progress of the enemy, Horn sent orders to Otto Ludwig to join him with all the troops still remaining in Alsace; but finding himself still unable to resist the advance of Altringer, he despatched an urgent request to Duke Bernhard, who had captured Bamberg and the strong places of Kronach and Hochstadt in Franconia, to come to his assistance. The duke at once quitted Bamberg and marched southward, swept a strong detachment of the Bavarian army under John of Werth from his path, and pressing on reached Donauwurth in March 1633.
Malcolm had rejoined his regiment, which was with Duke Bernhard, just before it advanced from Bamberg and was received with a hearty40 welcome by his comrades, from whom he had been separated nine months, having quitted them three months before the battle of Lutzen.
The officers were full of hope that Duke Bernhard was going to strike a great blow. Altringer was away on the shore of Lake Constance facing Horn, Wallenstein was in Bohemia. Between Donauworth and Vienna were but the four strong places of Ingolstadt, Ratisbon, Passau, and Linz. Ingolstadt was, the duke knew, commanded by a traitor41 who was ready to surrender. Ratisbon had a Protestant population who were ready to open their gates. It seemed that the opportunity for ending the war by a march upon Vienna, which had been snatched by Wallenstein from Gustavus just when it appeared in his grasp, was now open to Duke Bernhard. But the duke was ambitious, his demands for Franconia had not yet been entirely42 complied with by Oxenstiern, and he saw an opportunity to obtain his own terms. The troops under his orders were discontented, owing to the fact that their pay was many months in arrear43, and private agents of the duke fomented44 this feeling by assuring the men that their general was with them and would back their demands. Accordingly they refused to march further until their demands were fully12 satisfied. The Scotch45 regiments46 stood apart from the movement, though they too were equally in arrear with their pay. Munro and the officers of the Brigade chafed47 terribly at this untimely mutiny just when the way to Vienna appeared open to them. Duke Bernhard forwarded the demands of the soldiers to Oxenstiern, sending at the same time a demand on his own account, first that the territory of the Franconian bishoprics should at once be erected48 into a principality in his favour, and secondly49, that he should be nominated commander-in-chief of all the armies fighting in Germany for the Protestant cause with the title of generalissimo.
Oxenstiern was alarmed by the receipt of the mutinous50 demands of the troops on the Danube, and was disgusted when he saw those demands virtually supported by their general. His first thought was to dismiss Duke Bernhard from the Swedish service; but he saw that if he did so the disaffection might spread, and that the duke might place himself at the head of the malcontents and bring ruin upon the cause. He therefore agreed to bestow51 at once the Franconian bishoprics upon him, and gave a pledge that Sweden would defend him in that position.
He declined to make him generalissimo of all the armies, but appointed him commander-in-chief of the forces south of the Maine. The duke accepted this modification52, and had no difficulty in restoring order in the ranks of his army. But precious months had been wasted before this matter was brought to a conclusion, and the month of October arrived before the duke had completed all his preparations and was in a position to move forward.
While the delays had been going on Altringer, having been joined by the army of the Duke of Feria, quitted the line of the Danube, in spite of Wallenstein's absolute order not to do so, and, evading53 Horn and Birkenfeldt, marched into Alsace. The Swedish generals, however, pressed hotly upon him, and finally drove him out of Alsace. Ratisbon being left open by Altringer's disobedience to Wallenstein's orders, Duke Bernhard marched upon that city without opposition54, and laid siege to it. Maximilian of Bavaria was himself there with a force sufficient to defend the city had he been supported by the inhabitants; but a large majority of the people were Protestants, and, moreover, bitterly hated the Bavarians, who had suppressed their rights as a free city.
Maximilian wrote urgently to the emperor and to Wallenstein, pledging himself to maintain Ratisbon if he could receive a reinforcement of 5000 men. The emperor was powerless; he had not the men to send, but he despatched to Wallenstein, one after another, seven messengers, urging him at all hazards to prevent the fall of so important a place. Wallenstein replied to the order that he would do all in his power, and in presence of the messengers ordered the Count of Gallas to march with 12,000 men on Ratisbon, but privately55 furnished the general with absolute orders, forbidding him on any account to do anything which might bring on an action with the duke.
Wallenstein's motives56 in so acting57 were, as he afterwards assured the emperor, that he was not strong enough to divide his army, and that he could best cover Vienna by maintaining a strong position in Bohemia, a policy which was afterwards justified58 by the event. Ratisbon resisted for a short time; but, finding that the promised relief did not arrive, it capitulated on the 5th of November, Maximilian having left the town before the surrender.
The duke now pushed on towards Vienna, and captured Straubing and Plattling. John of Werth, who was posted here, not being strong enough to dispute the passage of the Isar, fell back towards the Bohemian frontier, hoping to meet the troops which the emperor had urged Wallenstein to send to his aid, but which never came. Duke Bernhard crossed the Isar unopposed, and on the 12th came within sight of Passau.
So far Wallenstein had not moved; he had seemed to comply with the emperor's request to save Ratisbon, but had seemed only, and had not set a man in motion to reinforce John of Werth. He refused, in fact, to fritter away his army. Had he sent Gallas with 12,000 men to join John of Werth, and had their united forces been, as was probable, attacked and defeated by the Swedes, Wallenstein would have been too weak to save the empire. Keeping his army strong he had the key of the position in his hands.
He had fixed59 upon Passau as the point beyond which Duke Bernhard should not be allowed to advance, and felt that should he attack that city he and his army were lost. In front of him was the Inn, a broad and deep river protected by strongly fortified60 places; behind him John of Werth, a bitterly hostile country, and the river Isar. On his left would be Wallenstein himself marching across the Bohemian forest. When, therefore, he learned that Duke Bernhard was hastening on from the Isar towards Passau he put his army in motion and marched southward, so as to place himself in the left rear of the duke. This movement Duke Bernhard heard of just when he arrived in sight of Passau, and he instantly recognized the extreme danger of his position, and perceived with his usual quickness of glance that to be caught before Passau by Wallenstein and John of Werth would be absolute destruction. A moment's hesitation61 and the Swedish army would have been lost. Without an hour's delay he issued the necessary orders, and the army retraced62 its steps with all speed to Ratisbon, and not stopping even there marched northward63 into the Upper Palatinate, to defend that conquered country against Wallenstein even at the cost of a battle.
But Wallenstein declined to fight a battle there. He had but one army, and were that army destroyed, Duke Bernhard, with the prestige of victory upon him, could resume his march upon Vienna, which would then be open to him. Therefore, having secured the safety of the capital, he fell back again into winter quarters in Bohemia. Thus Ferdinand again owed his safety to Wallenstein, and should have been the more grateful since Wallenstein had saved him in defiance64 of his own orders.
At the time he fully admitted in his letters to Wallenstein that the general had acted wisely and prudently65, nevertheless he was continually listening to the Spaniards, the Jesuits, and the many envious66 of Wallenstein's great position, and hoping to benefit by his disgrace, and, in spite of all the services his great general had rendered him, was preparing to repeat the humiliation67 which he had formerly68 laid upon him and again to deprive him of his command.
Wallenstein was not ignorant of the intrigue69 against him. Vast as were his possessions, his pride and ambition were even greater. A consciousness of splendid services rendered and of great intellectual power, a belief that the army which had been raised by him and was to a great extent paid out of his private funds, and which he had so often led to victory, was devoted70 to him, and to him alone, excited in his mind the determination to resist by force the intriguers who dominated the bigoted71 and narrow minded emperor, and, if necessary, to hurl72 the latter from his throne.
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1
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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depredations
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| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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ratified
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| v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wrested
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| （用力）拧( wrest的过去式和过去分词 )； 费力取得； （从…）攫取； （ 从… ） 强行取去… | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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neutralize
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| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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arrear
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| n.欠款 | |
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fomented
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| v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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47
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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48
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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49
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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50
mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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51
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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52
modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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53
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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