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fourteen rings, whereof two were diamond rings, one of which was worth fifty dollars; silver as much as his pockets would hold, besides that he had brought three horses, two of which were laden with baggage, and a boor he had hired to stay with them at Leipsic till he had found me out. But I am afraid, captain, says I, you have plundered the village, instead of plundering the enemy. No indeed, not we, says he, but the Crabats had done it for us, and we light of them just as they were carrying it off. Well, said I, but what will you do with your men; for when you come to give them orders they will know you well enough? No, no, says he, I took care of that; for just now I gave a soldier five dollars to carry them news that the army was marched to Moersburg, and that they should follow thither to the regiment.

Having secured his money in my lodgings, he asked me if I pleased to see his horses, and to have one for myself? I told him I would go and see them in the afternoon; but the fellow being impatient, goes and fetches them. There were three horses, one whereof was a very good one, and, by the furniture, was an officer's horse of the Crabats; and that my man would have me accept, for the other he had spoiled, as he said. I was but indifferently horsed before, so I accepted of the horse, and went down with him to see the rest of his plunder there. He had got three or four pair of pistols, two or three bundles of officers' linen, and lace, a field bed and a tent, and several other things of value; but at last, coming to a small fardel, And this, says he, I took whole from a Crabat running away with it under his arm; so he brought it up into my chamber. He had not looked into it, he said, but he understood it was some plunder the soldiers had made, and, finding it heavy, took it by consent. We opened it, and found it was a bundle of some linen, thirteen or fourteen pieces of plate, and in a small cup, three rings, a fine necklace of pearl, and the value of one hundred rixdollars in money. The fellow was amazed at his own good fortune, and hardly knew what to do with himself. I bid him go take care of his other things, and of his horses, and come again; so he went and discharged the boor that waited, and packed up all his plunder, and came up to me in his old clothes again. How now, captain, says I, what, have you altered your equipage already? I am no more ashamed,

VALUE OF MY SERVANT'S PLUNDER.

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sir, of your livery, answered he, than of your service, and nevertheless your servant for what I have got by it. Well, says I to him, but what will you do now with all your money? I wish my poor father had some of it, says he; and for the rest, I got it for you, sir, and desire you would take it.

He spoke it with so much honesty and freedom, that I could not but take it very kindly; but however, I told him I would not take a farthing from him, as his master; but I would have him play the good husband with it now he had such good fortune to get it. He told me he would take my directions in everything. Why then, said I, I'll tell you what I would advise you to do; turn it all into ready money, and convey it by return home into England, and follow yourself the first opportunity, and with good management you may put yourself in a good posture of living with it. The fellow, with a sort of dejection in his looks, asked me, if he had disobliged me in anything? Why? says I. That I was willing to turn him out of his service. No, George (that was his name), says I, but you may live on this money without being a servant. I'd throw it all into the Elbe, says he, over Torgau bridge, rather than leave your service; and besides, says he, can't I save my money without going from you? I got it in your service, and I'll never spend it out of your service, unless you put me away. I hope my money won't make me the worse servant; if I thought it would I'd soon have little enough. Nay, George, says I, I shall not oblige you to it for I am not willing to lose you neither. Come then, says I, let us put it all together, and see what it will come to. So he laid it all together on the table; and by our computation he had gotten as much plunder as was worth about one thousand four hundred rix-dollars, besides three horses with their furniture, a tent, a bed, and some wearing linen. Then he takes the necklace of pearl, a very good watch, a diamond ring, and a hundred pieces of gold, and lays them by themselves; and having, according to our best calculation, valued the things, he put up all the rest; and as I was going to ask him what they were left out for, he takes them up in his hand, and coming round the table, told me, that if I did not think him unworthy of my service and favour, he begged I would give him leave to make that present to me; that it was my first thought, his going out; that he had got it all in my service, and he should think I

had no kindness for him if I should refuse it. I was resolved in my mind not to take it from him, and yet I could find no means to resist his importunity; at last I told him, I would accept of part of his present, and that I esteemed his respect in that as much as the whole, and that I would not have him importune me farther; so I took the ring and watch, with the horse and furniture as before, and made him turn all the rest into money at Leipsic; and not suffering him to wear his livery, made him put himself into a tolerable equipage, and taking a young Leipsicer into my service, he attended me as a gentleman from that time forward.

The king's army never entered Leipsic, but proceeded to Moersburg, and from thence to Halle, and so marched on into Franconia, while the Duke of Saxony employed his forces in recovering Leipsic, and driving the imperialists out of his country. I continued at Leipsic twelve days, being

not willing to leave my comrade until he was recovered; but Sir John Hepburn so often importuned me to come into the army, and sent me word that the king had very often inquired for me, that at last I consented to go without him. So having made our appointment where to meet, and how to correspond by letters, I went to wait on Sir John Hepburn, who then lay with the king's army at the city of Erfurt in Saxony. As I was riding between Leipsic and Halle, I observed my horse went very awkwardly and uneasy, and sweat very much, though the weather was cold, and we had rid but very softly. I fancied, therefore, that the saddle might hurt the horse, and calls my new captain up: George, says I, I believe this saddle hurts the horse. So we alighted, and looking under the saddle found the back of the horse extremely galled; so I bid him take off the saddle, which he did, and giving the horse to my young Leipsicer to lead, we sat down to see if we could mend it, for there was no town near us. Says George, pointing with his finger, If you please to cut open the pannel there, I'll get something to stuff into it, which will bear it from the horse's back; so while he looked for something to thrust in, I cut a hole in the pannel of the saddle, and following it with my finger I felt something hard, which seemed to move up and down: again, as I thrust it with my finger, Here's something that should not be here, says I, not yet imagining what afterwards fell out, and calling, Run back, bade him put up his finger; Whatever it is, says

FIND MONEY IN MY HORSE'S SADDLE.

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he, it is this hurts the horse, for it bears just on his back when the saddle is set on. So we strove to take hold on it, but could not reach it; at last we took the upper part of the saddle quite from the pannel, and there lay a small silk purse wrapt in a piece of leather, and full of gold ducats. Thou art born to be rich,. George, says I to him, here's more money. We opened the purse, and found in it four hundred and thirty-eight small pieces of gold. There I had a new skirmish with him whose the money should be. I told him it was his; he told me no, I had accepted of the horse and furniture, and all that was about him was mine, and solemnly vowed he would not have a penny of it. I saw no remedy but put up the money for the present, mended our saddle, and went on. We lay that night at Halle, and having had such a booty in the saddle, I made him search the saddles of the other two horses; in one of which we found three French crowns, but nothing in the other.

CHAPTER V.

ARRIVAL AT ERFURT-I RECEIVE A WOUND BEFORE THE CASTLE OF MARIENBURGH-GRACIOUS RECEPTION OF THE KING-BRAVERY OF A PRIVATE MUSKETEER-BATTLE OF

OPPENHEIM MARCH ΤΟ MENTZ

LETTER FROM MY

FATHER-THE KING APPOINTS ME A COLONEL OF HORSE -BATTLE OF LECH, AND DEFEAT OF TILLY.

and at the siege The first thing I Hepburn, who re

WE arrived at Erfurt the 28th of September, but the army was removed, and entered into Franconia, of Koningshoven we came up with them. did, was to pay my civilities to Sir John ceived me very kindly, but told me withal, that I had not done well to be so long from him; and the king had particularly inquired for me, had commanded him to bring me to him at my return. I told him the reason of my stay at Leipsic, and how I had left that place, and my comrade, before he was cured of his wounds, to wait on him, according to his letters. He told me the king had spoken some things very obliging about me, and he believed would offer me some command in the army, if I thought well to accept of it. I told him I had promised my father not to take service in an army without

his leave; and yet if his majesty should offer it, I neither knew how to resist it, nor had I an inclination to anything more than the service, and such a leader; though I had much rather have served as a volunteer at my own charge (which, as he knew, was the custom of our English gentlemen), than in any command. He replied, Do as you think fit; but some gentlemen would give twenty thousand crowns to stand so fair for advancement as you do.

The town of Koningshoven capitulated that day, and Sir John was ordered to treat with the citizens, so I had no farther discourse with him then; and the town being taken, the army immediately advanced down the river Main, for the king had his eye upon Frankfort and Mentz, two great cities, both which he soon became master of, chiefly by the prodigious expedition of his march; for within a month after the battle, he was in the lower parts of the empire, and had passed from the Elbe to the Rhine, an incredible conquest; had taken all the strong cities, the bishoprics of Bamberg, of Wurtzburg, and almost all the circle of Franconia, with part of Schawberland; a conquest large enough to be seven years a making by the common course of arms.

Business going on thus, the king had not leisure to think of small matters, and being not thoroughly resolved in my mind, did not press Sir John to introduce me. I had wrote to my father, with an account of my reception in the army, the civilities of Sir John Hepburn, the particulars of the battle, and had indeed pressed him to give me leave to serve the King of Sweden; to which particular I waited for an answer, but the following occasion determined me before an answer could possibly reach me.

The king was before the strong castle of Marienburg, which commands the city of Wurtzburg; he had taken the city, but the garrison and richer part of the burghers were retired into the castle, and trusting to the strength of the place, which was thought impregnable, they bade the Swedes do their worst; it was well provided with all things, and a strong garrison in it; so that the army indeed expected it would be a long piece of work. The castle stood on a high rock, and on the steep of the rock was a bastion, which defended the only passage up the hill into the castle; the Scots were chose out to make this attack, and the king was an eyewitness of their gallantry. In this action Sir John was not

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