army, whom his immense riches enabled him to attach to his person, and who looked up to him for present support, as well as future advancement. He took up his principal residence at Prague, where he built a magnificent palace, and lived in a style of splendor more resembling a king than a subject in disgrace.

Six barons, and as many knights attended his person; four gentlemen-ushers presented those who were admitted to the honor of an audience; sixty pages, belonging to the most illustrious families, were entertained at his expense, and instructed by the ablest masters in the whole circle of the arts and sciences. His steward of the household was a baron of the highest rank, and even the chamberlain of the emperor quitted the court to exercise that office in his establishment.

His recent disgrace and increasing anxiety to recover his former authority had totally changed the disposition of his mind, and robbed him of that freedom, openness, and affability which distinguished his early career. In the midst of splendor and magnificence Waldstein lived in a state of gloom, solitude, and impenetrable taciturnity, absorbed in dreams of past grandeur, or projects of future ambition and vengeance, maintaining with his own hand an extensive and regular correspondence with every part of Europe, and with all the great actors on the scene of affairs.

To complete the portrait of so singular a character, in person he was tall and thin, his complexion sallow, his hair red and short, his eyes small and sparkling, his gait and manner indicative of sullenness and distrust, and the few words which broke his habitual silence were uttered in a harsh and disagreeable tone of voice. He was sudden, fierce, and ungovernable in his anger, implacable in his resentment, capricious and fanciful in his commands, extravagant equally in rewards and punishments. He was an enemy to flattery, and insensible to temptation; quick in discovering merit, and ready to reward it. In his dependants he encouraged a spirit of rashness and enterprise; he termed high and magnificent resolutions the effects of a well-qualified soul; a prompt action, a new thought, an unusual audacity, were.

the surest ways to secure his favor. He was grand and lofty in his ideas, impassioned for glory, and disdained. dissimulation or any vice which evinced baseness and timidity of character. Despising riches, except as the agent of his greatness, he was unbounded in his liberalities and was accustomed to say that no gold was equal to the weight of a valiant soldier, that great hopes followed great rewards, and the greatest recompenses produced both the best troops and most skilful officers.History of the House of Austria.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

Thus fell Gustavus Adolphus in the thirty-eighth year of his age, one of the greatest monarchs who ever adorned a throne. As an individual, he was religious without bigotry or affectation, temperate, and a pattern of conjugal fidelity and domestic affection. Though unable to conquer at all times a constitutional warmth of temper, he possessed all the social virtues and the conciliation of courtesy in so high a degree that no individual was ever admitted to his converse without being charmed, or left his presence dissatisfied. To all these amiable qualities, he united the learning of a scholar and the accomplishments of a gentleman. As a statesman he was firm, sagacious, and provident, embracing equally the grand features and minute details of the most extensive plans. As a general, he surpassed his contemporaries in his knowledge of all the branches of the military art, in a bold, inventive, and fertile genius. His intuitive sagacity, undisturbed presence of mind, and extensive foresight, were warmed and animated by an intrepidity more than heroic. No commander was ever more ready to expose his person to dangers, or more willing to share the fatigues and hardships of his troops; he was accustomed to say, "Cities are not taken by keeping in tents; as scholars, in the absence of the master, shut their books, so my troops, without my presence, would slacken their blows." Like many other great men, he was a predestinarian from a pious submission to the decrees of an all-wise Providence. To those who urged him to spare his person, he replied,

"My hour is written in heaven, and cannot be reversed on earth." Gustavus created a new system of tactics, and formed an army which was without a parallel for its excellent discipline and for its singular vigor, precision, and unity in action. He conquered, not by dint of numbers, or the impulse of a fortunate rashness, but by the wisdom and profoundness of his combinations, by his irresistible yet bridled spirit of enterprise, by that confidence and heroism which he infused into his troop. Since the days of Alexander, the progress of no conqueror has been equally rapid; since the time of Cæsar, no individual has united, in so consummate a degree, all the qualities of the gentleman, the statesman, and the soldier. History of the House of Austria.