e kingdom had joined
in the confederacy, and in a few weeks Count Thurn found himself at the
head of ten thousand men inspired with the most determined spirit. The
Silesians and Lusatians marched to help them, and the Protestant league
of Germany sent them timely supplies. The troops of Ferdinand found
opponents in every pass and in every defile, and in their endeavor to
force their way through the fastnesses of the mountains, were frequently
driven back with great loss. At length the troops of Ferdinand, defeated
at every point, were compelled to retreat in shame back to Austria,
leaving all Bohemia in the hands of the Protestants.

Ferdinand was now in trouble and disgrace. His plans had signally
failed. The Protestants all over Germany were in arms, and their spirits
roused to the highest pitch; many of the moderate Catholics refused to
march against them, declaring that the Protestants were right in
resisting such oppression. They feared Ferdinand, and were apprehensive
that his despotic temper, commencing with religious intolerance, would
terminate in civil tyranny. It was evident to all that the Protestants
could not be put down by force of arms, and even Ferdinand was so
intensely humiliated that he was constrained to assent to the proposal
which Matthias made to refer their difficulty to arbitration. Four
princes were selected as the referees--the Electors of Mentz, Bavaria,
Saxony and Palatine. They were to meet at Egra the 14th of April, 1619.

But Matthias, the victim of disappointment and grief, was now rapidly
approaching his end. The palace at Vienna was shrouded in gloom, and no
smiles were seen there, and no sounds of joy were heard in those regal
saloons. The wife of Matthias, whom he tenderly loved, oppressed by the
humiliation and anguish which she saw her husband enduring, died of a
broken heart. Matthias was inconsolable under this irretrievable loss.
Lying upon his bed tortured with the pain of the gout, sinking under
incurable disease, with no pleasant memories of the past to cheer him,
with disgrace and disaster accumulating, and with no bright hopes beyond
the grave, he loathed life and dreaded death. The emperor in his palace
was perhaps the most pitiable object which could be found in all his
realms. He tossed upon his pillow, the victim of remorse and despair,
now condemning himself for his cruel treatment of his brother Rhodolph,
now inveighing bitterly against the inhumanity and arrogance o