talions they were incessantly drilled, and
by the close of three months this splendid army, thoroughly furnished,
and in the highest state of discipline, was presented to the emperor.
Every step he had taken had convinced, and was intended to convince
Ferdinand that his salvation depended upon the energies of Wallenstein.
Gustavus was now, in the full tide of victory, marching from the Rhine
to the Danube, threatening to press his conquests even to Vienna.
Ferdinand was compelled to assume the attitude of a suppliant, and to
implore his proud general to accept the command of which he had so
recently been deprived. Wallenstein exacted terms so humiliating as in
reality to divest the emperor of his imperial power. He was to be
declared generalissimo of all the forces of the empire, and to be
invested with unlimited authority. The emperor pledged himself that
neither he nor his son would ever enter the camp. Wallenstein was to
appoint all his officers, distribute all rewards, and the emperor was
not allowed to grant either a pardon or a safe-conduct without the
confirmation of Wallenstein. The general was to levy what contribution
he pleased upon the vanquished enemy, confiscate property, and no peace
or truce was to be made with the enemy without his consent. Finally, he
was to receive, either from the spoils of the enemy, or from the
hereditary States of the empire, princely remuneration for his services.

Armed with such enormous power, Wallenstein consented to place himself
at the head of the army. He marched to Prague, and without difficulty
took the city. Gradually he drove the Saxon troops from all their
fortresses in Bohemia. Then advancing to Bavaria, he effected a junction
with Bavarian troops, and found himself sufficiently strong to attempt
to arrest the march of Gustavus. The imperial force now amounted to
sixty thousand men. Wallenstein was so sanguine of success, that he
boasted that in a few days he would decide the question, whether
Gustavus Adolphus or Wallenstein was to be master of the world. The
Swedish king was at Nuremberg with but twenty thousand men, when he
heard of the approach of the imperial army, three times outnumbering his
own. Disdaining to retreat, he threw up redoubts, and prepared for a
desperate defense. As Wallenstein brought up his heavy battalions, he
was so much overawed by the military genius which Gustavus had displayed
in his strong intrenchments, and by the bold front which the S