who approached him. Every soldier in the army was
devoted to him, for he shared all their toils and perils. "Cities," he
said, "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."

In very many traits of character he resembled Napoleon, combining in his
genius the highest attributes of the statesman and the soldier. Like
Napoleon he was a predestinarian, believing himself the child of
Providence, raised for the accomplishment of great purposes, and that
the decrees of his destiny no foresight could thwart. When urged to
spare his person in the peril of battle, he replied,

"My hour is written in heaven, and can not be reversed."

Frederic, the unhappy Elector of the Palatine, and King of Bohemia, who
had been driven from his realms by Ferdinand, and who, for some years,
had been wandering from court to court in Europe, seeking an asylum, was
waiting at Mentz, trusting that the success of the armies of Gustavus
would soon restore him to his throne. The death of the king shattered
all his hopes. Disappointment and chagrin threw him into a fever of
which he died, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. The death of
Gustavus was considered by the Catholics such a singular interposition
of Providence in their behalf, that, regardless of the disaster of
Lutzen, they surrendered themselves to the most enthusiastic joy. Even
in Spain bells were rung, and the streets of Madrid blazed with bonfires
and illuminations. At Vienna it was regarded as a victory, and _Te
Deums_ were chanted in the cathedral. Ferdinand, however, conducted with
a decorum which should be recorded to his honor. He expressed the
fullest appreciation of the grand qualities of his opponent, and in
graceful words regretted his untimely death. When the bloody waistcoat,
perforated by the bullet, was shown him, he turned from it with
utterances of sadness and regret. Even if this were all feigned, it
shows a sense of external propriety worthy of record.

It was the genius of Gustavus alone which had held together the
Protestant confederacy. No more aid of any efficiency could be
anticipated from Sweden. Christina, the daughter and heiress of
Gustavus, was in her seventh year. The crown was claimed by her cousin
Ladislaus, the King of Poland, and this disputed succession threatened
the kingdom with the calamities of civil war. The Senate of Sweden in
this e