at
Vienna," said I, making a profound reverence. "Have you then been at
Vienna?" says the king. "Yes, and please your Majesty," said I; upon
which the king, folding up a letter he had in his hand, seemed much
more earnest to talk about Vienna than about Tilly. "And, pray, what
news had you at Vienna?" "Nothing, sir," said I, "but daily accounts
one in the neck of another of their own misfortunes, and your
Majesty's conquests, which makes a very melancholy court there." "But,
pray," said the king, "what is the common opinion there about these
affairs?" "The common people are terrified to the last degree," said
I, "and when your Majesty took Frankfort-upon-Oder, if your army had
marched but twenty miles into Silesia, half the people would have run
out of Vienna, and I left them fortifying the city." "They need not,"
replied the king, smiling; "I have no design to trouble them, it is
the Protestant countries I must be for."

Upon this the Duke of Saxony entered the room, and finding the king
engaged, offered to retire; but the king, beckoning with his hand,
called to him in French; "Cousin," says the king, "this gentleman has
been travelling and comes from Vienna," and so made me repeat what
I had said before; at which the king went on with me, and Sir John
Hepburn informing his Majesty that I spoke High Dutch, he changed
his language, and asked me in Dutch where it was that I saw General
Tilly's army. I told his Majesty at the siege of Magdeburg. "At
Magdeburg!" said the king, shaking his head; "Tilly must answer to me
some day for that city, and if not to me, to a greater King than I.
Can you guess what army he had with him?" said the king. "He had two
armies with him," said I, "but one I suppose will do your Majesty
no harm." "Two armies!" said the king. "Yes, sir, he has one army
of about 26,000 men," said I, "and another of about 15,000 women and
their attendants," at which the king laughed heartily. "Ay, ay," says
the king, "those 15,000 do us as much harm as the 26,000, for they
eat up the country, and devour the poor Protestants more than the men.
Well," says the king, "do they talk of fighting us?" "They talk big
enough, sir," said I, "but your Majesty has not been so often fought
with as beaten in their discourse." "I know not for the men," says the
king, "but the old man is as likely to do it as talk of it, and I hope
to try them in a day or two."

The king inquired after that several matters of me about the L