Prussia.]

Received by a tremendous fire of musketry and heavy artillery, these
intrepid battalions maintained the attack with undaunted courage, till
the enemy's musketeers abandoned their posts, the trenches were
passed, the battery carried and turned against the enemy. They prest
forward with irresistible impetuosity; the first of the five Imperial
brigades was immediately routed, the second soon after, and the third
put to flight. But here the genius of Wallenstein opposed itself to
their progress. With the rapidity of lightning he was on the spot to
rally his discomfited troops; and his powerful word was sufficient to
stop the flight of the fugitives. Supported by three regiments of
cavalry, the vanquished brigades, forming anew, faced the enemy, and
prest vigorously into the broken ranks of the Swedes. A murderous
conflict ensued. The nearness of the enemy left no room for firearms,
the fury of the attack no time for loading; man was matched to man,
the useless musket exchanged for the sword and pike, and science gave
way to desperation. Overpowered by numbers, the wearied Swedes at last
retire beyond the trenches, and the captured battery is again lost by
the retreat. A thousand mangled bodies already strewed the plain, and
as yet not a single step of ground had been won.

In the mean time the King's right wing, led by himself, had fallen
upon the enemy's left. The first impetuous shock of the heavy Finland
cuirassiers dispersed the lightly-mounted Poles and Croats who were
posted here, and their disorderly flight spread terror and confusion
among the rest of the cavalry. At this moment notice was brought the
King that his infantry were retreating over the trenches, and also
that his left wing, exposed to a severe fire from the enemy's cannon
posted at the windmills, was beginning to give way. With rapid
decision he committed to General Horn the pursuit of the enemy's left,
while he flew, at the head of the regiment of Steinbock, to repair the
disorder of his right wing. His noble charger bore him with the
velocity of lightning across the trenches, but the squadrons that
followed could not come on with the same speed, and only a few
horsemen, among whom was Francis Albert, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, were
able to keep up with the King. He rode directly to the place where his
infantry were most closely prest, and while he was reconnoitering the
enemy's line for an exposed point of attack, the shortness of his
sight