emies, as well as that of his own
troops.

On the first news of the Swedish irruption, the Bishop of Wuertzburg,
without regarding the treaty which he had entered into with the King
of Sweden, had earnestly pressed the general of the League to hasten
to the assistance of the bishopric. That defeated commander had, in
the meantime, collected on the Weser the shattered remnant of his
army, reinforced himself from the garrisons of Lower Saxony, and
effected a junction in Hesse with Altringer and Fugger, who commanded
under him. Again at the head of a considerable force, Tilly burned
with impatience to wipe out the stain of his first defeat by a
splendid victory. From his camp at Fulda, whither he had marched with
his army, he earnestly requested permission from the Duke of Bavaria
to give battle to Gustavus Adolphus. But, in the event of Tilly's
defeat, the League had no second army to fall back upon, and
Maximilian was too cautious to risk again the fate of his party on a
single battle. With tears in his eyes, Tilly read the commands of his
superior, which compelled him to inactivity. Thus his march to
Franconia was delayed, and Gustavus Adolphus gained time to overrun
the whole bishopric. It was in vain that Tilly, reinforced at
Aschaffenburg by a body of 12,000 men from Lorraine, marched with an
overwhelming force to the relief of Wuertzburg. The town and citadel
were already in the hands of the Swedes, and Maximilian of Bavaria was
generally blamed (and not without cause, perhaps) for having, by his
scruples, occasioned the loss of the bishopric. Commanded to avoid a
battle, Tilly contented himself with checking the farther advance of
the enemy; but he could save only a few of the towns from the
impetuosity of the Swedes. Baffled in an attempt to reinforce the weak
garrison of Hanau, which it was highly important to the Swedes to
gain, he crossed the Main, near Seligenstadt, and took the direction
of the Bergstrasse, to protect the Palatinate from the conqueror.

Tilly, however, was not the sole enemy whom Gustavus Adolphus met in
Franconia and drove before him. Charles, Duke of Lorraine, celebrated
in the annals of the time for his unsteadiness of character, his vain
projects, and his misfortunes, ventured to raise a weak arm against
the Swedish hero, in the hope of obtaining from the Emperor the
electoral dignity. Deaf to the suggestions of a rational policy, he
listened only to the dictates of heated ambition; by