attempt to prevent their
junction had failed, he commenced a rapid retreat into Franconia and
waited there for some decisive movement on the part of the enemy, in
order to form his own plans. The position of the combined armies
between the frontiers of Saxony and Bavaria left it for some time
doubtful whether they would remove the war into the former, or
endeavor to drive the Swedes from the Danube and deliver Bavaria.
Saxony had been stripped of troops by Arnheim, who was pursuing his
conquests in Silesia; not without a secret design, it was generally
supposed, of favoring the entrance of the Duke of Friedland into that
electorate and of thus driving the irresolute John George into peace
with the Emperor. Gustavus Adolphus himself, fully persuaded that
Wallenstein's views were directed against Saxony, hastily dispatched a
strong reinforcement to the assistance of his confederate, with the
intention, as soon as circumstances would allow, of following with the
main body. But the movements of Wallenstein's army soon led him to
suspect that he himself was the object of attack; and the Duke's march
through the Upper Palatinate placed the matter beyond a doubt. The
question now was, how to provide for his own security, and the prize
was no longer his supremacy but his very existence. His fertile genius
must now supply the means, not of conquest, but of preservation. The
approach of the enemy had surprised him before he had time to
concentrate his troops, which were scattered all over Germany, or to
summon his allies to his aid. Too weak to meet the enemy in the field,
he had no choice left but either to throw himself into Nuremberg and
run the risk of being shut up in its walls, or to sacrifice that city
and await a reinforcement under the cannon of Donauwerth. Indifferent
to danger or difficulty, while he obeyed the call of humanity or
honor, he chose the first without hesitation, firmly resolved to bury
himself with his whole army under the ruins of Nuremberg rather than
to purchase his own safety by the sacrifice of his confederates.

Measures were immediately taken to surround the city and suburbs with
redoubts and to form an intrenched camp. Several thousand workmen
immediately commenced this extensive work, and an heroic determination
to hazard life and property in the common cause animated the
inhabitants of Nuremberg. A trench, eight feet deep and twelve broad,
surrounded the whole fortification; the lines were defe