s Torgau to meet him, when the King of Sweden's arrival at
Erfurt gave an unexpected check to his operations. Placed between the
Saxon and Swedish armies, which were likely to be further reinforced
by the troops of George, Duke of Lueneburg, from Lower Saxony, he
hastily retired upon Meresberg, to form a junction there with Count
Pappenheim and to repel the further advance of the Swedes.

Gustavus Adolphus had witnessed, with great uneasiness, the arts
employed by Spain and Austria to detach his allies from him. The more
important his alliance with Saxony, the more anxiety the inconstant
temper of John George caused him. Between himself and the Elector a
sincere friendship could never subsist. A prince, proud of his
political importance and accustomed to consider himself as the head of
his party, could not see without annoyance the interference of a
foreign power in the affairs of the Empire; and nothing but the
extreme danger of his dominions could overcome the aversion with which
he had long witnessed the progress of this unwelcome intruder. The
increasing influence of the king in Germany, his authority with the
Protestant states, the unambiguous proofs which he gave of his
ambitious views, which were of a character calculated to excite the
jealousies of all the states of the Empire, awakened in the Elector's
breast a thousand anxieties, which the imperial emissaries did not
fail skilfully to keep alive and cherish. Every arbitrary step on the
part of the King, every demand, however reasonable, which he
addressed to the princes of the Empire, was followed by bitter
complaints from the Elector, which seemed to announce an approaching
rupture. Even the generals of the two powers, whenever they were
called upon to act in common, manifested the same jealousy as divided
their leaders. John George's natural aversion to war, and a lingering
attachment to Austria, favored the efforts of Arnheim, who,
maintaining a constant correspondence with Wallenstein, labored
incessantly to effect a private treaty between his master and the
Emperor; and if his representatives were long disregarded, still the
event proved that they were not altogether without effect.

Gustavus Adolphus, naturally apprehensive of the consequences which
the defection of so powerful an ally would produce on his future
prospects in Germany, spared no pains to avert so pernicious an event;
and his remonstrances had hitherto had some effect upon the Elector.
B