er of
tracing--which he ascribed to sorcery--the treasures which he had
concealed deep in the earth; but if he had been too sly for them, his
fate was still worse, for he himself was seized, and by torments which
it would be painful to describe, compelled to make known the place
where his treasure was concealed. On the fate of his wife and daughter
we must remain silent; the most horrible was so common, that an
exception, was extraordinary. Other sufferings also followed; his
daughters, maid-servant, and his little children were not only
maltreated, but were in imminent danger of being carried off by
persuasion or force, for every army was followed by the coarse,
worthless baggage-train of women and children. But the yeoman's
homestead was devastated in still other ways; his farming-man had
perhaps borne for some years the blows of the foreign soldiers, at last
he himself was exposed to them; the team was dragged from the plough,
the cattle were fetched from the meadow, and the tillage of the fields
thus often rendered impossible. Yet pitiful and helpless as was his
position in the beginning of the war, up to the death of Gustavus
Adolphus, its horrors were comparatively bearable; for there was as yet
a certain system even in plundering and destruction, some degree of
discipline kept together the regular armies, and an occasional year
passed without any great passage of troops. It is possible for us to
discover at this time how many exactions were made on particular
parishes, for there were already country authorities who sat in their
offices, and after the passage of troops through a parish, demanded the
usual liquidation of their loans, the amount of which was indeed seldom
returned to them. Whoever will glance over the liquidations in the
parish archives, will find the names of ill-famed commanders, whom he
may know from history or Schiller's Wallenstein, in very near
connection with the history of a Thuringian village.

The effect produced by such a life of insecurity and torment on the
souls of the country people, was very sad. Fear, trembling, and dread
pervaded and enervated all hearts: their minds had always been full of
superstition, now everything was sought for, with impulsive credulity,
which could be significant of the attacks of supernatural powers. The
most horrible countenances were seen in the heavens, the signs of
fearful wickedness were discovered in numerous abortions, ghosts
appeared, mysterious so