curata educatio juventutis." But everything seemed to depend upon peace. What could be done amidst daily alarms? He writes to the Duke on the 14th of March, 1636, "In the midst of confusion and fears which have distressed us during the last week, and distress us still, I have read what your Serene Highness sent me," (the Meyfart papers,) "with as much attention as I could. I have also, as was ordered me, communicated the matter to my colleague Hornejus. Our opinion (in brief) I herewith send you. . . . . May God continue to inspire your Serene Highness with thoughts which may make for the peace of the Church, which without purity of morals and earnest devotion to study cannot be looked for; and save us from the fear of impending calamity. The Swedes are overrunning the neighbourhood, and plundering everywhere . . . . In such a state of things the cultivation of literature and the cultivation of land is equally at an end. I pray God that He may protect your Serene Highness and inspire you with salutary counsels "." It had been well for the country if such counsels had prevailed. But as in our own land and in America, so, also, in Germany during its day of distress, there was a strange disposition to believe in magic. "God and nature," it was said, "no longer did anything. The witches did all. All, therefore, urgently cry out that the authorities should make enquiry about the witches; who have no existence, but in their own mouths. The princes, therefore, command their judges and counsellors, that they commence proceedings against the witches. These officers know not where to begin; inasmuch as they have no indications nor proofs. But in the meanwhile, they are three or four times warned " Archiv., 19; in Henke, ii. 88, note 3. to proceed. The common people begin to cry out that this delay is suspicious. And the princes, informed by some one or other, persuade themselves, almost, that thus it is. But to offend such personages and not instantly to obey, is a serious matter in Germany. All men generally, (even ecclesiastical persons,) do for the most part, approve of anything, if only it pleases the princes. At length, therefore, the judges yield to their will; and in some way or other they find an opening for their processes. Or if they still hesitate and tremble to have to do with so perilous a business, an inquisitor is sent for this special purpose; whose stipend (a few thalers) depends upon the number he burns"." Nothing was wanting but this to complete the horrors of the time. But we gladly turn away to a more agreeable subject. • F. von Spec., Cautio Criminalis, (Rinteln, 1631,) p. 378; in Henke, ii. 8, note 1. WE CHAPTER XXI. Friendship and Favour of Augustus the E would speak of something pleasanter than the history of witch-finding, or the record of the despair out of which it grew; and it may be well to assign an interval of comparative repose,-for Calixtus spent the next two years in peace,—to describing the circumstances and characteristics of a friendship, which was one of the chief honours of the Professor's life. As time goes on we shall find him largely identified with the prince who has been spoken of as Duke Augustus the Younger. But before (and in order to) the explanation of this intimacy, it is necessary to set forth the condition of Brunswick, as connected with the death of Frederick Ulrich. Without entangling ourselves in the mazes of pedigree, or lingering over details which cannot interest, it may be said that after Frederick Ulrich's death, the territory became subject to a threefold division; having reference to a threefold a line of princes. Helmstadt became the joint-possession of all; the united University for all the dukedoms, subordinated, equally, to all the Dukes. Such an arrangement might, at any time, have been fertile of feuds; and especially so, in days such as those under notice. But the difficulty was very Four-fold, counting one which almost immediately died out. sufficiently, if not wholly prevented by an agreement that the Dukes should rule interchangeably, and hold the rank of "Rector Magnificentissimus" by turns. But Augustus the Younger was himself a scholar, and (as such) would take more interest in the University than his kinsmen; to say nothing of the very important fact, that it was locally situated in his special principality. Although, therefore, it be necessary to speak of all the princes, in so far as their bearing affected Calixtus; it is chiefly with Augustus that we have to do, as associated with the great Professor, as well by choice as by position. He was born in 1579; and being only the fourth son of Duke Henry of Dannenberg there was little or no likelihood of his ever sharing in the succession. He early, therefore, devoted himself very earnestly to literature. And after studying at two or three German Universities at Rostock, it appears, and Tübingen, as well as at Strassburg,―he travelled through Italy, France and England; and subsequently settling down in his parental dominions, commenced collecting the Library which he established, (in after days,) at Wolfenbüttel, and which still remains there to attest his zeal. He had a very profound devotion to the person of the Emperor. He dedicated a book to him, as well as visited him at Vienna. And when at the age of fifty-five, (and beyond all the ordinary chances of life), he found himself, by the death of Frederick Ulrich, in the way to become possessed of important dignities, he naturally expected that unbroken fidelity would secure to him the imperial recognition of his hopes. He had given his adhesion to the Peace of Prague, and had asked that, in accordance with its express stipulations, the fortress of Wolfenbüttel should be given up to him, was a common occurrence. as a residence. Pappenheim had taken possession of it in 1627; and the Duke now required that the imperial garrison should be withdrawn. But Augustus was not alone in the family of Brunswick; and the Emperor had a grievance against George, his cousin, which hindered the completion of the proposed arrangement. The self-same treaty which gave Wolfenbüttel to Augustus, obliged his cousin to surrender possession of Hildesheim; and this being refused, with the (supposed) privity of Augustus, they both became the objects of an imperial misgiving which they subsequently justified by changing sides. This, with Duke George, But his learned kinsman does not seem to have felt easy about it; and as well before the death of George, as afterwards, he tried to release himself from his engagement to the Swedes, and to throw himself again upon the Emperor's favour. In this he succeeded. By a separate Peace concluded in 1642, (in which his kinsmen also joined him,) he was allowed to remain neutral during the war, and yet to have Wolfenbüttel given into his hands. But it was not without difficulty that he obtained actual possession. The imperialists had lost faith in the Brunswick family; and so, (whether acting under orders or not,) they delayed to vacate the town for several months. At last, however, they departed, and the Duke was happy. Happy in seeing the end of a sixteen years' occupation; though the enemy had left the place almost a desert. Some hundreds of houses had been destroyed; the burghers diminished in number from 1,200 to 150, and these reduced to a condition of beggary. "Last Thursday, on the Festival of the Holy Cross," writes the Duke on the 16th of September 1643, — "the unjust occupants of the town did at last, though SO |
