Tilly is a soldier, and
nothing but a soldier, save that he is a fanatic in religion. He
is as cruel as he is brave, and as portentously ugly as he is cruel.
"Wallenstein is a very different man. He has enormous ambition and
great talent, and his possessions are so vast that he is a dangerous
subject for any potentate, even the most powerful. Curiously enough,
he was born of Protestant parents, but when they died, while he
was yet a child, he was committed to the care of his uncle, Albert
Slavata, a Jesuit, and was by him brought up a strict Catholic.
When he had finished the course of his study at Metz he spent some
time at the University of Altdorf, and afterwards studied at Bologna
and Padua. He then travelled in Italy, Germany, France, Spain,
England, and Holland, studying the military forces and tactics of
each country.
"On his return to Bohemia he took service under the Emperor
Rudolph and joined the army of General Basta in Hungary, where he
distinguished himself greatly at the siege of Grau. When peace was
made in 1606 Wallenstein returned to Bohemia, and though he was but
twenty-three years old he married a wealthy old widow, all of whose
large properties came to him at her death eight years afterwards.
"Five years later he raised at his own cost two hundred dragoons to
support Ferdinand of Gratz in his war against the Venetians.
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