This act revealed to him that
the scepter had fallen from his hands. In a paroxysm of excitement, to
prevent himself from speaking he thrust the bed-clothes into his mouth,
nearly suffocating himself. Resistance was in vain. He feared that
should he manifest any, he also might be torn from his palace, a
captive, to share the prison of the cardinal. In sullen indignation he
submitted to the outrage.
Ferdinand and Maximilian now pursued their energetic measures of
hostility unopposed. They immediately put the army in motion to invade
Bohemia, and boasted that the Protestants should soon be punished with
severity which would teach them a lesson they would never forget. But
the Protestants were on the alert. Every town in the kingdom had joined
in the confederacy, and in a few weeks Count Thurn found himself at the
head of ten thousand men inspired with the most determined spirit. The
Silesians and Lusatians marched to help them, and the Protestant league
of Germany sent them timely supplies. The troops of Ferdinand found
opponents in every pass and in every defile, and in their endeavor to
force their way through the fastnesses of the mountains, were frequently
driven back with great loss.
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