The king held a most magnificent court at Mentz, attended by the
Landgrave of Hesse, with an incredible number of princes and lords
of the empire, with ambassadors and residents of foreign princes;
and here his Majesty stayed till March, when the queen, with a great
retinue of Swedish nobility, came from Erfurt to see him. The king,
attended by a gallant train of German nobility, went to Frankfort, and
from thence on to Hoest, to meet the queen, where her Majesty arrived
February 8.

During the king's stay in these parts, his armies were not idle, his
troops, on one side under the Rhinegrave, a brave and ever-fortunate
commander, and under the Landgrave of Hesse, on the other, ranged the
country from Lorraine to Luxemburg, and past the Moselle on the west,
and the Weser on the north. Nothing could stand before them: the
Spanish army which came to the relief of the Catholic Electors was
everywhere defeated and beaten quite out of the country, and the
Lorraine army quite ruined. 'Twas a most pleasant court sure as ever
was seen, where every day expresses arrived of armies defeated, towns
surrendered, contributions agreed upon, parties routed, prisoners
taken, and princes sending ambassadors to sue for truces and
neutralities, to make submissions and compositions, and to pay arrears
and contributions.

Here arrived, February 10, the King of Bohemia from England, and with
him my Lord Craven, with a body of Dutch horse, and a very fine train
of English volunteers, who immediately, without any stay, marched on
to Hoest to wait upon his Majesty of Sweden, who received him with a
great deal of civility, and was treated at a noble collation by the
king and queen at Frankfort. Never had the unfortunate king so fair a