The Thirty Years' War - James Aitken Wylie

they marched out, and ascended the streets to the
old Margrave's Castle at the northern gate, and
discharged several pieces of ordnance. On their
return to the town-hall they were jestingly thanked,
and discharged from the service on the ground that
now War had sheathed his sword, and Peace began
her reign. To regale the poor, two oxen had been
killed, and quantities of bread were distributed, and
out of a lion's jaws there ran for six hours white
and red wine. Out of a still greater lion's jaws had
run for thirty years tears and blood. As did the
ambassadors at Nuremberg, so in every town and
half-destroyed village this thrice-welcome peace
was celebrated by the rejoicings of the inhabitants.
From the banquet-hall of Nuremberg, let us
turn to the homesteads of the people, and mark the
varied feelings awakened in their breasts by the
cessation of this terrible war. "To the old," says
Gustavus Freytag, "peace appeared like a return of
their youth; they saw the rich harvests of their
childhood brought back again; the thickly-peopled
villages; the merry Sundays under the now cutdown
village lindens; the pleasant hours which
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