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 of Prague. There were a few exceptions to the well-nigh general cowardice. A small body of Moravian troops, headed by Count Henry Šlik and the younger Count Thurn, retired in the direction of the park known as the "hvězda" (star) where they continued their defence till almost all had been killed. The soldiers of the Palatinate, who formed Frederick's body-guard, died almost to a man in defence of the cause of their unworthy sovereign. These isolated instances of bravery were, of course, unavailing to avert the general disaster, and a battle of a few hours decided the fate of Bohemia. King Frederick, as already mentioned, had proceeded to the town of Prague as soon as the Bohemian troops arrived at the White Mountain. Weston and Conway, the English ambassadors sent by King James, had arrived at Prague, and the king wished to entertain them at a banquet. It was at this banquet, an eye-witness tells us, that the king received the news that his troops were engaged in battle. He mounted his horse and rode to the neighbouring Strakov gate. By the time he arrived there the Bohemian army was in full flight, and the king, seeing that everything was lost, hastily returned to the palace on the Hradčin, from where, accompanied by the queen and the court officials, he crossed the Vltava, and retired to the