Kings & rulers > History of Charles XII, King of Sweden

CHARLES XII.
BOOK VIII.
guards, and to one Culbert his aid-de-camp, Siquier
and Megret saw the King fall upon the parapet with a
deep sigh. They ran to him; but he was already
dead. A ball of a half pound had struck him on
the right temple, and made a hole sufficient to receive,
three fingers at once. His head reclined upon the
parapet; his left eye beat in, and the right one entire-
ly beat out of its socket. Though he expired the
moment he received the wound, yet by a kind of in¬
stinctive motion he had grasped the hilt of his sword
in his hand, and still lay in that posture. At sight of
this shocking spectacle, Megret, a man of a singular
turn of mind, and of great indifference of temper, said,
“ Come, gentlemen, the farce is ended, let us now
go to supper.” Siquicr ran immediately and informed
Count Swerin of what had happened. They ail agreed
to conceal the news of his death from the soldiers tiil
such time as the Prince of Hesse should be acquaint¬
ed with it. The body was wrapt up in a grey cloak.
Siquier put his hat and wig on the King’s head; and
in this condition Charles was carried, under the name
of one Captain Carlsberg, through the midst of his
troops, who thus saw their dead King pass them with¬
out ever dreaming that it was his Majesty.
The Prince gave instant orders that no one should
stir out of the camp, and that all the passes to Swe¬
den should be strictly guarded, that so he might have
time to take the necessary measures for placing the
crown on his wife’s head, and to exclude the Duke of
Holstein, who might lay claim to it.
Thus fell Charles XII. King of Sweden, at the age
of thirty-six years and a half, after having experienced
all the grandeur of prosperity, and all the hardships
of adversity, without being either softened by the one
or the least disturbed by the other. Almost all hfs
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