He had only reached the second stair, when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart." When Jaureguy had fired at the Prince two years earlier, the ball passing through his jaw, the Prince, at he faltered under the shock, cried, "Do not kill him--I forgive him my death!" But he had no time to express any such plea for his assailant after Gerard's cruel shots.

"Three balls," says Motley, "entered his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the wall beyond.

The Prince exclaimed in French, as he felt the wound, 'O my God, have mercy upon my soul! O my God, have mercy upon this poor people!' "These were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, Catherine of Schwartzburgh, immediately afterwards asked him if he commended his soul to Jesus Christ, he faintly answered, 'Yes'." Never has the pistol done worse work.

The Prince was only fifty-one; he was full of vigour; his character had never been stronger, his wisdom never more mature.

Had he lived a few years longer the country would have been saved years of war and misery.
One may stand to-day exactly where the Prince stood when he was shot.