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( on the left fide; it confequently mu ft have had a violent impulfe, whence we may fairlyconclude that the fliot was from a very Ihort diftance; then, the more near the parapetis affirmed to be to the fortrefs, in order to render probable that the fliot Ihould haveproceeded thence, the more impoflible do we make it that the ball Ihould have taken anhorizontal direction; for it muft not be forgotten that the fortrefs of Fredericjisin is on thefummit of a perpendicular rock, and the fituation of Charles the plain, near a craggyrock, at the end of the Governor’s garden. If the fliot therefore had come whetherfrom a cannon, rnufquet, or-carbine, fired from a great eminence, it could not move inan horizontal direction, to ftrike a point fituated'below it; perhaps it may be faid thatthe courfe of the ball was changed by ftriking fomewhere, as occasionally happens ; butthis objection becomes a nullity, when we confider that it pierced every obftacle, fhat-tered the parts it encountered, which are precifely the hardeft in the whole head, andthat it necelfarily muft have gone through either the neck or the jaw, if it had not takenits direction in a perfectly ftraight line. The hat of Charles affords a new proofof the ball Rafting out at the temple, fince the hole is beneath the button, unlefs, indeed,the King wore it a la Pandoure , with the button on the right, in which cafe the holewould have been much enlarged by the curious, as Mr. Coxe obferves in his firfttravels.
Second reflection —Not only did the ball traverfe in a horizontal direction, but alfofrom the right temple to the left: let us fee if this be probable. According to all ac-counts the King was examining the enemy’s batteries, {landing, and his head fupportedon his hands. Mr. Coxe indeed makes him to be feated on a wooden chair which wasIhewn him ; as this by no means changes the pofition of the head of the King, we fhallpafs lightly over this opinion which nobody ever gave before. The King then was infront of the batteries, and as his bufmefs there was to examine them, it cannot be pre-
■ fumed that he would for that purpofe prefent the fide of his face, or if it be admittedthat the form of one of the batteries abfolutely made a right angle with a line from themiddle of the King’s forehead, in fuch cafe, in the firft place, the trenches muft havebeen opened fo as to be liable to enfilade, and in addition the batteries have formed aperfedt femi-circle; both thefe fuppofitions are inadmiflible; the Swedilh engineers wereno novices; the place was attacked in fuch a manner, that, but for the death of the King,it muft have been taken in a few days ; and the Danes for certainty had no batteriesfronting each other in their fortreffes: fo that in any cafe the King might have frontedthe batteries without expofing his fide to any, as there is no doubt but he did.
Third reflection. —It is plain from the blood on the glove of the right hand, and onthe fword-belt, that the King firft put his hand to the wound, and afterwards on hisfword, which he even drew half from the fcabbard. The firft movement is inftindtive;nature engages us to place the hand where pain is felt. But the fecond fuppofes re-flection ; and however rapid the action, it appears to us not the effedl of chance ; itevinces a determination to repel an aggreflion. We appeal to Mr. Coxe ; would he,in the trenches, expofed to continual fire, if he felt himfelf ftruck, would he lay hishand on his fword: many officers have feen fimilar events in trenches, can they cite anexample of a fingle man attempting to draw his fword againft a cannon-ball, or the burft-ing of a bomb? It feems to us that this fadt has been much too ilightly noticed, as fro®due examination it feems important.
Fourth reflection. —The mafk of ftucco, which we mention as yell as Mr. Coxe, ex-tends only to the extremities of the temples ; but the wound is left vifible on the rightfide; why was it not alfo on the left ? The temple torn away, the bones fhattered, no-thing of this is marked on the plafter: would it be ralhnefs to imagine, that this fliam
8 affixture