Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/358

 34^ REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 66. The qualifications for successful political assassins are singularly rare. Jaureguy however possessed them all. March Sunday the i8th 28th of March was Alen- 18-28. con 's birthday. Antwerp was to be illumin- ated in the evening, and the streets and squares were expected to be crowded. Some little jars had been felt already between the States and the French. Alen9on was known to be impatient of the Prince's control, and the Spaniards calculated that if the murder could be accomplished when the people were collected and ex- cited there would be an instant suspicion of treachery, and that an attack upon the French and a universal massacre of the citizens in retaliation by their allies would be a not iniprobable consequence. The plot was ingeniously laid, and had all but suc- ceeded. The Prince had dined in his own house. He had risen from the table, and had passed with his son, Count Maurice, and a few friends into another room, where he was seated on a low chair. Jaureguy had in- troduced himself among the servants, pretending that he wanted to present a petition. He approached Orange so close as to be able to touch him, and then snatching a pistol from under his cloak fired it full in the Prince's face. At the moment of the shot the Prince was rising from his seat, and happened to be turning his head. The ball entered under the right ear, passed through the roof of his mouth, and went out below the left eye. He staggered and fell. The assassin tried to draw a dagger, and finish his work, but he had overloaded his pistol, which had broken his thumb in the recoil. An instant