e to reflect. On the
first attempt by one of the frantic adherents of Spain to assassinate
William, Prince of Orange, who took the lead in the revolt of the
Netherlands, the ball passed through the bones of his face, and brought
him to the ground. In the instant that preceded stupefaction, he was
able to frame the notion that the ceiling of the room had fallen and
crushed him. The cannon shot which plunged into the brain of Charles
XII. did not prevent him from seizing his sword by the hilt. The idea of
an attack and the necessity for defence was impressed upon him by a blow
which we should have supposed too tremendous to leave an interval for
thought. But it by no means follows that the infliction of fatal
violence is accompanied by a pang. From what is known of the first
effect of gunshot wounds, it is probable that the impression is rather
stunning than acute. Unless death be immediate, the pain is as varied as
the nature of the injuries, and these are past counting up. But there is
nothing singular in the dying sensations, though Lord Byron remarked the
physiological peculiarity, that the expression is invariably that of
languor, while in death from a stab the countenance reflects the traits
of natural character--of gentleness or ferocity--to the last breath.
Some of these cases are of interest, to show with what slight
disturbance life may go on under mortal wound till it suddenly comes to
a final stop. A foot-soldier at Waterloo, pierced by a musket ball in
the hip, begged water from a trooper who chanced to possess a canteen
of beer. The wounded man drank, returned his heartiest thanks, mentioned
that his regiment was nearly exterminated, and having proceeded a dozen
yards in his way to the rear, fell to the earth, and with one convulsive
movement of his limbs concluded his career. "Yet his voice," says the
trooper, who himself tells the story, "gave scarcely the smallest sign
of weakness." Captain Basil Hall, who in his early youth was present at
the Battle of Corunna, has singled out from the confusion which consigns
to oblivion the woes and gallantry of war, another instance extremely
similar, which occurred on that occasion. An old officer, who was shot
in the head, arrived pale and faint at the temporary hospital, and
begged the surgeon to look at his wound, which was pronounced to be
mortal. "Indeed I feared so," he responded with impeded utterance, "and
yet I should like very much to live a little longer, if