afterwards intercepted—­“to accomplish the deed with his own hand; but, as God had probably reserved him for other things, and particularly to be of service to his very affectionate friends, he had thought best to entrust the execution of the design to his servant.”  The price paid by the master to the man, for the work, seems to have been but two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns.  The cowardly and crafty principal escaped.  He had gone post haste to Dunkirk, pretending that the sudden death of his agent in Calais required his immediate presence in that city.  Governor Sweveseel, of Dunkirk, sent an orderly to get a passport for him from La Motte, commanding at Gravelingen.  Anastro being on tenter-hooks lest the news should arrive that the projected murder had been consummated before he had crossed the border, testified extravagant joy on the arrival of the passport, and gave the messenger who brought it thirty pistoles.  Such conduct naturally excited a vague suspicion in the mind of the governor, but the merchant’s character was good, and he had brought pressing letters from Admiral Treslong.  Sweveseel did not dare to arrest him without cause, and he neither knew that any crime had been committed; nor that the man before him was the criminal.  Two hours after the traveller’s departure, the news arrived of the deed, together with orders to arrest Anastro, but it was too late.  The merchant had found refuge within the lines of Parma.

Meanwhile, the Prince lay in a most critical condition.  Believing that his end was fast approaching; he dictated letters to the states-general, entreating them to continue in their obedience to the Duke, than whom he affirmed that he knew no better prince for the government of the provinces.  These letters were despatched by Saint Aldegonde to the assembly, from which body a deputation, in obedience to the wishes of Orange, was sent to Anjou, with expressions of condolence and fidelity.

On Wednesday a solemn fast was held, according to proclamation, in Antwerp, all work and all amusements being prohibited, and special prayers commanded in all the churches for the recovery of the Prince.  “Never, within men’s memory,” says an account published at the moment, in Antwerp, “had such crowds been seen in the churches, nor so many tears been shed.”

The process against Venero and Zimmermann was rapidly carried through, for both had made a full confession of their share in the crime.  The Prince had enjoined from his sick bed, however, that the case should be conducted with strict regard to justice, and, when the execution could no longer be deferred, he had sent a written request, by the hands of Saint Aldegonde, that they should be put to death in the least painful manner.  The request was complied with, but there can be no doubt that the criminals, had it not been made, would have expiated their offence by the most lingering tortures.  Owing to the intercession of the man who was to have been their victim, they were strangled, before being quartered, upon a scaffold erected in the market-place, opposite the Town House.  This execution took place on Wednesday, the 28th of March.