B O O K
V U .
holm. Here his forrows were for a while alleviated by the
prefence of his beloved Catharine : but he was again deprived
o f this comfort in 15 73 , upon being transferred to Wef-
teros. In a letter to her, he complains bitterly of this reparation,.
and affures her o f his unalterable attachment. He
laments the miferies o f his own inprifonment ; acquaints her
that he had been confined in adarkdungeonforfeven months,
and was but juft removed to a more comfortable apartment.
“ God forbid,” he adds, “ wherever you are, that you and
“ your children fhould experience any fimilar feverity : for-
*£ get not your beloved Eric, and break not the marriage vow,
“ to which I have always adhered with fuch inviolable con-
“ ftancy.” From Wefteros he was fent the following year
to Orebyhus, near Wendel,in the province o f Upland, where
he terminated his miferable exiftence. Thefe frequentchang,es
in the places of his imprifonment, were occafioned by the apr
prehen fions o f John, who perceived that the nation .began to
compaffionate his brother’s wretched fituation, and that many
attempts had been actually made to reftore him to liberty.
In confequence o f thefe alarms, John, in 1569» fecretly laid
before the fenate the neceffity of haftening Eric’s death ; but
though he found no difficulty in obtaining their confent to
that infamous propofal, yet he deferred the execution. At
length, as Eric had once nearly efcaped from prifon, as the
number o f his partizans increafed, he refolved to inflid the
fentence of death which had been agreed to by the fenate.
Accordingly, in the beginning o f the year x 5 7 7, he difpatched
his fecretary to Oreby with a dofe o f poifon, and with directions
in what manner to proceed. I f Eric iliould obftinately
refufe to fwallow the draught, the keeper was ordered to
open his veins, or to ft r angle him under a matrafs. There
was, however, no occafion for proceeding to force. The
wretched
wretched fufferer received the news o f his approaching fate CHAP-
without the leaft emotion,and prepared for it with the utmoft«— J~-i
refignation. On the .2 2d o f February, he partook o f the fe-
crament with the moil fervent devotion; and on the 26th at
noon, having fwallowed the poifon in a plate o f foup,
expired, in the ninth year o f his imprifonment, and in
the 45 th o f his age*. His body was traniported to
Wefteros, ,and interred in the cathedral, where the biffiop o f
that fee preached a funeral fermon from this remarkable.text, -
“ The kingdom is turned about and become my brother’s ;
I for it was his from the Lord.” His tomb is a raifed monument
o f plain ftone: upon the walls o f the chapel in which
it ftands are his arms; the three crowns as king o f Sweden,.
the lion as duke o f Finland, and the wheatiheaf the device o f
the Vafa family. The whole infcription is E. R. or Eric R ex ,,
in large charaders, with a crown painted over each letter;
and underneath the Latin text o f the funeral fermon preached
at his interment, Tran/latum eft regnum, Sec.
Eric, during the firft part o f his Confinement, k ept a jou r --
nal o f the occurrences which happened to him in prifon 5
from 1 which it appears, that his wife was the conftant fubjed
of his thoughts. During her abfence, writing to her was his
almoft daily occupation ; and his letters breathe the moft af-
fedionate and warmeft attachment. He foothed many hours -
of his imprifonment by muftck,in which he excelled both as
a performer and compofer. His books, when he was indulged
in the ufe o f them, afforded him-a plealing refource, and he
filled the margins with numerous remarks. He tranflated,
into his native tongue, the hiftory o f theSwediih kings, from I
the original of John Magnus; to which he added feme La-
* T h e c ircumflances o f B r io ’ s depoii-tion - L ib . X I . and X I I . ; and D ah lln ’ s G e fc h ic h fe
and imprii'onment are p r in c ip a lly fe le fted V o n Sweden, V o l. I I I . - p . « 8 to p . e r r • .
from th e H ifto ire d ’E rie X I V . b y .C e lf in s ,.. and V o l. I V . p . 66 to 68. ' ’
7 tin. i