from the citadel ? Certainly from the batteries of the citadel, which
bore upon the place, and not from Oberberg,from which it was defended
by an intervening hill. I then ferved in the fortrefs op Ober-
berg; and we did not that night fire a Jingle Jhot from thence L
From this circumftantial evidence given by a perion who had
ferved in the garrifon of Fredericsftein at the time when it was
beiieged, and who had no prejudices or intereft to bias or mif-
lead him, joined to my own obfervations upon the ipot, we may.
•ed, that Charles mxg
finall ■f- ball from- the ramparts
* T h is (hews the falfity o f Motra y e’ s
account, which fays, that the king was-
ihot from the fortreis o f Obe rberg.
f A n unqueftionable p ro o f that the'
wound was made b y a fmall ball is~ derived
from the evidence o f the following
perfons o f the higheft rank and credibility.
“ O n the 12th- o f July, 1 746,
between five and fix in the morning* the
following perfons entered the vault in
which is interred the body o f Charles the
T w e lfth , and examined the wound in his
head. O n the right fide below the temple
was a plaifter fo ftrongly fixed as not
to be removed without great difficulty.;
under which- they noticed an orifice
which feemed to defcend to the back
part o f the head, feven lines long and" two
broad. O n the le ft fide was a plaifter o f
the fame fize. A l l the temple was driven
-out, and the hones ihattered in fiich a.
have been eaiily reached by a
f the citadel y and therefore that
the
manner, as made it eafy to dilKhguifli
that-the ball went out on that fide. T h e
face was a little disfigured, the mouth a.-
little open, and fome teeth vifible.
Signed, C . Harteman, C h . Ekelblad;.
and John von Hoepken.
M r . F irm an , an engraver o f medals
at Stockholm, pofleffes a maik p f plaifter
o f Paris, moulded from the face o f
Charles the T w e lfth , .when the. k in g ’s
body lay at the palace o f Carlibe rg previous
to the interment. T h e infpeaion
o f this curious, mafk, befides reprefenting.
the exadt'features o f that monarch, led
me to make fome-remarks on the fize
and fituation o f the wound which o c c a -
fioned his death, and which has given
rifé to fiich contradidtory accounts and
conje ihires. T h e mafic reaches no farther
than the extremity o f each temple-
Th e . mark of. the wound on the right
temple
C H A R L E S T H E T W E L F T H .
the confident alfertions of thofe perfons who pretend, that he
could not be touched by a muiket-ball, were totally ground-
lefs.
In oppofition alfo to the opinion of the late queen-dowagef
we may remark, that her majefty was much prejudiced againft
Frederic king of Sweden, and inclined- to adopt and circulate
any report to his difcredit. Influenced probably by his mother’s
prejudices, the prefent king was at one time fo convinced, that
Cronftedt had aíTaffinated Charles; as-to-refufe giving a commiflidn
to his grandfon, declaring, that he never would confer a military
rank on the grandfon of a perfon who had aflaflinated the king
of Sweden; but two years afterwards he voluntarily gave the
commiflion to- the fame perfon, candidly alledging, that he had
been miftaken, and that- he was now convinced Cronftedt had
no lhare in the king’s aflaffination-..
The queftion, therefore, in regard to the death of Charles, is
now reduced to a very ihort compafs; and all the vague anecdotes
and uncertain conjetures, which,without any foundation %
templé- is v ery vifible, and’ is not large, in B o o k V I I .’ Chap. iii. on the death o f
T h e . bones were apparently mi ch ihat- Charles the Tw e lfth , as tending to con -
tered, but the eyes were perfedt in their firm the report o f his affafiination, were
fockets ; fufficiently proving, that they either very uncertain, miftated, or e x a g g e -
w e re not dillodged, as M otra ye and: rated; and particularly that the account
Vo ltaire aflert.- concerning Cronftedt’s confeilion and
* In my fecond vifit to Stockholm, I Frederic’ s remorfe was totally void o f
found, on more accurate enquiry,, that foundation*
many o f the anecdotes which are related
attributes