He was a burden to his party, and was
regarded by them with contempt. Matthias was watching him, as the tiger
watches its prey. To human eyes it would appear that the destiny of the
house of Austria was sealed. Just at that critical point, one of those
unexpected events occurred, which so often rise to thwart the deepest
laid schemes of man.
On the 14th of May, 1610, Henry IV. left the Louvre in his carriage to
visit his prime minister, the illustrious Sully, who was sick. The city
was thronged with the multitudes assembled to witness the triumphant
entry of the queen, who had just been crowned. It was a beautiful spring
morning, and the king sat in his carriage with several of his nobles,
the windows of his carriage being drawn up. Just as the carriage was
turning up from the rue St. Honore into the rue Ferronnerie, the passage
was found blocked up by two carts. The moment the carriage stopped, a
man sprung from the crowd upon one of the spokes of the wheel, and
grasping a part of the coach with his right hand, with his left plunged
a dagger to the hilt into the heart of Henry IV. Instantly withdrawing
it, he repeated the blow, and with nervous strength again penetrated the
heart.
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