I Cannot forbear to inform you by this Opportunity, of the King of Swe­dens intire Recovery of His dange­rous Sickness, which did put both the Physitians and the whole Army into a despair; And I do not doubt, but that I shall give you [Page 2] some Satisfaction, by informing you, of the particul [...]r Circumstances, and of the Pi­ous Discourses, and Kind Expressions, which this Prince made during the heat of His Sickness; For when he found himself at first ill on the 20th of March last past, he strove to conceale it for several dayes, as much as possibly he might, by booting him, as he daily useth to do, viewing his Camp, and keeping of His Council, until the 23d of the said Moneth; when he found himself so ill, that he was forced to take his Bed, and to declare, that he had a violent Feaver, with an exceeding heat and oppression of the heart; And finding the Feaver increasing, and the time of Death approaching, he called for his Chief Minister, made his Confession, and re­ceived the Holy Sacrament with great De­votion, he having alwayes lived an exemplary Life of Piety and Vertue. Whereupon His Majesty sent for his Ministers of State, and placed the Chiefest of them upon the side of his Bed, and told them, That where­as he perceived himself at the point of [Page 3] leaving the World, he would not fail to give them His thanks, for all the Care and Troubles, which they had taken for Him, and charged them with several things ve­ry tenderly relating to the Queen Mother, which I could not fully understand, be­ing spoken in the Swedish Language, and something low; And seeing the Chiefest Officers of His whole Army round about His Bed-side, he gave them thanks in a most obliging manner for the saithful Ser­vices which they had done Him, and His Country; He remembred very well the many Dangers they had run in all Encoun­ters and Battels that had been fought, and that next to God, He attributed to their Valour the good Issue of them all. Next to them He gave His hearty Thanks to all the Officers of His Houshold, and Menial Servants, and enlarged Himself very much upon the great troubles He had for not being in a condition to Reward them ac­cording to their Merits; He hoped, that God would do it, being the True Re­warder of all honest Actions: He desired [Page 4] their pardon, if He had offended them, and bid them consider, that He was a Man like themselves, and had His Failings like others; but He could assure them, that He never did offend any of them witting­ly, or with a set intention.

And whereas His Troubles and Pains increased more and more, His Majesty supported them with as much Courage as any could do; Yet, at last, He could not forbear to tell us, that stood about Him, that He must needs confess, That all what He had suffered all the time of the War, did never come near to that which He did suffer for the present; and that the Ene­my which now Attack'd Him, did use Him more Cruelly, than all the others that He had had against Him for many years to­gether.

He Prayed to God to have Mercy on His Soul, and with many earnest Repeti­tions recommended unto Him His Kingdom and Country, which could not but be ve­ry [Page 5] unhappy by His death, without Gods particular Favour and Protection; bewail­ing very much, that He should leave the same in such a distracted War; but yet comforting Himself withal, That all those that were about Him, knew very well how He was drawn into the War, and in His Minority too, when He could not apply such Remedies, as were necessary for to turn it another way.

And whereas He spoke all this with such tender expressions, that all the Spectators could not forbear to bur [...]t out in Tears, He said to them, Pray why do you grieve so much? I am not to be so much lament­ed, for I find in my self an Assurance, that I am a Child of Heaven, and of the ever­lasting God; I never did any body harm, nor any hurt to my Conscience, and I have kept my Words very punctually to my Al­lies, and my Engagement to my Subjects; whom I have Loved very tenderly, and have freely exposed my Life for their wel­fare; And, although you may have after [Page 6] Me a Wiser King, yet never will you have any one that shall love you more than I have done.

And the usual hour for His daily Publick Prayer approaching, He desired His Chap­lain to be called for, who, in regard of His Majesties weakness, endeavoured to shor­ten the Prayers, but the King told him, That it was not the Time to do it so, for He never needed his and others Prayers more than at that instant; But, no sooner were they ended, but that He spoke of Death with a great deal of courage, and every one feared He should wrong himself by talking so much; We endeavoured to get away, but He no sooner perceived it, but He called us back, and desired that He might not be buried in any great State or Pomp, reminding them of His plain way of living, and as He never affected any Pride in His Life-time, so He desired to be Buried as He had Lived, seeing the present time could not afford any unnecessary Char­ges; wherewith He gave us His Hand to [Page 9] kiss, and took his leave with many tender expressions.

Some hours after, his Majesty was ta­ken with a great Sweat, whereby the pains, of the heart diminished, and after a sweet sleep of Fourteen hours together, his vio­lent Feaver turned into a Tertian Ague, the Fits whereof lessened from day to day, till this very day, when he had no Fit at all, so that we judge his Majesty free from all danger, and Sweden delivered from ve­ry dangerous troubles and disorders, which would necessarily have followed upon the death of such a Prince.

I cannot represent unto you all the fine expressions, which His Majesty used all this time, onely I must tell you in few words, that we all, that stood about his Bed side, did admire it, and must needs confess, that we have observed, that within two or three moneths he hath improved mightily, and hath got all the Parts of a Great Prince.

[Page 10] And I leave it to you to judge, what strange alterations his death would have produced, and what a joy we all must have, who have seen him in this apparent danger, and in the very Agonie.