[415] He murdered Henry IV. of France, in 1610.
[416] Philip II. of Spain having, in 1582, set a price upon the head of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the leader of the Protestants, Jaureguy attempted to assassinate him, and severely wounded him.
[417] He assassinated William of Nassau, in 1584. It is supposed that this fanatic meditated the crime for six years.
[418] A resolution prompted by a vow of devotion to a particular principle or creed.
[419] He alludes to the Hindoos, and the ceremony of Suttee, encouraged by the Brahmins.
[420] Flinching.—Vide Cic. Tuscul. Disp. ii. 14.
[421] “Every man is the architect of his own fortune.” Sallust, in his letters “De Republicâ Ordinandâ,” attributes these words to Appius Claudius Cæcus, a Roman poet whose works are now lost. Lord Bacon, in the Latin translation of his Essays, which was made under his supervision, rendered the word “poet” “comicus;” by whom he probably meant Plautus, who has this line in his “Trinummus” (Act ii, sc. 2): “Nam sapiens quidem pol ipsus fingit fortunam sibi,” which has the same meaning, though in somewhat different terms.
[422] “A serpent, unless it has devoured a serpent, does not become a dragon.”
[423] Or “desenvoltura,” implying readiness to adapt one’s self to circumstances.
[424] Impediments, causes for hesitation.