cumstances which marked the
occasion with peculiar meaning. The punishment in cases of high treason
was very terrible. I need not dwell upon the form of it. The English
were a hard, fierce people; and with these poor sufferers the law of the
land took its course without alleviation or interference. But another
feature distinguished the present execution. For the first time in
English history, ecclesiastics were brought out to suffer in their
habits, without undergoing the previous ceremony of degradation.
Thenceforward the world were to know, that as no sanctuary any more
should protect traitors, so the sacred office should avail as little;
and the hardest blow which it had yet received was thus dealt to
superstition, shaking from its place in the minds of all men the
key-stone of the whole system.

[Sidenote: Haughton dies first.]

[Sidenote: The council urges the rest to submit, but in vain.]

To the last moment escape was left open, if the prisoners would submit.
Several members of the council attended them to the closing scene, for a
last effort of kindness; but they had chosen their course, and were not
to be moved from it. Haughton, as first in rank, had the privilege of
first dying. When on the scaffold, in compliance with the usual custom,
he spoke a few touching and simple words to the people. "I call to
witness Almighty God," he said, "and all good people, and I beseech you
all here present to bear witness for me in the day of judgment, that
being here to die, I declare that it is from no obstinate rebellious
spirit that I do not obey the king, but because I fear to offend the
Majesty of God. Our holy mother the church has decreed otherwise than
the king and the parliament have decreed, and therefore, rather than
disobey the church, I am ready to suffer. Pray for me, and have mercy on
my brethren, of whom I have been the unworthy prior." He then knelt
down, repeating the first few verses of the 31st Psalm,[435] and after a
few moments delivered himself to the executioner. The others followed,
undaunted. As one by one they went to their death, the council, at each
fresh horrible spectacle, urged the survivors to have pity on
themselves; but they urged them in vain. The faces of these men did not
grow pale; their voices did not shake; they declared themselves liege
subjects of the king, and obedient children of holy church; "giving God
thanks that they were held worthy to suffer for the truth."[436] All
died