him time,
moreover, to provide for the concerns of his soul.[1244] But Philip
objected to this, as not fulfilling what he was pleased to call the ends
of justice.[1245] He at last decided on the _garrote_,--the form of
execution used for the meaner sort of criminals in Spain, but which,
producing death by suffocation, would be less likely to leave its traces
on the body.[1246]

[Sidenote: CLOSER CONFINEMENT.]

To accomplish this, it would be necessary to remove Montigny from the
town of Segovia, the gay residence of the court, and soon to be the
scene of the wedding ceremonies, to some more remote and less frequented
spot. Simancas was accordingly selected, whose stern, secluded fortress
seemed to be a fitting place for the perpetration of such a deed. The
fortress was of great strength, and was encompassed by massive walls,
and a wide moat, across which two bridges gave access to the interior.
It was anciently used as a prison for state criminals. Cardinal Ximenes
first conceived the idea of turning it to the nobler purpose of
preserving the public archives.[1247] Charles the Fifth carried this
enlightened project into execution; but it was not fully consummated
till the time of Philip, who prescribed the regulations, and made all
the necessary arrangements for placing the institution on a permanent
basis,--thus securing to future historians the best means for guiding
their steps through the dark and tortuous passages of his reign. But
even after this change in its destination, the fortress of Simancas
continued to be used occasionally as a place of confinement for
prisoners of state. The famous bishop of Zamora, who took so active a
part in the war of the _comunidades_, was there strangled by command of
Charles the Fifth. The quarter of the building in which he suffered is
still known by the name of "_el cubo del obispo_,"--"The Bishop's
Tower."[1248]

To this strong place Montigny was removed from Segovia, on the
nineteenth of August, 1570, under a numerous guard of alguazils and
arquebusiers. For greater security he was put in irons,--a superfluous
piece of cruelty, from which Philip, in a letter to Alva, thought it
necessary to vindicate himself, as having been done without his
orders.[1249] We might well imagine that the last ray of hope must have
faded away in Montigny's bosom, as he entered the gloomy portals of his
new abode. Yet hope, as we are assured, did not altogether desert him.
He had learned that A