t one of which, about three weeks after his arrival, he
was arrested, cast into prison, and without being tried or even heard,
kept more than _six months_. When the news of this treachery reached
Bohemia, it was felt by the whole people as a national insult. Three
petitions, signed by nearly the whole body of the nobility, were in
the course of time successively tendered to the Council; and as the
two first were without avail, the third was accompanied by one to the
emperor, in which he was reminded of his broken word, in terms so
strong,--he having pledged his imperial honour for the safety of
Huss,--that at length the 5th of June was fixed for a public
hearing. Here however every attempt of Huss, not merely to justify
himself, but even to speak, was frustrated by the most indecent and
tumultuous clamour of the assembled clergy, who loaded him with
invectives and reproaches. In the two following audiences he was
indeed allowed a hearing, at the special demand of the emperor, who
had been disgusted and offended by the indecent behaviour of the
Council. Huss was now permitted to justify himself at large upon all
the forty articles brought against him, most of them founded on his
writings by the frequent aid of the most unfair deduction; but
although he exculpated himself completely from some of the charges,
yet he himself acknowledged so many others, that the Council could
only be confirmed in its previous determination to condemn him as an
obstinate heretic. A month was allowed him, to give in his final
answer. During this time cardinals and bishops tried their eloquence
to persuade him to recant; especially at the instigation of the
emperor, who wished to save his life on account of his own pledged
honour. But all these efforts could not move the faith nor firmness of
this pious and heroic man; and on the 6th of July, A.D. 1415, he was
unanimously condemned, ignominiously degraded from the office of a
priest, and burned alive the same day. His ashes were thrown into the
Rhine.[19]

His friend Jerome of Prague, on hearing of his dangerous situation,
hurried to Constance, to assist and support him, without even waiting
for a safe conduct from the emperor or Council. In the vicinity of
Constance he stopped, and tried all possible means to obtain some
assurance for his personal safety. Not succeeding in this, he felt
himself compelled by prudence to return, although slowly and
reluctantly, to Bohemia. But on the road, in