Antonio Perez, one over the other; and they
proceeded to give him one twist of the rope. He uttered piercing
cries, saying: _Jesus! that he had nothing to declare; that he had
only to die in torture; that he would say nothing; and that he
would die._ This he repeated many times. By this time they had
already given him four turns of the rope; and the judges having
returned to summon him to declare what they wanted of him, he said,
with many shrieks and exclamations, _that he had nothing to say;
that they were breaking his arm. Good God! I have lost the use of
one arm; the doctors know it well._ He added with groans: _Ah!
Lord, for the love of God!... They have crushed my hand, by the
living God!_ He said, moreover: _Senor Juan Gomez, you are a
Christian; my brother, for the love of God, you are killing me, and
I have nothing to declare._ The judges replied again, that he must
make the declarations they wanted; but he only repeated: _Brother,
you are killing me! Senor Juan Gomez, by our Saviour's wounds, let
them finish me with one blow!... Let them leave me, I will say
whatever they will; for God's sake, brother, have compassion on
me!_ At the same time, he entreated them to relieve him from the
position in which he was placed, and to give him his clothes,
saying, he would speak. This did not happen until he had suffered
eight turns of the rope; and the executioner being then ordered to
leave the room where they had used the torture, Perez remained
alone with the licentiate Juan Gomez and the scrivener Antonio
Marquez."

The impunity of tyranny was over-strained. The tide of sympathy
fluctuated, and ebbed with murmuring agitation from the channel in which
it had flowed so long with a steady current. Jesters and preachers
uttered homely truths--the nobles trembled--and the people shuddered.
With a few intelligible exceptions, there was a burst of general
satisfaction when, on the 20th April 1591, two months after his torture,
Perez, by the aid of his intrepid and devoted wife--(and shall we be too
credulous in adding, with the connivance of his guards?)--broke his
bonds, fled from Castile, and set his foot on the soil of independent
Aragon.

Let us now, for a moment, reconsider the motives which solve, as they
guided, at once the indefensible guilt of Perez, and the malignant
perfidy of Philip. The Ki