ness seemed to
excite the rage and all the evil passions of the priests and soldiers.
They cursed and swore and reviled him in every possible way. "Ah! ah!
in a short time, in spite of your bold looks, you will be in hell with
your associate, Luther," they shouted. To these and similar expressions
he made no sign of complaints--only turning his eyes to that blue sky to
which his beautified spirit was about to wing its flight towards the
martyr's crown of glory awaiting him in the realms of the blessed.

The faggots were lighted, the flames ascended, when one of the soldiers,
enraged at his constancy, plunged his lance into his body, and thus
saved him from the pangs he might otherwise have had to suffer. His
fellow-martyr died with equal firmness, and the other victims were
strangled before their bodies were cast into the flames. With them at
the same time were also cast the bones and effigy of Dona Leonor de
Vibero, which had appeared at the _auto_. This was done because at her
house the Protestants had frequently assembled for prayer and praise.
In a short time, of the fourteen human beings who had dragged their
tortured, lacerated limbs to the spot, a few ashes alone remained. Such
was the termination of the first great _auto-da-fe_ of Protestants in
Spain.

There was yet another spectacle to be witnessed that day. It was to see
the house of Dona Leonor de Vibero, the mother of the Cazallas, razed to
the ground, and the place on which it stood sown with salt. On the spot
a pillar, with an inscription stating the cause of its demolition, was
immediately afterwards erected, and stood till the commencement of the
present century.

It is easy to conceive how Dona Leonor de Cisneros had been induced
apparently to abandon the faith to which she had so long adhered.
Falsehoods and devices of all sorts had been employed to induce her to
make her peace with Rome. Every argument which sophistry could invent
had been brought forward to shake her belief. There was a rack, with
other fearful tortures, and the stake, on the one hand, and forgiveness
and reconciliation with the Church on the other--ay, and a happy life
with her Antonio. When at last the inquisitors found her stubborn, they
did not hesitate to assure her that she had less wisdom than her
husband, who had lately--convinced that the Protestant cause was lost in
Spain--agreed heartily to conform to the faith of Rome, and to be
reconciled to the Church. A