victims. The records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed
barbarities exercised against the new religion. To the magistrates of the
different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal
officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. They
were especially enjoined by the Duke to take heed that Catholic midwives,
and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly sworn to give
notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred, in order
that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism. They were also
ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch at every
administration of the sacraments, whether public or private, whether at
the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for exemplary
punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who made derisive
or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable honor to the said
Sacraments. Furthermore, in order that not even death itself should cheat
the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep watch at the couch of
the dying, and to give immediate notice to government of all persons who
should dare to depart this life without previously receiving extreme
unction and the holy wafer. The estates of such culprits, it was
ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies dragged to the public
place of execution.

An affecting case occurred in the north of Holland, early in this year,
which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. A poor Anabaptist,
guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been
condemned to death. He had made his escape, closely pursued by an officer
of justice, across a frozen lake. It was late in the winter, and the ice
had become unsound. It trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps, but he
reached the shore in safety. The officer was not so fortunate. The ice
gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for
succor. There were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had been
hunting. Dirk Willemzoon, for so was the Anabaptist called, instinctively
obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned, crossed the quaking
and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended his hand to his
enemy, and saved him from certain death. Unfortunately for human nature,
it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action was met by a
corresponding heroism. The officer was desirous, it is true, of avoiding
the responsibilit