400

DOMESTIC MANNEHS OF THE FRITSSIANS.

Then the Emperor condemned him to be burnt, and he wasimmediately transferred to the charge of the Elector Palatine.

According to an old law, the executioner was entitledto cverything that at the time of death raight be upon theperson of those suffering at his hands. It was, however,in this instance, ordered that Huss should be burnt withall his clothes on; and when the priests heard that he wasreally to suffer martyrdom at the stake, they raised such ayell of delight, and liooted so loudly at the poor Bohemian,that Sigismund was obliged to announce that all who shouldagain be guilty of such misconduct should be forthwithejected from the Cathedral.

IIuss, however, during all the insults heaped upon him,behaved with the greatest fortitude and patience; and to thelast moment of his life, indeed, put to shame the crueltiesof his persecutors.

From the church we are led to the neighbouring cloisters,to see the martyr's last prison. This consists of a small cellarlet into the wall at the end of the cloisters, the door beingsecured with peculiar old padlocks. Though there is littleextraordinary about the place — for it is merely a dark dampvault, with a strong ratty smell pervading it—the mere sightof the dungeon stirs the soul with violent Indignation.

In this dismal hole John Huss passed his last night,for he was led hence early in the morning, as we havesaid, to be stripped of his robes, and thence to be carriedto the stake. Here, too, it was that he wrote the subjoinedtouching epistle—his last letter to his Bohemian friends: —

"Stoljn ShtäS to fctä dftimtfö in JJohnm'a.

"Allow nie to use this my last opportunity in order to impressupon you that you canput trust in nothing in this world; therefore