ith a charred stick to Margaret, leaving
her the hair shirt he had always worn under his clothes, and messages
and little remembrances to the rest of the old household. Oddly enough,
his wife is never mentioned.

* * * * *

Very early in the morning of July 6 the king sent sir Thomas Pope to
tell More he was to die before the clock struck nine, and to say that
'he was not to use many words' on the scaffold, evidently fearing lest
the minds of the crowd might be stirred up to avenge his murder.

More answered that he had never meant to say anything at which the king
could be offended, and begged that his daughter Margaret might be
present at his burial. Pope replied that the king had given permission
for his wife and children and any other of his friends to be there, and
sir Thomas thanked him, and then put on a handsome dress of silk which
had been provided on purpose by the Italian Bonvisi.

But sir Thomas was not allowed to be at peace during the short walk
between the Beauchamp Tower and the block, for he was beset first by a
woman who wished to know where he had put some papers of hers when he
was sent to prison, and then by a second, upbraiding him with a judgment
he had given against her when he was chancellor.

'I remember you well, and should give judgment against you still,' said
he; but at length the crowd was kept back, and a path was kept to the
scaffold.

Roper was there, watching, and he noticed that the ladder leading to the
platform was very unsteady. Sir Thomas noticed it too, and with his foot
on the first step turned and said to the lieutenant of the Tower:

'I pray thee see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift for
myself.'

When he reached the top, he knelt down and prayed; then rising, kissed
the executioner, and said:

'Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office. My
neck is very short, take heed therefore thou strike not awry.' As he
spoke, he drew out a handkerchief he had brought with him, and, binding
it over his eyes, he stretched himself out on the platform and laid his
head on the block.

* * * * *

Thus died sir Thomas More, because he would not tie his conscience to
another man's back, for he had no enemies save those who felt that this
courage put them to shame, and he had striven all his life to do harm to
no one. After his death, his head, as was the custom, was placed on a
stake,