whatfor an honest man should be brought to punishment. Some
who knew me, cheered me by name to keep a stout heart; and the soldiers
grew fear't for a rescue, and gurled at the crowd for closing so closely
upon us.

As I was ascending the tolbooth-stair, I heard a shriek; and I looked
around, and beheld Michael, my first-born, a stripling then only twelve
years old, amidst the crowd, stretching out his hands and crying, "O, my
father, my father!"

I halted for a moment, and the soldiers seemed to thaw with compassion;
but my hands were tied,--I was a captive on the threshold of the
dungeon, and I could only shut my eyes and bid the stern agents of the
persecutors go on. Still the cry of my distracted child knelled in my
ear, and my agony grew to such a pitch, that I flew forward up the
steps, and, in the dismal vaults within, sought refuge from the misery
of my child.

CHAPTER LXI

I was conducted into a straight and dark chamber, and the cord wherewith
my hands were bound was untied, and a shackle put upon my right wrist;
the flesh of my left was so galled with the cord, that the jailor was
softened at the sight, and from the humanity of his own nature,
refrained from placing the iron on it, lest the rust should fester the
quick wound.

Then I was left alone in the gloomy solitude of the prison-room, and the
ponderous doors were shut upon me, and the harsh bolts driven with a
horrid grating noise, that caused my very bones to dinle. But even in
that dreadful hour an unspeakable consolation came with the freshness of
a breathing of the airs of paradise to my soul. Methought a wonderful
light shone around me, that I heard melodious voices bidding me be of
good cheer, and that a vision of my saintly grandfather, in the glorious
vestments of his heavenly attire, stood before me, and smiled upon me
with that holy comeliness of countenance which has made his image in my
remembrance ever that of the most venerable of men; so that, in the very
depth of what I thought would have been the pit of despair, I had a
delightful taste of those blessed experiences of divine aid, by which
the holy martyrs were sustained in the hours of trial, and cheered
amidst the torments in which they sealed the truth of their testimony.

After the favour of that sweet and celestial encouragement, I laid
myself down on a pallet in the corner of the room, and a gracious sleep
descended upon my eyelids, and steeped the sense and memory of