k by the
officers so that they could not come at him. When he was in the cart,
first he commended his spirit into God's Hands, saying _In manus tuas_,
etc.; then he besought all Catholics that were present to pray for him;
I saw a good many who signed themselves in the crowd; and then he said
some prayers in Latin; with the psalms _Miserere_ and _De Profundis_.
And then he addressed himself to the people, telling them he died for
his religion, which was the Catholic Roman one, and prayed, and desired
them to pray, that God would bring all Englishmen into it. The crowd
cried out at that, exclaiming against this _Catholic Romish Faith_; and
so he said what he had to say, over again. Then, before the cart was
drawn away from him to leave him to hang, he asked pardon of all them he
had offended, and even of the Queen, if he had indeed offended her. Then
one of the sheriffs called on the hangman to make an end; so Mr. Nelson
prayed again in silence, and then begged all Catholics that were there
once more to pray that, by the bitter passion of Christ, his soul might
be received into everlasting joy. And they did so; for as the cart was
drawn away a great number cried out, and I with them, _Lord, receive his
soul_.

"'He was cut down, according to sentence, before he was dead, and the
butchery begun on him; and when it was near over, he moved a little in
his pain, and said that he forgave the Queen and all that caused or
consented to his death: and so he died.'"

The priest's voice, which had shaken again and again, grew so tremulous
as he ended that those that were at the end of the hall could scarcely
hear him; and, as it ceased, a murmur ran along the seats.

Mr. FitzHerbert leaned over to the priest and whispered. The priest
nodded, and the other held up his hand for silence.

"There is more yet," he said.

Mr. Simpson, with a hand that still shook so violently that he could
hardly hold his glass, lifted and drank off a cup of muscadel. Then he
cleared his throat, sat up a little in his chair, and resumed:

"'Next I went to see Mr. Sherwood, to talk to him in prison and to
encourage him by telling him of the passion of the other and how bravely
he bore it. Mr. Sherwood took it very well, and said that he was afraid
of nothing, that he had reconciled his mind to it long ago, and had
rehearsed it all two or three times, so that he would know what to say
and how to bear himself.'"

Mr. FitzHerbert leaned over again to