of Queen Mary of
England, who was employed at that time in burning her own bishops and
other subjects for the same cause. King Philip was himself present,
enjoying the spectacle, with his unhappy son Carlos, his sister, the
Prince of Parma, three ambassadors from France, and a numerous assembly
of prelates and nobility of both sexes.

The Inquisitor-General, Valdes, advancing to the bed of state,
administered the same oath which had been taken by Don Carlos and the
Queen of Portugal. Philip took it without hesitation, and, rising from
his seat, drew his sword, in token of his determination to use it in
support of the Holy Office.

A similar group to that before described, clothed in yellow garments
covered with pictures of flames and devils, stood on the platform before
the King and his court. The most noble-looking and highest in rank was
Don Carlos de Seso, the upturning flames on whose robe showed that he
was doomed to the stake. With him was Domingo de Roxas, Pedro de
Cazalla, parish priest of Pedroso, who was destined to share the fate of
his family. Dona Isabella de Castilla, wife of Don Carlos de Seso, was
there, and her niece, Dona Catalina--condemned to lose all their
property, to wear the san-benito, and to be imprisoned for life. There
were also three nuns of San Belem; one of them, Dona Mariana de Guevara,
was condemned to be strangled and then thrown into the flames; she was
highly born, and even connected with Valdes, the Chief Inquisitor, but
he could not save her from the consequences of her opinions. His
subordinates resisted the applications he was said to have made on her
behalf as an interference with their jurisdiction, and a proof of
partiality and weakness unworthy of one of those whose office required
him to be insensible to the feelings of nature and friendship.

The death of Don Carlos de Seso was worthy of his life; though gagged on
the platform and on the way to execution, the instrument was removed
when he was bound to the stake by the friars, who stood round exhorting
him to confess. He replied in a loud voice, "I could demonstrate to
you, unhappy men, that you ruin yourselves by not imitating my example;
but there is no time. Executioners, light the pile which is to consume
me." These were his last words. The order was instantly obeyed, and,
looking up, he died without a groan.

Another martyr was Juan Sanchez. Entrapped in the Low Countries by the
emissaries of the Inquisi