nor could he even see to do it.' I say nothing of his anxiety of mind by which he was harassed day after day, and which might well have destroyed his memory. Yet he adduced in his favor the authority of so many men of the highest wisdom and learning, so many doctors of the church whose words testified in his behalf, that you could not have expected more if the whole space of his imprisonment had been devoted in undisturbed leisure to the studies of wisdom. His voice was sweet, full, sonorous, impressive in its tones. His gesture was that of the orator, adapted, as occasion required, either to express indignation or to excite pity, which nevertheless he neither asked for, nor showed an anxiety to obtain. He stood before the assembly, so fearless and intrepid, not only scorning to live, but welcoming death, that you would have called him a second Cato. O man! worthy art thou to be forever remembered among men! I do not praise him in any respect in which he was opposed to the institutions of the church. I admire his learning, his extensive knowledge, his eloquence, and his skill in argument. I only fear that all nature's gifts have been bestowed to work his ruin."

CHAPTER VIII.

SENTENCE AND EXECUTION OF JEROME.

DISPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL TOWARD JEROME. EFFORTS TO SAVE HIM. HIS FIRMNESS. TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES. TWENTY-FIRST SESSION OF THE COUNCIL. -EFFORTS TO INDUCE JEROME TO RECANT AND SUBMIT TO THE COUNCIL. — THE CONFERENCE. JEROME'S ELoquent Reply. - THE BISHOP OF LODI'S SERMON. THE NECESSITY OF SEVERE MEASURES. THE GUILT OF JEROME IN HIS PRESUMPTION AND DEFENCE OF HIS ERRORS. CHARITY OF THE COUNCIL IN THE TREATMENT OF JEROME. HOW A HERETIC SHOULD BE DEALT WITH.-SIX MISCHIEFS JEROME HAD DONE BY HIS SPEECH. JEROME'S REPLY TO THE SERMON, AND HIS OWN DEFENCE. HIS CATHOLICITY. HIS APPEAL. THE SENTENCE. CASPAR SCHLICK'S HIS CONDUCT ON THE WAY TO JEROME ADDRESSES THE CROWD.

PROTEST.-JEROME PREPARED FOR EXECUTION.

THE STAKE. SCENES AT THE EXECUTION.

THE DUST REMOVED.

THE EARTH

MAY 26, 1416-MAY 30, 1416.

JEROME was borne back from the council to his dungeon, there to await his final sentence. The severity of his imprisonment, which had been somewhat relaxed, was now increased. He was more strictly fettered than before. His hands, his arms, and his feet were loaded with irons.

The members of the council were variously disposed toward him. Some were gratified, undoubtedly, that a stop was now to be put to his bold and agitating career. Others exulted over him as a fallen foe, and triumphed in his doom as the victim of their personal malice. Nearly all despaired of rescuing

him.

Those who had listened to his speech, and heard its candid and manly avowals, said to each other, "He has pronounced his sentence." Still there were many that could not thus abandon him. Numerous members of the council, embracing the most learned of the body, interested themselves in his behalf.1 Poggio is said to have employed his influence to the same purpose. The Cardinal of Florence conversed with him, and endeavored to dissuade him from the resolution he had adopted. But all was in vain.

Jerome saw no honorable way of escape from the fate to which he was doomed through his refusal to abjure. He was now at last resolved, living or dying, to remain true to his convictions. He scorned any more to dissemble, as he had done, and betrayed no longer any sign of weakness or hesitation. Death by fire was not so terrible as the disgrace and guilt of a feigned recantation, the only one which it was possible for him to make.

If, in the earlier period of his imprisonment, Jerome showed himself tremulous and timid, as compared with Huss, these closing hours of his trial display his character in a nobler light. His prison ex perience was aggravated by some hardships from which Huss was spared. The latter had his friends, warm and true, who refused to desert him, and remained faithful to the end. In the enthusiasm of his gratitude, he writes of the generous countenance and sympathy afforded him by the Knight John de

Poggio says that after his audience, (May 26th,) " Datum deine spacium pænitendi biduo. Multi ad illum accessere viri eruditissimi, ut ip

sum a sua sententia dimoverent, inter quos Cardinalis Florentinus eum adiit, ut flecteret ad viam rectam."-Mon, Hus. ii. 360.

CH. VIII.]

JEROME URGED TO RECANT.

239

Chlum, and speaks of the consolation and strength which were thus ministered to him in his hours of weakness and despondency. The presence and counsel of those in whom he could confide lightened the load of his anxiety and anguish. They stood by him, and stood by him to the last. But when the deed was done, when Huss was executed,-Constance was no longer the place for them. They departed, and Jerome was left alone. We hear no more of Chlum, Duba, or Peter the Notary. Jerome was kept a close prisoner; and, even had they remained, they would, probably, have been denied access to him in his prison-cell.

Who can enter into the anxieties and agony of the prisoner, wearing out his solitary hours in a close, foul, and gloomy cell, cheered by no friendly face or kindly word? And yet how noble, in such circumstances as these, was the self-recovery of Jerome ! Uncounselled but by his conscience and his God, he rose from his fall, in the intrepidity and courage of a genuine martyr, blotting out, by an honest and hearty avowal of his error, the stain of what he thenceforth accounted his weakness and his disgrace.

The council met in its twenty-first session on Sunday, May 30th, 1416, to pronounce sentence upon the prisoner. There was no longer any doubt of the result-no chance, so far as any change in him was concerned, for averting his doom. A French writer,1 quoting from Theobald's history of the Hussite war, gives a detailed account of the efforts employed to induce him to recant, some of which have been Bonnecnose, 122.

1

already referred to. "I will abjure," replied Jerome to their urgent entreaties, "if you demonstrate to me from the Holy Scriptures that my doctrine is false." "Can you be to such an extent your own enemy?" inquired the bishops.

"What!" replied he, "do you suppose that life is so precious to me, that I fear to yield it for the truth, or for Him who gave His for me? Are you not cardinals? are you not bishops? and can you be ignorant of what Christ has said: 'He that does not give up all that he hath for my sake, is not worthy of me?' .. Behind me, tempters!"

The Cardinal of Forence presented himself. He sent for Jerome, and said to him, "Jerome, you are a learned man, whom God has loaded with the choic est of gifts; do not employ them to your own ruin, but for the advantage of the church. The council has compassion on you, and, on account of your rare talents, would regret to behold you on your way to execution. You may aspire to high honors, and be a powerful succor to the church of Jesus Christ, if you consent to be converted, like St. Peter or St. Paul. The church is not to such a point cruel, as to refuse a pardon if you become worthy of it. And I promise you every kind of favor, when it shall be found that neither obstinacy nor falsehood remains in you. Reflect whilst it is yet time; spare your own life, and open your heart to me."

Jerome replied, "The only favor that I demandand which I have always demanded-is to be convinced by the Holy Scriptures. This body, which has suffered such frightful torments in my chains, will