Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

head and hand to the tower of the Bridge of Prague.
The sentences of nearly all the rest were similarly
dealt with by the merciful monarch.
The condemned were told that they were to die
within two days, that is, on the 21st of June. This
intimation was made to them that they might have
a Jesuit, or a Capuchin, or a clergyman of the
Augsburg Confession, to prepare them for death.
They were now led back to prison: the noblemen
were conducted to the Castle of Prague, and the
citizens to the prisons of the printer. Some "fellows
of the baser sort," suborned for the purpose,
insulted them as they were being led through the
streets, crying out, "Why don't you now sing, 'The
Lord reigneth'?" The ninety-ninth Psalm was a
favorite ode of the Bohemians, wherewith they had
been wont to kindle their devotion in the sanctuary,
and their courage on the battlefield.
Scarcely had they reentered their prisons when
a flock [11] of Jesuits and Capuchin monks, not
waiting till they were called, gathered round them,
and began to earnestly beseech them to change
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