Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

He paced to and fro a little while upon the scaffold,
evidently meditating, but with a serene and
dignified countenance, so that the judges could
scarce refrain from weeping. Having prayed, his
page assisted him to undress, and then he kneeled
down on a black cloth laid there for the purpose,
and which was removed after each execution, that
the next to die might not see the blood of the victim
who had preceded him. While engaged in silent
prayer, the executioner struck, and the head of
Bohemia's greatest son rolled on the scaffold. His
right hand was then struck off and, together with
his head, 'was fixed on a spear, and set up on the
tower of the Bridge of Prague. His body,
untouched by the executioner, was wrapped in a
cloth, and carried from the scaffold by four men in
black masks.
Scarcely inferior in weight of character, and
superior in the variety of his mental
accomplishments to Count Schlik, was the second
who was called to die -- Wenceslaus, Baron of
Budown. He was a man of incomparable talents
and great learning, which he had further improved
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