Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

There followed other noblemen, whose
behavior on the scaffold was equally courageous,
and whose dying words were equally impressive,
but to record them all would unnecessarily prolong
our narration. We take a few examples from among
the citizens whose blood was mingled with that of
the nobles in defense of the religion and liberty of
their native land. Valentine Kochan, a learned man,
a Governor of the University, and Secretary of
Prague, protested, when Ferdinand II was thrust
upon them, that no king should be elected without
the consent of Moravia and Silesia. This caused
him to be marked out for vengeance. In his last
hours he bewailed the divisions that had prevailed
among the Protestants of Bohemia, and which had
opened a door for their calamities. "O!" said he, "if
all the States had employed more thought and
diligence in maintaining union; if there had not
been so much hatred on both sides; if one had not
sought preference before another, and had not
given way to mutual suspicions; moreover, if the
clergy and the laity had assisted each other with
counsel and action, in love, unity, and peace, we
should never have been thus far misled."[5] On the
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