Page:Bohemian legends and other poems.djvu/13

Rh gents were arrested in the night of the 21st of January, 1621, and after being imprisoned four months, and tried before an imperial committee of inquiry, twenty-three were publicly executed, their property confiscated, the remainder either banished or condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Nor were these examples confined only to those who had been openly concerned in the rebellion, for a mandate of more than inquisitorial severity was issued, commanding all landholders who had participated in the insurrection to confess their delinquencies, and threatening the severest vengeance if they were afterward convicted. This dreadful order spread general consternation; not only those who had shared in the insurrection acknowledged their guilt, but even the innocent were driven by terror to self-accusation; and above seven hundred nobles and knights, almost the whole body of the landholders, placed their names on the list of proscription. By a mockery of the very name of mercy, the emperor granted to these unfortunate victims their lives, and honors, which they were declared to have forfeited by their own confession; but gratified his vengeance and rapacity by confiscating the whole or part of their property, and thus reduced many of the most loyal and ancient families to ruin, or drove them to seek a refuge from their misfortunes in exile or death.” The bodies of the Kryspek family can still be seen in Kralovice. They were among those who preferred to die rather than wait to be perhaps tortured or driven from their country as beggars. As to the interview between Ferdinand and his confessor, it is historically true, and the whole account can be found in Histoire Guerre de Trente Ans, 1618 and 1648, par E. Charvériat Tome premier, p. 251, Paris, 1878. “Ferdinand passa sans repos la nuit qui précéda la signature. Le lendemain