Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/112

 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 57. knew what religion meant/ ' that he had always detested Papistry and still detested it.' The Spanish agent of the Duke of Alva, who witnessed the execution, could suppose only that in making an assertion so opposite to his declaration to the Pope, he was nourishing to the last some hope of pardon. 1 He was desired to be brief. No respite came, if he looked for it. He shook hands with all who were stand- ing round him, gave the executioner a purse of sove- reigns, knelt, said a few prayers, and recited the 5ist Psalm. It was observed that at the i8th verse he altered the words, and,for ' Build thou the walls of Jerusalem/ said, 'Build thou the walls of England/ He then threw off his cloke, refused to allow his eyes to be blinded, laid his head upon the block, and died at a blow. It has been eloquently said that the grass soon grows over blood shed upon the battle-field, but never over blood shed upon the scaffold. Treason is an offence which rarely exists without seeming excuse. It pleads at the bar of history as an effort, if an unwise one, to vindicate an honourable cause ; and when the calamities which it has occasioned or threatened to occasion are forgotten or have ceased to be feared, compassion for the sufferer is changed by an easy transformation into con- demnation of his judges. The most exaggerated senti- ment will scarcely venture to censure the punishment of Norfolk. Others were perhaps more faulty than he 1 ' Algunos ban juzgado que J Antonio de Guaras al Duque de decia'esto con esperanza de perdon.' I Alva, June, 1572: MSS. Simancas.