The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. IX (of X) - America - I
General
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. IX (of X) - America - I
Literature -- Collections
The count was drest in a plain suit of black, and wore a Milanese cap
upon his head. He was, at this time, about fifty years of age. He was
tall, with handsome features, and altogether of a commanding presence.
His form was erect, and as he passed with a steady step through the
files of soldiers, on his way to the place of execution, he frankly
saluted those of his acquaintance whom he saw among the spectators.
His look had in it less of sorrow than of indignation, like that of
one conscious of enduring wrong. He was spared one pang, in his last
hour, which had filled Egmont's cup with bitterness; tho, like him, he
had a wife, he was to leave no orphan family to mourn him.
As he trod the scaffold, the apparatus of death seemed to have no
power to move him. He still repeated the declaration that, "often as
he had offended his Maker, he had never, to his knowledge, committed
any offense against the King." When his eyes fell on the bloody shroud
that enveloped the remains of Egmont, he inquired if it were the body
of his friend. Being answered in the affirmative, he made some remark
in Castilian, not understood. He then prayed for a few moments, but in
so low a tone that the words were not caught by the bystanders, and,
rising, he asked pardon of those around if he had ever offended any of
them, and earnestly besought their prayers. Then, without further
delay, he knelt down, and, repeating the words, "_In manus tuas,
Domine_," he submitted himself to his fate.
His bloody head was set up opposite to that of his fellow sufferer.
For three hours these ghastly trophies remained exposed to the gaze of
the multitude. They were then taken down, and, with the bodies, placed
in leaden coffins, which were straightway removed--that containing the
remains of Egmont to the convent of Santa Clara, and that of Hoorne to
the ancient church of Ste. Gudule. To these places, especially to
Santa Clara, the people now flocked as to the shrine of a martyr. They
threw themselves on the coffin, kissing it and bedewing it with their
tears, as if it had contained the relics of some murdered saint; while
many of them, taking little heed of the presence of informers,
breathed vows of vengeance, some even swearing not to trim either hair
or beard till these vows were executed. The government seems to have
thought it prudent to take no notice of this burst of popular feeling.
But a funeral hatchment, blazoned with the arms of Egmont, which, as
usual after the master's death, had been fixt by his domestics on the
gates of his mansion, was ordered to be instantly removed--no doubt,
as tending to keep alive the popular excitement. The bodies were not
allowed to remain long in their temporary places of deposit, but were
transported to the family residences of the two lords in the country,
and laid in the vaults of their ancestors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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