ii6

A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN

pretended

prophecy

of

the

advent

LITERATURE of

a

successor

(Luther). A short extract from the work of Mladenovic, which contains a minute description of the last moments and Mladenovic the death of Hus, may be of interest. writes : " When he (Hus) had arrived at the place of torture, he began on bent knees, with his arms extended and his eyes lifted to heaven, to recite psalms with great fervour, particularly ' Have mercy upon me, O God,' and ' In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.' He repeated the verse ' Into Thine hand I commit my spirit,' and it was noticed by those standing near that he prayed joyfully and with a beautiful countenance. The place of torture was among gardens in a certain field on the road which leads from Constance to the castle of Gottlieben. Some of the laymen who were present said, 'We do not know what he has formerly said or done, but we now see and hear that he prays and speaks holy words.' . . . Rising from his prayers by order of the lictor {i.e. soldier or town official), he said with a loud and intelligible voice, so that he could be heard by his (followers), ' Lord Jesus Christ, I will bear patiently and humbly this horrible, shameful, and cruel death for the sake of Thy Gospel and of the preaching of Thy Word.' . . . When a rusty chain was placed round his neck, he said, smiling to the lictors, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, was bound with a harder and heavier chain, and I, a poor wretch, do not fear to be bound with this chain for His sake.' . . . When the lictors lighted the pile, the magister first sang with a loud voice, ' Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me,' and then again, ' Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me.' When he began again, now singing,