The Knights Templars.

cause , than live dishonoured in the eyes of men , and servants of the devil . " The agents then shewed then letters-patents under the King ' s seal , which granted a general amnesty to all the guilty , and promised them their liberty and a pension , to

keep them in ease for the rest of their lives / if they would but confess . Insensible to these tempting offers as they had been to the fear of death , which they had witnessed in the case of their unfortunate companion , they despised them , and declared that

they were innocent of all the crimes which had been imputed to them , and what they had previously confessed had been wrung from them by force and violent torture . Finding all offers treated with contempt , the Templars were ordered forth for

execution . They were placed in wagons , and so conveyed to the scene of execution , their countenances serene with the power that innocence ever lends the unfortunate . ' The sight of the flaming piles , the presence of the executioners , had no

effect upon them ; but the Archbishop had prepared for them a severer trial of their fortitude , and which awaited them at the scene of execution , a trial and temptatiou almost impossible to be resisted .

The condemned being all gentlemen of rank , related and allied to the richest , most powerful , and noblest families of Prance , a great number of their relatives and friends were permitted to see them , but only at the piles . On the approach of

the gallant band , these friends surrounded them , imploring them , in accents of the tenderest affection , to submit to the wishes of fhe King , and not to perish so miserably by the cruellest of deaths . Tears , prayers , supplications , were all in

vain . These gallant men , who had succumbed to the violence of torture , seeing at last the certainty of death , disdained to purchase longer life on such vile terms . An envoy from the Court arrived , with a proclamation of liberty and the royal favour

to those who would retract their recantations , and admit the guilt of the Order . With shouts of indignation , the brave Templars refused to listen to such a shameful proposal , exclaiming , that they preferred death to dishonour ; they they

were innocent of the crimes charged against them and that by withdrawing their deposition they had but told the truth . The executioners were

thereupon constrained to execute the terrible sentence . They threw the luckless Templars , bound in chains , upon the piles ; but , instead of uttering complaints or cries , without even shuddering or heaving a

sigh , the gallant men bore their cruel martyrdom with a firmness , patience , and constancy , invoking the name of God , and taking Him as a witness to their innocence , as drew tears from all beholders , and even awoke pity in the hardened hearts of th &

execntioners . They died , after suffering intolerable agony , their bodies being reduced to ashes ,, some calling upon God , the Virgin , and the Saints , to witness their innocence , and othei'S with the hynis of the Church upon their lips .

Felons , writes one , convicted on the clearest evidence , will , as is well-known , die asserting their innocence , but this is when they have no hope of escape remaining . Here life and liberty were offered , and the victims were implored by

thosewhom they most loved to accept of them . May we not , then , assert that the men who resisted all solicitations were sincere and spoke the truth , and were supported by their confidence of beingreceived as martyrs by that God whom they devoutly adored , according to the doctrine of their Church ?

The effect upon the assembled multitude produced by this terrible spectacle passes the bounds of description . They were astonished and horrorstruck with the fiendish cruelty which had condemned so many to a slow and agonising death .

Pity and compassion swelled their hearts at the undaunted manner in which the Knights had borne their torture . The belief in the crimes of

the Order began to wane . The people could not understand how so many people of the highest rank could , in the flower of their age , perish willingly , and prefer so horrible a death to the pleasures of life , on the conditions offered them .

If they were guilty of the crimes for which they were condemned , it appeared to be the height of extravagance to die in such a cause , as , by multiplying their sins , they went before the Sovereign Judge , to be punished for them by a torture yet

more frightful . If they did not believe in the existence of God , as was alleged , what interest could they have in renouncing' life ? The doubt of their crimes grew gradually into a conviction of their innocence . The people recollected the

King's wars with Boniface , and the sounding of the coin , in both of which the Templars had taken an active part . They began to tremble for their own share in the resistance of the edict , and

feared that the vengeance of the King , not glutted with the destruction of the Templars , might fall upon themselves .