“This was pronounced to be heresy.
“The emperor declared that he was not obliged to keep his word to heretics, and that his promise to protect the life of the Bohemian was no longer binding.
“He was condemned to death. He was stripped of his priestly robes, and the cup of the sacrament was taken from his hands with a curse.
“‘I trust I shall drink of it this day in the kingdom of heaven,’ he said.
“‘We devote thy soul to the devils in hell,’ was the answer of the prelates.
“He was led away, guarded by eight hundred horsemen, to a meadow without the gates. Here he was burned alive, and triumphed in soul amid the flames.
“Such was the end of John Huss, the Savonarola of Constance.
“We made an excursion upon the lake. The appearance of the old city from the water is one of the most beautiful that can meet the eye. It seems more like an artist’s dream than a reality,—floating towers in a crystal atmosphere.
“‘Girt round with rugged mountains,
The fair Lake Constance lies.’
“The lake is walled with mountains, and wears a chain of castle-like towns, like a necklace.