though my eyes pricked with tears, for I had had the last blessing (or
very nearly) which that martyr of God would ever give in this world.

* * * * *

When they were all ready, and the five were bound on the sleds, with
their beads to the horses' heels, I looked to see how I could best
follow; and it appeared to me that it was best for me to keep close at
the tail, rather than to attempt to go before. When the word was given,
the whips cracked, and the sled nearest me, with Mr. Whitbread and Mr.
Harcourt upon it, began to move. Then came Mr. Turner and Mr. Gavan, and
last Mr. Fenwick all by himself. The minister whose name was Samuel
Smith, as I learned later, and who was the Ordinary of Newgate, followed
on foot, and behind him came the guards to close them all in.

My fellow in front, whom I had bribed, seemed to understand what I
wanted; for in the confusion he let me through, and my man James forced
his way after me; so that we found ourselves with three or four other
gentlemen, riding immediately behind the guards, as we came out of the
court into the street outside; and so we followed, all the way to
Tyburn.

That adventure of mine was I think the most observable I have ever had,
and, too, the greatest privilege to my soul: for here was I, if ever any
man did, following the Cross of Christ in the passion of His
servants--such a _Via Crucis_ as I have never made in any church--for
here was the very road along which so many hundreds of the Catholic
martyrs had passed before; and at the end was waiting the very death by
which they had died. I know that the martyrdom of these five was not so
evident an one as that of others before them, since those died for the