244 Readings in European History And to the executioner he said, " I shall say but very- short prayers, and when I thrust out my hands — " Then he called to the bishop for his cap, and having put it on, asked the executioner, "Does my hair trouble you?" who desired him to put it all under his cap ; which, as he was doing by the help of the bishop and the executioner, he turned to the bishop, and said, "I have a good cause, and a gracious God on my side." The bishop said, "There is but one stage more, which, though turbulent and troublesome, yet is a very short one. You may consider it will soon carry you a very great way ; it will carry you from earth to heaven ; and there you shall find to your great joy the prize you hasten to, a crown of glory." The king adjoins, " I go from a corruptible to an incor- ruptible crown ; where no disturbance can be, no disturb- ance in the world." The bishop. " You are exchanged from a temporal to an eternal crown, — a good exchange." Then the king asked the executioner, " Is my hair well ?" And taking off his cloak and George, 1 he delivered his George to the bishop, . . . Then putting off his doublet and being in his waistcoat, he put on his cloak again, and looking upon the block, said to the executioner, "You must set it fast." The executioner. "It is fast, sir." King. " It might have been a little higher." Executioner. " It can be no higher, sir." King. "When I put out my hands this way, then — " Then having said a few words to himself, as he stood, with hands and eyes lift up, immediately stooping down he laid his neck upon the block ; and the executioner, again putting his hair under his cap, his Majesty, thinking he had been going to strike, bade him, "Stay for the sign." Executioner. "Yes, I will, an it please your Majesty." 1 The jeweled pendant of the Order of the Garter, bearing a figure of St. George.
