without any distinction as to rank or character, suffered the ignominious
punishment to which they were condemned, and the streets of Hereford were
blocked up by gibbets, which the most timid and merciful of its
inhabitants gazed upon with satisfaction and triumph.

Sir Hugh Spenser, both on account of his rank and of the peculiar degree
of hatred with which each bosom beat against him, was reserved to be the
last victim. On the day of his execution the streets were lined with
spectators, and the principal families in the city occupied stations round
the scaffold. So great was the universal joy at having their enemy in their
power, that even the wives and daughters of the most distinguished citizens
were anxious to view the punishment inflicted upon him whom they considered
the grand cause of all the national evils. Isabel was not of this number;
but her father sternly compelled her to be a witness of the dismal scene.
The hour of noon was fast approaching, and the bell of the cathedral
heavily and solemnly tolled the knell of the unfortunate Spenser. The fatal
cavalcade approached the place of execution. A stern and solemn triumph
gleamed in the eyes of the soldiers as they trod by the side of the victim;
but most of the spectators, especially the females, were melted into tears
when they beheld the fine manly form of the prisoner, which seemed better
fitted to adorn the royal levee, or a lady's bower, than for the melancholy
fate to which he was about to be consigned. His head was bare, and his
light flaxen hair fell in a rich profusion of locks down his shoulders, but
left unshaded his finely-proportioned and sunburnt features. He wore the
uniform of the royal army, and a star on his breast indicated his rank,
while he held in his hand a small ivory cross, which he frequently and
fervently kissed. His deportment was firm and contemptuous, and, as he
looked on the formal and frequently grotesque figures of his guards, his
features even assumed an expression of risibility. The sight of the gibbet,
however, which was raised fifty feet high, seemed to appal him, for he had