laws of Bohemia, and that the Majesty-Letter and the Compromise were part
of the laws.

But when were doctors ever wanting to prove the unlawfulness of law
which interferes with the purposes of a despot and the convictions
of the bigot?

"Novus rex, nova lex," muttered the Catholics, lifting up their heads
and hearts once more out of the oppression and insults which they had
unquestionably suffered at the hands of the triumphant Reformers. "There
are many empty poppy-heads now flaunting high that shall be snipped off,"
said others. "That accursed German Count Thurn and his fellows, whom the
devil has sent from hell to Bohemia for his own purposes, shall be
disposed of now," was the general cry.

It was plain that heresy could no longer be maintained except by the
sword. That which had been extorted by force would be plucked back by
force. The succession of Ferdinand was in brief a warshout to be echoed
by all the Catholics of Europe. Before the end of the year the
Protestant churches of Brunnau were sealed up. Those at Klostergrab were
demolished in three days by command of the Archbishop of Prague. These
dumb walls preached in their destruction more stirring sermons than
perhaps would ever have been heard within them had they stood. This
tearing in pieces of the Imperial patent granting liberty of Protestant
worship, this summary execution done upon senseless bricks and mortar,
was an act of defiance to the Reformed religion everywhere.
Protestantism was struck in the face, spat upon, defied.

The effect was instantaneous. Thurn and the other defenders of the
Protestant faith were as prompt in action as the Catholics had been in