MARGARET ROPER, and clung to him. Choking with anguish, she could only cry from the innermost recesses of her heart, " O my father ! O my father !" Unable to speak, while the tears coursed down his pale cheeks, he could only return her fervent embrace, while even the guards were affected by the scene, 'and did not offer to interfere. The day before he was to suffer, he wrote to Margaret with a piece of coal-for he was deprived of pens and ink -a letter full of manly firmness and kindness ; and in the bright sunshine of a July morning,-the 6th, 1535,-he was led to execution. The King, through a regretful remembrance of the old days of friendly chat and gay jest, remitted all parts of the cruel sentence except beheading. May none of my friends experience the like mercies," said his victim, pithily. Sir Thomas besought that Margaret might be present at his burial. " The King is already content that your wife, children, and friends shall have liberty to be present thereat,"was the reply of Sir Thomas Pope, who had brought the sad news of his approaching death, and who could not restrain his tears. His death created a profound sensation through- out Europe ; and even the King was touched by a momentary remorse,-which did not prevent him, nevertheless, from taking possession of the fair grounds at Chelsea, and all the late Chancellor's other property, allowing the widow a poor twenty pounds a year for her life. The head of the object 22
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