The rack, and then the stake, were all that remained, unless
she could be prevailed on to recant. This she gently but firmly refused
to do.
The king was determined to root out the heresy--if it existed
there--from the court; and those who knew him, knew that there was no
cruelty of which he would not be guilty to accomplish his end.
Wriothesley, the chancellor, waited on the unfortunate Miss Askew to
examine her concerning the religious sentiments of the other ladies of
the court; but, though bold in professing her own religious views, she
was just as firm in refusing to implicate any of her former associates.
Threatenings and promises were alike found useless. Then she was
subjected to the most excruciating torture; but, though every limb was
dislocated, the noble girl remained true to her friends and to her God.
So enraged was the chancellor at her fortitude, that when the lieutenant
of the tower refused to obey his order to screw the rack still more
tightly, he seized the instrument himself, and wrenched it so violently
as almost to tear the "body asunder." But her constancy was unshaken.
Torture having failed, the poor, mangled body was thrust into a chair,
and carried to the stake. A Catholic priest and two other persons were
conducted with her to execution, all condemned in like manner for the
violation of the king's mandates.
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