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die a hundred times for truth’s sake. His sufferings and
his despair seemed at last to make some impression upon
his judges; they allowed him to write his own
prescriptions for his racked and tortured body; and when the
question of torture was at last brought to the vote,
three out of eight voted against it, three proposed a
middle course, and only two, the implacable Tessin and
Klinckowström, were for the most rigorous application of
the law. In their eyes the mere fact of having touched
in conversation upon the succession to the throne was a
capital crime, aggravated by what they called the obstinacy
of the prisoner. It was on the nth of April that these
two votes decided the business. Blackwell was carried
back to his prison, and on the 13th, early in the morning,
he was undressed, and chained naked to the wall. A
little straw to lie upon had been refused. Interrogated
if he had nothing to say, he assured the warder “ that he
was a reasonable being, and that if he had anything to
confess he would confess it instead of going to prison
again. As he did not stir till eleven o’clock in the
evening, the warder, getting alarmed, went to Tessin and
asked him how long Blackwell was to remain chained.
The answer was, “As long as he can talk.” Towards
three o’clock in the morning, after having endured the
torture for twenty hours, Blackwell’s body began to grow
cold, and the physician who was called declared that he
would not answer for his life. So the chains were
removed; but even now the prisoner remained firm.
“ He had a body and a soul,” he said ; u for the latter
he was responsible to God with his body, and if he had
fourteen they might do as they liked.” In the forenoon
of the same day the unfortunate man was again dragged
before his judges. An anonymous letter had arrived
concerning his private life in Ållestad, and he was
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