accusation, being roung from them by the pains or feare of torture. And they all freely forgave one another: for none had bene so falsely accused but he himself had accused another as falsely."
Moved by the sufferings of the condemned, the good-natured Dutch guard offered them wine, with the suggestion that they should drown their sorrows in drink as the Dutch, in similar cases, were, he said, accustomed to do. But the offer was gratefully but emphatically rejected. Face to face with death the Englishmen were in no mood to stain their last hours with a drunken orgy. Though rude men who, in most cases, had led dissolute lives, they had, deep down in their natures, a strong strain of religious feeling. They preferred, therefore, to pass the night with devotional exercises. Thus, as the sentry kept his solitary vigil outside, there was borne upon his ears in the silence of the tropical night, the deep bass voices of the prisoners as in mournful cadence they sang the psalms appropriate to their sad condition.
A touching memorial of that solemn night of prayer and praise is preserved amongst the Dutch national archives at the State Record Office at the Hague. It is a small black-covered volume containing, bound together, "The Psalms of David in Meeter," and "The Catechisme," both bearing the imprint, " Edinburgh, printed by Andro Hart, 1611," It is the identical book used on the occasion by Samuel Coulson. Convincing evidence of this is supplied by certain writings, bearing Coulson's signature, which appear in the blank pages of the volume. These include an earnest declaration of the writer's innocence. It was one of several declarations to the same effect which were inscribed in different books by the prisoners. One of the
