Foxe's
_Book of Martyrs_ describes the horrible sufferings of many of these
martyrs, and, though an awful book to read, was one of the few books
extensively published in our early days, chained copies being placed in
many churches, some of which we saw on our journey.
[Illustration: BEAUMONT PALACE IN 1832: THE BIRTHPLACE OF RICHARD I.]
A small group of excited people were standing near the Martyrs'
Memorial, and we passed several others in the city. On inquiry we were
informed that the body of a murdered woman had been found during the
night, on the Banbury road. On hearing this news I must confess to
feeling some slight apprehension when I considered the strong prima
facie case that could have been made against us: our travel-stained
appearance, faces bronzed almost to the colour of the red soil we had
walked over, beards untrimmed and grown as nature intended them, clothes
showing signs of wear and tear, our heavy oaken sticks with worn
ferrules, and our suspicious and seedy-looking bags; our late arrival
last night, and, above all, the fact that we had entered the town by the
very road on which the murder had been committed! What if we were
arrested on suspicion! I had been practically arrested under far less
suspicious circumstances the previous year, when we were walking home
from London.
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