and turn about with the convicts. The contents of the prayers

were chiefly the desire for the welfare of the Emperor and his

family. These petitions were repeated many times, separately and

together with other prayers, the people kneeling. Besides this,

several verses from the Acts of the Apostles were read by the

deacon in a peculiarly strained voice, which made it impossible

to understand what he read, and then the priest read very

distinctly a part of the Gospel according to St. Mark, in which