behaviour too bold, but remember, Sir, (said he to a gentleman who stood near him) that I now declare it is the effect of confidence in God and a good conscience, and I should dissemble, if I should shew any signs of fear."

As he passed the executioner, observing the axe in his hand, he took it from him, felt the edge, and returning it, clapped him on the shoulder to encourage him; he tucked down the collar of his shirt and waistcoat, and shewed the executioner where to strike, desiring him to do it resolutely, for in that, said his lordship, will consist your kindness. He then went to the side of the stage, and called up the warder of the Tower, to whom he gave some money, asked which was his hearse, and desired that the man would drive near the stage.

He then, without trembling or changing countenance, again knelt down at the block; and having with his arm stretched, said, "O Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, and receive my soul," he gave the signal by letting his arm fall. His amazing firmness and intrepidity, and the unexpected suddenness of the signal, so surprized the executioner, that though he struck the part directed, the blow was not given with sufficient strength to cut through the neck, on which he made an effort to turn his head towards the executioner; but a second blow immediately succeeding the first, rendered him quite insensible, and a third finished the work. His head was received in the same manner as Kilmarnock's, and, together with the body, was put into the coffin, and conveyed to the Tower, in which place they were both interred the same evening.

The enemies of Mr. Foster (who attended the earl after condemnation) pretended that he had all along flattered his lordship with the hopes of a pardon, provided he kept up a shew of penitence to the last. This calumny (for it was probably nothing more) received some countenance by Kilmarnock's raising his head, after it was laid upon the block, and looking round among the spectators; notwithstanding which, he died as a man and a christian.

The conduct of Lord Balmerino, on this solemn occasion, though very different from that of Kilmarnock, was far from such as his enemies reported. It is beyond a doubt, that he would have accepted a pardon from the crown, could he have obtained it; but finding all his applications ineffectual, he prepared himself for death with great fortitude and resolution. The most accurate observers could not discover in his gesture, on the fatal day, the least symptom of concern, much less of fear; notwithstanding which, he was so far from being insensible, that he was seen to check his natural boldness, lest the spectators should think it indecent.

The number of spectators at these executions was incredible; the hill, the scaffolding, and the houses being crowded with people, who, in general, behaved with great decency during the whole solemnity; and very little damage or mischief was done.

Beside the examples made in the execution of the lords, seventeen officers of the rebel army were condemned and executed at Kennington Common; nine at Carlisle, six at Brompton; seven at Penrith; and eleven at York. Some few obtained pardons, and a considerable number were transported.

On the 8th of December, Charles Ratcliffe, esquire, commonly called Earl of Derwentwater, who had been taken in a ship bound to Scotland, was beheaded on Little Tower Hill, near the Minories, in consequence of a rule of the court of King's Bench, for being concerned in the rebellion in the year 1715; at which time he received sentence of death, but, with several others, made his esape out of Newgate.

The process and manner of this gentleman's death being similar to the former, precludes further detail. The head and body were put into a coffin, and carried in a hearse to the Nag's Head, in Gray's Inn Lane, and the next morning interred in the church-yard of St. Giles, in the Fields.

Thus fell this unhappy man, thirty years after his escape; a great part of which time he had spent with the Pretender

in Italy. He was the youngest brother of James Earl of Derwentwater, who was beheaded in the year 1716 They were the sons of Sir Francis Ratcliffe, by the lady Mary. Tudor, natural daughter to king Charles II.

The last, and most extraordinary personage, that suffered for this rebellion, was Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat, who was executed on Thursday, the 9th of April, 1747*.

He was apprehended by Lord Loudon, from whom he made his escape; but was at last taken concealed in a hollow tree, while he was preparing to go abroad. He was tried by the house of peers, before whom he preserved a jocose behaviour; and his defence was filled with the most satirical turns. His criminality, however, appearing sufficiently manifest, he was found guilty, and received sentence of death.

When the warrant for his execution was notified to him, he appeared indifferent as to his fate; and though he was urged by his friends to throw himself at his majesty's feet, and petition for mercy, he absolutely refused it, saying, "he was so old and infirm, that his life was not worth asking."

* Lord Lovat, in 1692, was a captain in Tullibardine's regiment; and, in 1695, he, with the assistance of his clan, violently forced the lady dowager of Lovat to marry him, for which he was tried and condeinned; but being afterwards pardoned by king William, he fled to France, and turning Papift, accepted a commission under the late king James. He was confined for some years in the Bastile for acting a double part between the two crowns of England and France; and at length obtained his liberty by taking the order of priesthood. He officiated aş a Jesuit priest at St. Omer's, till the rebellion in 1715, when coming over to England, he espoused the cause of government, and assisted in recovering Inverness from the rebels; for which he got the title of Lovat, and obtained the command of a company of highlanders.

In this rebellion, however, he again fluctuated in his conduct; and while he endeavoured to preserve appearances himself, he sent his son, with the greater part of his clan, to join the Pretender, as appeared by an expostulatory letter sent to him from the lord president. In answer to this letter, he not only endeavoured to exculpate himself, but was base enough to reproach his son in the most severe terms; and in a letter to the Duke of Cumberland, used the most hypocritical flattery in vindication of his innocence.

His conduct, after conviction, appeared undaunted, and he preserved his jocose, satirical temper to the last moment of his life. He received the notice of his death-warrant without the least alteration in his countenance, thanked the gentleman who brought it, for the favours he had done him, and drank a glass of wine to his health; after which he sat down and conversed chearfully with him for a considerable time *.

On the Wednesday morning, his lordship waked about two o'clock, and prayed most devoutly for some time; after which, he went to rest again, and slept till between six and seven, when he called for the warder to dress him as usual; and during the course of the day, he not only talked pertinently and sedately with some gentlemen that came to see him, both about his own private affairs, as well as the public affairs of the nation, but merrily joked with the warder that attended him, the barber that shaved him, and almost every one that went to him. After eating a hearty dinner, he smoaked a pipe, according to custom, and then sent orders to the cook to get some veal roasted, that it might be ready to mince for his breakfast the next morning.

On Thursday the 9th, being the fatal day, his lordship waked about three o'clock in the morning, and, as he had done the preceding day, prayed in a very devout manner for

*Being informed that it was reported an engine was to be made for his execution, like that called the Maiden, formerly used for beheading state criminals in Scotland, he commended the contrivance, "for," said he, "as my neck is very short, the executioner will be puzzled to find it out with his axe; and if such a machine be made, I suppose it will get the name of Lovat's Maiden."

On the Monday preceding his execution, the major of the Tower went to see him, and asked him how he did. "Do?" says he, "Why, Sir, I am doing very well; for I am fitting myself for a place where hardly any majors go, and very few lieutenant-generals.

The next morning he desired one of the warders to lay a pillow upon the floor at the foot of his bed, that he might try if he could properly perform his part in the tragedy in which he was next Thursday to be chief actor and after having kneeled down, and placed his head upon the foot of the bed, he rose up, and said, By this short practice, I believe I shall be able to act my part well enough."

some

some time. At five he got up, called for a glass of wine and water, as usual, and sat reading in his chair for two hours, without spectacles; for, notwithstanding his great age, he had never made use of any, which was supposed to have arisen from his uniform method of living; though he often drank a chearful glass, yet he never drank to excess, and very seldom tasted wine without its being diluted with

water.

During the course of the morning his lordship behaved with his usual gaiety, without once discovering the least sign of fear or uneasiness, as appeared from several incidents. At eight o'clock he desired his wig might be sent to the barber, that he might have time to comb it out in the genteelest manner; and having desired the warder to get him a purse to put the gold in, which he designed for the executioner, he added, "Let it be a good one, lest the gentleman should refuse it." On the warder's bringing two to chuse, he did not seem to approve of either; however, he chose one, and said, "Though it be none of the best, it is a purse that no man would refuse with ten guineas in it.” Between eight and nine he called for a plate of minced veal, ate heartily, and then, having asked for some wine and water, he drank the healths of several of his friends and acquaintance.

Mr. Alderman Alsop, one of the sheriffs, (the other being ill) attended by the two under sheriffs and the proper officers, with the executioner, went from the Mitre Tavern in Fenchurch Street, to the house appointed for them on Tower Hill. At ten o'clock the block was fixed on the scaffold, and his lordship's coffin brought, which was covered with black cloth, adorned with coronets, &c. and on the lid was this inscription: "Simon Dominus Fraser de Lovat, decollat. April 9, 1747, atat. suæ 80."

He was conducted from the Tower gate to a house on the hill, from the upper rooms of which was a platform made to the scaffold. The rooms were hung with black cloth and sconces, the dismal appearance of which produced no alteration in his lordship's countenance. After delivering a VOL. I. No. 17.

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