"Kathcrosse, May, 6, 1714.
"Now I write with pleasure to your ladyship, since I hope to be so
happy as to enjoy your good companie in a few months, I mean
immediately after York Races, for my two years will be out here the
tenth of July. Indeed Sir John has behaved himself wonderfully well
to us quite the holl time, really performing in everything more than
I could have expected from a man of honnor, as indeed I had reason
to believe him. My lady is not of so steady a temper; but however,
we agree very well: and she is mighty fond of my wife, which I take
very kindly, since as yet we are but one. Never any body could be so
desirous to goe to the North as my wife is, especially just comming
from the divertions of London, except your ladyship or myself, who
longs to be established there, that we may at least be out of the
way of such inhuman proceedings as we saw, upon all accounts, this
year at London. My poor dear uncle's case may serve for one
instance. After getting the better in all the courts, and, that
lastly, the Lord Chancellor and eleven Judges had given there decree
in favor of Will. Constable, and my uncle, a factious party, most
young rakes, have reversed the decree, and given it for Roper, by a
divition of fifty-three against twenty-three torrys, who were
resolute enough to appear in a good cause, being forsaken by their
brethren, who were afraid to be caled favourers of Poperie. I long
to hear what my uncle will say to this news. If he be well, it will
nettle him in spite of resignation. Gibson writes word they are at
Doway; but he does not know when my uncle will sett forwards. I do
not know where to wish him: for I really don't know how he is. For
in one letter Gibson writes, he tells me my uncle is as well as ever
he was in his life; and at the end of the letter he tells me his
honnor is afraid of being pursude. 'Tis certain my uncle writes in
another stille than usuall: for, in letters of business he
continually mentions God Almighty, the Blessed Virgin, and the
Saints. All I say is, God send him over a comfort to his friends,
which he must be if he is well. Brother Frank is recovered, but is
the very same man. Brother Charles is mighty uneasie: he is no
ritcher, though I doe what I can to help him in his pleasures.
"Pray my duty to my uncle and aunt, to whom I will write soon, and
kind services to all other relations.
"If your ladyship will tell Tom Errington that I have executed the
leases, and that I wonder cousin Tom Errington is not in for a
quarter part of Redgroves, and that, supposing there were some such
valuable reason as my cousin Tom's not being willing to accept of
it, or having resigned it to one of those mentioned in the lease,
which by the bye I should take very ill, then that lease of
Redgrove's may stand good: but otherways I would have the lease
altered, and my cousin Tom Errington to come in for a quarter part,
as I promised him he should. In letting him know this, your ladyship
will oblige your humble and obedient servant and kinsman,
"DERWENTWATER.
"My dear wife presents her humble service to your ladyship, and
desires the same may be made acceptable to all with you. We expect
Lord Wald and my lady to make my sister happy, who will do the same
by them."
The felicity which Lord Derwentwater enjoyed was of brief duration.
According to tradition among his descendants, he was urged on to those
steps which ended in his death by the violent counsels of his brother
Charles, whose impetuosity the unfortunate earl often regretted,
expressing, in his private correspondence, how much his rash and
intemperate spirit distressed and alarmed him. Of the progress, and the
principal features of the insurrection of 1715, and of the part which
Lord Derwentwater took in that event, an account has already been
given.[404] "Happy," observes the biographer of Charles Radcliffe, "had
it been for him, happy for his lady, and happy for his family, had the
earl staid at home, and suffered himself to be withheld from that fatal
expedition."[405]
Charles Radcliffe was at that time twenty-two years of age; he had no
experience in military affairs, but was full of spirit and courage,
ready to offer himself for every daring, and even hopeless enterprise,
and seeming to set no value on his life where honour was to be won. Such
a character soon became popular with the leaders of the movement in the
north; and Lord Derwentwater gave the conduct of his tenantry into his
brother's hands, Captain Shaftoe commanding under Mr. Radcliffe.
The behaviour of this young commander throughout the whole of the
expedition was consistent with this character of intrepidity; but that
which surprised many persons in a man who had never before engaged in
war, was the judgment, as well as courage, which he displayed. And
perhaps, had his counsels been followed, the result of that ill-starred
rising, in which so many brave men perished, might have been less
disastrous to the party whom he espoused. When the insurgents were at
Hexham, and intelligence was brought that General Carpenter was
approaching, Mr. Radcliffe proposed that the Jacobite troops should go
out and fight the English before they had recovered from their long
march; but his opinion was overruled. His was that description of mind
which gleans much from observation; he studied the countenances of those
around him, and formed his own conclusion of their characters. When any
false alarm happened to be given that the king's troops were near, it
was his practice, undaunted himself, to watch the countenances of his
officers, when they were ordered to head their corps, and march against
the enemy. Some of them, he observed, turned pale, and looked half-dead
with fear; the eyes of others flashed with fire and fury: on these, he
was certain that a dependence might be placed in the time of action,
whilst he forbore from placing the others in any post of responsibility.
Nor were his own party the only subjects of his curiosity. Until this
eventful period of his life, he had seen but little of the world, "and
now," observes his biographer, "he fancied himself on his travels." He
therefore passed over no object of interest cursorily; at every town he
visited, he inquired what were the customs of the place--what monuments
of celebrated men, or other objects of antiquity were to be found there;
and of these he made written notes; whilst in the council and the camp,
he studied the tempers and passions of men.
When, upon the forces arriving at Hawick, the Highlanders mutinied, and
going to the top of a rising ground declared that they would not stir a
step farther, but would march with Lord Wristoun to the west of
Scotland, Mr. Radcliffe thought their views reasonable, and advocated
the endeavour to strike a bold stroke in Scotland, and to aim at the
entire conquest of that kingdom. His opinion, which events justified,
was overruled, and the leaders of his party were resolute in continuing
their fatal and rash project of proceeding to England. Mr. Radcliffe, on
finding that his representations were ineffectual, begged that he might
have an hundred horse given to him, that with them he might try his
fortune with the Highlanders: this was also denied him, for fear of
weakening the force; and he was constrained to proceed with his
confederates in arms to Preston.
In the action at that place, Mr. Radcliffe behaved with a heroism that
deserved a happier fate. It was a fine sight to behold him and his
brother Lord Derwentwater, endeavouring to animate their men, by words
and example, and maintaining their ground with unequalled bravery,
obliging the king's forces to retire. During the action Mr. Radcliffe
encountered the utmost danger, standing in the midst of the firing, and
doing as much duty as the lowest soldiers in the ranks. But his life was
spared only to encounter a more disastrous termination, after a long and
wearisome exile. When, being invested on all sides by the enemy, the
insurgents proposed a capitulation, the gallant young man exclaimed,
"that he would rather die, with his sword in his hand, like a man of
honour, than be dragged to the gallows, there to die like a dog." These
exclamations fell unheeded; and he was obliged to submit with the rest;
soon afterwards, this fine, high-spirited youth, was carried to Newgate,
there to await his trial, in company with his companions in error and
misfortune.
In Newgate, Mr. Radcliffe witnessed a scene of desperation, accompanied
with the ordinary circumstances of licentiousness, and reckless misery,
which, unchecked by adequate regulations, the prisons of that day
afforded. Until after the execution of Lord Derwentwater and of Lord
Kenmure had taken place, hopes of a reprieve sustained the unhappy
prisoners in Newgate, and, "flaunting apparel, venison pasties," wine,
and other luxuries, for which they paid an enormous price, were the
ordinary indulgences of those who were incarcerated in that crowded
receptacle.[406]
Contributions were made from many different quarters for the prisoners;
and the friends of the "rebels" were observed to be also very generous
to the turnkeys. Numbers of ladies visited the prison, and a choice of
the most expensive viands was daily proffered by the lavish kindness of
their fair enthusiasts. Of course much scandal followed upon the steps
of this dangerous and costly kindness; and escapes were facilitated,
perhaps, not without connivance on the part of Government. On the
fourteenth of March an attempt was made by some of these unfortunate
people to get out of the press-yard, by breaking through a part of the
wall, from which they were to be let down by a rope; but they were
discovered, and, in consequence, heavily ironed. Nevertheless, on the
twenty-third of March almost all of the prisoners were released from
their fetters, an indulgence which was a proof of the lenity of the
Government, as the ordinary keepers of the prison would not have dared
to have allowed it.[407] After this, Mr. Forster and others amused
themselves with the game of shuttlecock, at which, relates the author of
the Secret History of the Rebels in Newgate, the "valiant Forster beat
every one who engaged him: so that he triumphed with his feathers in the
prison, though he could not do it in the field." On the tenth of April
that gentleman made his escape: and henceforth, a lieutenant, with
thirty of the Foot Guards, was ordered to do constant duty at Newgate.
Meantime, crowded as the building was, a spotted fever broke out, and
seemed likely to relieve the civil authorities from no small number of
the unfortunate prisoners.
On the eighth of May, Mr. Radcliffe was arraigned at the Exchequer Bar,
at Westminster, for High Treason: to this he pleaded not guilty. In a
few days afterwards he was brought there again, and tried upon the
indictment; he had no plea to offer in his defence, and was found
guilty.
He soon afterwards was carried to Westminster, accompanied by eleven
other prisoners, to receive sentence of death. They were conveyed in six
coaches to the Court. As the coach in which Mr. Radcliffe was seated,
drove into Fleet Street, it encountered the state carriage in which
George the First, who was then going to Hanover for the first time
since his accession, was driving. This obliged Mr. Radcliffe's coach to
stop; and, perceiving that he was opposite to a distiller's shop, he
called for a pint of aniseed, which he and a fellow-prisoner, with a
servant of Newgate, drank, and then proceeded to Westminster.
Mr. Radcliffe was several times reprieved; and it was thought he might
have been pardoned; but affrighted, perhaps, by his brother's fate, and
probably weary of imprisonment, he now began to project a plan of
escape, to which he was emboldened by the great success of several
similar attempts. Greater vigilance was, indeed, resorted to in the
prison, after the flight of Brigadier Mackintosh, who had knocked down
the turnkey, and ran off through the streets: and all cloaks,
riding-hoods, and arms, were prohibited being brought in by the visiters
who came to visit the prisoners. It is amusing to hear, that a certain
form of riding-hoods acquired, at this time, the name of a Nithsdale, in
allusion to the escape of the Earl of Nithsdale.[408]
On the day appointed for Mr. Radcliffe's escape, the prisoners gave a
grand entertainment in Newgate: this took place in a room called the
Castle, in the higher part of the prison. Mr. Radcliffe, when the party
were at the highest of their mirth, observing a little door open in the
corner of the room, passed through it followed by thirteen of the
prisoners; and succeeded in finding their way, unmolested, to the
debtor's side, where the turnkey, not knowing them, and supposing them
to be visiters to the prisoners, allowed them to pass on. Mr. Radcliffe
was dressed in mourning, and had, according to his own subsequent
account to a fellow prisoner in Newgate, a "brown tye-wig." In this way,
without any disguise, but wearing his ordinary attire, did he escape,
leaving within the prison walls, his friend, Basil Hamilton, nephew of
the Duke of Hamilton, who, as it was deposed on his trial, was his chum,
or companion, living with him in a room, the windows of which looked
upon the garden of the College of Physicians. After remaining concealed
for some time, Mr. Radcliffe took the first opportunity of getting a
passage to France.[409] He lived, for many years, in Paris, in great
poverty, tantalized with promises of assistance from the French Court,
yet witnessing the ungenerous treatment of the Chevalier by that Court.
His nephew, John Radcliffe, who was killed accidentally, assisted him
with remittances in 1730 for some time, and James Stuart gave him a
small pension: his difficulties and privations must have been
considerable; yet they never lessened his ardour in the cause for which
he had sacrificed every worldly advantage.
Either to amend his ruined fortunes, or to gratify a passion long
unrequited, Mr. Radcliffe was resolved upon marriage. The object of his
hopes was Charlotte Maria, Countess of Newburgh, the widow of Hugh, Lord
Clifford of Chudleigh, and the mother of two daughters by that nobleman.
This lady was about a year older than himself, being born in 1694. It is
a tradition in the family of Lord Petre, the lineal descendant of
James, Earl of Derwentwater, that Charles Radcliffe offered his hand
twelve times to the Countess of Newburgh, and was as often refused.
Wearied by his importunity, Lady Newburgh at last forbade him the house.
But the daring character of Mr. Radcliffe, and his strong will,
suggested an expedient, and he was resolved to obtain an interview. To
compass this end, he actually descended into an apartment in which the
Countess was sitting, through the chimney; and taking her by surprise,
obtained her consent to an union. Of the truth of this curious
courtship, there is tolerably good evidence, not only in the belief of
the Petre family, but from a picture representing the fact, which is at
Thorndon.[410] The nuptials took place at Brussels, in the church of the
Virgin Mary, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1724,[411] and in 1726, James
Bartholomew, who became, after the death of his mother, third Earl of
Newburgh, was born at Vincennes.[412]
Lady Newburgh had every reason, as far as prudence could be allowed to
dictate to the affections, for her reluctance to a marriage with Mr.
Radcliffe. He was, at this time, an outlawed man, with a sentence of
death passed upon him, and no hope could ever be revived of his
regaining, even after the death of his nephew, the family honours and
estates. Yet, in the ardour and fearlessness of Charles Radcliffe's
character there must have been much to compensate for those
circumstances, and to win the fancy of the young. There seems no reason
to suppose that the union thus strangely formed was infelicitous; and
indeed, from family documents, it is evident that the family so marked
out by fate for sorrow, were happy in their mutual affection. Of the two
daughters of Lady Newburgh's first marriage, Anna, the eldest, was
married to the Count de Mahony, whose descendants, the Gustiniani might
claim the title of Newburgh, were they not debarred by being born
aliens. Another was Frances, who died unmarried. This lady is mentioned
in a letter written by Charles Radcliffe, recently before his death,
when he was confined to the Tower, with peculiar affection, as "that
other tender mother of my dear children."[413]
In the year 1733, Mr. Radcliffe visited England, and resided several
months in Pall Mall; yet the ministry did not consider it necessary to
take any notice of his return, nor, probably, would they ever have
concerned themselves on that subject, had not a second insurrection
brought the unfortunate man into notice. In 1735, he again returned, and
endeavoured by the mediation of friends to procure a pardon, but was
unsuccessful in that attempt.[414]
Irritated, perhaps, by that refusal, and still passionately attached to
the cause which he had espoused; undeterred by the execution of his
brother, or by the sufferings of his friends, from mixing himself in the
turmoils of a second contest, Charles Radcliffe, on the breaking out of
the insurrection of 1745, again ventured his life on the hazard. He had
no lands to lose, no estates to forfeit; but he had all to gain; for the
death of his nephew made him the head of the unfortunate house of
Radcliffe. After that event, he assumed the title of Earl of
Derwentwater, and it was of course assigned to him at the court of St.
Germains, and indeed always insisted upon by him; but the estates were
alienated, and there appeared no hope under the present government of
ever recovering those once enviable possessions. Under these
circumstances, Mr. Radcliffe was naturally a likely object for the
representations of the sanguine, or the intrigues of the designing to
work upon; and in this temper of mind he met, in the year 1743, with
John Murray of Broughton, at Paris, where that gentleman remained three
weeks; and became intimately acquainted with Mr. Radcliffe, who is
described among others, as a "wretched dependant on French pensions,
with difficulty obtained, and accompanied with contempt in the payment."
While the fashionable world were diverting themselves with epigrams upon
the Rebellion, a small expedition was fitted out, consisting of twenty
French officers, and sixty Scotch and Irish, who embarked at Dunkirk on
board the Esperance privateer; among these was Charles Radcliffe and his
eldest son. At this time nothing was spoken of in London except the
daring attempt in Scotland,--sometimes in derision,--sometimes in
serious apprehension: "the Dowager Strafford," writes Horace Walpole
(Sept. 1745), "has already written cards for my Lady Nithesdale, my Lady
Tullebardine, the Duchess of Perth and Berwick, and twenty more revived
peeresses, to invite them to play at whist, Monday three months: for
your part, you will divert yourself with their old taffetys, and
tarnished slippers, and their awkwardness the first day they go to Court
in clean linen."[415] "I shall wonderfully dislike," observes the same
writer, "being a loyal sufferer in a threadbare coat, and shivering in
an attic chamber at Hanover, or reduced to teach Latin and English to
the young princes at Copenhagen. Will you ever write to me in my garret
at Herenhausen? I will give you a faithful account of all the promising
speeches that Prince George and Prince Edward make whenever they have a
new sword, and intend to reconquer England."
One of the first adverse circumstances that befel the Jacobites in 1745,
was the capture of the vessel in which Mr. Radcliffe hoped to reach the
shores of Scotland. It was taken during the month of November by the
Sheerness man-of-war; and Mr. Radcliffe and his son were carried to
London and imprisoned in the Tower.
On the twenty-first of November he was conveyed, under a strong guard
from the Tower, to Westminster; he was brought to the bar, by virtue of
a Habeas Corpus, and the record of his former conviction and attainder
was at the same time removed there by Certiorari. These being read to
him, the prisoner prayed that counsel might be allowed him; and named
Mr. Ford and Mr. Jodrel, who were accordingly assigned to him as
counsel. A few days were granted to prepare the defence, and on the
twenty-fourth of the month the prisoner was again brought up; he
pleaded that he was not the person named in the record, who was
described as Charles Radcliffe, but maintained that he was the Earl of
Derwentwater. He also requested that the trial might be put off, that
two witnesses, one from Brussels, the other from St. Germains, might be
summoned. This was refused. The prisoner then challenged one of the
jury, but that challenge was overruled. During these proceedings the
lofty, arrogant manner, and the vehement language of Mr. Radcliffe drew
from his counsel the remark that he was disordered in his senses. The
judge, Mr. Justice Foster, who tried the case, bore his contemptuous
conduct with great forbearance. When brought into Court, to be
arraigned, he would neither hold up his hand, nor plead, insisting that
he was a subject of France, and appealing to the testimony of the
Neapolitan Minister, who happened to be in Court. But not one of these
objections was allowed, and the trial proceeded.
No fresh indictment was framed, and the point at issue related merely to
the identity of the prisoner. The award in Mr. Radcliffe's case was
agreeable to the precedent in the case of Sir Walter Raleigh, and
execution was awarded on his former offence, judgment not being again
pronounced, having been given on the former arraignment. This mode of
proceeding might be law, but no one after the lapse of thirty years, and
the frequent communications of the prisoner with the English Government,
can regard such a proceeding as _justice_: and, as in the case of Sir
Walter Raleigh, it brought odium upon the memory of James the First, so
it excited in the reign of George the Second almost universal
commiseration for the sufferer, and disgust at the course adopted.
The evidence in this case was far from being such as would be accepted
in the present day.
Two Northumberland men were sworn to the fact that the prisoner at the
bar was the younger brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, and that they
had seen him march out from Hexham, in Northumberland, at the head of
five hundred of Lord Derwentwater's tenantry; they recognized him, as
they declared, by a scar on his face; they had been to see him in the
Tower, to refresh their memories, and could swear to him, as Charles
Radcliffe, brother of the Earl of Derwentwater. After this deposition,
Roger Downs, a person who had acted in the capacity of barber to the
State prisoners, in 1715, was called.
To him Mr. Radcliffe thus addressed himself:[416] "I hope, sir, you have
some conscience; you are now sworn, and take heed what you say."
To this Downs replied; "I shall speak nothing but the truth. I well
remember that I was appointed close shaver at Newgate, in the year 1715
and 1716, when the rebels were confined there, and shaved all those who
were close confined."
The Counsel then asked, "Pray, sir, did you shave Charles Radcliffe,
Esquire, the late Earl of Derwentwater's brother, who was confined in
Newgate for being concerned in the rebellion in the year 1715, or who
else did you shave of the said rebels at that time? And pray, sir, who
was keeper, or who were turnkeys of the said gaol of Newgate."
The answer of Downs was couched in these words, "William Pitt, Esq. was
head keeper, and Mr. Rouse, and Mr. Revel, were head turnkeys, who
appointed my master to be barber, to shave the prisoners; and I attended
in my master's stead, and used to go daily to wait on the rebel
prisoners, and I particularly remember that I shaved Basil Hamilton, a
reputed nephew of the late Duke of Hamilton, and Charles Radcliffe,
Esq., brother to the late Earl of Derwentwater, who I perfectly remember
were chums, or companions, in one room, in the press-yard, in Newgate,
that looked into the garden of the College of Physicians, and for which
service I was always very well paid."
The Counsel then desired him to look at the prisoner and inform the
Court if that gentleman were the very same Charles Radcliffe that he
shaved in Newgate, at the aforesaid time, and who after escaped out of
Newgate.
To this Downs returned the following reply: "I cannot on my oath say he
is."
Then the head keeper of Newgate was called, and he produced the books
belonging to the gaol, wherein were the names of Charles Radcliffe, and
other rebels, who had been condemned, and were respited several times.
This gentleman said, that the books produced then in Court were in the
same condition that he found them: but as to the person of the prisoner
he knew nothing, his confinement having taken place several years before
he belonged to the gaol.
Abraham Mosely, a servant of the head keeper, was then called, but he
was not sworn; another gentleman was afterwards brought to the bar; as
the book was handed to him to be sworn, Mr. Radcliffe, looking earnestly
at him, inquired what book it was that he was going to be sworn upon:
the officer answered it was the New Testament. Mr. Radcliffe replied,
"He is no Christian, and believes neither in God nor devil." The
evidence of this witness, whose name is suppressed, was, however,
received, and it seems not to have been inconsistent with his alleged
character. It was the disclosure of a confidential conversation on the
part of Mr. Radcliffe, who had imparted to the witness in what manner he
had escaped from Newgate in 1715. The witness was asked whether the
prisoner was drunk when he made this confession: he answered that he
was. Then being asked if he were drunk himself, he replied that he never
got drunk; upon which Mr. Radcliffe said hastily, that "some people
would get drunk if at free cost."
The prisoner examining no witnesses, the Chief Justice summed up the
case, and in ten or fifteen minutes the jury, who had retired, brought
in a verdict of guilty. A Rule was then made for the proper writ for the
execution of the prisoner, on the eighth of December, and he was
remanded to the Tower. When informed by the Court of the time fixed for
his doom, Mr. Radcliffe said he wished they had given him a longer time,
that so he might have been able to acquaint some people in France, and
that his brother, the Earl of Morton, and he might "have set out on
their journey together."
The unhappy Mr. Radcliffe returned to his prison. Much has been written
of the arrogance and intemperance of his conduct and language, but much
must be allowed for the subservience of the contemporary writers, as
well as for the irritated feelings of the man. Considering himself as a
nobleman, and meeting with disrespect, and, perhaps, harsh usage, a
quick temper was aggravated almost to madness. To his inferiors the
passion and pride of his character were so offensive that the warders of
the Tower could be scarcely induced to give him their attendance; and
this inconvenience was the more severely felt as a man named McDermont,
who had been his equerry for twenty-three years, was sent to Newgate on
the very day when Mr. Radcliffe entered the Tower.
At the hour of his last earthly trial, this man, whose eventful and
singular life was brought to a close at the age of fifty-three, redeemed
the errors of the last few weeks of anguish, and of bitter
disappointment. He submitted calmly to his doom. The sullen sorrow, and
the intolerable haughtiness of his manner, were exchanged for a
composure, solemn and affecting, and for a courtesy which well became
the brother of Lord Derwentwater.
Between eight and nine on the morning of the eighth of December, the
Sheriff, driving in a mourning coach to the east gate of the Tower,
demanded the prisoner. The gate was opened, and in about ten minutes a
landau, in which Mr. Radcliffe was seated, drove out at the east gate,
towards Little Tower Hill. He was accompanied by the Under-Sheriffs, and
by the officers of the Tower: the landau was surrounded by a party of
Foot Guards, with their bayonets fixed. The street was lined with horse
soldiers, from the iron gate of the Tower, to the scaffold, which was
encompassed also with horse soldiers. At the foot of the stairs of the
scaffold a booth was erected, for the reception of the prisoner.
Like Lord Balmerino, Mr. Radcliffe wore his regimentals, which were
those of the French army; and consisted of a scarlet coat, with gold
buttons, the sleeves faced with black velvet; a scarlet waistcoat,
trimmed with gold lace; and white silk stockings. His hat was encircled
with a white feather.
As the prisoner alighted from the landau, he saw some of his friends
standing near the booth; he paid his compliments to them with the grace
of a well-bred man; and, smiling, asked of the sheriffs, who had
preceded him in the mourning-coach, "if he was to enter the booth?" He
was answered in the affirmative. "It is well," he replied; and he went
in, and there passed about ten minutes in his devotions.
The scaffold had been provided early that morning with a block, covered
with black, a cushion, and two sacks of sawdust; and the coffin of the
unhappy prisoner, also covered with black, was placed on the stage.
Mr. Radcliffe ascended the scaffold with great calmness, and asked for
the executioner. "I am but a poor man," said the unfortunate man, "but
there are ten guineas for you: if I had more, I would give it you; do
your execution so as to put me to the least possible misery." He then
kneeled down, and folding his hands, uttered a short prayer. He arose,
and was then assisted by two of the warders in the last preparations for
his doom, taking off his coat and waistcoat, and substituting for his
wig a white cap. Having taken a respectful leave of the sheriffs, he was
about to kneel down, when it was discovered that it would be necessary
to tuck back the collar of his shirt. That office was performed by the
executioner. Then, after saying a short prayer, and crossing himself
several times, he laid his head upon the block. In less than half a
minute afterwards, he gave the signal, by spreading out his hands: his
head was severed at one blow, and the body fell upon the scaffold. The
executioner, searching his pockets, found in them a silver crucifix, his
beads, and half-a-guinea. No friend attended the man who had been so
long exiled from his own country, on the scaffold; but four undertakers'
men stood, with a piece of red cloth, to receive the head of the
ill-fated Charles Radcliffe. His body, being wrapt in a blanket, was put
into the coffin, with his head, and conveyed to the Nag's Head, in
Gray's Inn Lane, and thence, in the dead of the night, to Mr.
Walmsbey's, North Street, Red Lion Square, whence it was removed to be
interred in the church-yard of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, where a
neglected stone alone marks his burial-place. The following is the
inscription on the coffin:--"Carolus Radcliffe, comes de Derwentwater,
decollatus, die 8vo. Decembris, 1746, ætatis 53." To this were added the
words, so appropriate to the close of an adventurous life, "Requiescat
in pace."
Desolate as these last hours appear to have been, and uncheered by the
presence of a friend, some tender care was directed to the remains of
the unfortunate sufferer. His head was afterwards sewn on to the body by
a dependant of Lord Petre's family, a woman of the name of Thretfall,
whose grandson, a carpenter, who lived for many years at Ingatestone
Hall, Essex, a seat of Lord Petre's, used to relate to the happier
children of a later generation (the descendants of James, Earl of
Derwentwater), the circumstances, of which he had heard in his
childhood. The Countess of Newburgh was afterwards buried by the side of
her husband; and the sexton of St. Giles's Church, some years since, on
the lid of the coffin giving way, perceived some gold lace in a state of
preservation; so that it seems probable that the blanket in which the
bleeding remains were removed, was superseded by the costly and military
attire worn by the prisoner.
Previous to his death Mr. Radcliffe wrote to his family. His letters,
and all the memorials of his brother, and of himself, have been
sedulously preserved by the family to whom they have descended. Lady
Anna Maria Radcliffe, the only daughter of James, Earl of Derwentwater,
married in 1732, James, eighth Baron Petre, of Writtle, county Essex. A
connexion had already subsisted between the families, a sister of Lord
Derwentwater having married a Petre of the collateral branch, seated at
Belhouse, in Essex, which branch is now extinct.
Lady Anna Radcliffe appears to have entertained the deepest reverence
for her father's memory, and to have held all that belonged to him, or
that related to his fate, sacred. She caused a large mahogany chest to
be made to receive the clothes which he wore on the scaffold, and also
the covering of the block; likewise, a cast of his face taken after
death: and having deposited these relics in the chest, she added a
written paper with her seal and signature, _Anne Petre_, authenticating
the said apparel and documents, and solemnly forbidding any of her
descendants or other persons to make use of the chest for any other
purpose, but "to contain her father's clothes, unless some other
receptacle more costly be by them provided." This box is deposited in a
room at Thorndon Hall, with letters and papers relating both to _James_,
Lord Derwentwater, and to his brother _Charles_.
The eldest son of Mr. Radcliffe, called the Lord Kinnaird, in right of
the Barony of Kinnaird, remained a prisoner in the Tower at the time of
his father's execution; and the uncertainty of that young man's fate
must greatly have added to the distress of his father. In the spring of
1746, he was suffered to return to France, on a cartel, an exchange of
prisoners including him as a native of France. The circumstance to which
the youth owed his long imprisonment, was a report which gained ground
that he was the second son of James Stuart, Henry Benedict, whom the
English political world believed, at that time, to be on the eve of
going to Ireland, and under this impression, the mob followed the young
man as he was conveyed from the vessel to the Tower with insults. Before
returning to France, he was received by the Duke of Richmond, his
mother's relative, with great consideration, and entertained at what
Horace Walpole terms "a great dinner."[417] Such was what the same
author calls the _Stuartism_ in some of the highest circles.
Lord Kinnaird afterwards put in a claim for the reversion of the
Derwentwater estate, but without success, for it had already been sold
by the Commissioners. A scene of iniquitous fraud, in the sale of the
forfeited estate belonging to Lord Derwentwater was afterwards detected
by Lord Gage, for which Dennis Bond, Esquire, and Sergeant Birch,
Commissioners of the sale, were expelled the House.[418] In 1749, an Act
was passed vesting the several estates of James, Earl of Derwentwater in
trustees, for the benefit of Greenwich Hospital; but, out of the funds
thus arising, 30,000_l._ was appropriated to the widowed Countess of
Newburgh, and the interest of the remaining 24,000_l._, was to be paid
to James Bartholomew, Lord Kinnaird, during his life, and after his
death the principal to revert to his eldest son.[419] From the
Chevalier, the widowed Countess of Newburgh received, as the following
letter will shew, much kindness and sympathy; the conduct of James to
his fallen and powerless adherents, appears to have been almost
invariably marked by compassion and generosity. The Countess of Newburgh
survived her husband ten years, during which time the affection of the
Chevalier, and of his sons, for her husband's memory was evinced by
kindness to his widow, as the following letter testifies:--