"THE EXECUTION OF MONTROSE"
"_A traitor sold him to his foes_,"--p. 36.
"The contemporary historian of the Earls of Sutherland records, that
(after the defeat of Invercarron) Montrose and Kinnoul 'wandered up the
river Kyle the whole ensuing night, and the next day, and the third day
also, without any food or sustenance, and at last came within the
country of Assynt. The Earl of Kinnoul, being faint for lack of meat,
and not able to travel any further, was left there among the mountains,
where it was supposed he perished. Montrose had almost famished, but
that he fortuned in his misery to light upon a small cottage in that
wilderness, where he was supplied with some milk and bread.' Not even
the iron frame of Montrose could endure a prolonged existence under such
circumstances. He gave himself up to Macleod of Assynt, a former
adherent, from whom he had reason to expect assistance in consideration
of that circumstance, and, indeed, from the dictates of honourable
feeling and common humanity. As the Argyle faction had sold the King, so
this Highlander rendered his own name infamous by selling the hero to
the Covenanters, for which 'duty to the public' he was rewarded with
four hundred bolls of meal."--NAPIER'S _Life of Montrose_.
"_They brought him to the Watergate_,"--p. 36.
"_Friday, 17th May_.--Act ordaining James Grahame to be brought from the
Watergate on a cart, bareheaded, the hangman in his livery, covered,
riding on the horse that draws the cart--the prisoner to be bound to the
cart with a rope--to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and from thence to be
brought to the Parliament House, and there, in the place of delinquents,
on his knees, to receive his sentence--viz., to be hanged on a gibbet at
the Cross of Edinburgh, with his book and declaration tied on a rope
about his neck, and there to hang for the space of three hours until he
be dead; and thereafter to be cut down by the hangman, his head, hands,
and legs to be cut off, and distributed as follows--viz., his head to be
affixed on an iron pin, and set on the pinnacle of the west gavel of the
new prison of Edinburgh; one hand to be set on the port of Perth, the
other on the port of Stirling; one leg and foot on the port of Aberdeen,
the other on the port of Glasgow. If at his death penitent, and relaxed
from excommunication, then the trunk of his body to be interred, by
pioneers, in the Greyfriars; otherwise, to be interred in the
Boroughmuir, by the hangman's men, under the gallows."--BALFOUR'S _Notes
of Parliament_.
It is needless to remark that this inhuman sentence was executed to the
letter. In order that the exposure might be more complete, the cart was
constructed with a high chair in the centre, having holes behind,
through which the ropes that fastened him were drawn. The author of the
_Wigton Papers_, recently published by the Maitland Club, says, "The
reason of his being tied to the cart was in hope that the people would
have stoned him, and that he might not be able by his hands to save his
face." His hat was then pulled off by the hangman and the procession
commenced.
"_But when he came, though pale and wan,
He looked so great and high_,"--p. 37.
"In all the way, there appeared in him such majesty, courage,
modesty--and even somewhat more than natural--that those common women
who had lost their husbands and children in his wars, and who were hired
to stone him, were upon the sight of him so astonished and moved, that
their intended curses turned into tears and prayers; so that next day
_all the ministers preached against them for not stoning and reviling
him."--Wigton Papers._
"_Then first a woman's voice was heard
In jeer and laughter loud_,"--p. 38.
"It is remarkable that, of the many thousand beholders, the Lady Jean
Gordon, Countess of Haddington, did (alone) publicly insult and laugh at
him; which being perceived by a gentleman in the street, he cried up to
her, that it became her better to sit upon the cart for her
adulteries."--_Wigton Papers_. This infamous woman was the third
daughter of Huntly, and the niece of Argyle. It will hardly be credited
that she was the sister of that gallant Lord Gordon, who fell fighting
by the side of Montrose, only five years before, at the battle of
Aldford!
"_For seven long years thou hast not dared
To look him in the face_,"--p. 39.
"The Lord Lorn and his new lady were also sitting on a balcony, joyful
spectators; and the cart being stopped when it came before the lodging
where the Chancellor, Argyle, and Warristoun sat--that they might have
time to insult--he, suspecting the business, turned his face towards
them, whereupon they presently crept in at the windows; which being
perceived by an Englishman, he cried up, it was no wonder they started
aside at his look, for they durst not look him in the face these seven
years bygone."--_Wigton Papers_.
"_With savage glee came Warristoun,
To read the murderous doom_,"--p. 40.
Archibald Johnston of Warristoun. This man, who was the inveterate enemy
of Montrose, and who carried the most selfish spirit into every intrigue
of his party, received the punishment of his treasons about eleven years
afterwards. It may be instructive to learn how he met his doom. The
following extract is from the MSS. of Sir George Mackenzie:--"The
Chancellor and others waited to examine him; he fell upon his face,
roaring, and with tears entreated they would pity a poor creature who
had forgot all that was in the Bible. This moved all the spectators with
a deep melancholy; and the Chancellor, reflecting upon the man's great
parts, former esteem, and the great share he had in all the late
revolutions, could not deny some tears to the frailty of silly mankind.
At his examination, he pretended he had lost so much blood by the
unskilfulness of his chirurgeons, that he lost his memory with his
blood; and I really believe that his courage had been drawn out with it.
Within a few days he was brought before the parliament, where he
discovered nothing but much weakness, running up and down upon his
knees, begging mercy; but the parliament ordained his former sentence to
be put to execution, and accordingly he was executed at the Cross of
Edinburgh."
"_And God who made shall gather them:
I go from you to Him_!"--p. 41.
"He said he was much beholden to the parliament for the honour they had
put on him; 'for,' says he, 'I think it a greater honour to have my head
standing on the port of this town, for this quarrel, than to have my
picture in the king's bedchamber. I am beholden to you that, lest my
loyalty should be forgotten, ye have appointed five of your most eminent
towns to bear witness of it to posterity.'"--_Wigton Papers_.
"_He is coming! he is coming!
Like a bridegroom from his room_,"--p. 42.
"In his downgoing from the Tolbooth to the place of execution, he was
very richly clad in fine scarlet, laid over with rich silver lace, his
hat in his hand, his bands and cuffs exceeding rich, his delicate white
gloves on his hands, his stockings of incarnate silk, and his shoes with
their ribbands on his feet; and sarks provided for him with pearling
about, above ten pund the elne. All these were provided for him by his
friends, and a pretty cassock put on upon him, upon the scaffold,
wherein he was hanged. To be short, nothing was here deficient to honour
his poor carcase, more beseeming a bridegroom than a criminal going to
the gallows."--NICHOLL'S _Diary_.
"_The grim Geneva ministers
With anxious scowl drew near_,"--p. 43.
The Presbyterian ministers beset Montrose both in prison and on the
scaffold. The following extracts are from the diary of the Rev. Robert
Traill, one of the persons who were appointed by the commission of the
kirk "to deal with him:"--"By a warrant from the kirk, we staid a while
with him about his soul's condition. But we found him continuing in his
old pride, and taking very ill what was spoken to him, saying, 'I pray
you, gentlemen, let me die in peace.' It was answered, that he might die
in true peace, being reconciled to the Lord and to His kirk."--"We
returned to the commission, and did show unto them what had passed
amongst us. They, seeing that for the present he was not desiring
relaxation from his censure of excommunication, did appoint Mr. Mungo
Law and me to attend on the morrow on the scaffold, at the time of his
execution, that, in case he should desire to be relaxed from his
excommunication, we should be allowed to give it unto him in the name of
the kirk, and to pray with him, and for him, _that what is loosed on
earth might be loosed in heaven_." But this pious intention, which may
appear somewhat strange to the modern Calvinist, when the prevailing
theories of the kirk regarding the efficacy of absolution are
considered, was not destined to be fulfilled. Mr. Traill goes on to say,
"But he did not at all desire to be relaxed from his excommunication in
the name of the kirk, _yea, did not look towards that place on the
scaffold where we stood_; only he drew apart some of the magistrates,
and spake a while with them, and then went up the ladder, in his red
scarlet cassock, in a very stately manner."
"_And he climbed the lofty ladder
As it were the path to heaven_,"--p. 43.
"He was very earnest that he might have the liberty to keep on his hat;
it was denied: he requested he might have the privilege to keep his
cloak about him--neither could that be granted. Then, with a most
undaunted courage, he went up to the top of that prodigious
gibbet."--"The whole people gave a general groan; and it was very
observable, that even those who, at his first appearance, had bitterly
inveighed against him, could not now abstain from tears."--_Montrose
Redivivus_.