"Brush me my coat, carlin',
Brush me my shoon;
I'll awa and meet Lord Nithsdale,
When he comes to our town."
"Alack-a-day," says the carlin'. "He has escaped to France, with scarce
a penny."
"Then," says the first speaker, "we'll sell our corn and everything we
have and send the money to our lord, and we'll make the pipers blow and
lads and maidens dance, and we'll all be glad and joyful and play 'The
Stuarts back again,' and make the Whigs go mad."
* * * * *
Lord Derwentwater's fate was not so happy as that of Lord Nithsdale,
though Lady Derwentwater made a desperate effort to save him.
It was she indeed who had urged him to throw in his lot with the
Stuarts, saying that it was not good that he should hide his head when
other gentlemen were mustering for the cause.
The peasantry still think that Lady Derwentwater sits on her ruined
tower lamenting the evil counsel she gave her husband, and they hasten
by in fear when they see her lamp-light flickering.
Derwentwater is described in the old ballads, as "a bonny lord," with
hair of gold, and kind love dwelling in his hawk-like eyes.
He passionately loved his beautiful home in Tynedale, the foundations of
which may still be seen. The wooded glen below the castle, with the
little burn running through it, spanned by a grey bridge is romantically
beautiful.
His "Farewell" to all this beauty is pathetic.
"Farewell to pleasant Ditson Hall,
My father's ancient seat;
A stranger now must call thee his,
Which gars[#] my heart to greet.[#]
Farewell each kindly well-known face,
My heart has held so dear:
My tenants now must leave their lands,
Or hold their lives in fear.
[#] makes.
[#] weep.
No more along the banks of Tyne,
I'll rove in autumn grey;
No more I'll hear, at early dawn,
The lav'rocks[#] wake the day:
Then fare thee well, brave Witherington,
And Forster ever true.
Dear Shaftsbury and Errington,
Receive my last adieu.
[#] larks.
And fare thee well, George Collingwood,
Since fate has put us down,
If thou and I have lost our lives,
Our King has lost his crown.
Farewell, farewell, my lady dear,
Ill, ill thou counsell'dst me:
I never more may see thy babe
That smiles upon thy knee.
And fare thee well, my bonny grey steed,
That carried me aye so free;
I wish I had been asleep in my bed,
The last time I mounted thee.
The warning bell now bids me cease;
My troubles nearly o'er;
Yon sun that rises from the sea,
Shall rise on me no more.
Albeit that here in London town
It is my fate to die,
O carry me to Northumberland,
In my father's grave to lie:
There chant my solemn requiem
In Hexham's holy towers,
And let six maids of fair Tynedale
Scatter my grave with flowers.
And when the head that wears the crown,
Shall be laid low like mine,
Some honest hearts may then lament
For Radcliff's fallen line.
Farewell to pleasant Ditson Hall,
My father's ancient seat;
A stranger now must call thee his,
Which gars my heart to greet."
Before his death, Earl Derwentwater signed a paper acknowledging "King
James the Third" as his sovereign, and saying that he hoped his death
would contribute to the service of his King.
He is said to have looked closely at the block, and to have asked the
executioner to chip off a rough place that might hurt his neck. Then,
pulling off his coat and waistcoat, he tried if the block would fit his
head, and told the executioner that when he had repeated "Lord Jesus
receive my soul" for the third time, he was to do his office, which the
executioner accordingly did at one blow.
History tells that Derwentwater was brave and open-hearted and generous,
and that his fate drew tears from the spectators, and was a great
misfortune to his country. He was kind to the people on his estates, to
the poor, the widow and the orphan.
His request to be buried with his ancestors was refused, and he was
interred at St Giles, Holborn, but his corpse was afterwards removed and
carried secretly to Northumberland, where it was deposited in Dilston
Chapel. The aurora borealis, which appeared remarkably vivid on the
night of his execution, was long called in that part of the country
"Lord Derwentwater's Lights."
Immediately after Derwentwater's execution, Lord Kenmure also suffered
death. After his execution, a letter was found in his pocket addressed
to the Pretender, by the title of King James, saying that he died in his
faithful service, and asking him to provide for his wife and children.