[1284] Carlisle in ’45, p. 244.
[1285] “He is,” says Walpole, “the most natural, brave old fellow I ever saw: the highest intrepidity, even to indifference. At the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man; in the intervals of form, with carelessness and humour.... At the bar he plays with his fingers upon the axe, while he talks to the gentleman gaoler; and one day, somebody coming up to listen, he took the blade and held it like a fan between their faces. During the trial a little boy was near him, but not tall enough to see; he made room for the child, and placed him near himself.”
[1286] As will be seen, the more barbarous and ignominious part of the sentence was not carried into effect; Kilmarnock and Balmerino were put to death by simple decapitation.
[1287] The original of the above letter, from which this copy was taken, is among the Stuart Papers, and is written in a remarkably bold and steady hand. The Chevalier sent a copy of this letter to Charles on 20th January, 1747. “I send you,” says he, “a copy of poor Lord Balmerino’s letter. I shall inquire about his widow, and send her some relief if she stands in need of it.”—Stuart Papers. James was as good as his word. See Mr. Theodore Hay’s letter to Secretary Edgar, of 10th June, 1747, and Lady Balmerino’s receipt, 18th May following, for £60, in the Stuart Papers. The letter of Lord Balmerino, and the circumstances of his death, are feelingly alluded to in a letter written by Lady Balmerino to the Chevalier, from Edinburgh, on 15th June, 1751:—“Before my dear lord’s execution, he leaving this world, and having no other concern in time but me, wrote a letter to your Majesty, dated 17th August, 1746, recommending me and my destitute condition to your Majesty’s commiseration and bounty. You are well informed of his undaunted courage and behaviour at his death, so that even your Majesty’s enemies and his do unanimously confess that he died like a hero, and asserted and added a lustre which never will be forgot to the undoubted right your Majesty has to your three realms. He had the honour to have been in your Majesty’s domestick service in Italy, and ever preserved, before his last appearance, an inviolable, constant attachment to your royal house and interest, which at last he not only confirmed by his dying words, but sealed it with his blood, than which a greater token and proof it is not of a subject to give of his love and fidelity to his sovereign.”
[1288] “The general plea and defence of the prisoners at Carlisle was that they were forced into the rebellion—i.e., they were put under influences by clanship and such like, morally equivalent to force.”—Carlisle in ’45, p. 257.
[1289] True Copies of the Papers wrote by Arthur Lord Balmerino and others, published in the year 1746.
[1290] Carlisle in ’45, p. 247–50.
[1291] One of them, Cappock, (created Bishop of Carlisle by Charles,) made a long speech in support of the claims of the house of Stuart. He prayed for “King James,” Prince Charles, and the rest of the Stuart family, called King George an usurper, and when found guilty, he thus addressed his fellow-prisoners at the bar:—“Never mind it, my boys; for if our Saviour was here, these fellows would condemn him.” Observing Brand extremely dejected, he said to him, “What the devil are you afraid of? We shan’t be tried by a Cumberland jury in the other world.”—Scots Mag. vol. viii. p. 498.
[1292] Carlisle in ’45, pp. 254 and 266.
[1293] Boyse, p. 176.