the signal, as well as the suddenness with which he gave contrasting strongly with the natural hesitation which had been betrayed by Lord Kilmarnock,-seems to have completely taken the executioner by surprise. The blow which he struck fell with great force between the shoulders, depriving his victim, it is to be hoped, of sensation; though, according to contemporary accounts, the contrary was the case, for he is said to have made an effort to turn his head towards the executioner; the under jaw falling and returning very quickly, as if the sufferer were convulsed with mingled sensations of anger and pain. The second blow fell directly on the neck, causing the body to fall away from the block; and the third completed the sanguinary work. The head was received in a piece of red baize, which, together with the body, was deposited in the coffin prepared to receive them. According to Lord Balmerino's particular request, the coffin was placed over that of the Marquis Tullibardine,* in the chapel of the Tower; Lords Balmerino, Kilmarnock, and Tullibardine occupying the same grave. Thus, on the 18th of August, 1746, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, died the dauntless, the devoted, the nobleminded Balmerino! "Pitied by gentle minds, Kilmarnock died, The brave, Balmerino, were on thy side." Lord Balmerino married Miss Margaret Chalmers, whom he was in the habit of styling his "pretty Peggy." During the time that he was in the Tower, she resided in lodgings in East Smithfield, but constantly visited and remained with him in his confinement. *Lord Tullibardine had died in the Tower on the 9th of June. 218 ARTHUR ELPHINSTONE, LORD BALMERINO. The day before his execution, Lord Balmerino wrote to the old Chevalier, setting forth his services, and stating, that he was about to die "with great satisfaction and peace of mind" in the best of causes: all that he entreated, he said, was, that the Chevalier would provide for his widow, "so that she should not want bread; which otherwise," he added, "she must do, his brother having left more debt on the estate than it was worth, and he himself having nothing in the world to give her." The Chevalier, shortly afterwards, sent her the sum of sixty pounds; and it is said that, at the dying request of the unfortunate nobleman, George the Second settled a pension on her of fifty pounds a year. The latter fact, however, may reasonably be doubted. WILLIAM BOYD, EARL OF KILMARNOCK. 219 WILLIAM BOYD, EARL OF KILMARNOCK. Attachment of Lord Kilmarnock's family to the House of Brunswick-His motives for joining the Pretender-Taken Prisoner at Culloden-His trial-Correspondence of the Family-His execution. WILLIAM Earl of Kilmarnock was born in 1705, and in 1725, married Lady Anne Livingstone, daughter and heiress of James, fifth Earl of Linlithgow and fourth Earl of Callendar, and heiress to her aunt, Mary Countess of Errol, in her own right. The family of Lord Kilmarnock had long been distinguished for their attachment to the House of Brunswick, and to the Whig principles which had raised the reigning family to the throne. In the rebellion of 1715, the father of the unfortunate lord had enrolled a thousand men in support of the Government; and even Lord Kilmarnock himself, though a mere child, is stated to have appeared in arms on the occasion. In addition to these circumstances, it may be mentioned that he had long enjoyed a pension from George the Second's Government, till he was deprived of it by Lord Wilmington, probably on account of his loyalty having become suspected. The motives which induced Lord Kilmarnock to desert the principles which had been instilled into him in his cradle, for the fatal cause of the Stuarts, have been accounted for in different ways. According to Horace Walpole, he was persuaded against his better judgment by the old Countess of Errol, who threatened to disinherit him unless he complied with her wishes; while Sir Walter |
