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reward him for his trouble. Having first of all lain down and fitted his neck to the block, he repeated a short prayer, after which he told the executioner that the sign he should give him to strike would be by repeating three times the words, "Lord Jesus, receive my soul!" and by stretching out his arms. He then once more fitted his neck to the block, and having given the appointed signal, the executioner performed his office at a single blow.

The virtuous and amiable Lord Kenmure was then brought on the scaffold, attended by his son, a few friends, and two clergymen of the Church of England. He mounted the steps with great firmness, and advancing to one side of the scaffold, passed some time in devotion, in which he was heard to pray audibly for the exiled Prince in whose cause he suffered. Having concluded his devotions, he presented the executioner with some money, telling him he should give him no sign, but that, when he had lain down, he was to strike whenever he thought fit. He then knelt down, and having passed a few moments in inward devotion placed his neck upon the block with his arms clasped tightly round it, when the executioner, seizing his opportunity, raised his axe, and at two blows severed his head from his body.

On the 24th of August, 1722, the celebrated Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, was committed to the Tower, where he was subjected to a series of privations and oppression, which were

EXECUTION OF THE REBEL LORDS.

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disgraceful to the ministry which authorized them, but which he endured with the piety of a Christian, and the dignity of a philosopher.

How pleasing Atterbury's softer hour;

How shines his soul unconquered in the Tower.

He remained in the Tower till the 18th of June, 1723, on which day he was conducted on board the

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Aldborough" man-of-war, and bade farewell for ever to his native country. The Bishop died in exile in Paris on the 15th of February, 1731.

We would willingly dwell on the melancholy fate of the "Rebel Lords" who were committed to the Tower after the fatal battle of Culloden, but their stories are so familiar to every one, that a repetition would scarcely be considered excusable. The old Marquis of Tullibardine,—

High-minded Moray, the exiled, the dear!

died in the Tower a few months after his committal, and Lord Kilmarnock, and the intrepid Lord Balmerino were beheaded on Tower Hill on the 18th of August.

Charles Radcliffe, brother of the unfortunate Earl of Derwentwater, was decapitated on the same spot, on the 8th of December following; and lastly, the hoary traitor, Lord Lovat,-after a hearty meal and with a jest on his lips,-laid down his life on the scaffold on Tower Hill, on the 7th of April, 1747. The only other prisoner of note, in the reign of George the Second, was Laurence, fourth Earl Ferrers, who was hanged at Tyburn, on the 5th of May, 1760, for killing his steward, Mr. Johnson.

As we approach nearer to more humane and civilized times, the annals of the Tower naturally present fewer incidents of stirring or romantic interest. Nevertheless, during the reigns of George the Third and Fourth, we find the Tower containing more than one prisoner whose name history has rendered familiar to us. Here, in 1762, the celebrated John Wilkes was committed for his libel on the King, in the forty-fifth number of the "North Briton;" Lord George Gordon was sent to the Tower, in 1780, as the principal author of the Protestant riots; Horne Tooke, and his seditious associates, in 1794; Arthur O'Connor, and others, for high treason, in 1798; Sir Francis Burdett, for the same offence, in 1810; and lastly, here were confined, in 1820, Arthur Thistlewood and the other actors in the notorious Cato Street conspiracy.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

LONDON:

Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLRY,

Bangor House, Shoe Lane,

IL

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