4290 x 2497 px | 36,3 x 21,1 cm | 14,3 x 8,3 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
1746
Altre informazioni:
Execution of Earl Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino On August 18, 1746, as an outcome of their participation in the '45, the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino were executed at Tower Hill in London. Lord Balmerino, in particular, distinguished himself for embracing his impending death on behalf of the Jacobite cause. Sir Walter Scott covers the trial and execution in his "Scottish History": '...It was understood that one of the two Earls who had submitted themselves to the clemency of the sovereign, was about to be spared. The friends of both solicited anxiously which should obtain preference on the occasion. The circumstance of his large family, and the situation of his lady, it is believed, influenced the decision which was made in Lord Cromarty's favour. When the Countess of Cromarty was delivered of the child which she had borne in her womb, while the horrible doubt of her husband's fate was impending, it was found to be marked on the neck with an impression resembling a broad axe; a striking instance of one of those mysteries of nature which are beyond the knowledge of philosophy. While King George the Second was perplexed and overwhelmed with personal applications for mercy, in behalf of Lords Cromarty and Kilmarnock, he is said to have exclaimed, with natural feeling, Heaven help me, will no one say a word in behalf of Lord Balmerino !" The spirit of the time was, however, adverse to this generous sentiment; nor would it have been consistent to have spared a criminal, who boldly avowed and vindicated his political offences, while exercising the severity of the law towards others, who expressed penitence for their guilt. The Earl of Cromarty being, as we have said, reprieved, the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino remained under sentence, with an intimation that they must prepare for death. The King, however, commuted the mode of execution into decapitation. The behaviour of both noblemen, during the short interval they had now to live, was of a p
