the window and wept; from that he came to the fire, and made as if he would stir it a little to conceal his concern; but it would not do, his tears ran down his face; and coming to Mr. Hutcheson, he said, "I think his kindness overcomes me. But God is good to me, that he lets not out too much of it here, for he knows I could not bear it. Get me my cloak and let us go." But being told that the clock was kept back till one, till the bailies should come, he an swered, "They are far in the wrong;" and presently kneeled and prayed before all present, in a most sweet and heavenly manner. As he ended, the bailies sent up word for him to come down, upon which he called for a glass of wine, and having asked a blessing to it, standing and continuing in the same frame, he said, "Now let us go, and God be with us." After having taken his leave of such in the room as were not to go with him to the scaffold, going towards the door, he said, "I could die like a Roman, but choose rather to die like a Christian. When Come away, gentlemen, he that goes first goes cleanliest." going down stairs, he called the Reverend Mr. James Guthrie to him, and embracing him in a most endearing way, took his farewell of him; Mr. Guthrie, at parting, addressed the Marquis thus: "My Lord, God hath been with you, he is with you, and will be with you. And such is my respect for your Lordship, that if I were not under sentence of death myself, I would cheerfully die for your Lordship." So they parted to meet again in a better place on the Friday following Then, accompanied by several noblemen and gentlemen, mounted in black, he with his cloak and hat on, went down the street, and having mounted the scaffold, with great serenity, like one going to his Father's house, saluted all on it. Mr. Hutcheson then prayed; after which his Lordship addressed the spectators, and among other things, said, "I come not here to justify myself, but the Lord, who is holy in all his ways, righteous in all his works, holy and blessed is his name. Neither come I to condemn others. I bless the Lord, I forgive all men, and desire to be forgiven of the Lord myself. Let the will of the Lord be done, that is all I desire. I was real and cordial in my desires to bring the King home, and in my endeavours for him when he was home, and had no correspondence with the adversaries' army, nor any of them, when his Majesty was in Scotland; nor had I any hand in his late Majesty's murder.-I shall not speak much to these things for which I am condemned, • The historian Burnet, in the introduction to his History, p. 30, &c. is pleased to say, "This Argyle was a pretender to high degrees of piety. Warriston went to very high notions of lengthened devotions, and whatsoever struck his fancy during his effusions, he looked on it as an answer of prayer." But perhaps the Bishop was much a stranger both to high degrees of piety and lengthened devotions, and also to such returns of prayer, for these two gallant noblemen faced the bloody axe and gibbet, rather than forego their profession, with more courage, and (I may say) upon better principles or grounds of suffering, than what any diocesan Bishop in Scotland at least, or even the doctor himself was honoured to do. lest I seem to condemn others. It is well known it is only for com. pliance, which was the epidemical fault of the nation; I wish the Lord to pardon them. I say no more-but God hath laid engagements on Scotland. We are tied by covenants to religion and reformation; those who were then unborn are yet engaged; and it passeth the power of all the magistrates under heaven to absolve from the oath of God. These times are like to be either very sinning or suffering times; and let Christians make their choice, there is a sad dilemma in the business, sin or suffer: and surely he that will choose the better part will choose to suffer, others that will choose to sin will not escape suffering. They shall suffer, but perhaps not as I do, (pointing to the maiden,) but worse. Mine is but temporal, theirs shall be eternal! When I shall be singing, they shall be howling. Beware therefore of sin, whatever you are aware of, especially in such times. And hence my condition is such now, as, when I am gone, will be seen not to be as many imagined. I wish as the Lord hath pardoned me, so may he pardon them, for this and other things, and what they have done to me may never meet them in their accounts. I have no more to say, but to beg the Lord, that when I go away, he would bless every one that stayeth behind." When he had delivered this seasonable and pathetic speech,* Mr. Hamilton prayed; after which he prayed most sweetly himself; then he took his leave of all his friends on the scaffold. He first gave the executioner a napkin with some money in it; he gave to his sons-in-law, Caithness and Ker, his watch and some other things out of his pocket; he gave to Loudon his silver penner, to Lothian a double ducat, and then threw off his coat. When going to the Maiden, Mr. Hutcheson said, "My Lord, now hold your grip sicker." He answered, "You know, Mr. Hutcheson, what I said to yon in the chamber. I am not afraid to be surprised with fear." The Laird of Skelmorlie took him by the hand, when near the maiden, and found him most composed. He kneeled down most cheerfully, and after he had prayed a little, he gave the signal (which was by lifting up his hand,) and the instrument, called the Maiden, struck off his head from his body, which was fixed on the west end of the tolbooth, as a monument of the parliament's injustice and the land's misery. His body was, by his friends, put in a coffin, and conveyed with a good many attendants, through Linlithgow and Falkirk to Glasgow, and from thence to Kilpatrick where it was put in a boat, carried to Denoon, and buried in Kilmun church. Thus died the Noble Marquis of Argyle, the proto-martyr to religion since the reformation from Popery, the true portrait of whose character, says Wodrow, cannot be drawn. His enemies themselves will allow him to have been a person of extraordinary piety, remarkable wisdom and prudence, great gravity and authority, and For which with his last words, see Naphtali, or the Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland. singular usefulness. He was the head of the covenanters in Scotland, and had been singularly active in the work of reformation; and of any almost that had engaged in that work he stuck closest by it, even, when most of the nation quitted it; so that this attack upon him was a stroke at the root of all that had been done in Scot land from 1638. But the tree of Prelacy behoved to be soaked, when planting, with the blood of this excellent patriot, staunch Presbyterian, and vigorous asserter of Scotland's liberty: and as he was the great promoter thereof during his life, and steadfast in witnessing to it at his death, so it was in a manner buried with him, for many years. In a word, he had piety for a Christian, sense for a counsellor, carriage for a martyr, and soul for a king. If ever any was, he might be said to be a true Scotsman! JAMES GUTHRIE. MR. JAMES GUTHRIE was son to the Laird of Guthrie, and of a very honourable and ancient family. Having gone through his course of classical learning at the grammar-school and college, he commenced teaching philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, where for several years he gave abundant proof that he was an able scholar. His temper was very steady and composed; he could reason upon the most subtle points with great solidity, and when every one else was warm, he remained unruffled. At any time, when indecent heats or wranglings happened to occur in reasoning, it was his ordinary custom to say, "Enough of this, let us go to some other subject; we are warm, and can dispute no longer with advantage." Perhaps he had the greatest mixture of fervent zeal and sweet calmness in his temper, of any man in his time. Being educated in opposition to Presbyterian principles, he was highly Prelatical in his judgment when he first came to St. Andrews; but by conversing with worthy Mr. Rutherford and others, and especially through his joining the weekly society's meetings there, for pray er and conference, he was effectually brought off from that way; and perhaps it was this that made the writer of the journal, who was no friend of his, say, "That if Mr. Guthrie had continued fixed to his first principles, he had been a star of the first magnitude in Scotland." When, accordingly, he came to judge for himself, he happily departed from his first principles, and upon examination of that way wherein he was educated, left it, and thereby became a star of the first magnitude indeed. It is said, that while a regent in the college of St. Andrews, Mr. Sharp, being then a promising young man there, he several times wrote this verse upon him, If thou, Sharp. diest the common death of men, Having passed his trials in 1633, he was settled minister at Lau |