Winifred, Countess of Nithsdale.

"Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will Out at the casement: shut that, and 'twill out At the keyhole: stop that, 'twill fly with the Smoke out at the chimney."

SHAKSPEARE,

Winifred, Countess of Nithsdale.

BORN 1690. DIED 1749.

THE 9th of January, in the year 1716, the day of the opening of Parliament, was one of fearful import to seven wretched men, who awaited within the Tower prisons, a judicial decision relative to their future fate. They had been dragged from the North in company with many others; made to submit to numerous indignities; and had entered London, their arms tied behind their backs, like common highwaymen, while the yells and scoffings of the multitude mercilessly assailed them. These men were the unfortunate adherents of the Pretender," James Francis, half-brother of Queen Anne, at whose death, two years before, they had attempted to place that prince upon the throne of England. Upon the very day the Houses met, articles of impeachment were presented against Lords Derwentwater, Nairn, and Wid

drington, the earls of Nithsdale, Carnwath, and Winton, and Viscount Kenmure, for high treason. Scarcely a voice was raised to avert "the doom of these incompetent revolutionists," though there were many then present who covertly supported the same cause. Their impeachment was rapidly followed by a species of trial. Before the House of Lords, assembled in the form of a court of justice in Westminster Hall, the prisoners, with one exception, Lord Winton, kneeling, confessed their guilt, and commended themselves to the lenity of the king. Alas! King George, though "a prince neither unmerciful nor cruel, was far from possessing either a tender heart, or a lively imagination." Lord Stanhope, "who was a man of feeling," interposed, and succeeded in rescuing Lord Nairn, who had been his schoolfellow, from the fate which impended, but upon the rest, sentence of death was pronounced.

It is not to be supposed but that the friends of the condemned made the most strenuous efforts for a commutation of their punishment. Many members of the Upper House were among these, and when bribes-sixty thousand pounds was offered for the single pardon of Lord Derwentwater-failed, personal solicitation was resorted to, with such urgency, that Lord Nottingham and others forfeited thereby their places in the cabinet. Respite, however, was accorded, as some respect "due to the opinion and feeling of the House of Lords," to the earl of Carnwath and Lord Widdrington, but the three