pleading guilty, were vain. They were sentenced to death on February 4. After sentence was passed, Lord Nithsdaill still cherished hopes that if a petition were presented to the king, his life might be spared. Lady Nithsdaill, though she could not share this illusion, determined to make the effort, in spite of the known difficulty of approaching the king, who had taken measures to prevent all personal appeals being made to him on behalf of the prisoners; and here we shall be pardoned if we quote Lady Nithsdaill's own account of the result. The first day that I knew he [the king] was to goe to the Drawing Room, I dreased myselfe in a black mantow and peticoat, as if in mourning, and sent to Mrs. Morgan, the same as went with me to the Tower afterwards, as before mentioned, for I did not know the Electour, and might have taken another for him, and she did, so would show me the right. I had another gentlewoman with me, but I forget who, but we went all 3 into the chamber that was between his closet and the drawing room; so that he was to pass the wholl length of the room to goe to it, and there being 3 windows in it, we sat ourselves upon the midle one, that I might have time to catch him before he could get by, which I did, and knelt down and presented my petition, telling him in French that I was the unhappy Countess of Nithsdaill, that he might not pretend he knew not who I was; but finding him going without taking my petition, I took hold of the skirt of his coat, that he might stay to heare me; but he endeavoured to get away, and I held so fast that he drew me upon my knees almost from the middle of the chamber to the drawing room door; at last one of the Bleu Ribonds that was with him took me round the waist to draw me back, and another drew the skirt of his coat out of my hand, and the petition that I had endeavoured to put in his poket fell down in the strugle, and I almost swounded with the trouble. The unfortunate petition was picked up by a compassionate bystander and given to Lord Dorset, who managed that it should be read to the king more than once, but without apparent success. On February 18th, the warrant for the execution of the prisoners was signed, and the fatal day fixed for the following Friday, February 24. On February 22 a general petition was presented to the House of Lords on behalf of the prisoners. The peers agreed to intercede with the king for such lords as should be considered deserving of the royal mercy. By this, as Lady Nithsdaill well understood, were in. tended only those who would consent to give evidence against their companions in the Jacobite rising. To this she was assured Lord Nithsdaill would never agree, and she felt that his doom was sealed. All London had, however, admired her energy and spirit, and possibly it was owing to the unceasing efforts made by her to secure her husband's pardon that his the four lords afterwards reprieved. Lord name was actually included in the list of Nithsdaill, little foreseeing that this mercy would be extended to him, was now devoutly and courageously preparing for death. On the eve as he believed of his execution he wrote a beautiful farewell letter to his brother and sister at Traquair, in which the following passage testifies to the feelings with which he regarded his wife's loving efforts to save him:— I allso most humbly thank you for your un paralelled goodness towards my dearest wife and children, whom I most earnestly recommend to you as what is most dear to me after my own soul. You have been informed by my orders of what has passed here relating to me, and what my dearest wife has done for me, so all I shall say is there cannot be enough said to her praise. Everybody admires her, everybody applauds her and extolls her for the proofs she has given me of her love. So I beg of you, dearest brother and sister, that whatever love and affection you bear to me you will transfer it unto her as most worthy of it. It is evident from this letter that the earl now considered his case hopeless, but Lady Nithsdaill, whose courage rose in proportion as hope fled, was even now preparing her plan of escape. Her husband's place of imprisonment was in the house of Colonel D'Oyley, lieutenantdepute of the Tower, and the window, which looked out upon Water Lane, was sixty feet from the ground. Escape in that quarter seemed impossible, and inside even greater difficulties met her. The room was approached through the council chamber and the stairs and passages of the lieutenant's house, while sentinels to her. Speaking in this way, and referring to a petition to be presented by her that night on Lord Nithsdaill's behalf, Lady Nithsdaill conducted Mrs. Morgan partly down stairs, and there met Mrs. Mills, who in her character of a friend come to take leave of the earl, concealed her face in her handkerchief, with what seemed but a very natural emotion. As soon as the two ladies were safely inside Lord Nithsdaill's room, Lady Nithsdaill lost no time in disguising her husband. To conceal his black eyebrows she painted them yellow, to resemble those of Mrs. Mills, and provided him with a wig of the same color. As there was no time to shave his beard, she covered it with white paint, and likewise colored his cheeks with white and red paint. This accomplished, and Mrs. Mills having put on the hood provided for her by Mrs. Morgan, Lady Nithsdaill saw her safely out, imploring her also, in very audible tones, to hasten to bring her maid to her. The guards, willing to oblige Lady Nithsdaill, and grateful for the presents of the previ ous day, made no difficulty about letting her friends in and out, and this second departure was successfully accomplished. The decisive moment now approached; after seeing Mrs. Mills off, Lady Nithsdaill finished dressing her husband in all "her petticoats but one," covering the whole with a brown cloak having a hood attached.* It was now growing dark, and Lady Nithsdaill resolved to delay no longer. She therefore proceeded to lead her husband from the room, adjuring him, as her supposed friend, to make the greatest despatch to bring the tardy Evans to her, and lamenting anew her delay. The guards, who suspected nothing, and had kept no very clear reckoning of the num. ber of Lady Nithsdaill's friends, opened the door, and Lady Nithsdaill, with her companion, passed down the stairs. Here she took care that the earl should precede her, fearing that the guard behind might discover him by his gait. At the bottom of the stairs the faithful Evans awaited them, and under her care Lord Nithsdaill was safely conveyed to a place of concealment. But the heroic wife dared not yet leave the prison; hastening back to her lord's room she took the needful were placed everywhere - one at Lord | brought her outside the room, begging Nithsdaill's door, two on his floor, several her, in an audible voice, to send her maid in the passages and stairs, and two more at the outer door of the house. The chances of an escape seemed desperate, but Lady Nithsdaill when visiting her husband had discovered that the discipline of the prison was relaxed, and that the wives and children of the keepers went in and out frequently. Her plan was to endeavor to disguise Lord Nithsdaill in female dress and to escort him out of prison herself making as though he were a lady friend of her own who had accompanied her to bid farewell to the earl. And here her greatest difficulty was to persuade her husband to avail himself of the means offered for his evasion. He was more inclined to be amused at his wife's device than to believe in any successful issue to the scheme. His wife, however, nothing daunted, proceeded to concoct her plan of action, in which she was assisted by her faithful Evans. Taking advantage of the consent of the Peers to petition the king, Lady Nithsdaill has tened to the Tower the same day, February 22nd, and assuming a cheerful manner, told the guards she was hopeful of mercy being granted to the prisoners, justly judging that if they believed that a reprieve was about to be granted, they would relax their vigilance. She likewise gave them money to drink to the health of the king and the Peers, but was careful only to give small sums to avoid arousing suspicion. She did not return to the Tower until the afternoon following Thursday the eve of the fatal day. As she was starting for the Tower, and not sooner, she communicated her intentions to Mrs. Mills, with whom she lodged, and requested her to accompany her, and also her friend Mrs. Morgan. Her idea was, that the earl, disguised in woman's dress, might pass for Mrs. Mills, who was about his own height, and she requested Mrs. Morgan to wear under her hood another she had provided for Mrs. Mills when the latter should have given hers to Lord Nithsdaill. The two ladies willingly agreed to assist Lady Nithsdaill as she proposed, and to give them less time to think of the risk they were incurring, she tells us that she talked unceasingly during the drive to the Tower. On arriving, Lady Nithsdaill-who could only take in one person at a time-first went up to the earl's room, accompanied by Mrs. Morgan, and this good lady having divested herself of the extra clothing in tended for Mrs. Mills, Lady Nithsdaill It is said that from the cloak and hood worn by Lord Nithsdaill on this occasion came the fashion of measures to prevent the immediate dis- | disguised in livery, he accompanied the covery of his escape, and here we will ambassador's coach to Dover. From quote her own words: When I got into my lord's chamber, I spoak as it were to him, and I answered as if he had, and imitated his voice, as near as I could, and walked up and down the room, as if we had been walking and talking together, till I thought he had time enough to be out of their reach. I then began to thinke it was fitt for me to get out of it also. So I oppen'd the door, and went halfe out of it, holding the door in my hand, that what I said might be heard by those without, and took a solemn leave of my lord for that night, saying that I thought some strange thing must have hapen'd to make Evans stay, she that never used to be neglect ful, in the smalest thing, to make her so in a matter of this consequence, but I found there was no remedy but going myselfe: that if the Tower was still oppen, when I had done I would see him that night, but he might be sure that as soon as ever it was in the morning, I would be with him, and hoped to bring him good newse, and then before I shutt the door, I drew in to the inside a little string that lifted up a wooden latche, so that when the string was wanting in the outside, the door could not be oppened but by those within-after which I shut the door with a flap that it might be surely shut, and as I passed by, I told my lord's valet de Chamber, who knew nothing of the matter, that he would not have candles till he called for them, for that he would finish some prayers first, and so went down-stairs. there he crossed safely to France in a small sailing vessel, making so rapid a passage, that the captain of the boat remarked that they could not have had a fairer wind, had they been flying for their lives. The good man little knew how applicable his words were to one of his passengers. Leaving Lord Nithsdaill in safety we must return to his courageous wife. She remained in London until the good news reached her of her husband's arrival in France. Till then it had been supposed that she had accompanied Lord Nithsdaill, but when she made known through a friend that she was still in town, and requested permission to go about freely, she was informed that although no special search would be made for her, yet if she England, she would be made prisoner. appeared publicly in either Scotland or Under these circumstances Lady Nithsdaill's friends must have urged her immediate departure for France, and to rejoin her husband must have been her own dearest wish, but before she could think of her own safety, she had determined to attempt a journey to Scotland, to secure the family papers buried by herself in the gardens at Terregles, and which would, as she knew, prove of vital importance to Taking a hackney coach, Lady Nithsdaill her son hereafter. To use her own words, first returned to her lodging. There she "as I had riskt my life for the father, I discharged the carriage, and sending for was resolved to run a second risk for the a sedan chair, proceeded to visit, first benefit of the son." Therefore, accompa the Duchess of Buccleuch, and after- nied by the trusty Evans, and a faithful wards her other friend the Duchess of Scotch manservant, we find Lady NithsMontrose, changing her chair at each daill making her way north, this time house to avoid being traced. To the choosing the smaller and less frequented Duchess of Montrose Lady Nithsdaill inns to avoid recognition, and at last arconfided what had occurred, and the duch. riving safely at Traquair, which must have ess, warning her friend to conceal herself, seemed a very haven of rest to the weary as the king was already prejudiced against lady. Here under the affectionate care her, hastened to court, to see what effect of Lord and Lady Traquair, and in the would be produced by the news of the enjoyment of her little daughter's presescape. At first the king was highly in-ence, Lady Nithsdaill ventured to rest for censed, but when his anger cooled, is reported to have made the good-natured remark, that for a man placed in Lord Nithsdaill's position, to escape was the best thing he could do. For two days Lord and Lady Nithsdaill remained concealed in a small room in the house of a poor woman, "just before the Court of Guards." On the Saturday Lord Nithsdaill was conveyed to the Venetian embassy - the ambassador knowing nothing of the arrangement-and remained there concealed in one of the servants' rooms till the following Wednesday, when, two days. She then proceeded to Terregles. Here she spent three days. Having dug up the precious papers, which she found in a state of perfect preservation, she despatched them to Traquair, and returned thither herself, just in time to escape a domiciliary visit from the magistrates of Dumfries. Lady Nithsdaill seems to have spent some weeks at Traquair this time, and as we hear of no annoying visits on the part of the authorities, we may conclude that this was a period of repose and peace. A few let ters exist written at this time by Lady Nithsdaill to her agent at Terregles, which | Lord Linton's to his mother, Lady Tra are interesting, chiefly as showing her quair, dated Paris, May, 1716, that Lord interest and practical knowledge in the Nithsdaill was then on the eve of starting various domestic arrangements, necessi- for Italy to join the Chevalier (James III.). tated by her straitened circumstances. The prince had written to him in warm In the month of June apparently, she re- terms urging him to come to him, and turned to London, taking the same pre-assuring him that as long as he himself cautions as on her former journey. On had a loaf of bread in the world he would reaching town she found that great talk share it with him. Possibly Lord Nithswas being made of her northern expedi-daill had been disappointed with the retion, and she was told that the king was greatly displeased with her, and had ordered search to be made for her, declaring that Lady Nithsdaill did what she pleased in spite of him, and had done him more mischief than any woman in Christendom. Lady Nithsdaill remained concealed until the excitement had subsided, and then, warned of the danger of her position as long as she remained in Britain, and urged by her husband to delay no longer, she prepared to join him in France, taking the little Lady Anne with her. Lady Nithsdaill writes to her sister at Traquair on the eve of her voyage, July 19, and the next letter we find is one from the trusty Evans, announcing the arrival of the party in Belgium. Lady Nithsdaill had indeed escaped her enemies, but the stormy sea passage nearly cost her her life. Seized by a dangerous illness she had to be put ashore at Sluice, where she lay for some time unable to proceed. This must have been the more trying as Bruges was so near, and Lady Nithsdaill must have longed to be with her sister, Lady Lucy, then superioress of the English convent in that town. The latter, apprised by Mrs. Evans of her sister's condition, sent a lay sister to Sluice, and all the comforts necessary for the invalid. A gentleman who had been Lady Nithsdaill's fellow passenger was fortunately going direct to "the place" where Lord Nithsdaill then was, and undertook to communicate the news of his wife's illness to him. These details we learn from Mrs. Evans's letter, so graphically written, and so full of affectionate interest in her mistress, that we regret that it is the only one that has been preserved. About the middle of August Lady Nithsdaill was able to move to Bruges, and by October she and her husband were once more reunited. Of Lord Nithsdaill's movements during the months previous to this date it is difficult to speak with certainty, but we gather from a letter of It is to be regretted that Mrs. Evans does not mention the name of the place where Lord Nithsdaill was. As will be seen, we believe him to have been then in attendance on the Chevalier, presumably in Italy. ception he received; at any rate his visit By the end of February the Nithsdaills quitted Paris. Lady Nithsdaill had persuaded her husband to return to the prince, where alone there seemed a possi bility of his being able to fill a position at all suitable to his necessities; and she herself, forced to live with as little cost as possible, retired for a short time to La Flêche, where she could have the satisfac- | 1717, and in her subsequent letterrs to Lady Traquair, Lady Nithsdaill refers to the uncertainty of Lord Nithsdaill's plans and his recurring wish to leave Italy. tion of being near her son, who was pursuing his studies at the Jesuit College of that town.* How much Lady Nithsdaill felt the fresh separation from her husband, and her anxiety about his pecuniary matters may be gathered from the following words in a letter to Lady Traquair, dated Feb. 29, 1717: All my satisfaction is, that at least my husband has twice as much to maintain himselfe and man as I have, so I hope when he sees there is no resource, as indeed now there is not, having sold all, even to the little necessary plate I took so much pains to bring over, he will live accordingly, which will be some comfort to me, though I have the mortification to be from him, which, after we mett againe, I hopet never to have seperated, but God's will be done; and I submit to this cross as well as many others I have had in the world, though I must confess living from a husband I love so well is a very great one. On June 10th Lady Nithsdaill tells her sister-in-law, that she has heard of Lord Nithsdaill's safe arrival in Italy, after a most dangerous passage. For five days the peril was so great that the seamen, in despair, left off working, and the ship remained at the mercy of the waves. It was mercifully cast upon the shore at An. tibes, and Lord Nithsdaill was soon after enabled to join his royal master. It was not long, however, before he became weary of his position near the Chevalier, and his letters to his wife inform her of the disappointments be meets with, and soon of his wish to leave the prince and return to her. He then still clung to the hope that Lady Nithsdaill would receive her jointure from the English government, and looked to that for their support. Lady Nithsdaill, more prudent, and zealous for her husband's honor, continued to urge him to remain with his master. In answer to one of Lord Nithsdaill's desponding letters, she writes: You may be sure, my dear lord, that having you with me, or neare me, would be the greatest natural satisfaction I could have in this world; but I should be a very ill wife, if to procure it myselfe, I would lett you run into those inconveniencys you would doe, if you follow'd the method you propose of leaving your master. For assure yourself, you will in following it, ruine your reputation and put yourself in a starving condition. This letter was written in September, * After her residence at La Flêche, Lady Nithsdaill apparently returned to Paris. In the following May, she alludes to the report of the prince's approaching marriage, and on June 8th is able to confirm the good news, and inform her sisterin-law that Lord Nithsdaill has had a most satisfactory interview with his master, who announced his marriage, and told him he specially desired to have him in his household. Lord Nithsdaill urged his wife to join him with as little delay as possible, but as usual, pecuniary difficulties were in the way. After quoting her husband's letter, Lady Nithsdaill contin But tho' he bid me loos noe time in writing to you about borrowing money, I would not doe it, because though he did not know it, my dear Mistress who was underhand the occasion of furthering my promotion, and who, though it must never be known, was resolved I should be about her daughter-in-law, had promist me to give me notice when it was fitt for me to goe, and would have given me what was requisite to carry me, and writ to me four dayes befor her illness, what she would have me write to her Son in order to it, which I did the first post, and sent it inclosed in a letter to her. But, allas! it arrived the day she dyed, whether her loss is not a great one to me. I some hours after her death. Imagine you may truly say I have lost a kind mother, for she was truly that to me whilst I had her. I would not write to you, being sensible that you have already done a great deal, so that nothing but unavoidable necessity could make me mention any such thing. But allas! I am so far from being able to comply with my husband's dessire now, that I know not how to scarce keep myselfe from starving with the small credit I have here, being reduced to the greatest of straits. My pention never having been payd but by months, and the dangerous and long sickness of my little girle occasion'd my being in debt, even before my fateall loss. But had I not lost my deare Mistris, I know she would have supply'd me out of hir privat purse, for my pention was too small to have lived upon, without her unknown supplys, and even of that small pention I have not had one farthing since her death, and if I doe not doe what my husband desires me, all hopes is lost of our ever promoting ourselves, if we slipe this opportunity, which you will see by his other letter writ after he knew of the loss I had made, tho' he knows not yet how great it was to me. But if your husband's goodness and yours does not give a helping hand, I may not only loos all hopes, but even starve for what I see. We do not learn whether, on this occa* Mary of Modena. |