190 ESSAY ON THE RATIONALE OF 



meet with entire agreement amongst a number of witnesses, in all 

 the collateral incidents of the same principal event. Such an agree- 

 ment is, indeed, rather apt to excite suspicion of confederacy. 



Instances of discrepancy as to the minor attendant circumstances 

 of historical events are almost numberless. Lord Clarendon relates 

 that the Marquis of Argyle was condemned to be hanged, which 

 was performed the same day. Burnett, Woodrow, and Echard, all 

 writers of good authority, who lived near the time, state that he 

 was beheaded, though condemned to be hanged ; and that the sen- 

 tence was pronounced on Saturday and carried into effect on the 

 following Monday. Some historians say that Charles I. slept at 

 Whitehall on the night before his execution ; others that he walked 

 across the Park from St. .James's to the place of execution. The 

 place of interment of that unfortunate but faithless sovereign has 

 been variously stated ; the exact spot, we know, was verified a few 

 years ago, and was the subject of a very interesting paper by Sir 

 Henry Halford. Charles II. has been variously stated to have em- 

 barked at Brighthelm stone and at New Shoreham. Baker's Chro- 

 nicle and Whitelock's Memorials date the death of Pym in May, 

 1643, whereas he died in December in that year. Lord Clarendon 

 says, " On August 29th the standard was erected about six o'clock 

 of the evening of a very stormy and tempestuous day."* In Rush- 

 worth's collection, it is stated to have been erected on the 22nd of 

 August. Every one knows how variously the circumstances con- 

 nected with the death of Hampden have been stated : not long ago 

 his remains were exhumed, and afforded a remarkable confirmation 

 of the accounts given by some writers by the discovery of his dis- 

 membered hand in a bag in his coffin. Hume, Robertson, and other 

 historians, say that Mary, Queen of Scots, on the night preceding 

 her execution, went to bed at her wonted time, and slept calmly for 

 a few hours. Lingard says she retired to rest, but it was observed 

 she did not sleep ; her lips were in constant motion, and her mind 

 seemed absorbed in prayer. 



Notwithstanding these discrepancies, who ever doubted the exist- 

 ence of any of the main facts with which they are connected ? 



Mere omissions are generally capable of explanation by the 

 consideration that the mind may be so deeply impressed by, and the 

 attention so rivetted to, a particular fact, as to withdraw observa- 

 tion from concomitant circumstances. Omissions, however, some- 

 times proceed from wilful suppression. Grafton, in his Chronicles, 



* History of the Rebellion, vol. iii., p. 191. 



