106 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



enemies, vented itself in the deepest sorrow and indignation. The following 

 day he appeared before his judges, and after many bitter invectives and personal 

 ' insults, received sentence in terms highly characteristic of a barbarous age and 

 policy. 



The clergyman, whose duty it was to attend him during the brief interval 

 between the sentence and its execution, dwelt much upon its terrors, and 

 endeavoured to elicit repentance and confession; but his ghostly arguments 

 were met by the same imperturbable spirit which raised its possessor so much 

 above his fate. " No," he replied, " I am prouder to have my head affiLxed 

 to these prison walls, than to have my picture in the king's bed-chamber ; and 

 far from being troubled that my Hmbs are to be sent to your principal towns, 

 I only regret that my body cannot be so dispersed through every town in 

 Christendom, as to attest my unshaken loyalty and attachment to my king." 



Being observed to take great pains in dressing his hak, he was admonished 

 by Johnston of Warriston (himself the future victim of party) to reflect upon 

 his situation, and instead of wasting the little time that was left on his person, 

 to devote it to his spiritual affairs. " I thank thee," said Montrose, " for thy 

 well-meant counsel ; but so long as this head is my own, I will dress it as here- 

 tofore : to-morrow it wiU be yours, and then you will treat it as you think fit." 



In this state of intellectual repose he spent the night, and with such per- 

 fect self-possession, as to record his religious sentiments in a copy of verses, 

 which are mentioned by Hume as no despicable proof of his poetical genius.* 

 Next day he appeared on the scaffold in a rich habit, and, with a serene and 

 undaunted countenance, addressed the spectators in vindication of his resolution 

 to " die unabsolved by the chui'ch, rather than justify an invasion of the 

 kingdom during a treaty with the estates." Additional insults were now 

 heaped upon him ; and when the public executioner fastened the history of 

 his exploits round his neck, he smiled at this pitiful display of rancour, and 

 observed, " that he wore this new badge with greater pride than he ever wore 

 that of the garter." He then spent some time in prayer ; and demanding, 

 as he rose, if any fresh indignities remained to be inflicted, met his fate with 

 undaunted courage, in the prime of life, and in possession of faculties which 

 would have done honour to any age or country. -f- 



* They were written with a diamond on a pane of glass in the prison window. — See Laing's Hist. 

 f " The great Montrose — the good Montrose — what horrors met tiiee iliere I 

 A bright career, a bloody close, a scaffold of despair ! 

 But thine the eye that calmly viewed death's most appalling form, 

 And thine tlie free-born fortitude that triumphed in the storm. ' The 



