RUSSELL. 



clothes with him in prifon ; and he alfo declined the duke 

 of Monmouth's propofal of furrendcring himfelf, fhould 

 lord Wdliam Ruflell think it might contribute to his fafety. 

 " It will be no advantage to me," he faid, " to have my 

 friends die with me." Conjugal affection was the feeling 

 that clung clofeft to his heart ; and when he had taken his 

 laft farewel of his wife, he faid, " The bitternefs of death 

 is now over." He fuffered the fentence of his judges with 

 refignation and compofure. Some of his expreflions imply 

 much good humour in this laft extremity. The day before 

 his execution he was feized with a bleeding at the nofc : 

 " I (hall not now let blood to divert this diftemper," faid 

 he to Burnet, who was prefent ; " that will be done to- 

 morrow." A little before the fheriffs conducted him to 

 his carriage, that was to convey him to the fcaffold, he 

 wound up his watch, " Now I have done," faid he, " with 

 time, and henceforth muft think folely of eternity." 



The execution was performed July 21ft, not on Tower -hill, 

 the common place of execution for men of high rank, but in 

 Linceln's-Inn-Fields, in order that the citizens might be 

 humbled by the fpectacle of their once triumphant leader, 

 carried in his coach through the city ; a device which, like 

 molt others of the kind, produced an effect contrary to 

 what was intended. The multitude imagined they beheld 

 virtue and liberty fitting by his fide. As he was the moil 

 popular among his own party, fo was he the leaft obnoxious 

 to the oppofite faction ; and his melancholy fate united 

 every heart, fenfible of humanity, in a tender companion for 

 him. Without the leaft change ol countenance, he laid his 

 head on the block, and at two (trokes it was fevered from 

 his body. He was, at the time of his death, only 42 years 

 of age. To his character for probity, lincerity, and private 

 worth, even the enemies to his public principles bear tciti- 

 mony. Of his underftanding, bifhop Burnet fays " that he 

 was flow, and of little difcourfe, and had a true judgment, 

 when he confidered things at his own leifure." At Wooburn 

 Abbey is preferved, in gold letters, the fpeech of lord 

 Ruflell to the fheriffs, together with the paper delivered by 

 his lordfhip to them at the place of execution. 



Mr. Calamy, in fpeaking of lord Ruflell, fays, " that 

 an age would not repair the lols to the nation, and whofe 

 name fhould never be mentioned by Englilhmen without 

 Angular refpect." He palled through and left this world, 

 with as great and general a reputation as any one of the 

 age, and his memory will be had in grateful and everlaftillg 

 remembrance. Honour and friendfllip attended lord Ruflell 

 beyond the grave. Lord Cavendilh married his cldeft fon 

 to one of the daughters of his deceafed, his murdered friend ; 

 for fo the deed was defcribed in the aft of 1 688-9, for re- 

 verling the attainder. The houfe of commons, at the fame 

 time, appointed a committee to examine who were the ad- 

 vifers and promoters of the murder of lord Ruflell. In 

 May 1694 his tather, the earl of Bedford, was created mar- 

 quis of Taviltock and duke of Bedford; and the rcafons 

 for bellowing thefe honours upon him are in part as follow : 

 " That this was not the leaft, that he was the father to lord 

 Ruflell, the ornament of his age, whofe great merits if was 

 not enough to tranfmit by hiftory to pollerity, but they 

 (the king ?nd queen) were willing to record them in their 

 royal patent, to remain in the family as a monument con- 

 fecrated to his confummate virtue, whofe name could never 

 be forgotten, fo long as men preferved any elleera for fanc- 

 tity of manners, greatnefs of mind, and a love to their 

 country, conltant even to death. Therefore, to folace his 

 excellent father for fo great a lofs, to celebrate the memory 

 of fo noble a fon, and to excite his worthy grandfon, the 



heir of fuch mighty hopes, more cheerfully to emulate and 

 follow the example of his illullrious father, they 'entailed 

 this high dignity upon the earl and his pofterity." 



Rusmel, Lady Rachel, the worthy wife of the fubjcil 

 of the foregoing article, diltinguifhed herfelf equally by the 

 affectionate zeal with which (he ferved her hulband, and by 

 the magnanimity with which (he bore her lofs, and the re- 

 verence (he cheriflied for his memory. Upon his trial, (lie 

 accompanied him into court ; and when he was refilled a 

 counfel, and permitted only to employ an amanuenfis, ihe 

 flood forth as that afliftant, exciting the fympathy and ad- 

 miration of all the fpeclators. After his death, (he wrote 

 an affecting letter to the king, affcrting that the paper de- 

 livered by him to the fheriffs was of his own compofition, 

 and not dictated by any other perfon, as had been fufpected. 

 She was the faithful guardian of her hufband's fame. A 

 few days after the defeat and deatli of the duke of Mon- 

 mouth, with whom lord Ruflell had an intimate connec- 

 tion, (he made ufe of the opportunity for declaring her 

 convidtion that his grace's late attempt was a new project, 

 and not at all depending on any former defign, if there was 

 any real one, which, (he faid, (he was fatisfied, was no more 

 than her lord admitted, viz. talk ; and it is poflible that 

 converfation might have proceeded fo far as to confider, if 

 a remedy for fuppofed evils might be fought, how it could 

 be formed. " He had," continues her ladyfhip, " fo juft 

 a foul, fo firm, fo good, that he could not warp from fuch 

 principles that were fo, unlefs mifguided by his underftand- 

 ing, and that his own and not another's : for I dare fay, as 

 far as he could difcern, he never went into any thing con- 

 (iderable upon the mere fubmiflion to any one's particular 

 judgment." Lady Ruflell alfo, in the fame affectionate 

 regard to her lord's memory, after the revolution, made 

 ufe of her intereft in favour of his chaplain, Mr. Samuel 

 Johnfon, and was inftrumental in procuring him a penfion. 

 As (he had promifed her lord to take care of her own life, 

 for the fake of his children, (he was religioufly mindful in 

 keeping her promife, and continued his widow to the end 

 of her life, which did not happen till Michaelmas day 1723, 

 at the age of 87. Biog. Brit. Hume. Letters of Lady 

 Rachel Ruflell. 



RusbELL, Alexander, a phyfician, who refided feveral 

 years in the Englifli factory at Aleppo, was a native of 

 Edinburgh, and at an early period of his life was devoted 

 by his father to the profeflion of medicine. His education 

 was, of courfe, obtained in his native univcrfity ; and on 

 coming to London, he was induced to embark for Turkey, 

 and fettled at Aleppo, with the appointment of phyfician to 

 the Englifli factory there. He applied himfelf ailiduoufly 

 to the acquifition of the language of the country, and to 

 form an acquaintance with the moil experienced practi- 

 tioners, in order to learn their modes of practice. But he 

 foon obtained a proud pre-eminence above all the phyficians 

 there, and was confulted by all nations, ranks, and profef- 

 iions, by Franks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and even 

 Turks themfelves. The pacha of Aleppo particularly dif- 

 tinguifhed him by his friendfllip, and this intimacy enabled 

 Dr. Ruflell to render the molt important Cervices to the 

 factory. The pacha, indeed, did not fail to confult bin 

 refpecting every act of importance ; and many criminals, 

 who were natives, owed their lives to the doctor's inter- 

 pofition. The pacha carried his illeem for Dr. Ruflell fo 

 far, that he fent fome valuable prefects to his aged father, 

 faying to him, " I am obliged for your friendfllip and 

 afliUance." 



In 1755 Dr. Ruflell publiflicd his " Natural Hiftory of 

 5 A 2 Aleppo," 



