1 (return)
[ Bles, 1934.]
2 (return)
[ A stanza in one ballad
runs:]
3 (return)
[ "And haifing enterit within
the faid chalmer, perfaving the faid vmqle Johnne to be walknit out of his
fleip, be thair dyn, and to preife ouer his bed ftok, the faid Robert cam
than rynnand to him, and maift crewallie, with thair faldit neiffis gaif
him ane deidlie and crewall straik on the vane-organe, quhairwith he dang
the faid vmqle Johnne to the grund, out-ouer his bed; and thaireftir,
crewallie ftrak him on bellie with his feit; quhairvpoun he gaif ane grit
cry: And the faid Robert, feiring the cry fould haif bene hard, he
thaireftir, maift tyrannouflie and barbarouflie, with his hand, grippit
him be the thrott or waifen, quhilk he held faft ane lang tyme quhill he
wirreit him; during the quhilk tyme, the faid Johnne Kincaid lay
ftruggilling and fechting in the panes of daith vnder him. And fa, the
faid vmqle Johnne was crewallie murdreit and flaine be the faid Robert."]
4 (return)
[ Men convicted of certain
crimes were also subject to the same form of execution adulterating and
uttering base coins (Alan Napier, cutler in Glasgow, was strangled and
burned at the stake in December 1602) sorcery, witchcraft, incantation,
poisoning (Bailie Paterson suffered a like fate in December 1607). For
bestiality John Jack was strangled on the Castle Hill (September 1605),
and the innocent animal participator in his crime burned with him.]
5 (return)
[ The Memorial is fully
entitled: A Worthy and Notable Memorial of the Great Work of Mercy which
God wrought in the Conversion of Jean Livingstone Lady Warristoun, who was
apprehended for the Vile and Horrible Murder of her own Husband, John
Kincaid, committed on Tuesday, July 1, 1600, for which she was execute on
Saturday following; Containing an Account of her Obstinacy, Earnest
Repentance, and her Turning to God; of the Odd Speeches she used during
her Imprisonment; of her Great and Marvellous Constancy; and of her
Behaviour and Manner of Death: Observed by One who was both a Seer and
Hearer of what was spoken.]
6 (return)
[ A 'row' is a wheel. This is
one of the very few instances on which the terrible and vicious punishment
of 'breaking on a wheel' was employed in Scotland. Jean Livingstone's
accomplice was, according to Birrell's Diary, broken on a cartwheel, with
the coulter of a plough in the hand of the hangman. The exotic method of
execution suggests experiment by King Jamie.]
7 (return)
[ Hutchinson, 1930.]
8 (return)
[ Edinburgh, W. Green and
Son, Ltd., 1930.]
9 (return)
[ Antony Weldon, The Court
and Character of King James (1651).]
10 (return)
[ Fisher Unwin, 1925.]
11 (return)
[ State Trials (Cobbett's
edition).]
12 (return)
[ Antony Weldon.]
13 (return)
[ State Trials.]
14 (return)
[ Probably started by
Michael Sparke ("Scintilla") in Truth Brought to Light (1651).]
15 (return)
[ Sabatini, The Minion.]
16 (return)
[ According to one account.
The Newgate Calendar (London 1773) gives Mrs Duncomb's age as eighty and
that of the maid Betty as sixty.]
17 (return)
[ One account says it was
Sarah Malcolm who entered via the gutter and window. Borrow, however, in
his Celebrated Trials, quotes Mrs Oliphant's evidence in court on this
point.]
18 (return)
[ Or Kerrol—the name
varies in different accounts of the crime.]
19 (return)
[ Peter Buck, a prisoner.]
20 (return)
[ Born 1711, Durham,
according to The Newgate Calendar.]
21 (return)
[ This confession, however,
varies in several particulars with that contained in A Paper delivered by
Sarah Malcolm on the Night before her Execution to the Rev. Mr Piddington,
and published by Him (London, 1733).]
22 (return)
[ In Mr Piddington's paper
the supposed appointment is for "3 or 4 o'clock at the Pewter Platter,
Holbourn Bridge."]
23 (return)
[ One Bridgewater.]
24 (return)
[ On more than one hand the
crime is ascribed to Sarah's desire to secure one of the Alexanders in
marriage.]
25 (return)
[ It was once done by the
parish priest. (Stowe's Survey of London, p. 195, fourth edition, 1618.)]
26 (return)
[ The bequest of Dove
appears to have provided for a further pious admonition to the condemned
while on the way to execution. It was delivered by the sexton of St
Sepulchre's from the steps of that church, a halt being made by the
procession for the purpose. This admonition, however, was in fair prose.]
27 (return)
[ Thanks to my friend Billy
Bennett, of music-hall fame, for his hint for the chapter title.]
28 (return)
[ Sophie Dawes, Queen of
Chantilly (John Lane, 1912).]
29 (return)
[ Lacenaire, the notorious
murderer-robber in a biting song, written in prison, expressed the popular
opinion regarding Louis-Philippe's share in the Feucheres-Conde affair.
The song, called Petition d'un voleur a un roi son voisin, has this final
stanza:
"Sire, oserais-je reclamer?
Mais ecoutez-moi sans colere:
Le voeu que je vais exprimer
Pourrait bien, ma foi, vous deplaire.
Je suis fourbe, avare, mechant,
Ladre, impitoyable, rapace;
J'ai fait se pendre mon parent:
Sire, cedez-moi votre place."]
30 (return)
[ Or, simply, kermes—a
pharmaceutical composition, containing antimony and sodium sulphates and
oxide of antimony—formerly used as an expectorant.]
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg