SCOTT.

[Notes:  The Porteous Mob occurred in 1736.  At the execution of a smuggler named Wilson, a slight commotion amongst the crowd was made by Captain Porteous the occasion for ordering his men who were on guard to fire upon the people.  He was tried and sentenced to death, but reprieved by Queen Caroline, then regent in the absence of George II.  The reprieve was held so unjust by the people that they stormed the Tolbooth, and hanged Porteous, who was a prisoner there.]

* * * * *

THE PORTEOUS MOB—­continued.

The tumult was now transferred from the inside to the outside of the Tolbooth.  The mob had brought their destined victim forth, and were about to conduct him to the common place of execution, which they had fixed as the scene of his death.  The leader, whom they had distinguished by the name of Madge Wildfire, had been summoned to assist at the procession by the impatient shouts of his confederates.

“I will ensure you five hundred pounds,” said the unhappy man, grasping Wildfire’s hand,—­“five hundred pounds for to save my life.”

The other answered in the same undertone, and returning his grasp with one equally convulsive.  “Five hundred-height of coined gold should not save you—­Remember Wilson!”

A deep pause of a minute ensued, when Wildfire added, in a more composed tone, “Make your peace with Heaven.  Where is the clergyman?”

Butler, who, in great terror and anxiety, had been detained within a few yards of the Tolbooth door, to wait the event of the search after Porteous, was now brought forward, and commanded to walk by the prisoner’s side, and to prepare him for immediate death.

They had suffered the unfortunate Porteous to put on his night-gown and slippers, as he had thrown off his coat and shoes, in order to facilitate his attempted escape up the chimney.  In this garb he was now mounted on the hands of two of the rioters, clasped together, so as to form what is called in Scotland, “The King’s Cushion.”  Butler was placed close to his side, and repeatedly urged to perform a duty always the most painful which can be imposed on a clergyman deserving of the name, and now rendered more so by the peculiar and horrid circumstances of the criminal’s case.  Porteous at first uttered some supplications for mercy, but when he found that there was no chance that these would be attended to, his military education, and the natural stubbornness of his disposition, combined to support his spirits.

The procession now moved forward with a slow and determined pace.  It was enlightened by many blazing links and torches; for the actors of this work were so far from affecting any secrecy on the occasion, that they seemed even to court observation.  Their principal leaders kept close to the person of the prisoner, whose pallid yet stubborn features were seen distinctly by the torch-light, as his person was raised considerably