were taken from the guard-house, while others carried links or flambeaux. Porteous was in the midst of them, and as he refused to walk, he was carried by two of the rioters on what is in Scotland called the King's cushion, by which two persons alternately grasping each other's wrists, form a kind of seat on the backs of their hands, upon which a third may be placed. They were so cool as to halt when one of the slippers dropped from his foot, till it was picked up and replaced.1

The citizens of the better class looked from their windows on this extraordinary scene, but terrified beyond the power of interference, if they had possessed the will. In descending the West Bow, which leads to the place of execution, the rioters, or conspirators-a term, perhaps, more suited to men of their character-provided themselves with a coil of ropes, by breaking into the booth of a dealer in such articles, and left at the same time a guinea to pay for it; a precaution which would hardly have occurred to men of the lowest class, of which in external appearance the mob seemed to consist. A cry was next raised for the gallows, in order that Porteous might die according to all the ceremony of the law. But as this instrument of punishment was kept in a distant part of the town, so that time must be lost in procuring it, they pro

[This little incident, characteristic of the extreme composure of this extraordinary mob, was witnessed by a lady who, disturbed like others from her slumbers, had gone to the window. It was told to the author by the lady's daughter."-Note, Heart of Mid-Lothian.]

ceeded to hang the unfortunate man over a dyer's pole, as near to the place of execution as possible. The poor man's efforts to save himself only added to his tortures; for as he tried to keep hold of the beam to which he was suspended, they struck his hands with guns and Lochaber axes, to make him quit his hold, so that he suffered more than usual in the struggle which dismissed him from life.

When Porteous was dead the rioters dispersed, withdrawing without noise or disturbance all the outposts which they had occupied for preventing interruption, and leaving the city so quiet, that had it not been for the relics of the fire which had been applied to the jail-door; the arms which lay scattered in disorder on the street, as the rioters had flung them down; and the dead body of Porteous, which remained suspended in the place where he died; there was no visible symptom of so violent an explosion of popular fury having taken place.

The Government, highly offended at such a daring contempt of authority, imposed on the Crown counsel the task of prosecuting the discovery of the rioters with the utmost care. The report of Mr Charles Erskine, then solicitor-general, is now before me, and bears witness to his exertions in tracing the reports, which were numerous, in assigning to various persons particular shares in this nocturnal outrage. All of them, however, when examined, proved totaily groundless, and it was evi

1

[See it in Note to the Heart of Mid-Lothian, Waverley Novels, vol. xi. p. 274.]

dent that they had been either wilful falsehoods, sent abroad to deceive and mislead the investigators, or at least idle and unauthenticated rumours which arise out of such commotions, like bubbles on broken and distracted waters. A reward of two hundred pounds was offered by Government, for the discovery of any person concerned in the riot, but without success.

Only a single person was proved to have been present at the mob, and the circumstances in which he stood placed him out of the reach of punishment. He was footman to a lady of rank, and a creature of weak intellects. Being sent into Edinburgh on a message by his mistress, he had drunk so much liquor as to deprive him of all capacity whatever, and in this state mixed with the mob, some of whom put a halberd in his hand. But the witnesses who proved this apparent accession to the mob, proved also that the accused could not stand without the support of the rioters, and was totally incapable of knowing for what purpose they were assembled, and consequently of approving of or aiding their guilt. He was acquitted accordingly, to the still further dissatisfaction of the Ministry, and of Queen Caroline, who considered the commotion, and the impunity with which it was followed, as an insult to her personal authority.

says Sir Walter

1 ["It is still recorded in popular tradition," Scott," that her Majesty, in the height of her displeasure, told the celebrated John, Duke of Argyle, that sooner than submit to such an insult (the execution of Porteous), she would make Scotland a hunting-field. In that case, Madam,' answered that high-spirited nobleman, with a profound bow, I will take

6

A bill was prepared and brought into Parliament for the punishment of the city of Edinburgh, in a very vindictive spirit, proposing to abolish the city charter, demolish the city walls, take away the town-guard, and declare the provost incapable of holding any office of public trust. A long investigation took place on the occasion, in which many persons were examined at the bar of the House of Lords, without throwing the least light on the subject of the Porteous Mob, or the character of the persons by whom it was conducted. The penal conclusions of the bill were strenuously combated by the Duke of Argyle, Duncan Forbes, and others, who represented the injustice of punishing with dishonour the capital of Scotland for the insolence of a lawless mob, which, taking advantage of a moment of security, had committed a great breach of the peace, attended with a cruel murder. As men's minds cooled, the obnoxious clauses were dropped

leave of your Majesty, and go down to my own country to get my hounds ready.' The import of the reply had more than met the ear. "-Heart of Mid-Lothian.]

1 ["Abolish the city-guard-rather a Hibernian mode of enabling them better to keep the peace within burgh in future." "The Lord Provost was ex officio commander and colonel of this corps, which might be increased to 300 men when the times required it. No other drum but theirs was allowed to sound on the High Street, between the Luckenbooths and the Netherbow. This ancient corps is now [in 1817 entirely disbanded. Their last march to do duty at Hallow Fair, had something in it affecting. Their drums and fifes had been wont, on better days, to play on this joyous occasion, the lively tune of Jockey to the Fair; but on this final occasion, the afflicted veterans moved slowly to the dirge of The Last Time I came ower the Muir.""-Notes, Heart of Mid-Lothian.]

out of the bill, and at length its penal consequences were restricted to a fine of L.2000 sterling on the city, to be paid for the use of Captain Porteous's widow. This person, having received other favours from the town, accepted of L.1500 in full of the fine; and so ended the affair, so far as the city of Edinburgh was concerned.

But, as if some fatality had attended the subject, a clause was thrown in, compelling the ministers of the Scottish church to read a proclamation from the pulpit, once every month during the space of a whole year, calling on the congregation to do all in their power for discovering and bringing to justice the murderers of Captain Porteous, or any of them, and noticing the reward which Government had promised to such as should bring the malefactors to conviction. Many of the Scottish clergy resented this imposition, as indecorously rendering the pulpit a vehicle for a hue and cry, and still more as an attempt, on the part of the state, to interfere with the spiritual authorities of the kirk, which amounted, in their opinion, to an Erastian heresy. Neither was it held to be matter of indifference, that in reading the proclamation of the Legislature, the clergymen were compelled to describe the bishops as the "Lords Spiritual in Parliament assembled ;" an epithet seemingly acknowledging the legality and the rank of an order disavowed by all true Calvinists. The dispute was the more violent, as it was immediately subsequent to a schism in the church, on the fruitful subject of patronage, which had divided from the