Russell (as well as Hampden) was much attached to the aficient constitution, and proposed only the exclusion of the duke of York, and the redress of grievances. Applications were made to the king for a pardon; even money to the amount of 100,000 £. was offered to the duchess of Portsmouth, by the old earl of Bedford, father to Russell.-The king was inexorable He had observed that the prisoner, besides his secret designs, had always been carried to the highest extremity of opposition in parliament. When such determined resolution was observed, his popularity, his humanity, his justice, his very virtues, became so many crimes, and were used as arguments against sparing him. Upon the whole, the integrity and virtuous intentions, rather than the capacity of this unfortunate nobleman, seem to have been the shining parts of his character.

Russell's consort, a woman of great merit, daughter and heiress of the good earl of Southampton, threw herself at the king's feet, and pleaded with many tears the merits and loyalty of her father, as an atonement for those errors into which honest, however mistaken principles, had seduced her husband. These supplications were the last instance of female weakness (if they deserve the name) which she betrayed. Finding all applications vain, she collected courage, and not only fortified herself against the fatal blow, but endeavoured, by her example, to strengthen the resolution of her unfortunate lord.

The evening before his death, he suffered his children, who were young, and some of his friends, to take leave of him; in which he maintained his constancy of temper, though he was a very fond parent. He parted with his lady at the same time with a composed silence; and she had such command of herself, that when she was gone, he said, the bitterness of death was past (for he loved and esteemed her beyond expression). He ran out into a long discourse concerning her-how great a blessing she had been to him, and said-" What a misery it

would have been to him, if she had not had that magnanimity of spirit, joined to her tenderness, as never to have desired him to do a base thing for the saving of his life." He said, "There was a signal providence of God in giving him such a wife, where there was birth, fortune, great understanding, great religion, and great kindness to him; but her carriage in his extremity was beyond all. He was glad that she and his children were to lose nothing by his death; and it was a great comfort to him that he left his children in such a mother's hands, and that she had promised to him to take care of herself for their sakes."

Canning, in his poetical epistle from lord Russell to lord Cavendish, supposes him describing himself thus:

While I unskill'd in oratory's lore,

Whose tongue ne'er speaks but when the heart runs

o'er,

In plain blunt phrase my honest thoughts express'd,
Warm from the heart, and to the heart address'd;
Press'd by my friends and Rachael's fond desires,
(Who can deny what weeping love requires?)
Frailty prevail'd, and for a moment quell'd
Th' indignant pride that in my bosom swell'd;
I sued the weak attempt I blush to own-
I sued for mercy, prostrate at the throne.
O! blot the foible out, my noble friend,
With human firmness, human feelings blend:

When love's endearments softest moments seize,
And love's dear pledges hang upon the knees,
When nature's strongest ties the soul enthrall,
(Thou canst conceive, for thou hast felt them all)
Let him resist their prevalence who can,
He must indeed be more or less than man.
Yet let me yield my Rachael honour due,
The tend'rest wife, the noblest heroine too!
Anxious to save her husband's honest name,
Dear was his life, but dearer still his fame.
When suppliant prayers no pardon could obtain,
And wond'rous strange, e'en Bedford's gold prov'd

vain,

Th' informer's part, her gen'rous soul abhorr'd,
Tho' life preserv'd had been the sure reward;
Let impious Howard act such treach'rous scenes,
And shrink from death by such opprobious means.
O! my lov'd Rachael! name for ever dear,
Nor writ, nor spoke, nor thought without a tear!
Whose heav'nly virtues, and unfading charms,
Have bless'd through happy years my peaceful arms,
Parting with thee, into my cup was thrown,
It's harshest dregs else had not forc'd a groan :
But all is o'er these eyes have gaz'd their last,
And now the bitterness of death is past.

The earl of Dartmouth told the king, the pardoning of lord Russell would lay an eternal obligation upon a very great and numerous family, and the taking his life away would never be forgotten, and his father being alive, it would have very little

effect upon the rest of the family besides resentments; and certainly there was some regard due to lord Southampton's daughter and her children. The king answered-"All that is true; but it is as true, that if I do not take his life, he will soon have mine;" which would admit of no reply.

It is highly improbable that Charles had in truth any such groundless apprehensions The earl of Bedford, it is also to be remarked, petitioned in vain, as did lord Russell himself, in compliance with the request of his friends, rather than his own inclination.

The execution was performed not on Tower-hill, the common place of execution' for men of high rank, but in Lincoln's-inn Fields, in order that the citizens might be humbled by the spectacle of their once triumphant leader, carried in his coach to death through the city-a device which, like most others of the kind, produced an effect contrary to what was intended. The multitude imagined they beheld virtue and liberty sitting by his side. In passing, he looked towards Southamptonhouse; the tear started in his eye, but he instantly wiped it away. He prayed for the king; but with a prescience of what afterwards happened, he foretold, That although a cloud hung now over the nation, his death would do more service than his life could have done."

Lord Russell was accordingly beheaded, or basely sacrificed, Saturday, 21 July, 1683, Burnet says, "He laid his head upon the block, without the least change of countenance, which, at two strokes was severed from his body."-This was the end of that great and good man, who both by his own experience found (as he told lord Cavendish) and by his example shewed how prevalent the power of religion is, both to comfort and support our spirits in the time of extremity.

King James II. in his distresses, 1688, addressed himself to the earl of Bedford :-" My lord you are an honest man, have great credit, and can do me sigual service,”- Ah, sir,

replied the earl) I am old and feeble: I can do you but little service; but I once had a son that could have assisted you; James was so struck with this reply, that

but he is no more."

he could not speak for some minutes.

Sudbury Church, Derbyshire.

On a neat mural monument, raised in commemoration of Catharine, daughter of the late Lord Vernon, who died June 8, 1775, at the age of twenty-five.

Mild as the opening morn's serenest ray,
Mild as the close of Summer's softest day;
Her form, her virtues (form'd alike to please
With artless charms, and unassuming ease ;)
On every breast their mingling influence stole,
And in sweet union breath'd one beauteous whole.
This fair example to the world was lent

As the short lesson of a life well spent:

Alas, too short!-but bounteous heaven best knows When to reclaim the blessings it bestows.

Cirencester Church-Yard.

Our bodies are like shoes, which off we cast ;
Physic their coller is, and death their last.