y
further petitions in favor of the rebel lords from being presented before
the day fixed for their execution. One of these petitions, it is worth
while recollecting, was presented by the kindly hand and supported by the
manly voice of Sir Richard Steele. The ministers returned a merely
formal answer on the King's behalf to the address, but they thought it
wise to recommend a respite to be given to Lord Nairn, the Earl of
Carnwath, and Lord Widdrington; and in order to get rid of any further
appeals for mercy, they resolved that the execution of Lord Nithisdale,
Lord Derwentwater, and Lord Kenmure should take place the very next day.
Lord Nithisdale, however, was lucky enough to make his escape, somewhat
after the fashion in which Lavalette, at a much later date, contrived to
get out of prison, by the courage, devotion, and ingenuity of his wife.
It is a curious fact that most of the contemporaries of Nithisdale who
tell the story of his escape have represented his mother, and not his
wife, as the woman who took his place in prison, and to whose energy and
adroitness he owed his life. Smollett is one of those who give this
version as if there were no doubt about it. Lord Stanhope, in the first
edition of his "History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht to the
Peace of Versailles," accepted the story on authorities which seemed so
trustworthy. Lord Stanhope knew that many modern writers had described
the escape as being effected by Lord Nithisdale's wife, but he assumed
that "the name of the wife was substituted in later tradition as being
more romantic." A letter from Lady Nithisdale herself, {139} written to
her sister, settles the whole question, and of course Lord Stanhope
immediately adopted this genuine version. Lady Nithisdale tells how at
first she endeavored to present a petition to the King. The first day
she heard that the King was to go to the drawing-room, she dressed
herself in black, as if in mourning, and had a lady to accompany her,
because she did not know the King personally, and might have mistaken
some other man for him. This lady and another came with her, and the
three remained in the room between the King's apartments and the
drawing-room. When George was passing through, "I threw myself at his
feet, and told him in French that I was the unfortunate Countess of
Nithisdale. . . . Perceiving that he wanted to go off without receiving
my petition, I caught hold of the skirt of his coat tha