yet;" so they
brought him a glass of burnt brandy-and-bitters, which he drank with
great Gusto.

He desired that all his Clothes should be given to his friends, together
with his Corpse, remarking that for such end he would give the
Executioner Ten instead of Five guineas, which is the customary
Compliment. To each of the dozen Warders there present he gave a
Jacobus; to Miles Bandolier fifty shillings; and on myself, who had
specially attended on him ever since he was first brought to the Tower,
he bestowed Five gold pieces. As I touched the money, he clapped me on
the shoulder, and says in his comical way,

"I warrant, now, that beef and pudding would sit as easy under thy laced
jerkin were 'J. R.,' and not 'G. R.,' blazoned on thee, back and
breast."

But anon a light cloud passed over his visage, and I heard him mutter to
himself in the Scottish dialect, "Beef and pudding! 'tis cauld kail for
Fraser the morn."

Then turning to the Sheriffs, he desired that his Head might be received
in a Cloth and put into the Coffin, the which they promised him;
likewise that (if it could be done without censure) the ceremony of
holding up the Head at the Four Corners of the Scaffold should be
dispensed with. His Lordship seemed now indeed very weak in his Body,
albeit in no way disconcerted as to his Mind; and, as Miles Bandolier
and your Humble Servant escorted him up the steps of the Scaffold, he
looked around, and gazing upon the immense concourse of people,

"God save us!" says he; "why should there be such a bustle about taking
off ane gray head, that cannot get up Three Steps without Three Bodies
to support it?"

From which it will be seen that his Lordship had a Merry Humour unto the
last.

No sooner was he on the fatal Platform than, seeing me (as he
condescended to think) much dejected, he claps me on the shoulder again,
saying, "Cheer up thy heart, laddie in scarlet. I am not afraid; why
should you?"

Then he asks for the Executioner,--that was none other, indeed, than
Jack Ketch, the Common Hangman, dressed up in black, with a Mask on, for
the days of Gentlemen Headsmen have long since passed away; though some
would have it that this was a Surgeon's Apprentice, that dwelt close to
their Hall in the Old Bailey, and turned Executioner for a Frolic; but I
am sure it was Ketch, for he came afterwards to the Stone Kitchen,
wanting to treat all present to Drink; but the meanest Grenadier there
would have none of