e Christian good of his country than
his life could do. He was beheaded on Saturday, July 21,1683. Upon the
scaffold, just before his execution, he handed to the sheriffs a written
declaration, in which, after denial of the false charges on which he had
been condemned, he concludes with a prayer which shows that far higher
than mere political feelings moved him: "Thou, O most merciful Father,
hast forgiven all my transgressions, the sins of my youth, and all the
errors of my past life, and Thou wilt not lay my secret sins and
ignorance to my charge, but wilt graciously support me during the small
time of life now before me, and assist me in my last moments, and not
leave me then to be disordered by fear or any other temptations, but
make the light of Thy countenance to shine upon me. Thou art my Sun and
my Shield; and as Thou supportest me by Thy grace, so I hope Thou wilt
hereafter crown me with glory, and receive me into the fellowship of
angels and saints in the blessed inheritance purchased for me by my most
merciful Redeemer, who is at Thy right hand, I trust preparing a place
for me, and is ready to receive me, into whose hands I commend
my spirit!"

It is of Lady Russell, the wife and the worthy partner of this good man,
that we are about to give a brief memoir in our gallery of
_Excellent Women_.

II.

Rachel Wriothesley, born in 1636, was second daughter of Thomas
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, by his first wife, Rachel de Ruvigny,
of an ancient Huguenot family. Her mother died during her infancy. An
elder sister, Lady Elizabeth, married Edward Noel, son of Viscount
Campden, afterwards Earl of Gainsborough. Lord Southampton married twice
after his first wife's death, but he had only one surviving daughter by
his second marriage, who being heiress of Sir Francis Leigh, afterwards
Earl of Winchester, the whole of the Southampton property was left to
the children of his first marriage, who thus became considerable
heiresses. Lady Rachel, when yet young, married Francis, Lord Vaughan,
eldest son of the Earl of Carberry, but it was an alliance rather of
acceptance than of choice on either side, and the early death of Lord
Vaughan left her free to marry again. All we know is that she possessed
the love and attachment of her husband and the respect of his family.
They had one child who died in infancy.

In 1667, on the death of her father, she inherited the estates of
Stratton, but she passed most of her