4]

The English populace could not forbear delighting in the composure of
Balmerino, who, on returning from Westminster Hall after his sentence,
could stop the coach in which he was about to be conducted to the Tower
to buy gooseberries; or, as he expressed it in his national phrase,
_honey-blobs_.[375]

That night, not contented with saying publicly at his levee, that Lord
Kilmarnock had proposed murdering the English prisoners, the Duke of
Cumberland proposed giving his mistress a ball; but the notion was
abandoned, lest it should have been regarded as an insult to the
prisoners, and _not_ because a particle of highminded regret for the
sufferers could ever enter that hard and depraved heart. Too well did
the citizens of London understand the Duke of Cumberland's merits,
when, it being proposed to present him with the freedom of some company,
one of the aldermen cried aloud, "Then let it be of the Butchers'!"[376]

The commission was dissolved in the usual forms: "all manner of persons
here present were desired to depart in the fear of God, and of our
sovereign Lord the King." The white staff of office was broken by the
Lord High Steward; the Lords adjourned to the Chamber of Parliament; the
prisoners returned to the Tower.[377]

Three weeks elapsed, after the trial, before the execution of Lord
Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino. During that interval, hope sometimes
visited the prisoners in their cells, great intercession being made for
them by persons of the highest rank. But it was in vain, for the
counsels of the Duke of Cumberland influenced the heart of his royal
father, who it is generally believed, would otherwise have been disposed
to compassion. During this interval, the sorrows of the prisoners were
aggravated by frequent rumours that their beloved Prince was taken; but
he was safe among his Highlanders, and defied the power even of an armed
force to surprise him in his singular and various retreats.

The Earl of Cromartie was the only one of the three prisoners to whom
royal mercy was extended. This nobleman had been considered, before the
Insurrection, as the only branch of the Mackenzies who could be relied
upon. He had been backward in joining the Jacobite army, and had never
shared the confidence of Charles Edward. He had been disgusted with the
preference shown to Murray and to Sullivan, to the prejudice of more
powerful adherents of the cause: and it was reported, had rather
surrendered himself to th