ntwater.
Amid the cries of a savage populace, and the screams of "No warming
pan," "King George for ever!" an exclamation which proves how deeply the
notion of spurious birth had sunk into the minds of the people, the
Earl of Nithisdale was conducted, his arms tied with cords, and the
reins of his horse taken from him, with his unfortunate companions, into
the Tower. He arrived in London on the 9th of December, 1715.[19]

Of the manner in which the State prisoners of that period were treated,
there are sufficient records left to prove that no feeling of compassion
for what might be deemed a wrong, but yet a generous principle of
devotion to the Stuarts, no high-toned sentiment of respect to bravery,
nor consideration for the habits and feelings of their prisoners,
influenced the British Government during that time of triumph. The mode
in which those unfortunate captives were left in the utmost penury and
necessity to petition for some provision, after their estates were
escheated, plainly manifests how little there was of that sympathy with
calamity which marks the present day.[20]

But if the State prisoners in London were treated with little humanity,
those who were huddled together in close prisons at Preston, Chester,
Liverpool, and the other towns were in a still more wretched condition.

In the stores of the State Paper Office are to be found heartrending
appeals for mercy, from prisoners sinking under dire diseases from too
close contiguity, or from long confinement in one apartment. Consumption
seems to have been very prevalent; and in Newgate the gaol fever raged.
For this rigorous confinement the excuse was, that it had been found
impossible to give the prisoners air, without risk of escape. In
Chester, the townspeople conspired to assist the poor wretches in this
endeavour; and perhaps, in regard to those of meaner rank, the
authorities were not very averse to the success of such efforts, for the
prisons were crowded, and the expense of even keeping the unfortunate
captives alive began to be a source of complaint on the part of
Government.

The great majority of the prisoners of the north were country gentlemen,
Roman Catholics, from Cumberland and Northumberland,--men who were
hearty and sincere in their convictions of the righteousness of their
cause--men, whose ancestors had mustered their tenantry in the field for
Charles the First. To those whose lives were spared, a petition was
recommended, and tak