th
as much sharpness as in the previous debates. But Devonshire declared
that he could go no further. He had hoped that fear would induce Fenwick
to make a frank confession; that hope was at an end; the question
now was simply whether this man should be put to death by an Act of
Parliament; and to that question Devonshire said that he must answer,
"Not Content." It is not easy to understand on what principle he can
have thought himself justified in threatening to do what he did not
think himself justified in doing. He was, however, followed by Dorset,
Ormond, Pembroke, and two or three others. Devonshire, in the name of
his little party, and Rochester, in the name of the Tories, offered
to waive all objections to the mode of proceeding, if the penalty were
reduced from death to perpetual imprisonment. But the majority,
though weakened by the defection of some considerable men, was still a
majority, and would hear of no terms of compromise. The third reading
was carried by only sixty-eight votes to sixty-one. Fifty-three Lords
recorded their dissent; and forty-one subscribed a protest, in which
the arguments against the bill were ably summed up. [771] The peers whom
Fenwick had accused took different sides. Marlborough steadily voted
with the majority, and induced Prince George to do the same. Godolphin
as steadily voted with the minority, but, with characteristic wariness,
abstained from giving any reasons for his votes. No part of his life
warrants us in ascribing his conduct to any exalted motive. It is
probable that, having been driven from office by the Whigs and forced
to take refuge among the Tories, he thought it advisable to go with his
party. [772]

As soon as the bill had been read a third time, the attention of the
Peers was called to a matter which deeply concerned the honour of their
order. Lady Mary Fenwick had been, not unnaturally, moved to the highest
resentment by the conduct of Monmouth. He had, after professing a great
desire to save her husband, suddenly turned round, and become the most
merciless of her husband's persecutors; and all this solely because
the unfortunate prisoner would not suffer himself to be used as an
instrument for the accomplishing of a wild scheme of mischief. She might
be excused for thinking that revenge would be sweet. In her rage she
showed to her kinsman the Earl of Carlisle the papers which she had
received from the Duchess of Norfolk. Carlisle brought the subject
before