under the pinnacle on which it
was placed.[223]

Various accounts have been given of the interment of the Earl of
Derwentwater. He is generally believed to have been buried in the church
of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, near the altar. But a popular tradition has
found credence, that he was buried at Dilstone. This has arisen from
the Jacobite ditty, called "Derwentwater's Good Night," or has probably
given origin to that lay, in which the Earl is made to say:--

"Albeit that here in London town
It is my fate to die,
O carry me to Northumberland,
In my father's grave to lie:
There chaunt my solemn requiem,
In Hexham's holy towers,
And let six maids of fair Tynedale,
Scatter my grave with flowers."[224]

This is said to have been his last request, but to have been refused,
for fear of any popular tumult in the North. Either a pretended burial
in the church of St. Giles took place, or the Earl's body was removed,
"for it was certainly," says Mr. Hogg, "carried secretly to Dilstone,
where it was deposited by the side of the Earl's father, in his chapel."
"A little porch before the farm-house of Whitesmocks," adds the same
authority, "is pointed out as the exact spot where the Earl's remains
rested, avoiding Durham." The coffin is said to have been opened during
the present century, and the body of the Earl recognized, both by his
appearance of youth, his features, and the suture round his neck. It is
seldom satisfactory to state what has no other source than common
report. In the North, the aurora borealis is still said to be called
"Lord Derwentwater's lights," because, on the night of his execution, it
appeared remarkably vivid. It is, any rate, pleasant to reflect, that
one who "gave bread to thousands" is remembered by this beautiful
appearance in the county which he loved, and where his virtues are
remembered and his errors forgotten.

His fate was hard. Let us not, contrary to nature, call up motives of
state policy to vindicate the death of this brave and honourable man.
The Earl of Derwentwater was one upon whom clemency might safely have
been shown. Generous, liberal, sincere, a prince might have relied upon
his assurance that, had mercy been shown to him, it would never have
been repaid by treachery. His youth and inexperience,--his wife, his
children,--should not have been forgotten: nor should it have been
forgotten, that the principles of loyalty for which his life was