The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER SIXTH.

  The evil you teach us, We will execute; and it shall go hard, but we will Better the instruction. Merchant of Venice.

  The unhappy object of this remarkable disturbance had been that daydelivered from the apprehension of public execution, and his joy was thegreater, as he had some reason to question whether Government would haverun the risk of unpopularity by interfering in his favour, after he hadbeen legally convicted by the verdict of a jury, of a crime so veryobnoxious. Relieved from this doubtful state of mind, his heart was merrywithin him, and he thought, in the emphatic words of Scripture on asimilar occasion, that surely the bitterness of death was past. Some ofhis friends, however, who had watched the manner and behaviour of thecrowd when they were made acquainted with the reprieve, were of adifferent opinion. They augured, from the unusual sternness and silencewith which they bore their disappointment, that the populace nourishedsome scheme of sudden and desperate vengeance; and they advised Porteousto lose no time in petitioning the proper authorities, that he might beconveyed to the Castle under a sufficient guard, to remain there insecurity until his ultimate fate should be determined. Habituated,however, by his office, to overawe the rabble of the city, Porteous couldnot suspect them of an attempt so audacious as to storm a strong anddefensible prison; and, despising the advice by which he might have beensaved, he spent the afternoon of the eventful day in giving anentertainment to some friends who visited him in jail, several of whom,by the indulgence of the Captain of the Tolbooth, with whom he had an oldintimacy, arising from their official connection, were even permitted toremain to supper with him, though contrary to the rules of the jail.

  It was, therefore, in the hour of unalloyed mirth, when this unfortunatewretch was "full of bread," hot with wine, and high in mistimed andill-grounded confidence, and alas! with all his sins full blown, when thefirst distant' shouts of the rioters mingled with the song of merrimentand intemperance. The hurried call of the jailor to the guests, requiringthem instantly to depart, and his yet more hasty intimation that adreadful and determined mob had possessed themselves of the city gatesand guard-house, were the first explanation of these fearful clamours.

  Porteous might, however, have eluded the fury from which the force ofauthority could not protect him, had he thought of slipping on somedisguise, and leaving the prison along with his guests. It is probablethat the jailor might have connived at his escape, or even that in thehurry of this alarming contingency, he might not have observed it. ButPorteous and his friends alike wanted presence of mind to suggest orexecute such a plan of escape. The former hastily fled from a place wheretheir own safety seemed compromised, and the latter, in a stateresembling stupefaction, awaited in his apartment the termination of theenterprise of the rioters. The cessation of the clang of the instrumentswith which they had at first attempted to force the door, gave himmomentary relief. The flattering hopes, that the military had marchedinto the city, either from the Castle or from the suburbs, and that therioters were intimidated, and dispersing, were soon destroyed by thebroad and glaring light of the flames, which, illuminating through thegrated window every corner of his apartment, plainly showed that the mob,determined on their fatal purpose, had adopted a means of forcingentrance equally desperate and certain.

  The sudden glare of light suggested to the stupified and astonishedobject of popular hatred the possibility of concealment or escape. Torush to the chimney, to ascend it at the risk of suffocation, were theonly means which seemed to have occurred to him; but his progress wasspeedily stopped by one of those iron gratings, which are, for the sakeof security, usually placed across the vents of buildings designed forimprisonment. The bars, however, which impeded his farther progress,served to support him in the situation which he had gained, and he seizedthem with the tenacious grasp of one who esteemed himself clinging to hislast hope of existence. The lurid light which had filled the apartment,lowered and died away; the sound of shouts was heard within the walls,and on the narrow and winding stair, which, eased within one of theturrets, gave access to the upper apartments of the prison. The huzza ofthe rioters was answered by a shout wild and desperate as their own, thecry, namely, of the imprisoned felons, who, expecting to be liberated inthe general confusion, welcomed the mob as their deliverers. By some ofthese the apartment of Porteous was pointed out to his enemies. Theobstacle of the lock and bolts was soon overcome, and from his hidingplace the unfortunate man heard his enemies search every corner of theapartment, with oaths and maledictions, which would but shock the readerif we recorded them, but which served to prove, could it have admitted ofdoubt, the settled purpose of soul with which they sought hisdestruction.

  A place of concealment so obvious to suspicion and scrutiny as that whichPorteous had chosen, could not long screen him from detection. He wasdragged from his lurking-place, with a violence which seemed to argue anintention to put him to death on the spot. More than one weapon wasdirected towards him, when one of the rioters, the same whose femaledisguise had been particularly noticed by Butler, interfered in anauthoritative tone. "Are ye mad?" he said, "or would ye execute an act ofjustice as if it were a crime and a cruelty? This sacrifice will losehalf its savour if we do not offer it at the very horns of the altar. Wewill have him die where a murderer should die, on the common gibbet--Wewill have him die where he spilled the blood of so many innocents!"

  A loud shout of applause followed the proposal, and the cry, "To thegallows with the murderer!--to the Grassmarket with him!" echoed on allhands.

  "Let no man hurt him," continued the speaker; "let him make his peacewith God, if he can; we will not kill both his soul and body."

  "What time did he give better folk for preparing their account?" answeredseveral voices. "Let us mete to him with the same measure he measured tothem."

  But the opinion of the spokesman better suited the temper of those headdressed, a temper rather stubborn than impetuous, sedate thoughferocious, and desirous of colouring their cruel and revengeful actionwith a show of justice and moderation.

  For an instant this man quitted the prisoner, whom he consigned to aselected guard, with instructions to permit him to give his money andproperty to whomsoever he pleased. A person confined in the jail for debtreceived this last deposit from the trembling hand of the victim, who wasat the same time permitted to make some other brief arrangements to meethis approaching fate. The felons, and all others who, wished to leave thejail, were now at full liberty to do so; not that their liberation madeany part of the settled purpose of the rioters, but it followed as almosta necessary consequence of forcing the jail doors. With wild cries ofjubilee they joined the mob, or disappeared among the narrow lanes toseek out the hidden receptacles of vice and infamy, where they wereaccustomed to lurk and conceal themselves from justice.

  Two persons, a man about fifty years old and a girl about eighteen, wereall who continued within the fatal walls, excepting two or three debtors,who probably saw no advantage in attempting their escape. The persons wehave mentioned remained in the strong room of the prison, now deserted byall others. One of their late companions in misfortune called out to theman to make his escape, in the tone of an acquaintance. "Rin for it,Ratcliffe--the road's clear."

  "It may be sae, Willie," answered Ratcliffe, composedly, "but I have taena fancy to leave aff trade, and set up for an honest man."

  "Stay there, and be hanged, then, for a donnard auld deevil!" said theother, and ran down the prison stair.

  The person in female attire whom we have distinguished as one of the mostactive rioters, was about the same time at the ear of the young woman."Flee, Effie, flee!" was all he had time to whisper. She turned towardshim an eye of mingled fear, affection, and upbraiding, all contendingwith a sort of stupified surprise. He again repeated, "Flee, Effie, flee!for the sake of all that's good and dear to you!" Again she gazed on him,but was unable to answer. A loud noise was now heard, an
d the name ofMadge Wildfire was repeatedly called from the bottom of the staircase.

  "I am coming,--I am coming," said the person who answered to thatappellative; and then reiterating hastily, "For God's sake--for your ownsake--for my sake, flee, or they'll take your life!" he left the strongroom.

  The girl gazed after him for a moment, and then, faintly muttering,"Better tyne life, since tint is gude fame," she sunk her head upon herhand, and remained, seemingly, unconscious as a statue of the noise andtumult which passed around her.

  That tumult was now transferred from the inside to the outside of theTolbooth. The mob had brought their destined victim forth, and were aboutto conduct him to the common place of execution, which they had fixed asthe scene of his death. The leader, whom they distinguished by the nameof Madge Wildfire, had been summoned to assist at the procession by theimpatient shouts of his confederates.

  "I will insure you five hundred pounds," said the unhappy man, graspingWildfire's hand,--"five hundred pounds for to save my life."

  The other answered in the same undertone, and returning his grasp withone equally convulsive, "Five hundredweight of coined gold should notsave you.--Remember Wilson!"

  A deep pause of a minute ensued, when Wildfire added, in a more composedtone, "Make your peace with Heaven.--Where is the clergyman?"

  Butler, who in great terror and anxiety, had been detained within a fewyards of the Tolbooth door, to wait the event of the search afterPorteous, was now brought forward, and commanded to walk by theprisoner's side, and to prepare him for immediate death. His answer was asupplication that the rioters would consider what they did. "You areneither judges nor jury," said he. "You cannot have, by the laws of Godor man, power to take away the life of a human creature, howeverdeserving he may be of death. If it is murder even in a lawful magistrateto execute an offender otherwise than in the place, time, and mannerwhich the judges' sentence prescribes, what must it be in you, who haveno warrant for interference but your own wills? In the name of Him who isall mercy, show mercy to this unhappy man, and do not dip your hands inhis blood, nor rush into the very crime which you are desirous ofavenging!"

  "Cut your sermon short--you are not in your pulpit," answered one of therioters.

  "If we hear more of your clavers," said another, "we are like to hang youup beside him."

  "Peace--hush!" said Wildfire. "Do the good man no harm--he discharges hisconscience, and I like him the better."

  He then addressed Butler. "Now, sir, we have patiently heard you, and wejust wish you to understand, in the way of answer, that you may as wellargue to the ashlar-work and iron stanchels of the Tolbooth as think tochange our purpose--Blood must have blood. We have sworn to each other bythe deepest oaths ever were pledged, that Porteous shall die the death hedeserves so richly; therefore, speak no more to us, but prepare him fordeath as well as the briefness of his change will permit."

  They had suffered the unfortunate Porteous to put on his night-gown andslippers, as he had thrown off his coat and shoes, in order to facilitatehis attempted escape up the chimney. In this garb he was now mounted onthe hands of two of the rioters, clasped together, so as to form what iscalled in Scotland, "The King's Cushion." Butler was placed close to hisside, and repeatedly urged to perform a duty always the most painfulwhich can be imposed on a clergyman deserving of the name, and nowrendered more so by the peculiar and horrid circumstances of thecriminal's case. Porteous at first uttered some supplications for mercy,but when he found that there was no chance that these would be attendedto, his military education, and the natural stubbornness of hisdisposition, combined to support his spirits.

  "Are you prepared for this dreadful end?" said Butler, in a falteringvoice. "O turn to Him, in whose eyes time and space have no existence,and to whom a few minutes are as a lifetime, and a lifetime as a minute."

  "I believe I know what you would say," answered Porteous sullenly. "I wasbred a soldier; if they will murder me without time, let my sins as wellas my blood lie at their door."

  "Who was it," said the stern voice of Wildfire, "that said to Wilson atthis very spot, when he could not pray, owing to the galling agony of hisfetters, that his pains would soon be over?--I say to you to take yourown tale home; and if you cannot profit by the good man's lessons, blamenot them that are still more merciful to you than you were to others."

  The Porteous Mob--95]

  The procession now moved forward with a slow and determined pace. It wasenlightened by many blazing, links and torches; for the actors of thiswork were so far from affecting any secrecy on the occasion, that theyseemed even to court observation. Their principal leaders kept close tothe person of the prisoner, whose pallid yet stubborn features were seendistinctly by the torch-light, as his person was raised considerablyabove the concourse which thronged around him. Those who bore swords,muskets, and battle-axes, marched on each side, as if forming a regularguard to the procession. The windows, as they went along, were filledwith the inhabitants, whose slumbers had been broken by this unusualdisturbance. Some of the spectators muttered accents of encouragement;but in general they were so much appalled by a sight so strange andaudacious, that they looked on with a sort of stupified astonishment. Noone offered, by act or word, the slightest interruption.

  The rioters, on their part, continued to act with the same air ofdeliberate confidence and security which had marked all theirproceedings. When the object of their resentment dropped one of hisslippers, they stopped, sought for it, and replaced it upon his foot withgreat deliberation.*

  * This little incident, characteristic of the extreme composure of thisextraordinary mob, was witnessed by a lady, who, disturbed like othersfrom her slumbers, had gone to the window. It was told to the Author bythe lady's daughter.

  As they descended the Bow towards the fatal spot where they designed tocomplete their purpose, it was suggested that there should be a rope keptin readiness. For this purpose the booth of a man who dealt in cordagewas forced open, a coil of rope fit for their purpose was selected toserve as a halter, and the dealer next morning found that a guinea hadbeen left on his counter in exchange; so anxious were the perpetrators ofthis daring action to show that they meditated not the slightest wrong orinfraction of law, excepting so far as Porteous was himself concerned.

  Leading, or carrying along with them, in this determined and regularmanner, the object of their vengeance, they at length reached the placeof common execution, the scene of his crime, and destined spot of hissufferings. Several of the rioters (if they should not rather bedescribed as conspirators) endeavoured to remove the stone which filledup the socket in which the end of the fatal tree was sunk when it waserected for its fatal purpose; others sought for the means ofconstructing a temporary gibbet, the place in which the gallows itselfwas deposited being reported too secure to be forced, without much lossof time. Butler endeavoured to avail himself of the delay afforded bythese circumstances, to turn the people from their desperate design. "ForGod's sake," he exclaimed, "remember it is the image of your Creatorwhich you are about to deface in the person of this unfortunate man!Wretched as he is, and wicked as he may be, he has a share in everypromise of Scripture, and you cannot destroy him in impenitence withoutblotting his name from the Book of Life--Do not destroy soul and body;give time for preparation."

  "What time had they," returned a stern voice, "whom he murdered on thisvery spot?--The laws both of God and man call for his death."

  "But what, my friends," insisted Butler, with a generous disregard to hisown safety--"what hath constituted you his judges?"

  "We are not his judges," replied the same person; "he has been alreadyjudged and condemned by lawful authority. We are those whom Heaven, andour righteous anger, have stirred up to execute judgment, when a corruptGovernment would have protected a murderer."

  "I am none," said the unfortunate Porteous; "that which you charge uponme fell out in self-defence, in the lawful exercise of my duty."

  "Away with him--away with him!" was the gene
ral cry.

  "Why do you trifle away time in making a gallows?--that dyester's pole isgood enough for the homicide."

  The unhappy man was forced to his fate with remorseless rapidity. Butler,separated from him by the press, escaped the last horrors of hisstruggles. Unnoticed by those who had hitherto detained him as aprisoner,--he fled from the fatal spot, without much caring in whatdirection his course lay. A loud shout proclaimed the stern delight withwhich the agents of this deed regarded its completion. Butler, then, atthe opening into the low street called the Cowgate, cast back a terrifiedglance, and, by the red and dusky light of the torches, he could discerna figure wavering and struggling as it hung suspended above the heads ofthe multitude, and could even observe men striking at it with theirLochaber-axes and partisans. The sight was of a nature to double hishorror, and to add wings to his flight.

  The street down which the fugitive ran opens to one of the eastern portsor gates of the city. Butler did not stop till he reached it, but foundit still shut. He waited nearly an hour, walking up and down ininexpressible perturbation of mind. At length he ventured to call out,and rouse the attention of the terrified keepers of the gate, who nowfound themselves at liberty to resume their office without interruption.Butler requested them to open the gate. They hesitated. He told them hisname and occupation.

  "He is a preacher," said one; "I have heard him preach in Haddo's-hole."

  "A fine preaching has he been at the night," said another "but maybeleast said is sunest mended."

  Opening then the wicket of the main gate, the keepers suffered Butler todepart, who hastened to carry his horror and fear beyond the walls ofEdinburgh. His first purpose was instantly to take the road homeward; butother fears and cares, connected with the news he had learned in thatremarkable day, induced him to linger in the neighbourhood of Edinburghuntil daybreak. More than one group of persons passed him as he waswhiling away the hours of darkness that yet remained, whom, from thestifled tones of their discourse, the unwonted hour when they travelled,and the hasty pace at which they walked, he conjectured to have beenengaged in the late fatal transaction.

  Certain it was, that the sudden and total dispersion of the rioters, whentheir vindictive purpose was accomplished, seemed not the leastremarkable feature of this singular affair. In general, whatever may bethe impelling motive by which a mob is at first raised, the attainment oftheir object has usually been only found to lead the way to fartherexcesses. But not so in the present case. They seemed completely satiatedwith the vengeance they had prosecuted with such stanch and sagaciousactivity. When they were fully satisfied that life had abandoned theirvictim, they dispersed in every direction, throwing down the weaponswhich they had only assumed to enable them to carry through theirpurpose. At daybreak there remained not the least token of the events ofthe night, excepting the corpse of Porteous, which still hung suspendedin the place where he had suffered, and the arms of various kinds whichthe rioters had taken from the city guard-house, which were foundscattered about the streets as they had thrown them from their hands whenthe purpose for which they had seized them was accomplished.

  The ordinary magistrates of the city resumed their power, not withouttrembling at the late experience of the fragility of its tenure. To marchtroops into the city, and commence a severe inquiry into the transactionsof the preceding night, were the first marks of returning energy whichthey displayed. But these events had been conducted on so secure andwell-calculated a plan of safety and secrecy, that there was little ornothing learned to throw light upon the authors or principal actors in ascheme so audacious. An express was despatched to London with thetidings, where they excited great indignation and surprise in the councilof regency, and particularly in the bosom of Queen Caroline, whoconsidered her own authority as exposed to contempt by the success ofthis singular conspiracy. Nothing was spoke of for some time save themeasure of vengeance which should be taken, not only on the actors ofthis tragedy, so soon as they should be discovered, but upon themagistrates who had suffered it to take place, and upon the city whichhad been the scene where it was exhibited. On this occasion, it is stillrecorded in popular tradition, that her Majesty, in the height of herdispleasure, told the celebrated John Duke of Argyle, that, sooner thansubmit to such an insult, she would make Scotland a hunting-field. "Inthat case, Madam," answered that high-spirited nobleman, with a profoundbow, "I will take leave of your Majesty, and go down to my own country toget my hounds ready."

  The import of the reply had more than met the ear; and as most of theScottish nobility and gentry seemed actuated by the same national spirit,the royal displeasure was necessarily checked in mid-volley, and mildercourses were recommended and adopted, to some of which we may hereafterhave occasion to advert.*

  * Note D. Memorial concerning the murder of Captain Porteous.