Note 28 — Chapter II
Reading edition
The total number arraigned was 382; by lot this was reduced to 127, the total number condemned to death being 86. Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock were beheaded for “the —45,” August 18, 1746. They behaved with much dignity and fortitude. The former expressed his wish to Lord Kilmarnock, just before the execution, that he wished he could suffer for them both; noblesse oblige, even on the scaffold. By their particular request their heads were not severally held up and exposed by the executioner with the usual formula—“This is the head of a traitor.” But the sheriffs directed that everybody on the scaffold should kneel down, so that the people might see the execution itself performed—a ceremony never practised before. (“Account of the Behaviour,” &c., by T. Forde, a gentleman then present, 1746.)