_Executioner._--"It is sharp enough, and heavy enough." The Executioner proceeded to do his office; but the Note says, "it was under such distraction of mind, that he fell into the very error which the Duke had so earnestly cautioned him to avoid; wounding him so slightly, that he lifted up his head, and looked him in the face, as if to upbraid him for making his death painful; but said nothing. He then prostrated himself again, and received two other ineffectual blows; upon which the Executioner threw down his Axe in a fit of horror; crying out, "_he could not finish his work_." but, on being brought to himself by the threats of the Sheriffs, took up the fatal weapon again, and at two other strokes made a shift to separate the Head from the Body." [Lord Somers's Tracts, vol. I. pp. 219, 220; the Note taken from the Review of the Reigns of Charles and James, p. 885.] As to the Fee itself, which has occasioned me to give you so much trouble, I incline to think this seeming singular sum must have been of Scottish extraction, though not used for the like purpose; for, I presume, from the value of money there, a man might formerly be hanged at a much cheaper rate, and that we have it by transplantation. The Scottish Mark (not ideal or nominal money, like our Mark) was a Silver Coin, in value Thirteen Pence Halfpenny and Two Placks, or Two-Thirds of a Penny; which Plack is likewise a Coin. This, their Mark, bears the same proportion to their Pound, which is Twenty Pence, as our Mark does to our Pound, or Twenty Shillings; being Two-Thirds of it. By these divisions and sub-divisions of their Penny (for they have a still smaller piece, called a Bodel or Half a Plack) they can reckon with the greatest minuteness, and buy much less quantities of any article than we can[389]. This Scottish Mark was, upon the Union of the two Crowns in the person of King James I. made current in England at the value of Thirteen Pence Half-penny (without regarding the fraction), by Proclamation, in the first year of that King; where it is said, that "the Coin of Silver, called the Mark Piece, shall be from henceforth currant within the said Kingdom of England, at the value of Thirteen Pence Halfpeny[390]." This, probably, was a revolution in the current money in favour of the Officer of whom we have been speaking, whose Fee before was perhaps no more than a Shilling. There is, however, very good reason to conclude, from the singularity of the sum, that the odious title of _Hangman's Wages_ became at this time, or soon after, applicable to the sum of _Thirteen Pence Halfpenny_. Though it was contingent, yet at that time it was very considerable pay; when one Shilling _per diem_ was a standing annual stipend to many respectable Officers of various kinds. [389] Mr. Ray, in his Itinerary, gives the Fractional Parts of the Scottish Penny.