counsel thinks, but I thought Mr. Ross was wrong. I was mistaken. I heartily beg your lordships’ pardon for taking up so much of your present time.’ It was at this juncture that the Solicitor-General (brother of the Pretender’s secretary) officiously and insolently went up to Balmerino and asked how he dared to give the lords so much trouble, when his solicitor had told him his plea could be of no use to him. ‘Who is this person?’ asked Balmerino, and being told it was Mr. Murray, ‘Oh!’ exclaimed Balmerino, ‘Mr. Murray! I am glad to see you. I have been with several of your relations: the good lady, your mother, was of great use to us at Perth!’ When the votes were about to be taken, Lord Foley withdrew, ‘as too well a wisher,’ says Walpole. Lord Moray and Lord Stair also withdrew, being kinsmen of Balmerino; and Lord Stamford ‘would not answer to the name of _Henry_, having been christened Harry. ◆[Sidenote: ‘_GUILTY, UPON MY HONOUR!_’]◆ All the remaining peers put their hands to their breasts and said, ‘Guilty, upon my honour,’ except Lord Windus, who remarked, ‘I am sorry I must say, “Guilty, upon my honour.”’ When Lord Townshend uttered the usual formula, his wife, with her well-known audacity, applied it to himself, and said, ‘Yes, I knew he was guilty, but I never thought he would own it upon his honour!’ The joking and the solemnity being over, the gentleman-gaoler turned the edge of his axe towards the traitor, and Balmerino bowed to his judges and was ushered out of the hall. On going out he remarked: ‘They call me a Jacobite. I am no more a Jacobite than any that tried me; but if the Great Mogul had set up his standard, I should have followed it, for I could not starve!’ and he good-naturedly remarked, that if he had pleaded _Not Guilty_, it was chiefly that the ladies might not be disappointed of their show. Walpole spoke of Balmerino as the most natural, brave old fellow he had ever seen, his intrepidity amounting to indifference. While the lords were in consultation in their own house, Balmerino shook hands and talked with the witnesses who had sworn against him. Among the spectators was a little boy who could see nothing. Balmerino alone was unselfish enough to think of him. ‘He made room for the child,’ says Walpole, ‘and placed him near himself.’ [Sidenote: _KILMARNOCK’S APOLOGY._]