1 (return)
[ Bles, 1934.]

2 (return)
[ A stanza in one ballad runs:]

3 (return)
[ "And haifing enterit within the faid chalmer, perfaving the faid vmqle Johnne to be walknit out of his fleip, be thair dyn, and to preife ouer his bed ftok, the faid Robert cam than rynnand to him, and maift crewallie, with thair faldit neiffis gaif him ane deidlie and crewall straik on the vane-organe, quhairwith he dang the faid vmqle Johnne to the grund, out-ouer his bed; and thaireftir, crewallie ftrak him on bellie with his feit; quhairvpoun he gaif ane grit cry: And the faid Robert, feiring the cry fould haif bene hard, he thaireftir, maift tyrannouflie and barbarouflie, with his hand, grippit him be the thrott or waifen, quhilk he held faft ane lang tyme quhill he wirreit him; during the quhilk tyme, the faid Johnne Kincaid lay ftruggilling and fechting in the panes of daith vnder him. And fa, the faid vmqle Johnne was crewallie murdreit and flaine be the faid Robert."]

4 (return)
[ Men convicted of certain crimes were also subject to the same form of execution adulterating and uttering base coins (Alan Napier, cutler in Glasgow, was strangled and burned at the stake in December 1602) sorcery, witchcraft, incantation, poisoning (Bailie Paterson suffered a like fate in December 1607). For bestiality John Jack was strangled on the Castle Hill (September 1605), and the innocent animal participator in his crime burned with him.]

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[ The Memorial is fully entitled: A Worthy and Notable Memorial of the Great Work of Mercy which God wrought in the Conversion of Jean Livingstone Lady Warristoun, who was apprehended for the Vile and Horrible Murder of her own Husband, John Kincaid, committed on Tuesday, July 1, 1600, for which she was execute on Saturday following; Containing an Account of her Obstinacy, Earnest Repentance, and her Turning to God; of the Odd Speeches she used during her Imprisonment; of her Great and Marvellous Constancy; and of her Behaviour and Manner of Death: Observed by One who was both a Seer and Hearer of what was spoken.]

6 (return)
[ A 'row' is a wheel. This is one of the very few instances on which the terrible and vicious punishment of 'breaking on a wheel' was employed in Scotland. Jean Livingstone's accomplice was, according to Birrell's Diary, broken on a cartwheel, with the coulter of a plough in the hand of the hangman. The exotic method of execution suggests experiment by King Jamie.]

7 (return)
[ Hutchinson, 1930.]

8 (return)
[ Edinburgh, W. Green and Son, Ltd., 1930.]

9 (return)
[ Antony Weldon, The Court and Character of King James (1651).]

10 (return)
[ Fisher Unwin, 1925.]

11 (return)
[ State Trials (Cobbett's edition).]

12 (return)
[ Antony Weldon.]

13 (return)
[ State Trials.]

14 (return)
[ Probably started by Michael Sparke ("Scintilla") in Truth Brought to Light (1651).]

15 (return)
[ Sabatini, The Minion.]

16 (return)
[ According to one account. The Newgate Calendar (London 1773) gives Mrs Duncomb's age as eighty and that of the maid Betty as sixty.]

17 (return)
[ One account says it was Sarah Malcolm who entered via the gutter and window. Borrow, however, in his Celebrated Trials, quotes Mrs Oliphant's evidence in court on this point.]

18 (return)
[ Or Kerrol—the name varies in different accounts of the crime.]

19 (return)
[ Peter Buck, a prisoner.]

20 (return)
[ Born 1711, Durham, according to The Newgate Calendar.]

21 (return)
[ This confession, however, varies in several particulars with that contained in A Paper delivered by Sarah Malcolm on the Night before her Execution to the Rev. Mr Piddington, and published by Him (London, 1733).]

22 (return)
[ In Mr Piddington's paper the supposed appointment is for "3 or 4 o'clock at the Pewter Platter, Holbourn Bridge."]

23 (return)
[ One Bridgewater.]

24 (return)
[ On more than one hand the crime is ascribed to Sarah's desire to secure one of the Alexanders in marriage.]

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[ It was once done by the parish priest. (Stowe's Survey of London, p. 195, fourth edition, 1618.)]

26 (return)
[ The bequest of Dove appears to have provided for a further pious admonition to the condemned while on the way to execution. It was delivered by the sexton of St Sepulchre's from the steps of that church, a halt being made by the procession for the purpose. This admonition, however, was in fair prose.]

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[ Thanks to my friend Billy Bennett, of music-hall fame, for his hint for the chapter title.]

28 (return)
[ Sophie Dawes, Queen of Chantilly (John Lane, 1912).]

29 (return)
[ Lacenaire, the notorious murderer-robber in a biting song, written in prison, expressed the popular opinion regarding Louis-Philippe's share in the Feucheres-Conde affair. The song, called Petition d'un voleur a un roi son voisin, has this final stanza:

30 (return)
[ Or, simply, kermes—a pharmaceutical composition, containing antimony and sodium sulphates and oxide of antimony—formerly used as an expectorant.]