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Dec . £ > , 1 / 15 . I have now before me " The History of the late Rebellion /' published in 1717 , " by the Rev . Mr . Robert Patten , formerly chaplain to
Mr . Forster , " M . P . for Northumberland . This gentleman had engaged in the cau » e of " James the Eighth / 5 against the King in possession , who is always te the best of kings . " As " the horrid rebellion" had not been
transformed by success into " a glorious revolution , " Mr . Forster disappointed the executioner only by a hair-breadth escape out of Newgate . He would , otherwise , no doubt , as a very active partisan , have been hanged , and then decapitated \ cm bowelled and quartered ,
according to the civilization of that age , or rather according to Royal pleasure in every age ; for the Commonwealth and Protectorate afford the only examples in the English history , of a government whose " vengeance warred not with the dead . " Content to inflict
on treason , the ultimum supplicium , those governments , which royalists of every age have delighted to misrepresent arid vilify , added no ingredients of cruelty or dishonour to aggravate " the
bitterness of death . " This appears in the cases of King Charles , Holland , Cap el and Hamilton ; and of Love , Hewitt , Penruddoch and others , who " slavish deemed" that the cause of
Charles's profligate son could deserve the hazard of liberty or life . Mr . Patten , who afterwards made his peace with the Court of St . James ' s by turning " kingVeviderce , " was one of the miserable train , in the procession which Mr . Fox witnessed . Speaking of Mr . Forster ' s severe indisposition , " by lying on the ground in a corner very
damn . " " ho JiHrta this 'f . ni trj-nniYkio tp _ damp , he adds this tragi-comic representation : " From Daventry to London he and I were distinguished from the rest by our halters being led by two troopers , with halters upon our horses' heads , which gave the people , as we passed along , an opportunity to compliment us wit * h encomiums upon a
warmingpah . At Barnet we were all pinioned , more for distinction than any pain that attended : and at Highgate we were met with a strong detachment of horsegrenadiers and root-guards , each man having his horse led by one of the foot . Setting forward from Ilighgate we were met by such numbers of people that it is scarce conceivable to express ,
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who , with long live King George i and down with the Pretender I ushered us throughout to our several apartments . I shall add a very pleasant story : A Quaker fixed his eyes upon me , and distinguishing what I was [ by a clerical habit , ] said , * Friend * verily thou hast been the trumpeter of rebellion to these men ; thou must answer for them / Upon this my grenadier gave him a push with the hutend of his musket , so that the Spirit fell into the ditch . Whilst sprawling
on his back , he told the soldier , * Thou hast not used me civilly ; I doubt thou art not a real friend to King George . ' Mr . Forster thought still to have been released by a Tory mob , and told me , that he had assurances thereof from a
gentleman at Highgate . But those bravadoes will not hazard themselves , though they speak great things . He was likewise troubled that he should be sent to Newgate , being unexpelled the House of Commons ; and likewise mortified when he understood that
Gordon , Carr and Dorrel were executed a day before , and their quarters then in a box just by , in order to be set upon the gates ; which spoiled his stomach , so that he could not eat with his then unhappy companion . "—Histor ?/ , pp . 136 , 137-P . 196 , col . 1 . "" Der went waterbeheaded on Tower Hill , " Feb . 24 , 1716 . Mr . Patten blames this
nobleman s " indiscretion in joining" what Mr . P . had now discovered to be a " mad as well as wicked undertaking /' He has , however , done honour to his memory in the following character : " The sweetness of his temper and disposition , in which he had few equals , had so secured him the affection of all
his tenants , neighbours and dependants , that multitudes would have lived and died with him : the truth is , he was a man formed by nature to be generally beloved ; for he was of so universal u beneficence , that he seemed to live for others . As he lived among his own people , there he spent his
estate , and continually did offices of kindness and good-neighbourhood to every body , as opportunity offered . He kept a house of generous hospitality and noble entertainment , which few iii that country do , and none come up to . He was very charitable to poor and distressed families on all occasions , whether known to him or not , and
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274 Note * on the Memoirs of Mr . J * Fox
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 274, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/18/
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