time; but Mrs. Clifford was denied admittance, after repeated applications. The necessary preparations being completed, and Lord Henley (the Chancellor) created High Steward, the trial came on before the House of Peers, in Westminster Hall, on the 16th of April, 1769. The proof of the fact was sufficiently clear; and by the unanimous voice of the Peers his lordship was found guilty of murder: the Lord High Steward thereupon passed sentence, that he should be executed on the 21st of April, a sentence that was respited to the 5th of May. During his imprisonment the earl made a will, leaving sixty pounds a year to Mrs. Clifford, a thousand pounds to each of his natural daughters, and thirteen hundred pounds to the children of Mr. Johnson; but this last legacy, which should have been the first discharged, was never paid. His lordship petitioned to be beheaded within the Tower; but as the crime was so atrocious, the king refused to mitigate the sentence. A scaffold was erected under the gallows at Tyburn, and covered with black baize: a part of this scaffold, on which he was to stand, was raised eighteen inches above the rest. About nine o'clock on the morning of execution, the sheriffs attended at the Tower-gate; and Lord Ferrers being told they were come, requested that he might go in his own landau instead of a mourning-coach which had been prepared for him. No objection being made to this request, he entered the landau, attended by the Rev. Mr. Humphries, Chaplain of the Tower. His lordship was dressed in a white suit, richly embroidered with silver. When he put it on, he said, "This is the suit in which I was married, and in which I will die." Mr. Sheriff Vaillant joined them at the Towergate, and, taking his seat in the landau, told him how disagreeable it was to wait on him on so awful an occasion, but that he would endeavour to render his situation as little irksome as possible. The procession now moved slowly through an immense crowd of spectators. On their way, Lord Ferrers asked Mr. Vaillant if he had ever seen such a crowd; the sheriff replied in the negative; to which the unhappy Peer replied, "I suppose it is because they never saw a lord hanged before." The Chaplain observing that the public would be naturally inquisitive about his lordship's religious opinions, he replied: “That he did not think himself accountable to the world for his sentiments on religion; but that he always believed in one God, the maker of all things; that, whatever were his religious notions, he had never propagated them; that all countries had a form of religion, by which the people were governed, and whoever disturbed them in it he considered as an enemy to society; that he thought Lord Bolingbroke to blame for permitting his sentiments on religion to be published to the world ;" and he made other observations of a like nature. Respecting the death of Mr. Johnson, he said-" he was under particular circumstances, and had met with so many crosses and vexations, that he scarce knew what he did ;" but declared that he had no malice against the unfortunate man. So immense was the crowd, that it was near three hours before the procession reached the place of execution; on the way to which, Lord Ferrers desired to stop to have a glass of wine and water; but the sheriff observing that it would only draw a greater crowd about him, he replied, "That is true; by no means stop." He likewise observed, that the preliminary apparatus of death produced more terror than death itself. As they went on, a letter was thrown into 66 that it was impossible, from the crowd, for her to get up to the spot where he had appointed her to meet and take leave of him, but that she was in a hackney coach of such a number. He begged Mr. Vaillant to order his officers to try to get the hackney coach up to his. My Lord," said that gentleman, "you have behaved so well hitherto, that I think it is a pity to venture unmanning yourself." To this the Earl answered, "If you, sir, think I am wrong, I submit:" after which he gave the sheriff a pocket-book containing a bank-note, with a ring, and a purse of guineas, which were afterwards delivered to the unhappy woman. The procession was attended by a party of horse-grenadiers and foot-guards, and at the place of execution was met by another party of horse, which formed a circle round the gallows. His lordship walked up the steps of the scaffold with great composure, and having joined with the chaplain in repeating the Lord's Prayer, which he called a fine composition, he spoke the following words with great fervency-" O God forgive me all my errors! pardon all my sins!" He then presented his watch to Mr. Vaillant, and gave five guineas to the assistant of the executioner, by mistake, instead of to the executioner himself. The master demanded the money; a dispute arose, which might have discomposed the dying man, had not the sheriff exerted his authority. The executioner now proceeded to do his duty. Lord Ferrers' neckcloth was taken off, white cap, which he had brought in his pocket, put on his head, his arms secured with a black sash, and the halter put round his neck. He then ascended the raised part of the scaffold, and the cap being pulled over his face, the sheriff gave the signal, on which the raised scaffold was struck, and remained level with the rest. After hanging an hour and five minutes, the body was received into a coffin lined with white satin, and conveyed to Surgeons' Hall, where an incision was made from the neck to the bottom of the breast, and the bowels were taken out; on inspection of which, the surgeons declared that they had never beheld greater signs of long life in any subject which had come under their notice. His lordship's hat and the halter lay near the Earl's feet in the coffin, on the lid of which appeared these words: LAURENCE, EARL FERRERS, Suffered After the body had remained some time at Surgeons' Hall for public inspection, it was delivered to the deceased's friends for interment. It would be injustice to the memory of this unfortunate nobleman not to mention, that during his imprisonment he made pecuniary recompence to several persons whom he had injured during the extravagance of those fits of passion to which he was unhappily subject. His lordship's widow married, in nine years after, Lord Frederick Campbell, 3rd son of John, 4th Duke of Argyll, and lived, highly respected, to an advanced age. She was unfortunately burnt to death at Combe Bank, in Kent, 25 July, 1807. THE POERS OR POWERS OF WATERFORD. THE ancient family of Power, or Le Poer, of the county of Waterford, in Ireland, derives its descent from Robert le Poer, marshal of King Henry II., and one of the suite of that monarch when he repaired to the sister kingdom, in 1172. The marshal obtained from his prince a district in the subjugated shire of Waterford; and here his descendants widely extended themselves, and have ever maintained a prominent position. In 1346, we find John le Poer, with others of his name, giving security to the Lord Justice Birmingham, for their peaceable behaviour to the king and his ministers-a circumstance proving that, like other Norman knights, they had, to a certain extent, set up for themselves an independent rule, and, as feudal lords, were exercising a separate sovereignty. Three centuries afterwards, in the time of the Commonwealth, the Le Poers were divided into the three great houses of Kilmeaden, Don Isle, and Curraghmore, and of all three the history, at this period, is one of the deepest romance. We take it up at the time when Cromwell, having subdued the northern parts of the island, and filled the minds of the natives with terror, by his merciless desolation of Tredah or Drogheda, had marched his forces southwards to complete his conquests. |