第 8 节
作者:敏儿不觉      更新:2021-02-24 22:58      字数:9322
  turned down。        The main idea with them was to have Jean done away with
  at   some   hour   when   the   populace   would   not   be   expecting   the   execution。
  Part of   the   plan   for   privacy  is   revealed in the fact of the burning of   the
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  nurse and the ‘‘hyred woman'' at four o'clock at the Castle Hill; nearly a
  mile away from the Girth Cross; soas the Pitcairn Trials footnote says…
  ‘‘that    the  populace;     who    might    be   so   early   astir;  should    have   their
  attentions   distracted     at  two   opposite    stations   。  。   。 and   thus;   in  some
  measure; lessen the disgrace of the public execution。''
  If   Jean   had   any   reason    to  thank    her  family    it  was   for   securing;
  probably   as   much   on   their   own   behalf   as   hers;   that   the   usual   way   of
  execution for women murderers should be altered in her case to beheading
  by ‘‘the Maiden。''       Had she been of lesser rank she would certainly have
  been   burned;   after   being   strangled   at   a   stake;   as   were her   nurse   and   the
  serving…woman。          This    was    the  appalling     fate  reserved    for   convicted
  women'4' in such cases; and on conviction even of smaller crimes。                       The
  process     was    even    crueller    in  instances     where    the   crime    had    been
  particularly atrocious。       ‘‘The criminal;'' says the Pitcairn account of such
  punishment; ‘‘was ‘brunt quick'!''
  '4'   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。
  Altogether; the Dunipace family do not exactly shine with a good light
  as   concerns     their  treatment    of   the  condemned       girl。  Her    father   stood
  coldly aside。      The quoted footnote remarks:
  It is recorded that the Laird of Dunipace behaved with much apathy
  towards his daughter; whom he would not so much as see previous to her
  execution; nor yet would he intercede for her; through whose delinquency
  he reckoned his blood to be for ever dishonoured。
  Jean herself was in no mind to be hurried to the scaffold as early as
  her relatives   would have had her   conveyed。             She wanted   (poor girl!) to
  see the sunrise; and to begin with the magistrates granted her request。                    It
  would appear; however; that Jean's blood…relations opposed the concession
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  so strongly that it was almost immediately rescinded。                     The culprit had to
  die in the grey dark of the morning; before anyone was likely to be astir。
  In   certain   directions   there   was   not   a   little   heart…burning       about   the
  untimely hour at which it was manoeuvred the execution should be carried
  out。     The writer of a Memorial; from which this piece of information is
  drawn;   refrains   very   cautiously  from   mentioning   the   objectors   by   name。
  But it is not   difficult;  from  the   colour  of  their   objections;  to   decide   that
  these   people   belonged   to   the   type   still   known   in   Scotland   as   the   ‘unco
  guid。'     They saw in the execution of this fair malefactor a moral lesson
  and   a   solemn   warning   which   would   have   a   salutary   and   uplifting   effect
  upon the spectators。
  ‘‘Will     you;''   they   asked     the  presiding     dignitaries;     and    the  blood…
  relations of the hapless Jean; ‘‘deprive God's people of that comfort which
  they might have in that poor woman's death?                     And will you obstruct the
  honour of it by putting her away before the people rise out of their beds?
  You   do   wrong   in   so   doing;   for   the   more   public   the   death   be;   the   more
  profitable it   shall   be   to   many;   and   the   more   glorious;   in   the   sight   of   all
  who shall see it。''
  But   perhaps   one   does   those   worthies   an   injustice   in   attributing   cant
  motives to their desire that as many people as possible should see Jean die。
  It   had   probably   reached   them   that   the   Lady   Warriston's   repentance   had
  been   complete;  and   that   after   conviction   of   her   sin had   come   to   her   her
  conduct   had   been   sweet   and   seemly。          They   were   of   their   day   and   age;
  those     people;     accustomed        almost      daily    to   beheadings;       stranglings;
  burnings; hangings; and dismemberings。                   With that dour; bitter; fire…and…
  brimstone religious conception which they had through Knox from Calvin;
  they were probably quite sincere in their belief that the public repentance
  Jean   Livingstone   was   due   to   make   from   the   scaffold   would   be   for   the
  ‘‘comfort of God's people。''            It was not so often that justice exacted the
  extreme       penalty    from     a  young      woman      of   rank    and    beauty。      With
  ‘‘dreadful   objects   so   familiar''   in   the   way   of   public   executions;   it   was
  likely enough that pity in the   commonalty was ‘‘choked   with custom  of
  fell deeds。''     Something out of the way in the nature of a dreadful object…
  lesson might stir the hearts of the populace and make them conscious of
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  the Wrath to Come。
  And Jean Livingstone did die a good death。
  The Memorial'5' which I have mentioned is upon Jean's ‘conversion'
  in prison。     It is written by one ‘‘who was both a seer and hearer of what
  was spoken 'by the Lady Warriston'。''              The editor of the Pitcairn Trials
  believes; from internal evidence; that it was written by Mr James Balfour;
  colleague   of   Mr   Robert   Bruce;   that   minister   of   the   Kirk   who   was   so
  contumacious   about   preaching   what   was   practically  a   plea of the   King's
  innocence in the matter of the Gowrie mystery。                 It tells how Jean; from
  being   completely   apathetic   and   callous   with   regard   to   religion   or   to   the
  dreadful situation in which she found herself through her crime; under the
  patient    and    tender   ministrations     of   her  spiritual   advisers;    arrived    at
  complete resignation to her fate and genuine repentance for her misdeeds。
  '5' 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。
  Her confession; as filleted from the Memorial by the Pitcairn Trials; is
  as follows:
  I   think   I   shall   hear   presently   the   pitiful   and   fearful   cries   which   he
  gave   when   he   was   strangled!      And   that   vile   sin   which   I   committed   in
  murdering   my   own   husband   is   yet   before   me。      When   that   horrible   and
  fearful sin was done I desired the unhappy man who did it (for my own
  part; the Lord knoweth I laid never my hands upon him to do him evil; but
  as soon as that man gripped him and began his evil turn; so soon as my
  husband cried so fearfully; I leapt out over my bed and went to the Hall;
  where I sat all the time; till that unhappy  man came to   me and   reported
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  that mine husband was dead); I desired him; I say; to take me away with
  him; for I feared trial; albeit flesh and blood made me think my father's
  moen 'interest' at Court would have saved me!
  Well; we know what the Laird of Dunip