the
boatswain and his mates with a shrill whistle, and calling down each
hatchway, "All hands, attend punishment!"

You now heard the quick trampling of feet up the ladders, but not a word
was spoken. The prisoners stood on the middle of the quarter-deck,
while the captain read the sentence of the court-martial and the order
from the commander-in-chief for the execution. The appropriate prayers
and psalms having been read by the chaplain with much feeling and
devotion, the poor men were asked if they were ready; they both replied
in the affirmative, but each requested to have a glass of wine, which
was instantly brought. They drank it off, bowing most respectfully to
the captain and officers.

The admiral did not appear, it not being etiquette; but the prisoners
desired to be kindly and gratefully remembered to him; they then begged
to shake hands with the captain and all the officers, which having done,
they asked permission to address the ship's company. The captain
ordered them all to come aft on the top and quarter-deck. The most
profound silence reigned, and there was not an eye but had a tear in it.

William Strange, the man who had sent for me, then said, in a clear and
audible tone of voice:--"Brother sailors, attend to the last words of a
dying man. We are brought here at the instigation of some of you who
are now standing in safety among the crowd: you have made fools of us,
and we are become the victims to the just vengeance of the laws. Had
you succeeded in the infamous design you contemplated, what would have
been the consequences? Ruin, eternal ruin, to yourselves and to your
families; a disgrace to your country; and the scorn of those foreigners
to whom you proposed delivering up the ship. Thank God! you did not
succeed. Let our fate be a warning to you, and endeavour to show by
your future acts your deep contrition for the past. Now, sir," turning
to the captain, "we are ready."

This beautiful speech, from the mouth of a common sailor, must as much
astonish the reader as it then did the captain and officers of the ship.
But Strange, as I have shown, was no common man; he had had the
advantage of education, and, like many of the ringleaders at the mutiny
of the Nore, was led into the error of refusing to _obey_, from the
conscious feeling that he was born to _command_.

The arms of the prisoners were then pinioned, and the chaplain led the
way, reading the funeral service; the master-at-a