the martyr exasperated him greatly.

The executioner was about to obey when a noise was heard at the door of
the Council Chamber, and a cavalier, booted and spurred and splashed
with mud, as if he had ridden fast and far, strode hastily up to the
Duke and whispered in his ear. The effect of the whisper was striking,
for an expression of mingled surprise, horror, and alarm overspread for
a few moments even his hard visage. At the same time the Bishop of
Galloway was observed to turn deadly pale, and an air of consternation
generally marked the members of Council.

"Murdered--in cold blood!" muttered the Duke, as if he could not quite
believe the news,--and perhaps realised for the first time that there
were others besides the Archbishop of Saint Andrews who richly deserved
a similar fate.

Hastily ordering the prisoner to be removed to the Tolbooth, he retired
with his infamous companions to an inner room.

The well-known historical incident which was thus announced shall
receive but brief comment here. There is no question at all as to the
fact that Sharp was unlawfully killed, that he was cruelly slain,
without trial and without judicial condemnation, by a party of
Covenanters. Nothing justifies illegal killing. The justice of even
legal killing is still an unsettled question, but one which does not
concern us just now. We make no attempt to defend the deed of those
men. It is not probable that any average Christian, whether in favour
of the Covenanters or against them, would justify the killing of an old
man by illegal means, however strongly he might hold the opinion that
the old man deserved to die. In order to form an unprejudiced opinion
on this subject recourse must be had to facts. The following are
briefly the facts of the case.

A merchant named William Carmichael, formerly a bailie of Edinburgh, was
one of Sharp's favourites, and one of his numerous commissioners for
suppressing conventicles in Fife. He was a licentious profligate,
greedy of money, and capable of undertaking any job, however vile. This
man's enormities were at last so unbearable that he became an object of
general detestation, and his excessive exactions had ruined so many
respectable lairds, owners, and tenants, that at last nine of these (who
had been outlawed, interdicted the common intercourse of society, and
hunted like wild beasts on the mountains) resolved, since all other
avenues of redressing their unjust sufferings w