re
fastened to them, and the outer ends tied round the martyrs' waists--old
Mrs. McLachlan being attached to the lower post. They were then bidden
prepare for death, which they did by kneeling down and engaging in
fervent prayer. It is said that the younger woman repeated some
passages of Scripture, and even sang part of the 25th Psalm.

At this point a married daughter of Mrs. McLachlan, named Milliken, who
could not believe that the sentence would really be carried out, gave
way to violent lamentations, and fainted when she saw that her mother's
doom was fixed. They carried the poor creature away from the dreadful
scene.

The old woman was first pushed over the brink of the river, and a
soldier, thrusting her head down into the water with a halbert, held it
there. This was evidently done to terrify the younger woman into
submission, for, while the aged martyr was struggling in the agonies of
death, one of the tormentors asked Margaret Wilson what she thought of
that sight.

"What do I see?" was her reply. "I see Christ in one of His members
wrestling there. Think ye that we are sufferers? No! it is Christ in
us; for He sends none a warfare on his own charges."

These were her last words as she was pushed over the bank, and, like her
companion, forcibly held, down with a halbert. Before she was quite
suffocated, however, Winram ordered her to be dragged out, and, when
able to speak, she was asked if she would pray for the King.

"I wish the salvation of all men," she replied, "and the damnation of
none."

"Dear Margaret," urged a bystander in a voice of earnest entreaty, "say
`God save the King,' say `God save the King.'"

"God save him if He will," she replied. "It is his salvation I desire."

"She has said it! she has said it!" cried the pitying bystanders
eagerly.

"That won't do," cried the Laird of Lagg, coming forward at the moment,
uttering a coarse oath; "let her take the test-oaths."

As this meant the repudiation of the Covenants and the submission of her
conscience to the King--to her mind inexcusable sin--the martyr firmly
refused to obey. She was immediately thrust back into the water, and in
a few minutes more her heroic soul was with her God and Saviour.

The truth of this story--like that of John Brown of Priesthill, though
attested by a letter of Claverhouse himself [See Dr. Cunningham's
_History of the Church of Scotland_, volume two, page 239.]--has been
called in question, an