Not very many people were present besides the soldiers on guard; but a tumult arising from some unexplained cause interrupted Derby in his last speech. He seems to have been afraid of the hostility of the crowd, but the soldiers with more reason feared a demonstration in his favour, for most of the onlookers evidently pitied him.[246] The Earl's last words were heard by few of those present, but they were taken down in shorthand and afterwards printed. In them he again repudiated the charges of cruelty made against him. After having spent some time in private prayer, the Earl gave the signal to the executioner by lifting his hands, and his head was severed at one blow. The body was taken by Lord Strange to Haigh Hall, near Wigan, and the next day to Ormskirk, to be buried with the former Earls of Derby. So died, if not the wonderful possessor of all the virtues which partisan biographers afterwards pretended, a brave, upright and Christian gentleman, weak rather than offending, who deserved a better fate.[247]
And with his death the Civil War in Lancashire really ends.
[211] _Vide_ note on p. 41. "A Declaration of the Earl of Derby, etc." E. 566 (5). "A Message sent from the Earl of Derby, Governor of the Isle of Man, to his dread Sovereign Charles II., 1649." E. 566 (21).
[212] "C.S.P.," 1649-1650, p. 278. It would seem that this was the real reason for the final breaking off of the negotiations.
[213] "A Declaration of the Earl of Derby, etc." E. 566 (5). The letter has been frequently reprinted. Cf. Marlet, "Charlotte de la Tremoille," p. 186: "Signé Derby; mais faut-il dire: écrit par lord Derby? On est en droit de croire que sa femme eut une parte prépondérante à la redaction de ses phrases hachées, vibrantes, pareilles aux coups de canon, qui, sur les vaisseaux, saluent au lever du jour, le pavillon national, montant fièrement dans les airs: car elles sont en parfaite conformité avec ses mâles repliques aux assiegeants de Lathom-house: elles n'ont, au contraire, aucun trait de resemblance avec le style flasque et ampoulé des lettres ou des discours du comte."
[214] "Carte MSS.," Vol. 9, fol. 55, 195; Vol. 11, pp. 326, 495; Vol. 12, fol. 127; Vol. 14, fol. 12, 249, 291; Vol. 23, fol. 105. There is also a letter referring to this matter in the "Ormonde MSS.," Hist. MSS. Com., new series, Vol. 1, p. 99.