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He could relent
and show mercy. He could interpose his authority in favour of the
condemned.
He relented on one celebrated occasion which more than any other helped
to gain for him the epithet of "The Good"--when an entire squadron of
the Militia was condemned to death for some supposed mistake in giving
the salute. The record, unfortunately, is somewhat involved in
obscurity and hard to disentangle; so much is clear, however, that the
sentence was duly promulgated and carried into effect within half an
hour. Then comes the moot question of the officer in command who was
obviously destined for execution with the rest of his men and who now
profited, as events proved, by the clemency of the Good Duke. It
appears that this individual, noted for a childlike horror of bloodshed
(especially when practiced on his own person), had unaccountably
absented himself from the ceremony at the last moment--slipping out of
the ranks in order, as he said, to bid a last farewell to his two aged
and widowed parents.


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