/ · 1894 Brewer’s · B · Balmérino (Lord)
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was beheaded, but the executioner at the first stroke cut only half through the neck, and (we are told) his lordship turned round and grinned at the bungler.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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